uk_lefty

It's doing nothing for me. And a glance at my cd collection tells you I'll buy almost anything.

I would have loved one of them but couldn't justify the cost. Suppose if I think the cheapo Chinese one I'm using now is worth it I might upgrade to the boss in future.

I bought a cheap Harmonizer off eBay (Tomsline, also goes under the Aroma brand and some other names) and hated it. I had assumed it could thicken up the bass tone subtly with a fifth or whatever and cover some.more sonic ground but a lot of the settings are rubbish, frankly. My guitarist is going to take it on and have a go... But then I put it back on my board and used it in detune mode set to add a fifth, then in to a flanger and wow! The breakdown in magic carpet ride has become rightfully psychedelic! So who else uses Harmonizers and how do you get the best out of them?

Got to be honest I use the neck pickup cover on my jazz to cover the butchering of the scratch plate to fit a new pickup. That looked cool and provided a bit of a rest for my hand and I was mainly anchoring my thumb on the bridge pickup. However, always liked the look so I fitted a bridge pickup cover. It was awkward at first and I still would prefer having at least one pickup uncovered sometimes but it just looks brilliant, don't think my band would let me change. I won't put them on my p bass though. I don't want to drill in to my lovely MIJ precision, and for that bass I really do need the pickup open and accessible to play directly over. It also has the badass bridge off my jazz on it now so a bridge cover wouldn't fit at all.

I have both on my j bass, but none on my p bass. Is that relevant?

Sold John a pedal, very quick and easy to arrange and receive payment. He confirmed delivery for me too which is good

In a former band the biggest annoyance was the guitarist insisting on also being the singer. He was an unbelievable guitarist, but he knew it, and didn't know that he was a terrible singer. The music overrode the poor quality vocal but that band would have been immense with a proper singer.

Had the same discussion ourselves recently!!! If you can't remember stuff like the key then you write it on your setlist with a marker. It comes across to me really amatuer, ruins the flow of the gig and must also spoil it for the audience too!

So... Not much more to report. Still unable to download the full version of Ableton. While Fender have answered my emails quickly "it should be available in a couple of weeks" isn't very precise! But I bought secondhand so I can't be too pushy. I have not yet used this with the band, we need to book a rehearsal room that has subs on the PA otherwise 40watts just won't cut it, so will update more on that later. I have mainly played with the amp models and I find them far better than any I've used before, for home use at least. I've not yet programmed any settings as I haven't had time but I will do soon.

Not the same value of gear but I recently had similar guilt over my amount of music stuff that rarely got its proper use. Don't get me wrong, I play in a band I enjoy that makes me a few quid on the side, but I never get time to practice at home, and definitely don't get time to practice other music or play around with settings on pedals. I recently moved on a cab, some pedals and a bass I wanted to love but couldn't get on with the string spacing. Losing the bass was sensible, but I really lost out on the cab and should have just stuck it in the loft, especially as I really could have done with it at the next gig I played after selling it! I would ask myself: Do you have gear you like to practice with for the rare opportunity? Would you lose too much selling now? If you could join a band today what realistically do you need out of what you already own?

That keeps coming round and around. They also put up a right handed vintage p bass at an unrealistic price too last time I saw.

Here's mine... Not great photos but an excellent value "cheap" bass acquired in 2002. There are many, many better basses out there, but none as perfect for me.

An incredibly good first amp! The preset amp models are decent, the fender fuse software makes tweaking easy, then there's the effects you can add in. If I had this as a beginner I think I'd have got more out of my time spent clumsily plodding away at my bass through a bland and characterless 15w amp. Playing with admittedly awful sounding distortion did help my playing branch out, so having all these different amp models would help understand sustain and the type of sound you want from an amp... I'll stop rambling.

My amp stack, when I had two fifteens, looked the nuts. Even though they are very small lightweight cabs. I love a good P bass tone and find my MIJ P bass effortless to play. It's also white, which looks good on a big stage. My fretless bass is a simple and cheap bass with a very particular look, pointy upside down headstock and all, but when I get it set up right I can get a supreme tone from it. I've had that bass for sixteen years now and just find it so natural to play and improvise on.

Or Status want more mileage out of him! "Come on Mark, nobody wants your Kingbass things these days, you have to do a tour with this or it's over, ok?!"

Make sure you ask the guy what is and isn't ok, even if it's a minor thing like pressing the EQ disengage button. In this scenario I would eq from my pedal board and disengage the amp eq if it could be done. But if you've asked first then the guy knows how to correct things if you don't put it back exactly as you found it.

Most of the settings on it I will never use and I can't fathom how people do anything remotely musical with them, but hey, some say the same about P basses so what do I know?! Each to their own.

I was waiting for a Dod FX25B, get impatient and bought this, then got offered loads of Dod pedals! Thought it would be ok and at home volumes with my jazz bass it is. It might just be my p bass with the tone fully open for that dry clanky sound, but that's the tone I want without the pedal engaged and I just want to bring it in for the odd passage. On the plus side one of the ocave down filters was good for a small section on a 90's dance track we play, but only when playing up the dusty end!

Was very excited when I got this hoping that the envelope filter (setting 1) would be just what I'm looking for. I've previously owned the Dod FX25B and the EHX Q-Tron. However when I use the Digitech with my band it loses all low end and it does not sound good at all, not a funky filter, just a chirpy noise with a horrid clicky-ness to it. Will try with a different bass but am using a p bass going straight in to the Digitech as the first pedal on my board, no other pedals engaged. At home it sounds good it just seems to have an issue with volume. Any advice? I know other people use them very successfully so must be something in my setup, but not sure what?

Does Memphis count? I saw that with Beverly Knight (totally in love with everything about her) and Matt Cardle of X-Factor fame... He was very good and held his own while sharing a stage with Beverly Knight, which I think is commendable. It was excellent. While it's not exactly 'my thing' I have a huge amount of respect for all the performers in the musicals.

An old mate of mine was in a band that did really well in our small town when they were teenagers. They had a big following, mostly their mates, who would pay a quid on the door to get in to their regular gigs. They were very good by all accounts. He tells me of the time they got their "big break" of playing in the big live venue in the nearest city, an hour away by car, they promoted the hell out of it on the local newspaper and local radio and hired a coach to take all their fans there and back. Literally no fans came at all, just the band and the driver on a fifty odd seater coach. He can laugh about it now but at the time it must have been soul destroying. That was mid 90's, before everyone stayed at home streaming music. Instead they stayed at home cassette recording off the radio (no regurgitation of Peter Kay jokes please).

I like planet rock but agree, it is very repetitive and I'd like to hear some newer stuff by bands that will be playing Download etc. To be fair to them tolhey do plug when Black Stone Cherry have something out, a "current" band I like, but then the same old same old. I don't mind the classics at all but it means I can't listen for too long before trying to find something else.

Absolutely the point I keep making to my own band!! Well said.