Happy Jack

Had a quick go on one at the SouthEast Bassbash and liked it. Then an old jamming mate invited me to join his steampunk folk band so long as I played DB rather than fretless electric. Bought a no-name £300 Chinese starter bass, got an hour's intro from Jakesbass, and I was up & running ...

Also check out the Tapco range, e.g. http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/DISC-Tapco-Blend-6-6-Channel-Mixer/3G9 The point is that they're the Squier to Mackie's Fender, so the quality level is higher than you might expect. I picked one up pre-owned for £30 and I've used it for dozens of small and semi-acoustic gigs since then.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1482881777' post='3203363'] ... and I can make a set last nearly a year. [/quote] Bwahahahahahahaha!!! Time to move to flats, Chris.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Teuffel-Tesla-Headless-Boutique-Guitar-Sale-Or-Swap-px-For-Strandberg-Varberg-/172461919339?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

If it really does have a 25.5" scale, seems to me that design is almost certainly a bastardised guitar rather than an instrument designed as a bass.

I bought a Zeller from Clarky for not a huge amount more than your £600 budget, absolutely lovely "cheap" bass which he was replacing with his dream DB, an 1880 German flatback costing him several times more than he sold the Zeller for. He spent the next three years trying to persuade me to sell the Zeller back to him because it sounded nicer than his flatback. It's not always about price and reputation. So is my Zeller a bit of a special, a one-off? At the DB Bash a few months ago, someone else had one just like mine, so I tried it. Even with his string choice and his set-up, it played and sounded a lot like mine.

I could make a very long list of albums which were "game changers" for me, starting with Revolver and coming all the way to Graceland, but in truth the one that had the biggest impact on me was probably Piledriver. I saw the Quo regularly from 1974 until the original line-up reformations of the last few years. I can't think of many 2016 casualties I will miss more. Thanks Rick.

http://www.adesignsaudio.com/reddi-all-tube-direct-box.htm

People constantly come up to me at gigs and say how much they wish that I'd brought my rig in on a forklift truck. [size=4] [/size]

Beethoven - Beethoven's 5th

Well flats will instantly take you in that direction, and make both slides and (ahem) note correction much easier. What you will lose is the exaggerated growl that you get from playing rounds on a fretless. On the other hand, you'll also do far less damage to your fingerboard. Bear in mind that there's just as much variation between different brands & styles of flats as there is with rounds. La Bella FLs (my own favourite) are very stiff and very expensive; Thomastik make strings which are far more compliant and need a much lighter touch, but sound really lush when played well.

The elephant in the room is that, to keep the visuals working properly, he's clearly scaled up the body to match the huge neck. Given the typically very light weight of a Lull 4-string (say 7.5lbs) then scaling it up by 20% wouldn't turn it into a back-breaker at 9lbs, but unfortunately I don't think it works like that. I suspect that the 20% upscale need to be cubed for three dimensions, and 1.2 cubed is 1.73 which would take that 7.5lb startpoint over 11lbs, and that's before you get into the ergonomics of playing a thing that size. Still love the idea, mind.

I wasn't much interested in meeting Bill. It was the girl on the cover of Sunburst Finish that I wanted to meet.

Bluejay and I will actually be in Camden this evening, a mere 400 yards from The Roundhouse, but we cannot take these off your hands - we're going to watch The Rev support The Wurzels at Dingwalls. Oi am a zider drinker ...

But in all fairness, Blue, how often do you go around the room telling the audience how great [i][b]they [/b][/i]were?

I've used other avatars in the past, but was asked to change them. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/GIF%20files/SpinningGirl.gif.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/GIF%20files/SpinningGirl.gif[/IMG][/URL] I have no idea why.

It was 37 years ago today That Joe Strummer taught the band to play Nope, sorry, doesn't work for me.

Try to swallow the resentment and part as friends. The music biz is smaller than most realise. You haven't seen the last of these guys (probably) and it's not unimaginable that one day you'll find yourself hooking up with one or more of them again. Being incredibly f***ing gracious to someone who has just been a sh*t also pretty much guarantees that you get the moral high ground. [size=4] [/size]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1481743210' post='3194823'] Well, if you want a bargain, there is this totally legit sounding thunderbird: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gibson-thunderbird-bass-guitar-/182371853013"]http://www.ebay.co.u...r-/182371853013[/url] [/quote] I was so impressed by that listing that I bought the bass. Twice.

Well, some of it's from the 60s. That's a Hofner 185 (the original shortscale rather than the modern HCT version), Continental issue with celluloid 'dot markers'. It would have originally been fitted with a pair of 'Staple' pickups as fitted to the Violin bass. The equivalent bass in the UK and Commonwealth was the Hofner Artist - you got a serial number for no extra cost but you lost the uber-cool celluloid. That pickguard is quite a nice bit of brass and will probably polish up with some Duraglit. It sure as hell ain't original. As to being "of interest to a Hofner collector", I very much doubt it.

That's really no way treat a Nigerian Prince.

https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/9127579-nice-teardrop-guitar

As a general rule, short scale basses tend to be more "thuddy" than long scale. If you like that (and I do) then that's great, but I've never yet owned a shortscale bass that actually sounded like a Precision. Certainly you'll need to put some effort into making a Mustang "growl". Could be your string choice, could be a smallish (say 15W) valve amp, could even be a pedal. Given that Mustangs are not exactly cheap, I suggest that you either try before you buy or buy a really cheap shortscale to try out first.

As with most everything else in life, it's horses for courses. I've seen compressors being used as effects pedals, as a general sound enhancer, and as a compensation for poor technique (that would be me then). They're versatile, but a compressor can only really do one of those things at a time. Ultimately it's down to your ears. If you can't hear the impact then that compressor or that setting is (literally) doing nothing for you. Others may make comments, and clearly they're hearing a difference, but can you? Pete just mentioned the Demeter Compulator. Some years ago that pedal was absolutely flavour of the month here on Basschat - lots of love for it, lots of praise. I spent two hours in Charlie Chandlers trying everything I could to hear that pedal's subtle, transparent effect. You know what's coming, don't you? It was so subtle and so transparent that I couldn't hear a damned thing. I left the shop with an MXR Dynacomp. These days I use The Warden pedal by Earthquaker Devices. Would I recommend it? To me, yes I would. To you, dunno - we've never met.

Does Darryl Jones count as an actual 'member' of the Rolling Stones?