rushbo

Well, as bassist in Roxy Magic, a well established Roxy Music tribute band, I feel I should chime in here... Roxy had a series of great bassists, most notably John Wetton and Alan Spenner of course, but check out the bass playing on their debut album. Graham Simpson's playing is killer all the way through, in that lovely fluid, early seventies style. "Roxy Music" turned fifty last year, and we did side one of that album (plus "Virginia Plain." of course) at most of our live shows in 2022 to celebrate. I loved playing a version of Simpson's bassline on "2HB," which is a bit of a forgotten gem. John Porter's no slouch either. His bass playing on "For Your Pleasure," especially on "Do the Strand" is outstanding.

Four responses and yet no one has cracked the "Running in the (Royal) Family" joke yet? Shame on you BassChat.

Purchased some lovely tapewound strings for my Beatlebass from Mark. They came quickly with good comms all the way. Do I now sound like Paul McCartney? No. But I can't blame that on the strings... Buy and sell with confidence.

I think this is a pretty good analogy. Whenever I've played any super-duper, high-end basses, for the most part, I've been impressed, but the difference in build quality and shininess couldn't justify the financial outlay - for me, anyway. My modus operandi is that I'll buy an inexpensive but decent bass and then over time, replace some parts and do some tweaking until I have a bass which absolutely matches my needs. These hybrid instruments I put together have next to no resale value, but that's not the point. I love them and they inspire me to play. Musicians buy instruments for many reasons, with tonal quality not always being at the top of the list. Because a bassist is professional/semi-professional/high profile, there is an expectation that they'll play an instrument that somehow matches their perceived status. I worked in the jewellery trade for a couple of years and my old boss drove a Rolls Royce which he loathed and complained about it bitterly. When I naively suggested that he got rid of it, he replied that if he replaced it with a cheaper yet more reliable car, it would appear to be a retrograde step, meaning that he's fallen on hard times. If your £12,000 Fodera Richard Bona Imperial 5 inspires you to play at your absolute best (and you can afford it!) then that is the bass for you. If that second-hand Harley Benton P Bass that your dad bought for you for Christmas is your pride and joy, then hang on to it. You can hammer a nail into a wall with a hammer or a rock. As long as you can hang a picture on that nail, you've done the job.

Hopefully the daft hat will divert attention from the shoddy left hand technique.

Perfect for the forthcoming Rammstein/Gordon Ramsey co-headlining stadium tour. You can now move effortlessly from setting the drum riser alight to chopping the parsley for a delicate butter sauce, without the fear of tripping over a lead or a misplaced spurtle. Kudos, Lekato.

I used a capo on a tune which had a repeating octave/disco bassline in F, so the stretch became a little uncomfortable after a few bars. The capo worked really well, but now I've decided that it sounds better playing it in the octave above, with the root shifted to the 8th fret of the 'A' string, so I can do a "disco-octave-walk" up to it. Of course, a five string would have been the solution, but any instrument with more than four strings makes me agitated.

As a (mainly) P bass guy, that's not my thing at all, but the body shape is rather pleasing IMO. The headstock is a health and safety nightmare, but I'd imagine the sort of hardrockin' bassperson who ends up with this instrument, will care not one jot for risk assessments. I've played a few Dean basses and I briefly owned a Jeff Berlin model- all nice instruments to play. It looks like a tidy instrument and at £130, I'd say that was good value for money. Someone's gonna love that. It's the straplocks that offend me the most about this bass...

What are the chances of a gig in the Midlands? Pretty please and thankyou.

My word, that looks yummy. However... Reviews of the enhanced series were a bit mixed. Has anyone had any experience of these in the real world. I'm looking at you stewblack...

Two DFA knobs...

The easiest/laziest and potentially most useful solution for the pots would be to put the ones you've taken off back on, but leave them unconnected. That way, it's completely reversible if you have a change of heart. A bonus of this method would be that whenever a pesky sound engineer or band member starts yelling at you because "you're too loud and too bassy" you can twiddle with both useless knobs, safe in the knowledge that your carefully crafted tone will remain unmolested.

I love stuff like this - it soothes my OCD. I wish I could justify grabbing one of these, but my humble PowerPlant Jr is doing a sterling job of powering my teenytiny selection of toys on my board. Looking at the bits you've just bought, am I right in thinking that with a few wooden/metal strips of an appropriate thickness and a couple of adjustable feet/legs, you could turn it into a perfectly serviceable, DIY pedalboard?

For anything longer than a 30-40 minute set, I'll always take a "spare" bass - as we generally play two sets, I'll often use one bass in set one and the other in set two. I don't take a spare amp as I have DI outputs on my BDI 21 and my Zoom B3 in the event of my Genz Benz going pfft. I always carry spare instrument leads and power leads. One of my "old faithful" instrument cables started playing up at a soundcheck on Saturday night, but was swapped out before the gig. All the spare and "useful" stuff - extension leads, SM58 etc lives in a backpack which goes to almost every show I play. It's got me, or one of my bandmates out of trouble on many occasions. I'd hate to have to halt or delay a show because of something which could be easily put right with a bit of forward planning.

The off kilter scratchplate makes it look worse than it actually is. You could probably turn that into a nice bass, but the asking price is ridiculous. The only "vintage" parts have been severely modified (or butchered, spending on your opinion...) so to ask the best part of £250 for it seems bonkers. If it was £50 on Facebook Marketplace, I might be tempted, but as I paid £130 for a nearly new Harley Benton JP-45OP late last year, the seller may need to think again about the pricing.

In a similar vein: https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/diy-essentials/3m-duct-tape/p58613

Another vote for this - mine has had a pretty hard life and it's still going strong. It's also just under £76 (incl postage) if you buy it from G4M direct: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Dual-Bass-Guitar-Gig-Bag-by-Gear4music/1II6?origin=product-ads&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXSkmsMp8TsEsDmaBgfBVbWOT1FFtFb70l2uDucAl-LmaDadQ818bVkaAisWEALw_wcB

I'm a diehard Zoom fan. A slightly modified B3 is the core of my pedalboard and I've no intention of changing anytime soon. My needs are fairly minimal and the B3 has always delivered. I've also had a 506, a B1XON and a B2. I wasn't quite so keen on the 506, but the others have always sounded great to me. The casing on every plastic bodied Zoom pedal I've ever used has been very durable, but the metal housing of the B3 will probably survive The Apocalypse. I also use a Behringer BDI21 which has taken quite a beating over the last few years and always comes up smiling. Every time Zoom release a new bass Multi FX, I get a bit excited, but after reading the spec and re-assessing my needs, my humble B3 trumps them all - for my needs, anyway. I would suggest that people who are a bit sniffy about Zoom pedals might be listening with their eyes rather than their ears.

Herbie Flowers Glen Matlock

What a brilliant story!

ooohh, that's clever. The superglue would be more resilient, too.