NancyJohnson

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1422008768' post='2667633'] I'm bloody glad they were asked. Better that than someone blindly accepting the negative factpinions which get paraded as received wisdom around here when it comes to Thunderbirds and Gibson basses in general. [/quote] Isn't it always the same questions though? And time and time again. Neckdive, strap lug position, scale length blah blah blah. It's like looking at hotel reviews on TripAdvisor, no one focuses or reads the positive comments. Christ Neeph, you and me have fought for the positive side Gibson basses for years, both here and on LBO, so you know how it is. Yes, I admit, there is an element of neck dive, but (to me) it's not an issue in the slightest. If it bothers anyone, buy a wider strap or a Fender. I had a degree of diving with the old Lakland DJ5 I used to own, but no one ever goes. 'Ooh, those Laklands, man they're terrible at keeping horizontal.' P

I'm fairly new to this Rickenbacker malarky...I lurked for an awful long time. The one model that really got me hooked was the Blackstar. I'd like to have seen that reissued. Now that's a pant-wettingly beautiful bass.

If I can add one further note (got to get to bed, early start tomorrow and I've just drunk a frankly delicious bottle of red with dinner), try and get hold of '[i]Appetite for Self Destruction[/i]' by Steve Knopper. It's about four years old now, but still relevant. A fantastic account of the free fall in the global music business and how greed, excess and stupidity killed the record industry. It's the same now. Vinyl, tape, CD, MP3, delivery services.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1421965608' post='2667329'] I take your point Nancy, but the reason for the questions is that I do suffer from neck & back problems, and I'm not that tall, so a long stretch and having to hold up the neck, whilst trying to move my left hand to where it should be, could be a problem to me. As for the nut width, I prefer a narrower neck, I have a jazz neck on my precision because I find it more comfortable. I am asking for advice from TB players, because I have read so many negative things from all the Gibson haters on here. [/quote] Look, they're lovely basses. Go try a few. If you were local I'd invite you round for an evening to ding mine. The necks are lovely...all of mine have been skinny and fast. They sound great (check my signature for audio). The only bugbear is that f*cking awful three point bridge, but at least you can put a Hipshot on it or (when they become available) a Babicz. Forget about neck dive, it's really not that much of a problem. Whatever you do, PLEASE don't buckle and buy an Epiphone because it looks like a Gibson or has Gibson pickups, because it's not a Gibson. Chalk and cheese.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1421964496' post='2667306'] Exactly! (1) Access to every CD I own - £0, because they're all on my iPod. This is the latest trend, to have people paying to access their data/stuff. (2) So what has this done to the income of people who make their living from recording music? [/quote] I've bought, ripped and still own the 1,500 CDs I've bought and I can do with them what I want. The MP3s/FLACs are sitting on a NAS and a couple of iPods. I access the MP3s occassionally (primarily the odd few albums that aren't on Spotify). It's really all about ease of delivery for me. What my iPod won't give me is music on demand. It's 2015. It's not about ownership anymore, it's about delivering a service. This applies to books, film and other media sources. Insofar as [i]what about the people who who make their living from music[/i], I'm sorry, but I don't really care. Boo hoo. I've got the t-shirt my friend. I tried and that is why I made a life choice, got a job in an office and play in three bands in my off time. I live in a nice house, I have wife, a nice cat and Denplan. Musicians have been screwed over by managers/labels/promoters for decades and that will never change, so just add Spotify to that list. What Spotify will do however is engage a wider global audience for a tiny amount of outlay and can be done independently [i]sans le baggage[/i]. I'm sorry to tell you this, but music business has changed and there's a tiny percentage of musicians making a (decent?) living from making music. Keep up at the back. I'm sure I'll now get dozens of BC members going 'Oh no, Paul I'm sure you're wrong,' but it's the truth.

I've got three now and owned another two. I'm a little tired of these questions, so here's my headshakingly honest responses: 1 - Forget about neck dive. You play with two hands. 2 - Whaaaaaat? Are you a mental? 3 - No. It's as versatile as a Jazz in that it's got two pickups and VVT. 4 - Good grief. My teenage nephew can reach the nut. He's 13. 5 - Around 3.5cm. My Rickenbacker is a shade over 4.0cm. What sort of difference will that make? As I've said dozens of times on these pages, the Thunderbird is like magic. I'm a pudgy guy in my late 40s. I put it on and I turn into a lithe rock god in my twenties. I'll say something else here, if anyone posts 'well I have an Epiphone', remember that it's effectively a copy of a Gibson. Fender/Squire. It's not a Gibson. It's a copy. P

I love it. We have two Denon Piccolo units with Spotify built in to the operating software. It's on my phone, my wife's phone and her tablet, our PC. I can Bluetooth it to the car stereo. It really is the nuts. Love nothing more than having breakfast on a Saturday morning and just browsing for new music. Christmas (cold aside) was a blast...just create a playlist of the old crooners and set it on shuffle play. I just think it's £9.99 a month for access to pretty much every CD I own and a whole lot more; I have boxes of vinyl and 1,500+ CDs in the house just gathering dust. Used to spend £100 or more a month on music - haven't bought a CD in months. In answer to the 'those poor old musicians' thing. Seriously, b*ll*cks to that. A dog isn't just for Christmas. If you want to make a living from music, buy a van and go out on the road. Otherwise, go work in an office. P

Nice! 2x10 and 2x12 here I think.

I've got a BH800. It arrived a few weeks back. Really just on a quest for a loud, lightweight, class-D head. Running it into an 8ohm Hartke 4x10 cabinet and even at 25% it's suprisingly loud. Tone Print functionality is good too (even though I'm not big on effects).

I just downloaded the Killer Queen multitracks. Interesting! I've dumped them into my recording software and after isolating drums and bass, my initial comment would be how [i]underwhelming [/i]the playing is. Don't get me wrong, those first four or five Queen albums formed what became the backbone of my late teen listening and Sheer Heart Attack is easily included in my top five favourite albums, but the playing definitely comes under the less is more category. I honestly thought the part would be super difficult given the complexity of the song overall. One final observation, damn, whatever bass he was using sounds like it needs a set up...the intonation on the higher notes/pushes sounds well off to my ears!

I bought a TC Electronic BH800 about a month ago. While I'm yet to try it out in a full band yet (roll on Thursday), my initial experience is that it's light, loud and transparent tonally if you want to use a pedal as your front end. You can also chuck a pedal in the rear aux-input to bypass the gain/tone controls and utilise the power. I'm in love with the Tone Print options as well (the ability to use a phone/device to input chorus/flange/dirt direct into the unit). *The edit bit. Interestingly, you can use the front and aux-in inputs simultaneously. So, in theory, I can use my Rickenbacker 4003 into two stompboxes (VT Bass & BDDI) into both the inputs. I'll be happy to report back my experiences before the weekend. P

I think we've been here before. My Travis Bean 2000 bass. #222. It was on eBay about 18 months ago. I mean, it played like a dog and was back-breakingly heavy, but it was like a piece of art and was stunningly beautiful. Would I buy it back given the chance? Nope. Would I keep it if it was still mine? Yes. P

[quote name='kendall' timestamp='1409070305' post='2536017'] You could try these three: 1. Tesseract 2. Hawk Eyes 3. Dillinger Escape Plan. [/quote] Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but my mate Jay plays drums fro Tesseract. The great thing about them is that while the songs work with vocals, there's also instrumental versions available of everything as well. Jay also drums in Heights with my mates Al & Jon...they're pretty outstanding instrumental proggy stuff. P

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1420822386' post='2653942'] I'm keen to give the new Babicz three point replacement a bash. My dislike for the three point bridge is pretty full on. [/quote] Likewise. I'm down to three Thunderbirds now and am waiting with baited breath to retro-retro fit a Babicz on one of them. P

This may come across as a bit of a stupid question to those in the know, but flats. When I first started playing (when all this was fields), my first bass came with flats on it. I can only really remember them being shiny, flat, dull and lifeless and it didn't really occur to me that I could change them for anything else. The G-string broke one weekend and not knowing any better I dipped into my paper round money and replaced just the one string with a roundwound (and there was light - heh). I remember hearing the [i]zingyness [/i]of that G-string and pretty much played everything on that string for weeks and frankly never looked back. Given the music I play now (punky/noise), I ask what would flats give me now? Is it worth having a punt and stringing up one basses with flats, or will they just be lifeless mud? P

Mwahaha...I think that was a raging success and I shall [b]definitely [/b]be repeating this exercise in the future. Obviously the new E is a tad brighter than the ADGs, but it'll lose some of it's zing in the coming days and even out. Despite saying this wasn't anything to do with money saving, there's a feel good factor to be had for saving yourself £20.00 plus! P

Jeepers, I'd be in like a shot if you lived in Berkshire. What's wrong with everyone? P

In my defence, two full bands (with an occasional third), recording, jamming, writing, big heavy muthafunking plectrums. I pick up whatever is close to me and I tend to play for at least an hour a day. It has to be said that some basses don't kill the strings as much as others, which I am not able to quantify.