FinnDave

Thanks folks, showed the article to the band this evening and they were well pleased. It's a regular gig for us, to be honest not the best in the area, awkward load in/out (have to park on yellow lines on the bridge) and a poor stage (effectively in a passage to the loos!) and not that well paid, but it's reliable and the only one we have in Abingdon. Got a few new songs ready so looking forward to it. We're at the St Helena sports day in Reading a couple of days later, and that's always a real laugh, great people.

The local press come in for some stick from time to time, but sometimes they're worth their weight in gold. [url="http://www.oxfordshireguardian.co.uk/the-wirebirds-to-fly-high/"]This has just just hit a local website [/url]and is in the current edition of the paper (freely available across Oxfordshire).

I always take a back up bass to gigs, most of them wouldn't get out of the house if I didn't! My first Fender P (early 80s) was bought new but started paying up early on by cutting out on stage, so I ave had problems requiring a spare. Over 30 years ago, but you never know...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1471472958' post='3113366'] Good bar band stuff Dave. I like the stuff the Wire Birds do, always have. Blue [/quote] Thanks, Blue, much appreciated.

I didn't think he was underrated, I always thought he was well respected for his playing. Love his playing on Starless.

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1471349381' post='3112334'] Sorry, I couldn't resist it. Maybe one day I'll grow up! [/quote] But that'd mean giving up the bass!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1471259007' post='3111571'] Sixty IS the new forty, you'll be fine. [/quote] I'm still in my new 30s, then. Hope it goes better than the old 30s!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1471256014' post='3111544'] Just get rid of that beard and all the grey hair and you could pass for 49 ... [/quote] Pah, it's only the beard that's grey, my hair is still dark and luxuriant!

I'd give a go, but I'm closer to 60 than 40!

[quote name='the hand of john curley' timestamp='1471096208' post='3110511'] Tbh the only actually good thing about this bass is...is....nope...I got nothing . [/quote] It's on the other side of the Atlantic? That has to be a plus.

It's going to take a lot of alcohol to remove that image from my brain. Absolutely hideous!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1471071655' post='3110303'] 100% of your income from music = pro 50% of your income from music = semipro 25% of your income from music = demisemipro 12.5% of your income from music = hemidemisemipro [/quote] Brilliant! In a good month I'm a semipro, usually demisemipro, but a number of rests has reduced me to hemidemisemipro recently

The under 30s should be hard at work, noses to the grindstone, etc, to pay for our lives of 'luxury'

Early retiree on BBC pension, supplemented by income from gigs, no idea what that makes me except bloody lucky!

I'll give that a go once I get bored with the standard set up

It sounded great at tonight's rehearsal. I used my US standard Jazz, played with a plectrum, and it fitted in well with our 4 piece band. The others want me to use it for gigs, they think it sounds better than anything else I've got! Not sure I agree. Left the amp at our rehearsal place, so a nice easy one trip to the car with my bass and a bag of leads.

Well, that was fast, just over 6 hours from thinking about it to playing it in my house! Deal done and Touring combo in my car ready for tonight's rehearsal. Sounded impressive with the US Jazz Bass going through it, got to decide which bass to take tonight now!

That's the one. Changed the direction he was coming from when I checked his location, thought he was in the north originally, but was looking at a few amps before buying this one. Having said that, time from 'I could really do with another amp to save me bringing the EB 180 downstairs' to 'congratulations on your purchase' was under 5 mins!

Just heard from the seller and he's driving west today so will deliver the combo. That means I can use it at tonight's rehearsal!

Seems I just bought another Ashdown amp! That makes three, the 180 watt electric blue combo, the ABM500 evo II/Barefaced super twin and now this combo. Basically, I am too lazy to hump gear back and forth to rehearsal, so for the last 2 or 3 years, the EB180 has been living at our rehearsal space, but I am now using it at home for bass & synth. Not sure I really meant to buy the touring combo, just saw it on e bay, made an offer and suddenly it was mine!

After all my trouble trying to hold a pick (which I managed for a few gigs) yesterday I picked up a bass I hadn't played for a while, and without thinking played it finger style...something I thought I'd never be able to do again! Seems the most recent operation has made some significant improvements. Now the trick is not to let my pick playing go, but try to keep both going.

[quote name='Chaos Daveo' timestamp='1470836516' post='3108826'] It's interesting that we can go between basses and styles as we progress. [/quote] I wouldn't go so far as to claim that my bass paying 'progresses'. More just sort of continues, on and on.

I have two Precisions and two Jazz basses, they are all my main gigging bass at different times. Sometimes I'll play nothing but the P basses for months on end, then I'll suddenly switch and play only the Js.

Hello, I used to live near Stockport (Bramhall) and started playing bass when there in the 70s. I knew Victor Brox as well, a proper musician of the old school, good to hear he's still with us and still playing. And, 40 years later, I am still playing in a blues band! Keep doing what you're doing, and as I used to tell my daughters, never let anyone tell you can't do something just because it's "not done'.

I bought a well used 410 in 2012, so it was a good few years earlier than that. Worked OK with an ABM 500, but I sold it and bought a Barefaced Super Twin which is MUCH louder with the same amp than the 410 was. Much easier to carry about, too!