molan

I sometimes get this - New Content works perfectly for everything except stuff I've posted myself

Funnily enough the greatest disappointment I've ever had with a bass was a Kingbass, lol. I was really looking forward to owning one but pretty much from the moment I took it out of it's case I disliked it, I literally couldn't find a single thing about it I liked Reason for saying this is not to criticise your choice but just to emphasise the great thing about basses is that we're each looking for something different and personal and the world would be a very boring place if we all wanted the same thing I guess I've had a few basses over the years that have massively exceeded my expectations but then something else has come along that was just that bit better again. Have been pretty settled with a '63J and a Ritter Cora for a while now but recently picked up a GB Spitfire (by accident!) that really surprised me and I've been playing it a lot - I bought it to modify and sell but was so surprised at how it sounded and felt to play that I've hung on to it for a bit

I have a Traveller 2x10 and it's a great cab for small gigs or rehearsals. It works brilliantly if paired with an MB 4x10 for bigger gigs as well.

[quote name='YouMa' timestamp='1355709987' post='1901760'] Wish john taylor would do a show and tell on bernard edwards stingray he got. [/quote] I have been told, on more than one occasion, that many of Duran's bass parts were actually 'ghosted' by Mr Edwards - anyone else ever here this? Maybe it's one of those 'urban myth' things

First gig with big new band, venue packed and everything going well. Come back for encore and suddenly there's no sound from my amp at all. Spot that my jack lead looks frayed and decide it must be this. Don't have another immediately to hand and we're already into the opening bars. All I could was rapidly unplug my tuner patch lead (which was sitting on top of my amp) and use that instead. Played the two encore songs with the bass literally under my chin, my back turned to the audience and my face rammed up against the amp! Luckily it was a good old school Fender rig that was about as tall as me or I'd have also been kneeling on the floor at the same time

Enrico's 33" scale 5'ers are just great to play.

Tricky period to value - some early '80's basses are excellent. Others are dogs You could certainly get a decent mid/late 70's P for £1,500 at the moment. Simply being '70's rather than '80's tends to add value so I'd say it's a bit 'optimistic'. However a dealer price will be a bit higher and they will have built in some costs for negotiation, credit card sales and the dreaded VAT as well.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1355160852' post='1894837'] My mum and dad were friends of Billy Bremner ( seriously ) . Or at least that's what they thought until now ... [/quote] Lol Unfortunately I get the same thing for Lembit Opik! This is, of course, mostly annoying. Only time it's been of any use was at the Ace Cafe where the owner insisted I was Lembit (who use to champion bikers' rights) and gave me a beer on the house. I insisted I wasn't him and he said he 'understood' and thought I was examining the biker lifestyle 'under cover'. He said he'd respect my privacy and leave me alone but pointed me out to a few, fairly heavy, bikers who all gave me a little nod, lol.

A Marcus Sig should add some value to a Marcus Sig series bass. However, he seems to have signed a lot of basses in his time so they a)won't be all that rare and b)may have questionable authenticity. The one that always gets me is the Noel Redding Signature bass - I've never seen one without his 'original' sig on! Funnily enough my Dad used to look a lot like Billy Bremner (footballer not guitarist) and was often pestered for his autograph. He got bored saying no and/or being insulted so he simply decided to sign as Billy and then say he didn't want to talk about football. No idea how many of his autographs are out there

I've played a couple of vintage Fender P's recently with J necks fitted. This combination worked really well for me as I often struggle with chunkier P neck profiles. However, blocks don't seem to look 'right' to me on a classic 4 string bass Even odder is that I think they are fine on a 5 string P!

I used to be in a big 13 piece band with horns (always on my side of the stage) and singers. I was sometimes rammed really close to the kit and, being right handed and on the right hand side of the drummer my headstock had very little room to move without getting close to clattering a cymbal. Got the MD to move me and the horns to the left hand side so if I swung around too far I wouldn't hit the kit - got the, flash git, also sax player on the back of the head a couple of times though

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1355157559' post='1894755'] I like spending 45 minutes at the end of each gig untangling mic cables...... [/quote] I used to work with a friend who owned a soun an lights business an often used to help engineering. I've had a dodgy back for years so never did any post gig heavy lifting and was always assigned to cable gathering and storage. Somewhat perversely I still enjoy doing this! I sometimes got to see a friend's band and often end up sorting all their cables for them, lol. As far as the OP is concerned - I also really like that, everything on stage ready to go moment

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1355088146' post='1893934'] Ok I'm a complete fan of vinyl and prefer it over CD. However the turntable has to be very good as does the CD player to get satisfying results. But how about digital streaming players? I don't mean cheapies, ipods etc or mp3. Get a listen to a good streamer from Linn or Naim playing flac or wav or studio master recordings. In a decent system these will blow away any CD player. For everyone's info the top spec turntable from Linn the LP12 now costs in the region of £20k [/quote] Wow - that's insane money, hav they really improved the technology of the LP12 that much? I'd love to compare a new one with my old '80's one

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1355061788' post='1893476'] So is vinyl. Have you never heard of the RIAA curve? [/quote] Strangely no - I've never even heard of the RIAA, let alone any curve they've been on! Given that I have no idea about how CD compression then it should be fairly obvious that I'm no technical acronym expert Maybe if I rephrase - to my ears a lot of CD's sound harsher and less natural than their vinyl counterparts. Some CD's seem to 'jump' out at you when you first hear them but, to me, can become wearing with repeated listening. Just felt to me like this could be a 'compression thing' as that's what I thought a typical side-effect of a compressed mix was

I've played the 4 - sounds just great!

CD's are compressed and limited (I really don't understand the technology behind this!) and never seem to sound as open and natural as vinyl to me. However, your signal chain is really important. Without a quality turntable, arm and cartridge you may find vinyl doesn't sound as good as a mid level CD player. CD's can sound a lot more 'immediate' though and possibly more appealing to begin with. Vinyl should let you listen to more music for longer without tiring your ears Mind you, a really good CD master and a high end transport can sound pretty damn good too!

Might be worth listening to Beverley Knight's 'In Your Shoes' as well. It's basically a different vocal over the Orange Juice backing track but there's a few live versions kicking around which may give you some slightly different sound options (I can't check this properly as I'm on holiday with just an iPhone for company!). From what I remember there's little of the core tone coming through, a lowish deep bass (octaved?) and then a squelchy top end. Could probably get very close to this with my Mutron but might be difficult with a lot of envelope pedals on their own as a lot of them lose that really low bass and/or won't 'squelch' properly I you play them really down low. Mind you - any sort of squelchy sound should do for gigging, especially if it's just for one song

If you do go for the Status then make sure you play one as close to the spec you'd like first. They are quite 'different' in feel and tone to something like a classic P so you want to make sure you can get on with one before committing your hard earned pension funds

Slightly off topic but I will never forget seeing Hillage at Reading festival. Sham 69 were on stage with Jimmy Pursey in his usual rabble rousing phase and getting various skins etc up on stage to join in on 'If the Kids are United'. Then, in the corner of the stage a mysterious long haired, mostly orange clad, figure hits the stage, plugs in his guitar and begins to solo over the top of the cacophony going on all around him. Skins look frightened and unable to make out what's happening and give him a wide berth - Hillage continues to solo away seeming quite happy and serene