Maude

This is about an effects pedal but I've put it in General Discussion as it probably applies to gear of all sorts. We all know that the Akai SB1 Deep Impact synth pedal prices went through the roof because of its association with Chris Wolstenholme from Muse. I was a tad disappointed when I sold my Akai UB1 Unibass pedal that they were worth so little as they were also a great pedal, just that nobody famous had used it. But I've just seen one for sale locally for £250, with the 'makes you sound like Royal Blood' tagline. Has the Royal Blood chap actually ever used one? Anyway this got me thinking about what other gear famous musicians have used that has sent second hand prices stratospheric, and I can't think of much that has been selling for five times its 'real' value, as the Deep Impact was at its peak, just because someone famous used it. Educate me folks. 🙂

That's very commendable Lozz but judging by another thread no one wants to gig anyway 😉

Pah, Henry Rollings. If he started that sh!t with me I'd kick his @ss.

That raises more questions than it answers.

A high pass filter and better EQ may be all that's needed. A lot of your amps power is being used to amplify frequencies that you can't hear, but will cause unwanted resonances in the room. Get rid of those frequencies and your amp has more power to use amplifying the frequencies you can hear and your general sound will be cleaner. The whole band can sound cleaner as the whole room is no longer being swamped with unwanted noise.

I your bass strung through the body at the bridge end? Whatever it is, your strings are basically too short for the bass.

I treat the load in and out as a bit of a workout. Some people pay to go to a gym and do a workout, this one pays you.

Perhaps he's re-releasing Voodoo Ray and wanted you to lay down the bassline. You'll never know now. 😉

The way I see it, and I'll admit I'm prone to over simplistic views, is that the 'high street' can only offer one thing over online and that is good customer service. If I'm expected to pay more (usually) on the high street then I expect more than casual indifference in return. In all honesty, not living near a town or city makes going into a shop a bit of a chore and I'd rather buy most stuff online even if there's no price difference. I can either drive to a shop, paying for fuel and parking, then try and find what I'm after, only to usually have to return home empty handed and order it online anyway. The shop may say 'we can order it for you', but I can do that myself and get it quicker and not have to drive back again the next weekend. To me it's just evolution, there weren't all the chains of identical stores in city centres once and people coped just fine, when they're all gone we'll cope just as well, if not better because of online shopping.

We rent a basement as our permanent rehearsal space so I keep my doublebass and a few basses there. I get anything new delivered to work and then straight into the basement.

Right, sorry to interrupt this game for a minute but there's something I need to get off my chest, and being into the music I'm into this isn't easy for me 😉 My name is Allan and I absolutely love Copacabana. There, I said it. It's epic, such an upbeat, happy feeling disco tune and yet the lyrics are as dark as they come. As you were 😁

Join the Facebook groups, Musician Finder (Devon) and Musician Finder (Cornwall) as you're on the boarder, when you search for those two a couple of other groups similar come up which may also be worth a look, but may just be repeats of the ads in the first two. A quick look at the Devon one shows a couple of ads for bassists. What sort of music are you looking to play, or are you not worried as long as you're out gigging? I don't really do the 'music scene' thing but the singer and guitarist in one of my bands live in Plymouth so I'll ask them tonight if they know of anything. Another thought is searching rehearsal rooms in Plymouth and go and see if they have any noticeboards, and to put the word around if there's anyone there. Good luck 👍

Yes they're usually just held on with a blob of hot glue.

@PaulFenderJazz You've just touched on another point I was going make as to what style ifmusic you want it for. The HB doesn't have a tremolo so wouldn't be ideal for surf/western. I don't have the tremolo arm fitted to my Squier and think it overcomplicates a already lacking bridge/tailpiece design. If the HB had been available when I bought my Squier I think I would have tried it first.

Also not exactly on a whim but definitely a quick decision was my Bex4. I'd sort of wanted a Bex4 in tabaccoburst for while since missing the end of an auction due to poor signal while away on holiday, usually they're the orange or the blue. There was a post on here linking to the sale of one as a recommendation to someone enquiring about hollow bodies. It was an old post but the Bex4 was still miraculously up for sale. I PM'd the chap and we did the deal, and I paid by PayPal. The email address linked to PayPal is the one Mrs. Maude now uses so I new she'd get the notification but wouldn't bother reading it as I'm always buying little bits and pieces, I thought the transaction amount didn't come up in the email heading so when she text me joking "what have you bought now?", I just told her it was some secondhand strings from someone on here. The next text read "What, for £280!?". So I just replied "Oh yeah, they might still be attached to a bass". 😂

Our guitarist is heavily into Rickenbackers and I'd always joked that the only Ric bass I'd own was a 4005, seeing as a decent one goes for between 7 and 9 grand I wasn't ever going to buy one. Then a custom built copy popped up on FB when I had a quick look before going into work, it looked lovely but it was 300 miles away and the best part of a grand, I'd never played one and I couldn't try this one. By lunchtime I'd agreed to buy it 😁

I got LaBella rounds, everyone goes for their flatwound set but I still wanted that brightness so went for rounds. I just made up a set from individual strings on their website, cheaper than buying a prebuilt set and you can obviously choose a beefier bottom end to counter the slack low E string.

I have a Squier and yes it need heftier strings. I've not had issues with the nut but I don't use it a lot and the bridge was fixed by putting a plastic sleeve over the fixing posts to stop it rocking. I shimmed the neck to increase the break angle. All but the strings is fixable for free. I'd wager from experience of their others products that the HB will be on par with the Squier, possibly need a little tinkering, possibly not. Given Thomanns return policy I'd just buy it and see what it's like, if by any chance it isn't up to the job you can send it back.

As far as I know if an item is faulty then you can return it to a shop for a refund, but if you've simply changed your mind then they don't have to refund you, most will for a credit note and some will for cash but I don't think they're obliged to. That's why you get the 14 days online or over the phone, because you can't physically see or touch the item like you can in a shop. But I'm not positive, that's just the way I've always understood it. Edit - just checked and nope, a shop does not have to give a refund on non faulty items.

Are the cobalts in sealed plastic packs or paper envelopes from new? If open to the environment is it more a stringsandthings storage problem?

The guitarist in our acoustic band did a gig in a metal WW2 ARP helmet and another gig in a proper army pith helmet. If you're gonna wear a hat do it properly. Oh yeah, I forgot about the Fez!

Asked to be paid via PayPal but gifted rather than paying for goods to avoid fees, insist on it even if the scammer offers to pay the fees plus more on top. He won't gift it to you but it'll annoy him while you keep insisting on payment as a gift. 👹

Ah this is more like it 👍 Constantine is great, always bang on and absolutely nobody can accuse him of showmanship or gimmicks 😉 The guy posted above with all the masks behind him is equally as good. I had to learn 'The Real Me' by The Who and he had done a normal speed and a slowed down version which really helped me. Also like Paul Wolf (how-to-play-bass.com) for simply learning fun bass lines that I might not necessarily ever have looked at. This one I can imagine for many should be in the other list and isn't bass, but he does do basslines so it sort of counts, but I find myself enjoying his videos and enthusiasm. It's Doctor Mix, an Italian guy who's massively into keyboards and electronic music.

Or a few four and fivers. You never know, you might love it 👍