uk_lefty

The Desert Penguins rock the Crooked Crow Bar. A great venue and always a great crowd. 00's pop and rock covers. We will probably unleash a few new songs too.... Hope to see you there.

I've never seen the attraction of having a data centre running my sound. But then again I didn't see the point of separate head and cabs until I took the plunge....

Yeah, you're right. I bet they do sell a handful of instruments per day at full RRP and if I were one of the big retailers buying hundreds of these a year I'd be p!ssed off if they were undercutting me or even price matching.

Haha there's no shame in what I'm saying. Maybe I'm a Gibson hipster, I like the stuff that was cool before Gibson bought it, and only in left handed!

I went there this weekend. It's impressive, even for me as a left handed bass player! It's a bit more of a "lifestyle" thingy, i.e. think of it as the Hard Rock Cafe but with guitars you won't buy instead of food you won't buy. People will go in there to gawp, as I did, at the guitars and it is worth a trip up that end of Oxford Street. On the ground floor it's all Gibson, tons of t shirts and hats etc. but get this, £69 for a Gibson t shirt(!!!). Or you can go downstairs to the Epiphone and Kramer area and pay half that for a t shirt that's just as good, I'm not joking. In the downstairs bit there's a stage set up where I guess they plan to have some minor performances and there's Mesa Boogie amps everywhere for people to try guitars and basses. Lefties are surprisingly well catered for, as are bassists. No left handed Jack Casady basses though, sadly. In fact, no lefty basses at all, but that didn't stop me having a go on an Epiphone Newport. Everything is at full RRP which is a bit silly as I can't imagine they provide a set up like the established decent guitar shops do. Also, there are security staff everywhere, as is understandable when there's probably well over £1m (at full RRP) worth of guitars in a very, very busy shop. They're also really bl00dy annoying, won't leave you alone for a second asking if everything is ok or if you like a guitar, but the staff that know the guitars etc are a lot better to be fair. I didn't think I was a Gibson person until I was in the shop and thought out of my five basses and one electric guitar I've got one Epiphone bass, one Kramer bass and an Epiphone electric. So I guess I am a "Gibson guy". Overall, whether you like Gibson or not, it's worth a visit.

I was in London this weekend and went to the Gibson Garage. It's one of those shops where it's a good experience just going in to look around. I didn't think I'm a Gibson person until I realised 50% of my instruments are Gibson brands (two Epiphones and a Kramer). There's some hideously expensive guitars and some reasonable stuff too. The t-shirts follow the same pricing as the guitars, with Epiphone and Kramer t shirts half the price of the Gibson t shirts which are mostly £69 each (not a typo). There's a good range of basses out if you look for them, Thunderbirds, non reverse Thunderbirds, EB-3s... Downstairs in the Epiphone area I had a go on a Newport. Obviously I had to play it upside down but impressions are... Felt nice to play. I don't think I've played a short scale before but this felt good, no big adjustment needed. The fit and finish seemed very good, nothing about it felt cheap which painted neck guitars often can. Surprising range of sounds from the pickups, the blend control really made a difference. There was a satisfying "fullness" to the low E string and nice clarity on the D and G. I'd imagine playing with a pick would be really good, or putting on some flats for finger style. I am tempted to get one and "reverse" it because I don't know of anything else out there like it at that price point or in left handed. Also the available colours are great, love the banana yellow!

@shoulderpet in true BC style, let us know when you're ready to trade in. The bass! I mean the bass, not the...

I owe you a huge "thank you"! That software was outstanding, really ahead of its time... As was the Boss GT10-B. Really made getting under the skin of that pedal easy for someone more interested in playing bass than programming. I reckon Line 6 owe you royalties!

Sorry for your loss, Andy.

Are you the chap who wrote the software for the Boss GT10-B?

Seconds after the recording stopped Jim Marshall appeared and scrubbed his name off the amp.

I just played that and now my dog won't be my best friend anymore.

That's awesome!

Nobody can afford a new Stingray anymore

Gorgeous, bet it sounds amazing. Proper bridge, proper logo on the headstock... Perfect!

2015/16 Honda Civic wagon or estate as we call them here. It was a nice little car. I have since graduated to a Volvo estate, the true classic "Dad car" but Volvo are also discontinuing them! Anyways, it was impossible to get changed in the Civic so I got changed outdoors, full outfit. It was ok, there was nobody around... Until I was halfway through changing into my trousers!!

Ah, my home town!! I am not at all surprised, sadly, though it always has been a fantastic place for live music it's also a place where idiots throwing punches is all part of the night out for them.

That sounds like a place I wouldn't want to go back to. Sorry that happened to your singer, some people think it's a laugh to go around doing that sort of thing, sad isn't it? Perhaps go back with a bouncer in front of the stage area?

The only way to find out is to go for it. See what you can try to create. Then I'm sure far more knowledgeable folk can help you with specifics like making the bass stand out more, is there enough compression, etc.

A wedding gig years back in a previous band...

I guess we need to know if there's anything else to be layered over it and the rest of the context of the piece to determine if it sounds "right" or not... Otherwise, on its own, I like it. I can't offer any technical recording advice I'm afraid but I like the sound and the playing, particularly the higher parts really come through well.

Ouch. I've been toying with the idea of getting one of these to replace my practice and gigging amps. My band gets a discount with Boss so I was very tempted, and I really like their stock bass effect sounds, particularly the amp Sims. I'm using the amp less and less these days as my DI pedal is very reliable, but I worry that there could be some gigs where I'm going bass amp only. It's a bit of an unreasonable worry because I haven't done this since the early days of my time in the band two years ago and we now have active subs for our PA or we play in venues with decent sound systems. But the worry remains!