Kiwi

I think its relative depending on which component you will be relying on most heavily and which will give you the greatest benefit. If you play a really skanky bass and its holding up your development then it probably makes more sense to invest your money in a better instrument. Having said that, isn't it possible to split the money a little more evenly between the two ambitions?

[quote name='parker_muse' post='238481' date='Jul 13 2008, 12:54 PM']They took it to a specialist and its a 57'.[/quote] Sweet mother of god.

[quote name='Mike Brooks' post='238479' date='Jul 13 2008, 12:53 PM']Without sounding flippant........why didn't you give me a shout, you plonker! Mike[/quote] Because I'm a plonker? It was OK, I managed to get to the gig on time for load in.

[quote name='parker_muse' post='238437' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:56 AM']I know. They thought it was old junk at first and i had to hve a look at it and tell them how ridiculously valuable it was.[/quote] did you manage to confirm the year at all?

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='238438' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:57 AM']^^ scary insight into the world of functions Kiwi. [/quote] Hehe, yeah. That one at Ravens Ait was probably the worst one we've had to date. Even the AC/DC power adaptor I use with the Deep Impact pedal quit working! I bought three of them about 3 months ago and every unit has packed up and refuses to work. One of them refused to work straight out of the box but I've lost the reciepts so can't claim money back. [quote name='stingrayfan' post='238438' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:57 AM']My gig last night didn't happen - playing on a float in the local town carnival to promote a local pub's band nights, followed by a gig at said pub. Been planning it for 6 months...[/quote] Well thats a bit of a bugger! What happened? [quote name='stingrayfan' post='238438' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:57 AM']...then I dislocated my knee last week and I'm hobbling around on crutches. [/quote] Ouch! I've done that a number of times and managed to pop the joint back in although the process was excrutiatingly painful. Did you damage your knee joint?

[quote name='parker_muse' post='238401' date='Jul 13 2008, 11:12 AM']One day when my mate and his family were cleaning out the attic, they found a guitar case buried under lots of boxes. Inside lay a very old and virtually factory fresh Fender Stratocaster. They are keeping it untill he has to go to university, then its getting sold.[/quote] That story is truly the stuff of urban myths! Hope they get a bundle for it. Be interesting to know what the legal position on it is though, is it theirs to sell?

Right, I've missed out quite a few gigs so here they are in brief: [b]Last week:[/b] Gig in Ledbury at Eastnor Castle. Staff were very helpful but the venue wasn't good. We were stuck outside in a small tent and it was pissing down with rain the whole time so that anyone who wanted to get from the main room (which actually had enough space for us) to the tent had to get wet. Lovely. Load in involved lugging everything from the courtyard in front around the other side of the castle to where the marquee was, through two narrow stone tunnels in the battlements. The meal was superb - roast beef and three veg! Punters were pretty good - up for a laugh although it took them a while to warm up. We went down well. I'd flown in from Dubai the previous evening so my body clock was on GMT + 3 hours. I left the venue in Herefordshire at 1:30am and drove back until I got to Membury Services on the M4. By this time I was so tired I needed a rest so I kipped in the services for an hour. When I woke up at 3:30am, my body clock was on 6:30am. So I managed to make it back on a stomach of diet coke! There was never any risk of me falling asleep but my eyes were very tired, I never want to do that again. [b]Friday night:[/b] Washout corporate gig at Ravens Ait, an island in the middle of the Thames in Surbiton. The venue was a total dump, built (badly) in the 70's in true working mens club style. We were out in a marquee and apparently the building of it had been stopped half way through because of rain during the week. Add to that the guttering hadn't been put up so that meant yet more water was leaking in during the evening because it was still pissing down, so the carpet tiled dance floor was sopping wet when it was walked on. We insisted on getting a hole in the ceiling plugged before we would even set up. The client was a very large employment agency and they were a bit indifferent during the first set but the second set had them flooding (aha) the dance floor and it went off quite nicely. They were a bit of a pikey bunch - most of them didn't make an effort to get dressed up. The load in was a nightmare, we had to use a ferry and there was no way to park close to the ferry landing so the gear had to be lugged down steps and on to the mooring point. It started to rain as I was waiting for the ferry and it was at this point I really wished I had a cover for the 2x12 cab. I got to the gig in anticipation of trying the Genz Benz Shuttle but discovered the speakon cable I asked for hadn't been included because the amp had been shipped straight from the distrbutors. So after lugging the cab onto the ferry and offloading it then wheeling it through the guests to the stage, effectively I had no rig, apart from a 30w Roland keyboard combo that I usually use for monitoring the keys on larger stages. So I ended up plugging the line out of the Shuttle into the keyboard combo and using the amp basically as a big ol' DI box (the amp doesn't need a speaker load when in use). Highlight of the evening was the venue manager. South African and (apparently) ex-Army, it was like watching a cross between David Brent and Gordon Ramsey. Given the stuff up with the marquee, it was classic micro-management expecting clockwork precision, high performance table setting up and breaking down, constantly harrying the staff. We asked some of the staff what working for him was like and they all said 'no comment'. LOL He insisted on sitting the staff down in the foyer after they had finished work and giving them a 30min team review session (and it was 1am). The meal was BBQ with the rest of the guests - it was OK but the meat was over cooked so not the best ever. We went down well. [b]Last night:[/b] Wedding gig in Painshill Park, Cobham. Before the gig I got up early (after 5 hours sleep) and went to our local Maplins to get a speakon cable... ...surprise surprise they were out of stock. If there's one thing I know I can rely on, its that my local Maplins never have the one thing I'm looking for. So I faced a schlep under time pressure into the city to find a place that sold speakon cables. At this point I really missed Sound Control. But I ended up in the London PA Centre on Denmark Street and they made me up a 2m cable on the spot. Top blokes, really helpful and very funny to boot. Probably the only shop I'd go back to on that street. The venue was a huge marquee, but there was no dressing room for us. This was one of the first gigs we booked back in September before our Terms and Conditions were in place and the bride got a bit arsey with the percussionist when he asked her for a dressing room after they'd signed the booking form. Apparently she was going to be charged an extra £150 for the band dressing room and basically told us a few weeks back that if it wasn't in the terms and conditions then too bad. Luckily the venue manager sorted us out with something in their staff offices but she watched us like a hawk because she wasn't supposed to let us use them. The meal was superb in quality but meagre in portions - half a fillet steak with potato gratin, peas, cherry tomatoes and beans. In fact it was one of those meals that made me completely ravenous and hypoglycemic about 1 hour later. A dessert would have been nice. When they announced the cheese board, I got stuck right in during our between set break. Client permission or not, I was so hungry I seriously didn't give a sh*t. We went down well although the bride didn't talk to any of us all night, her hubby did most of the thanking and interfacing. Verdict on the Shuttle? The lows were focussed and not at all muddy, the mids are lovely and firm. The semi para eq is as much as you need to nail the mids. What I did pick up on was a slight lack of top end snap in comparison to my Trace V8. It made hearing the pops I was playing when I was slapping the intro to "Don't Blame It On The Boogie" difficult, in fact most of what I heard came from the FOH. I think I need some more time with the amp to be sure whether it was the amp or the venue though. Made me wonder whether I could possibly find someone to make me a lightweight neo 2x12 + 1x10 wedge tilt back cab with a 2U rack slot. I really really miss the tilt back feature of my GK combo. I love the fact that I can slip this amp into the pocket in my gig bag! Good times! I started out the first set with a good sound but it got increasingly mushy as the gig progressed. I get this happening a lot when I'm on stage, regardless of the amp and I have no idea why it happens. I can only presume its something to do with my hearing getting more fatigued after the first couple of songs.

[quote name='Huge Hands' post='237863' date='Jul 12 2008, 11:35 AM']Who played on the Bee Gees disco stuff? Was it actually Maurice? I always assumed he didn't do the recordings, and just stood with a bass on stage to cover shyness or something. I know I probably would![/quote] Maurice was the musical maestro behind the BeeGee's. Thats why when he died, effectively the BeeGee's finished. Maurice wrote most of the music and played keyboards, guitar and bass on most of the tracks! Louis Johnson and Quincy Jones had a close working relationship, he played on quite a few Michael Jackson tunes. To add to the list, lets also include Rutger Gunarsson, who played bass and wrote the brass arrangements for ABBA.

or a cheaper alternative might be Phil Mann.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='237746' date='Jul 12 2008, 01:27 AM']i can't help thinking that a lot of this is due to people just being greedy.[/quote] Me neither. I would love to know why prices are sky rocketing. I don't see much has really changed apart from the cost of credit.

[quote name='Mike Brooks' post='235562' date='Jul 9 2008, 10:55 AM']Actually, the white Warwick Thumb fretless used by Prince at The Brits in 1997 belongs to Bob Skeat of Wishbone Ash and is currently for sale at The Bass Centre, unless Bob has collected it. But it is for sale. If anyone is interested in it, PM me and I'll pass your details onto Bob. Mike[/quote] I hope he didn't treat it like he treated this one:

the crackle is probably being caused by contact between two metal surfaces both on the signal path.

Putting on my admin hat for a sec, I just want to say its great to see self moderation in action here. Respect t' y'all.

[quote name='silddx' post='234368' date='Jul 7 2008, 06:32 PM']Good one! Big Sister's Clothes is another Brucie beauty. And yip, almost anything by the Police, completely agree and was thinking that earlier.[/quote] +1 on Bruce Thomas - vastly understated player. He's a very modest player but his lines are highly lyrical.

[quote name='bassicinstinct' post='233933' date='Jul 7 2008, 09:13 AM']Don't tell the wife!! [/quote] Claire might possibly empathise with your wife quite strongly.

On reading the thread title, I mistakenly thought of Thing from the Addams family.

Petty much anything by the Police.