bassbiscuits

Earlier this year I sold the P bass which had been my main bass for the last 10 years, and which had come with me to gigs in Ireland, Poland and across the UK. I was gutted and to make matters worse it was on the shop website for a few weeks afterwards tormenting me, until someone bought it. Shame but that's life sometimes.

Yup i'll be there too - count me in. In terms of gear - probably the Lull PJ4, the old Precision, LM3 and Schroeder cab. I'll remember to contribute something to the raffle this time too!

Old Horse Murphy's Reissue P bass for sure. I've been drooling over it. I already have one P but I can always justify to myself having two as they are very much my kind of bass.

Just been out with my brother and dad who are both quo fans and heard the news. Genuinely sad. He was one of the main reasons my bro plays guitar. We're listening to 12 Gold Bars and raising a glass or two to Rick. RIP chap.

Hello I know this is a really wide open question, and probably very subjective, but i'm after some recommendations for a replacement P/J pickup set. I have a Mike Lull PJ4, and as far as I can tell, it currently has Lindy Fralins made especially for Lull, which are very articulate, bright and open sounding, but i'm after something a bit hotter and more deep/thumpy. I've previously had Aguilar Hots on a jazz bass which i loved - they were loud, and very full sounding which was kind of my sound, but they don't come in a P/J set unfortunately. On youtube etc, the normal Aguilars sound fat and punchy in some of the vids, but quite trebly and aggressive in others, so not sure what the true sound is. Which leads me to stuff like Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders, and whatever the current version of Wizard Thumpers are. The Lull itself has a very articulate, quite modern tone, which softens to a more vintage feel with the tone rolled off a little, and thats more the kind of sound i'm chasing. Not after super bright or modern sounding etc - more something full and bassy, even vintage sounding - does that even exist? There's no substitute for trial and error on these things, but any pointers that could save me time/money by steering me in right direction would be good. I'm using it through a Little Mark 3 and usually and Aguilar or Schroeder cab.

I've learned that being reliable, learning the songs properly and not being a total idiot is the key to getting asked back to do depping work and getting good gigs. I've also finally fallen in love with flatwounds.

Regarding packaging etc, I've made good use of cardboard bicycle container boxes from Halfords etc. They're good thick cardboard, and 20 mins with a stanley knife should enable you to cut one down to the right size and shape. I've then packed the guitar/case/gigbag whatever in layers of bubble wrap and/or crumpled up newspaper, left over cardboard etc which are all lightweight and give good protection from bumps etc. If the guitar is in a hard case, then also work packing the insides of the hard case itself with bubblewrap/newspaper etc to make the guitar fit tightly inside its case and not jiggle about inside, and also to sort of prevent it bashing against any hard edges in the event of an accident. I don't know about courier costs abroad tho - i'm sure some of the other forum members will have shipped items abroad tho. hope that helps.

Really good gig on Friday night at one of our local pubs in Leicester, which was dead busy with it being the last day before Xmas break for some lucky people. Had a chance to put some recently acquired gear thru its paces too - a Yamaha bass I bought on basschat a few weeks back, and a stupidly lightweight purple chilli cab I also bought here in the autumn. Sang myself hoarse, played loud and got into a sweaty mess, so all present and correct there, plus blew the dust off some old tunes we haven't done in a while. Happy with that.

Motorhead - well, um Motorhead obviously...

i've bought used flats, but not so sure about dead round wounds....

I got this from Andyjr1515 on Basschat over the weekend and it's fair to say it's stunning. I was after a lightweight, versatile bass for gigs where I'm not taking my Lull or old precision bass, but in reality i've ended up with much, much more. I'm not over egging it to say this is a really great bass. The build quality, balance, weight (3.8kg) and playability on it are exceptionally good, at any price bracket. The fretwork is perfect, with no buzzing or choking, and a lovely close-grained slab of rosewood for the fingerboard. The bridge is a chunky, high-mass, sturdy looking affair, and the gold hardware looks classy against the wine red gloss finish. It has the Nathan East-esque active pre-amp, which in addition to master volume, pickup blend, bass boost/cut and treble boost/cut, also has a 'mid sweep' dial which takes you through a whole range of different sounds from 'light to dark' (Yamaha's wording, not mine!) and a switch to punch the whole mid sweep thing in or out. Adds up to a very versatile sounding bass, which is very comfortable to play, and which you really wouldn't question at two or three times the price. I think these were only about £300-£400 new when they came out, back in the early 2000s, which is baffling given the level of quality. Any sniffiness about the quality of a Made in Taiwan model is duly dismissed. It's strung up with D'addario Chrome flat wounds, which give it a real smooth ballsy thump. I had the house to myself for a few hours so cranked it up - a joyous way to spend a Sunday! I'm not very familiar with Yamaha's various models/ranges by any means, but top marks for this bass. I can't wait to gig it this weekend. I'd envisioned getting a spare bass to take to occasional gigs, but this is really one I'd happily take to any gig.

I ended up getting a secondhand Yamaha BB604 instead - figured it was a few notches up in terms of range of sounds, hardware etc. So far so good.

Nothing but praise for Andy - he brought a Yamaha bb604 to my house for me to try out, and it was lovely so I bought it! Top bloke, fantastic bass and he even restrung and set up for me. Pleasure doing business fella.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1481120202' post='3189856'] No problem to gig with one of those where you don't want to take your more expensive gear. Do be warned though - Getting your first Yammy can be a slippery slope! When you realise how good their lower end stuff is, you'll soon be tempted to try some of their more expensive stuff. Then you've had it. [/quote] Ha ha! I need no encouragement to buy more basses trust me! I did once have an old Japanese BB350F fretless, and a more recent BB414, which were both decent basses, but they were both many years ago. I like the idea of having a cheap, reliable bass as an alternative to my more expensive stuff.

I picked up a secondhand Line 6 Bass Pod of some sort for recording with and it sounded great to be honest. I've got basses with both a P and a PJ pickup arrangement. The PJ bass is a bit more versatile in terms of slap sound etc, because of the extra J pickup, but I just prefer the straight P bass for the vast majority of things. It just sounds 'right' to me. Either way, good luck. Most of the basses you've listed sound like perfectly decent basses to start on. The most obvious factor I've found that differentiates cheaper instruments from pro gear is the quality of hardware (bridge saddles and tuners in particular), wiring and pickups, which you find out if you're gigging them relentlessly. But that doesn't sound like it'll be a problem for you, so whichever one you've got will do the job. At the risk of sounding like Yoda, i wouldn't overthink which one to buy either. There is no absolute right answer or one ideal bass, but anything decent should get you going and give you joy in playing it, which is the important bit after all! Good luck!

Seen one of these for sale locally, (from about 2001-ish I think) and I've been on the lookout for a cheap back-up bass for the less salubrious gigs. It looks pretty decent, and a fair bit online, tho mostly reviews from people who've had it as their first real bass etc, so a bit hard to judge how objective they are. Anyone gigged one? Are they decent enough? I like the fact they look quite lightweight and comfy, if not exactly a gorgeous looker! Thoughts?

[quote name='mike 110' timestamp='1480758038' post='3186892'] Thanks bb , am I right in assuming that the L in 760FL stands for Long ( scale ) ? [/quote] Hi Mike - sorry i only just spotted your reply. Yes as the others have said, the L stands for light. They're certainly not overly lightweight tho, and nothing like as light as TI flats which I have on my Epi Jack Casady bass. I used the La Bellas on a P bass that i often need to tune to E flat for depping work, and they hold up fine. I think they're the best gauge for me. Strangely they feel less stiff to me than the 40-100 gauge Rotosound Monel flats i used previously, even tho they're heavier gauge. I like them, a lot.

I've got 760FL gauge La Bellas on my precision (top loading bridge) and they're great tension. I'd normally go for 105-45 in round wounds, and the 760FLs are 104-43 i think. They don't feel as stiff or heavy as i'd been led to believe (i.e. you can still string bend on them pretty easily) so you'd probably be ok with a slightly heavier gauge.