Muzz

I wouldn't want most of them back, none of the Precisions (couple of 70s and an 80s - in those days I didn't care what year they were) and definitely not the Jetglo 4001, oddly the only one I'd have back would be the B&W Aria ZZB Custom I flogged off for bugger all in the late 80s...

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1441531904' post='2859479'] Very apply named. Assume he doesn't play like that all the time..?? [/quote] As a mate of Nige's, I have to say that's a parlour piece which sells a lot of strings (he works for Rotosound), and he's a great player fingerstyle or, earlier this year, on a G&L 2000 with a pick on tour with Dare. Without Brian C this time...

We always pack down and will remove (where possible - if it's a very tight access venue we'll wait (within reason) until the crowd thins) what's not required - sometimes we'll be DJ-ing after the gig so lights and PA stay up, if it's a separate DJ then everything gets packed up. The punters are pissed, up and dancing. They don't care, and we've never had anyone say anything different.

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:148286] Here's my seriously modded T-Bird - a bit more extensive than maybe you were considering, but there's a few things to consider. If you like the old-school vibe, the chrome pickup covers and rings are a cheap option - underneath those on mine are two Dingwall pickups, and they'll fit quite a few pickups. The Supertone bridge is, I think, a cracker, though I'd still consider a two-part bridge if one came up. The through-body thing I think wouldn't be worth the compromise in string choice, unless you can really, really hear the difference... Tuners on mine are Ultralights, but as it's a Lakland neck, it doesn't really apply in your case...ditto the John East U-Retro, too, I'd guess...

Thanks for that - this might have been asked before, but is there a HPF set, and if so, at what frequency?

Yeah, I went through a few... two Mesas, two Ashdowns, three MBs (including an F1), a TC, a GK, even another Tech21... I'm gassing like mad for the VT500, but it'll have to be good to shift the Streamliner, where all the others have failed...

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1440060017' post='2847870'] I could never use a MB head without another preamp in front of it. Not now. I used to and always felt it lacked something. Then i got a BDDI (well, started with a BDI21) and never looked back. I find something like these just brings the head to life. I keep most of the EQ pretty flat but being able ot add a bit of warmth and depth really helps with the MB heads (IME & IMO). I always just go Bass- wireless- BDDI/Darkglass etc - amp. Never had an issue with the input stage, and ive never used the FX loop. Being able to cut out a few leads and the pedal really appeals to me. [/quote] Now this, pretty much word for word, is why I set off looking for a head which could do the 'BDDI and LMIII' thing in one unit. After a lot of faffing about that was also a lot of fun, I ended up with the Streamliner. I have a cunning plan in the offing which involves my secondary MB 2 x 15" stack and swapping the LM out for the VT500 in the combo...bwahahahaaaaaakoffkoffkoffff...

Yep, me too - verrrrry tempted by this...

On the other hand, if someone said "Your playing tonight, mate: you were...busy" I'd suspect they weren't very impressed...

Yup, that's what I'd aspire to - I got a "tight" from a punter (admittedly a guitarist, but hey, I'll talk to anyone after a gig... ) last Friday, and that'll do, too...

I've a had a steadily mounting regret after selling my 1515L, tho I'd be interested to know how these newer generation of cabs sound compared to the original angled series. Anyone had an direct experience of both generations?

Yeah, a Sunday would work better for me, too...

All good if your setlist doesn't require you to chop and change...horses for courses. I think a lot of people like a mid-scooped solo sound, and that can go walkies in some band setups, which is where the OP was coming from...

'Banter': Yeah, I'd used it carefully with the 'a level of', because it's a sliding scale from affectionate ribbing to pointed barbs, but it can be a good thing. I think what you have seen, Rob, is bullying being passed off as something else.

It depends on what sort of sound you like to hear soloed, but for me, it can be pretty different, depending on the song and the arrangement. We use keys for some songs, we use two loud guitars for others, we use mandolin and acoustic for others, and the same bass sound won't cut it for them all. I even change the basic sound (I'm not including pedals here, which I don't use, because that's a whole different and interesting kettle of fish) between verse and chorus in some songs - Don't Stop Believing, for example, needs some honky mids for the signature, erm, honk in the choruses, but less in the verses. I have superb active EQ (East U-Retro) on all my basses, so I can do this from the bass without touching the amp. Sure, I could get away with one sound, but in my main band we'd expect the guitarist to have several different sounds for different songs, ditto the keyboards, and I don't consider myself a special case.

I'd say it's very healthy to have a level of banter in any group, it's a bonding thing, but only the OP can decide whether this is becoming personally abusive and effectively bullying. From the posts, it certainly sounds like it, and it's not a level of sneering I'd put up with without, shall we say, a robust response. It's an enduring meme to consider the bassist to be a lesser contributor, after all it's (usually) only four strings, how hard can it be, etc, but I've never suspected that anyone I've been in a band with has considered my musical contribution to be any less important than theirs. Maybe I just hang out with good musicians. The desire to put someone else down is usually fuelled by an insecurity, which says more about the bully than the bullied.

+1 to all the above. Complete sense spoken on a Basschat thread -this could be a first

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1439551166' post='2843792'] Our main guitar amp at the time was a Linear Concord, a whole 30 watts. My brother used an enormous old (even then...) valve tape recorder as an overdrive; it was 3 times the size (and weight..!) of the amp. Our 2nd guitar, John Mac, wanted disto too so, not to be outdone, he brought along a whole stereo radiogram, as big as a sideboard. We did very few gigs with that formation, but the sounds were excellent, to our inexperienced (and poor..!) ears. Reggae became known, and we wanted to record something in that idiom. We finally nailed the bass drum sound we were looking for by shoving a giant stuffed ladybird into a plastic bucket, and whacking it with the flat of a wooden spoon. Happy daze. [/quote] Please tell me he'd left the table lamp and onyx ashtray on it, too...makes Geddy's stage rig look amateurish...

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1439533855' post='2843571'] Ditto. Except in my case the badge would either be the wrong colour or the wrong shape. Or something like that... [/quote] Or it would just be too heavy...

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1439416171' post='2842783'] You've encompassed pretty much everything I own with that list [/quote] That's OK, I'll bet my mixing silver and gold hardware on my Fenderbird would bring you out in a rash...

If you're putting 500w into a decent 410, you should be getting some serious sound levels output - I never had any issues with a 2-guitar/keys band with a LMIII and the 410HR. Have you had a play with your EQ? If you're not 'cutting it', then mids are your friend in a band context - there's often a difference between a pleasant sound solo'd (usually mid-scooped) and one which works with the band. I'd start by setting the LMIII flat (that's VLE and VPF off, not at 12), and adding or subtracting from there. I'd suggest tilting the cab up to point at your head, but with a 410 that's gonna be a bit of a job. Or perhaps you could get the band to play a bit less loudly? If you're finding your 500w 410 rig isn't loud enough, I really hope you're protecting your hearing from everything else.

Yep, got mine from an EBay seller in the UK, they were around that money.

OK, I've used these Elixirs (Stainless, Light/Medium 45-105s) for a few weeks now, through plenty of gigs and a few rehearsals, so I feel I can comment properly. Firstly, the environment: they've been on my Shuker, which is by far my preferred bass - walnut body, maple neck, brass nut and has two split-coil pickups and a John East U-Retro. I play in a function band, an originals band and a Very Metal pub band, so the spread of of songs and tones required is pretty wide, from Johnny Cash to Luther Vandross to Guns and Roses to Bruno Mars to Metallica to Paul Simon to Stevie Wonder to Sabbath to The Dubliners to...well, you get the picture. I play pick and fingers, with some slap when I have to, but I'd say 80% pick. I use a Jim Dunlop .88 Nylon pick. The strings replaced a set of DR Stainless Lo-Riders, but I've also used D'Addario XL Stainless and even Ernie Ball Stainless Hybrids on this bass, all the same 45-105 gauge. Tension - I like a higher tension string, and though they're not as high tension as the D'Addarios, they're not far off the DRs, and a nice compromise without being overly high. Feel - I've used coated strings before (DRs, Warwick EMP and earlier Elixirs) and never really liked the too-slick, almost-slimy feel of the low-friction coatings: just too much. Again, though, these new Elixirs seem to have addressed this: the coating is definitely there - you notice the lack of string noise when moving along the strings, but they don't feel slippy in a bad way. Tone - All a bit personal and relative, but I'm really liking them on this bass. They don't have the hissy end of extreme zing that new stainless roundwounds have (at least for the first few days/weeks), but they have a more musical top end which, importantly, stays with them. They have a piano tone (on this bass) with smooth mids and a firm bottom end, which doesn't flab out. There's no noticeable 'bedding in' period - they still sound today (see Durability below) pretty much exactly the same as they did when they went on. Durability - When I've used coated strings before (again, the DRs, Warwicks and earlier Elixirs) the coating hasn't lasted long before it's started to wear off, especially at the bridge end under the pick, and once it started to go, it frayed very quickly, even to the point of looking like Spanish moss hanging off the strings. It also wore down over the frets, especially down in the first position. This was more noticable with the coloured coated strings, but it was there with all of them. The new Elixirs have lasted through eight hot, sweaty gigs (2 x 1hr sets) plus three four-hour rehearsals, and I'd say 30 hours bedroom practice/learning, so that'd be pushing 60 hours of playing, without any signs of the coating wearing at all - and I've had a good close look. I honestly didn't expect them to last this long without wear - I don't exactly baby the bass: I have a pretty heavy touch. String Length - The only downside I've found with them is I would've loved to try them on my Dingwall, but unlike the D'Addarios or DRs, they reduce in diameter pretty quickly beyond the 35" mark, so I can't get them on my Dingwall because by the time the E and A get over the nut, they're down two steps in the winding, which will make them far too low in the nut. They don't make another scale length in them, either, so I'd imagine (tho I haven't checked) if you were using a through-body stringing setup, you'd be in the same position. Something to bear in mind. They don't have silk windings, which is a big plus for me, as I've had bridge issues with silks and had to trim them back too many times before now. So, to sum up - they're an expensive option, that's obvious: pretty much twice the price of some of the non-coated strings they're replacing - but I'm now sure they'll last far more than twice the time, and, more importantly, the tone they'll produce will be far more consistent over that time, rather then the decay in brightness which is normal with stainless rounds. And that's speaking as a pick player: I'm sure finger players will get even more out of them, as they'll probably get an easier life. If you've never tried coated strings, or even if you've tried them before and been put off, like I was, by the too-slick feel and visible wear, I'd say give these a try - they're a great string, and you might well like them, and even save some money in the long term.

Yep, I can single out individual features and whole basses - every single one of my list is a deal-breaker. It's probably a condition, I could get a parking badge or something...

Not them, but I've had a few Mightymite necks, and they've generally been very good - one of them needed a bit of a fret dress (the fret ends), but otherwise great for the money.