Happy Jack

Been gigging long, have you?

Especially the strawberry pink ones ...

Is that tone crystal, or does it just have the usual healing powers?

It's worth remembering that some 'classic' guitar amps started their lives as amps intended for use by bass ...

I wasn't suggesting a re-issue - far from it! Buy an original. It may need some TLC but it will be better in every way, and it will keep its value.

Yup, electrical tape is the way to go. Anyone who thinks it's smart to voluntarily change the settings on their pedals between songs has no business being on stage - get your sound sorted out before the gig, not during it!

Spin cycle ...

All basses are black in the dark. Anyway, why would you be looking at the body of your bass when playing it?

Sorry mate, there's no way that the colour of the bass will make it sound different.

After all these years, I still find myself wondering how Fender can possibly have re-invented such a simple instrument in so many ways. Does an American Standard Player Artiste Roadworn Signature model really sound any different from any other Precision? IME the only things that makes one P sound different from another P are (i) string choice, and (ii) fitting a hot pickup.

No, it doesn't attach, but it IS small enough to fit under the handle of many cabs! I've rehearsed with mine many times, and gigged it a few times (usually when playing gigs where I'm mostly going through the PA), and I haven't had a problem yet. Linus, there's a country band I play with that rehearses at loud but less-than-gig volumes, right on the cusp of should-I-wear-earplugs? I play a Precision through the Elf into a Crazy 88 and it's (i) more than capable of holding its own, and (ii) utterly righteous. Like any good, small cab it's significantly heavier than you think. My Crazy 8 weighs less than my old Barefaced OneTen, but not by that much. The Crazy 88 is definitely heavier.

Really? Can't say as we noticed ... [Whistles unconvincingly, whilst shuffling feet]

Assuming that those are serious questions, UN = IN REFURISHED = REFURBISHED (= repaired or renewed)

In my head, the lower (bass) strings should be fretted and the higher (treble) strings should be the fretless ones ...

Why does it come with five (spare) sets of strings? Are the bridge saddles like sharpened chisels or something?

Mine lives in the lounge, running through a Crazy 8 cab. Overkill? Of course. But then so is my main gig rig (GB Shuttle 900W through either a Markbass 210 or a Markbass 410). I like headroom ...

Now that's what I call straight-line thinking!

An original Hofner 185 Artist (or perhaps the 182 Professional) won't cost you an arm & a leg, and it will sound better than that thing!

Oi! That's our Silvia's ironing board, I'll have you know.

I'm genuinely impressed that Google returns no hits, nothing at all, not a sausage, bugger all. I honestly didn't think that was still possible.

This is the point, really. If you're lucky enough to make it big when you start out (and there's always a huge element of luck involved) then it doesn't really matter how crude or limited are your musical skills. Initially. But after 40 years (forty years!) as a rich & famous professional musician with, frankly, nothing better to do with your time than improve as a musician, needing a visual prompt to be able to play a Dm chord on a keyboard is (putting it very mildly) pretty bloody lame. That takes nothing away from his sonic landscaping skills, or his unerring ability to find the correct single note to play on each beat, but you have to ask yourself why he never improved. As to the tired old Adam Clayton debate, my best guess is that he could come round to my place, pick up any of my basses, and play some seriously good basslines. I doubt that he's actually limited to pedalling 8th notes on the A in real life ...

It's hard to believe there are two such bodgers in one small town in Sussex ...

Isn't that You-Know-Who again?

US$130.95 At the exchange rate of two years ago ($1.61) that would have been reasonable without actually being cheap. At the current exchange rate ($1.26) this is clearly not the solution for everybody!