Monkey Steve

looks like it's all paid off - back playing the Underworld later this year: https://www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk/events/2019-11-01-threatin-the-underworld

I've told the story on here before, but back in the late '80's I went with a mate who was buying a drum machine and he found one in a shop that would only tell him "cheapest in Denmark St - we'll beat any price" and wouldn't actually tell him how much they would charge him unless he went away and found out what the shop over the road was charging for it. He politely declined and bought it in the shop over the road for what he was expecting to pay. I've also been in a shop (also in Denmark St) where they politely declined to honour the "we'll match any price" poster that my mate was pointing at when we wanted to buy a guitar. Their story (after ringing and checking that the price was accurate) was that this other shop was selling for less than the wholesale price they'd paid so they just couldn't do it, but they knocked a chunk off the ticket price and threw in a couple of sets of strings, etc, so he bought it from that shop. I don't think that either not showing people what the price is when they are browsing, or setting the price high on the off chance that people will pay it rather than asking for a discount is a great strategy in these internet times, especially for reasonably big purchases. If it puts off anybody who just doesn't want to ask or try something until they are sure how much it's going to cost them, then they could be losing out on sales for no good reason

Too young to have seen Thin Lizzy, but did see him live a couple of times - once in Grand Slam, and once coming on to do a couple of songs with Gary Moore, only a few months before his death. Proper rock star - cool as In a sad postscript to that, I also saw Gary Moore live a few months before he died

If I'm just tuning up then it's low to high on all the strings, then repeat in full as many times as required to check that the tuning of the other strings hasn't been affected as I've changed the tension. Like others, I seem to remember being told that this was the correct way to do it because of the larger effect that changing the tension on the lower strings will have...but that doesn't make much sense if I'm always going to repeat the process anyway. One caveat, that if I'm doing that on stage, it's not at all unheard of to be half way through and hear the intro to the song start, so quite often I'll only actually get as far as the E or A. If I'm changing strings then it's a free for all - whatever order they untangle themselves from the D'Addario mass of strings. E first and low to high for preference (B coming later on) but quite frequently influenced by having to get whatever string the cat is playing with away from him ASAP.

one other to throw in, although it's well outside your preferred area, is GAK in Brighton - a lot of choice in your price range (the website shows 36 five strings in stock below £500, though only 21 if you exclude Ibbys). One caveat that mates have told me that what is in stock on the website isn't always in the shop, it's in the warehouse, and that the online price may not be the same as the shop price

any particular reason why you're not heading to Andertons, given that they have made a big effort to improve their bass selection over the last couple of years? And any particular price range? That might influence whether it's worth making a specific trip to one of the more specialist shops, or a well stocked generalist

You're right, the GuitarGuitar website doesn't let you filter stock by store (as far as i can work it out) so it's a slightly painful process of going into each bass, which will show which shops have them in stock

Things that matter to me: Agree on the neck, as that will undoubtedly be what makes me buy the bass - everything else can be fixed pretty easily. Sound of the bass - a combination of the pickups and any on board electronics and eq, and the effects of the tone woods. I can't see any distinction - the bass either sounds good or it doesn't, why it does or doesn't based on the pickups or active elements isn't of huge interest to me. Amp, or rather amp sound. I use an SVT sound and have an SVT head, but I tend to not worry too much about the actual amp I'm using because I'm more focused on the live sound where I will inevitable be DI'd, so it's a Tech 21 VT Bass and an Ampeg SCR-DI on the pedal board and whatever neutral sounding amp I use will sound fine. That SVT impression is a big part of my sound Looks - yes, let's be honest, I need to like the look of a bass or else it's not getting off the rack in the shop. After that, it's back to the other points on the list - I wouldn't play a fantastic looking bass if it sounded awful or had a pig of a neck The set up. Hand in hand with the neck, how the bass plays will always be important so action, intonation, height of the pickups, etc all count A good tuner pedal - Boss TU2 or TU3 for me Other pedals - tools for a specific job. Getting the right tool matters, even though outside of the tuner and amp simulators I don't use them much Things that don't get me that excited (I wouldn't say they're not important): Cabs - see point 3 of the other list. I agree that they have a potentially huge effect on the sound, but only in the practice studio or on stage, not FOH so I don't lose any sleep over this, as long as they can do the job. Different if I'm going through the backline for a small pub gig, but I haven't played one of those for a few years. Might be more important to me when I do Tone woods - it's not that I don't care, more that all I care about is covered under point 2 above. I'm not fussed if the fingerboard is rosewood, ebony, wenge or maple as long as the sound the bass is making is good. Playing wise I do prefer ebony boards for feel and maple bodies for brightness (and that's what Wal is making for me seeing as i got to choose) but it's not a deal breaker. Of course, this can also come under point 4 above on looks Pickups/electronics - again, as per 2 above, I'm not set on one particular pickup or one particular on board eq, it's whatever makes the bass sound good. So while I tend to favour humbuckers with some active eq, I wouldn't dismiss a bass if it didn't have that or didn't have the particular brand of pickups that I like, as long as it sounds good Hardware (tuning heads, bridge, etc) as long as they're functional, and the stuff I buy tends to be at a level where all of this is of decent quality. I concede that I might notice the difference if it isn't, but I take it for granted

My experience of Guitar Village is that it's a great shop, and is exceptional for guitarists, but well below average for bass players - very much a token effort (unless you really, really like Ibanez's). Like Tedmanzie says, the stock is all on line so it's worth having a look before you set off...and having just done the same there are very few five strings in stock, although a slightly more interesting selection of four strings than anticipated due to a few second hand basses. But nothing that would get me to go there rather than Andertons if I didn't specifically want one that I can only find in Farnham GuitarGuitar usually has pretty decent levels of stock, although I haven't ever been to their Epsom store. However, their website does show which shops the basses are in, so you can check in advance whether the ones you want to try are actually in Epsom

they should have paid for a better script writer

yep, agree with Dad - replace the snare with an electronic pad. Not exactly the same problem but the lot I was depping with over Christmas have replaced the bass drums with a pad - looks weird but it means that they have complete control over the volume and can keep it at the right levels in the mix without it bleeding into the singer's mic. One simple step removed the loudest on stage/rehearsal room noise issue immediately.

Saw Turbonegro at Download last year - I swear I must have seen them before as they seem to have toured with bands that I like but I had absolutely no memory of them. Blown away! Straight on to eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Discogs to pick up their entire back catalogue for a few quid, and it's brilliant stuff. The other one that I have had on constantly last year was Primitive Race, specifically their Soul Pretender album. I picked it up after reading an obituary of Chuck Moseley at the start of the year which mentioned that he was on the album (but not actually in the band). I was expecting him to be on a couple of tracks, but it turned out that he does all the vocals for the whole album, and they have used his contribution brilliantly, really using his vocal drone as a real strength

Depends on what I feel like, but either open strings or a little bit of improvised lines up and down the strings, usually a bit of both. What I make a point of is hitting the strings as hard as I will when playing live, and playing within the range of notes that will be covered, with particular focus on the bottom end, especially the low B string if that is going to be used. If I'm using more than one bass then let the soundman do most of his work on the main one, then swap for the other so that he can check for any change in level. Same with any effects that i will use during the set - quick on and off so the soundman can see the levels. No point playing anything that doesn't represent what I will actually sound like - that's wasting everybody's time (but seems to be what a lot of guitarists will do) Don't care about my on stage sound as long as I can hear enough to tell whether I'm in tune, so ask for just enough through the monitors for that (or will use the backline instead if that's easier) and let the singer and guitarists worry about what they need to hear. Then when everybody has been individually checked, do whatever song(s) the band think best to check for overall levels - something that uses as many of the relevant sources as possible (so, if half the songs have BV's do one with BVs; if the band had two lead vocalists then do a song where they both have lead vocals, or do a bit of two songs where each sings the lead) and only need to play them for as long as the soundman wants. If there's a problem with the monitors then it's better to stop and sort that out, then start again, rather than playing the whole song just for the sake of it. Get it done as quickly and easily as possible

two recent experiences from depping before Christmas, playing reasonable sized venues. We took our own sound people - one to each gig - the band do it as standard, and use people who know how the band, and the extreme metal genre, should sound. At the first the in-house guy did all the other bands and they all sounded excellent, all the more impressive because it was largely line checks before they went on. I'm told that we sounded great, and the guy we took is a bass player in another band (and guitarist in others) and really knew his stuff. At the second the sound guy that we brought did the support bands, so only the co-headliners had the in-house person. Even they commented that they had the worst sound of the evening. Have to say, I didn't spot them sounding bad, just maybe not as good/clear as everybody else. I do have some sympathy in that the sound-person does have to cope with a huge amount of different genres, and what's right for one may be completely wrong for one that is even slightly different (for example, we were a progressive death metal band, the co-headliners were straight forward thrash metal). I've done plenty of gigs leaving it all to the soundman and had reports of it not sounding great. However, my trick is to get all of the eq in first, and I specifically use a Tech 21 VT Bass and an Ampeg SCR-DI which between them do a pretty good impression of the SVT sound that I would only otherwise get if I've brought my SVT and the amp is mic'd (and that never happens).

bit the bullet and watched it yesterday...brought back a lot of memories from school days. My opinion of the twins hasn't changed - Luke is basically a nice bloke, if not the sharpest tool in the box (and was noticeably fairly relaxed and self deprecating with the band until his brother arrived), Matthew is still a massive c#nt with no sense of humour. They hated each other at school (I remember them being quite annoyed at being lumped into the same form when they joined the school, as they'd always hated being treated as "the twins") and that clearly hasn't changed. Some of it rang very true - Luke is right that he was always regarded as "the ugly one", but in fairness that's when he's standing next to his very good looking brother - he didn't struggle to get girlfriends, and misses that he was also regarded as the much nicer one of the pair. Clearly still got a massive chip on his shoulder about that, despite him having had a much better career since the band broke up. Also, given that he spends the entire film in a leather jacket and Soundgarden/Chili Peppers/etc T-shirts, he's basically modelled himself on how I was dressing back in the day. Sadly he is modelling his haircut on how I look now. He is the world's worst Monkey Steve tribute act... Matt still has a massive ego, no trace of self awareness, and has added to that a complete inability to express himself in simple, straight forward sentences. Why can't he just say something instead of having to create a badly constructed analogy that he clearly hasn't thought through and makes things quite difficult to understand..."you can go down 15 one way streets..." anyone?

+1 for Anderson’s. if it’s in stock on their website then it’s either in the shop or in the warehouse round the corner. They’re my local shop, and I’ve had experience of both letting them know that I wanted to pick something up so they got it in from the warehouse for me ahead of my visit, and also just turning up having checked that something was in stock and having them send someone to the warehouse to get what I was after. Never had a problem with Gear4Music though - only used them a couple of times but no problems, and for one order that I had to contact them about (placed an order on my phone shortly after moving house and didn’t spot that I hadn’t updated my account to the new address) they couldn’t have been more helpful in getting the delivery that had already been dispatched to the correct place

It opened when I was at 6th form at Collingwood, so we used to wander down there in free periods for a poke about - I got a purple vinyl version of Led Zep IV, and remember not buying Live Like A Suicide that was in stock before GnR went massive (and of course it had been sold once I'd seen them live, bought Appetite for Destruction and decided that maybe I should get that other one after all). Brilliant place, and in those days (when vinyl was king) it seemed a much more an exclusively metal/punk shop. Seems less well stocked now than in past years - whereas a few years ago they seemed to have every release by every band you can think of, and all the rarities, it's a bit more select/random these days, but still a good place to go for a nose around

I used to love HMV back in the day - my local one was in Guildford, which meant a trip out, and they were much larger than their competitors (Our Price, and then Virgin) so had a lot more stock, limited editions, picture discs, and loads more choice that made it worth spending some time flicking through the racks. I bought the tickets to the first ever gig I went to (Hanoi Rocks, Guildford University, 1984) from there. Since the last collapse (and certainly for some years prior to then) music doesn't seem to be what they do any more. They still have a reasonably sized Guildford shop, crammed with shelves full of DVDs, some badly organised blu rays and piles of cheap books. Racks of sweets line the queue to the checkouts. Sweets FFS! What music they do have is unadventurous, and seemingly priced at the full RRP until such time as it can be put into one of their never ending "5 for £30" offers. The only thing I have bought from HMV in the last few years have been exclusive blu ray releases, and those largely on line. Even the Oxford Street shop is much reduced from previous incarnations - the previous one maintained a very good selection of CDs, but the new one is a slightly larger version of the one to be found on your local high street. There just doesn't seem to be any particular reason to go into the shops any more, and certainly no reason to make a special trip to go there. There used to be one in Camberley, but it was always a distant second best to the tiny RockBox, an independent shop where i will still make a trip for an hour or two browsing the racks. So they don't compete on stock, they don't compete on price, and in the days of Amazon they certainly don't compete on convenience. If I had one anywhere near where i work then maybe I'd pop in from time to time...maybe. I'm sad to see any retailer lost from the high street, but at some point the retailer has to make it worth my while to support them. Given that they own Fopp, and share a lot of stock with them, it amazes me that they are able to make Fopp a much more attractive place to visit - does compete on price, does compete on stock, doesn't have racks of sweets...

from the specs: This device is intended to be used as a level indicator for audio line signals So not a dB meter at all then...

just done a load of this to learn an hour's set of originals for a band. Found that different set ups changed the mix so much that the bass lines, and other guitar lines that I was using as cues, dropped in and out. Ended up with a cheap and cheerful solution. iTunes on my laptop, HDMI'd into my TV/AV receiver's 5.1 set up. itunes is very good for being able to track back and forward through the songs to repeat phrases and passages (albeit that you have to do it manually) and the 5.1 set up provided plenty of good, clear bass, depending on the mix of the original i was learning from. I'd also endorse a lot of what Bassbiscuits said. What worked for me was to listen to the track that i was learning as much as possible in the preceding days to get to know how it goes, without the bass in hand - walking to work, that sort of thing. Then, pen and pad in hand, sit down and play the song on the laptop and break it down into different sections. Then pick off the easier or more interesting bits first. Quite often that then made it easier to get the trickier bits as the relationship to the parts I knew was now clearer. And if i wasn't getting some of the trickier bits, work on something else, or take a break and come back to it: it was amazing how many times I'd be sweating and slogging over a song that I just couldn't get after a couple of hours, walk away in despair, then the following morning it all made sense

I depped for a band for a couple of gigs the weekend before Christmas and ticket sales were way down on what was expected - the popular theory was that punters were taking advantage of the short gap until Christmas to set off early if they were going away so it wasn't the best weekend to be playing. Two venues that the band had sold out last year so I think there's probably something in that - each night was about 100 short of capacity, so OK to play, just not rammed. The band was getting a fee so it didn't affect our payment (only our egos) but the first of the two venues did contact us and ask if we'd compromise on the rider as they were clearly not getting the ticket money they had anticipated. Happy to do so, not least because they said they'd give us the promised booze but not the food (and even then they relented and gave us a Buy Out that covered a load of pizzas that we were going to pay for ourselves)

seems the discussion has veered from "producers want the P sound so you'd better have one if you're going to play sessions" (which is the subject of the video) to "P basses are brilliant/awful" Personally, I find Fender necks uninspiring, as I said on a very similar thread a few weeks ago (this topic come up like every month, right?) but I don't earn my living from playing recording sessions. Can't argue with the logic about how the P sounds sits in the mix, so if it was my living, I figure I'd either get a P or PJ, or get very similar pickups put onto a bass with a neck I preferred. Probably the former - right tool for the job and all that

I think it's about 90% trem, with a small amount down to the tuners (the tuner for the G-string is obviously slipping when the string is subjected to a very hard bend). It's got much better since I tightened the springs, and is pretty stable as long as you don't actually use the trem. Basically, don't buy the cheapest Squier strat! Though I recall my mate having exactly the same trem problem on a MIJ strat, about 30 years ago. Good to know that Fender are honouring their old traditions. I'll see what the potential new owner wants to do - makes sense to me to block the trem, but she may be happy to accept a bit of re-tuning on the odd occasion when she does want to use it

had been playing bass pretty much every day for the last couple of months in preparation of a couple of dep gigs last weekend. Since they dropped me off in the wee small hours of Sunday morning the basses have sat in their cases in the hallway, to be unpacked at some point. No real impetus to play right now. I have, however, spent a bit of time playing acoustic guitar, which has been largely untouched since October, and even a bit of electric. Then on Christmas Day I was back at my parents place and was summoned round to their neighbour's house. Her husband had died a few months ago, and did I want his guitar and amp as they are cluttering up the place and I'm the only person they know who plays guitars - a Squier strat and small Marshall MG combo? A hobby he'd started when he retired, which was only a couple of years ago, they hold no affection or special memories for the widow, and by coincidence I have a friend who was wanting to get a guitar and amp but is about to buy a flat so hasn't had any spare money to pay for it. So i can find a good home for them, how very generous... So I spent a chunk of yesterday trying to get the Squier into a fit state to play. It's clearly the cheapest end of their range, playable if chunky neck, but tuning stability is not a strength...I'll have to return to it, and work out whether it's the trem or the tuners that are the problem...

funnily enough...I depped for an extreme metal band for a couple of gigs last weekend. Went fine, excellently actually, but they're mates anyway, and couldn't have been nicer to me personally. However, their need for an emergency bass player follows them having had a guitarist playing bass, very badly, about two years ago - they figured that anybody who can play reasonable guitar can play OK bass. He was so bad that he wasn't allowed to play on their album, and eventually got sacked. They finally appreciated what a bass player actually brings to the band, which they had taken for granted previously, but only spotted when it wasn't there. So they find a really good bass player and they immediately see/hear the difference...but never quite get round to announcing that he's actually in the band, keep using old photos with the sacked bassist, and surprisingly enough he gets fed up and jacks it in. So now they've learned both important lessons - get someone who can actually play bass properly, and treat them well enough so that they don't get fed up and leave. Third time's the charm...