mike257

Another Wizard fan with a Squier P/J here - got a Thumper and an 84 in mine. To be honest the J doesn't really do it for me, although that's more my preference and no criticism of the pickup at all. I use the P pickup pretty much exclusively and it holds its own against other (much more expensive) basses. Andy's service is excellent too - he tweaked my 84 to be a better match for the Thumper and for the tone I was after rather than just throwing a stock set in the post. Top bloke.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1330103595' post='1552888'] I agree with the hangers being an issue but what about one of the large stands you can get for multiple instruments. One per room, too big to get knicked and very useful for a small outlay [/quote] Don't know about too big to get nicked - mine folds flat in seconds. Get them, but screw the buggers down!!

Apparently on the last Foo Fighters album (and subsequent tours) Pat Smear played a baritone for most of the songs - explains the super-chunky rhythm sounds they've got going on. Never had my hands on one, not sure I'd know where to start fitting it in to arrangements between the regular guitar and bass, would have some fun finding out though!

I was going to chime in with an unneccesary dose of opinion but I'm now too busy wetting myself laughing. As always, excellent work Skank!

I'll join the love in - traded a Stingray for a redburst California JM4 on here a few years ago, its a stunning instrument. Plays like an absolutely dream and is just so versatile, I've never had to fight to get a good tone from it in any situation. I've heard people say they are more modern sounding and can't nail 'vintage' tones, but with flats and the neck pickup I get beautiful Motown thump forom it. Rounds and both pickups I can get a great growling Jazz/Stingray hybrid tone for rock stuff. It's my swiss army knife bass! I'd have another one in a heartbeat, every time a PM pops up for sale here I get severe GAS pains.

I was shopping for one for my guitar board and ended up grabbing a George Dennis 'Wizard Rock' volume/distortion pedal for under £20 on eBay. They seem to be discontinued, but one shop in the states had them listed at $200 brand new! It's an optical volume pedal, so no pot to wear out and get noisy, and it's active so can be placed anywhere in your signal chain with no worries about impedance etc - doesn't have any added gain, just allows you to cut. They do a full range of effects (Wah, mod effects, a few drive effects) built on the same optical volume pedal chassis - you can quite easily ignore whatever effect is on board and use it purely for volume control if that's all you need, the way the switch is fitted you would have a hard time accidentally engaging it. Well worth grabbing if you see one at a good price, much better than the cheap plastic volume pedals floating around ebay. EDIT: Just seen this one: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/George-Dennis-Wah-Volume-Pedal-/160743023548?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item256d07e3bc"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/George-Dennis-Wah-Volume-Pedal-/160743023548?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item256d07e3bc[/url]

In the past when I'd used (battered and abused) Ashdown in house backline at a local venue I'd really never got on with it. I ended up using another bassists whole setup when I depped for his band (one of my bandmates had absconded with our lockup key for the weekend!) and it completely changed my opinion. It was an ABM900 with an 810, had to use his Fender Jazz too, and it was one of the absolute best bass tones I've ever had. Really growled and cut through nicely without overpowering the guitars. I loved it!

Really sorry to hear this mate, it was clear how much passion you had for this band. Might not feel great now, but these situations often lead to new opportunities, and like you say you've had a lot of positive growth and learning as a muso from it so its by no means been time wasted. Don't take too much time out, and don't shy away from leaning on contacts you've made whilst in this band to get word out that you're available - sooner or later, the right thing will come up for you. Good luck!

Yeah, the California JM is a belter, mine is a definite keeper! You'll fall in love with it if you get your hands on one.

[quote name='SidVicious1978' timestamp='1328991953' post='1535864'] is that the modded-p of doom [/quote] It is! I couldn't ever part with it, we've been through too many battles together!

Great stuff! I've had no hands on with the RME stuff but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

I couldn't part with mine - a late 90's Squier Affinity P-Special - I'd have less attachment if it sucked, but its actually a lovely player. It's been pimped out with new electrics and hardware and still gets the odd gig from time to time. I would definitely miss it if it went.

I'll chime in with consensus on the pan pots - hard left/right to assign to groups, and the group pans (and everything else) generally stay in the middle. Too many variables in your typical small club for stereo to work effectively.

Four mixes is pretty luxurious really! I've always been happy if I can hear the kick, snare and myself, anything beyond that is a bonus. Guess it might be different if you're dropping in for a dep/session and aren't used to the songs, but in originals band I've played with we've always worked out the kinks in the practice room so that we can get by with minimal/crappy foldback. I think Lozz has it right on the money in terms of monitor priority. Maybe things could be helped along by the keyboard player buying himself an amp/powered wedge for his own 'backline'.

Of course, plenty of guitarists share your point of view, and I've seen a good few Les Paul style guitars where the owner has whipped out everything except one volume pot and wired it all through that - could always give it a go!

I've used one pickup backed off to switch from dirty to clean (well, to 'a bit less dirty'!) on a single channel amp. A lot of overdrive/distortion boxes for guitar will also clean up nicely and give a range of useable tones with adjustment to the volume knob, so it's worth having that versatility. Of course, you can just put everything on 11 and forget about it, that works just fine too!

I've used Screen King (screenking.co.uk) in Prescot, they're 15 minutes out of Liverpool and pretty good price-wise. I've still got stuff left over from about 6 years ago and the print is as good as new!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1328618565' post='1530006'] The recent Dick Venom & The Terrortones set list: RockinRollin' VampireMan StickyPants Trance Attack Of The 50ft Frankenbride One Eyed Jesus Cadillac Twist Lilly & The Killers Love Me Tendons, Love Me Goo Astrotrash From Alkatraz Invassion Of The Spider Queen Test Tube Floozy Goo Get f***ed Up Good [/quote] You win. Best song titles ever!

PM coming your way!

Haha, the shipping takes the shine off a little bit! Makes it closer to £30 than £20 for each pedal - I've got three in my basket (Crunch Distortion, Tremolo, Delay) and with the 5% off and the shipping it's coming out at £78. I can save a couple of quid if I go airmail instead of express delivery, but for the save of £2.50 I'd rather just get them! Still cheaper than UK prices, I'm just gonna have a scout on eBay before I push the button.

Website is looking great, and the gear list makes me want to cry. Keep up the good work!

Just a quick heads up - I'm doing some pedal shopping and just had a look on Yoosmart.com, and it looks like they've cut the price on the Joyo stuff (might be clearing them for the new range?). They're all £20 give or take a few pence, and seeing as I'm already loving the Ultimate Drive think I'm going to grab a couple more! Apparently if you stick 'yoosmartpromotion' in the coupon code you get another 5% off too. I've been scouring eBay for cheap pedals all week but I might just go clean them out instead!

Saw Bon Iver last year with an epic 9-piece instrument swapping band, and although there was some bass guitar in a few songs, the majority of the basslines came from a bass (not baritone, he reminded us) sax, which had an awesome, dirty raspy sound to it and really punched you in the guts. Thought that was a good'un.

There's a few tutorials online if you google about for it. I had a look a few weeks back as I've got a custom made 2x10 thats carpet covered with an ugly metal grill, and I was thinking of giving it tolex and a sliver grill cloth to smarten it up. The videos make it look easy, but I think the trick is in the measuring/cutting. You can get away with a lot more if you're putting corner protectors on, but if you want the corners left natural then the folding/cutting has to be a bit cleverer to cover the joins. Here's a vid of a guy doing a snazzy job on a Peavey 5150 with white tolex, should give you an idea of how tricky it is. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k7rDs4F4qs[/media]