Muzz

If the guitarist is going to need to tune up frequently, he should work on being able to do this in no more than a few seconds. Every guitarist I work with can do this very very quickly (and silently), especially as it's small adjustment tuning. 'Huge gaps' make him (and the rest of you, by extension) look like an amateur with bad gear.

At functions, we generally play a 45 first and then anything up to a 90 minute second set, sometimes longer if it's going mental and we're allowed to. Pubs are much more controlled, there's one we play regularly where we go on at 10pm and play till about 1am, with a 15 minute break in there somewhere, but that's the exception rather than the rule - 2x45 is what's asked (and paid) for most of the time, so that's what we do. Never been asked for a 4 hour set, in 30+ years of playing...must be a US thing.

I occasionally use a 900w, three-valve amp head with just headphones...

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1405886366' post='2506193'] It's in Timperley... might have something to do with the 'bobbins' repair job... you know it is, it really is! I'll get me coat. [/quote] Oh, blimey...

Dunlop Nylon 88s, for about 38 years now...you can get 25 for about a fiver on EBay. They never wear out. Well, I never wear them out. I lose em pretty regularly, tho...

I wouldn't expect to see that on a quality instrument, and I'm surprised it's got through Sandberg's QC I'd certainly be raising it as an issue.

I'm Spartacus! I'm running wired IEM with one of those combo cables from OBBM, which works very well. Switched to it because we had a double-failure of two LD wireless systems on a gig, I ended up IEM-less and suffering with me tinnitus and swore I wouldn't do it again. I use a small headphone mixer/amp on my amp to mix the aux feed from the desk and the feed from my amp, so I can control how much of Me I get in my ears relative to anyone else... I think the whole kit and kaboodle cost in the region of £60-70 (plus IEMs).

I had a M-Pulse 360 (which was loud enough for me) and found the 'solo' feature and para-EQ waaaay over the top, but then I just bypassed it and got on with it Not as 'tubey' as the Walkabout (had one of those, too) but as described above; a very nice warm, clear amp, with a very nice compressor - if my gigging circumstances changed and I was in the (unlikely) mood to lug bigger amps around, I'd have another. Mind you, I preferred my Streamliner to the M-Pulse and the Walkabout, so what do I know?

Loverly. Fantastic bass line, and hynotically good to watch, too...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1405419335' post='2501686'] Yes, I really must try that one of these days. [/quote] It's a shocker the first time it happens ("Is that ME?)...didn't half tighten up my playing...

I used to love mine, and was more than happy to suffer the pain of moving it, and the deafness after gigs - hey, you're indestructible when you're 25...nowadays one would be uttely pointless with my tinnitus as I couldn't really turn it up much, and since I moved to in-ears I wouldn't go back anyway - being able to hear yourself [i]properly [/i]is a new and addictive experience.

Gigging tonight again with my Jamup/iPad front end: versatile and easy. Giving thought to streamlining my setup by rack mounting as much as I can and using just a power amp and cab (or even a powered monitor for stage monitoring. Great articles which got me started down this road: thanks again...

It's taken years to get it down to so few: one fretless, one acoustic, a couple of bitsa 'traditional' types, and three very very nice basses. All modded in one way or another. Actually, I'm pretty sure I've owned everything which would even vaguely suit me (and plenty which haven't), and the ones left are the ones which have won for me. The list of things which have come and gone include basses by Fender, Musicman, Gibson, Overwater, Alembic, Yamaha, Ibanez and lots of others. It took me the majority of the time to work out exactly what I liked and what I didn't. It was fun, though, and actually didn't cost all that much to do, mostly because I've only bought three new basses in my life: one for my 18th, one for my 50th, and one in the middle somewhere (in the 80s).

Without wanting to tempt fate, since I got my second Shuker, I'm pretty much done for basses...they're fantastic.

I was initially startled to see that my first reaction to what'd be in the Top 20 Motown popular hits, Band of Gold by Freda Payne, wasn't on there. I've subsequently discovered that it technically wasn't a Motown record, despite being a Holland-Dozier-Holland song played by Mr Babbitt and the rest of the Funk Brothers...

Interesting to note that the majority couldn't tell maple from rosewood boards - I'd also be interested to know, did anyone/everyone spot their own bass?

[quote name='WarPig' timestamp='1404638480' post='2494270'] +1 Really bad photoshop, looks like he used paint. [/quote] Why would she be playing a guitar chord shape on a bass like that? Looks veeeery iffy...

Completely chalk and cheese as basses, I'd say - while I've no experience of Limelights (and probably never will - can't be doing with relicing) I've played a few ACGs, and they're lovely instruments, but as a comparison it's like a very good sportscar and a very good 4x4 (in no particular order) - neither better necessarily than the other, it all depends on what you want out of a bass.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1404372545' post='2491919'] Well yes... but using that logic I don't really need any bass at all, it's not like my life depends on it. [/quote] Yup, but it's a sliding scale across all aspects - like some other chaps here, I've happily gigged a £60 Sue Ryder (which I still own), but my two main gigging basses would cost upwards of £3.5k if bought new (bought secondhand for less than half of that). That's purely because I wanted them. Nobody else gives a crap, really...

'Need' and 'Want' are two very different things.

On the other hand, I started off with a RH450, then went through (owned*) several micro and not-so-micro heads (inc the Ashdown Spyder, the LMIII, and then a Mesa M-Pulse and a Walkabout), and they all went in favour of a Streamliner. The Walkabout's very nice, but it's not the only game in town by any means. The bottom line is your own ears, try and play through as many as you can, preferably with your own cabs. If you're buying on here secondhand, you can buy and try properly, and resell without losing much at all if you don't get on with the amp. * And I borrowed an SVT-Pro7 and a PF500, too...and tried the OTB500, the LM Tube, the LM Rocker, etc...

I generally don't like relicing, but the Fender RW Precision I played a while ago was a very, very nice Precision, so I guess I'd put up with the damage, and I can see the point of not worrying about gigging a pre-dinged bass (though I gig my Shuker and Dingwall all the time). What I [b]completely[/b] don't get is the metalwork relicing - that corrosion's minging, and it does nothing for the feel or sound, it's purely for the look, which doesn't equate in my head.

There's lots of different approaches, depending on the type of band - from a bunch of good mates who trust each other and play now and again for beer money down the pub, to a full function depping unit run by one man who calls all the shots. Within all those scenarios, though, I'd say everyone's responsible for their own kit - if you want to be in a halfway serious band, then you need the gear. Replacement and maintenance is your own look-out. As mentioned earlier, vocal PA is the responsibility of the singer, full PA can be handled a number of ways already mentioned: the owner can take a bigger cut of gig fees (the band are effectively renting it from him), or the purchase cost can be split (which I've never know turn out well in the long run).