Wolverinebass

Then listen to The John Entwistle Band - Left For Live. Dropouts, not recording the bass part of the bass signal, the drummer sounding like he's just smacking a glass bottle with a steel bar. I could go on. Such a pity as for the most part the performances would melt your face off.

Acton 2007 Many years ago I decided to take on a second project while my main band were on a break for a few months. I get invited to this audition which sounds interesting. Kind of like the Doors, but they don't have anything online. I decide to chance my arm. This sorry escapade was the last time I ever did that. I show up and the band aren't there, so I set my gear up and go outside for a cigarette. I get a text saying they're running "5 minutes late." 40 minutes later the drummer and keyboard player arrive. The guitarist apparently isn't coming. Flags are starting to ascend in my mind. We get in and the keyboard player (we'll call him Bob - not his real name) asks why I've got such a crap bass and didn't have a precision. I was playing an Alembic. Bob then literally throws some sheet music in my face and says this is bassline. I had asked and confirmed that I could make up my own bass parts. Seemingly, this had been forgotten. "Can you not read?" Yes, I can, and I took about 20 seconds to read it before getting it into my head. We start playing. It's quite clear that Bob is taking every song as a keyboard solo. The bass part whilst very fast isn't what I'd play. Bob reluctantly agreed to play it again giving me some leeway noting sternly "that the songs are already written." So we start again. I play a bit looser and so does the drummer. The song sounds really fun. Then Bob stops playing and quite annoyed says that I'd "deviated too far and that I was playing like "a f@**ing talentless idiot." Hmm. That sounded a bit like an insult so I broke it down in my head. "Idiot?" Yeah, that's probably true. "F@**ing idiot?" Maybe. I don't have documentary evidence on me to refute it. Hang on, I'm not talentless... I politely ask Bob to repeat that as I assure him it'll be much more difficult to do so once I knock out his front teeth. The drummer asks Bob to calm down. I hasten to say at this point that Bob is 6 foot 2 and I'm only 5 foot 9. Still, I guess the sight of an angry Scotsman starting to clench his fists is enough. Or at least so I thought. I decided to leave really quickly before I really lost my temper. Now, I always wear earplugs. Bob wasn't so he thought he'd said something that I wouldn't hear under his breath, but sadly, slightly too loud. As I was putting my bass back in my back I hear the muttered "f@**ing w@**er" behind me. So, I very calmly stood up and lamped him. He went flying over his keyboard and into the wall. I then calmly pick up my stuff and leave (the drummer is in shock and doesn't say anything). A few months later I was contacted by Bob through Myspace (he didn't know who I was) asking if I'd join his band. As tempting as it was to agree and go in disguise, I didn't reply. Finally, there is proof that you can get a callback after literally doing anything at an audition.

True, but it defeats the purpose of using a Wal to strip out all that low mid and crunch. Why fight the natural sound of a bass like that? I tried a set of those 30-90s and was terrified I'd snap them. The tension was all wrong too. They came off after one rehearsal. Utter crap.

Conversely, I happen to think his Wal sound was awful. Thin, weedy and insipid. I say that as both a Wal and Rick owner.

I would say £50 is about right unless there's tons of other stuff to be done. Maybe £65 if you didn't supply strings?

Also, can't find an audience sixty miles away from home? Oh well..... Didn't think of that when you took any gig to the detriment of the band. Div.

Not at all. HP beans. Not even Heinz....

No, they're not always subtle. I run my 12 string with bi-amp distortion as well as dual flanging and dual delay on the top as well. You can hear everything even in a band context.

If you want something cheap and cheerful, I got given this as a leaving present. Not bad.

Obviously there wasn't enough room for the "full beans" rig, which consists of 2 fieldmice running on wheels inside a cigarette packet with tone knobs painted on. That'd be vastly more powerful than the Elf.

Well, today I took delivery of a rather shiny and hilariously triple boxed Vanderkley 2x12LNT. So I had a quick play with my 50s precision. In comparison to my Markbass cabs it's much brighter on the same settings. My rig is all midi, so it's the same settings without question. In other words, I think that it's much closer to the DI signal as it sounded horrible when I recorded it. After some very quick fiddling and this mainly involved turning the treble down by about 40% and the bass and mid range up slightly, I was good to go. As with all things, change one thing you have to adjust and this will take some time to programme my rig again. One thing I will say is that the weight of the cab is given as 24kg. I think it's less as I can quite easily lift it with one hand and I'm not a big guy. I'm happy with it. Just have to adjust. Maybe I might get 2.....

How about something like that Hagstrom with say a babicz bridge, dimarzio pickups to keep the look and an ACG filter circuit? Or have I went too far?

I guess the debate is ended if everyone wants to get a banana.

Funnily enough, one of them (white with a less insane bottom horn) was my first bass which I still have. It's brilliant.

Yeah, go on then. Let's see what everyone wants out of it.

I'll be 39 next week. I've never been told I'm "too old," but there are loads of adverts which are 20-30 only. Fair enough, it's their band. I generally don't mention my age as I look about 5 years younger than I really am. I generally find that as long as I don't get into a situation where war stories are being told, nobody will know. As someone who plays in the progressive metal genre, it's quite niche anyway so limiting by age in adverts may and does exist, it's generally not mentioned overtly.

Hartke have been awful for some time. Since 2007 at a rough guess. I know I'm in the minority, but I think the LH series amps are awful. Powerful of course, but the tone controls are pants. The Kilo was redesigned for about 2 years from the initial announcement. It was plagued with reliability issues. The TX600 is a 400W module saying its a 600W amp. I played one and it felt like 300W. Pitiful. In my opinion, their best amp is the HA5500 though it's old school and rather heavy especially in light of today's penchant for amps the size and weight of a packet of cigarettes. Like lots of companies they are living off past glories. Saying "Jaco played these!" sadly doesn't matter anymore. I wonder if Larry Hartke has any say or even cares any more as their decline has been quite terrible.

Will be along. 1) Cetera - Spector NS2 & Legend 4X, Dingwall NG2, Epiphone Vintage Pro Thunderbird, Yamaha BB3000, GK800RB head, Genz Benz Neox212 cab, Tech-21 Dug DP3X preamp/pedal 2) Ezbass - Maruszczyk Elwood L 4 string fretted (J pickups), Maruszczyk Elwood L 4 string fretless (MM pickup), Rickenbacker 4003s, Rob Allen MB2 fretless, Phil Jones Flightcase + PB300 3) Happy Jack - AliKat DB #004, Mike Lull 54P, all I need to play a doubling gig (that evening) on those two instruments 4) BlueJay - Eminence Upright (left-handed), loads of camera equipment 5) obbm - TBA  6) Nancy Johnson (Paul) - The Big One, rack (GED/poweramp), possibly the dUg DP3x. A bass. 7) MacDaddy - Shuker bass(es), Snapdragon Folding bass, Flattley Bass Poison Ivy. 8 ) prowla (Paul) - Maybe a Ric or two and fakers, maybe a couple of Statii, maybe J- & P-basses. Probably a Markbass amp & cab and a pedalboard with some FX. 9) Stingray5 - Old faithful Stingray5; Tune SWV4-BB bass; Eden EC180 1x15 combo. (I also have a gig that evening so may leave the Eden in the car but happy to bring it in if anyone asks). 10) TrevorR - Wal Pro II E, Wal Mk 1 Custom, Aria SB700, MarkBass LMII and Traveler 2x10, pedalboard. 11) TheGreek - Mesa M Pulse 600 head/ Powerhouse 1x15 cab and The Psilos bass built by Andyjr1515 12) JapanAxe (Graeme) - most of the stuff in my signature! 13) Wolverinebass (Andy) - Maybe some Wounded Paw effects/signature preamp and a bass.

So would I. But that's mainly because I don't like jazz basses.

It's chromatic.

One of these. http://www.guitarsoundsystems.com/Mobile/gss-1000w-sumo-guitar-bass-power-amp-c2x23791314 It's bound to have gamed the wattage ratings.

Yeah, but you haven't bought a Wal yet!

It's what put me off getting a Moog delay. You can't see what you're adjusting. It's why I got a strymon timeline and it's much better in a functionality way.

Kind of. But you need a chase Bliss midi box for it to work. The cv stuff is reasonably accessible, but the presets are somewhat more buried. If you can't see where a knob is positioned it's kind of difficult to adjust isn't it? Has anyone ever adjusted the position or value of a knob by sending a cc message instead of turning it?!

Not at all. I only got it a few weeks ago just for fun really. Aside from the fact the bridge is total garbage, it's really good. You're welcome to pop over if you want once I get my new cab sorted.