rushscored4

I play guitar too and echo previous comments about helping to follow the guitarists or learn new songs. For example, we occasionally play American Pie as an encore. I've never learnt the actual bass line and haven't listened to the original Don McLean track for years but because I learnt to play the chords on an acoustic guitar ages ago it helps me improvise what to play on bass. Only another bass player would realise I'm winging it!

Great name Les!

That sounds like our singer!

Nice advert for Probe. I spent most of my teenage years in there and Penny Lane Records. Pete Burns worked in Probe in those days.

We're all in a band what's app group. Apart from the drummer who doesn't have a smart phone so we have to email everything to him and wait for a reply several days later...

I guess I was just playing devils advocate... I have a Gibson J35!

Not sure what the John Milly was (an old hall I think) but it's 200 yards down the road from the Junction which is now called Platform 5.

We regularly play a cracking pub in Cheadle Hulme called the John Millington - or the John Milfington as the lads have nicknamed it!

Cheers Dave, interesting setup! I live in Sale but most of our gigs are in pubs around Stockport - Cheadle Hulme, Romiley, Reddish and Gatley to name a few recent places.

Off topic sorry but I noticed you bought your RM800 for a cracking price through here a couple of years ago. I'm looking for a cheap backup/alternative to my Rumble Stage 800 to run with my Big Baby 2 cab so I guess you're happy with the Ashdown and Barefaced pairing Dave?

The Studio 40 and Stage 800 have all the Rumble and Bassman tones as amp models which you can edit to your heart's content as well as all the ones below plus loads of effects etc. However I'm sure the PJB tone is lovely too!

I have to admit as much as I love gigging I sometimes dread rehearsals especially if we have to go through the whole set with a dep drummer or guitarist which we have to do regularly.

Just listening to it now on Spotify. The bass sounds brilliant through a pair of Skull Crusher headphones!

For £336 the new Fender Rumble Studio 40 will take some beating as a practice amp with its 100+ amp models, huge range of editable effects and Bluetooth / wifi connectivity to play along with your iPod or smart phone etc: Fender Rumble Studio 40 I have its big brother the Stage 800 and it's absolutely brilliant.

Same with acoustic guitars. For example is a Gibson Hummingbird or Dove really 10 x better than its Epiphone sibling?

Kind of defeats the object of being a "front man" but history is littered with stories of great entertainers who were/are painfully shy in real life. Nothing much to do with music but I was in one the episodes of Peter Kay's first TV series in 1999 "That Peter Kay Thing" and got to meet him. He was so shy off stage he couldn't even look you in the eye!

We're called the Reform, Les. Mainly play around Manchester and Stockport but we have been known to venture to far flung exotic places like Atherton! What's your band?

She's a good singer and the males in the audience like her but yes it's pretty unprofessional. It's totally down to nerves as she's never sang with a band before and although we're a really friendly bunch I think she's still not completely comfortable around us. Our drummer lives near her so he gives her a lift to and from every gig. He was going to have a few quiet words in her ear after last Saturday night's gig when she screwed up at least one song very badly because she'd drank too much. Mind you it was at her sister's pub and her friends and family were just as bevied and up singing and dancing alongside her but that's not the point.

And it's arrived this morning so I'm looking forward to turning the clock back 43 years from when I learnt to read music in the first year (year 7 for you youngsters) at secondary school!

We have one of them in our rehearsal room and it's pretty good.

I have a Vintage Icon Series Jaco Pastorius fretless J bass and its ridulously good considering I only paid £130 second hand! Looks stunning too with it's "bass of doom" relicing.

Great rig but possibly not the cheapest option as a practice amp. Mind you the OP didn't mention budget to be fair. In fact his post doesn't match the topic title at all!

Any of the Fender Rumble V3 series. All come with great vintage tone and are ridiculously lightweight. I've even gigged with my Rumble 100 V3 which cost £260 new and is powerful enough for small to medium sized venues like most of the pubs we play.

Shouldn't that be "we're a tough audience in Cleck tha knows..."?!

I've got a Nate Mendel too which I agree is fantastic but mine is now 3rd choice behind my Sandberg TM4 and a Limelight Precision I bought from here a few weeks ago. I've been following your 'for sale' thread with interest as I'm debating whether to trade mine in for a more powerful bass head to compliment my new Barefaced BB2 cab which I also bought on here recently! I'd say the Nate is better than both US made Precisions I've owned in the past but I also have an early 1980s MIJ PB-551 which gives it a good run for it's money.