Rayman

I've had a couple of Epi's and played a few Gibsons, and as always my answer is pound for pound I'd have the Epiphone all day long. Gibson guitars are over priced and QC is awful at the moment (I played a couple of [i]shocking [/i]Les Pauls in PMT recently). Epi's are what they are, work horses, and it doesn't matter if you ding it half way through a gig. Mine was solid, sounded great, looked great and played great, and it cost a fraction of the Gibson version. There's a big thread on all this somewhere in the archives.

I've never had a bass [i]guitar[/i] disaster thankfully, but plenty of amp related ones. The usual "pint on top of the amp" sketch (not my pint I hasten to add) springs to mind, just before we're about to go on, said pint gets knocked over, amp goes off. So I spent the next hour with the amp in bits, holding a hair dryer, drying off Guinness covered parts. Amazingly, after an hour, once all put back together, the amp worked perfectly. Top tip for your gig bag that, a hair dryer, or better still, don't have pints on top of your amp.

Horrendous start to the year, my wife left me. Never felt so low in my life, but........thinks are turning around, new house, on my own, without the nagging, and I see plenty of the kids, so not too bad in the end. Basswise, very poor. A few gigs, but band politics are getting in the way, and sometimes we can go a month without playing at all. I need some inspiration. I don't even come on here much anymore, I'm just all bassed out at the moment. On the plus side, I've stuck with the Two Stingrays virtually GAS free now for a few months, so gearwise I'm ok. I [i]WAS [/i]really looking forward to Bassday in Manc this year, but it's my weekend with the kids, and that means a lot more than looking at more gear I can't afford. Wish I could've seen Marcus though . Looking forward to Christmas, and a more prosperous 2012 hopefully.

Saw him with the Blockheads last year, superb gig, proper music, proper bass playing. Legend. HMWYRS is one of the best basslines ever.

The only player I know who's even cooler in the flesh than he is on his records. I've been a fan for many years, and he's responsible for getting me into dub/reggae too.

Ahhh...remember it from the for sale thread now....lovely. Wanna sell it??

I'm a big fan, his dubby hypnotic style is just the ticket during a late night drinking session, as I discovered a couple of weeks back. "Mu" is a great album.

I'm after a new practising unit to replace my old Tascam CDBT1. I've seen that Korg have brought out the Pandora 5 but I wondered what else was about and more to the point what's recommended?

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/russjm/2011-09-18162541.jpg[/IMG] Here's my two 'rays, just lemon oiled, polished, and re-strung.

Me and Mike B, our frontman: [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/russjm/DSCF0173.jpg[/IMG] Apologies for the cheesy effects.

I love my white TB. I was in a UFO covers band so it was the only option. Mine was an Epi, although I did try a couple of Gibsons, and honestly, I preferred the Epiphone at a fraction of the price. A bass is what you make it. I slapped a couple of songs on mine no problem at all. Ok it's a much more middy sound than say a Jazz, but, I've seen reggae players, pop players and obviously rock players use them so you can do quite a bit with them if they're up your strasse. After all, [i]the funk's in the fingers, not the bass they're holding[/i].

TOP BLOKE.....easy to deal with, and drives a rather splendid old Range Rover, that I wanted. Buy with total confidence.

Now I bet that lot sounds awesome. A proper bass set up. Have you got flats on the JC?

[i]Please[/i] don't buy any of those basses you've listed, as pointed out above, they're poor quality, and you can do so much better by either taking your time and saving a bit more money, or searching for a better bass that could come up on here. I bought a cheap bass, similar to those for my 10 year old daughter, and even [i]she[/i] thinks it's drfitwood, in fact we're hoping to have a woodburning stove put in before the winter, and guess what's going on it first? Take your time, something much better will pop up on here.

Love The RHCP musically, but can't [i]stand[/i] Anthony Keidis' vocals. What a great band they'd be with a decent singer.