uk_lefty

I was there. Thought the sound could have been better. His backing band were local students I think, what an opportunity for them!! I was grinning from ear to ear throughout, such a nice down to earth guy who can really tell a story. Great experience.

Did notice the German stuff on the desk but didn't know if it was "case candy" type stuff. Also didn't know Sandberg sent out build updates, thought they'd be too busy!! eBay throws me these days with what's an auction and what's a buy now... See what you mean being handbuilt etc but surprised that they'd let a decal out the door like that. Decent bass, hope someone gets a bargain.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F254273160903 Very low starting price, wonky decal, why take it all apart for photos like that?? Something doesn't seem right to me. £500 starting bid for a Sandberg I'd be tempted but very cautious. Hope I'm being too cautious and there's a bargain out there for a lefty who wants a quality fiver... Thoughts?

Look for second hand OLP stingrays? Obviously not the real USA Stingray but should go some way towards the feel and tonal style. The cheapest Ernie Ball do are around the £350 mark new so again, not the real thing but it should be as close as you can get if budget restricts.

It would seem so but someone must be translating his kindergarten bully routine in to adult sentences at least.

Jeez, what a place to go on "holiday"

Autocorrect is a git isn't it?! Stage names is one for another thread... Yes I use one, but it isn't the name of the setting of so much drunken shame in my youth.

I once told a mate that a random long haired bloke I'm Scarborough Weahterspoons was Nick Menza, the drummer in Megadeth... Once he stumbled over for a handshake and a photo the bloke got quite a line of people wanting to talk to him. He wasn't Nick Menza.

You'd think that. I've spent my career working in offices and you wouldn't believe the state most men think it's ok to leave the loos in (never been in the ladies myself on account of not wanting to get fired). Honestly, some people are either so proud of the massive jobby they've just left that they want all their colleagues to see and smell it, or they're too scared to flush it. If that's how people behave in offices imagine what those fiends do when they see a row of fifty portabogs that others are expecting to be dirty???! There's some weirdos when it comes to loos.

I have tried the boss limiter enhancer, line 6 constrictor and Ashdown amp onboard comp. The line 6 was more of a guitar pedal but it has three settings that are very easy to use and some knobs to tweak, quite cheap second hand. The Boss unit I preferred to use on "enhance" for my fretless. The Ashdown amp compressor I was leaving on most of the time of I had no compressor pedal and couldn't really tell you what it was doing but it certainly wasn't making anything sound bad. I've now got quite a sophisticated Boss multi FX with loads of different compressor models so will be playing around with that when I get time to create my own patches. Overall I'd say use one for live or recording to add presence, but that's just me with my kit and my playing.

I don't think "hard rock calling" counts as a festival in that you don't stay on site, so my first festival experience was Download 2016 aged 32. It pished down from the Friday lunchtime onwards. Security staff were forcing people out in to the elements for no apparent reason. We camped next to east mids airport runway which was active all night on the Friday. They sold more camping plots than there was room for which led to arguments and your tent not always being where you'd left it. On the positive side... Saw some great bands, ended up following a few bands I'd not heard of before, saw Megadeth live which fulfilled an ambition since age 13, thought Jane's Addiction were ridiculously good and was gutted to have to leave them to see Iron Maiden start up, had a good weekend with old mates and made some new friends, but the severe lack of sleep was draining and meant I slept and missed most of Rammstein. I went last year on a day ticket but stayed in a B&b in the middle of nowhere, had to queue two and half hrs for a taxi back and ended up unable to sleep when I got to the b&b anyway. I would go again but at my age, with enough sleeplessness from my toddler and another baby on the way the only way I would do it is to hire a camper van and stay in the premium quiet camping bit and hope the camper van survives. And take two days off work after for recovery. What I find with a rock crowd in general is that people are really friendly and polite, in the camping area everyone was sharing drinks, there was only a few small crowds of idiots and they were pretty quickly ignored until they moved on, and they were irritating idiots but not stealing stuff or fighting from what I saw. The worst behaved people were the staff. I never saw any violence apart from this weird fixation with "pro wrestling" which is all pretend anyway, and considering the age range I'm surprised it's popular there, everyone is older than eight. Seeing Dave Mustaine have to read out some bullstuff about giving some wrestler a "Lemmy award" for embodying the spirit of rock and roll was bollocks, and Dave couldn't have read it out more disinterested and sarcastically. I think part of the attraction is the "experience". I'm glad I did it but on the sleepless Saturday night I did think seriously about packing up and just walking at 4am to get home. When I took a day ticket last year the weather was glorious. The shitty weather and the mud does really strain though, but there's no way you can know what the weather is like when the tickets come out.

Mine is "kickstart my heart" by Motley Crue.

I saw them advertising lefty stingrays in a pop up ad a while back. The ad claimed they were genuine, etc. All for £283 or something daft. They had even done the "made in California" sticker on the back of the headstock. I would never buy from one of these, not only because it's a rip off but you just don't know where your money is going, what shady practices may be going on in the factory etc. I know you can say that about many big brands but when the end product is blatantly illegal there's less chance of them having a CSR policy and all the checks you'd expect a supplier to say Tesco to eventually be subject to. You just wonder how many people take a punt like many BC'ers hoping they get something useable and how many genuinely think they're getting something of a good deal from the back door of the factory. I once bought some sports gear off eBay from Pakistan thinking that's ok it's where all the factories are. On eBay he had one bit of feedback saying FAKE DO NOT USE but loads of good feedback, so was it one person not knowing what they were looking at? Not so. What was supposed to be carbon fibre was a well painted piece of wood using the manufacturers stencils, a blatant inside job at forgery by either one or two of the workers or the factory themselves. I threatened the seller with trading standards and reporting to the brand, I even got offered "fifty genuine Figueroa Armani leather jackets" as compensation!! 😂 I got my money back and reported him anyway.

One thing you can't fault Ashdown for is having a go, the Superfly was ahead of its time. Ok they don't always get it right but they support people with any of their kit, not just the newest flagship models. I just wish they could do a proper Trace clone and hope thegreek doesn't buy out the whole stock

Interesting concept. I suppose it depends how important that individual is to the overall makeup of the show and the sound of the band. People have already mentioned a MeatLoaf show where the bassist was easily replaced, yet would you go and see, say Motley Crue without Nikki Sixx? He doesn't sing but he's integral to the performance even though the guitar tech could probably come out and play his parts. If you went to see someone like Jeff Beck and you know he has put together a quality band would you mind if the drummer was substituted at the last minute for the show you attend? Probably not, you know you'll be seeing and hearing someone equally good. Extreme example, if *insert name of favourite comedian* gets food poisoning hours before a show you have tickets for would you be happy if their PA or even an actor/ actress friend of theirs who is relatively well known came out and read the jokes? (Incidentally I have heard of "tribute" comedians and I don't get it!!??)

Son I'm thirty, I only went with yer mother cuz she's dirty Another by Black Grape

I think I can justify another jazz if it's the "half price" MIM...... Just got to decide whether to go maple or Pau Ferro....

"Ten years ago, on a cold dark night Someone was killed, 'neath the town hall light There were few at the scene, but they all agreed That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me The judge said son, what is your alibi If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die I spoke not a word, thou it meant my life For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife" Long Black veil, Johnny cash (might not be him who wrote it, I'm not sure) At eleven years old, bored witless one long summer holiday I put on a Johnny Cash album just to see... Then I wanted to play an instrument and write songs. Ok, I work in an accountancy company now, but I really like music.

Gorgeous! 🤤

I have tried Steve Harris signature strings (they're just rotosound heavy flats I hear...) But that creates some serious tension, they're a lot clearer and rounder sounding than TI's. Personally I didn't like the TIs on my p bass but have kept them for if I get a jazz again I think I'd like them on a passive jazz. I've had fender tapewounds on the p for over a year now and they sound great. Thumpy and percussive but there's a grittyness when you open the tone and dig in, plus for rounds they're easy on the fingers. Just for variety I'm going to put on some Fender flats (45 guage) next. I should add my p has a badass bridge and Steve Harris signature pup which may influence things a fair bit in how I hear the strings.

That sir, is a work of art. Congrats on the purchase

Looks better from behind.

Makes me feel better about drilling all the way through the headstock of my jazz bass when re fitting tuners. With the thinnest drill bit ever, completely unnoticeable from more than an inch away. But still.

I went from a gorgeous Trace Rig that was just too heavy to a Mag300, well the "Toneman" plus a Rootmaster 1*15. I ended up acquiring another RM 1x15 and the RM500 head. It's perfect for gigging. Lightweight, decent sound. I changed one of the fifteens to a 2x10 and it's ok, not great. I think if they do a RM 2x12 they'd be on to a winner. I actually think the octaver thingy is ok but you need a two button footswitch so you can just drop it on for a few bars then turn it off. I'd never leave it on permanently. I also like that you can switch off the EQ on Ashdown amps so of you're using a preamp pedal you then get the sound of that pedal without confusion from the amp. For the kit I now have and my gigging needs I honestly can't see myself using anything else. It's my "rig for life" I think. I've chopped and changed amps a lot in the past but I've found something that does 90% of what I want and that seems to be the highest score possible! Wouldn't mind one of their CTMs in future though. The big draw for me is knowing that if you email them you'll get an answer. You can go over to their offices and they'll repair/ modify stuff (from what I've heard, don't go turning up on their doorstep based on what I say!!). So they seem like all round decent folk.

To be fair to Scott I don't think I've seen any job spec that doesn't have the catch all "and any such tasks as required..." From student waiting jobs to decent salaried business positions. But yes, it does seem as if it's not very well defined. While I've criticised, constructively I hope, I respect Scott and what he's doing in general. If you strip down the job ad to what's really needed then for someone who's experience in social media stuff and subscription based products then it could be a great opportunity. As a few have mentioned the challenge will be to expand the range of services and retain membership. Not easy when there isn't decades of similar businesses having gone before to learn from. And fair play to Scott, he's helping people of all abilities get in to bass playing and get more out of their time playing bass, and he's been there and done it, he's no chancer who's accidentally created this by dumb luck.