El Capo

I did consider it, but somehow feels ‘wrong’ as the bass was always meant to be played lefty, but that’s the backup plan if I can’t get my head around it!

Hi all, So this is a happy post that is tinged with sadness. During lockdown my father passed away. He was my inspiration for learning to play guitar and I have got to the stage of being pretty competent at both guitar and bass and have thousands of gigs under my belt, the gift of music was literally the best gift he could ever give! Fast forward to today and I am delighted to be very soon reunited with his bass, all the way from South Africa. I will post pictures when it arrives, but it truly is a special instrument as I was there when it was measured up for him, in the basement of The Music Department, St Albans, by its maker, Patrick Eggle! I still very clearly remember Patrick getting out of the tape measure and measuring my dad‘s stomach so he could get the belly carve just right (cue many jokes about beer guts and late night post-gig takeaways!). A good few months after that and the bass was ready, going on to gig hundreds of times with me on guitar alongside for many shows. So now I have it in my possession (or at least I will soon) I need to set myself to the task of learning how to play again… Left-handed! It is going to be a really interesting challenge but one that I’m really looking forward to. Has anyone else ever had to do this and if so does anyone have any particular tips? apologies for the long post and thanks for reading! James

Another vote for Superlux here. I can’t kill mine!

Yeah it was shoite. Mine went on Facebook within the week. Answered my own question!

I can answer this now as mine arrived. Brief moment of panic when I saw the Euro plug but thankfully Thomann spotted me coming and added a UK adaptor in the box. First impressions? Built like the proverbial tank, I mean this thing is SOLID Everything feels great quality. Sounds? Here is where I'm a shade disappointed - I was intending to use this as a preamp and whilst it functions ok, the sounds I'm getting are still pretty flat and uninspiring when straight to the desk/PA. I need to spend more time with it but I'm also finding it struggles with the (admittedly stupidly high) output from my EMG pickup and clips when above 9 o clock on the gain! Overall I'm sure it'd do someone a turn but it's not for me, so it'll be hitting the classifieds imminently.

Actually, I'm so glad you asked. I didn't really want to talk about it and I don't want to a fuss, but...

I sort of agree. If the music/musician meant a lot to you, that's great (and it's certainly clear that EVH had that effect) but I don't really feel there's much to be gained by sharing your 'tribute' (particularly by murdering their songs) publicly. Maybe I'm too British (or just a cold, unfeeling git) but actually I'd extend that to all public outpourings of grief, including but not limited to: - 'U ok hun' style posts on Social Media - Tattoos of names / death dates on your skin in prominent places - Shrines of any kind (unless you're actually related to them) Re-reading the above, I am a cold, unfeeling git.

They did, Amazon did refund me so I wasn’t out of pocket in the end, but annoying regardless.

Hi all, I seem to be spaffing money endlessly on duff strings. Had a dodgy packet of Elixirs from Amazon, I seem to have killed a set of Ibanez coated strings in two rehearsals, tried some Lo Riders and may as well have taken sandpaper to my fingers and my backup Rotos are lasting even less than usual before going dead and throwing up intonation issues. Now some of this is not news to me, I have the same issue with guitar strings and it's only been because of Elixirs that I'm able to avoid changing them every frigging week...! But stone me, they are pricey for bass strings...so all of this leads me to looking at other coated strings. Has anyone tried the Markbass jobs that we have a basschat code for? I'd love to give a set a go but am struggling a bit with the spare cash given there are no gigs in the diary so would rather hear from someone who has tried them before parting with yet more cash for another set of bloody strings! Thanks in advance, James

Well I've ordered mine!

https://m.thomann.de/gb/eden_module_terra_nova.htm?o=0&search=1601153933 Can't find all that much online about it, but seems to be a great deal! Rude not to?

No tender process was followed when the government awarded a contract to Computacenter for laptops for schools, cutting companies like mine straight out of being able to compete. Cheers, Boris.

We are seeing it in the PC industry...you try buying 'stock' of laptops at the moment, frigging impossible...

Yes it's irritating AF