mcnach

I wouldn't let it stop me (in fact, it did not), but just be extra careful when dealing with long and narrow screws.

wow! That's such a beautiful bass!!! By the way... "By The Way"... chords at the beginning? How do you play it? I never played any chords on that one but I'd love to know how you do it. If it sounds better I might change, why not?

I play a Stingray but it was useful on Saturday to... give someone annoying a little tap on the head with

Indeed. I wonder how many times we don't gel with a bass soundwise and that could have changed with different strings. I have a Mike Dirnt Precision that was destined to have a little active mids module installed (cut/boost and frequency centre control) as I felt it lacking a bit in the low mids... but after trying Labella White Nylon copper tapewounds the need disappeared. Get the best sound possible at source, and that makes life a lot easier later.

another update... I finally ditched the original strings. Man, why didn't I do that earlier??? DR SUNBEAMS on... what a difference! They're a little more compliant, which is nice. I have it set with pretty low action, but I can still dig in when I want to... and these strings have transformed the bass. It's incidentally the first time I try Sunbeams (I have been using their stainless steel counterpart, Fat Beams, for ages, which also have a round core)... and I love them. They are not overly bright even straight from the packet, so they suit me very well. Punchy, nice mids... and the Model T sounds fantastic with them. Lovely bass, and with careful pickup adjustment a very good sounding one too... then put nice strings on and it becomes a great bass indeed. Strings, so often overlooked...

I sleep like a baby It does take a little time to come down, but not that long. On local gigs that we do midnight - 3am or so... I may feel tired when I arrive, but the gig itself wakes me up. When we finish I'm wide awake. We may hang out a few minutes, then go home... and I just have a shower, chill a bit... and within an hour I'm falling asleep. But then, I'm one of those people who can have a coffee at 11pm and go to bed at midnight... if I'm tired, I'll sleep regardless.

But then the strings will last soooooo long it won't even matter (Not arguing with you, hey, we all have our preferences ) I'm really interested to hear what you think about the Newtones when you get them. I have heard nothing but great things about them and I like how they can pretty much produce any gauge you like. I'll have to buy a set and find out for myself, but I've just spent a mini fortune on 4 sets of DR Fat Beams and a couple of Labella white nylons... so I'll wait a bit Meanwhile, I'll be all ears

I used one without PA support in a small bar, an 8 piece funk/hip-hop band. It was surprisingly good. Yes, we were not Motorhead-style super loud, but we weren't quiet either. edit, for commenting on the OP's goals: for a typical rock gig, I'd doubt it will suffice 'though. You'll be pushing it hard constantly and I doubt it'll last long. I used a MarkBass CMD121P combo for years... it was great, and I was able to use it alone or with a small extension cab for small bar gigs that did not require a lot of volume, but it was mostly used as a stage monitor. As a stage monitor I put it on an angled stand on the floor pointing at me... and it was very good. But I would not imagine depending on it alone for many 'real life' gigs, which is why at the same time I owned a separate LM3 head and a couple of Barefaced BB2 cabs.

Great! Please report back when you try them, and see what you think, in particular compared to Sunbeams

I've used that seller for various other bits and pieces, and I never got hit with custom charges... good call!

I don't understand what the price of the bass has got to do with the price of the strings... why would I put cheaper strings on a cheaper bass? (but I am also the guy who doesn't worry about adding a £150 preamp to a £40 bass... I really don't look at the relative values, just whether the total cost gives me something good and reasonable for the price). Anyway... I feel your pain, as I'm a fan of DR fat Beams (and Sun Beams) and Labella white nylons, and they're all getting rather silly in price. I use each set of roundwounds for a year or a bit more... so it's not the end of the world, but I've also been looking at alternatives. One that keeps coming for the round core roundwounds I like is Newtone strings. They are around £28 per set. I haven't tried them myself, but the reviews look good. If anyone has direct experience of similar DR / Newtone strings I'd love to hear.

what he says. The knobs on the BSW may do slightly different things in different modes, and they're also quite interactive so that sometimes a knob doesn't seem to do much unless another knob is away from the extreme positions... experiment a little. It's not the best pedal out there, but it does quite a few things decently. The octave is not bad either. From what I remember (I don't have mine anymore), low end loss was not a problem at all with it. The DOD FX25 can sound great but it's a little wild and can often be a bit overwhelming. I prefer the BSW.

One of the bands I've played with, we had a pool of about 25-30 songs between originals and a few covers... The lengths of the songs cold be altered dynamically to suit the length of the gig... if people seem to be enjoying it, we make them longer... guitar/sax/trombone solos, often with call/response elements between them can transform a 3 minute song into a 12 minite epic that gets people sweaty and having fun. Amazing.

same here... in fact I bought two more after that incident... it just seems silly for them to use those screws when otherwise they make such nice basses.

I forgot... also, if I use somebody's amp I like to return the settings to whatever it was before I used it.

oh yes. drinks onstage in general annoy me... I can't force others but I establish a no-drinks boundary around my gear. Yes, I do drink... but I make sure I keep my bottle out of the way and safe... If someone puts a drink on my amp that I lend, I go over and remove it, even if it's in the middle of a song. I try to do it firmly with with a friendly attitude. The message gets through easily. I never encountered anybody who'd antagonise me about it, but if they did I'd unplug them without hesitation: I can't think of any gig I've played where I'd end up suffering any serious repercusions for doing that. Sound guys tend to be very understanding as they suffer that stuff constantly, and it takes 10 seconds to plug their bass directly into a DI box. Bottomline: be respectful and careful with other people's gear

There's no hard rule, I think. Just talk to the guy and see. Most people are ok with you adjusting as you need to. When I lend, I take a picture of the settings after my soundcheck and let them do their thing. Most people like to be thanked. Sometimes I don't have a clue whose equipment is, it could be hired, or belong to an organiser... but whenever I can find out I make sure I thank them. I generally prefer to use my own stuff, and even in multiband situations it's easily achievable: my gear doesn't take that much space and gets set up faster than the drummer puts all his cymbals on... so I don't see the reason for the widespread "to save hassle, use this amp" situation, in fact if you ask you normally end up with an ok. But sometimes I used whatever's provided... a thank you is always nice. And if you end up hating the amp (it happens ) it's not necessary to tell them that. I heard of some guys walking in with their bass, play and go, no more hassle... yet they were moaning later about their amplifier is much better: then bring it and use it, you lazy git.

a bass is much more personal. can you get another bass like it? sure. Will it be like it? Unlikely. My main bass I love dearly, I feel at home with it, I know its every dent, it's got the exact setup I want, the neck was lacquered just the way I wanted it... etc. I can play other basses that will be nice... but that one is... special. That bass gets lent to nobody. It's not about the money it makes me, it's about whether something is easily replaceable or not. A bass often isn't. Even if it's my backup bass... it's a backup for a reason, it means it's close to my main bass. Here we have a guy who owns equipment but is trying to save effort carrying it... I cannot imagine myself doing that ever. Heavy amp etc? Perhaps, yes (I've invested in gear I can transport easily but that's just me). A bass? How hard is it to carry a bass? I don't want to play a gig with somebody else's bass. Is that a matter of laziness or carelessness or what? I don't get it.

That's the part that makes me feel uneasy. There you have a bass player without equipment, apparently. Why not? I'm more inclined to help someone whose equipment breaks down and need help, than someone who just doesn't even try, as it makes me think why not and whether they're likely to look after my stuff or not. Honestly, I would not feel comfortable unless I knew they guy in question well, or I knew that my other band mates could be relied to look after my equipment. There have been band mates in my time to whom I'd have lent anything, and others to whom I'd never ever lend anything.

I have been using the standard white nylons for a bit too. I prefer the coppers. They retain a similar top end, but they have a nicer presence in the low mids, I think. Also they're very slightly less flexible, which suits me. The standard ones are like rubber... you can bend strings using your eyelids! They're a very versatile type of string. You can get very bright sounds out of them, they sound really nice for slap (just perhaps not so much for the really bright slap styles like Marcus Miller, Wooten etc), but they can do 'thumpy' if you want to...

I have to say that I feel the same about the screws they used on my basses. I was replacing the P pickup on my first Jake and I had to be very very careful not to damage the head of the mounting screws. One was particularly hard to undo, and it eventually started giving way... only it wasn't: the screw just sheared off. They're made of an alloy of iron and butter. It cannot add too much to the cost to use decent metal! So, yes... be careful, always use the correct screwdriver head that fits perfectly, and be gentle. That's my only complaint about them, really. The 3 basses I owned were very well made otherwise. I still own two.

Yup... John East. If any of his products sounds about right but you would just like it a little different... just contact him and tell him what you're after. He's pretty accommodating, within reason. If you're just talking about a simple mod and nor a redesign of the preamp he'll probably do it for you.

In my main band I keep recordings of a lot of our ideas. Part of our 'rehearsing' is actually jamming and/or bringing ideas to the band and playing around with things. Some things develop into a song but they started 3-4 years ago, while other songs just come up one day and two weeks later we're playing it live. We have probably 50-60 decent songs in various levels of "in progress", but with new ideas coming up regularly... most don't get worked on enough. That's just things that already look largely like songs. More basic ideas... we have tons of. Hours and hours and hours of them. I'd love to sit down, select a bunch, and finish them. I tried several times, just picked 10-12, gave them to everyone, hoping that at least a couple would get done. Nothing. It depends so much on having the right people around. But then, these ideas would not even exist without most of the band either, as nearly everyone contributes something important... A few years ago we accepted an unusual gig for which we needed an extra hour of material. In two-three weeks we had that hour ready, from older stuff that was nearly ready but not quite. It is possible. But I doubt we'll manage ever again...