EliasMooseblaster

*blows dust off ancient thread* I did it. I put two more pickups in my old Frankenbass, and now I have a P-J-J.

I think I might request to be buried with mine...

I've always been astonished by how many of my colleagues seem content to eat lunch at their desks. Never found it enjoyable myself - the staggering thing is that most of them are still looking at their screens rather than their food!

Mea culpa! The greatest epiphany I ever had was realising that most of the tone I was seeking was in the mids, not the bass frequencies, and that actually it was perfectly acceptable to dial the bass back for a clearer sound. Sadly it took me years to realise this...

Perhaps not so bizarre - I think Wakeman actually toured with Sabbath, possibly circa Born Again, when they had Ian Gillan on vocals. (Allegedly hidden off to the side of the stage behind a curtain, because they didn't consider keyboards to look sufficiently rock'n'roll...)

"Yes" with an "if." If you have a good cab, a CTM-30 will be fine. If your music suits a mid-heavy, overdriven sound instead a deep, throbbing dub-reggae type tone, a CTM-30 will be fine. I did several pub gigs running my LB-30 into a not-particularly-efficient Laney 1x15, and wasn't struggling for volume. I've done some bigger pub gigs since moving up to a Berg 2x12, and I feel like I could go bigger. That said, my preferred tone is more John Entwistle than Jah Wobble, so I can see why Ashdown are hesitant to market it as a gigging amp.

I hadn't heard that version of events, but I can believe it. I know he was quite vocal about his dislike of the design...of course, I realise now that it could have been to keep up appearances in the divorce court!

See also the SG. Initially introduced as a sort of "Les Paul-lite," but it caused such a stir that even Les Paul himself demanded his name be taken off the headstock - hence the change of name to "SG." Apparently, the design was nearly axed (no pun intended) until a few prominent players took a shine to them, and they started to prove more popular with the public.

I think this is it - it does come down very much to the type of music you're playing. If I were still playing jazz, I'd be much more discreet about my drinking. As it's mainly rock and blues for me these days, having a pint in one hand while I talk to the crowd between songs is all part of the necessary swagger people expect from the show. That, and the "...if anyone's buying, mine's a bitter/stout/mild...wink ,wink" can help convince the guv'nor that you're helping him/her to shift units. Especially on the few occasions it actually works!

It's probably weird if you only know Scott Walker from his days with the Walker Brothers. If you're familiar the three or four albums he released before the Sunn O))) collaboration, then it just seems like a perfectly logical progression! I still think it's one of the best new albums I've heard in the last few years.

I haven't had the means to play VHS video tapes for a few years now; however I still have a small set of tapes that are looking for a good home. Not having any means to test them, the conditions described below were accurate the last time I was able to watch them a few years ago. I won't post photos for fear of crashing the site or people's browsers, but happy to put up a few on request, or via DM. Similiarly, feel free to ask if you'd like tracklists for any of the music ones, or any more general info. Let me know if any or all of them take your fancy - if you don't mind bunging us a couple of quid for postage, they're yours. STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - excellent condition, remastered version of original film. Also pre-dates release of Episodes I-III, when George Lucas went back and made strange edits to the original episodes IV-VI STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI - as above; so Haydn Christensen hasn't been photoshopped into the ending scene, for example. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL - excellent condition, includes three of the songs in "sing-along" format after the end of the film THE WHO LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 1970 - aka "Listening to You"; very good condition THE DOORS: 30 YEARS COMMEMORATIVE EDITION - three cassette box set. Contains Dance On Fire ("classic performances and greatest hits"), The Soft Parade ("a retrospective"), and Live at the Hollywood Bowl (self-explanatory). All in excellent condition; I'd prefer to shift these as one complete set rather than individually. DOCTOR WHO: DEATH TO THE DALEKS - very good condition, Jon Pertwee as The Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. DOCTOR WHO: DAY OF THE DALEKS - not great condition; problems with the image for the first 5-10 minutes (audio OK), but fine after that. Jon Pertwee as The Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant. SANTANA: SACRED FIRE - live in Mexico, 1994. Excellent condition. PINK FLOYD LIVE IN POMPEII - excellent condition THE MASK - some superficial damage to paper insert in sleeve; tape in excellent condition. Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz. MONTE CARLO OR BUST - excellent condition. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Terry Thomas, Susan Hampshire, Tony Curtis, Gert Frobe. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - excellent condition. Remastered edition of the original Steven Spielberg film.

They really should start making them again - every so often I see photos of fretless Grabbers and Rippers which look like they'd be superb basses (and surely they'd save a few cents on the cost of fret wire...)

I did wonder if the much more modern-looking EB they released last year was an attempt to finally move into something more modern. FinnDave ran a thread on one he'd bought recently and spoke very highly of it - I wasn't a big fan of its looks when photos first appeared, but it did sound like it was much more versatile than some of their other models. Too little too late, by the sounds of things...

My old local music shop (sadly missed now) used to have a little sign up in their guitar room, which read: "GUITARISTS: PLEASE DO NOT PLAY ANY NIRVANA ANY OASIS STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" One day, while trying out a bass, I did furtively play the riff from Come As You Are to see if any of the staff would turn on me, but I think I got away with it...

Funny you should say that; I did get my daft 3-pickup bass experiment up and running a while ago, and I'm quite pleased with it. It's P/J/J rather than three humbuckers, but with any luck I'll get some sound clips up at some point - might give you an idea of what's possible!

I'd guess that Humbuckers in those positions would give you tones similar to a Thunderbird with one of its pickups soloed. Personally, if you're sure you just want one pickup, I'd go for the "traditional" P position, in the middle. It's a lot more versatile than the bridge position...I always find the latter can be quite fun on its own but loses a lot of crucial bottom in a band mix.

I've heard this quite a lot about the QP - if you're after the opposite, I reckon the SPB-2 may also be worth a punt. Brighter and more middy - the honk is strong in that one.

Gently tip a small amount of baking soda into the E and A slots until you have about as much lift as you need. Then pour in a couple of drops of superglue and let it solidify. A surprisingly effective fix. Doesn't sound like it should work, but my chemist friend tells me that they combine to form a sort of basic cement.

One might even say it Stopped Making Sense...

The Bree Louise...I think that was probably my favourite pub in all of London, and I explored them pretty extensively throughout my 20s. Absolutely gutted that it's gone.

Never have I seen a guitar look more like an '80s corporate training video...

If the active model plays even half as well as a passive, then you're looking at a damn good bass. The main differences I think you'd need to watch out for are: (i) neck profile - the Model T's neck is much more like a Jazz bass than a P. Wide and shallow, but very fast. Bit of a surprise at first, but it didn't take me long to warm to it. (ii) The pickups. They're not Fender pickups, and they will always sound subtly different. Don't know how the EMGs will compare to the passive SD Basslines in my own Model T, but the "different" sound was no less satisfying than the Fender. And for comparison, I did put a Fender CS '62 RI pickup into my kit-built P bass copy a few years ago, and it now does "that" Precision sound very convincingly for a fraction of the price...so you could always pop one of those into a Squier or HB Precision as your backup and free up even more money for beer!

I can never remember which of the "Session" and "Studio" models is the active or passive version - I have the passive one! I think it was about 2013 I first picked mine up, and it's still one of my favourites after all that time. Funnily enough, I did have a go on a US Std about 12 months after, and started to wonder if I should trade the Schecter in. The fact that I'm still happy with the Model T, and not really pining for the Fender that badly, makes me think it was the right decision to stick with it. They are different, no two ways about it, surprisingly so for two ostensibly similar designs, but I don't think the Fender was necessarily £500 "better" than the Schecter. I still maintain that the Model T is a wonderful instrument.

I've just remembered a particularly daft one...when I was first taking an interest in getting a valve amp, the Orange Bass Terror appealed for the obvious reasons of its size. One shop didn't have them in, but helpfully directed me to one up the road, who they said were the main dealer for Orange in the area. They even took the trouble to tell me about the isobaric 12" speaker that Orange were experimenting with at the time. "Do you have those little Bass Terror heads?" "No, but we've got the combo." "Ah, OK, I was looking for a head as I already have a cab. May as well give this a spin though - do you know if it's one of those fancy isobaric speakers in the combo?" "I don't know." "Fair enough. May I try it?" "Erm..." The guy's face drained when he realised there wasn't a bass guitar anywhere in the shop. He quite literally ran to the shop across the road and begged to borrow a bass from them. Of course they'd lent him the cheapest thing they had, with the deadest strings. By the time I'd tuned the thing and found a sound I was halfway happy with, he was looming over my shoulder again to ask what I thought of it. Presumably he'd promised the other shop he'd only be five minutes with their bass. You won't be surprised to hear I left the shop empty-handed.