Russ

[b]tl;dr [/b]- Record companies deserve to die. Music and its publication has been democratised by the internet and downloading. Things move on, and the old music business has done nothing to stay ahead. Simply put, file sharing exists. There's no way for the music industry powers-that-be to stop that. But It's the industry that's hurting, the musicians themselves are in much the same position they were in before. And it's about time - record companies have been abusing musicians for decades now, and they deserve to crumble and die. Musicians never made much from record sales before file-sharing - it all went to everyone else in the supply chain, with a big chunk to the record company, who doled out a pitiful amount to the musicians. For most musicians, an album is basically an audio advertisement for their live shows or their merchandise. With the internet, there are now many ways to completely bypass the bloodsuckers in the music biz, sell yourself and keep all the money. It requires a little more marketing nous and entrepreneurial spirit from the musicians, but the rewards are much greater since you're no longer beholden to these bloated gatekeepers and dictators of taste. The other side of the coin is that albums used to be really expensive to record and the cost of the recording itself had to be recouped. Nowadays, anybody with a computer, some inexpensive add-on hardware, a copy of Pro Tools and the time to sit through a bunch of YouTube tutorials can record professional-sounding stuff for a fraction of the cost of a studio, producer and engineer. You no longer need to hire Abbey Road and a team of engineers for a month to make a good album. There'll always be work for those on the production side, since some musicians want that kind of input, but they are no longer essential to the process. The music industry have also totally failed to innovate. They haven't come up with a product that is better than a CD or an MP3 download. The CD is well over 30 years old, and the MP3 format has been around since the early 90s. There are plenty of people out there who are audiophiles and who still value sound quality over convenience - where's the super-high-resolution audio medium and the hardware to reproduce it? Where's the medium with 7.1 surround sound? They made a half-hearted attempt with DVD-Audio, but it died on its arse. All they need is a popular and well-respected musician to record an album using this new format, whatever it may be, make it amazing, and then watch the hardware and albums fly off the shelves, the same way Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits sold millions of CD players back in the 80s. And I suggest they make it an analogue format - vinyl for a new generation. Something that can't be reproduced properly through a computer - despite digital music existing for over 30 years, many vinyl junkies still maintain it doesn't sound as good. And something where the album cover is more than a small thumbnail image on a computer screen. Yes, I've downloaded a fair bit of music over the years. Most of the time, if I've liked it, I've then gone on to buy it. Sometimes even on CD if I've liked the artwork or packaging. But the next recording I contribute to will be released digitally, probably for free, and, with that in mind, anybody who downloads it, either through an official channel or otherwise, will just be another person who'll have heard the material and who might show up to a gig or buy a T-shirt. Maybe we'll even press a vinyl record with nice cover art for those people who want the physical article. And any money we do make will be pure profit that's not subject to being manipulated out of existence by a record company accountant.

Always loved the speakers, especially the new HyDrive cabs, but was never a massive fan of the heads - the tone just never quite did it for me. I also think their branding is a bit cheesy - the logo screams "80s". If they could come up with a more "sophisticated" branding it might go a long way to making them more popular. I actually told Larry Hartke all this (in a much less blunt way) when I ran into him at Sam Ash in 48th St in New York last November. He took it in good grace and gave me a business card.

Also, you could also jump on a train from Penn Station out to Metuchen, NJ (NJ Transit Northeast Corridor line) and pay the NJ Guitar And Bass Center a visit - it's a little shop run by a nice bloke called Jay, and they have loads of great high-end stuff, including F Basses, Sadowskys, Alembics, Benaventes, Jerzy Drozds, Dingwalls, etc). It's a bit further out, but definitely worth the trip.

Sam Ash on 48th St is pretty decent for bass stuff - they've got loads of good gear in there (some great used stuff too), and you'll probably run into Larry Hartke since he works there part-time, so make sure you pay his amps a compliment. Also, Rudy's has a great bass room on the 2nd floor - lots of high-end stuff (Ritter, Pensa-Suhr, Sadowsky, etc), and maybe see if Carl Thompson's shop in Brooklyn is open while you're over - definitely worth a visit. Warwick's custom shop on East 7th St is also definitely worth a visit if you're a fan of curvy German basses. Otherwise, keep an eye out on the gig guides and see who's playing in town. There's usually some good gigs on. If all else fails, go to one of the comedy clubs.

They're far better than the old Bass Cellar. I was in there yesterday checking out a Fender Jaguar, they offered to order me in the colour I wanted (CAR) and I could take the one they had (sunburst) while they waited for the CAR one to come in! They also offered a year's worth of free setups and a month's trial period! Unfortunately the missus had overspent a bit over Xmas so I had to leave it. My only criticism is that they have a bit of a limited selection compared to the old days, but the much better customer service makes up for it. Nice one guys.

Hmmm... interesting. Whereabouts do you rehearse? Might be up for it, if I'm not too much of an old git.

I'm very reluctantly selling my Sei Jazz fretless 5 if any of you Sei fanciers are interested... http://basschat.co.uk/topic/189755-fs-sei-bass-jazz-fretless-5-stunning/

What a nightmare today was. Still, after battling with the worst excesses the M25 had to offer, it was nice to get there and to still find people there! Great to meet all of you who were still around, and I'll be sure to be there for the next one!

[quote name='loki' timestamp='1347998354' post='1807991'] These can still be picked up on Amazon and are of Indonesian origin.[/quote] Blimey. I had no idea they were still being made. They look like pretty blatant Traben copies. Hopefully they're not as awful as the old ones were. If some Indonesian company wanted to resurrect a band, they should resurrect Westone - they, at least, were held in fairly high regard in their heyday.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1347952462' post='1806944'] ...and "Good Times"---throwaway? Wow. [/quote] Yes. What a lot of people forget is that funk and disco were 1970s bubblegum pop, regardless of how good the instrumental performances were (and I love Bernard Edwards as much as anyone). Lyrically, the song's no better than S Club 7's "Don't Stop Movin'" and nobody would ever accuse that of being anything more than throwaway.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1346965910' post='1795555'] No, LP is a hired gun. This guy invented a whole style of bass playing. [/quote] Lee's currently playing in a band with Adam Wakeman (Rick's son) doing some rather decent metal-tinged prog - they're called Headspace. Take a listen at http://www.headspaceonline.com/ .

1. Hamster - Fender Hotrod P/J, Bareface Compact, Auralex Gramma Pad, SFX Thumpinator; either Markbass 800 Tube or Ampeg PF500 Portaflex 2. BigBeatNut - Rob Allen Deep 5, Status Electro, Lakland 55-02 Fretless, Markbass CMD121P, a selection of SFX micro pedals 3. Stingray5 - Musicman StingRay5 and Stingray fretless, Tune TWB-6, Trace Elliot BLX-80 combo, Boss GT-6B fx, Gramma Pad, (+ raffle bits & freebies). 4 OBBM - undecided on basses but Schroeder cab(s) and mini-rack Mk2 (+raffle bits) 5. Charic (tentative) - ACG Finn 4 (Drop C tuning), Yamaha RBX6JM, Modded Fender MIM, TC RH450, 2 x TC RS210, Line6 DL4 (delay pedal), Behringer Chorus Pedal 6. Happy Jack - Ampeg Baby Bass and (just for OBBM) at last I'll bring along a Hofner Verithin. If there's enough (any) interest, I could also bring along a Fishman Fusion pedal plus a rig to play through. 7. Macdaddy - custom shuker or custom Iceni Zoot or Hamer Blitz + raffle bits 8. Billyapple - Gibson Thunderbird, Un-Finished Wishbass Lobe, Matamp GT200 Head, Matamp 212 Cab, DHA VT1 Eq 9. Walman - (assuming it'll all fit in the smaller car I got last year as I was cutting down on gear ) Wal Pro1/Custom hybrid, 2 x G&L L2500 US, Tanglewater ClassicJ, Roland PK5 bass pedals w DSI MoPho synth, GenzBenz Streamliner 6, BF Super12T - alternatively a poll on which to bring may be required 10. OliverBlackman- going to bring the Tokai as it seems in a recent thread not many have experienced the 80's Jazz sounds. 11. Shockwave - Gibson RD and Gibson Grabber or Fender P-J Antigua. 12. dc2009 (tentative) - Warwick Corvette $$ 5 Special Edition, Lakland Skyline 55-01. Sansamp, SYB-5, Q-tron+, BSY600. Anything more will need a lift! 13. Eude (tentative) - ACG Finn SC Classic BO 5 string 33" Scale, ACG Finn SC Classic BO 6 String 33" Scale, Ibanez Promethean 5110C & EAD Foundation 112 3-way Prototype. 14.Bloodaxe (tentative) - Aria SB-1000 Frankenfretless, Ibanez Promethean 5110C [might add the SB-900 & Bloody ZZB Custom to this if anyone's driving from E or SE postcodes & I can blag a lift] 15. 51m0n - the usual guff (Roscoe, Berg, MB blah blah, if in doubt check my sig) + a very tentative PluxTheDuck & related kit 16. Urb - Sei bass plus laptop (maybe) and my fingers 17. Seashell - Fender Precision (MIM) and Ibanez SRX500. No rig! 18. Mikey R - the P bass + possibly the pedal board (if Merton will let me sleep on his sofa that weekend) 19. Merton - multiscale 5 prototype, other things maybe, like Mikey's sleeping bag 20. Russ - Sei Bass 5-string fretted singlecut, Sei Bass 5-string fretless J, Ampeg SVT-7, Markbass 106H

[quote name='urb' timestamp='1346582424' post='1790718'] Sorry I should clarify - I need a lift rather than being able to offer one - hope that's cool M [/quote] Mike, can you get up to Croydon? If so I'll give you a lift.

If they did a fiver in Candy Apple Red, and possibly with an active preamp, I'd buy several.