tauzero

SInglecuts - I'd like to like them but I just can't. Headstocks. What a stupid, pointless waste of wood they are, unbalancing the bass and making it more likely you'll stick it in the singer's ear when you're playing or through the ceiling when you're taking it off and on. Especially those ludicrous Fender ones, twice as long as they need to be. I do have headed basses but I'd rather have headless, they make so much more sense. Fewer than 5 strings. I want more choice with my fingering.

Personally, I think the Big Al looks foul, but it's something different and it's rather a shame to see it go.

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1439068836' post='2839810'] Do I win? [/quote] Want!

Tapewounds perhaps? Wanted to put Status tapewounds on the Sei but the unheadstock end didn't fit in the unheadstock.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1439210107' post='2840827'] So the price matter looks more down to age than pedigree... Interesting info though. Also it shows MIM is better than MIA, in the ears of the audience, on the day. [/quote] I thought it showed that the single most worthwhile improvement you can make to a P-bass is to put in a Seymour Duncan quarter-pounder. That would raise the total cost of the Gear4music one to about £135.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1439138398' post='2840331'] Most of the music I like (and a lot of the stuff I don't like) seems to have been recorded on either a Fender Precision or a Fender Jazz. From JJ Burnel to Alphonso Johnson and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich to Delbert McClinton. Seems to be the essence of the term Swiss Army Knife. [/quote] Especially since you can use them to knock in the tent pegs for the marquee.

That's a nice job. I like the way you've shaped the body at the neck joint, shows you're thinking about it from a playing point of view and not just for the appearance.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1439220431' post='2840975'] Could you control the Pi gadget with a MIDI pedal? Admittedly you wouldn't have a display on it but you could probably program the lights to flash a bit of morse code to indicate settings [/quote] I presume so. QLC+ allows MIDI control, and that's how the guitarist controls it, using a Behringer FCB1010 via a M-Audio Midisport 2x2 into a Windoze laptop. Raspberry Pis are quite happy to read MIDI.

You might be reinventing the wheel - there's a couple of bits of software available for the Raspberry Pi. Haven't looked properly at them as our guitarist does the DMX programming on a laptop. [url="http://lightput.com/"]http://lightput.com/[/url] (freeware) [url="http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html"]http://www.qlcplus.org/raspberry.html[/url] (donationware)

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1439201725' post='2840686'] Wonder how many others take instruments with them on holiday and grab the chance to entertain. [/quote] I do - always take an acoustic guitar with me. Got to play at an open mic night at St Columb Major when Mrs Zero and I were in Kernow, and we'll try and get a little more organised next year and do a few more.

Do you have to return it every time Nate Mendel knocks another chip off to bring it up to current spec?

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1439069217' post='2839813'] All the ones I haven't heard will form my new "to buy" list. No-one mentioned any Van Der Graff Generator yet? Pawn Hearts then Edit: How can you possibly pick a "best"?! [/quote] You can't pick a "best" but it is useful for some listening suggestions.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1438893951' post='2838556'] Plenty of non bass players like a decent bass solo. I get applauded regularly by lay people [/quote] Yes, I find that when I play a bass solo, everyone applauds when I stop.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1439041542' post='2839593'] I think most people could get by. But, if you are much cop as a bass player, you might be thinking 'Hmm.. this isn't quite fitting the bill...'. [/quote] That's nothing to do with ability. It's GAS.

[quote name='Stealth' timestamp='1439104106' post='2839916'] To those who say any bass will do You seem to be the guys with top drawer basses and amplification why waste your money if a squier p bass will cover any gig ? [/quote] Because I want a nice bass.

Focus 3

Shame, it had a sort of driftwood look to it as it was.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1438965994' post='2839075'] Poor bass players... 'Anything will do.' Can you imagine guitarists having the same discussion? [/quote] Yes, and they'd be just as obsessive about it, when anybody could tell them that a Variax would fulfil considerably more than all their needs. If you can't make any bass work for you, you're not much cop as a bass player.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1438950758' post='2838921'] My big concern with the lightweight cabs is that it appears to be very easy to end up with a rig that is top-heavy. My current big rack weighs 28Kg and I expect the small rack to be around half of that by the time it's fully loaded with all the gear, and therefore I'm a bit concerned that when it's stacked on top of two small cabs whose combined weight is about the same as the rack it's going to be unstable. [/quote] What you need to consider is how far the stack would need to rock to put the CoG of the whole lot outside the footprint of the bottom cab, as that's when it would topple. A couple of 1x12s around the size of the Berg CN112 or AE112 form a stack similar to a lightweight 4x10 in size and weight. Are you using a 4U rack at the moment? What's the weight distribution like in it - even, bottom-heavy, top-heavy? As for actual recommendations - I'm very happy with my combination of Tecamp Puma 900 and two Berg AE112s. If there's another Nottingham Bass Bash, I'll bring them up .

I've used a Thumb for everything from heavy rock to a trad folk ceilidh band (no drums, very trad). I'd find it strange if a bass couldn't be used across a wide range of musical genres. Mind you, it would need to be fretless to cover as many eventualities as possible.

I like it. Guaranteed to turn heads at the Dog and Duck.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1438770191' post='2837028'] hey, if you think it's right to return something that is sold as "not playable" because it wasn't playable... I have nothing to add. You may not be contravening any rules, but you're exploiting a loophole and you know it. You're happy with it? Fine. I wouldn't do that but you live however you want to live [/quote] But if you wanted to buy something for a purpose which wasn't its primary purpose, if you did so in a bricks and mortar shop, you'd be able to check how suitable it would be for that alternative purpose, whereas online you can't. So if I wanted to buy a comb to play comb and tissue paper (combing my hair is a ship that sailed a long time ago), I could check it out in a shop, but if I could only get it online then I'd need to be able to return it if it didn't suit my alternative purpose.

The singer always arrives at the same time as me. She also helps with loading and unloading (although she's currently excused heavy lifting as she has very bad tennis elbow). I am married to her though. In the currently-dormant covers band, the singer would do heavy lifting (and the drummer would help too, as well as bringing his kit in) - it was the guitarist who was an idle git.

As purveyors of the low note, it could be that we bear some responsibility for ghosts... [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Suggested_relationship_to_ghost_sightings"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Suggested_relationship_to_ghost_sightings[/url] Imagine how low this could go: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291511146469"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291511146469[/url] and as an added bonus, it's like something out of a horror story.

I regularly mention to Mrs Zero that she should keep her tambourine well away from the audience when not in use.