project_c

I've just been told a load of horror stories about the state of crime and the pick pockets in Barcelona. Is it really that bad? I've been there 3 times in the past, and nothing bad ever happened, but that was over 10 years ago. Has it got much worse in recent years? Any areas I should avoid?

Nice, afro-beat vibes. I agree Jonathan Maron is a great player, I only really know his playing because of youtube demos but he has an amazing feel for sure. His Aguilar demos all sound ridiculously good.

I cut my D'Addario tapes regularly to fit my Precisions, never had issues. Can't comment on Pyramids but they shouldn't be any different. If you happen to have a cat, watch out for the cut off bits that go flying off, it's like crack to them for some reason.

Going next week, any second hand shops worth visiting over there?

Zoom recorder for sound and a newish phone for video should be fine. Zoom have just released a new version of their recorder for Namm.

Bought some Wilkinson tuners from Nick, very smooth transaction, highly recommended! Can't wait to get them on the PJ I'm putting together.

Doesn't sound pretentious at all, it's a great invention. I wish I had more time to dedicate to reading, whenever I practice sight reading I see massive improvements in my playing and I also think it's good for cognitive function in general. I'm off to steam some kale and put on some spandex to get ready for yoga.

I like them. That 70s Jazz, natural with pearl blocks, nitro - I don't care if it's new or not, if I was after a jazz bass I'd be all over it, it looks perfect to me. Not everyone looking for a new bass wants cutting edge innovation. If I wanted cutting edge high tech, I'd buy a new mac and a copy of NI Reaktor, not a bass guitar. In basses I prefer classic and simple, and I like that Fender keep these things going.

Sorry but that's horsesh!t. Bowie used samples in loads of songs. Remember that tune he made with Goldie in the 90s? It was all samples.

You can buy a million different instruments that trigger samples for live use. If you use a drum machine, in most cases you're pretty much just triggering samples. The Mellotron synth, which appeared on a thousand famous rock albums in the 70s was just a keyboard that triggered samples. If you use reverb in the studio, in most cases these days the reverb will be created using samples. Sampling's come a long way since Jive Bunny.

Can't believe someone's posted this to be honest, back in my day these albums were like gold dust. I dare you not to grab your bass and start jamming to this as soon as you hear it.

Reinterpretation is exactly what sampling is too. You take a thing, change the context, and it becomes something new. (Sometimes it's creative and interesting, sometimes it's a load of rip off sh!te). Same as collage and painting, collage artists make art by cutting up photos and changing the context - most famous example is probably Sgt Peppers album cover, which is an iconic image, even though it's all sampled. Sir Peter Blake at work.

I have the 3.0 combo which I love, the whole of that Genz range was great. His new Genzler stuff looks just as good too.

Didn't even know these existed, I like it.

Thanks, lots of good suggestions here. I'm tempted by the hum cancelling options but I'm a bit worried about losing some of the single coil bark, I have N3 noiseless pickups in my Jazz Dlx and they're great with the active preamp, but in passive mode they're definitely more polite than a single coil. The differences are small though, ultimately I don't think I can go too wrong with any of these options.

Check this guy out, Thiago Espírito Santo, he is unbelievable, new discovery for me. We don't hear much about Brazilian bass players over here but this guy (and his dad, below) are completely amazing. If you look for his stuff on YouTube he talks about Jaco's influence a lot. I think he's the son of Arismar do Espírito Santo, also an incredible bassist and multi-instrumentalist. Check out the old Stingray / tapewounds tone.

1. Get through the giant mountain of work looming over me without losing my mind 2. Sell my house 4. Go to more jazz jams 5. Stress about the inevitability of having to have a child before I'm too old and have no energy left to be a dad 6. Put one of my cats on a diet, she is massive and looks like a giant gerbil

Me too, but it's got to have a J pickup.

I'm putting together a PJ, and I'm trying to work out what pickups to go for. Details: It's a USA Fender P body, which will be routed for a J in 70s position. I have 2 neck options, either a 78 fretless maple neck (already on the bass, and great) or a no name Geddy style maple J neck (arriving soon). Either way, I'm going for a ballsy 70s fingerstyle tone, rolled off punchy bridge pickup style, no slap, nothing modern. The bass has a set of custom shop 62 p pickups which are nice, but nothing special. My choices are: - keep CS62 pickups, add Dimarzio single coil (good tone, but may be noisy, and I'd have to buy a set of 2 because they don't come as singles) - keep cs62 pickups, add Dimarzio Ultrajazz (tone might be too modern and scooped? Don't know). - Forget the above and put in a set of Quarter Pounder PJ's. I have Quarter Pounders in 2 other basses and I love them but I have no idea what the J pickup is like. - something else I haven't thought of yet. Anyone have any suggestions? ta

Nice one! Just bought a new neck for one of my basses, saved a bunch of money. Thanks for the heads up!

If you're getting fuzz it's unlikely to be the headphones, unless they are completely broken, or being pushed way too loud. Check your gain and input levels.

Curious how you get on, my first 'proper' bass was a 90s Corvette and I always thought it would benefit from a preamp, but I stupidly sold it and got a double buck instead, which I instantly regretted. Those MEC passive pickups sound good, whereas I could never get a decent tone out of the humbuckers on the $$. (Most likely because I was crap and had no idea what I was doing back then). But I do wish I'd kept the passive Corvette and just put a decent preamp in there instead of getting rid of it, those basses sound great with a bit of an eq boost.

Here's Silverfish at the Falcon, 1989 or 1990 maybe. I'm in this photo too, aged 17. Loved this era.

The Faith Healers? edit - just noticed you said they were all men. Thee Hysterics? The Love Blobs?