Cat Burrito

Wear what you are comfortable wearing. Whether it is an over the top Kiss style outfit or jeans and a tshirt, you shouldn't be too focused on this. Have a look at what similar bands wear and see what you would be happy with.

Seems completely legit to me.

[b]Best purchase:[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] a secondhand ruby red 4003s Rickenbacker.[/font][/color] [b]Runner up[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]: D'addario roundwound strings. After years of flats, it's good to be back.[/font][/color] [b]Best value purchase[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]: a dirt cheap no brand red clip on tuner that appears to be able to read the E string on my upright bass,[/font][/color] [b]Worst purchase[/b][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]: I'm much more selective with GAS attacks so I can't think of one.[/font][/color]

I had a Japanese Fender Jazz in the 90s and it was stunning, as indeed is every CIJ / MIJ Fender I have ever owned. I wouldn't say that is a bargain but it isn't priced out of the market either.

They appear to have lost the, ahem, improvements from the 2015 model. That looks great to me.

If I dep or have a last minute song thrown at me I sometimes write a few chords or prompts on a blank postcard and stick it by the set list. I must confess the writing has gotten bigger in recent years but it tends to be things like middle eights or where the key change comes in as opposed to writing each note out.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1509135904' post='3396996']Have to say it was originally mine. Always wondered what happened to it.[/quote] That is so cool

I have 5 pickguards for my P-bass and I just switch them about. It really helps reduce GAS / future potential impulse purchases.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1509013267' post='3395983']Tim if you have an issue like this again, drop me a PM via BC or FB. I have a good stock of spares in my bits box, which has been running since 1978, so there would be a fair chance of me having a suitable part. Also comes with tea/coffee, chocolate biscuits, and the opportunity to try out kit![/quote] Thanks Graeme - that's decent of you.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1508939180' post='3395504']Best customer service I've ever had was from SKB Cases. I bought a 6U case secondhand and needed some more of their weird cage nuts but didn't know where to get them. So I emailed them in Orange County USA and explained the situation, and asked if they had a UK distributor I could approach. Back came a reply, "ah yes they can be a bit hard to come by, give me your address and I'll pop a pack in the post FOC". 72 hours later they were on my doormat. Didn't cost me a bean.[/quote] I read a lot of stories like this on here & I would have thought for a nut from a product released only a couple of years back that Ampeg could have stepped up a bit more..... However, they didn't [b]but[/b] Polar Audio had the part on my doorstep within 24hrs so all is resolved. I think Ampeg give a bronze / silver service when many of the examples here are more gold or platinum. Thankfully for Ampeg I really like the product, which I guess is the more important bit.

We appear to have two threads running so can I direct everyone to the original thread? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/314090-rip-fats-domino/page__fromsearch__1"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/314090-rip-fats-domino/page__fromsearch__1[/url]

There is also a classic 50s Japanese Fender P-bass. It was my first bass and I have another one as I re-bought it a couple of years back. The MIM classic would be my thoughts too, unless you are lucky enough to find a CIJ / MIJ model.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1508922408' post='3395304']Might be imperial rather than metric size[/quote] I suspect this is almost certainly the case but with two failed attempts, I decided to tow the line and do it properly. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1508923330' post='3395314']It might be worth posting this on Ampeg's and Polar Audio's (UK Distributor) Facebook pages.[/quote] I did tag Ampeg on Twitter when the vastly more irritating head not fitting in the cab occurred a couple of years back. However they ignored it. To be fair this probably heightened my annoyance over the nut part. And to Polar Audio's credit, they dropped the postage right down so it's now just over £8 all in. I've been quite impressed with them.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1508921275' post='3395289']If it's just a nut, can you find out it's dimensions and buy a generic?[/quote] That's what I did (twice) so I don't quite what special measurements they use.One slipped over but wouldn't tighten. As a plus, the "whole jack assembly unit" is actually under £13 with delivery, so whilst a lot for the nut, not the end of the world.

On tour recently the jack input nut on my Ampeg PF50t head worked its way loose and is now MIA. I tried buying two different replacements on EBay, neither quite fits. So I email Ampeg and they say I have to buy an entire jack input to replace a nut that must cost pennies (or cents!). They did at least provide a UK stockist I can order from but it's a far cry from popping a nut in an envelope as a good will gesture. When they originally issued the PF50t head a couple of years back it was advertised as fitting inside any Ampeg Portaflex cab, I found out this meant any PF cab not made within the first few months of manufacture (something they try to play down!), so wound up selling mine to buy an identical new one. As it happened I got a great resale on my old cab and lost little (plus I made a friend selling the cab). Still, what a major faff! I love Ampeg, I've been a fan for years but they don't make it easy to love the brand sometimes. Come on Ampeg, you are better than this!

[quote name='Hellzero' timestamp='1508660830' post='3393544']I tried a friend's 2015 Thunderbird (new price is close to £2500 GBP !) last week and it's simply a piece of sh*t, really the worst instrument ever made : impossible to play as it's neck diving all the time and absolutely muddy sound, lacking so much definition.[/quote] What difference a year makes then. My 2014 has no neck dive, is wonderful to play and cost £1100 brand new - it'd been sitting around the shop so they kept lowering the price. Granted it is bassy but with a tweak on the amp it sounds fantastic.

I guess I have always included any live performance I have done as a gig so I lean towards the majority view expressed thus far. I also agree that it doesn't really matter. The gold star is obviously getting paid to play to an audience but jams in front of friends or open mic are all great fun / experience.

I think it depends how they get treated. I keep mine in a gig bag but last night we had a guest from the audience get up to play harmonica - he pulled the mic off the stand and I noticed afterwards the clips had sprung, flying across the stage, No great drama but that wouldn't have happened if I was the only one using it. I think I paid less than £20 for mine and I've been using it regularly for over a year with no issues.

Flying V. I wanted to look like a rock god but looked more like a midlife crisis. I've had other short scale basses that have been fine but this one felt like a toy.

I'm another D'addarios convert. I hadn't really thought about whether they were popular or not, I just like them. (edited due to post not displaying correctly since we moved server?!!)

A halfway decent stereo and tuning up every time you play makes picking out basslines much, much easier. I don't recall anyone saying this, just something I worked out myself.

Played a wedding with an old band I'd previously left... It was a small half full pub but a fair few were up dancing & I even took my first live lead vocal in 28yrs of gigging. The band was better than I remembered (thankfully the drummer now practices) and I enjoyed the show.

School assembly hall in the Sixth form Christmas pantomine (and it's not going to get better!)... I was 16, playing my trusty Squier through a Peavey. My boot strap broke just before we went on and I did it barefoot which proved to be something of a talking point (Graham Nash never got the gossiping I had). We were terrible. We played a goth classic "Bela Legosi's Dead". Badly. However we were invited back to play again 9 months later when we murdered Dolly Parton's Jolene and resulted in all the girls in the years below fancying us for the couple of weeks until the bigger boys won a rugby match for the school.

On those older songs, you can really help things by putting a bit of foam under the strings by the bridge to kill any sustain and give you a really old school tone. Flats would be my default for that early rock n roll sound. The gauge is subject to whatever you are used to. I used to think heavier the better but I've just gone to a light gauge and proved it's the player, not the string. It really isn't *that* important which gauge.

I think a lot of the pioneers of early rock n roll guitarists - Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Scotty Moore - are passed over for the 60s guitar heroes, when actually they were the ones who really helped shape things.