Muzz

The tangy aroma of forty years of Depsweat? I think I'll pass...

My point exactly. Apart from the smell, possibly, but hey, as long as you're not doing it in the street and frightening the horses... Any instrument can be anything from a decorative item, to a sentimental one, to a status symbol, to a simple tool*, to something to be sniffed in private...as I say, you pays yer money... * Shush at the back...

There's a fundamental difference between owning an instrument and playing one; the emphasis can be weighted heavily either way...YOB basses are an ideal example.

Not to me it doesn't, and it's my money I'm spending.

I forgot my in-ears for the gig on Friday, and to make things worse it was a big pub so louder than usual. To make it worse I was having to listen to the PA top next to me to be able to hear anything I was doing. Horrible. Saturday was a blessed relief. Once you get in-ears right, especially if you have any level of tinnitus (and let's face it, as stated above, an awful lot of us do), then not having them makes you wonder how you got on without them. I also have ACS attenuators, and yes, it sounds different (but nowhere near as bad as generic earplugs) and yes, you lose some of that immediacy of sound, but it's still better than permanently ringing ears...the best advice I've read was to put them in early - like while you're setting up - so that you get used to the reduction in sound levels before you start playing. That way, it doesn't sound like the music's being neutered.

I've had mine for years now, and it's withstood the ravages of GAS-based changes, and it's the only non-Shuker gigging bass I have. Which is saying a lot, trust me... Having said that, it's got the P-Tone pickup in it, and a John East U-Retro, too, so it's kinda an ABZ4+ Oh, and it weighs a sniff over 7.5lbs, and is probably the most resonant bass I have.

The Streamliner (to which this amp bears a suspiciously close resemblance, at least externally) had a very warm tone, which I'm putting down to the valve(s) in the preamp. IMHO, YMMV, etc, etc, Unfortunately, I have no experience of the Bugera...

That Peak Power thing is a bit like Daewoo saying their Matiz will do 122mph, because that's the terminal velocity in air of an object falling off a 1500ft cliff...

Three-gig grueller this end, not helped by the middle gig being a little further away than where we expecting. BL has previous as long as an orangutan's arm on this front*, this time it was a complete inability to interpret postcodes: "It's in Leeds, it's only 40 miles away" (we're coming from North Manchester) "What's the postcode?" "It's LE15" "That's a Leicester postcode. Leeds is LS." "Oh." "That's pushing 150 miles." "Oh." You can imagine the rest of the conversation... Anyway, as luck would have it, it was a small verrrry posh wedding reception with no influx of evening guests, so they'd all be on their hind legs since mid-morning. Consequentially they all drooped badly by ten, and we packed up in an empty room not long afterwards and were on the road for eleven... * See "The New Forest...it's near Stoke, isn't it?" from a previous rant/post somewhere...

Does he look like a Drumkit Butler while he's doing it? 🙂

And knowing when to ask for less cowbell. And the ability to tell the difference. Oh, and erm, thingy...timing. Damn. PS With all due respect (and heartfelt sympathy) to any lurking oboe players, 'as hip as the oboe' has now gone straight into my Top Drawer. Chapeau. 🙂

Huge indeed. We had a dep drummer a couple of years ago, American fella living over here, had married an English girl, couple of kids, etc. I was frankly astonished by his tales of the sheer scale of Country over there; he'd made a good living for several years touring the US Midwest with various acts on a pretty much permanent basis in two and three semi (HGV for us, to avoid unnecessary fnarr-ing on a Sunday morning) rig-sized pantechnicons, playing to 15,000+ people per gig. Artists I'd heard very little about, or assumed they were kinda niche. Depending on your sources, Garth Brooks (admittedly The Biggest Hat In Country) has sold more albums than the Rolling Stones and Abba put together, and outsold Elvis. He's certainly comfortably Top 5/10 All Time. Who? 😀 And yep, Country has plenty of ladies, a lot of them playing acoustics. Possibly Fender acoustics...

Two 8x10s, 2x15s and three amps? If I was gigging those places and didn't have to lift any of it (tbh, I wouldn't even want to lift the Wals 😁) I'd do exactly the same. Maybe with another 8x10 to replace the 2x15s... 😀 I once had a walk round Tour Supplies with my pal who works there, and it was a great fantasy strolling up and down the aisles of 810s, 412s, 215s, and allll the good heads (DB751s, SVTs, etc, etc) thinking "I'd have one of those, one of those and one..no, two of those..." 😀 And then I'd use my in-ears...now that's killing rock'n roll without killing rock'n roll...

None of the musicians in the theoretical bands I was describing were covers bands...in fact they were all laughably snotty about playing covers...

I know a few musicians who'd rather have a theoretical band with a social media profile and pictures of themselves that they can talk about to impress* people than actually get out there and gig. I wouldn't waste my time with them. * for a given value of 'impress', obv...

Yes. You will not be surprised to learn I no longer own the 12-string. 😕🙂

An extreme example, and it's an anecdote I've repeated before, but this one surprised me: in our originals band, we had a couple of songs which were kinda atmospheric (cue the 'OOOoooOOOooos...I knowwww), and I'd thought about it a good deal, and picked up a 12-string bass to use for them. We went through them in rehearsal, and after we'd run through the set, over a coffee, I said "So, whaddya think about the new bass?" Cue shrugs and non-committal, "S'OK, sounds fine" type of responses. These are seasoned, talented musicians we're talking about here, not Yer Average Pub/Function Punter. Now, I wasn't expecting to be carried shoulder-high from the rehearsal rooms to a chorus of cheers and have a street named after me, but even so I was surprised. Seeing the rather tragic shape my face was assuming, the BL said "Don't worry about it so much; it sounds great, but it's just the bass..."

See, I was right! 😀

Quite. Pair that with a cheeky Durian side salad, and the only people left in the building would be the olfactorily challenged, and the frankly menkle... And for those that like a little visual stimulus to their delusions of wholesomeness, let's not forget Casu Marzu, that Sardinian effort which is served writhing with maggots. Yum.

A much better version. Even with the bossa nova...

I'm enjoying the lawyer-speak of "...going back to late 2017 when the group began plotting a 2018/19 world tour." What, with Malice Aforethought? 😀

There are several options (I own three different ones) but the general answer is...A Shuker. 😉

As with any bass, it's a case of play it first. I bought a 78 Jazz unseen, and it was easily one of the worst basses I've ever owned. For the money, it was easily the worst ever.

On purpose? Pffft. That's just poor workmanship - there's no reason those holes couldn't have been drilled with a little more care, even if they were done 'by hand'. Would have taken ten seconds to line them up properly.

I've seen more even grouping from a beginner's darts night than those string holes... I liked the Wishbass I had; it was very...organic, which suited the fretless vibe. I bought (and sold) it for a fraction of that asking price, mind...