chris_b

Jamerson is the GOAT. They never put the vocals down with the band so any shots doing that are publicity shots.

Re Rule 6. I had just joined a band and the singer called a song I didn't know. I whispered I didn't know it, and he whispered back, yes you do!!! It was unbuskable and i spent the whole song in search of a root note, harmony or any note that wasn't discordant. Things got so bad that I actually stopped playing in the middle 8. After I mentioned it to the guitarist, who'd been in the band for 18 years. He said he didn't know it either and was following me!!!

So maybe it's not wrong at all, just different.

I believe he did say that. Also Roger Sadowsky said the same about his NYC and Metro basses. These less expensive ranges aren't cheap basses. They have the same electrics, hardware and QC as the more expensive lines.

The minimum I'd gig with is 2 x 112 cabs. I have gigged 1 x 112 but that was an unusually quiet band.

I've found what claims to be the original of Down The Dustpipe, by an Australian band called The Mint. It's the same song but is a very cheesy sing-a-long down the pub arrangement. Nothing like the Quo's turbo charged version and nothing like Quo's "sound". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSvp2KHol00

I don't understand the need to sell stuff when a band breaks up and the gigs dry up. If you still want to gig you have to treat this as a temporary lull. I'd keep everything and find that next band.

A firm and polite "No", always works for me.

If it's a good professional tribute band then I'd expect to be playing the gear that the original band used. A semi-pro tribute band, maybe the bass should be the same colour? A band leader might have requirements, but a bog standard pub band telling me to buy any bass would get a very short answer. My basses are a P bass and a Jazz, so I don't usually get negative comments about my gear. I wouldn't pay £2.5k for any bass!

Quo invented a great style and made it their own. Maybe they should have thought twice about some of the songs they covered in later years. Anyway, while I prefer the Quo of the 70's, I'll happily applaud any band that is still packing them in 50 years later. We supported them a few times in the early 70's and one gig was the Winter Gardens Pavilion, Weston-Super-Mare. The dressing room was in a different wing of the building, a long way from the stage, must have been about 100 yds around all the corridors, when they started up we had to shout to be heard!

I would have preferred an ebony board on my Lakland. IMO they just look great.

I drive a Volvo so that explains a lot.

That is what I thought, except Brazilian rosewood, which is permanently banned from crossing borders.

Lakland are fantastic instruments. This US 55-94D was my main bass for nearly 14 years. It wasn't the lightest bass I've owned, but in the end it had to go so I could save my shoulder and back. It was a very sad day when I boxed it up and handed it over to FedEx.

Ali MacKenzie has just passed. Sad news. During my schooldays I spent many evenings in his company. He was the singer in The Birds, and with Ronnie Wood, inspired me to imagine being a musician. The Birds were one of the great live acts of the time. Another part of my youth fades away! As I say, sad news.

More nerdy stuff. . . . . . also, I believe, SWR designed the Groove Tubes pre amp and James Demeter designed the first Eden amps.

Years ago before the smoking ban I found a cigarette smouldering away on the edge of my cab after someone (a friend!) had just finished his spot on the jam night! It hadn't burnt the cab, but since then I get up and check the gear after every jammer. Being expected to supply free gear hire is taking a liberty, and no one is going to replace anything that they break, or even contribute to the repair, so it just isn't worth it.

I've provided a backline for a jam night for many years and a couple of times I have had to get on stage to turn people down. While most players take care, some people, even friends, take no care at all when using the gear I've provided. Away from the jam night environment I never lend any gear at all.

Back in the 60's and 70's I saw Vox, HH, WEM and Carlsboro being used, but I never heard anyone get a good sound out of transistor amps. By the 80's MusicMan and Dynacord were sounding fantastic with their FET's

Didn't David Nordschow of Eden, design the first 410 for SWR? I know Mesa Boogie used Eden 10's in their cabs but but I think that was after the SWR.

My Vox Foundation was an 18". IMO 18's represent the old fashioned view, that a good bass tone was one that you felt rather than heard. I never liked the Foundation and it took me a year to save up for a replacement.

At this level "less expensive" isn't a negative description. These models are fantastic instruments in their own right and would be top of the range in many companies. Look at the Skylines as opposed to the US Laklands, the Metros vs the NYC Sadowsky's and the Pro's versus the US Xotic basses.

There is an Xotic XJPro in the classifieds

The sound is over budget as well. These basses redefine your expectations. I bought my Sadowsky Metro and with in 6 weeks had sold off 4 great basses.