mcnach

... and so does my girlfriend. This is me with my birthday present from her: She may live to regret it, but it's awesome! The neighbours may call the RSPCA thinking we torture elephants in here... but I guess that's the price to pay when you enter the world of brass. Damn, it's hard to make it sound nice! Today I managed two notes, wheeee!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1378556561' post='2201783'] Having band members who are in other bands is always a pain in the arse. [/quote] only if you are not organised. Until one of the bands is not *really busy*, it's rarely a problem in my experience. Only then it comes a point where you have to choose the band you want to focus on. I've always had clear which is my priority... but as long as I have time for more... I will do more. I like people who play in more than one band because they tend to be more focused, and don't underestimate the increased networking ability. More and more I am discovering that getting nice gigs comes to be seen by the right people, and who you know or who knows about you.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1378544560' post='2201577'] [b]Should we be in bands for money, or for enjoyment?[/b] I ask this because I’ve been trying to put a band together for a couple of years now, and I’m amazed at how “mercenary” a lot of musicians are. I have advertised for musicians on all the usual sites, and here’s just a couple of examples (I've had many many more like these): [i]“I live in Stevenage , got over 1000 gigs under my belt , blues / rock player , but would be interested, if the band has a go getter approach to gigging and not spending hours in a rehearsal room”.[/i] [i]“I'm 38 plenty of gig exp, pro gear, great tone, I'll be honest with you I'm in 2 gigging bands at the moment but maybe looking to ditch one, maybe both if one band gets busy, I just love playing live”.[/i] I absolutely love playing music with other musicians, especially in a "live" situation, but I also like rehearsing, and I also like playing at home learning new material, but it seems that there are a lot of people out there, who seem to put earning money first. Surely rehearsing with your bandmates helps with getting to know each other as people, helps with bonding, and most importantly, it helps with getting the band tight and ready to gig. So many people have told me they don't want to rehearse, and some of these are not even great musicians, so are they thinking they are better than they really are, and if they really are that good, why do they choose to miss out on the "team" building that comes with regular rehearsals? don't get me wrong, once the band is ready, I'm up for gigging most of the time and only going into the studio to learn new material. So is it just me, am I old fashioned, or should I just join a gigging band, learn the songs at home, just turn up for the gig, play the songs, and then go home afterwards not really knowing the guys I've just been playing with properly? [/quote] money or enjoyment? For me it's enjoyment first and foremost: I do not depend on gig money for my living. I still want to be paid if we provide a service that others would charge for. But it's got to be enjoyable or there's no point for me. I know other people for whom gig money is a substantial part of their income, so their attitude is different. They are in wedding bands and play functions for good money... Not for me, 'though. I play plenty of bars, 'though, where you still have to deal with drunks from time to time... but at least I can dismiss them (I could not at a wedding), we have security to deal with the truly obnoxious (you can't really get the groom's best man kicked out), and we play what we want to play more or less. The wedding band set lists I have seen make my soul vomit a little. For me it's enjoyment. I am in two tribute bands: RATM and RHCP. That's what we play. Some ask for Metallica, Nirvana or... even Beyonce (true story!), but it won't happen. We have played some Pearl Jam, and some Led Zep, on occasion, but because we all have played that stuff and we decided to humour someone in the audience. My originals band (I'm in two, but I have only been long enough in one) is... well, our songs. That's it. We have played plenty of small unpaid gigs. We still play plenty of small gigs, and some unpaid. But we have been making a little money that pays for a lot of the stuff we do as a band so it's become self-funding. That's great, but I'd still do it if I had to pay money for our new amps or whatever. It's a lot of fun, and we get people dancing and having a great time with us. That's what I do it for. I get to go to festivals for free and watch other great bands, and all I have to do is... what? play at one of their stages? Brilliant! Playing live is what I like. Rehearsals... not so much. I can totally get the first quote above. Some bands just practice again and again the same thing... that's not for me. Rehearsals are necessary but most bands I know overdo it. Rehearsals are there to get new material up to scratch, or to refresh material you haven't played in a while together. How many times must you rehearse a song before you decide "yup, we can play this alright together"? Then there are the "jams" where a lot of our songwriting happens... but that's something else. If a band is not going to do originals, for me it's got to keep rehearsals to a bare minimum and focus on gigs. If you play enough gigs you don't even need rehearsals

I like it a lot. Nice unobtrussive compression that does its thing without being too obvious. I guess that's what other people call "pretty transparent".

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1378401114' post='2199810'] Anyway.. being on the hunt for a battery powered speaker which will let me play along with some mates in a field somewhere it seems mcnach has the best option with that trolley thing. [/quote] Just to add that I have been using it regularly and I still like it a lot. An EQ pedal in front of it is not necessary, but it helps as the tone controls of the thing are ok for very crude adjustments but not much more. Plenty loud! Last time I used it was last Saturday. There was an annual "big busk" think along Portobello beach, here in Edinburgh, and we went there. Three small guitar amps (two roland microcubes and one minivox), drum kit (yes, although not played very loud), trumpet, saxophone... I did not push it hard and it was more than enough to keep up. We stopped when two of the guitar amps died. I still had plenty of juice, but I don't know when the guys charged their amps. I wish mine had a battery charge indicator... I just charge it the night before just in case. Love it.

Alex bought my TC Mojo Mojo overdrive pedal. The whole transaction was very pleasant. Good communication, fast payment... a real pleasure. Thank you, Alex. I hope you enjoy the pedal!

Sean bought my EHX Bassballs nano. Really pleasant communication, easy transaction... Thanks, Sean!

I just bought Andy's J-Retro. Very pleasant conversations by email, and he sent the preamp very quickly, doing a fantastic job of the packing. He even included some extra knobs and allen keys! A real pleasure, Andy. Thank you!

Just forget you ordered anything... sit back and relax. It'll arrive and you'll be happy. Too much stress messes up your timing when you finally get to plug into it!

I had a Wesley Monarch, shaped like a Streamer, more or less. It was actually a pretty good bass despite the pickups being a little quiet. It sounded good and a basic set up was all it needed. Cheap? Yes, but that Monarch was a pretty decent bass. I don't know about other models, but the MOnarch was nice. I should have kept it...

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1377526835' post='2188460'] Brand New. They essentially built a factory in Indonesia with the same specs and the parts as the California plant. Result -- same bass, with workers who get 1/16 of the pay. That may not be good for the American economy but it makes for a great deal on a bass. [/quote] Not really. Pickups and preamp are different, for starters. They are two separate companies that share nothing physically. Woods are also different qualities/source... but I don't care so much for wood: as long as it's solid and looks alright, that's fine by me (heresy for some, I know ) Go on talkbass, there's a thread on these basses and one of the top guys at SBMM is often there answering questions. He even posted a modification for the preamp on their basses, which many felt was too hot. Cool guy. His latest question was "right, it's time for new colours, what do you want?" I said shell pink. If they make a SUB (maple fingerboard!) in shell pink, I would have to buy one. They already make them in surf green and they are sooooo tempting

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1377514670' post='2188283'] I've owned a couple of original USA SUBS and they were as good as any Stingray. But the new cheaper SUBS, which were manufactured recently and sold for about £300, don't nail the Stingray sound in my opinion (although they may well be nice basses in their own right). [/quote] That's why I asked, as what you say fits what I heard from people whom I trust. I have not personally tried the new SUBs so I don't know for certain. I heard also that teh new SUBs compared to the OLPs... and those were not really Stingray quality or sound, but could be modified relatively simply and were pretty good instruments (some were, some were dogs)... The new SUBs look very tasty, and if they're anything close to what the OLPs were, they would be great value... regardless whether they nail the Stingray sound in stock form or not. I love the old SUBs, I have a couple of them!

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1377487717' post='2188061'] I have a MM and a SUB and I concur. it's ridiculous. [/quote] original USA SUBs (2003-2006)? or the newer line by Sterling By MusicMan?

[quote name='dwh87' timestamp='1377295006' post='2186059'] Something "new" from Fender. Was there a gap in the market for this? It has a couple subtle changes from his old one like the added forearm contour. He also played one at Reading and Leeds festival tonight. Here is the sweet talk from Fender Fender and hard-hitting Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt join forces once again to bring you the Mike Dirnt Road Worn Precision Bass. With original-era 1951 Precision styling, its ash body wears a 3-Color Sunburst or White Blonde lacquer finish worn to perfection to simulate years of hard-played onstage glory. Other distinctive features include a comfortable forearm contour, a volcanic custom vintage-style '59 split single-coil pickup, side-mounted output jack and custom Mike Dirnt neck plate. The maple neck has a thick "C"-shaped profile and a classic '51-style Telecaster headstock shape, with a 9.5"-radius maple or rosewood fingerboard with 20 medium jumbo frets and black (maple board) or aged white (rosewood board) dot position inlays. The bass also has a single-ply black pickguard, two knurled chrome flat-top control knobs (volume, tone) and special '70s vintage-style tuners. [/quote] Hmmm, if the sunburst/maple one has a clean routing under that pickguard... that would be a very tasty bass indeed.

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1377215248' post='2185018'] Music Man came out with the Ray line and they matched the original in quality. Now there's a SUB series for even less and THEY are every bit as good. [/quote] Some may disagree about the "they are every bit as good" and about the SBMM Ray line matching the original in quality. But the truth is we seem to be able to get pretty good instruments even in the budget lines (not all, but many of them). The difference in quality between the top range and the budget range has been reduced dramatically in the past 20 years or so. I have an OLP that I have gigged and if I could not afford a Stingray (or a USA made SUB, the original ones from 2003-2006), I would not really be lacking much. I modified the OLP to have a decent preamp and a good pickup, and have it set up beautifully. It's still a cheap bass... but it would work just fine.

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1376322722' post='2172109'] I have a Ryder with a Wizard Thumper pickup in...that's my retirement fund sorted then! [/quote] Ha! So do I!