Kirky

Fender PJ > Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550 > TKS S212 cab. Usually no effects (occasionally a DHA valve drive, but increasingly I'm not bothering) .

The Fall and The Dirtbombs are two bands i've seen with two drummers working very effectively. The Dirtbombs were in the Faversham in Leeds, and also Josephs Wells, and the Ruby Lounge in Manchester, so kinda pub venues. The Melvins didn't bring their second drummer when I saw them recently, but live videos I've seen suggest it would have been brilliant if they had.

Great name for a band. The Dunning-Kruger Effect. I like it.

Other highly successful purchase from Dave, this time some Hicon Banjo Jacks. Arrived in a couple of days and I had a nice night soldering new pedalboard patch leads. They're very good quality jacks, and Dave's service is second to none.

[quote name='Marsik' timestamp='1471469475' post='3113344'] You're not going wrong, actually. In Polish language the 'r', 'sz' and 'cz' are just stronger pronounced. Your 'y' sounds more like Polish 'e' to my ears - you pronounced the schwa (phonetics) I think However, you pronounce it very well! I don't pick on you, I just like languages and phonetics [/quote] He's a Geordie - Maruszczyk was probably the word he got closest to the correct pronunciation in the whole piece!! Seriously though, great review, and they look and sound like stunning basses.

One bass. I've never broken a string and been able to fix anything else that's gone wrong on the fly (and I can't off the top of my head think of anything - battery ran out once, but I had a spare, and only have passive basses now). I take a spare MB200 amp but I've never had to use it. Even for guitar gigs I don't take a spare anymore - I can't remember the last time I broke a string on guitar.

I wouldn't describe either of those as cheap - but I'm a Yorkshireman these days! I built [url="http://www.musikding.de/3verb-reverb"]this[/url] over the weekend and am very happy with it. If you're happy doing some soldering its a good option.

I think the MB200 would suit you perfectly. It's very versatile eq wise and it sounds like to would be loud enough for your purposes. I have one that i use as a backup (to a GK Fusion 550) but i play guitar in a band with another member here - he uses the MB200 up against 2 not hugely loud guitarists playing punk/70s stuff and it never suffers in the mix.

Violent Femmes, great band. Highly original (and they did a great cover of Children of the Revolution once).

My Dad had IM1948 on his 1948 Chrysler Windsor. IN NZ at the time he could just order ne from the licencing body for no extra cost.

If you're anywhere near Harrogate you're welcome to try mine. Personally I can't really say what the "GK" sound is - the 4 band eq they have is very versatile and I can get any tone I need from my GKs. I don't find the single 'gain' knob a problem, however I tend to gig with my Fusion 550 and use this as a backup, so can't really comment that much.

My normal way of learning a song is to work out the overall structure first - I listen to the song without an instrument in my hand and right down the chord structure (eg I / / / | IV / / / | V / / / | II / Iv / | etc). At this stage I don't even know what key it's in (which I find useful as the bandleader may decide to do it in a different key anyway). Having done that I'll listen to the bass part - here it's useful, as everyone else has said, to understand intervals and major and minor scales (for the music I play I don't need or want to know about modes). Singing along is good too at this stage. I might write stuff down at this stage in notation (I'll have ascertained the key at that stage, either by playing along or looking it up) - but only if it's particularly complicated. And finally I'll play along - usually I'm not a million miles away. I have been know to learn a song and turn up to practice and actually play it for the first time at rehearsal - usually with a reasonably close result. Of course it all depends on the type and complexity of the music. One advantage of my method is that if the bandleader changes key, or changes the song structure, its easy for me to adapt.

My bass (and amp and cab). It's a Mex Fender Active Deluxe Special (I think) but I've converted it to passive and swapped the gold anodised guard for a red tort (courtesy jhamler of this forum).

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1467365948' post='3083094'] I've got nothing this weekend, so if anyone in the Newcastle area would like to borrow the R-400, let me know... [/quote] Fancy a trip down to the Blues Bar at Harrogate tonight?

Motor City Blue are at the Blues Bar in Harrogate tomorrow night (Friday 1st July) from around 9:30. We're a blues/soul band, nothing too heavy. I'll be sporting my GK Fusion 550 and TKS S212.

I usually get reasonably positive comments about my bass playing. But i went into very small mens' room at then end of one gig and accidentally knocked a guy at the urinal when I opened the door. Naturally I apologised. He replied "what are you apologising for?". I explained I'd opened the door too quickly. He then said "I thought you were apologising for your singing". Fair comment imo.

Singles first. Rank (the live album) is pretty impressive.

Cleft, tonight at the Brudenell. Then The Melvins on Monday. Parquet Courts was last night.

Finger-style for me. Every now and them I give picks a go (I'm also a guitarist using picks and fingers) and it never feels or sounds right to me. Surprisingly (to me anyway) I get more attack using fingers.

Very similar to my setup - GK Fusion 550 and a TKS S212. Very happy with mine.

Tav Falco is in the Games Room I believe.

Congratulations Alex. What a success story!

Television, Thursday. Next week, Tav Falco. Week after, Parquet Courts. Might try to fit in The Chills in June too.