Woodinblack

Seems the prices are roughly: Helix: £800 Helix Lt: £550-600 Helix HX: £300 So some below those occasionally. The Helix Lt at < 600 also seems tempting!

Now I have been looking more at the HX effects and what with my B3 being a bit poorly, it is starting to get a bit tempting. Damn you basschat with your constant GAS!

Well, I know nothing about football, but the answer to that is pretty easy, you kill all the other teams. I don't know why they have to complicate it - what are the chances of being better than some kid growing up in a country in abject poverty with absolutely nothing apart from a football? As to Greta Van Fleet, I think their music sounds ok, guitar / bass / drums, all in sync and doing the right thing. Yes, its derivative, but then Zeppelin weren't going to be the new Yardbirds for nothing. Personally don't like the sound of the singer - more Vince Neil / Axl Rose than Robert Plant, but I am sure there are some that will. Good luck to them for trying.

I had a combination of fun with a bit of annoyance. We hadn't gigged for 3 weeks and due to the guitarists new job, we had also only had one practice, so was expecting a few cockups. Arrived in a place where we had played before, but where we normally play there were a load of tables so we set up facing them. Turned out even though we had been hired at pub gig prices (and cheap pub gig prices too), it was a private party, which was a bit of an annoyance. All set up, then the guy who's party it was came up and said, oh bands usually set up facing the other way (L shaped room, we were at the join, so 90 degrees). So we had to move everything round. Thanks for saying earlier. They had also said that they knew they weren't paying much but they might pay more for us to play longer later. Did 2 1 hour sets, which is short for us, it was very busy, a lot of dancing in the second half, usual d'head who thinks he is the life and soul of the party but generally just messing up things for everyone, dancing with his trousers down (come on mate, this is a family party there, no-one wants that). Luckily while dancing with his trousers down his ankles he went flying and hit the very hard shiny floor, sadly not enough to knock him out but enough so that is going to hurt in the morning. Anyway, after the second set, we stopped, then the wife of the party guy was talking to the singer, in the mean time we all went outside so the drummer could smoke, by the time the singer came out with 'they will give us another £100 to do another hour', the spirit had died. I would have done it, the guitarist was annoyed about the party thing so didn't want to, and the drummer was knackered and didn't want to. And frankly, if they hadn't cheaped out in the first place, or offered us the money at any point before the end, we would have done it.

That really would be bigger and more expensive than a LT, or even a SH Helix full, so no, that wouldn't make sense to me! The only advantage I could see in that is you would get the scribble strips, but my eyesight isn't something that would give much of an advantage to!

Oh I am sure it will be a great fun thing. Those effects I was saying about - I have no use for them for the current music I am playing, and to be honest, after playing with the VST for a while, I switched to guitar, where obviously there is a lot more scope for entertainment. Having said all that, looking on ebay the Helix FXs are going for not much, and seeing as I am still going to have to go through an amp (not got the space / don't want to take on getting a new PA with bass bins), it is starting to look quite tempting

Thats the problem I had - if it was £700 and the LT was £750, the LT would be a no brainer, due to the number of blocks. I haven't used a helix but I used the Helix VST here, and enjoyed playing it for the 15 days free, but every patch that had the wow factor was above 6 blocks, normally 2 chains of something. I am sure the stomp would be good, but I wouldn't be able to get over I was somehow being cheated, like when I bought an electron rather than a BBC and eventually had to take it back

haha - I don't know, its rude to count

I am always pleasantly surprised if the guitarists amp doesn't fail, he doesn't break a string, he doesn't have a lead (normally his fender replacement lead he insists on using) die, doesn't forget his strap or something else. I don't have a problem with any of my stuff, never had an amp fail, always have a spare bass but only needed it for an audition (and only because they hated the tone of the bass). I carry a lot of spares. Mostly, it has to be said, to give to the guitarist when his stuff fails!

Agreed, I have been thinking for ages of making one, it is just the way of working out how to control it without tap dancing that is the issue! Just that if that was your only reason, it would seem a bit over the top. But I guess one persons expensive is anothers bargain. I still haven't got to the stage I could justify something like a helix for what I do. I have enough difficulty trying to decide if I want to upgrade the B3 to a B3n

Same here - beautiful thing. If they made a decent 5 I would have one of those although it does have that 'headstock plummeting' look to it.

If you have that much space and money to dedicate to it, wouldn't you be better getting a helix LT?

I just joined another band, and it’s more sort of Motown and jazzy than I am used to, not the sort of music I have ever really listened to. So I made a playlist of the tracks they sent and listened to them on a loop when I was out walking, in the car etc just so I knew the songs. then break them down. Some songs are barely roots and fifths, some are way more complicated but the most important thing is the structure, stops, starts, changes. As we have established on here, no one listens to the bass player anyway, so the only time anyone notices what you are playing is when you mess up. No one cares as long as you are playing notes in the right key unless it’s an iconic line. but then I am not a note for note player, which turns out to be good with son of a preacher man!

Pretty well exclusively 5s, although I have a P bass, and ibanez sr1000 and a thunderbird. I generally don't gig any of those, but the P and sr I don't really want to part with and the thunderbird, well, its a thunderbird. If I could get a 5 like it I would but there doesn't seem to be one. I tried a 6, but the neck was too big and when I gigged it I messed up a few times. Having said that, when I was first playing live, going from a 4 to a 5 caused me issues, so I played only 5 for a while, now it doesn't cause issues if I play a 4.

Oh I haven't seen them for ages!

I guess. I had never heard it before and actually, it was hard finding a version of it on youtube or other streaming services, so I wasn't sure it was the right one. Luckily all these sort of things are pretty easy but makes me realise the term standard is fairly subjective.

Thats a third of the time it takes the b string to do one cycle - I couldn't feel that.

I can't remember all that he said were standards but some were: Sunshine Day (rang a bell from somewhere - maybe a car journey in childhood on the radio?) I'm Coming' home - Mel Torme (never heard this before) Mercy Mercy Mercy (never heard this before) Midnight hour - Wilson Picket - at least I had heard this

I got asked by someone I am sure I hadn't met, but knew a bloke who I used to play with to 'help out' with their group that are trying to get together to make a gigging band. It was all different songs to those I normally play in pubs and I have a bit of time free so I thought why not. They sent me 10 songs, that they have got to on their setlist and I dutifully learned the gist of most of them * So I went to play at one of their practices last night, seem ok, a bit of a culture shock in the (lack of) volume and (lack of) speed department for me. However, when we did those songs, mostly ok, there were some other songs they were trying, and the BL kept saying things like 'I know we didn't say about this one, but don't worry, you won't have problems, its a standard'. Some of those songs I had never heard before. So in these terms, does standard mean what I thought it means, its a song so common that everyone knows it (apart from apparently me), or does it mean its so simple you don't have to think about it, its just a i-iv-v thing (which they weren't but they were generally standard). To me there are standards, depending on where you are: mustang sally, mr brightside, sex on fire if you play in pubs, Burn, paranoid, rock'n'roll if you do classic rock, etc. Is it just that at 53 I am just not old enough to know the right 'standards'? * As a side note - Son of a Preacher man by Dusty Springfield - was the bass player charging by the note or what? I was quite surprised on that one.

Maybe put it to one side while you think about it?

Can't they all just bunch up a bit, like my 15mm spacing fireman?

eBay as well! I was watching some for ages, and then he halved the prices on them. There were a couple of pieces that were quite large, with slightly less figuring, so I thought I would get some of that.

It was a tenner for 550 x 400 x 5mm Just going to use it as a facing for something, not sure what yet!

Cool - always handy to know. I haven't built anything for a while but just ordered some Golden Phoebe from china yesterday, so need to make something with it!

Ooh - wenge.. I can't generally help with recomendations if any of the options are Wenge. But the answer is obviously B - the Wenge. Where are they from?