Dan Dare

It's really best to try some gear before taking the plunge. Even if it means taking a day off work (if, for example, you are not near any shops that stock a good range of bass gear), it will be worth it to ensure you get the right thing. I did that last time I bought new gear. I lived in London, but went to Bass Direct (other shops exist...) on a weekday when they weren't busy and spent several hours trying and comparing things. As BD are located pretty much in the centre of the country, they are reachable from most places. I was able to take my time and make a good decision.

If you'll be working with a drummer, you might need to move a bit more air than a 2x8 will. 2x10 gives you 50% more cone area (I know that's not all there is to it) than 2x8 and larger drivers are often more efficient, which means more output for a given amount of power in.

Did you adjust and (lightly) lubricate them or just bolt them on? Are they an overly tight fit in the ferrules? That can cause tuners to be stiff. In my experience, Wilkinson are decent value budget parts, but as always, you get what you pay for. As a matter of interest, I bought some Gotohs for my MIM P bass. They needed a bit of tweaking before they were good. Nowt wrong with that. They're fine now.

Agreed. Probably because people selling look at prices being charged in shops and price their stuff accordingly (forgetting the fact that a shop will ship, offer a guarantee, etc). If you are selling something rare, vintage or sought after, you may well get a high price for it. Otherwise, the market will decide. For buyers, the old adage of Caveat Emptor applies as always.

I love the top comment on the video - "Nothing like coming home after a hard day at work and playing a few of your favourite tunes to unwind".

True. From a buyer's point of view, shipping is a big plus if an instrument is any distance away. A day of my time, plus travel, is not cheap to me and I'm happy to pay a bit more to be saved the trouble/cost. Shops also have to offer some sort of guarantee, which private sellers do not. In the end, you pays your money and takes yer choice. Concepts of "fairness" are irrelevant. The market decides whether something is worth the asking price and nobody is compelled to buy.

This is the beauty of the P bass (imho, obviously). It works in the so-called "real world". Often, the sound one likes when standing next to the rig just doesn't work out in the room. It can be a bit of an eye/ear opener to use a long lead or wireless and go for a walk whilst the band is playing and hear how the bass sounds out front and whether it works in the mix. That tone you've spent hours (not to mention the money) achieving can be a bit underwhelming in context. I often find the bass needs to be a bit middly, even honky for my taste when I'm stood next to the rig in order to sound right in the room. Which is just what a P does so well.

As a long time (40+ years) J bass player, I came to P basses late and found it a bit of a shock when I first got one. The character of it is so different to a J - mid focussed, much less top, seemingly boomy, etc. Took me a while to stop trying to make it sound like my J bass. One I accepted that it was a completely different animal, everything began to change and now I love it. Some good advice from others above. Try asking someone else to play it whilst you stand back. That seeming lack of note definition and boom is completely different out in the room and in the mix, where it sounds solid and punchy. Stick with it and you'll come to appreciate it for its own qualities, rather than comparing it to your J.

Many powered FRFR cabs are designed for PA use. Often, they will not have eq (or if they do, it's unlikely to be suitable for a bass), so you will need a bass preamp, which will ideally need to provide line level output (which rules out some pedal-type pre's) as PA cabs are typically intended to be driven by a mixer. As for what's out there, the answer is virtually anything your heart desires, but quality PA powered cabs that are suitable for bass won't be cheap. Trying before you buy is essential. Chinese plastic box cabs will rarely do a good job. Even a quality PA cab may not have the character you need to amplify bass well. I have quality PA cabs (Fohhn) and have tried them with my bass. The sound is super clean and rather sterile, a bit like a giant hi-fi (if you've ever run your bass through studio monitors, you'll know what I mean). Great for PA, less good for bass or instruments that rely on amplification to give the sound colour and character .

He's a bit useful, isn't he? His arrangements are very well thought out. He implies a lot of the parts even if he doesn't play them (no disrespect to him - you physically can't cover it all with only 6 strings).

I prefer the AA. They fix your car and help you stop drinking as well.

Told you so:

I understand they are very partial to potatoes in Latvia.

Do you mean his lies are born more from his naivety than from malicious intent, rather than him lying to naive, rather than nasty people? Apologies if I've not understood your point. I'm a bit torn about him. Whilst one can sympathise with him (he is either not the full ticket or a brilliant actor), it's concerning that others who are equally naive may be taken in by him and even persuaded to hand him their hard earned in exchange for his creations. Vid's on his YT channel have quite a few comments praising his efforts (which I assume were not all posted by him or his immediate family). Ditto his feedback, as others point out. I appreciate that it's a free country and people are welcome to waste their money if they wish, but, given that many who are likely to be taken in will probably not have a lot of spare cash (because people who are not that bright or who have cognitive issues rarely manage to make a lot of money), he is potentially harming those who may not be best placed to protect themselves. The fact that he may be in the same boat as them doesn't make it right that he should profit from them. Tricky, eh?

I guess most of us have some of the gear and some idea.

Nope, but it isn't worth arguing over.

The one in the second post above, which appears to be the one everyone is talking about. I agree and that's what I'd do, but people were asking what is odd about it. I don't think it's a mistake, as the band plays it in a very relaxed manner (no "Eh?" looks), so they were obviously expecting it. I guess they probably thought it would be fun to do something a little different/odd with it.

Incorrect. There is an extra half beat in the drum fill in bar 8 of the intro on the live Don Felder version. It isn't he same as the recorded version posted above. Listen again.

It's confusing because the drummer adds half a beat (an extra quaver) to the fill in the 8th bar of the intro before the final two when the guitar lick leads into the verse. If you add half a beat to the 8th bar of the intro (count it as nine quaver beats) and then go back to straight fours for the next two (the guitar lick), it makes sense. The "I'm" of "I'm running" is sung on the last beat of the final intro bar and the "run" of "running" is on the first beat of the bar of the verse.

And certainly more than the bass is worth...

I'd change the bass player 🙂

I've just subscribed to his YouTube channel (so there are now 87 of us with taste and discernment in YT land). It appears he hasn't updated it or added content for the last few years. Shame, but hopefully, he will add some new gems in the not too distant. A workshop video (along the lines of those "How I rebuilt a barn find Ferrari using only hand tools and ingenuity" vid's) would be particularly interesting, don't you think?

I'm thinking of setting up a service for people who suffer as you do. For a modest fee, I'll pop round with my 3KW PA and an old CD my daughter used to love when she was a nipper. It includes such gems as The Laughing Policeman, The Runaway Train, The Wheels on the Bus and many other delights. For a very modest fee (little more than a few beers plus my petrol), I shall serenade your annoying neighbours until they beg for mercy or at least agree to behave. Think it might work as a business venture?

Thanks for the link. I love his vid' about his P bass for people with short arms (he does seem to specialise in instruments for those who have some kind of physical impairment - fat fingers, short arms, etc). He's extended the neck pocket into the body so the neck is moved towards the pickups, meaning he has had to have the bridge REALLY hanging off the body (for that "perfect balance"). As a bonus, he treats us to "a couple of verses of an Abba song" to demo his creation. The hi-hat playing is particularly fine. He certainly has cognitive issues. He has written elsewhere of his being "thumped by a truck", which I presume left him with some kind of brain damage.

I wasn't being entirely serious, in case you hadn't realised. Didn't the fact that I moaned about the birds singing give you a clue? However, expecting or worse, demanding, absolute silence is not realistic or reasonable, unless one lives on a remote island. Sure, playing loud music late at night or at the crack of dawn is selfish and unreasonable, but most people are aware of that. Absolutely, although I did it once to get back at a downstairs neighbour. She insisted on playing loud music at 6 am every day whilst she did her aerobics. I asked her to wear earbuds to listen to it and she told me to eff orf. So I invited the lads round (having warned the other neighbours, who were also fed up with her) for a "rehearsal" one evening. We had a couple of Fender Twins, full kit and my old Trace rig giving it large in my large lounge. Didn't half make the windows rattle. She was banging on the door and screaming. Hilarious. She agreed to be more reasonable after that.