Beedster

It's like First class tickets on a train, you don't get a better seat, but you get to sit among other people, who have also paid stupid money to sit near you. I'm an advocate of Groucho Marx on this one, never pay to be the member of a club that would have me as a member

Ha ha, you'll be fine with your view from the stage

I sincerely hope Phil respects the form here; if he plays in your town, you are the bass player

Agreed, Although I’d like the band to be a little less sterile also

If it makes you feel good, you should absolutely do it. It’s why people watch films they’ve seen 100 times, watch the same sports team they watched as a kid despite the fact it is now rubbish and in the minor league, go to the same place in holiday each year trying to recreate the magical summer of ‘88 etc. Sentiment is powerful

Our guitarist’s name is Beyonce Wainwright

Very true, but the reality of the business it’s that’s it just that, a business, they’re often charging more for tickets now than at any point in thief careers. I don’t blame him, I’m simply not impressed by his performance. I suspect financial rather than emotional motivation is more salient also

You don’t need to be able to walk to express emotion in your face or voice. He looks like he’s bored by himself. At least he and I agree on that.

Age isn’t an excuse these days. There’s a whole generation of lively rock n roll septuagenarians. Neil Young is more animated FFS

You must have thought it would be very bad, that was pretty awful. OK, his voice was passable, but the performance was sterile in every sense, from all concerned. And frankly, PC looked like he would rather be at home watching Eastenders

A guy I used to play with said that whilst he could immediately hear the difference between me playing a fretted Jazz or fretted Precision, he could never hear any difference when it came to fretless, suggesting that platting style made more difference than PUPs etc in the latter. That’s all really. Any thoughts?

I had one of these, nice but heavy, it had very discrete cheat lines under the G, as does the one for sale. Good bass for the price, although not a board for rounds

Hope it goes well Andy

The world holds its breath..... We auditioned a singer about 10 years ago, similarly young compared to us. He was a big lad, and really nervous. He had a small black bag with him. Amongst other songs we'd asked to to prepare Le Grange by ZZ Top. It's a song you can either do or not do, there's no middle ground. It was first up. He pulled out a can of 1664 from the bag, shook it, shotgunned it, and absolutely f*****g nailed the song. He didn't get the gig because others in the band were worried about his use of alcohol. I left the band.

Which is why we should look after our immune systems

Mate, if you start questioning the logic of well-accepted everyday processes you will quickly go mad, especially when it relates to hygiene and toilets

Most sensible thing I've read on the issue to date, thanks Jack

I’d get a standard neck and some sandpaper

"Sounds worse than it looks almost unplayable"

Abba bass parts turned out to be far more subtle and complex than I first imagined, the quality of musicianship is very very high. Underplaying should probably be the rule of the day, unless you have a lot of time to rehearse. And any bass with Fender on the headstock (or derivative of) will do the job, although of course the Hagstrom Super Swede is the real deal

Never had a problem, and I used them vertically stacked also

Mesa taking a leaf out of Fender's manual it would seem. I had a similar experience when I ordered a second Vintage Powerhouse 2x10 and the grilles were different shades, no big deal but annoying. Could be that one was a display item and had faded, but as you can see, it's a whole lot of fade

I wouldn't remove the castors each gig because having done that with a few Mesa cabs in the past, it's one of those fiddly jobs, especially if you're doing it in a rush, that can leave you with a big cut in your finger if it suddenly moves when you're applying a lot of pressure. Personally, if you're not going to put them on their side, I'd permanently remove the wheels from the top cab and use a trolley board to move it around (although I have to say I like Dood's logic for using them on their side however).

Folks Many thanks for the above, a useful thread for the forum as well as for me I suspect. Quick update; I took the advice of a few posted and went for dbx, specifically the 160xt. Does it make a difference you ask? Hell yes! My slap playing sounds tight, and whilst my pop has always been pretty competent, what used to be a very inconsistent slap is now not only more consistent note-to-note, but also is far more balanced volume wise with the pop (I guess none of this is exactly news however, it's what compression does after all). It might be an artefact that I will want to lose as my slap technique develops, but the compression adds a discrete but quite reassuring kick drum-like oomph, a percussive edge that - whilst I'm practicing solo at least - is really rather pleasing on the ear. I'm going to use my Beat Buddy in practice from now to ensure that I'm not getting a little bit too much oomph. Thanks again for all of the advice above, great thread