uk_lefty

Also tell everyone where you're based! Sounds like whichever decision you make there will be two good drummers still available and we all know that good drummers are like rocking horse poo!

I had the 300w toneman 1x15 combo for quite a while. It's a good portable amp and you get more out of it by adding an extension cab, with the toneman cabs a good price (though I went for a great value lightweight rootmaster instead). I found it perfectly functional and gigged it quite a bit. It's got everything you need but it's not going to "wow" you on any level. It's just a good quality amp. Play a decent bass through it with good strings on it, run your effects through it and you're sorted. If it's just a backup etc you can't go wrong. Unless you're looking for lightweight. They are compact, I remember measuring mine because I couldn't believe it had a 15" speaker. The guy I sold it to was also surprised at how compact it was. While it didn't blow my socks off it did give me enough confidence to stick with Ashdown ever since despite my love for Fender, Trace Elliot, Vox, Gallien Kruger and Hartke Amps. You can see it in the background of this pic on top of a rootmaster cab.

Ha! Not really... The lad auditioning before me was about seventeen, handshake like a wet fish (immediately BL mouthed to the drummer "no") but he played everything note perfect. Then his dad picked him up. He was a good player but wanted regular functions... And a lift to them all! I have a firm handshake and was sat in reception warming up playing scales on my bass... I also didn't learn the songs note for note but played them my own way. The band liked that. I'm not a freemason. But then again, a freemason would say that...!

Allegedly I got my spot in my band based on my handshake. Hope that helps

So two gigs in and I'm LOVING this bass. Not in the way we all love something new and a bit different but I honestly don't know why it took me so long to just get a Stingray. Reasons for the deep and meaningful love: Feel of the neck - the finish makes me play faster, the profile makes me play so comfortably... I see photos from gigs and my fingers are in "correct" formation and my thumb isn't peeking over the top. Winner. The presence of the sound is huge. I loved my MIM Jazz despite its drawbacks but used to have to dig in so hard I'd badly blister my fingertips. With the Ray I played a long function gig last week and a pub gig this weekend and no blisters at all. I don't need to dig in to get that big, full sound. The EQ - I bypass the EQ on my amp now. Despite having a huge and very versatile multi FX I was seriously considering not using that either. I just get a big fat bass sound that sits perfectly, giving me lots of presence in with two guitars without mushing up anyone elses frequency. I barely adjust the EQ when I play. Weight - I never really got in to all the discussion about weight of basses bit this does feel very light compared to almost all my other basses that I've owned. It's just comfortable to play for long sets. Looks - it looks great. We were in the background of some professional photos at our last function and the bass looks great. Also with the natural finish and glossy coat I don't get greasy fingermarks like a lot of painted basses. It looks a million times better than my Sire in natural ash and black pickguard too. The fretboard - the rosewood board takes away any brittleness in the highs. I like some snappy brittleness off a maple board but can do without having to dial it in or out or tame it, so it just isn't an issue now. If I want the highs I roll them up on the EQ. Pick playing - I played with a pick this weekend a fair bit more than I usually would and I was really pleased with the output. It was a bit of an experiment but it just gave me that drive a pick can give but without being scratchy and loud and uncontrollable like it can with some basses. The only improvement? I want to add a drop D tuner. Then my five string would be out of work. Any recommendations? None of this will be news to Stingray owners, but if like me you were on the fence about them, or about the cash outlay, I hope this helps.

Seriously my instinct from your post is number 1. The questions you need to ask around commitment etc are already in the thread but I'd like to know how they react to on stage pink torpedo ups. A good band needs to recover if one member misses a cue or forgets their place. I had a disastrous gig the other week but we all know how to pull each other out of it whereas I've known people whose attitude is that they carry on regardless because they didn't mess up, which spoils things even more.

Only one way to settle it. Fight!

Right on straps! I got one from Manson's in Exeter. Leather strap, Spanish made, has a little slot for two picks at the end where you connect to the guitar body. Very comfortable, I've got it on my Stingray. Nice colours too. Mine was about £35.

Can't remember if it was Hermes or Yodel but one day I found a package for a completely different address in the middle of my living room. I'd been out. How did it get there...? Thrown in through my open living room window. Which is the horizontal type over five foot off the floor that a person can't get in through. No idea why they chose my house. They left a note for the person who it should have been for saying "left with a neighbour" and my address! She couldn't believe it either

I think this is aimed at people like me who don't have the patience to learn about midi and all that sorcery. It sounds like a good plug and play with useable sounds

I want one!!! Always hated the totally unusable synth sounds you get on multi FX pedals. My boss GT10B gets slated for it's synths. My band are doing more and more 80's covers and to have this on my board sounds like it could cover the more tasteful synth territory. I'm keen. How do you think it stacks up next to the Boss SYB? I had one of those but never had need for it so moved it on, found it too extreme...

Is there a typo in there or are you playing down a brag??

I work with lots of "ex lawyers" doing far less glamorous and less well paid jobs. They love to tell you that they're an ex lawyer and try to butt in on anything legal and say things like "this is day 1 law school..." Before saying something obvious you've already covered. If they were a good lawyer, they'd still be a lawyer* *Unless they hated being a lawyer at all. But then they probably wouldn't go round telling everyone that.

Very frustrating but I think it's the typical story. Extensive life as a soundman probably means he worked in a cinema turning the volume knob in between the ads finishing and the film starting. Too many blaggers out there. It took me ages to learn that the guitarist in my band was a sound engineer for touring function bands as his full time job for years. He never really mentions it unless asked, and he is damn good at setting the sound up. Very reserved about his abilities on guitar too (he's excellent though genuinely doesn't believe so himself). I think those that talk the most, unless they can back it up with video etc are probably liars.

We play a mix of pub gigs, festivals and the odd function. At functions we once wore black suits and black ties, got told we looked like undertakers and it was hard to play dressed like that. So we got coloured ties and waistcoats. Not an issue. Then before last night's gig our guitarist keeps saying "we look like waiters" we were dismissing it having done that a few times now... While we were checking out the room to see how things were going and how long until we took the stage we got mistaken for staff. It happened again after I'd loaded my gear away at 2am! This is despite not being quite smart enough to look like staff ... We had jeans on, rolled up sleeves... And we'd been in the band playing on the stage for the last two and a half hours!! So how do your bands dress for functions to look smart but not get mistaken for staff? We like a level of uniformity but could happily ditch it for something we all agree on.

There is or was a medium scale MIJ or MIJ Squire Precision on Gumtree very recently.

Exactly. I don't know how you describe that mix let alone try to market it for paid gigs. Do they already get paid gigs or are they just saying that? Why did the last bass player leave?

Do you want to play an unpaid gig on an unspecified date? Sign up now!! No thanks.

You get that in everything. I hear the office triathlon bores all the time going on about their custom made protein supplements, £800 on new pedals for the bike etc. And then they're out of breath getting up the stairs. Any hobby that involves equipment will always attract those people more interested in having all the kit than actually using it effectively. I used to go in to a really posh gym years back with my knackered old gym clothes in a Sainsbury's carrier bag. I got some right dirty looks from everyone sat at the restaurant or booking a massage... As I walked to the empty state of the art weights section!

Thanks. I'm a novice with active EQ and the Sire is the first I've started to explore and enjoy but only with minor tweaks to the bass and treble leaving the mids flat. I've read the manual in more depth now so going to tinker a bit more. I also bought a Stingray in the meantime so that has had far more outings and the Sire is relegated to backup or songs that must have a five string!

I managed for almost four and a half years to limit the knowledge of my musical endeavours at work to "I played in a band when I was 17". This worked, people assume you own an instrument in the loft. I have over time confidentiality told a few people I trust but I just don't want: "oh great I got a six string Kay guitar when I was eight..." Or "brilliant at the Xmas party we need a work band" or worse still someone miming air guitar across the office at me! The only person who knows any detail of what I do musically keeps it discrete, has grade 8 clarinet and her dad was a semi pro bass player. Some others think I "collect" guitars which is fine because then you're not asked "what stuff do you play?" Magically. Overall I don't want people I don't know but have to work with knowing my band name and looking us up. I also have a "stage name" with my band so I'm not Google-able. A Dutch guy I worked with in an old company was on Dutch top of the pops singing some football chant while wearing a gold lame jacket and Elvis sunglasses, one of the lads found it by googling him. We didn't take him too seriously anyway for professional reasons but as soon as we saw that video we just couldn't stop laughing at him. I don't want the same happening to me... Even if I did make it on to Dutch top of the pops!

Didn't think of it that way!! Ha!