darkandrew

I almost bought a Vigier off him a few years ago; he was selling it on ebay the week I went on holiday and I'd put in my highest bid before I left only to find on my return that I'd lost out by a few quid. I wonder if anyone on here ended up with it?

Spector Euro 5lx - if you ever come over to the dark side then you could do a lot worse than one of these; great value, easy to play (compact and ergonomic body, narrow string spacing means it's not too wide and 35" scale means the "b" string is tensioned nicely and never flabby) and great sounding.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1407829015' post='2524297'] Looking on the bright side this thread has had 100+ posts about someone i'm sure a lot of people haven't heard of since the 70s. [/quote] It's almost like a second coming, a resurrection if you like. In fact he could make an album about it and call it "Peter Frampton Comes Alive", you never know it might sell a few copies.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1407783753' post='2524031'] Or when someone tries to steal your phone . . . [/quote] Unless that "someone" is a p1ssed-off musician.

On the back of a previous thread on here discussing insurance policies and their small print, I rang the providers of my policy to check that I actually have the cover that I thought I had ... and it turns out that I don't. Although my policy covers individual items valued up to £2500, including musical instruments, for individual items valued at £1500 or more a valuation certificate is required (which I don't have). So, does anybody know where I can get valuation certificates for a couple of basses in the London/South-East area?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1407440394' post='2520635'] OK as the other thread by Pixiechick23 keeps getting derailed about other peoples favourite female bass players not being very good technically we might as well have one aimed at that very topic! I will kick it off with the same answer as my favourite one Esperanza Spalding, that goes for bass and Double bass. [media]http://youtu.be/2aRC3YY3svs[/media] [url="http://youtu.be/jgnDE_5Wxiw"]http://youtu.be/jgnDE_5Wxiw[/url] I still like Marta Altesa, and I still haven't nailed Master Blaster anywhere near this! [media]http://youtu.be/OIs6qCe3wpU[/media] [/quote] Is Esperanza related to 80's bass player Phil Spalding (Toyah, GTR, Heaven 17, Terence Trent Darby, etc)?

We had the same problem at Disneyland Paris with our kids this summer. We turned up early for the night-time show, found ourselves somewhere with a decent view only to have it blocked by a sea of raised iPads recording the show once it started. It's sad to admit it but for many consideration for others definitely seems to have been replaced by a God-given right to do whatever they want.

Just to clarify, what do you mean by an "Active Bass"? I am assuming you mean a bass with active pickups, only many of the suggestions here actually have passive pickups but do have active tone controls - not that there's anything wrong with a passive / active hybrid, in fact a lot of people would argue that that combination offers the best of both worlds.

Following on from my "not very rock" suggestion of Rio earlier - how about "Big Area" by Then Jericho, it's a bit more rock and from what I remember had quite an interesting bass line.

Not strictly "rock" but you can turn the guitars up a bit to give it a more rock flavour but we always enjoyed doing a rocked up version of Duran Duran's Rio as an encore (and it would always go down a storm with the punters as well). Just don't forget your mullet wig and frilly shirt.

OK, I've just looked this up on the HMRC website. So, if the total price (including postage) is less than £15 then there's nothing to pay. Between £15 and £135 there's no duty to pay but you do have to pay 20% VAT on the total value plus £8 handling fee to the Royal Mail. Have I got that right?

Thanks for that link, $29 is a lot less than the £46 that someone was asking on Amazon. Does anyone know, off the top of their heads, what the threshold is below which I don't have to pay import duties and VAT?

I bought a Queen Greatest Hits CD once that had a second disc which featured an audio commentary by Brian May and Roger Taylor, and on the subject of "Another One Bites The Dust" they credit John Deacon not only with recording the bass part but also the guitar part - so it turns out he's also a pretty useful guitar player too.

It looks as though Strings Direct have stopped doing DR Silver Stars (45-105) and the only other place I can find is on Amazon (and they're asking silly money). Anyone know where I can get some at a decent price?

And at the risk of being boring, yet another thumbs up for GAK. I've bought loads of gear off them in the past and they've always been 100% reliable. It's also worth noting that if you've seen the same item cheaper, give them a ring and have a chat with them to see if they can do it cheaper.

I've got a 5LX with the EMG DC soapbar pickups however just to confuse things, Spector have recently switched to using EMG TW soapbar pickups. The DC is a modern sounding humbucker with quite an aggressive attack and the TW is switchable between humbucker and single coil modes, however the TW humbucker mode is designed to be more traditional / vintage in its sound. So even comparing Euros with what at first sight looks like the same pickups might turn out to be entirely different pickups.

After years of playing different basses and guitars I seem to have found myself now settled mostly with Spector basses and ESP guitars but for some reason I've never played a Spector guitar or ESP bass - what are they like?

Just browsing through Amazon last night and noticed that there's a new Lacuna Coil CD out. Has anyone got it and is it any good?

Just browsing through Amazon last night and noticed that there's a new Lacuna Coil CD out. Has anyone got it and is it any good?

Feel free

Not a "high school" teacher but a secondary one, which I guess is the UK equivalent (age 11-18). It's a job I've done for about 20 years now, ever since I realised that I wasn't John Taylor - despite having the same haircut. It's a job I really enjoy but you're right about the politics, you have to be able to let it all wash over you and just get on with doing your job - besides no matter how far "up themselves" some people are, the kids are always great.