Cat Burrito

I think it depends on the band. I play in a tribute band as well as a few original bands. Normally these things tend to get learnt as they should put the band put subtle little nuances into them... fast forward 12 months down the line and they can sound surprisingly departed from the recording. Normally picked up when somebody leaves and you hold an audition!

The market is full of choice these days. Over the last few years I had a Belcat tweed amp and a Vox Pathfinder which were great but for reasons unknown only lasted a few years each. The tone and volume were most impressive, especially thinking back to the bad old days of the 80s. Now I have the Ampeg BA108 which sounds fantastic but with the addition of both a headphone socket and an input to play either YouTube videos or MP3s, my practice has improved massively.

Love Me Tender by Elvis. I have the music notation tattooed around my arm. Funny story but I was sat on a plane coming back from NYC once and there was a queue down the aisle for the loo. This old lady in the queue was just staring at my tattoos and although normally pretty placid, it got to the point I was about to say something. She then piped up with "Love Me Tender". She'd been reading the notation to work out what the song was!

We finished six dates across the UK. I particularly enjoyed Nuneaton & Stoke but all six were fun. I used my Hofner verythin until the last date. I have a 6am flight to Italy in the morning to start the European leg.

I've yo-yo'd between Ampeg and Orange over the last 10 years. I wouldn't say it's a radical change as they are subtle variations of the same kind of vibes. My two favourite brands, personally.

For any Ric hating going on, all I can say is that I took my 4003s out last night for a Creedence Tribute show and it totally delivered. I just need to get a bezel so I can get shot of that annoying pickup cover!

I thought it had been discontinued but some shops still advertise it. It's here https://www.thomann.de/gb/hoefner_verythin_bass_hct_500_8_dc.htm?sid=229eb2e131eb9e87d589e9bcbc651e34 I don't notice any issue with neck dive but I have a wider strap that tends to grip my shoulder nicely. It really is a wonderful bass. Check out Dan's review here;

I appreciate this is always personal but having recorded extensively I've tried everything from my cab to studio cabs to D.I. My personal favourite now is the Sansamp VT bass pedal into a D.I. Hands down this was my favourite bass sound. They often crop up here or on EBay second hand around £100. Worth checking out.

Definitely. I had the Hofner Verythin bass and always regretted selling it on. I re-bought the long scale version almost 3years ago and it's a keeper. In fact of all my basses it's the one I am taking on tour this month.

Good idea... Possibly this thread 😺

I nearly put this in the Gigs section but as it is a bit more of an event figured it was better housed in General Discussion. Just before Christmas I went up to Camden in the rain and did an audition for what was initially a dep gig. It's kind of grown and I am now doing 2 tours of the UK and going over to Italy, Denmark and Sweden. I appreciate we've all got different tastes but if Glam tinged Power Pop is your thing come and see me at one of the shows. Last Great Dreamers are the band and I have known them through mutual friends since '94 (small world but I gigged with the new drummer back then too). I'll be firing up my new Orange rig and I'm just deciding on which basses to take. It's going to be a lot of fun. Wed 13th February - EDINBURGH Bannermans (w/Enuff Znuff) Thu 14th February - LONDON Lounge666 (w/Enuff Znuff) Fri 15th February - NUNEATON Queens Hall (w/Enuff Znuff) Sat 16th February - BRADFORD Trash (w/Enuff Znuff) Sun 17th February - BUCKLEY Tivoli (w/Enuff Znuff) Mon 18th February - STOKE ON TRENT Eleven (w/Enuff Znuff) Thu 21 February - (TBC) (ITALY) (w/Enuff Znuff) Fri 22nd February - VERCELLI Sonore (ITALY) (w/Enuff Znuff) Sat 23rd February - SAN DONA DI PIAVE Revolver (ITALY) (w/Enuff Znuff) Sun 24th February - BERGAMO UFO (TALY) (w/Enuff Znuff) Wed 27th February - VARBURG Backstage (SWEDEN) (w/Enuff Znuff) Thu 28th February - GOTHENBURG Tregaarden (SWEDEN) (w/Enuff Znuff) Fri 1st March - OSLO Olsen (NORWAY) (w/Enuff Znuff) - TICKETS Fri 15th March - BRADFORD The Underground (w/Electric Boys) Sat 16th March - HRHAOR Festival (Prestatyn, Wales) Sun 17th March - BLACKPOOL Waterloo (w/Electric Boys) Mon 18th March - EDINBURGH Bannermans (w/Electric Boys) Tue 19th March - NEWCASTLE Think Tank (w/Electric Boys) Wed 20th March - LONDON Underworld (w/Electric Boys) Thu 21st March - MILTON KEYNES Crauford Arms (w/Electric Boys) Fri 22nd March - BUCKLEY Tivoli (w/Electric Boys) Thu 18th April - LONDON – Hope & Anchor (Rockaway Beach Club)

As the mighty Derek Smalls said, playing open strings leaves your left hand free to punch the air. Game over!

Collectively they make for one busy band. Individually nothing is that busy (at the moment).

I'm in (to varying degrees) about 5 bands at present and they are all friends. I won't work with people I can't get on with. I don't earn enough for that! I've done it in the past and life is too short.

I'd contact the manufacturer or have a look on their website. Sometimes you can download the brochure that comes with the amp. My Ampeg PF50t is all valve and you can plug it in for recording direct to the desk - it sounds really good like that too.

Sadly not! 😼

For years we've been trying to lose the drummer's girlfriend... any tips much appreciated!?!

Away from my parent's record collection, punk was my first discovery and I played in a few punky bands when I was younger. I think history has been rewritten slightly to imply that all music was poor beforehand and punk was totally fresh - just so long as nobody ever played any 60s Garage bands or the New York Dolls, you could be fooled into believing that! Punk is an attitude and it is still there in so much music. And in business. And in other walks of life. I feel the slightly cartoon-y take on a lot of it today with the identikit bands kind of misses the point. And history should also re-write the Pistols to acknowledge that Glen Matlock was actually way cooler than Sid Vicious.

I picked one up this week. I've reserved posting on it until I can use it in anger but the early indications are very good.

I play in Creedence Clearwater Revival Revial, mostly around Swindon. It was formed as a laugh (the name came from a jokey pub conversation) but we take it really seriously. I probably wouldn't have picked Creedence as my preferred band to do a tribute too but I really enjoyed learning six albums of material and studying those bass parts. It definitely made me a better player, having predominately done 30yrs of originals bands. We have two ex-pro guys in the band too. It sounds nuts but we were actually taken aback when CCR fans started showing up to see us - we really hadn't thought it through! More bizarrely we've had people request for us to do Oasis covers & been told if we want bookings we need to do a few more covers!?!

I think you could get your birth year bass within that price range and still have money left over to have a cool break somewhere. I went to New York for my 40th and looking back a few years later, I find that preferable to a bass I would have probably sold on at some point.

Having owned a PF500 (twice) & an Orange Terror, I think I'd favour the Terror. Neither's wrong but the Orange is louder and would work well in combination with those cabs.