Muzz

Love the look of the Sabre, but not a single tone in that vid appealed to me.

I've got the Big pair in a couple of basses, and I really like them, very ballsy pickups, and one of the few bridge Js I'd ever consider using soloed.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1364341119' post='2025281'] Also - Bass Central will negotiate heavily on price. Don't believe their list prices! [/quote] Oooo, thanks for that one!

It's a family holiday (Mrs and the boy (8) ), staying with friends in SC, driving down to Savannah to watch friend's lad who's playing as an All American for the USA Eagles rugby team, then a week round the parks in Orlando. Three weeks in all, should be able to get a bit of bass in there somewhere - the Mrs even suggested I buy a Sinsonido for the trip...

Oh, I won't forget.

Sooo, the holiday Stateside starts tomorrow, off to South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, so a trip to Beaver Felton's Bass Central is definitely on the schedule, and I wondered if anyone has any wizard wheezes for bass-related purchases to [s]smuggle[/s] innocently transport back to Blighty? I'm up for anything up to and including a whole bolt-on neck bass (which could be dismantled and split up amongst the baggage - to spread the weight, obviously) - am definitely going to buy a few sets of DR Low Riders, for starters. Answers on a postcard...all suggestions gratefully received, etc.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364317930' post='2024815'] Technical ability is easy to quantify. However quality of the music itself is entirely subjective. Therefore technical abilty is easy to discuss whereas the music simply comes down to do you like it or not? - end of story. I'm a song writer first and foremost so technical ability only matters to me when it prevents me or one of the members of my band realising the ideas I have for a piece of music. Ideally we practice until that is no longer an issue. What leaves me cold about a let of technical prowess I see demonstrated especially on bass is that it is compensating for the fact the player is deliberately making things difficult for themselves by using an instrument which is not best suited to the sounds/music being produced. TBH I rarely listen to individual instruments in a piece of music, but enjoy the overall effect. If I do notice any instrument in particular it's normally because I think there is something inappropriate about the sound or note choice for that piece of music. [/quote] This. All of it. Saved me having to type out essentially the same thing...

Since I've had mine, several amps have come and gone, but for me not bettered the Streamliner. Two Mesas (an M-Pulse and WoT's Walkabout), an Ampeg SVT 7 Pro, an Ashdown Spyder and a Markbass LMIII. I've tried Shuttles and MB Tubes, and I had a RH450 for a while. The Streamliner's got an odd tone stack, which needs to be learnt, as it isn't as intuitive as a 'normal' EQ, but for me it's the best out there. I can see it wouldn't suit some cabs, but it's great with my Schroeder 1515L and Super 12T. Very warm and valvey, but with a ton of oomph. I mostly use my Dingwall with a P-Tone pickup, Ps and my Fenderbird with Dingwall pickups. Nickel rounds and 80% pick. Oh, and it lights up a very pretty blue...

And if there's no internal empty feeling or screaming? I'm feeling emotionally short-changed here - I'm clearly several drama levels below where I should be...

[quote name='bridge' timestamp='1363802797' post='2017943'] Bloody hell!, they could play Mustang Sally, over and over again at a gig, who would notice, or even care lol [/quote] I circumvented the whole dreadful 'covers or not' issue by watching it with the sound off...still good...

Oh, come on - we all know any number of visually impaired, left-handed, powerlifting Yes fanatics with a couple of grand to spare...or is it just me?

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1363801819' post='2017920'] Cover bands are great, but also 'soul destroying'.. [/quote] You've just been in the wrong covers bands...

We're all so close in ages because we've known each other (and been in various bands with each other) for 30 years - two of us even went to school together. It makes for a the ideal combination, creating good music with great mates: we'd hang out with each other anyway - in fact we do even when, for whatever reason, we can't actually rehearse - in those cases the rehearsal just turns into a social evening. Oh yeah, and Dr Dave's just reminded me - our originals band goes out as a covers band to raise money to fund the next album.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1363795087' post='2017795'] Old timers do get gigs with originals bands - I'm 49 and the rest of my band is between 26-34 years old. Age isn't the determinant of joining a good originals band. Not being a twat generally is [/quote] Y'see, you're gigging with da kidz there, Clarky...my originals band is aged 48, 49, 49 and 50. We don't look it, though. We look 60. Especially when we're loading the van at the end of the night...

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1363793131' post='2017739'] ...But we only dio weddings for 'friends' anyway..and it will be a referral. we don't take them as cold bookings... [/quote] Dio weddings? I'm in!

Yep, it can be a great night out - paid, too...

I play in both. I enjoy the diversity of the the covers bands, I love playing live, I love the buzz from the punters every time, I like most of the songs I'm asked to play, and the money's good. And Because of the dep nature of two of the bands I'm in, I get to play with different, talented people a lot. I've become a better player since I started playing in a couple of function bands with good, different musicians, and with set material I would never have played otherwise. If I had the time in my life at the moment I'd learn to read, so I could diversify even more. For the record, I'm 50 next year. I'm hugely proud of our originals album, and it's a different buzz when people like that music, but I'm not precious about it. I've encountered the same levels of self-delusion in both covers and original bands: I've heard bands who thought they were fantastic and were rubbish in both genres, but it's always a bit more arse-clenching when it's an originals band.

[quote name='SimonEdward' timestamp='1363721407' post='2016592'] Hmm. I must admit I don't care for those mass produced 'gloss black' Basses you see (nearly) all the time.. but, I did once own a Westone thunder 1 in gloss black, so that's probably why (?) When I asked J.D. to make this one, I knew it was going to be.. kinda black... matt black, opaque black, translucent black... [/quote] Oooo, like that. I also like my Dingwall - kinda matt, kinda grain-textured, kinda blackburst. Still black, tho... [sharedmedia=core:attachments:102653] ...although it does look kinda purple on that pic. It isn't...

Ahem...black and maple, you say? [sharedmedia=core:attachments:81072]

Go on then, let's have the categories...all black, mostly black, some black, kinda black...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363629567' post='2014993'] = NOT BLACK. [/quote] Black in my book.

Black and maple. Nowt cooler...

That's really good, I like it. I've got 70s Fender P decals on three MM necks (two of which are Jazz necks) on different basses, because I don't like blank heads and I couldn't be arsed doing anything more creative like the above. Much of the hardware has changed (in fact more or less everything except the actual body), but they've all got their respective original neck plates (Epiphone for the Fenderbird, SX and Ryder on the Ps) anyway. No-one's ever commented on the decal 'issue'. They've liked the basses, though.