Wonky2

In all my years I've never used it. Engineers may have foh or in studio, but me no, I go in dry hahaha It's something that I've always suspected I should use or more so, learn to use as I understand it's place.... But I've just never gone there, mostly through fear of its voodoo. The new tc spectracomp pedal is the only one that has caught my attention due to it simplicity of use, it's one knob for this one nob

Doing a studio session tomorrow for a guy I've played for a few times... Got me thinking to a tune we had played for a bit f fun last time we were together, vans moon dance. I thought I'd give it a spin just now for old time sake.... I've never really listened to it intently, more a case of its just a tune I know and have heard a lot . When it begins the bass drops out awkwardly in the first verse, after that the timing is seriously questionable through out ??? Never noticed before, it's subtle but it's out. Shame , it's a great melodic walking line and of course a great tune. I've moved onto Gloria now and balance has been restored.

And who could forget "the boy with the thorn in his side" .... When I was younger, that song really did make me realise that gay people are entitled to love too... I know that may sound a bit odd now, but at an age when the subject had not had much consideration from me personally, it really did confirm to me that it's totally wrong to deny otherwise. Love is love, miserable mixer taught me that. Plus..... The video for that song opened with an introduction from one of my all time absolute favourite lunatics, Ivor cutler. (Whom I love more than the smiths).

You political fool don't give a damn where you sit, you still say nothing to me.

The band I play in wrote a tune last time the elections ran, just listening to it whilst reading some EU ref garbage and figured it still applies.... Hope you like https://alroberts.bandcamp.com/track/chicken-wing

I can't help it, I've always had a love for the smiths... Am I still ill ? Is s great track. Morrisey and Marr were absolute vile to the rhythm section boys, really, quite vile. Still, based on their music, not their ethics, fantastic.

MM usa Sterling is even more versatile'er'er ....?!? Amongst a few changes from the stingray, The pick up toggle gives absolute versatility. http://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/sterling Strung with flats, i just cannot rate this bass highly enough.... Same scale length but shorter end to end, jazz profile neck, very light, transparent clear tone or deep gut punch, it does it all. Personally, id never have a ray over a sterling. Can be picked up for silly money too £600-950 (Get back in ye pram! I said personally! Hahaha)

Problem solved....... The shertler set b pick up and preamp is a fantastic piece of kit... What i now know is the matched impedance of my new phil jones bass cub seems to have unlocked its potential.... Great, no, fantastic sounding amp of course, but the high impeadance input matches the shcertler set b preamp so so well and the two are matched ever so perfectly. Happy at last with gear that is staying put. Cant reccomend the combination highly enough.

pjb cub100 purchase Guys, dealing with Tim was a pleasure, great comunication and no pressure or hard sell type hassle, just easy pleasurable Gas satisfaction! Deal with confidence when trading with Tim Guys

Very kind words, thanks Tim. Guys, dealing with Tim was a pleasure, great comunication and no pressure or hard sell type hassle, just easy pleasurable Gas satisfaction! Deal with confidence when trading with Tim Guys

My dogs gas is evil. Byt yes, gas is evil.... Ladt night i flicked through the adds here , today i own a new Pjb cub 100, which is fantastic i might add.

Chiro isnt advised for arthritic conditions unfortunately:( Can cause alot of issues.... For example, in my case, fractures... Easily done. But by all means speak to one if its a route you wish to take... Pm me with any questions at all steve.... NICE who govern the budget spend and suitability of drugs for treatment grant Anti tnf for rheumatoid arthritis, phsoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Untill very recently it had to be a very specific diagnosis to allow it, also a route of nsaids first, then dmards, then finally anti tnf. HOWEvEr , lobbying from several groups, nass (national ank sond society) has very recently got pre cursor conditions added to the list... Spondyloarthoprapies as they are called under a blanket terminology. Cost of treatment..... £15-20k per annum!!!!!

Glad to hear it's done you well timmo... Ive been on 3 different anti tnf plus metho injections for my AS and still cant get a good result :(but for some, its a Miracle! The results are slight but i would not want to be without them. Steve, i know when my kneck flares up and gives me more jip than usual, leaning to one side such as on my elbow can compleltwy turn my left hand off ! I look at it, i intell it to make a fiat and it just spasms... Its a bit alraming really... That being said, there alot to be said for learning to ifentify the things that make you worse and thinking proactivly to avoid doing them.

Yeah bet that motivated them hahahaha can only imagine the joy of the second set.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1465326375' post='3067235'] i have had arthritic problems with my back for over 25 years now - the only time it significantly went away was when i managed for a few short months to almost completely (as far as practicably possibly) eliminate wheat and wheat based foods from my diet NSAIDS used to be taken like candy until i rattled but u;timately only really ever took the edge off it - or maybe it was also the getting too keen to resort to the fizzy and subtlly addictive paracetomol and codeine - nowadays i lay off all nsaids and only take them as a desperate last resort am currently going to go back to the wheat free thing - very slowly though - you may titter and laugh but it is possibly more difficuclt than giving up smoking! dont believe me then try it for yourself there is plenty of stuff on the interwebs for research hope this helps [/quote] Lots of interesting studies on this over the years, or more so the starch free diet (nsd) .... The mist very latest studies have shown that the once thought Klebsiella bacteria isn't responsible inflammatory based medical issues.... But, if you get some relief from the wheat free approach, then that's great ! I know my type of arthritis is different to most, but like others it is a genetic auto immune disorder. Drugs.....pharma drugs aren't for everyone, but for me I'm at the point were living without them isn't a choice. NSAIDs (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) provide relief to many as the first line of treatment, but often play havoc with the digestive system. I got great relief for a long time from a drug called arcoxia 120mg but had to stop it.....moving onto DMARD's (disease modifying anti rheumatic drugs) these help some but for most just cause wicked fatigue and orange wee , methotrexate pills or injections... Usually come after NSAIDs... These are city toxic cell killing drugs, used for chemo therapy. The newest mainstream drugs are anti tnf (anti tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors), these basically lower you immune system and r body attacking itself. Prescribed mostly for rheumatoid arthritis, Ankylosing spondylitis, and phsoriatic arthritis.... None of them are pain killers, usually pain meds be it analgesic, paracetamol or opiates are usually taken along side. Incidentally, I'd point out that paracetamol is a highly under rated drug. It's fairly harmless, doesn't have any major side effects... When taken two at a time does little for real pain, but when taken two at a time every four hours for longer periods can provide good relief, you have to learn to take them even when you don't feel like you need them. That's not to say take them all the time, but be pro active and get a maintained dose in your body when you need it. Me, I take a daily low dose of slow relief morphine (zomorph) and use morphine sulphate (ora morph)for pain spikes ... But before I reach for the ora morph I use a course of paracetamol to try and fend things off. It takes time to learn how to use a "toolkit" of drugs. The greatest relief I get bar none is heat. A hot wheat bag has been my bets friend for some time. Tens machine really does help too, they are relatively cheap these days too. Obese you get used to the zapping it works well to just numb and area or turn pain into fuzz. The CBD hemp oil is great, you can get rubbing balms or I smoke it as an ecig vale. (Zero high) I've had them all. It's a bullet next

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1465331198' post='3067319'] Don't start self medicating or taking large amounts of pain pills. Blue [/quote] Agree on the self medicating but as for taking pills.... Sometimes the choice just isn't there blue I hate meds, every single one comes with a side effect that can often be as bad as the symptom... Trading one problem for another. There comes a point when you have to choose between living with the symptom or living with the side effect, often for some, living with the symptom just isn't an option. Becoming reliant on pain meds is a dangerous game for sure.... What I would say, a pit fall so many people seem to fall for, never exceed the prescribed dosage. I was taking a huge amount of horrible pain meds, reactively , which was most of the time. I've swapped it some time ago for a stronger pain med but at a lower dose which I take three times daily, morphine sulphate. This lower but constant dose seems to work better than spikes of reactive pain meds such as tramadol or the like. Sounds extreme, but it's fairly tame. The hardest thing to do is describe , locate or work out what type of pain it is you have, often two different types confuse the description meaning the wrong drugs are prescribed. Trying to focus on your pain and work out what it is helps immensely... For example... I thought my pain was either inflammatory or nerve pain combined, and took pain meds accordingly... Focusing closely I was able to advise that muscle pain and spasms from holding myself tense for long periods of time were a part of the mix. Some muscle relaxants later, more specifically CBD vale oil , I can get a half decent night sleep. Kind of For me, I've come to understand that pain meds don't work. They help a little because if I've not had them boy do I know about it, but I'm not gonna go down the route of taking more and more, I still work (reduced hours ), drive, play bass in a band, being a zombie will soon put an end to all that..... Unless u live with chronic pain, it's kinda hard to comprehend.

Sorry to read about your troubles....Ironically (sound like I'm going on about it) I've just posted in another thread about it..... I have a condition called Ankylosing spondylitis, an auto immune generated for of arthritis. It affects many areas for me , but my neck in particular, causing fusion of joints and trapping or crushing of nerves. My trouble is lifting my arms up causes numb hands within minutes, a difficult concept for a bass player, especially when playing upright bass. My symptoms are similar to yours, Affects my lower back and legs too in the same way.... I use many medications, inject some pretty toxic nasties! But injection of steroid into the neck in theatre under X-ray, help immensely. Like you, I've had to stop doing so many things I used to do but I am adamant that playing bass will be the last thing it takes from me. I hope you feel the same in regard to adding bass playing to the long list of "things I can no longer do".... As for the suggestion of marijuana ..... Well, there's actually more to this than getting high. In fact, the type of marijuana or more specifically cannabis you require is one which is seed bread and cultivated for the highest yield of CBD. Their are two key ingredients to "weed" one is the, the bit that is the psycho active ingredient, this is the bit that gets you stoned in the head.....and then there is CBD, the part which is an anti inflammatory, muscle relaxant and generally the bit that makes you feel relaxed when "stoned". The medicinal marajuana is bread to have virtually zero THC. The process is goes through from plant to product (oil) typically removes all thc traces completely. The end result is a natural anti inflammatory that seems by report to work well. Unlike most of the pharmaceutical man made variants that will destroy you guts in no time flat. Is expensive, typically £25 for 10ml of ecig vale oil, but. My local ecig shop sells it ( which saves me having to buy online as I used to) I smoke it in my ecig and it works well in relaxing the tension in muscles I get from holding sore parts as I gingerly creak through the day. Zero high, just natural anti inflammatory. I'd recommend it, it helps for sure, but bet your bottom dollar I wouldn't trade it for the anti tnf injects, steroids or morphine I use daily. I do hope you can keep playing, and as I recommended in my other related post, (fatigue) I can't recommend the musician sterling highly enough, it light, 32" scale but shorter body.... It has helped me massively. As well as bass bunnies lovely offer, I'm only in Runcorn ... If ever you want a chat, instant message, meet for a coffee ( kind do beer, add that to the list of things I love but can no longer do)..... It often helps to talk about things, and I understand fully that you just don't want to bore family and friends with it..... Just ask mate....

Sounds like the guest house paradiso

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1465292310' post='3066760'] I suffer from ME/CFS. When I'm having a rough day, where I have enough energy to even think about playing bass, my playing is utter crap. Not far off a decent beginners ability. When I'm having a good day I'm a completely different player and best of all it doesn't cause agony the following day! But I understand what's going on, so don't instantly think I need a new bass... Well, no more than usual anyway. [/quote] Feel your pain buddy, hope you can keep up playing for as long as it makes you happy. I suffer with Ankylosing spondylitis and fibromyalgia , between the two, chronic pain and fatigue gets in the way of playing due to low energy...lugging gear, especially my Dbass is horrible and I'm often DOA hahaha... I play regularly but gigs need careful preparation and the pressure of being "bad" on the night adds to the whole thing.... Has stopped me committing to a regular gigging band who keep asking me to join them... I pick up my bass daily and play, sometimes like a dead slug, other times like the badass groove machine I used to be... Energy, or lack of it, most certainly can make you play poorly. And yes, this can often lead to a "falling out" with a bass.... The best bass in my Arsenal for dealing with it all is my music man sterling, small, light, plays phenominally well and sounds killer. Would highly recommend..... (Doh! Hope that doesn't lead to fatigue related gas) hahahaha

My tv runs through 200w kenwood amp ive had for 20 odd years, then out through a Bose acoustamass sub and pair of speakers.... Sounds great... Also have a Bose sound link fof bluftoothing any sounds off ipads laptops or phones... Font even know why they bother putting speakers in these things! Sad thin is so many prople use little else, bass can never be heard

Thanks for you're kind comments and for taking the time to read my ramblings ! What you are doing is admirable, publicly documenting it, even more so. I long for the day when my mortgage is paid and i can slow things down, perhaps return to playing as my primary (albiet significantly lower) source of income. I did get asked to do 1 day a week in local guitar shop doing repairs and setups, a day at the school teaching guitar/bass and of course gigs and studio work...,also get £50 standby money from the band i dep for occaisionally when they have big commiyment dates. Right now, it's not enough, but once that stone (mortgage) has been lifted (8 years left) ill snap at those opportunities. Plenty of avenues for you to explore mark, id suggest in the short term a spot with a function band is gonna be your biggest earner whilst you line up a few other earners... It's not everyones approach sure, but dates in diaries equal pay checks. Wonky

Bobby vega is one of the funkiest things on this planet. In fact, im not even sure he's from this planet ? Big love for bobby