dmccombe7

I always use Duracell batteries and tend to get a good few months before i change a battery that's with me playing every night at home, rehearsals and gigs. I don't check the battery when i remove it. My basses are a little different. With some i notice a tone change altho very slight and not sure i would notice it on a gig but def at home. Other basses the volume starts to decrease or i hear a little distortion in the tone. At that point i have checked the battery on removal and they are down below 9V off load. A new battery is typically 9.5V or more off-load. Some basses i can simply put into passive mode and i have no active EQ other basses simply don't work without a battery. Best to know that before you gig. If the latter then replace battery far more regularly as you will have no fallback position if battery goes. Dave

DR Sunbeams. They are good enough strings but not a lot of difference to the D'addario's EXL190 i was using. That's just a personal opinion of course and others may well disagree.

I was using D'addarios and thought i would try DR's but going back to my D'addarios EXL190's. Pretty similar in feel and tone to the DR's i tried but far cheaper and they both last about same time before tone starts going approx 2mths.

I didn't get back into bands until i was 50 and now at 58 i'm currently in a rock / metal band and also a Glam Rock covers band. I've never been out of a band for any more than 2-3mths over the past 8 yrs. I've played in everything from Classic rock, Glam rock, 70's covers, Prog originals, Blues / funk rock covers in that period. I've seriously never been so busy. I'm retired 2 yrs so its much easier to learn sets now hence reason for taking on 2 bands. My last band the blues / funk covers from last year have recently been hinting again as they have reformed again but having committed to 2 other bands i think 3 is far too much for what i need. My point is that age is not a limit when it comes to playing bass so do not give up and just get out there looking. Much of it is thru people you might know or even get to know but Bandmix, Join My Band and even Gumtree are all places i have used over the years. All the best and hopefully something will come along. Dave

I can understand your dilemma having lot of gear in the house but not using it but as others have said so long as the family are ok and there's no desperate need to sell i would hang onto them. Once the kids are all at school and things have settled down a little who knows maybe you will have time to rethink playing in bands again. Good basses are hard to come by. Dave

Decided to retire 2 yrs ago and its the best thing i ever did. Make sure you have things to do tho. You don't want to be a couch potato. You can only watch so much Loose Women, Judge Rinder and Jeremy Kyle in one year. Enjoy your retirement and have fun. That's what life is all about. Congrats Dave

Once i'm home i usually sit with a coffee and a bourbon or two to wind down. Think its more to do with the drive home as i get like that when i've had to drive for more than a couple of hours during the night. I find by the time i get home the gig adrenalin has usually worn of unless its an absolute blinder where everything went perfect and the audience were up for a great night. . Dave

Just googled prices for Smoothhound classic wireless. Manufacturer is £20 cheaper than people selling on ebay and Guitar Gallery. ?? Not sure what's going on there. Usually manufacturers price is higher so well done Smoothhound. Dave

How does that fit with your pedals. I mean does it go from bass to wireless then to pedals which i guess kind of defeats the wireless thing as you still need cables to and from pedals. I've quite fancied trying it out but wasn't sure how people use them unless straight into their amp. Dave

Since using nickel strings I've gone from Fender nickels to D'addario nickels and recently tried DR nickels but to be honest the DR's didn't warrant the extra cost. Think i might try the Rotosound nickels and if they don't do it for me i will go back to the Fender or D'addario. Dave

What the heck bass is it. Sounds awesome.

My Jazz bass mainly because it has such a nice feel to it. The neck is what i like most about it. If i could get that neck on my PJ i would be happy too. Amp wise i'm never really totally satisfied. I have a combination of rigs and the only cab i love is my Berg HT322 because it does what its should and very nicely too. Its just a bit heavy. Aiming to try out the Mesa gear this year and hopefully the Subway range will answer my prayers for the ideal amp configuration. Dave

I've done the stage share thing as usually my bass gear was far better than most when we were younger. I did once lend my WAL bass to a guy at a charity gig. He was the backing vocalist for Hue & Cry at the time but i knew him really well and he always had great guitars that he took a lot of pride in. It was a lined fretless and at the end of the song he said it kept going out of tune. When i told him it was a fretless he had no idea and was playing between fret markers I don't generally lend expensive gear at all these days as i find most of the younger generation have no respect for it and on occasion they expect you to let them use your gear. Last gig i stage shared with i used another bands Hartke 2x15 and L5000 amp head. I even made sure i returned his EQ to his original settings. Dave

Do this in my Rock / Metal band and have done it quite a few times with various rock bands. Also tuned down for a Grunge style band that liked the sound of the deeper tone. They even had 7 string guitars. I ended up buying a 5 string because it was needed for them but they didn't last too long and i moved on to something more suited to me. Dave

That's kind of why i've kept it on my own cloud rather than pass to Insurance companies. Maybe i'm just suspicious especially after the Facebook fiasco in recent days. Dave

Not sure if we are talking about household insurance or musical instrument specific insurance ? Musical instruments or equipment stored in the house are no different from any other household item. If the insurance company refuse to accept that an item was stolen they are in effect calling you a liar. I have photos of all my gear stored on a cloud. I also have a full and complete list of items in my house to the best of my knowledge and broken down to each room in the house with known values or expected 2nd hand value at a known date on the file. That could also be sent to your insurance company however you would need to add to the file that the list is not a full and complete list or they may not pay out on items not on the list. I might start adding my bass and amps serial numbers to the list somewhere. Also people tend to change their household insurance annually or every few years so i don't want all my items listed with several different companies as you never know what they will do with it. Dave

Like that flamed finish.

Love the finish on those and that to me is the ideal pick up configuration. Best of both worlds. Dave

A band i was in last year the existing bassist was going to New Zealand and had some TE gear to sell that he left in the bands own rehearsal studio. I bought it from him when i joined and just left it there. Wasn't happy with the TE sound so bought an Orange 115 & 210 and left my SVT4 Pro there. This was gear i normally wouldn't gig with and the band were really good and all nice guys. No-one else had access other than the guitarist who ran the band and had the keys. To be fair i would let someone else use that gear provided i knew them and could trust them and only in the studio. I wouldn't let anyone take the gear to a gig. The gear was in 1st class condition when i bought it and still is. Band split and i ended up bringing it all home again and now i have a spare room full of bass rigs. Time to sell of the Orange gear and maybe some other bits as well. Dave

Afraid i don't have the same level of trust as others on here. I've had gear damaged when stage sharing and to lend gear when i'm not there is not something i would even consider unless its a very close friend or someone i know i can trust and that is a very very short list. Dave

Fosters ?????? where did that come from

Once again i have no idea if you two are taking the fosters or not. Dave

Would i know the name of the band or would you prefer to be anonymous on BC which i can fully understand and appreciate. Dave

Robobass