Agent 00Soul

I would recommend Bandmix.co.uk as a place you can get yourself and also see what's out there. It definitely works. I've worked with a stunningly good singer-songwriter and have joined a very quirky band after only a year of putting myself out there. I've also been asked to audition for other acts, which I've politely declined, and got to see a good cross section of acts. When I first signed up I was 52 and had just moved to the UK and knew no musicians at all.

Does anyone know how the Epiphone Jack Casady Bass' low impedance pickups connect to a high impedance output jack without a preamp? My previous low-z bass needed an onboard preamp with a 9 volt battery to connect to a high-z outpit. The Les Paul Signature bass that the Casady modelled on had both high and low I believe.

Actually, that info is really useful. Based on your experience there is no change in high quality when Epiphone changed manufacturing plants for this instrument. Makes looking for one much easier. I'm 55 and unfortunately have been burned by cool instruments that turn out to be lemons long before the internet arrived, so it's very much a case of (more than) once bitten twice shy.

It matters if you are in the market for one. You don't want to buy something that has a good chance of being a lemon. You can also go the wine route I suppose and ask what years are the best, but that is pedantic and not something people on a board should be expected to know. Milestones such as "pre-CBS" or "post-Norlin" are much better starting points.

Is there a difference in quality between the Koran and Chinese manufactured instruments?

They are beasts.

I like it so the strings are just above the waist with the neck angled up. For whatever reason, after a few songs I tend to start playing sideways a bit.

The people above are correct when they say that young musicians don't go on "old fashioned" tech like a forum or play in pub cover nights/jams with any frequency. But there are still tons of them out there nonetheless. These is also still a healthy rock scene. I go to about 2 or 3 small-to-medium sized-venue gigs a month and, at 54, am inevitably old enough to be the dad of the band and most of the audience. Nonetheless, those venues tend to be packed with the under-30 crowd. The biggest difference is that rock isn't mainstream music any more and really hasn't been since the late 1990s. If you want to see for yourselves who's out there on bass and what age they are, you can probably get an approximation by checking out Bandmix

Do you have any songs on streaming (Spotify, Soundcloud, YouTube etc)? From either band. Would love to hear them.

Wow - I love both skiffle and trip-hop! Have you noticed if that's a common thing or not?

Two of my projects: Gaijin a` Go-Go - Japanese 60s pop band (think B-52s meet Pizzicato Five) Telecommand - retro soundtrack instrumental group https://soundcloud.com/sanford-santacroce/albums

It's times like this that I'm glad I'm a lefty, otherwise I would be GASsing too!

I think it was Ako, the bassist in that video that started the trend around 2000. She was an official endorser and they band was major label successful at the time, leading to a large female following that they had until they broke up. I went to two of their gigs in Japan at the end of their career and the girls outnumbered the boys by quite a bit.

They never stop being cool! I'm a big fan of Group Sounds, and the original versions of these were big parts of that scene. They were also the instruments of choice on the first two albums of one of my favorite bands Go!Go!7188.

Just watched the video. He doesn't say it was designed for plectrum per se, he was referring to the amp tone he uses on the songs he picks. He also talks about the songs he plays fingerstyle and demos them. Amp sounds great through. And he's right: it does actually have a very "rock" sound. Or at least the U2-style of small instrumental combos.

They are still making them. I think it was just a short pause. Of course, if you a lefty you never know if there will ever be another production run....

I've literally never heard of an amp being designed especially for a rock music plectrum player. What does that even entail...or sound like?

This is true. I often have to sign in the UK when I use the same US credit cards that I don't have to sign with in the States for some reason though.

That’s true. I don’t know how much it would help the touring musician, but in terms of daily life about half the places I visited post-Covid did contactless. When I left only a few years ago, almost no place did.

I used my US bank account - I still keep a bit of money there for occasions like this. You might well need one for Venmo or a card reader. Not something I ever looked into. In that case Cash Is King. Just make sure you have lots of change to give. 20 dollar bills are the most popular denomination to pay for stuff. For the phone, I would just buy/rent one at the airport if your UK plan doesn't work or is expensive in the US. That's what I did first time I went back to NYC. I also recommend renting a personal Hotspot at the same time.

Card readers are getting more common, but Venmo transfers (which aren't available in Europe that I am aware) is what I've seen the most recently next to cash.

How I wish that better instruments led to better players! I'd start with me.

It seems I tend to get a new instrument shortly after joining a new band with a different style of music. I don't know why, but I seem to subconsciously associate the sound and feel of the main bass I am playing with the act I'm a part of. When I change bands, I try using the same instrument but it seems to leave me in a bit of a rut and I have to use a different one for the different act. Having said that, I'm not a collector at all and "only" have 5 basses out of the 4 bands I've played in over the years. It must be some kind of compulsion because realistically you don't even need that much.

It turns out Epiphone actually do make one, but most places have sold out (post-Covid supply chain issues?). Anyway, I did find one store in Kent that had 2 left. It arrived in a box with a quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche written on it.