Doctor J

It was more of an outdated and cringeworthy comment than anything else, I thought, even when the context was provided later, but there's definitely still an undercurrent of that attitude haunting the place, at times. It's seldom a thread about a female bassist escapes without some comments on their appearance, for example. Yeah, just a bit 70's.

Another here who got really unpleasant anxiety before gigs which didn't go away until the gig ended. No matter how well prepared I was, the anxiety was the same, to the extent that I would sometimes struggle to hold a conversation with someone before the gig. I got a bit of a handle on it after casually reading on symptoms of Aspergers a few years ago, much of which made a lot of sense to me and, after that, I was able to recognise the anxiety when it started, if that makes sense, and see it as a separate entity from what was going on. It was still there but I was aware of it from the outside and so it wasn't all-consuming as it had been before.

These days I'm just recording. Gigging with the band, we would go from A to dropped G only and retune on the fly. One string is fine, but a full retune would require two instruments, definitely. In a previous band, I was using floating trems with locking nuts so I always brought two guitars, one for each tuning. We always made a point of practising swapping guitars/retuning during rehearsals in both bands. 15 seconds is more than enough time to do either. Any more than that and you're wasting set time. We also arranged the setlist in blocks, so at least two songs were played in the same tuning before any switcheroos. We made sure we could change quickly and discreetly while the singer was introducing the next song. The audience come to see your band play and listen to your music, not faff about.

Yep, here. However, I seldom used the high string so I've set up a 4 string instead and flit between GDGC, ADGC, AEAD and BEAD as required. In my last band I was playing guitar instaed of bass and we tuned down to A with some songs in dropped G. On the bass, I've got a D'Addario .147 for the G/A/B string. It's serious business.

Why not turn the Hohner down, then, to a comparable output and bump up your input gain on the amp to compensate? Can you bypass the preamp on the Hohner, too, and compare the respective pickup outputs without the gain boost?

What is missing from the sound when you bypass the EQ? That is basically what you're trying to get the EQ to compensate for. If the pickup isn't even getting you close, then I'd start with the pickup before going anywhere near the preamp, personally. My own rule-of-thumb is that if I can't get a tone I like with the EQ flat, including on the amp, it gets moved on quickly. It's too easy to spend money chasing a tone you like without ever getting there.

The Geddy Jazz seems to have been a decent seller. If the instrument offers something you can't ordinarily get in a standard model, I don't see the harm. The Joe Dart basses have been something quite different for EBMM. A P bass with a slightly different colour of paint is a bit much but where the instrument deviates enough from standard that you can't replicate it by swapping a couple of parts, then it's all good. The Wimbish Spector, for example, like the Geddy, has a neck you can't get, otherwise, which legitimatises them, in my opinion. Endorsements do work because, even if a signature model doesn't take your fancy, having the popular musicians of the day seen with your instruments in your hand creates an indelible link between the music you love and that brand, whether you realise it or not. Sadowsky might make sublime J basses but there'll never be pictures of Jaco playing one. Hendrix could've stayed in tune if he played an Ibanez RG but he and his music will always be associated with Fender Strats. I'm generally not one for signature instruments but, as a young man, I had the opportunity to buy a Tony Iommi signature model, during his brief stint with Patrick Eggle, for half price and it would haunt me to this day if I hadn't made it mine. Aside from being a very, very nice guitar, they only ever made 48 of them, of which this is #23. And, to answer the OP's question, the correct answer has been mentioned a few times. Mark King, take a bow 🙂

No, it's not. You are correct. Those tuners are usually found on cheap budget instruments. The truss rod access route seems to have a black plastic collar, again, something you don't find on US Fenders, ever, and the sunburst looks quite rubbish. Two extra screws on the cheap bridge are another couple pf alarms. Fender now offer the facility to check serial numbers on their site. It'll tell you exactly the model and colour of the instrument associated with the serial. Walk away and don't look back.

Soundgarden have a rich seam of cool bass

A few others, nothing technical or outrageous but just nice grooves which support the song perfectly.

All fun. Soundgarden, from Screaming Life through to Superunknown, have a wealth of fantastic basslines to play. Yamamoto and Shepherd were both superbly creative players.

Steely Dan would be the big one. I only got into them a few years ago but it's some of my favourite music ever, now. This kind of thing happens a lot, though. I love finding great new music, even if it's old music. You have the soundtrack to your life but there was so much going on at that time and even more before, it would be ruse not to investigate.

Metallica'a utterly baffling Through The Never is part-concert, part-I don't know what but all rubbish. It has been a while since I saw it - only once - but there may have been some kind of small acting roles for the band members at various points. It's utterly terrible is what I'm trying to say. Although SKOM is a documentary, and an amazing one at that, when Trujillo hears their new music for the first time and acts like it isn't complete bowel offerings is worth mentioning.

Congrats, Skank, nicely done 👍

Sweet. I have a low 4-digit serial number ESP which I narrowed down to being from late '83-early '84. While that doesn't have a serial, the ESP stamp on the neck plate is the same as mine so I'd think it's from that era, if not a little earlier. They changed the neck plate stamp in the mid-80's. I hope it plays and sounds as good as it looks.

It's UV light exposure vs the lack of it. You're more likely to get an even finish by rubbing the rest of it with a very light abrasive to take off the finish which has aged than trying to darken those light areas to match the rest of it.

Very much so https://www.discogs.com/master/1039778-Vega-Who-We-Are

Nice to see new names too.

It's only what someone hopes to get for it, not an actual market value. I've seen much, much worse over the years. I never thought I'd get to see 1k Squiers either, but this is the crazy world we live in.

Iron, Maiden!

Manfred Mann - hate crime central.

Mansun! Smanshing Pumpkins! Mandonna!

Ahum...

Lad Zeppelin?

I respect him even when he doesn't have a bass and is driving a cab in NYC?