Dingus

Project would be a very good bet. There was a time back in the 1990's when you could pick up some amazingly good turntables secondhand for ridiculously cheap prices, but those days seem to be long-gone now as people have come to their senses and realised how good a format vinyl still is. For £150 you will struggle to get anything better than a Project ( very good decks, so nothing wrong with that choice at all) , but you might find a used Rega Planar 2 ( yes it doesn't sound as good as the Planar 3 , but it's still terrific for what it is ) or 3 , depending on the cartridge and arm ect, for around that or a bit more if you look around. Also, don't discount some older decks from the '80's like Acoustic Research,or Systemdek from the 1990's. . If you can find one in reasonable working order they still sound great.

[quote name='cytania' timestamp='1391525325' post='2358128'] There are plenty of joke bands Dingus, the sccessful ones are where the public gets the joke. A cartoon band? Terrible idea, but somehow the Gorillaz came along at the right time for people to 'get it'. Sputnik tried hard but people had had enough of rock'n'roll swindles at that point in the 80s. [/quote] Sputnik's mistake ( apart from forming in the first place) they was that they tried to sell the supposedly perverse idea that the joke was going to be on their public. What they failed to take into account was that the public wasn't interested in them. They had nothing sufficiently alluring about them to attract people to their cause, and no one handed over their money except the dullards at the record company who paid their advance ( which probably got spent on hairspray and one of these Roland synth efforts). They tried so hard to be shocking and controversial , but had nothing shocking or controversial to say except " We don't really care about the music, we just want your money ". No one was shocked, it got old very quickly, no one paid them much attention, and they went out with a whimper. They were neither clever,funny nor talented. The crucial difference with Gorillaz is that they may have used an animated facade, but there was real and substantial musical content behind the graphics.

I used to have the Led Zeppelin box set of remasters of all their original albums, but you couldn't play them backwards for the satanic messages, so I got rid.

[quote name='Johnm93' timestamp='1391461820' post='2357509'] Why has no-one thought of that before?! [/quote] Because their only notable achievement was to be a total and utter failure , both musically and commercially. They had no real fan base at the time, so it's difficult to revive their appeal, because they had none. Their only notable achievement was that that they achieved nothing substantive , especially considering the amount of hype contrived on their behalf . Their whole raison d'etre were interested in them was that they were cynically manipulating and exploiting their public , but that trick relied on them actually having a public who took an interest in them The joke fell flat, the British public saw them for what they were,- a laughingstock with no real wit, talent or ability - and EM.I Records made fools of themselves by wasting that kind of money for no return. It was embarrassing to watch, as were the band.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1391367359' post='2356331'] Quality band. [/quote] You are joking, right?

Avoid like the plague, unless you are thinking about forming a Sigue Sigue Sputnik tribute band.

I much preferred Led Zeppelin back in the days when they were mysterious and enigmatic, and when you seldom saw or heard them on mainstream mass media. and knew nothing of the personal about the various members except by rumour and hearsay. That was a big part of what made them Led Zeppelin. Nowadays, I know what John Paul Jones wife likes to cook ( fish) , I could actually pop round to Jimmy Page's house and knock on the door, and Robert Plant bought a sweater from my friend's girlfriend at a craft fair. That is not right. Participating in schmaltzy showbiz events like this has done nothing but diminish the Zeppelin legend, which, like all legends, relied on being lost to history. Their other big mistake ( much bigger ) was to reform and play those reunion shows and charity concerts like Live Aid ect. They showed themselves to be mere mortals, when they had previously been gods, and should have left it that way for all our sakes. .

Someone has spotted a gap in the market...

Does anybody else remember a very similar catalogue from a company in Manchester? Maybe this is the catalogue I remember and I am getting confused after all these years . I remember a girl who played in a punk band that worked in the same office as my dad gave him a copy of a catalogue just like this for me to look at not long after I first started playing. I can vividly recall the black and white photographs of Shaftsbury Rickenbacker copies, nondescript Hohner basses and , the crowning glory, a Sunburst Fender Jazz Bass with all the metal covers on in all its' blocked and bound 1970's glory. Looking back now , it's like remembering some era of Soviet-like austerity and shortages. This catalogue reminds me why I am not nostalgic for the 1970's.

I,ve had a few sets of Dunlop nickels , and they have grown on me, after being fairly unimpressed to begin with. They aren't the brightest sounding nickel string, and that brand new string zip wears off them pretty quickly, but , like a lot of nickel strings, they still sound pretty good after that , and they seem to have a pretty fat kind of "rump" to the sound that is quite appealing and a good low midrange prescence. . When they first came out some people were touting Dunlops as a possible substitute for DR's , but I cannot really see where that is coming from . These strings neither sound or feel anything like DR's, and will not do as a replacement if you are a fan of that brand . I love Dr Sunbeams and think they are the best sounding nickel strings ever, but due to the round core construction the tension can be bit problematic on some basses when 105-45 is slightly too stiff for me and 40-100 is too elastic, so in those instances I have been using Dunlops recently. The Dunlops claim to be low tension strings, but they just feel like average tension to me, to be honest, and nowhere near as compliant as round core DR's. I would say that Dunlops are a fairly decent all-round string and a viable alternative to something like D'Addario XL's , ( also very decent strings) which I find to be a bit brighter sounding and smoother-feeling than the Dunlops. If you want an affordable nickel string that stays bright sounding then I would recommend trying some Elites Players series , because they are as good in most respects as anything else more exotic that I have tried, but overall I think that , if you like the tension of any particular gauge on your bass, nothing can touch DR Sunbeams for overall sound , feel and longevity.

[quote name='Bassmonkey' timestamp='1391000469' post='2352073'] When I saw the title i thought you must have known! Gigging at a local pub known to be a bit "lively" last Saturday, we were treated to a pair of very drunk girls grabbing the mics, falling over monitors, spilling drinks over the front line. Gave em the hard word and they behaved a bit better. Next thing, 4 guys descended on them and much snogging, groping etc. Next thing the 2 girls started snogging each other for ages - cue giddy lads, hand in pants - YIKES!!! Eventually the rest of the dancers bundled them off the dancefloor. I berated them but to be honest they didn't care. Ended up all 6 leaving doubtless we'll see the end product on Jeremy Kyle at some point in the future. Dirty twisters! [/quote] Same old Dirty Leeds, then...

It's all very well using sensationalist thread titles to attract attention to your composition competition, but what about the numerous Basschat members who regularly use lesbian-orientated erotica for legitimate medical reasons? Have you given any thought to what effect your little stunt might have on them ? This incident is just another example of how it is O.K to discriminate against the most vulnerable members of society nowadays. Where is that [i]report [/i]button ?

I saw this movie recently and it is indeed a brilliant piece of work. Ginger Baker is in a league of his own.

I recently bought a very nice fretless bass myself, having not owned one for a very long time. Firstly, I have been surprised by how easily I have picked up my fretless skills again( i.e I was crap back then and am already sounding that way again now with a minimum of practise ) , but also I have been struck what great fun it is to play some really pretentious fretless bass again in the privacy of my own home ! I personally don't care too much for the sound of flats on a fretless, but my point of reference are the great fretless players of the '70's and '80's who all favoured roundwounds and they have always been the tones I am seeking to emulate.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1390838246' post='2350106'] I'm sure Fenders answer to your question would be "Who the f*** are you?" [/quote] Yes , you do have a point there...

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1390838097' post='2350102'] I really like my Epiphone Jack Casady signature. Of course, it was made by folks who are looking over their shoulders wondering when the bombs are going to arrive from the north, but they seem to have done a fine job of it in spite of this drain on their attention spans [/quote] Probably keeps them on their toes...

If you can pick a Korg Pandora PX4B or PX5 or for a good price they really are the most fantastic piece of kit ever for practising , noodling and general all-purpose headphone-based entertainment. I would have to say mine is the best £90 I have ever spent.

I also use a Vox Amplug. Just not for plugging my bass into...

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1390836523' post='2350072'] Is there not something good about your signature model being affordable for young folk starting out? If I had a signature model, I'd want it to be as accessible as possible. [/quote] Well, part of me agrees with you about making things accessible , but then again, none of my heroes had affordable basses when I was starting out, but I enjoyed aspiring to the unattainable, and then attained those unattainable basses by using the wits that God gave me. Also, by making the bass a more expensive and exclusive model, it would lessen the chances of kids from underprivileged backgrounds buying one and ruining their lives like I have by trying to play music for a living , instead making that folly the prerogative of kids from more affluent middle class backgrounds who will be more able to cope with the disappointment and despair which will inevitably follow.

If it was my signature model I had been collaborating with Fender to create and it ended up as a Squier, I would go mental . Why does Pino get a Custom Shop model, Tony "used to be only very moderately famous for a short while in the mid-1980's "Franklin get a made in the USA bass, even Nate Mendel gets a made in Mexico effort, and yet I am in the bargain basement with a bass being assembled by former rubber plant farmers on an archipelago somewhere east of Java? That is what I would be asking them.