spinynorman

My favourite trick with the Samson Airline was to hit the pad switch on the transmitter, either instead of the on/off switch, or part way through a song out of shere enthusiasm. So either nothing or drastically reduced volume. Despite doing it many times, my first thought was always "Oh no, the amp's blown up!". In the end I couldn't take the stress and sold the damned thing. Energiser Lithium AAAs were great for the bug, but I never found an economic source of Lithium PP9s.

[quote name='benwhiteuk' post='238409' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:24 AM']Would you rather spend a lot of money on a bass or an amp? I’m just interested on hearing people’s views on this because I’m in a bit of a dilemma and it might help me to hear the opinions of others. I’m talking over a grand here, probably about 1500 quid. If you're regularly gigging then I suppose it’s a no-brainer that you really need your amp, but if you're not regularly gigging, do you think you can survive without an amp for a while…maybe 2 or 3 months? And would you downgrade your amp considerably in order to acquire a dream bass? …decisions, decisions…[/quote] "not regularly gigging" implies that you might gig sometimes (and presumably practice beforehand with the band). Turning up with a 1500 quid bass and then having to hunt about for something to play it through seems a bit odd to me. I like to have control of my own destiny. I worked out that, taking the bass I usually gig with and the rig which I think is a pretty good match for it in terms of quality, I spent 60% of the "budget" on the rig. I remember a thread on another forum a while back, guy had been to an audition with his SVT rig and a Wal Custom. So he sets this all up, just ready to play when the guitarist wanders over, looks this all up and down and says "Hmm. I suppose you spent so much on the rig, you couldn't afford a Fender."

Hey little sister who is it you're with? Hey little sister what's your vice and wish? Hey little sister shot gun (oh yeah) Hey little sister who's your superman? Hey little sister shot gun! Never struck me as a terribly good lyric for a wedding, but I gather it's quite popular.

There's a small club near where I live that mostly books touring tribute bands, "60s reunion" bands, or touring blues bands. Tickets are £15-25 and these people will pack the place every time, and any that don't won't get another booking. "Originals" night is Tuesday, three bands a time, bands almost fight to play and they get paid - nothing. From what I can tell from people I know (in their 20s) in originals bands, there's no real money in it unless you've got an agent or label behind you. Thing is, it's no good blaming cover bands, tribute bands, bands-that-used-to-be-good-in-the-60s, venues or promoters for the way things are. The only people you can really blame are the paying public, who want to go out on Friday and Saturday night and drink (and talk loudly) over a live band that's doing stuff they've heard before, so they don't really need to listen. The other thing is, just because the bar manager tells you he can get the Count Basie Orchestra for £150 doesn't mean he can.

Thanks to this thread I now have an eBay watch list full of Tascam gear.

Surely most, if not all, of the people mentioned in this thread could get pretty much any manufacturer they wanted to give them a bass if they just promised to play it in public once. Makes you wonder why they don't. Must be a lack of curiosity.

I've got a MIM 5-string Jazz that the Fender site says should be MN9+5, but the SN on the bass is MN9+6 (though the last digit is 0). I've seen quite a few MIMs for sale that are the same.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='234846' date='Jul 8 2008, 11:22 AM']Is that your bass? It's a stunner. I'm a sucker for red basses and pointy too, great.[/quote] Yes, it's mine. I wanted a Thunderbird without the narrow neck. It's great to play, but doesn't work that well in a band context. Seems to make the guitarist nervous. At least, if the 80s ever come back, I'll be ready.

The (always have to be different) Gibson approach - black front of headstock to match ebony fretboard, red back of headstock and neck to match body. It's a bit of a shock, the first time you see it in the flesh. It's mahogany though and I'm not a big fan of mahogany left uncovered.

[quote name='coasterbass' post='232683' date='Jul 4 2008, 01:38 PM']We have no backline, and everything goes through the (sizeable) PA. This means its time for the PA engineer to prove his mettle, but I'm not sure how you make a drummer quiet?! Maybe give him some tricky algebra to mull over... [/quote] Put the drummer behind a plexiglass screen, then all you hear is what comes through the PA.

Could have been worse, he could have taken the exact Google translation y un conmutador para "jugar" con las pastillas y abrirle un amplio abanico de sonidos and a switch to 'play' with the pills and to open to him a wide fan of sounds

[quote name='Bassassin' post='231060' date='Jul 2 2008, 02:39 AM']Oh, OK then, since I'm so bloody predictable... It's one of those neck-through Corts, badged up as Kay. Should be a nice stripey natural finish, quite Matsumoku-esque, except someone's put a couple of litres of Halfords' finest all over it, and a tin scratchplate. Dunno how it's wired up - it should have 4 knobs & a 3-way switch. Fifty quid's a bit on the dear side, considering it needs a thing or two done with it... J.[/quote] Yes, it should look like this. It was a good bass, with a new bridge and Dimarzios. Made in Korea, don't think it went anywhere near the mythical Ibanez factory. I think I got £120 when I sold it.

I was looking at Fender strings on StringsDirect and the description for tapered suggests they're recommended, or factory fit at least, for through the body loading, whereas non-tapered are for top loading.

[quote name='OldGit' post='231688' date='Jul 2 2008, 11:48 PM']Anyone owned played or seen a Gibson / Epiphone flying V bass in the flesh ?? Do they neck dive and roll away from one's body as the T'birds do? Any other points ? I've never played a Gibson bass that sounded nice to my ears, or "fitted", especially Thunderbirds ... but I have a very long held gas yearning for a Flying V ever since I saw Jim Lea in Slade playing one in the 1970s .... Just wondered ..[/quote] Over at [url="http://bassoutpost.com/index.php"]The Last Outpost[/url], where most of the people who really like Gibson basses hang out, the prevailing opinion seems to be that the Gibson Flying V bass looks cool, but sounds crap. The Epi version is actually rated a bit higher. I have a Gibson IV, which is a Flying V shape headstock on a mahogany neck and fenderish mahogany body, with TB pickups. It looks odd, plays well, sounds ok. The band don't like it much, but they don't really like anything except my P. I'd sell the IV but I'm waiting for the 80s to come back.

I like the black one, but the price is even higher. [url="http://www.classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/basses/peaveyt40_9.htm"]Black T40[/url]

[quote name='Chris2112' post='227921' date='Jun 27 2008, 11:54 AM']It does have a bit of a honk, I'll admit, but it's a touch brighter than the classic, growling, honky jazz sound imo. (Pardon the Spector). However, this baby really honks and growls! It's a lot heavier than my Squier too, but I kind of like the extra weight! Probably the best £90 I've ever spent. [/quote] What's the white one? Oh, and no need to apologise for the the Spector. Not to me, anyway.

I replaced the pickups in my MIM Jazz 5 with Basslines SJ5s. I think there's some difference in tone, but not a lot in output. While doing it I put the multimeter on both sets, Basslines 5.50 & 5.87, Fender 4.96 & 5.09. Jazz pickups I've had in the past, which were on copies, not Fenders, were more like 8-9. Presumably some people like lower output. The bridge on the 5-string is quite a bit heavier than the 4-string.

"Hey Joe" by Cher All those Patti Smith songs where she starts reading from the Unicef annual report. Any cover where the singer decides to make up new lyrics, for example U2 "All Along the Watchtower", or most covers by Judas Priest, where they modify the tune as well.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='224665' date='Jun 23 2008, 01:24 AM']Utter fabricated Ebay bullsh!t, about as ludicrous as the price being asked for a good-but-nothing-special JapCrap P copy. What exactly would Yamaha sue over? The fact that the phonetic transcription of two Japanese names into Western characters happened to share a few letters? Yamaha themselves were punting as many copies as all the other MIJ manufacturers in the 70s - so it's hardly going to be designs! J.[/quote] I've seen some Yamaki acoustic guitar headstock logos that could possibly be mistaken for Yamaha, so if there was any legal stuff it would have been for that. Nothing to do with the quality of this bass of course. I love these lawsuit stories, there really should be an eBay prize for fiction.

I don't mind simple repetitive, or even moderately complex repetitive. What I hate is songs like Because the Night, which just seems to be a random succession of chords. No way I can remember that song, I always have to play with a crib sheet.

I assumed that was like the 3 bolt Fender necks with micro-tilt, but looking at it again it does look like it's the truss rod adjuster. No idea how that would work. Here's the same bass badged Daion. [url="http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1673104"]Harmony Central Forums[/url]

It might have got some bids if the starting price had been under £100. But that auction's been up before - last time round it started at £420. If it was mine I think I'd try it as 3 separate auctions.

Yamaki P copy, selling from Switzerland, and £489 BIN. The seller copied the description from one review on Harmony Central. Looks like quite a nice bass, but surely not worth paying that for it. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320265065011&indexURL=0#ebayphotohosting"]Yamaki P copy[/url] I was really only wondering if the Yamaki/Yamaha story is just another lawsuit legend. Can't find any support for it, but it's difficult to check out as a lot of the sites are in Japanese. Does anyone know any more? [url="http://www.acousticguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=6261"]acousticguitar.com[/url] [url="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdreamworks.fc2web.com%2Fyamaki_daion%2Fframe.html&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=ja&tl=en"]Yamaki site[/url]

[quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='222331' date='Jun 19 2008, 05:12 PM']Some may remember this treasure popping up a couple of years ago, I think the defining comment was 'like a chapman stick, but s**t' [url="http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/"]http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/[/url] I honestly find it hard to believe that Tennessee have ripped of such an awful design, but I guess they think it will sell![/quote] From the website "If the guitar fretboard was on the top, chords would be insanely difficult. I'm glad I thought of this important design feature." Wow. I bet.

The very early EB0s had something like that shape. [url="http://perso.wanadoo.es/tallent/gear/pics/sale/BG1623.jpg"]1959 EB0[/url] [url="http://www.gibsonbass.com/EB0.php"]Gibsonbass EB0 page[/url]