Norris

Chill out and accept that there's always someone faster, more creative, better looking, etc., etc. On the flip side, you can *always* improve your playing with practice no matter how good you are.

You already know the answer. If the Ric is just hanging on the wall and is only ever likely to do so, then it's a very expensive piece of artwork. Sell it. Whether you buy the Limelight or not is then up to you & your family.

If someone pisses you about badly ... leave feedback!

I am GASing for a Stingray. Another bass player I know is GASing for a Jazz. I have a Jazz, he has a Stingray. So we are going to lend to each other, hopefully cure the GAS, and not lose any money doing it. Time to set up a BC GAS-aholics lending service I think...

£1000 is more than enough to get a quality bass. In fact it's probably enough to buy your amp/cab/combo too! The exception would be if you are after something specific. The last bass I bought was a second hand Ric 4003, which almost without exception cannot be found for less than £1k. Is it 6 times better than my £150 Squier? Definitely not... but it's a Ric, and that's what I wanted. It's the only time I've ever spent 4 figures on a bass, and I probably won't ever do it again.

My EQ settings are not flat, but I have played around to find settings that seem to work in nearly all situations. Rather than go for a particular shape to the EQ, I set them all flat then tweaked each one by ear. It's not a smooth curve, but gives a good, tight, neutral sound in most situations so that my multi-effects pedal can do it's thing

So basically for 'realistic' wear add a bit of buckle rash, drop it on the floor a couple of times and knock the headstock against a cymbal a few times

Everybody buys & maintains their own kit. Nothing is shared. Gig money is split equally. Never any arguments. If something major does go wrong, for instance with the PA, we would probably all chip in to fix it. The singer/guitarist owns the PA. I own the lighting.

A second hand MIM Jazz would be around £250 - and are lined

I've played to 3 people before: the bride, the groom & the maid of honour. Not the most pleasant of atmospheres, I must admit!

Tonight my Ric 4003, T-bird and US Jazz are staying at home - the Squier is going out - they are that good

Blimey - a 7 year old zombie thread resurrection!

Time for Eb tuning... :-)

Try both. You'll probably find the Squier almost indistinguishable from the Fender - except for a big difference in price. Buy second hand and you won't see any devaluation. There's nothing wrong with Squier pickups - my P-bass special (PJ) sounds great

That looks very nice, but I have enough basses already. [i]Must not GAS...[/i]

As others have stated it comes down to practise, practise, practise. First of all you need to know your bass part so you can play it unconsciously. You then need to learn your vocals separately, and finally put them together. A good way to start on the mental compartmentalisation you need is to play a bass part you know well while trying to hold a conversation with someone. If you can do that and keep the conversation flowing without pauses and stutters you are most of the way there. Another advantage is that you'll be able to talk to audience members who insist on making a request while you're playing some devilish riff. So while you're sitting there noodling away of an evening, chat to your partner. ... from a chap who takes the lead vocal on Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile) - a straight forward enough bass line, but vocals pulled off the beat all over the place!

Doing an A level was enough for me - and bored me rigid! I wish I had done a more 'useful' course instead. I never seriously considered any higher education in music and instead went for IT. (I did A level music & got grade 8 on trombone, so did seriously consider it for a short time) I came to the conclusion that being a good musician does not rely on how you do in exams, but how you perform on your chosen instrument(s). Look at how many 'stars' have a degree in music - most of them can't even read dots. Disclaimer: I can understand that there are certain areas of music that might benefit from higher education e.g. composition, conducting, etc., but that's a lot of stick waving to recoup £50k of education debt!

I stipulated no financial reward as that seems to me to be the most obvious reason why there are so many signature models around. By taking out the money we're basically left with either ego (I want everyone to know my name), integrity (sod off, I'm a serious musician here) or altruism (the world needs my vision of the ultimate bass) Some great responses

Another vote for the Kay SG - truly horrendous!

Assuming that you were famous enough to be offered a signature model and you would not benefit financially from it, would you want one? I can quite see why people would want a custom bass made to their own specifications, but don't really see the attraction of flogging copies of it to all and sundry. There are a lot of signature models available; many from people I've never heard of. Would there be so many if the signatories didn't make money out of it? If you did want your own 'sig' how would you make it different from the many already out there?

I have a fake SM58 and it doesn't sound too bad compared to a genuine one - slightly more top end if anything. It still sounds good enough to gig with, and it's certainly not worth forking out another pile of cash for a genuine one. If I was going to replace it I'd probably look at some of the Behringer equivalents, but I generally avoid singing too much anyway for the sake of the audience

The output of the pickup coils is proportional to the mass of the string vibrating within the electro-magnetic field, so a heavier gauge should give a higher output. Having said that, I'd still stick to the strings you're comfortable with and use your tone/volume controls to tweak the sound.

A second hand Stagg would get you a very affordable EUB that will not lose you any money if you subsequently decide to move it on. If you've never played any sort of DB before it will give you a rough idea & cure some immediate GAS. Personally I'm very happy with mine and currently have no desire to upgrade. It's compact and very giggable as a bit of a novelty. Shame you couldn't make it to the Midlands Bass Bash ... from the chap that took the EUB!

Many thanks to the organisers for a fantastic afternoon. A special mention to whoever made those delicious rock cakes. Finally an apology to all wives of bass players now GASing for an EUB!