Happy Jack

Thanks guys, but I don't think this is nitro. It's not a high-gloss finish like many of the modern lacquers, but it's far more 'plasticky' than nitro.

I've just bought a lovely 1979/80 Ovation Magnum III in a brown lacquer finish vaguely reminiscent of Rickenbacker ShitGlo. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Ovation-Magnum-III-Bass-with-Original-Hardshell-Case/192537820510?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 What the photos in the listing don't show is that the finish is strangely 'cloudy' and also paler in some areas than others. It looks almost like it's been exposed to too much sunshine over the years. It plays beautifully and sounds awesome, so no actual problem, but I'm wondering if I can titivate it a bit with a judicious application of T-Cut. What does the panel think?

Good work!

The thing that cover really screams at me is that Peter Tork is playing a Guild Jetstar, which is absolutely NOT the bass I would have expected to see him holding. Gretsch 6070 fine, Fender Coronado maybe, but a Guild? Having done a quick Google it's obvious that he did play one quite frequently, but I was a big Monkees fan in the mid-60s (I was 10, OK? Cut me some slack.) and I just don't have any memories of this bass.

Shortscale: Hofner 500/1 Violin (either original vintage or the CT model) Hofner 500/7 Verithin (originals are rare, probably a re-issue) Longscale: Gretsch 6070 (frequently, and incorrectly, called a Country Gentleman)

I happen to know someone who is a complete BeeGees nut. She's never heard of "Alex Hill", no matter how much of his music he left in the case!

If you want to get him something which he doesn't already have, works really well with DB, will attract loads of attention, and is just ridiculously cool then may I suggest http://www.sonuspeaker.com/?page_id=95 I checked these out at NAMM in January and they are just wonderful. They're not perfect for every gigging player since (for example) they can't really be stacked, despite what the makers claim, but this is quibbling.

I've looked at these a few times, but always get stopped by either the price of these things, or the Midi involvement ...

This could be a long wait ...

That Bass Bar is the perfect solution to my newest band ... bought one as soon as I saw it here!

Bass Squoink Bass In Boots

The nastiest drum I've ever heard is a piccolo snare. As a non-drummer, if there is one contribution I can make to this thread, it's DON'T LET HIM HAVE A PICCOLO SNARE!!!

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Radial-Tonebone-BigShot-I-O-True-Bypass-Instrument-Selector/VFK?origin=product-ads&campaign=PLA+Shop+-+GENERIC&adgroup=GENERIC&medium=vertical_search&network=google&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=40736d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=127211954479&gclid=CjwKCAjw_47YBRBxEiwAYuKdw6TtJ5ufAX8SCpNbtuSYItVNWa1HOW9uditoew3jFEN7pijch4V7HhoCp-8QAvD_BwE

Lindisfarne were much more radical than people realise ...

Now have a cuppa.

I'll get no bonus points for cheapness, but for me the first stop would always be a Radial Bigshot unit (several flavours to choose from). In one band the setlist has me switching between DB and EB several times in each set, and my Bigshot is invaluable. It's passive so I have no cables or batteries to worry about. I've got two inputs with an adjustable gain on one of them so that I can balance up the signals as between the two instruments. There's a separate Tuner Out. Switches are Toggle between inputs, and Mute. There's also a Ground Lift / Phase switch. Like all Radial kit this thing would survive having a Chieftain tank driven over it. If you don't fancy paying the thick end of £100 for one, they're very safe pre-owned buys.

Can't agree. The money is an important aspect of it for sure, and both ways - i.e. for both venue and performer - but there are genuinely other factors here. The guitar/vocals guy and the drummer from my main band also go out as an acoustic duo (guitar & cajon) and have actually taken gigs away from the main band. That's cool. The gigs concerned are venues that were either too small or too bad acoustically (or both) for a 4-piece rock band, but which work well for an acoustic 2-piece. In truth, I don't miss playing those places.

Coming at this from a slightly different angle, for me a gig can only count as 'great' if it's memorable. It doesn't matter how well I played or whether or not the magic happened if a month later I've forgotten all about it. The gigs that stick in my mind are the ones that we, the band, will still be talking and laughing about in the pub after rehearsal years later. As musical events some were good and some were bad, for all sorts of reasons, but they're the ones we look back at. One recent gig wasn't necessarily a great musical performance by the band, but it has already entered Junkyard Dogs folklore as "The Gig That Had Everything" ... multiple satnav fails on the way there, a fuse blowing halfway through the final set, more silicon boobies and 6" stilettos than you could shake a stick at, broken guitar strings twice in one set, being asked if I'd ever heard of a guy called Keith Moon who was the Lead Drummer in The Who, having my photo taken by an under-dressed lady who said I looked just like "a young Bruce Willis" (I'm 61), the band being trapped on stage at the end of the gig because there were 200 drunken (but well-behaved) punters ramming the pub and we literally could not get out. All this and more.

Which Oasis album did you play on?

Which would rather rule out this gig. Completely.

I suppose it depends on your conception ...

It's reading posts like this that truly underlines how little I understand about what's going on inside the expensive boxes I buy.

"The belt pack is simply a Redeemer guitar buffer in a convenient box to make buffering any guitar or bass easy." Is this actually a preamp?