Cato

Active and/or passive is also a big consideration. For me it's a plus to have the option of both on a single PJ bass, sometimes I like to solo the P in passive mode for a more vintage vibe other times I might go all out on both pickups with the preamp engaged for a more contemporary tone.

The sad fact is that just about every company Gibson has acquired in the last 3 decades either only now exists as an almost unrecognisable sad parody of it's former self, such as Kramer and Steinberger, or no longer exists at all.

Gibson have such a such a great history of running amplifier manufacturers they've bought out......

With Gibson's reputation where it is at the moment they might be concerned that calling it a takeover will devalue the Mesa brand. Not that I'm sure I believe the rumours, it seems like odd timing for the new consortium that took over a bankrupt Gibson 2 years ago to be looking to expand.

Tortoiseshell? Mind you, I've recently gone from hating tortoiseshell guards to picturing them on just about every bass and guitar I see and liking the result, so I'm not sure my judgement can be trusted.

I think the phenomenom of the late 90s/2000s where Gibson and Fender acquired numerous musical manufacturing and technology companies seemingly with the sole intention of ending them is over. Apart from anything else the practice was eyewateringly expensive and at least partly responsible for the current situation where both companies have acquired dangerous levels of debt. I can't imagine Korg has any nefarious plans for Aguilar other than hopefully increasing their profit margins.

In my mind I'm definitely a bass player who also plays guitar rather than the other way round.

I've pretty much always played both, I've never seen it as an either/or situation. At the moment I'm playing more skinny string guitar, but there's always a point where I'll want to add a bassline to whatever I've been doing on the guitar. If I come up with something I like on bass then likewise I'll reach for the guitar to try and build on that. I can't really imagine myself ever quitting one completely to concentrate on the other because I suppose see them as complementary skills, I'd say that being able to add guitar to my bass parts actually enhances my enjoyment of playing bass and vice versa.

Assuming they release the Simmons Sig commercially it's a pretty sound investment. Kiss have a proven track record of selling high priced merch items to their fans. (That's not a criticism, just an observation). There will be non- bass playing Kiss fans who will quite happily hand over their money for a Simmons sig bass, especially if it's some kind of imited edition. I imagine they'll sell a few to actual bass players as well.

If it's not already been suggested, surely Facebook should be alerted that a convicted fraudster is involved in using their service to run an equipment buying/selling page and that he's using that position to cover up complaints about his criminal activities from the people he's ripped off.

Seeing as the gigs is in Dubai I wondered if maybe they're doing some special one off 'packages' to suit the wallets of the audience.

It's Kiss, so chances are that they'll be available to order as part of a very expensive 'meet and greet' package. I think their standard package is a few thousand dollars for a chinese made Gene Simmons Axe sig that he uses on stage for one song. If he's putting a Gibson package together that's going to come with a hefty mark up.

There's been an ongoing backlog at UK ports for a few months https://theloadstar.com/congestion-crisis-outgrows-ports-as-container-stacks-pop-up-across-the-uk/ Nothing directly to do with Brexit or Covid, although as the last couple of days have shown the whole system is right on the edge right now and it's probably only a nudge away from complete collapse.

In my experience with skinny string guitars semi acoustic electrics with f holes they generally aren't noticeably any louder than solid body guitars when played 'unplugged'. I'd guess it's similar with basses, so if the idea is to have semi-acoustic bass around for unplugged practice it probably won't be any better than whatever you have at the moment. The skinny stringers don't sound particularly 'acoustic' when plugged in either, I'd guess that's why 'proper' electro acoustics tend to use piezos and/or internal mics rather than standard magnetic pickups.

Using a pick with the bass on the back pickup will add 'twang' but I reckon the amp's doing most of the heavy lifting on this. Treble boosted, lot of reverb and a touch of tremelo.

Go and see a physio. (Easier said than done at the moment). There's an excellent chance that the pain you experience while playing is the symptom rather than the cause. A few years ago I started experiencing sharp shoulder pain, triggered by long walks, of all things. I went to the GP who referred me to the physio, we never got to the bottom of what was causing the problem other than general 'poor posture' but he gave me some simple exercises to do, focusing on the shoulders and ,despite my low expectations, within a few weeks of the exercise regime the pain vanished and I can walk as far as I like now without problems. Point being that the long walks were never the fundamental cause of the problem, they were just exacerbating an issue that was primarily being caused by something else.

Might be worth keeping an eye on the new Vintera range. I've just been looking at Vintera skiny string Jazzmasters on ebay and a fair few of them are listed at nearly $2000, approaching nearly double their original retail price. Part of that will be because that particular model seems to have sold out world wide, but other second hand Vintera models such as Strats and Teles seem to be going for close to their original retail value. It'll be interesting to see what prices for first generation Vintera instruments do in the future.

Whenever I hear people moaning about grandstanding slap bass players I always think about Louis Johnson playing for the song. Even here in a solo spot he he keeps it tasteful and perfectly in the groove.

Given the amount of money involved chances are that someone would have sold the rights after his death. At least this way he gets to enjoy the windfall himself.

I think I've inadvertently undergone a very long term process of aversion therapy with regards to Christmas songs. After many years of hearing more or less the same song selection on constant repeat on the radio, in shops and pubs and round people's houses I'm now at the point where even the opening bars of the supposedly ever popular 'Fairytale of New York' inspire nothing but feelings of slight revulsion.

Not my cup of tea but I can't hear anything that outrageous or radically different going on there. Reminds me of some of the more ravey indie bands from the early 90s. If someone played that to me and told me it was a new 'Sheep on Drugs' EP (the band, not the stoned woolly animal) I'd not have disbelieved them. Can't really see what the fuss or ire is about.

Not to defend it it but I've always been a bit surprised that 'Blurred Lines' caught the flack it did. In terms of lyrical misogyny and reducing women to pure sex objects there are far worse 'Grime' tracks on the current Radio 1 playlist.

Well, I've learnt that sub-bass is completely inaudible on my tablet.

I reckon the best 'distortions' for bass on the HX Stomp are the overdriven amp sims. Apart from a very usable Sansamp clone the actual distortion section is all (I think) based on guitar pedals , they're far from terrible on bass, but for me the amp sims have more 'oomph'.

I remember when NME gave the Stone Roses debut, widely regarded as one of the all time great Indie albums a grudging 7 out of 10. To this day I'm certain it had more to do with the fact the Stone Roses were no longer the 'underground' heroes of a year before and had started attracting serious mainstream attention than any actual fault the reviewer could find with the album. The NME of the late 1980s and early 90s absolutely hated it when any band they'd previously championed actually acheived any kind of mainstream success.