grandad

You wouldn't believe the number of potentialy lethal items of kit I've failed over the years, (many were also fire hazards). PAT testing has probably saved many lives/injuries since it's introduction. Most of us are capable of checking for the correct value fuse & should do so. Every item of electrical equipment in my home is correctly fused. A 13 amp fuse in the plug of say a bedside lamp, which should be fused at 3 amp, could lead to a fire should the flex become damaged. Carrying out a visual inspection of mains leads & casings is something most of us tend to do automatically because we look after our kit. Electrical faults cause about 50% of house fires in the UK. It's bad news when you hear of children burned to death whilst sleeping. So, I say take all sensible precautions & live long.

Had the pleasure of meeting & chatting with him over a fag at the 1st NEC 'Mad About Guitars' show. As mentioned above, he was a real gentleman. I remember, aged 12, hearing 'Apache' for the 1st time. I've been a Shadows fan ever since & still enjoy playing many of their numbers. I don't think I'll be bidding though.

1. Peavey Max160 head -> Ampeg B115E 2. Roland D-Bass 115 Reliable, relatively lightweight & both give me the depth of bass sound I like.

Worked my way through the Yamaha EMX range & now use the 5016CF. All have been excellent with never a problem. As mentioned above, if it's just for vocals & small/medium gigs then the capability to use 1 channel for FOH & 1 channel for monitors is very useful.

I'm enjoying this thread & I'm pleased to be amongst some who like myself came to bass-playing rather late in life & without or having had little musical education. It has given me so much pleasure to play alongside other amateur musicians & to make a fairly decent job of it I'm chuffed to bits with myself. To those that achieve just this, good for you. I will always enjoy & admire those whose talent shines brighter, & hopefully, little by little, I'll never stop learning/improving. As an amateuer musician my life is the better for it.

[quote name='ZenBasses' timestamp='1375982965' post='2168302'] I have a 33 and 34 The 33 feels smaller to me... Rationally the inch spread across the while fretboard is actually pretty immaterial. I've come to the decision that it's the necks shape not the scale length that making it feel smaller.. Or am I just talking rubbish lol.. [/quote] You might be right when you say the neck shape/width has more effect than the length on the "feel" of the instrument. It's a big factor with me. That Rickenbacker looks stunning. Some years previous a colleague brought a sixties vintage Ric' into work & allowed me to doodle with it over the lunch-hour. He had inherited it from his father. I have never played a heavier bass, it weighed a ton. Are the modern Ric's just as solid?

Recently got hearing aids on the NHS - great service. My loss was severe above 2kHz. As recommended above I would also advise to protect your hearing. Keep the on stage sound at a comfortable level. Buy a pair of plugs & get into the habit of using them.

Interesting question Iconic. Acoustics is fascinating but the more I read the more I realise there is to know. I think one of the main points to remember is that as you move away from the sound source the proportion of direct and reflected sound differs thus each position will sound different. The distance from the sound source and the path length of the reflected sound will vary from place to place. Hence the relative phases will differ from place to place. Sometimes direct & reflected waves will be in phase and add together thereby increasing the loudness of that particular frequency. Sometimes they will be out of phase and subtract and thereby reduce it. I used to get my students to walk the length of 2 cycles of a 40 Hz standing wave in a narrow long corridor. They were always amazed at this experience and started to understand the nature of sound from then on. I expect a speaker is just a piston to you and a simple linear motor to me. But when you start to look into how they do their job don't they just get frightenly complicated?

By chance I met Jet Harris at the 1st NEC 'Mad About Guitars Show'. He was most unassuming and we chatted for about 10 mins. Hank Marvin also did a workshop at the same show. I told Jet that for Xmas 1960 we got our 1st LP which was the 1st Shadows LP and which I still have. Also, that it was his fault that I had just started to learn bass aged 50+. My elder brother and his lifetime friend wanted to start playing again after a break of about 30 years and they said to me, "well you'll have to play bass then". We are Shadows fans and play most of their well known intrumentals. He told me to learn my scales but I tend to remember patterns more. I think he started out on double bass and probably had the 1st Fender precision bass player in England, Hank getting the 1st Strat'. It was a pleasure to meet him.

85dBA ->140dBA.

Same here, never taken a backup.

Gigged the Roland BC100 for several years. Excellent amp. Loud, good modelling and reliable. Haven't tried the TC.

Very interesting link, thanks.

"everything else is peacock feathers" - I like that. My 2 keepers each cost about £150 2nd hand. The only expensive bass I would love to own is a Gretsch Thunder Jet. RRP £1879.

Its a poor show from Ashdown who are normally good at after sales service. The LG range are not that old. It sounds like the power supply has cooked. A common fault with switched mode types. There will almost certainly be a couple of other associated components to replace. The provision for service and repair by manufacturers seems to vary so much. Roland Peavey and Yamaha are good in my experience as are the high end of the market. This would not happen in the motor trade. Commiserations.

I was born in 1948. Then there were only youths. By the sixties we were teenagers. Hearing the Rock n Roll and the Rhythm n Blues music from the States lit the fuse for that sixties explosion of creativity. The Beatles happened then and every album was a different eagerly awaited knockout. For those few years they were a progressive pop group amongst many great artists. By its nature Art is eclectic and they in turn influenced others. The music around in your formative years I think stays with you all your life. A lot of listening is together with friends and memories remain of the times and the places and the faces. I am so pleased that mine was the sixties and that is pretty much what I still play and I am loving it.

Nylon. Learning to listen to the subtleties of musical sounds I think will prove worthwhile. I still keep my old Kimbara in the corner of the sitting room.

Magnetism is a black art. I think that the field of a permanent magnet follows the inverse cube law, that is to say, it gets weaker very quickly indeed with distance. There is scientific controvesy wrt this though with some arguing that it it follows the inverse square law. It would still get weaker very quickly with distance.

I totally agree. After going down the 12" then 10's route I bought an Ampeg B115E cab, matched it with a Peavey Max 160 head & found the warmth I wanted. The cab is 8 ohm & front ported. MIC of ply it's looks good, is lightweight, on castors & I move & lift it easily with the hinged side handles. The tone is even throughout the frequency range that is to say, to my ears, it doesn't over emphasise any one part of the spectrum. The ABM115 I sold on was very low biased & I suspect made purposely so to compliment the ABM 210. My other amp is a Roland D-bass 115 which is a little more versatile but not quite as warm. I have a suspicion that the neo speaker makes the sound a tad more 'cleaner'. So yes I concur, it has to be 15's.

Is it a 'Heteropoda davidbowie' or just a common or garden 'Tegenaria domestica' ? No kidding!

Are they from Mars?

Ashdowns I've previously owned: Superfly 2 x 250W - a versatile amp & fun to play with. Little green giant - carried as a light-weight back-up for a couple of years - ok, but I doubt the claimed 350W? Mag 300 - ok, didn't like slider tone controls & i/p mcm looks cool but is not as useful as a peak led meter. ABM 115 - incredible lows, incredible weight. I just didn't bond with them. Excellent after-sales service.

All good advice above. The Tokai SG 32" MIK and the Gretsch Junior Jet II 30" MIC would be well worth considering. Both are keepers for me. The Epiphone Viola 30" was a real fun bass to own. I wish I'd kept mine. Tried a sunburst Squier Mustang at PMT last weekend. It was - ok. I thought the headstock looked large & not quite in proportion to the body. The neck felt strange which I think was just bare wood, sort of unfinished to me. Maybe I'm just used to to a high gloss neck.

Started playing aged 50+ with a Legend Jazz Bass 34". I found a Legend P bass 34". Both were good budget basses to learn on, playing, experimenting with different string types, adjustments, set-ups etc. I then caught a particularly virulant strain of GAS & self-medicated for several dark years, overdosing on various 34" models. My particular favourites were the Bass Collections, (comfortable with a very smooth action). My eventual recovery stalled when curiosity led me to purchase a Tokai SG 32" (MIK). I think it will always remain my favourite for it's build, reliability, tone, feel & looks, flats being my string choice. It's not too heavy & the bridge is comfortable for damping. The neck width & radius feel right. 32" gives an easy reach for many patterns without shifting my left hand. Lazy? Maybe, but after 2 hours or so on stage I can feel the benefit. Since then I've had fun with a Viola bass 30.25". Narrower width, good bridge for damping & very light but then I found a Gretch Junior Jet II 30.3" (MIRC) in Tobacco sunburst. The neck is a bit narrower than the SG but the build is good & the finish is very good. It's not heavy & I reckon good value for money. I intend to replace the switch & wire it up a la P bass with vol, vol, tone. I'm content with just the SG & the Jet, medium & short scales. They feel comfortable & both give that humbucker warmth which is the sound I like. Of course my nirvana isn't going to be everyones. So with both my GAS, not to mention my AAS, in remission for well over 12 months I just bought my first caravan! I think I might be developing CAS! I spent 3 hours on the laptop last night looking at photo's & reading reviews for the best awning! Thank God I shall never suffer a craving for handbags/shoes. Would that be "HASAS" ?