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Ooh that video looks good, I was looking at one by Scott Whitley? on YouTube which breaks it down but this has some tab as well which is handy.

I think I need to work at creating some time even if it’s just half an hour or so rather than just crash on the sofa. Being on Furlough has allowed me to go and ride my bike which is great because exercise is good for body and mind, but I still need to commit to other activities and create some space to do that as well. Keeping myself in tact....that is a great way of putting it. I do feel like I am just ‘dad’ these days, but good to know a balance can be achieved.

I love scary pockets, and Pomplamoose which is also a Jack Conte project. I just googled him and he is the CEO and co-founder of Patreon...very cool. Great covers, I would love to be in a cover band like that, incredible!

Don’t say that, I was the finger excuse to cover for my ineptitude 😂

It’s not unusual, but I really Wanted to learn Mandolin. Two of my friends have them and I tried playing a little and it’s basically a physical impossibility because my fingers are so fat 😄

After everyone’s responses I have actually been feeling a little more inspired and have been listening to a lot more music which has stoked the fires a little. Watching the whole Vulfpeck Madison Square Garden concert was really uplifting. I haven’t got the bass out for a proper play yet as we have been spending some time with wider family since things eased off, but I have started pulling my list of songs together. I am sure loads more will come to me but it’s a start. Most of these are obvious choices and achievable in my view. I’m not putting any Jaco on my list anytime soon: Rhythm Stick The Birdwatcher The Speedwalker Sir Duke Who did you think I was Might try and get the bass out tonight after the kids are tucked up.

Another big fan of Designacable here, great service every time, quick turnaround and loads of colour options which is great. It’s amazing how my cables stopped going missing and being ‘borrowed’ when they were bright red or green!

Times have well and truly changed in terms of more expensive equates to sounding better. One of my closest friends does heaps of writing and recording and has been on quite a few big budget film scores in the past few years, he uses Harley Benton basses and guitars for a lot of his work because they sound great. They may not feel as good in the hand and have a few rough edges compared to a £1500+ Fender but for him it’s all about the sound. I have owned some custom built instruments and some really cheap basses over the years, and I enjoyed getting a good tone from a cheap bass and in a pub/marquee/hall I would challenge anyone to pick an expensive bass over a £100 Harley Benton of the same style.

Hi gang, To be honest I think you are all right to a certain extent and I think it’s a combination of factors. When my first child arrived I still found time to play and gig and my wife encouraged me to play and I did. The bands I was playing in were good but due to everyone else all having kids and other commitments and moving, a couple just packed up fairly organically. Since then I have done some dep gigs but whenever anyone has asked me to get involved I either couldn’t commit fully to their schedule or I just couldn’t face playing what songs were on the set list. I think I have struggled with motivation for a lot of things over the past year, and use up what energy and enthusiasm I have on the kids and family. When they are in bed, I eat dinner, chat to my wife whilst a bad film is on in the background and then it’s bed in preparation for work and childcare which starts about 6am Some of it is just time and space, as I don’t have room to have guitars out anymore and my office/spare room is full of stuff like ubit said. Some of it however is just a general lack of energy for anything but the basics and I don’t know if that’s normal for someone with kids or whether there are some underlying issues I need to try and tackle. I have friends who still make time for their hobbies at weekends and dip in and out of family time as they please. I don’t judge, it’s their life and it must work for their families, but I struggle to justify taking many hours out of a weekend to do my own thing and leave my wife with the monsters 😄. I guess some of it is feeling a bit lost without music as I used to know it, i.e gigging and going out, but I need to experiment with getting that musical gratification in other ways.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply, I would love to reply to every single response because you took the time, but I will be here for hours if I do. I have found the whole thing very uplifting but more on that in a minute. I should have said that I have two young kids, a 3 year old and an 8 month old, and a year ago I started a much more taxing job than I had done previously. As a by-product of these things I started to scale back my playing because with my wife working unpredictable shifts with the NHS, I was not reliable enough to commit to regular rehearsals or gigs and didnt want to be ‘that guy’ that lets people down. In all honesty I already had feelings of not wanting to play with the band I had been with, so all these things gave me a good excuse. My Bass is great, plays amazing and I do love stingrays (this is my third) but I bought it as it was a good price and all I had to spend rather than being blown away by the finish etc and ‘having to have it’ if you get what I mean? I think everyone is right, a new bass may help in the short term but there are other issues. I should mention I only own this and an old squier 5 string jazz but rarely play that, and I haven’t bought a new bass in nearly 4 years which is why I pondered a change. I do have acoustic guitars as well, but like bass they have barely been touched despite being given a nice Martin by a family member. I am going to take all the suggestions on board about trying new genres, setting some goals and personal challenges. I have played the same material is so many bands for so long, but whilst I was out walking today I started to compile a mental list of songs I would just like to be able to play and I will work on from there. My mental state is not that sound at the moment like so many others. I have been on furlough since April and have struggled with just being at home with the kids 24/7. Thankfully listening to music still has the power to lift me out of darker periods and days so I take some comfort in that. I do struggle to find pleasure/enjoyment out of situations at the moment and even just re-reading my post and your comments has made me realise that, and I will need to start addressing some of that. Playing Bass was my identity for so long and it was all about playing live and the ‘buzz’ rather than anything else. I never quite got the satisfaction from playing at home but I do like a challenge, so I am going to compile my list and try and get a buzz in a different way. So just a thanks to everyone, combined with the replies here and a lovely walk in the sun, I feel happier and inspired enough to pull the bass out for a clean at least and see how we get on. Your a good bunch!

I have barely played bass for the past couple of years apart from an odd few rehearsals and maybe 2 gigs. I never really play at home as I know the set for the band well enough to go straight to practice and new songs usually only take minutes to figure out. It makes me a little sad that I don’t want to play, I have no interest or time to join or form bands but I could easily be productive in some way at home but I just don’t want to pick up my bass. I have had basses in the past that I just couldn’t put down, they just needed to be played but I haven’t felt like that about my past few instruments. They are good basses and my current one is superb (2001 MusicMan Stingray) but it just doesn’t make me go ‘wow what an instrument’. I wonder whether this is just my mental state and general attitude to music or whether going hunting for a different bass will make me want to play and inspire me. So has anyone been pulled out of a slump by a great bass or am I deluding myself?

There is/was a TMB500, good luck finding one though...

Should have noted that the dedicated bass instrument type mics are almost always used and mixed in with a DI from an amp or good preamp and not used alone. Seeing as you said you had a host of kit I assumed you would be doing that anyway. They are good for capturing those great lows and supercardioid are also good for blocking out other noise if you aren’t in a treated room.

If you just want something basic and effective then there’s the good old SM57. Personally I have never really liked them or SM58’s but I am in the minority. I have had the best results using more bass orientated mics, have a look at the Sennheiser e602 it the Sure Beta 52a or other more bass specific mic.

I don’t know the cab at all, but there will be a way to access it from the front or back somehow. Never heard of a horn/tweeter being glued in place so I’m surprised the screws didn’t release it, pictures might help. Regarding replacing horns/tweeters, I had a tweeter go in an Aguilar cab and thought I would need a whole new unit which would have been a big chunk of money. It turned out it was just a broken diaphragm in the tweeter which was a couple of pounds to replace but you just need to find out some info on the unit.

Easiest way to check what size you need is to just take the machine head off and measure the hole and diameter of the existing post. I have had licensed Hipshots on basses and they are great tuners, I wouldn’t worry about getting full USA unless there is minimal difference in price or you think you will have any regrets about putting ‘the best’ on the bass. I seem to remember bass direct sell Hipshot and I am sure I have seen sets of the licensed tuners on there too.

Cheers everyone, I won’t be gigging that much and mostly playing at home and the odd practice. The line in and headphone was appealing as well as the overall aesthetic. I have a 4ohm Aguilar cab which will pull the most out of it. I read about the noisy fan which could be an issue if I’m just playing at home but I have had some noisy amps before and it was never much of a concern. I might keep an eye out for a secondhand one as it’s less of a hit if it’s not right for me.

That’s the thing, I am only really interested because it looks good. Admittedly I don’t really gig and need much power if I do, so I am hoping my logic kicks in and beats my gut reaction of ‘that looks class’.

As the title says really, I am just wondering if any of you good folks have used or own one and what are your opinions? I did a search but just seemed to come up with sale threads. I keep seeing them being used in studios and on YouTube vids of bands I like but interested to get some real world thoughts. cheers!

I watched them all recently, I loved it at the time as I was about 16 I think and just starting in bands and writing songs. I was aware of Guy at the time but didn’t know the connection until his book came out. I remember being obsessed with his playing on Pink Floyds live album Pulse. I saw him do stand up a couple of years ago and he is a true story teller, so easy to listen to and very entertaining. I just want another book now.

Oh dear lord, I want one of these so bad...😫

I have owned some expensive boutique basses and played quite a few more, but the most pleasure and fun I have had playing a bass has been when I had a fiesta red classic vibe and a vintage modified precision V. No they aren’t perfect but I never smiled so much getting such a brilliant sound and experience out of such cheap basses. next on my list is a Sire V7

I’m with you, I have a 2001 and as soon as the battery starts going I get very farty distorted sounds coming out and the volume drops. I think after the early 90s they all moved over to having plastic battery boxes apart from the Classic series.

I can’t do it personally, but a friend of mine has the ability to strip out everything apart from bare essentials from his life when he needs to save. No money is spent of coffees, lunch, snacks etc and when he goes food shopping it’s real basics, but always healthy stuff, I’m not saying go and eat super noodles for six months. It’s amazing how much you can save by cutting out the coffees etc and getting rid of things like Sky TV, Netflix etc. Saying that, as deepbass5 says, I am always far more impressed by good players on cheap gear, a superb bass isn’t going to do nearly as much for playing as you think.