Paul S

Exactly. Personally, I am now of the opinion that I won't take the risk to send anything because couriers are too unreliable - there are pages and pages of horror stories on here. If a buyer wants whatever I am selling they are welcome to organise it and then choose their level of insurance. I don't see it as a problem. I recently sold a batch of stuff, 3 items were when the buyer sorted out their own courier.

Cliff Richard and the Dadows?

There's a Cort in the classified at this very minute that I would be rushing to buy in your shoes. £200. Marc is a great guy to deal with.

Lözz?

It's a nice colour and has been installed neatly.

Back in the day - Deep Purple, early Whitesnale, Coverdale was sublime IMO. That deep, almost breathless way of singing he had was so good. Things like 'Mistreated'. Then, for some reason, in the 80s he jumped an octave and started singing in a higher register. Sounded like Mr Punch to me and was never quite the same. From time to time he'd come back down again, like the Starkers in Japan acoustic set, which for me shows the best of his voice.

Me too. Closest I had was '57 reissue JV Precision. I'd pick a Danelectro or Gibson from that line up nowdays, if pushed.

I bought an acoustic guitar when I was 14, picked up a lot of stuff by ear playing along to records. Jammed along with friends at school at lunchtimes/after school, also with another group of friends outside of school. We didn't ever become a 'band', just jammed to stuff we liked. Went to uni, jammed with another bunch of guys but, again, didn't really make it to being a band that performed. When I left uni, my interest and attention moved elsewhere and l stopped playing completely. That was late 1970s. 20-something years later the old mid-life crisis kicked in. I had no interest in sports cars or chasing women so I decided to pick up the threads of playing music again. I bought a bass, a Peavey Milestone, having started to listen to and appreciate music in a different sort of way. Played it every day for a week, every week for a month, then it stood gathering dust in the corner for a couple of years. Finally I decided to do or die, got back up to speed, started answering ads, joined a band. Then joined a better band. Had my first paying gig at 50, which was 16 years ago, and have been in a succession of bands ever since. Going back to playing music just felt so right, like a small part of me that had been missing all those years was back in place. Long may it continue.

If you click top right hand corner on your avatar you'll get a menu appear, click on 'attachments' and a page opens with all the pics you have uploaded. Delete the oldest ones, that'll free up space for new ones.

'If you read my answer properly, you would see that...'

Indeed. I always take a spare bass that is tuned up and waiting on a stand next to me 'just in case'.

Penistone. Seriously? Spares are those things you never, ever need right up until the moment you do. Having broken strings and had an amp blow before now I always take spares.

Absolutely. I've been wearing NHS hearing aids for the past 16 years. They aren't those huge pink banana-shaped objects any more! I have cutting edge digital ones. For gigs I can reduce the volume via an app. so that, effectively, I have my own IEMs. Audiology depts don't seem to suffer like many areas of the NHS. At least, not locally. I can get an appointment within a week, generally, and drop-in for free replacement batteries from any of the nearby clinics that have them available. Brilliant service.

I use the TC Spectradrive. This is an EQ (with adjustable high and low mids), DI, compressor and drive all in one unit. I use the 'clean boost' patch on the drive which is apparently the equivalent of the Spark Boost pedal. The amount of drive and the amount of gain have an interesting interplay. Works for me, anyway. I'm hoping one day they will do a pedal with all those things plus a tuner so I can lose something else off my board, such as it is. They could call it the TC Spectrapolytunedrive.

They must be rarer than I thought if no-one has added anything!

Is that it then, Pete, or are you carrying on into next year?

Just to say - I have just started on this. Just 5 days in and I'm seeing a MASSIVE improvement. I probably wouldn't have bothered had I not read your post so THANK YOU.

My guess is that if you go to see any band a level or two up from playing dad rock covers in the Grease and Elbow they are already playing to backing tracks, you just wouldn't necessarily be aware of it. If a band has a co-ordinated light to music show and/or back projections they are of necessity programmed into a click track and if you are programmed into a click track then almost certainly there are going to be layers of vocals/keys/extra instruments etc as backing tracks. From a personal persepctive, I was in a Bon Jovi tribute for a few years and we used backing tracks and back projections - the value they added to the performance was immense.

Spot on. I had a Gibson in the past. Sold it, missed it, bought the Epiphone Classic IV Pro and - hand on heart - it was a better bass. Roughly £800-£1K cheaper secondhand.

Sold a bass to Simon, nice easy deal. Thanks Simon!

Sold a bass to Mike, all went well. Good comms, an easy deal. Thanks Mike!

Yamaha BB425 would be my choice if I could still handle a 9lb bass.

I play in a blues/rock band - lots of Hendrix/Cream/ZZ Top etc - and TI Flats work for me. EQ is set with a clean boost and a little push from the gain. They have more bite than any other flats I have tried. They are low tension, which is a deal breaker for many, but I prefer that feel. They are also very expensive but once fitted last forever.

Nothing has been arranged, it is still here if you are interested.