Lw.

It's an interesting discussion; I think it would have gone a similar way regardless of title, though the title is just part of the issue. Is she a good bassist? Yes. Is she using her apparent good looks to boost popularity? Yes. Some people will always be drawn to listening to/watching subjectively attractive artists based on their looks. Others will ignore looks and just focus on the music (often to the point of dismissing the "attractive" parties) - the two groups will often think the other is being sad/demeaning/sexist/whatever. Sex has sold music for decades, this is just another level of that. There are lots of examples of "internet-famous" people pedaling worse stuff & getting more attention, and plenty of female musicians resting their breasts on the top of their guitar/bass. In my opinion she's neither mind-blowingly great at playing or particularly attractive (to my tastes) but she's clearly a popular combination of the two in other people's eyes/ears - more power to her, she's obviously worked hard at practice & is making money from performing music which is what most of us really want from our bass playing isn't it?

@Mike2tone - interesting that you choose to go on the offensive within your first three posts. There isn't any hostility in here; new members posting lots of updates on a brand that otherwise didn't have much of a presence on the forum just stinks of guerrilla marketing, the posts are clearly supposed to read like a fan writing about their new bass but when it turns out the writer is a dealer for the brand it then becomes a bit underhanded in my eyes. It's using the forum for free hits without actually contributing either financially or even with knowledge sharing to help the community. The basses do actually look quite nice & I'm sure plenty of people here would like them - I believe they were at the London Bass show this weekend so maybe anyone that played one would like to chip in with a review? Do you have one - maybe you could share your opinions?

You don't have to stick to the generic internet contract - for functions/weddings etc I'd change it to full payment x days in advance, no one wants to talk money on those big days. As for pubs; hunting out the promoter at the end of the night is just part of the fun!

Clearing the space for the new German pro series then? Decisions, decisions...

Congratulations! I have no experience from a band POV there but have been several times with a label - from what I remember the smaller bands (ie non-international rock stars) just show up over the weekend in their vans & park in the VIP parking at the back of the main stage, near the guest camping. When it got to near their set time they moved the vans round to the back of the main stage & unloaded taking the gear straight up the side steps - there's a warm-up tent back there too for the artists to use. I only had passes for behind the main stage & the guest area so I don't know about the others I'm afraid, this was also several years ago so things may have changed, though I imagine the basics are still the same.

@ the OP, Sorry but have you said which amp & cab you currently use? Wouldn't sending the signal from your EQ pedal into the amps fx return bypass its pre-amp and so avoid colouration? Though of course most common cabs will add their own flavour to the mix too...

The gap between the control plate & the edge of the body looks odd to me. It's probably just a nice-ish bitsa - up to you if you think it's worth it.

I've seen very professional looking posters made using Gimp (the free program that's very similar to photoshop), though as said above - it depends on talent; I had may as well use the spray paint tool on Paint I'm that bad (which is why I always leave it to someone else).

@Bassace - I just use a 3.5mm headphone-jack to phono-jack lead & plug it into one of the inputs on the amp, that's probably the cheapest option though I'm sure you could get a bluetooth to phono adapter if you wanted to move the iPad around.

@Mohawk - wow didn't see that choice coming but I guess when you've got the right bass in your hands you just know that's the one for you!

I still buy vinyl if it's something I really want & occasionally buy CDs at gigs if they're a good unsigned act (and they haven't got any vinyl on offer). I see streaming as an extra rather than a replacement. If I'm having a proper listening session I'll plug my phone into my hi-fi but most often I just blue-tooth it to a little bose speaker, in all honesty I can hardly tell the difference between the two at low to medium volume, though it's not as good as vinyl.

Papa Roach Ozzfest 2001 at the Milton Keynes Bowl. My mate that came with me & I decided to start a band after that performance & I just had to have a bass from the moment I got home. We never did manage to get a proper band going though :-/

I was a Spotify user for a while when it first came out then moved around a few of their competitors to see what was out there, ended up sticking with Sony's Music Unlimited as I had my PS3 hooked up to my decent hi-fi it meant I could use full streaming for the cheaper 4.99 price. Now that's shutting down I've come back to Spotify. On the royalties front; I do royalties as a profession having worked in music and indeed at one of Spotify's competitors - it is the labels that people should be pointing the finger at, not the services. Firstly the majors all enforce that they need shares in the company before they will do the licensing deal at all, then they negotiate very hard on the royalty rates to make it difficult for the services to ever turn a profit. After that they of course keep c80% of the revenue for themselves before using the rest as recoupment against the artists advances. Of course there is the argument that the labels need this in order to keep investing in new talent but I guess that's a different discussion & no one is forcing bands to sign to the labels. For those of you that are curious; the royalties are not paid out on a per play basis but are actually the greater of a revenue share or a per subscriber minimum, divided among the labels based on their market share in the given month/territory. Many labels do then report on to the artists on a per play basis due to the way their systems work but this varies by label. If you look at the per play conversion the company I used to work for paid out on average 2p per play to the labels so most artists would have got around half a penny per play from the recording side then whatever they got from their publisher. Spotify pay out substantially less because the labels had them over a barrel when they first started & would have agreed to anything in order to get the service launched (first to break the market often ends up the winner) & they also have for more free users than subscribers.

What lead time did he give you when you ordered? I'd give it a day after that. There are very few more annoying things than people chasing things that aren't due yet, that's in any profession.

The Highline is good, as is the meatpacking area around it. The Metropolitan museum. *cough* Rudys Music Stop *cough*

Somebody must be sitting there & working out the tracks otherwise where are these youtube people getting it from? Or the people writing out the tab (though most tab I see online is wrong)? I don't really see a problem - if young players are interested in learning music that's good enough for me, as they progress their listening ears will develop naturally.

If we're just talking about music that has an identifiable set of clothes to go with it since emo of the 00's I can only come up with two: As mentioned previously - that alt-folk, mumford & sons thing. There's a definite sound to all the bands and the smartly-dressed-farmer look to go with it. Mandolins, banjos maybe even one of those drum-box things combined with flannel shirts, waist-coats & turned up chinos. The other one would be "The Wave" hardcore bands - whilst hardcore & it's fashion has been going since punk these bands do seem to have splintered away and if you go to the gigs of both there is definitely a different vibe between them. A different focus on lyrics, some upbeat tracks - recommended bands; Touche Amore, La Dispute, Pianos for Teeth etc... Fashion is a cross of hipster & punk - rolled up beanies, very skinny t-shirts & jeans, lots of tattoos - there's also a strangely large number of females at these gigs compared to any other heavy-music I've been to see.

[quote name='Bronner' timestamp='1423724690' post='2688231'] Corvette is a lovely bass, even though it's not 100% what I really want today, but I have this feeling the new Asian ones sound better. The pickups on the older ones are a little bit lifeless for arrangements that are heavier (rock / blues-rock), but the wood and construction is first-rate. Anybody else feel the same? [/quote] Interesting you think that as I thought the complete opposite about my fretted corvette. I found it cut through the mix very strongly when I was playing heavy music (and indeed it still does) but when I joined a more pop-rock band it was at times a bit too growly so I bought a Jazz for a more scaled back sound. Maybe it's a fretted/fretless thing. Do they use a different fingerboard wood on the fretless as opposed to Wenge?

Yes I did mean products in general not just instruments, I guess we'll find all the information out in time. Just checked the specs; no brass frets on the GPS basses. Never mind.

I think just the fact they say Germany on them over any of the Asian countries will be a big selling point - same as USA/Mexican Fenders. Am I imagining things or is/was there talk of being able to put "Made in Germany" on a product that's made somewhere else so long as a certain % comes from inside the EU? ie Send a load of German wood & electronics to Asia to be put together & you can still call it German? I may have completely dreamed that up but I'm sure I saw it somewhere. There's talk on the Warwick forums of the GPS basses not having bell brass frets which would be a shame as that used to be one of Warwicks selling points (though I don't know if it actually makes a difference). On the neck front (of the older basses); you can't really blame Warwick for moving away from Wenge for a while considering the lengths they would have had to go to in order to get some, I've been very happy with the sound & feel Ovangkol neck, sure it's not quite as attractive as Wenge but it's still nicer than Maple for this kind of bass. The shape from the 00's was always more of a lopsided D than other brands & feels good once you get used to it. The only people I've known personally to struggle with it was people that play with their thumb wrapped around the side of the neck rather than in the middle of the back.

Looks interesting; the German Pro-series seems to be going for what Warwick was maybe 10/15 years ago - which is a good thing for me because I'd quite like a Streamer this year & couldn't afford the custom shop prices. Not that I think the custom shop is over priced - you get what you pay for & the quality will be at least equal to most of the other custom builders out there. Any word on if the rockbasses will have the W on? I always thought that was a mistake so will look out for what they've decided.

I can't offer much insight into session players but I have a fair bit of experience within recorded music; the % of bands/acts signed to major labels that earn even minimum wage a year is tiny. The upfront costs are huge & recoupment happens very slowly due to the artists getting such a small royalty back from sales. Sync is a good place for them to earn, this forums favorites Royal Blood would be a good example of a band earning very little in royalties but probably getting an alright bit of money from other activities (depending on their deal).

That bass looks incredible, must be a joy to play. While we're talking about playing, that was very well done too. That video makes me want to save more money & practice a lot more!

There were about 30 riot police battering down the door of 12-bar this morning. I don't know if they were actually expecting any problems but it was quite funny to watch them struggle - a handful of them already looked winded from the effort when I got there & they were still no closer to getting through the door when I left 10 minutes later.