Gottastopbuyinggear

We’ve had one for about 8 years and it’s still fine. However, that’s probably because we haven’t used it for the last 6 years as it’s a pain to transport and put up…

I’m glad you said that - I bought one a few months ago but despite all the good reviews on Amazon I knew as soon as I plugged it in that it wasn’t any good. The signal seemed highly compressed and the highs seemed to be missing - and “highs” are relative, as I play flats… I’ve got the WL-20 now which is good, but I do find it drops out for a fraction of a second sometimes, which I assume is because it’s hopping to a different frequency. This is just for home practice, and for gigs I’m still totally happy with the Smoothhound on my pedalboard.

Was it an American made Jazz? My Tele was October 2004. Two instruments in as many years isn’t a massive sample, but you can’t help thinking “quality control”…. I several other poly finish instruments of a similar age with no finish problems, and the limited searching I did only came up with chips rather than finish separations. I’m a lot more sanguine about this than I would have been when I was younger (and perhaps closer to the point where I parted with the cash for it…) but it is frustrating. I always take good care of my gear - even my gigging basses are pretty much pristine.

Not a bass but my American Tele. There’s some flex if you touch either side of the crack, so the finish has obviously separated from the body. I’m not impressed: Any ideas what I could do to stop this getting worse?

I started off down this road, with a few LED Par cans controlled via QLC from a foot switch I built so that we could have subtle colour washes, changing along with the music etc., but gave up because pubs kept turning on their own over-the-top spinny flashy stuff anyway and it just negated any subtlety I was trying to introduce 😂

Brilliant, thanks - not sure why i couldn't find any the last time I tried searching!

That does indeed look really good! Can I ask where you sourced the footswitches, or rather the coloured surrounds if they're separate from the switch?

We’re not so precious - the more people you bring the better 😊 Looking forward to it, as always. We may even have a couple of new songs since you last saw us - whether we can remember the endings or not is a different matter!

Hi all, I play bass in Fortunate Sons, an established band gigging in the Cardiff area and playing a mix of predominantly 60s and 70s rock, soul and r&b - think Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Picket, etc. Sadly our existing keys player has decided to retire from gigging so we’re looking for a replacement. Apart from the obvious piano and organ parts we need horn parts for a number of the soul tunes, so you’ll need to be comfortable taking those parts as well as having kit that can handle the sounds. We play things our way, rather than trying to emulate recordings, so we won’t be giving you a bunch of written out parts to learn, and apart from those “must have” signature parts of songs we’d rather you brought your own ideas. Great backing vocals would be a huge plus. We’re all quite busy people and do this for fun rather than income. We aim to gig no more than twice a month, and probably average no more than 20 gigs a year. We’re a pub/club band and aren’t really interested in private functions. We don’t have a rehearsal regime set in stone, and tend to rehearse more frequently when we want to add new songs, and less when we have a solid run of gigs. We don’t care about age, gender, etc., we just need you to enjoy playing the music we do, and show the relatively small amount of commitment we’re asking. If you think you have something to offer us, or know someone that does, then we’d love to hear from you. Cheers, Andy.

No, this one was white. They were £399 at the time and I think all the other colours had already shot up in price by then.

I tried an L2000 Tribute in Cardiff PMT about a year ago and loved it, but I couldn't get over the massive chunk that had been taken out of the rear upper bout, or more importantly the price they were still wanting for it. Apart from that, obviously post-production damage, it was well put together and set up. I ordered an identical one from Andertons and when it turned up it was totally unplayable - neck hadn't been seated properly and there was a gap of about 2mm underneath the neck where it met the body. I tightened the bolts to seat the neck fully, but couldn't adjust the action lower than 3.25mm and 2.75mm at the 17th fret on the E and G respectively without getting fret buzz anywhere above the 12th fret, even though the relief was fine. The nut was also cut too high - about 1.25mm clearance. Andertons took it back with no quibbles as you'd expect, but had no more and the price then went up so I left it. The most amusing thing was the guy in PMT who asked me to take my denim jacket off when I played the one there, so I didn't scratch the back. Don't think he'd seen the bass before, and the massive divot already taken out of the back...

Another vote for the 17’s here, also with an “uncomfortably loud drummer”. I also have a set of the 26 filters which I used when ext to the drums, but these days the guitarist is in between us so I don’t bother. The 17’s really are just like turning the volume down, and I always use them at gigs I go to as well. Night and day when compared with even the higher end of the non-moulded ones. Mine are the flush ones and I don’t have any trouble digging them out after a gig.

Where was that, Neil, out of interest? We’ve played a couple of places that have been pretty challenging space-wise, but then there are five of us as you know!

Great to see you both there, Neil, and a pleasure to chat during the break. It was a good gig for us, definitely one of our best - an appreciative crowd makes all the difference, doesn’t it. Good grief it was warm though!

Ah, we have a rehearsal on Monday. I think you’re there fairly frequently, though? Will definitely try to make it another time.