thodrik

I agree. In terms of production I think that Load and Reload are the best Metallica albums. Really should be one album though. Neither of them are Metal albums, but rather a mix of 90s alt-rock and 70s classic rock. Sometimes it works brilliantly and sometimes it is pretty derivative.

Like I listen to it every 18 months just to check that I wasn’t missing something that the 9/10 2003 Metal Hammer review and 4/5 Kerrang reviews heard. I still can’t find much to like or even tolerate. However, I do actually like Load and bits of Reload more than most.

if I am being honest, I expected much worse. Not so much Hit the Lights but reassuringly nudge and Reload the lights. Bass is buried in the mix but to be honest it is kinda there just about. Drums overpower everything else. Kinda forgettable and lacks that ‘so disastrously bad it requires repeated listens’ quality that St Anger had.

I will need to watch the video. Generally I really like the Andertons videos, though the guitar ones more than the bass. I think that the videos are pitched at consumers who might not be aware of the intricate details of manufacturers and spec, so there isn't the same level of assumed knowledge that you get at watching something like the Peach Guitars Youtube page (which admittedly doesn't really feature bass content) or the BassTheWorld Youtube page. I find that the the Warwick and Spector demoes consist mainly of ten minutes of 'Cor blimey, these look a bit special!' chat. In terms of shape, I don't love the Streamette shape but I do like the pickup configuration. Not for £3.5k though.

I have a Trace Elliot V6 and the main cab is a Mesa Powerhouse 6x10. How do I run the master volume? Very carefully. Seriously, I run gain at or around 12 noon or less (depending on output of the bass) and the master to taste/decency. The amp is a clean machine and there is no real preamp tube grit in the traditional sense and power tube saturation only happens at a volume level that borders on inhumane, so the old 'run master on full and gain to taste' SVT trick to get more clean headroom is essentially redundant. As it is the master never really goes above about 10 o'clock. With a smaller cab I would probably run the master higher, that is about it.

Looking at the 'People who also viewed this item' led me to this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175482894477?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D243356%26meid%3Da307fdd531e443d08998d681112d359d%26pid%3D101224%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D325410992171%26itm%3D175482894477%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebV9BertRefreshRanker%26brand%3DFender&_trksid=p2047675.c101224.m-1 Slightly newer, £100 more expensive but in much better condition. Has a jazz pickup fitted but this is a fairly common mod. Heavy lump though at 11lbs but I think I would pick that one instead.

It would be a pass for me. You could get a late 1970s one for about the same price in much better condition. It might sound great, it might be great to play or an absolute dog. Just on looks it would be a no from me though. The pristine whiteness of the pickguard looks out of place with the rest of the bass to me.

When you have an interest in doom metal and have two daughters under the age of 4, it is quite isolating to hear cries of 'not daddy's music!' when I reach for my phone in the vicinity of the bluetooth speaker in the kitchen. However, in my daughters' defence, there are some truly banging My Little Pony tracks.

BBE Two Timer Delay. Got it thrown in for free when I bought a Peavey 6505 guitar combo from a shop in Glasgow. So much fun and opened up a lot of sounds that I never access to. Not all of them good. Never really been into multifx myself, however the Helix stuff is incredibly impressive compared to the old guitar and bass pods. I would certainly consider one as do-it-all guitar and bass rig.

226

Nice! I must check the serious number on my Excess but it is definitely from the same year! Though curiously all of controls on mine are centre dented. Frankly I really like the non-chrome knobs. I also prefer the look of the basses with a pickguard, though mine does not have one. In terms of sounds, to me I have always though that the bass seemed like a hybrid between a dual pickup Musicman, a Rickenbacker and Jazz bass. Definitely not another Fender Jazz clone. Also, agreed that getting intonation right is a bit finnicky. Also I find that the treble control must be used very sparingly. Generally I have never had the Bass control above the centre point and treble is usually just about a quarter turn from 'off'. I find that the coolest sounds are by panning the pickup blend slightly towards the bridge. Having the tone controls not 'boosted' generally helps with the single coil hum and noise. In terms of set up I generally lower the front pickup a bit as when the pickup blend is at the centre point the front pickup can be very overpowering. In terms of the stability of the neck. I have used my bass since 2004 in all kinds of tunings and gauges. Presently strung with Elixirs in drop C (130, 95, 70, 50) with pretty high tension. No issues whatsoever, Quick change of nut and I could have it back in standard tuning with a 100-40 set without any worries. Unless there is a defect (which is highly highly unusual) the necks are incredibly stable. I have an Arpege five string (newer bolt on design) which is a more 'state of the art' design. However, personally I prefer the styling of the Excess models in that they are solid, bomb-proof gigging machines.

True, though that era was full of artists who were considered to be a massive PIA. However, for me Fleetwood Mac can only be appreciated alongside the knowledge of how dysfunctional the band actually were. For me it is part of the charm.

For sure.

It has taken me a while. I have never had lessons on guitar and my main 'teachers' consisted of watching guitarists in my bands over the years. I bought my first guitar at 20 and really only started to take it seriously after I treated myself to a nicer guitar at the age of 31 (I'm now 36). Through 5 plus years of semi-regular practice I have improved from 'woeful' to 'distinctly average'. At this point I can even manage a vaguely cackhanded medium paced pentatonic blues solo in various keys. Loads of guitarists and bassists play without their pinky. Improvement takes time, don't rush it and don't get frustrated. If you are playing for your own enjoyment then just focus on your enjoyment rather than your technical limitations.

I just treat Green era and Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac as completely different bands. I enjoy both. However, I like watching retrospective documentaries on the band more than I do like listening to the music. The infighting, internal affairs, membership changes, mental illnesses, massive drug binges, joining of cults, fallouts, songwriting and royalty clashes and general willingness of members to air dirty laundry in public is fascinating viewing. As a purely technical guitarist however, I consider Buckingham to be one of the more unsung guitar heroes of the 1970s and 1980s. A phenomenal talent and great songwriter.

Or that!

'Can I play with Madness?' by Iron Maidan will always sound like 'Can I play with Magnus?' to me, as if Bruce Dickinson is a 5 year old asking his parents if he can go on a play date. Also, I have heard many a lyric which is so naff that I thought that I must have misheard it when I heard it for the first time. Hearing James Hetfield scream 'I AM THE TABLE' repeatedly in the Metallica and Lou Reed collaboration in The View will live with me forever.

I am sure that the usual bunch of YouTube influencers are preparing their absolutely glowing '100% honest reviews' as we speak.

I won’t dispute that, for me it is part of the charm.

I still have never tried a proper World Tour head. I really enjoyed the Bass Pod Eden sim back in the day. At the right price used I would certainly consider one. In terms of the Marshall DBS amps, I liked them but they never appealed to me and I didn't think that they offered the flexibility of a Trace Elliot, Eden or Mesa or the 'cool factor' of Ampeg. However the VBA 400 was an absolute monster, if they had just downsized it to 200 watts it would have been a brilliant gigging amp.

It’s actually cherry sunburst but it had faded quite a bit over the years. My brother called it ‘rotten fruitburst’

It’s weird but I actually really like it!

Vigier Excess: bought new in 2004. If you like really closely you can see some wear and tear from 18 years of gigging and rehearsals and years of carting the bass around in whatever gig bag I could afford for £30 in taxis, busses etc. Generally I'm not overly precious with instruments either. Two chips. That is pretty much it in terms of cosmetics however I am onto the second nut, second zero fret and second jack socket. I have had my Fender since 1999. It is an S9 series so is probably anywhere from late 1978-1980. The lacquer on the neck has started to flake off, probably from years of sudden temperature changes from being transported in the cold and then brought into warm venues etc. The neck was actually pretty much in mint condition until about 2013-14 and then the peeling started. The actual body is perfectly fine and hasn't got many scratches, chips or dings whatsoever. Scratch plate 'work' was done by the previous owner. I think that is the original scratch plate but cut in two to allow easy access to the jack socket for repairs. However I haven't needed to ever repair the jack socket in 23 years. I thought about getting the neck re-lacquered but I would probably go for a satin refinish rather than nitro. At this point I don't care about devaluing it because I will never sell it and I will never realistically consider late 70s Fenders to be 'valuable' commodities. I just got this because it was significantly cheaper than a 'new' American Standard when I was 13!

I love the V2 as well. I love the mids control boosted at the 1K setting. Really allows that bass to cut through the mix a lot better than the old V1 which I used on and off for about a decade. I thought about getting a Para Driver, however nearly all of my amps have a sweepable mids feature so I didn't need that. I just wanted a little bit of the Sansamp flavour by running the blend at about halfway.

I did but then LED blew as well after 18 months. During the pandemic though I bought a red LED which is still working two years on!