Monkey Steve

Around the turn of the century I had a chat in a bar with Pete about this very subject. He was annoyed about a recent review they'd had which complained about the weight of the bass (I can't remember which model it was, although I was buying a Mk II five string so it may have been one of those). His response was that the sound of the bass at least partly came from the mahogany core, and that's how much mahogany weighs so if you want a Wal you're going to have to put up with it!

I have a custom shop Warwick, and as standard they come with a rechargeable battery for the active EQ, which you connect to a USB lead through a gap in the control plate. You can also have a connection to a standard battery - annoyingly mine necessitated a separate control plate, when I'd rather not have had the rechargeable one (didn't read the small print when I placed the order to see that it is now standard). You also need to play about with the wiring so that you're connecting to the right battery, but the wiring in Warwicks is all pretty simple, and quite "modular" Not sure if the side markers are LEDs from the order - that's a very expensive add on, and it's not clear from "illuminated" although I think that's the word they use for non-LEDs. Again, assuming it mirrors mine, the standard side dots are actually glow in the dark fluorescent, and need to be "charged" by sunlight, although I hear tales of torches being used to do this. In my experience they don't then last very long, by YMMV

bought a few bits and pieces online from them over the years, including my Ampeg SVT-2 PRO, and no problems whatsoever. But that was back before their current owners

So a Corvette then? I've had a few over the years - currently have a Custom Shop 5 string Streamer Stage 1 with $$ pickups. Always loved the growl. Had one where the Just-A-Nut 2 (plastic) failed and replaced it with a Just-A-Nut 3 (brass) - easy, and if you get one with the plastic nut, I'd suggest it as an immediate upgrade, although pay attention to the neck width. And one had a jack socket failure, more of an issue because the barrel sockets are a bit of a pain, but not too tricky for someone who knows their way round a soldering iron (and has a little patience) There are neck-thru models (NTs) and bolt ons, and the NTs tend to be much slimmer, although the chunkiness of the bolt ons have varied over the years (I've only had two NTs and they were identically slim, but both from the last couple of decades). As mentioned above, there is also a choice of standard and wide necks and you may want to keep an eye out for that, so make sure you try before you buy After some years of being hard to find in shops, the lower end German ones have been making a reappearance over the last few years, but the Rockbass (far Eastern) models have been on the shelves for ages. If you're in town, a trip out to Andertons in Guildford wouldn't be too far and they have loads or Rockbass and GPS & Teambuilt models in stock (not aware that they stock Custom Shop or Masterbuilt, but I may be wrong) However, the second hand prices for older German made (pre Custom Shop/Masterbuilt) basses is amazingly cheap compared to current new prices, so if time is on your side I'd suggest keeping an eye out for those

On the price issue...as someone who has only ever bought one 5 string that cost less than £1k, the one I did have was perfectly fine It was an ESP LTD, and while I sold it on because it was a bit too light for me and had cheap-feeling hardware (YMMV), the neck was incredibly thin and easy to play, and the pickups were EMGs which may not be everybody's favourite (and ultimately weren't for me) they do work brilliantly for a five string There's a big difference in mass when you go to the low B string, and not all pickups handle it very well - there can be a significant shift in tone. I've certainly played a few which have a nice sharp, clean sound over the other four strings and then an uncontrollable boomy distortion coming from the low B. Partly that's to do with the set up, partly to do with playing technique, but also the pickups. EMGs have a much more balanced tone and it was easy to get a "good" sound out of them without needing to make too many other adjustments. That said, even if you are struggling to get a good tone out of the low B, playing with the p/u height, possibly the action, and working on your playing style can tame it, so don't discount a cheap bass just because it doesn't instantly sound great if you're not used to playing a fiver

yep...I held back from this specifically because I'm a non-driver and having quit would have needed a lift back from the rehearsal studio by the guitarist who was the root of the problem. Bit my tongue on the night, quit by e-mail a couple of days later (actually, even then, I was provoked into doing it, so just had to reply to an e-mail)

My main bass is a Warwick custom shop 5 string Stage I Streamer. Fortunately I had a lot of spare cash when I got it... I've always liked the Warwick's I've played, and over the years I've had a few. However, there was a period a few years ago when the German made standards seemed to disappear from the shops and the Rockbass took over. I know from speaking to some stores that Warwick's distribution was an issue for ages. They then seemed to focus on charging as much as possible for basses that were made in Germany, with the Custom Shop/Masterbuilt range, which weren't much different to what could be bought for a third of the price a few years previously I know I've overpaid for my bass, but it was exactly what i wanted, having boiled down everything i liked from the others I'd had. the kicker is that secondhand it's worth a very small fraction of what I paid for it, so I'm never getting most of that money back should I ever want to move it on (so just as well I love it). It's definitely worth keeping an eye out for second hand German Warwicks - £1k for a S/H Stage I or II is a bargain The MEC ($$) pickups are fine, though the active electrics are a bit under powered so maybe I'll tweak those One thing I would offer is that the neck thru (NT) models have fantastically slim, fast necks compared to the bolt ons

for the sacking...I also remember the trail about the drummer being an @rse and driving off after the gig a few weeks ago You sack people for one (or both) of two reasons - either their playing isn't up to scratch, or their personality isn't up to scratch. Both highly subjective, and them taking against you on one or the other doesn't necessarily mean that they are right. I've sacked somebody who didn't see it coming, and I'd be amazed if the rest of the band weren't in agreement. It's no fun telling somebody that they are not wanted, and if the drummer was happy to lead then they probably just let him get on with it, so I wouldn't read too much into their relative silence. Seems to me that the clash with the drummer is the root of it all, and they picked a side, regardless of whether they think he's a better or worse musician. The "grown apart of friends" is utter nonsense, but it does indicate to me that they consider the drummer to be a mate and that probably has a lot to do with which side they took. Nothing you can do now, so onward and upwards. Have Christmas off, and start looking for a new band in the New Year

for the gig, the way I see it is - what does playing it do for you personally? I can see what it does for the band, but they are no longer your responsibility - if the gig is a roaring success and they triple their future bookings from it, you don't get any share of that success, so the favour here is all one way - you helping out the people who just sacked you. You don't really owe them that favour Letting down the punters? That's the band's responsibility, not yours. There are reasons for playing the gig if you want to, whether pride, wanting to go out at a headlining gig, or showcasing your skills in front of other bands. But if you don;t want to, don;t feel at all bad in turning them down

it's a nice theory, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you know what, sometimes it's really satisfying to tell somebody who's been behaving like an utter c#nt exactly why you think that they are an utter c#nt My biggest regret in all my years of playing in bands is quitting one of them amicably rather than telling the offending band member exactly what i thought of him. He understood that he was the problem, but I missed the opportunity to really spit my dummy out at him. Damn the high ground...

...but sometimes it’s really worth burning that particular bridge

yeah, what @la bam says depends on how big a git you are/how much you hate the band - I know people who have quit with no notice and gigs in the diary (and not because they had a problem with the band, just because they were a massive git) and others who have ended up being strung along for months by a band who never felt the need to get round to actually looking for a replacement when they know that they have somebody in place My own experiences in quitting were: telling them in advance of the gigs that were in the diary, and make it clear that would do the gigs and that was the end - nobody was let down, and they could start looking for a replacement ahead of me leaving spitting my dummy out and quitting, but with no gigs in the diary. If there had been then I'd have used method 1 again My suggestion here is that if you're happy to dep do so for as long as it suits you to do it, but if you've given them your terms, especially if that includes a definite end date, then make sure you stick to them and don't start agreeing to exceptions and extra gigs, etc

yeah, I'm with @Woodinblack - no matter how nice a 4 it is, I won't gig with it In fact I've been forced into it over the last year or so - currently awaiting a new Wal so I'm down to a 5 string Streamer and my first proper bass, a 1975 Rickenbacker that I will never sell but which has largely sat on the rack for the last couple of decades. I then did a dep gig last year and needed to swap basses mid set for two songs in a different tuning, and fortunately they didn't require a low B, so the Rickenbacker was called up from the subs bench. Loved it, brought back all the memories of how good it was to play back in the day, the band and the soundman loved the sound...but it's now back on the rack because it feels restricted compared to a 5. If anything, it's made me hanker for one of the new Ricky 5's, so maybe once my Wal is paid for...

nice one @Dood Is Joel McIver still the editor?

I find his stuff quite mixed - used to do a cover of (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea in an old band - me playing guitar, but it's a great bass line - and we also gave Watching The Detectives and Alison a go (but they never made it past a couple of rehearsals) but I can't say I like very much of his stuff beyond the early singles. YMMV

yeah, I'd asked about a thin neck, and was surprised that the profile is actually almost identical to my neck thru Warwick (which is very slim). My previous, now departed, Wals were from the 80's and 90's and were a lot chunkier (and also not my choice of woods) so I figured it was time to get one to my own spec...like you say, days of agonising over which one to pick So if you have a couple of recent ones...what are you thinking of now?

fretted 5 string mk 2 with birdseye maple facings and an ebony fretboard (and a reassurance about how slim the neck will be) I have just signed off on the particular cut of birdseye maple to be used - deciding which of the three on offer I wanted was like picking your favourite child. Except, you know, kids are annoying, so it's far more serious than that. I attach my selection - warning, you may need a tissue The wait was two years when I ordered, which would have been up in Jan or Feb next year, but when I suggested that my ideal timescale was to pay the balance when i get my bonus at the end of March, that fitted with the expected timescale, so it's slipped by a month or two. Have to say, while the timescale is a little daunting, it's suited me to be able to pay it off over the waiting period, so I didn't need (in this case) £7k up front, I needed a couple of grand up front and have had a couple of years to find the balance

Thanks for your replies. I have a few comments so perhaps you can clarify On the unattended vehicle question, you will only provide cover if the instrument is in a locked boot? this is important because basses are quite large instruments, and I've often not been able to fit mine into the boot of a car, especially when it's in a flight case. Will you offer any other unattended vehicle cover, or purely just for gear that is in the boot? Would the same apply for a tour van - covered if in a locked section of the van, but not if left in the front section where people usually sit? You say that the instrument will be covered backstage if it's left unattended as long as it's in a locked storage area. I have never seen one of these, even at reasonably well known venues like the Underworld - typically instruments will be left in flight cases back stage. In the absence of these type of lockers, does this mean that insured equipment will only be covered while the owner is present?

Andertons certainly do (or always have) and I'd be surprised if the rest of them didn't do something similar. Whether or not your specific cab is in there remains to be seen, but if the £335 is the standard cost then you have nothing to lose by waiting to see. If it's a hang over Black Friday/Cyber Monday price and there's some time pressure to buy it now then it's a bigger gamble

I actually really like the challenge of playing with people who are technically better than me - I much prefer to be the weakest musician in the room, and if I'm not, somebody probably needs sacking! And I do think that bass players can get away with quite a lot because while we know what we bring to the role, outside of some specific genres, people often look for "solid" rather than spectacular What I hate is not having a clue how the song goes and being expected to make it up on the spot - hence why jam nights are not really for me. I'm not against "jamming" in the true sense, more that I'm not going to magically get the bass lines for Mustang Sally at the drop of a hat, and nobody wants to hear me try

I use a smaller version of this one from Warwick: https://www.thomann.de/gb/rockstand_rs20863.htm works absolutely fine, as long as your basses can all sit securely on the two bars at the bottom For my one instrument that won't (actually a seven string Gibson Explorer) I had a two guitar version of what @dmccombe7 suggests - the bottom that the guitar sits on can move so adjusts itself to the odd shape of the instrument...not the most stable and secure stand and not one I'd recommend to anybody. The weight of the instrument is held away from the "core" and it's just not very stable, especially when you are taking one of the instruments off of it and the weight of the remaining one shifts. I do have a similar stand for just one guitar (which i use for an acoustic) and that is a lot more stable.

That's a shame - while I'm not the target audience for either approach, I've been dragged to a few jam nights and they're just not my thing, and i could see this being a good way for people like the OP to have an easy way into playing in a band without having to audition

depends on the band the last lot I was with liked to have a specific list of songs for the gig(s) which was hammered into a set list quite early on. The BL led this in the studio, and anybody could pitch in at the time, or come back to it if they thought the flow of songs wasn't working. Rehearsals ahead of the gigs stuck to the set list in order, and it worked really well in terms of musical muscle memory In previous bands it's tended to work on the basis of "who's turn is it this time?", again with the option for other band members to pitch in if they thought changes could help the flow of songs, which ones should be saved for the encore, or in one drummers' case, which songs should be put before the end of the set because he needed a breather after them. This worked pretty well when the band had a load of songs to choose from, especially covers bands, so if your favourite wasn't being played this week, that's OK, you can put it back in next time. Did depend on the individual band members not having a hissy fit when their favourite song wasn't included - usually a guitarist who wanted the one song he wrote, or the song where he plays the longest solo to be included, regardless of whether the previous outings of the song had sent the audience to the bar or the bog. In one band we sacked a guitarist, and he pleaded with the BL to be allowed to play one final gig as it was already booked and he was expecting friends to be there, and for us to play a song which he'd written but had been dropped for some time due to dullness...sadly we gave in and played it. The audience did not go wild. That usually then became "who can be bothered this time?" and nine times out of ten it was me, as I tended to be the only one who was both fussed about the order of the songs and organised enough to put it all together, print off set lists, etc.

the legislation (Equality Act 2010) specifically only applies to defined categories. Employees and Partners are covered. Contractors are not, because the individuals are employed by the contractor company, not by the company who wants the services. The fact that the "contracting company" effectively means the individual artist doesn't change this. The artist concerned would only have a case if they were discriminating against themselves! There's a lot of attention on this at the moment, around IR35 issues (all the stuff in the media about HMRC going after BBC presenters and Lorraine Kelley and whether they are actually self employed) and this all depends on whether the individual solely works for the employer on a permanent basis, or if they supply specific services for an agreed period with the option to take on other work. Musicians will typically fall into the latter category, and can legitimately remain self employed. From next April it becomes the employer's problem, not just the individual, and the market for employing people who claim to be self employed is completely closing (I spent an hour on the phone with a recruitment agency last week, 15 minutes of which were about the vacancy I have, and 45 minutes was her ranting about all of the issues she's had to become an expert in for the staff they provide, ahead of this change) There are also exemptions where this is "justified" and that gives a lot of wiggle room for artistic endeavours and the band's opinions on who is the best fit for the position

typically quite good mates when I'm in the band, and there are some current and ex-band members that I would consider my closest friends, but equally there are some that I haven't seen since the band finished However, that's probably largely because I've never joined a band full of strangers, it's always been with at least one mate that I know, and I love the gang mentality of being in the band. While I don't have an issue with band members who don't want to be my bestie outside of the rehearsal studio (as long as they are not obnoxious) I do enjoy the whole hanging out part of rehearsals and gigs, going for a beer afterwards, etc