bassbiscuits

Yep. The Lull was clearly really high quailty in the sense of expensive little details and refinements etc. But play the two side by side and the Yamaha was clearly the better overall player and sounded much more powerful and versatile. I have no idea what the spec of the Yamaha is - generic Far Eastern pickups and pre-amp etc - but I've got no intention of changing any of it.

A white/tort/rosewood 2008 USA Jazz Bass that i played in a shop in Bury St Edmunds in 2008. I was actually meant to be trying out a Squier Classic Vibes Jazz there, and the one i tried was decent enough. Then i tried the USA jazz instead. It was incredible and just sang, and i couldn't put it down. It was best part of a grand even then if i remember correctly, and i just didn't have the money so i left empty handed. Probably a bit of rose-tinted specs involved looking back, but it was just everything i wanted at that moment.

My Yamaha BB604 that cost me £200 secondhand absolutely wiped the floor with the £2.5k Lull PJ4 I had at the time. Ridiculous, but sadly true. And it was better set up. Sold the Lull last year. Still got the Yamaha.

I've got an Aguilar GS410 which has castors on it as I can barely move it without them. I do tend to turn it on its side at gigs so it's in contact with the floor, as I'd always imagined it would sound better than on wheels. Then again I've played lots of festivals where the supplied backline is on wheeled flight cases anyway and it sounds great, so maybe there's less in it than I thought.

Me in my current guise as solo singer/guitar bloke; onstage with big hair in 1991, onstage in bare feet at a festival in Leicester in 2016 and depping with guitarist Aynsley Lister in 2015.

I did a wedding two years ago in a posh stable conversion place in the middle of nowhere which had a sound limiter 'to protect the neighbours' tho the only neighbour was the bloke who owned the place and lived next door. Same thing tho - the audience clapping was enough to set it off, and we played the whole gig about the same volume as i would play at home. When we finally left the organiser again made a point of stressing we had to leave quietly not to disturb 'the neighbour'. Fed up by now of the petty rules which had completely neutered the gig, we made a point of being as noisy as possible, leaving the stage door wide open while the disco was on and revving and tooting our horns at each other when we left. The happy couple later told us what a lovely time they'd had and enjoyed the band. Baffling.

Last summer I played a one-hour slot of upbeat, lively covers to kick start a charity party in the garden of a decent local pub. It went down well so the landlord booked me for three more well-paid solo gigs. So far so good. But when I turned up to play a few weeks later, it couldn't have been more different. He'd now decided that what he really wanted was just quiet background music. I toned down what I had and tailored it as best I could. But he and a couple of regular punters complained continuously that I was too loud, they didn't like the songs, and they steadfastly refused to pay any attention whatsoever let alone applaud. Given that he'd booked me on the strength of the last gig, I was a tad surprised to say the least. I did all three gigs and got paid in fairness but we mutually left it with a 'thanks but no thanks!'

In about 1991 my band - a sort of glam/metal crossover in the style of Saigon Kick/Extreme etc - was booked to play a pub in the Swansea Valley. We only got as far as playing a quick soundcheck to a smattering of stunned looking old boys sipping bitter, when the landlord gave us our marching orders. He'd been expecting a female vocalist playing the usual hits apparently. We didn't get paid. To top things off, on the way home our van got caught up in a big scuffle between riot police horses and rival soccer fans in Swansea.

...and fair play to you, if it works and its what people want to hear, then go for it. I spent an awful lot of time playing Wonderwall in my previous band (ie every single gig we did) and so I'm glad to get a complete break from it. I'm sure there's other stuff i play that features on the cheesy songs list to, so i'm certainly no authority!

I may have over-egged this slightly - i don't spend enough time thinking about Oasis to absolutely hate them or their songs! But I'm not remotely interested in them and go out of my way in my current gigs not to play any Oasis, ever, under any circumstances. There are plenty of other great songs to choose from, and I prefer to do stuff that hasn't already been done to death. By the same token, you can go and hear Wonderwall played by any busker anywhere in the UK - so you don't need me to play it as well.

My main beef with Oasis i think is that I never listened to them the first time round, so my only experience of them is being outdated, simplistic, pub rock chaff played to drunk people.

Songs I really dislike? Dire Straits - Walk of Life Cher - Believe (one of the worst songs I've ever heard) Pretty much anything from the old Stock Aitken and Waterman stable in the late 80s. Fortunately I've never been asked to play any of those songs. In terms of songs I've had to play thru gritted teeth, anything by Oasis (I particularly hate Wonderwall and Cigarettes and Alcohol). But drunken punters go mad for it, and my previous guitar player loved them. No thanks.

Just got a sturdy OBBM speakon cable from Paul - arrived really quickly, used it at gig the same day. Good lad. Pleasure doing business.

I can see myself falling for one of these if i ever get the chance to try one! I've been keeping an eye out for an older MIJ/CIJ version but they seem to be rare as chicken lips.

Yeah my '70 P doesn't have the black cushion.

Yep I've had a set on NYXLs on my Yamaha for about a year now (admittedly it's only been used for two full gigs and a handful of rehearsals in that time) but they do seem like good strings, and still sound and feel great.

I look like a cross between Jerry Sadowitz and Pete Doherty, so no. In the early 1990s I did have long curly hair (the Jerry Sadowitz bit) and cowboy boots with chains on and a good line in fag-in-gob pouting, but it seems it wasn't enough to guarantee me enduring fame and fortune. Damn.

Hottest - a small duo gig at a country pub where they'd put us directly in front of a big roaring log fire. Half my face got completely grilled and red and shiny, and I felt physically ill. The whole experience was hideous. Coldest? Probably the gig i did last Christmas for a local street fayre on the back of a lorry. Utterly perishing, frozen fingers etc. Nice.

34" all the way for me, but I've very very keen to get my hands on a 30" Fender Mustang at some point (the old style, not the PJ version) as the shorter scale and lighter weight really appeals to me. The various things on YouTube dont really give me clear idea whether a 30" has the same amount of thump as a 34" tho.

Not much despite 32 years of playing. I'd like back my 1996 USA Precision, which i sold about two years ago after 10 years as my main bass. I was finding it too big and heavy and traded it in for a Mike Lull, which i ended up selling anyway! I did sell a Gibson SG to a mate once because i needed the money for a bass amp, but i missed it so much I bought it back a few years later when I had the money. I sold it finally a couple of years ago to finance another bass, but really should have kept it. There's been some other decent basses along the way, but I can live without them.

I'm afraid i've been in the same position and it's part of the reason i left that band. The guitarist, whose band it was, would only do songs that he wanted - regardless of how dull/boring/done-to-death they were. Mostly chose songs because they were easy, rather than good - and he never bothered to learn any of the better ones I suggested. Now i play solo and play whatever i like at gigs. Much happier.