Vin Venal

Metal.

Was a metal kid. Became a punk kid. Disavowed metal in the process.

Now I groove to electric wizard.

29 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

Similarly, when we we much younger me and my mates often jokingly referred to eachother as 'a big p**f', 'big girl's blouse' etc if we did something not quite acceptable to the group e.g. drinking coke instead of a beer while out on a session. No one was offended, it was typical banter. It would've been different if we'd addressed a total stranger the same way.

Sorry, but its still offensive, still harmful, and still homophobic.

I'm in a glass house on this one, as I grew up using gay as a pejorative word, and throwing around homophobic abuse excused as "banter".

But I was also in the closet, and deeply ashamed, and that kept me from being who I really was for the best part of 40 years.

Banter isn't an excuse, and just because you don't think anyone listening will be offended is not a good enough reason to espouse offensive views, even in jest.

Not when it's about punching down at marginalised groups.

I feel ANWL are really less shocking, and more standard aged unashamed and unapologetic bigots.

Read the lyrics to "The day the world turned gay" for details.

Wouldn't share breathing space with them, let alone pay to see them play.

Selling as surplus to requirements. As new.

£20 posted in UK.

Now surplus to requirements as selling the bass these were going in.

Basically brand new - only opened to check contents.

Posted in the uk. £80

I liked a bit of stoner rock and doom in me youth, but then I kind of went off it and committed hard to punk rock.

Now I'm wizened and old, I'm revisiting my love of the phrygian mode. Trying to get a band going even. 

Now Sold. Will miss you buddy!

Reduced to £700. Don't think I can go much lower than that.

Gutted to have to sell this to be honest. But I discovered 5 strings and went a bit mad with a purchase, so here it is.

Bought from bass direct in 2020. Beautiful short scale jazz bass. Passive electronics. Maruszczyk single coils. Black hardware.

Alder body, flamed maple top. Matte finish on body and neck. Rosewood board. Matched headstock.

No neck dive to speak of. Tuning stability is great.

Tort pickguard was ordered from Adrian recently. Will also include original black pickguard.

The knobs need replacing, unless you like the worn look I've given them. I can include a set of the correct fender type knobs.

Played at home. Never gigged.

Maruszczyk gig bag included.

You may or may not want to fit new strings. These are a bit dead, but I like that.

Collection in Bristol.

Cheers

Vyn 

So, I now own an ibanez again- took delivery of an SRMD205 in flat black on new years eve.

I bought it for downtuned heavy music.

I took the pickguard off straight away, cuz the white pearloid one looked cheap and tacky imo. Suggestions? Leave it off? Tortoiseshell? Black on black?

Also, the bass sounds VERY bright imo. This will be great for metal tones, but at the moment I'm playing stoner/doom stuff. Considering putting a set of labella flats on it. Is that just completely at odds with the theme here? Flats on a modern looking active 5 string bass feels weird. Once the strings are good and dead, that should take the edge off.

First impressions are great - it's not noticeably heavier than my 4 string short scale. Ergonomics are great - never played a 5 before, but the ibanez SR type neck does not feel unmanageably chunky for me. The bridge pick-up is noisy AF, and in the long run, I'd probably replace the pickups, the pre-amp (or just get rid of it and go passive), and the machine heads, but I bought this new for just over 200 quid new, and would have no hesitation recommending it as a first bass. It's completely playable out of the box.

I took delivery recently of a 5 string Mezzo, but that was technically just about in 2021.

I'm now GASing for a couple of those EHBs- the 4 string shorty, and the 5 string multi-scale (30-32") in particular.

I'd forgotten how much I love the ergonomics of ibanez basses. 

Oh yeah, also, the bridge pickup is sooo noisy. That's OK though, I won't be using it for this project.

Eventually, the aim will probably be to convert this to passive, with some geezer butlers, or quarter pounders or similar.

Doom broom arrived.

First thoughts - flip me, it's bright!

Hoping the strings will settle in and take some of the edge off.

I'm half tempted to put a set of flats on it, but that would be leaning hard into the stoner/doom thing, if I keep the rounds, this bass will be perfect for other stuff I like playing, like post-rock, math-rock, noise-rock type stuff.

I got the fretwrap in case I had a lot of trouble adapting to the 5, but to be honest, I didn't need it on for my 2 hour noodle today. The neck is lovely for the price, feels very ibanezy. Probably not much chunkier than some 4 string P-basses.

But yeah, so bright. Had to re-EQ my amp, and turn the highs almost all the way down on the bass to get a sound that wasn't so harsh.

Oh also the cheap pearloid pickguard looks well naff. I took it off straight away. Will probably get a tort one. Might leave it off though, as without it it looks almost exactly like my first bass, which I think was an Ibanez SR200 from the late 90s. 😁

It might be me, cuz I'm pretty high rn, ngl, but I think that song is about how boomer punks are Richards, so flip them lets make a new scene, type of sentiment.

27 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

"Curtis believes that political individualism as espoused by Margaret Thatcher and implemented though her neoliberal policies is part of the same wider cultural shift as the individualism that punk rock embodied. The privileging of the individual over the community has, he says, had the unintended consequence of atomizing the world to the extent that today “everything is acceptable and everything is ubiquitous”.

 

“Punks don’t like to hear it but they and Mrs. Thatcher were both on the coattails of something bigger, which was the rise of individualism where we could be whatever we wanted to be,” he explains. “The Sex Pistols’ song ‘I Wanna Be Me’ came at the same time as a speech by Mrs. Thatcher that had pretty much the same message."

 

Adam Curtis.

 

He's quite right of course, not a single 'punk' I've met even knew what the definition of Anarchy was...

 

"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Just out of curiosity, have all the punks you've met (and asked to define anarchy for some reason), been really old?

Just that I've been in and around the punk scene on and off since the late 90s, and it's always seemed to be filled with wonderfully politically aware, community minded, conscientious people. 

Except for the fash, but they're in every scene sadly. Like a plague. None less so than metal.

It just strikes me that your experiences might have been predominantly with jaded boomer punks, who maybe once had a mohecan in the early 80s, but like you, have no real familiarity with what punk has meant to multiple generations active in the scene over the 4 decades since...

7 hours ago, Marvin said:

Lots of bands got lumped in to 'grunge'. Almost any slightly heavy rock band that wore dirty jeans and check shirts were grunge. One of my favourite bands, Blind Melon, get classified as grunge on some lists. Then again, Janes Addiction are grunge according to some. I don't think so. (Neither are STP)

 

It was the last interesting wave of music for me, perhaps that's my age. It was miles better than Britpop, which was abysmal dross. What irritated me about Britpop was its unfounded confidence and arrogance. The singer from Franz Ferdinand said that Britpop connected better with British audiences than a check shirted rocker from Seatle, utter drivel. 

 

I've just listened to Pearl Jam Vs, a cracking album  no doubt.

Just my opinion, but I see Grunge as a branch of punk rock, and I think it has in common with punk rock (after 1977) the fact that it is musically diverse. In fact, like punk, I think its a subculture, and a certain grouping of ethics and aesthetics, rather than a genre of music strictly speaking.

Thus you end up with post-hardcore/noise rock influenced sounds and sleazy 70s rock n' roll/garage rock sounds getting classified as grunge. In the same way, Madball and The Jam are both punk bands, but couldn't sound much more different.

6 hours ago, Pete Turton said:

Is it just a kettle lead that is needed?

Yeah, kettle lead/power cable. I don't have a spare. Obviously, whatever you use to connect your cabs/etc.

4 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

It's a bit of a blurred line. I think some of the late 80's Black Flag was almost grunge and some of the very early Mudhoney and Nirvana were punk. I've always considered Bleach by Nirvana to be a punk record.

In the words of D. Boon, punk is whatever we made it to be.

IMO, all the best bands think they're punk bands, whatever section they get put in at the record shop.

Just now, SteveXFR said:

 

I'd be very happy if I heard that when I was braced for meatloaf. 

Me too, but it takes all sorts I spose... 😅

10 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

To be fair, I like pretty much anything withing the rock genre. 

 

I just can't stand the constant re- naming and pigeon holing, which is more what I was poking fun at than the actual music.

 

It seems people have to come up with ever more ludicrous names and sub genres to play power chords.  

To be fair, if you just call it all Rock n Roll, you might accidentally turn up to see these scumbags, expecting them to sound like Meatloaf or something.

I think Iron Monkey tune to B standard too. Iron Monkey > Eyehategod imo. 

10 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Basically stoner metal is ripped off Black Sabbath riffs tuned down to C or lower with a heap of dirt on bass and guitars and lyrics about either weed, demons or witches/wizards. Songs usually turn in to a jam towards the end. Check out Kyuss for an example. 

For doom, tune lower and add more dirt, maybe slow down to 120bpm and add the word bong/wizard/funeral to the band name. Beards are almost essential as is black clothing. Everywhere you go there should be a fog of cannabis smoke. Check out Electric Wizard for an example. 

For sludge metal tunings can be higher, up to drop D. Basically just play early thrash slowed right down with vocals kind of slurred/growled. Check out Eyehategod for an example. 

 

Then you've got yer sub genres, funeral doom, blackened doom, drone doom, death doom etc, etc

 

Yeah, the Ibanez is ideal because it's reasonably priced, leaving money in the budget for all the denim vests, and drugs I'm going to have to buy.

Great gig bag. It's the semi-rigid type that falls sort of between a soft and hard case. Extra protection from the rubberised foot, and the neck-lock system. Top loading instead of sideways, to prevent drops.

Slight creasing from storage, but otherwise its pretty much as new - haven't gigged with it.

Collection only in Bristol.

On hold pending funds.

Massively powerful, compact, lightweight. Can do clean modern sounds, or growly overdrive. Second channel is switchable with an independent level, so you can get overdriven sounds at reasonable volume. All the buttons and knobs light up in a pleasing manner.

No cables, paperwork or box I'm afraid, just the head and switch.

Selling because its more amp than I need, and I've downsized my rig.

Collection in Bristol or £10 UK shipping 

Price drop to £80

Fantastic compressor pedal.

Just surplus to requirements at present as I use the built in compressor in my amp.

Collection in Brizzle, or £5 shipped in UK.

No box, paperwork, or power supply. Just the pedal and the velcro on the back. Lol.

Should have said, sorry. No box or paperwork, just what's in the picture.