stewblack

I started playing bass back in about 1982. In '84 went on holiday to the Isle of Wight and found a small music shop in Ryde. Therin I played on an Aria pro 2 SB 1000 or 900 or something Duranish - the memory has faded with time. The sound was so jaw droppingly gut shakingly beautiful it was very much akin to the love at first sight often put forward as a useful plot device by romantic novelists. I had not the money to buy the instrument, but on returning home, at he first opportunity I headed to Bristol and climbed St Michael's Hill, then home to two fine musical instrument emporia. I found and purchased a red Aria of a similar shape and style and whilst I loved it then and love it still it didn't have that sound. I have, needless to say, been searching for the instrument that could give me what I want ever since. The Stingray came close and others have flattered to deceive but just lately I purchased a weather beaten old Westone Thunder 1A and by crikey my first thought was 'this could be [i]the one [/i] ' . It has that twang for which I have searched and it is from the right area in terms of both geography and era. Of course if it was ever possible to have 'the one' there'd be an end to GAS and we know that ain't gonna happen.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='117555' date='Jan 10 2008, 02:10 AM']= Along with Elvis Costello's bassist who's name escapes me...[/quote] I cannot let this pass! Twas none other than the mighty Bruce Thomas, novelist, biographer, dog walker and bass player extraordinaire. To some of us he is the greatest.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='119011' date='Jan 12 2008, 10:49 AM']The manual should say, maybe even the labelling on the sockets - otherwise assume parallel. Only some Eden amps have the speaker outs in series for some strange reason.[/quote] And 'daisy chaining' cabs should be parallel as well?

How do we know if we're linking in parallel or in series?

[quote name='sam_' post='117098' date='Jan 9 2008, 06:11 PM']It's more that i want a Trace Elliot half stack badly after trying one haha [/quote] I used to use TE myself but found it very unreliable. Of course I didn't extrapolate that to mean the whole brand was crap. It sounded brilliant. Stay here long enough you'll be bankrupt and will have owned more brands than you realise existed - it's that kind of place.

What happened to that American bought thing with the fanned frets? You ever play that anymore?

Hello Sam nice to meet you, I'm not far from Sherborne meself = just over the border in Somersetshire. Don't you be putting sad faces next to the Behringer bit of your gear young man! It's what's inside you that counts not the black hearted prejudice inside the minds of label snobs.

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='114587' date='Jan 6 2008, 01:29 PM']from the same page, i thought [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/lookaroundyou/programmes/computers/dd.shtml"]this[/url] was moderately amusing[/quote] l, and if you will allow the colloquialism, ol.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='114565' date='Jan 6 2008, 12:11 PM']OMG! So that's what it is! I bought one of these from a Secondhand shop. For £80 It's kind of tatty, but sounds really good. 41" Scale That Humbucker is HUGE (no piezos here!) Bass of the future? Er. No.[/quote] £80 ?? That would have set you back over 50 guineas back in the day. Do you gig with it?

Here's what they used to think the future would have looked like in the past. Um. (note "The bass you can take on a bus" !) Picture from [url="http://www.junkguitars.com/stories/czech.html"]here[/url]

[quote name='Hutton' post='111561' date='Dec 31 2007, 07:19 PM']Once again for the benefit of those not quite getting the point here. It's your opinion. No more, no less. Everybody is entitled to their point of view. I will defend the right to express personal opinion to my dying day. However, why should the sound you like be the sound I like?[/quote] Well, absolutely. Couldn't agree more and didn't think I needed to state every time that it's just my point of view. Took that as read.

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/lookaroundyou/2000/200026.shtml"]Maybe one day ...[/url]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='111448' date='Dec 31 2007, 02:55 PM']sorry guys, I think it sounds terrible! [/quote] +1 How many of us would be happy if that's the best sound we could get? You'd throw your gear on a skip. But the playing is outstanding and most importantly the bass line itself is wonderful.

Cheers for the helpful responses. I know people are saying how good the squire basses are at the mo - just wasn't sure which ones. A little bit more googling and I see this is a very competitive price but not crazy cheap!

[url="http://www.rimmersmusic.co.uk/product_info.php?PID=80"]Squire 5[/url]

My initial answer was one had 6 flats and the other had six sharps! Cheers guys, the last thing I want is to pass on false information.

It's something you notice a lot on line. The idiots are the grit in the oyster. They irritate but they do encourage people to post. Also one of the cardinal rules of the internet is that any given forum won't seem as good in a year's time. The majority of people here are still fine.

Teaching a guy the basics - I'm not qualified but he wanted me too, if this offends anyone look away! - and he wants a bit of theory. Well I'm staying one step ahead of him (my piano lessons were a million years ago) by reading up and asking in places like this. The great thing is I'm starting to read music and really getting a taste for it. We were trying to figure the difference between the key of G flat and the key of F sharp. Any ideas that I can share?

[quote name='finnbass' post='102489' date='Dec 11 2007, 01:35 AM']One of the reasons Behringer have never been successfully sued is that the vast majority of those circuit designs have existed for years.. They were NOT invented by BOSS, who simply 'ripped them off' themselves a couple of decades or so ago from other designers. What goes around, comes around. To suggest otherwise, is like saying that 'Murphy' invented the radio and no one else should ever use that design again or that 'Ford' invented the motor car and no one else should be allowed to manufacturer them.[/quote] Thank you. At last a voice of sanity on the Behringer issue.

[quote name='Aussiephoenix' post='101873' date='Dec 9 2007, 10:01 PM']see, I dont get that, just cause the 5th string is there, you Dont have to use it, well, if it confuses you anyway.[/quote] Well at the time I'd only just learned to play a five. I'd learned that one set on it and yes it took that bit of thought playing a song on an unfamiliar instrument with an extra string. Why would I have taken the risk live just to save carrying a couple more cases ? That would have been lazy, pointless, unfair on me and the rest of the band. I am slowly getting used to switching between the two and no longer learn a new song on just one but play it on both. they are after all utterly different instruments.

Oh - I did once take 4 basses to a gig. This was simply because I was in the support band as well! In one band all the songs are played on a 5 string in the support they're on 4 so each set needed one bass and one spare.