Happy Jack

That pattern in the wood grain looks just like the body of a bass guitar ... amazing!

Trouble is, take that to its logical conclusion and you need to be (at least roughly) AJ's shape for his ergonomics to work for you. That's a sacrifice I'm not prepared to make.

Have you tried offering to help carry the stuff to the car, you know, don't leave it all for her to do? I mean, don't strain yourself, obviously ...

Yup, that's how I feel. The chances that I'll carefully note the name of the band, then get up the next morning, search for the website, find the download section, and download the music ... negligible. If there's a pile of CDs at the back of the room though,

Forget polls identifying Basschatter's ages ... that's demographics. How about polls identifying Basschatter's preferences ... that's democratics. To take an entirely hypothetical example, if a hypothetical Basschatter were to start a hypothetical poll as to whether or not Basschat should retain the Greatest Profanity Filter Ever Devised By Mere Mortal Man, would anyone care? [And yes, there is a particularly silly & pointless discussion on Talkbass just now.]

He's not legendary - he really exists. No, seriously, he does.

If that includes released vinyl that we played on (I'd be a bit pretentious claiming that it was me who "released the album"!) remind me to bring a copy of mine if we ever get to meet! The artist was a Spanish singer/songwriter named Dani Molino. Here's a track:

Now that would work for me, Mike.

But arguably the greatest 'Best Of' in history!

Thanks guys. I have to say, I'm tempted by the idea of putting the bass on the stage at the end of the gig, pouring lighter fluid all over it, and setting fire to it. I never realised that Hendrix was actually trying to restore the finish on his Strat ...

And, of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being "fine with a Squier". If I played instruments pitched at the level of my playing ability then I'd probably have an Encore and, for me, the Squier would be an aspirational instrument. There is no bassline that I have ever played that couldn't have been played on a £200 bass. The reason I play a Mike Lull T5 (current retail price c.£4500 though that is WAY more than I paid for mine) is simply because I like it, well, love it to bits would be more accurate, and I CAN. "I imagine the sock placement is partly to do with easy of sitting position." And how do you know where Anthony Jackson places his socks?

The biggest albums of 1971 in the USA were Tapestry (Carole King), Pearl (Janis Joplin) and All Things Must Pass (George Harrison). As peaks go, I've seen bigger. On t'other hand, in the UK you're looking at Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel), Every Picture Tells A Story (Rod Stewart) and Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones). That's taking us a bit higher. Dig a bit deeper into those charts and you'll find some truly great rock music IMHO, but then given my age (I was 15 in 1971) that's hardly surprising; this is the stuff I grew up listening to. Who's Next is my favourite album by The Who and it did reach No.1 in the charts ... for just a single week. At the time, it was a well-received album but not considered in any way ground-shattering. Most of the reviews note that it was actually a step back towards 'normal' rock music after the excesses of Tommy. ***************************** The Top Ten singles included Knock Three Times (Dawn), Pushbike Song (The Mixtures), Never Ending Song Of Love (New Seekers) and either Grandad (Clive Dunn) or Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (Middle Of The Road) depending on which charts you believe. I think we can safely say that 1971 was probably more of a valley than a peak for popular (as opposed to rock) music.

Mine doesn't.

Not sure which bass you're talking about there ... can't see an AJ6 listed just now.

You do that with everything.

The advert pretty much shrieks exclusivity (so don't apply if you're in any other bands), obsession (two rehearsals a week, plus studio time), and lack of gigs (no bass player for four months? really?). For the right person this will probably be a great step forward and hopefully a happy ending. But it may take a long time for that person to emerge.

You'll soon get used to the way that you can't walk past it without pausing to pluck the E string ...

Oh Denis ...

Ah yes ... of course I'd also need to buy a MacBook. Outstanding. I've hated Apple kit for over 30 years. Can't see that changing any time soon.

See if you can work this lot out: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovation-Ovation-Magnum-Bass-70S-USED-with-hard-case/183219362223?hash=item2aa8b999af:g:gMAAAOSwV9ha9GyZ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovation-Ovation-Magnum-Bass-70S-used-used-bass-606/112975680992?hash=item1a4de015e0:g:ySoAAOSwugha7C9f https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovation-Magnum-Bass-Vintage-Natural-Electric-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-4-String-with-HC/163028460077?hash=item25f540e22d:g:a18AAOSw1LRa6XTD https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovation-Ovation-Magnum-Bass-Used-Electric-Bass-FREE-Shipping/173337666871?hash=item285bbae537:g:0aAAAOSwUP5a4xfr https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovation-Ovation-Magnum-Bass-70S-USED-with-hard-case/183244915029?hash=item2aaa3f8155:g:24gAAOSwEARbCiFl So that's quite clearly the same bass, appearing simultaneously in five different eBay adverts from five different eBay accounts, all of them listed at utterly ludicrous prices. No, me neither.

I would almost put that forward to The Junkyard Dogs just to see the looks on their faces ...

For me, then, the problem is the signal path. Player --> Roli --> Laptop --> Interface --> PA, instead of Player --> Keyboard --> Combo. Old-school involves plugging in a power cord and an instrument cable. Sooper-dooper new-school involves plugging together three pieces of kit before you get to the PA, each connection using a different cable type, and every stage offering loads of extra ways to get the settings & interfaces wrong, plus the added benefit of relying on downloaded software and patches to make any sound at all. What could possibly go wrong? To be clear, I love the idea of these things and I've seriously contemplated buying one, but the realities of using one in a live band situation look pretty nightmarish to me. If I was in a touring band with tech guys and roadies then fine, but at the Dog & Duck? Not for me, Clive ...

How do you use these things in a live-on-stage, band situation? Presumably you can't simply run a 1/4" jack-to-jack or XLR cable into your PA, so you do you run this into a laptop, have a bunch of sounds stored on the hard disk, and then run from the laptop into the PA? Please tell me that 5-pin DIN plugs are not involved anywhere in the process ...

Actually it was a brand new Encore ...

So that's 17 people who are interested in attending this event. So long as someone (else) organises it. And chooses which town to hold it in. And sets a date which doesn't clash with everyone's diary. What could possibly go wrong?