NancyJohnson

[quote name='dieseldalziel' timestamp='1423078829' post='2680501'] This is the article I think.. http://www.ericgarland.co/2015/02/03/end-guitar-center/ [/quote] That's the article. It came through on Buzzfeed. I'll have a better read tonight. I used to work in retail...the mark up was close to 100% after we sold stock on. It's staggering. I suppose if GC goes and the aforementioned big box brands start direct selling, then this has to be a good thing for the end customer.

Sitting on the bog in my hotel room at 5.00am this morning, whilst reading an article on my tablet, I happened upon an article about the pending demise of Guitar Center in the US - they're [i]apparently[/i] down to their last $10m (down from $25m in 2014). More interesting, there was some speculation that their pending demise (oh, it's [i]definitely[/i] gonna happen) will also take down big box brands as their reliance on Guitar Center alone is too high. One brand that was mentioned was Fender, who are looking to go the direct sale route in the US to stave off loss of sales. I'll try and locate the article and post a link this evening. P

I hope you get this finished soon mate!

The voice of reason says this: While I'm certain that you're ecstatic with the basses, please let's not start going the Talk Bass route and having clubs. It's irritating enough that there's these overlong, 'show us your <insert bass here>' threads (rather than individual topics), but if we go the route of clubs, before you know it people will be feverishly requesting Fender/Lakland/Rickenbacker club numbers. Enjoy your basses, but please dispense with this official club nonsense.

Welcome to the club! P

My situation is this. I have the funds, but, more importantly, I have seven (very decent) basses within two meters from where I'm typing this, some of which would need selling before I even thought about buying a Lull. I've spent some time building this collection and I'd like to keep some of those. I could lose two or three if a BLACK Lull became available.

Bwahaha.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1421618331' post='2663417'] Cut out the middle-man, save like f*** and buy this. [/quote] Shhh. [size=1]I don't need to save![/size]

This my friends is what happens when you put on three per-pubescent Japanese girls on instead of a proper band. If this is the way of things, then good riddance.

[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