StingRayBoy42

Not sure if it'll sort your problem, but I got a replacement adapter for a Harley Benton PSU from myvolts. It's great and their customer service is fantastic.

My first Bass was a Hohner Arbor P copy that I inherited (stole) from my brother. I played it for a couple of years until I got my StingRay in 94 or 95. I thought it would be a good idea to strip the paint, spray it blue, stick a huge Birmingham City badge on it and defret it... none of these ideas were good. Unimpeded by knowledge or proficiency, I took a pair of pliers to the frets and pulled them out using a subtle blend of brute force and ignorance. Realising this hadn't ruined the fretboard enough, I attempted to fill in the fret trenches with some sort of plastic wood stuff, which covered up some of the splinters AND covered the fingerboard in dark brown gunk. It's still at my Mum's. Every time I visit, she asks hopefully if I'm going to take it with me. I really admire her optimism.

She didn't filp my D x-tender or pluck my G string... and she didn't touch my Bass either.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/03/aston-family-man-barrett-bassist-with-bob-marley-and-the-wailers-dies-aged-77 Fantastic, tasteful player. Another sad loss.

Tonight! The Pickle (?!) social club in Acocks Green, Birmingham with the Cantina band - Rock, heavy rock and more rock. Standard stuff, first set met with bemusement, folded arms and polite applause, second set had enough up dancing to make it feel like a decent gig.. The drummer was on fire, despite having a torn rotator cuff. Sterling -> small board -> MB CMD 121P, leopard print Converse. Highlight was getting manhandled by a gorgeous blonde when I went for my wireless foray on to the dancefloor for the last two songs. Two lime & sodas and a Thatchers Gold on the house, paid, home about half midnight for a Dunkertons Black Fox Organic Cider (6.8%), a cheese and Laoganma bagel (toasted) and an Old J Tiki Fire spiced rum (75.5%) Not the worst evening I've ever had!

Wow! High praise indeed!

Can anyone recommend a modern sounding, clean preamp/DI pedal? Playing Dua Lipa, Britney, Arianna Grande, Beyonce, Destinys Child type stuff on a StingRay 5 straight to PA with IEMs. Aguilar Tomehammer? Tech 21 Q strip? Can I get the sound I want from my VTDI? All and any input welcome.

I've got five six and I'm skint. Come to think of it, that might be why I'm skint...

Depends which version you watch, apparently! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first

We're called The Cantina Band because we always play the same songs. Also, we generally play wretched hives of scum and villainy.

Tonight: The Lounge at Boldmere (Sutton Colefield) with the rock band. Nice place - when we got there, a bloke was being ejected for some light-hearted comedy racism and the bouncer told us there were a lot of d!ckheads out tonight. Yay! It was full of wideboys, the manager told us it wasn't really a 'Rock' venue and asked could we not play the Motorhead, Pistols, AC/DC type stuff that makes up pretty much our entire setlist. 🤨 We said we'd see what we could do and played the Motorhead, Pistols, AC/DC type stuff that makes up pretty much our entire setlist. During the first set, there were three or four people dancing at the front and about seventy people watching from the safety of the bar at the back of the room. Gotta love that huge, yawning chasm between the stage and the audience. A bloke came up to the singer mid set and gave him some money, I assumed they were mates. When this happened three or four more times, I wondered WTF was going on... was he a staff member paying the fee bit by bit? Turns out he was some random bloke just giving the singer money. Bit weird but he cut us all in, so no complaints. Second set was loads better, everyone was suitably refreshed and they really got into it, the whole place was up by the end. The manager came up as we were packing up and told us how wrong he'd been, he and everyone else had loved it and that he would definitely rebook us, so that's a win. Sterling (love that Bass for rock stuff) -> small board -> Sansamp PBDDI -> Markbass CMD 121P. Used my wireless and went and had a boogie on the dancefloor during the last song - I can heartily recommend it! Feet update: Red socks and silver Converse. Second gig with the ACG custom earplugs, they felt tons better than last time, it sounded like us just quieter. I've lost my voice which meant no BVs... I really missed singing but I did notice myself focusing on the Bass more rather than just doing it on autopilot. Spent the fee on a Pedaltrain Novo 24 on eBay inbetween sets - Apologies if you were bidding against me. I'll be selling my Classic JR this week if that helps?

I like my Markbass 802 - sounds great, small enough for home practice, I also use mine for a 5 piece jazz band, a 20 piece jazz orchestra and 'proper' band gigging (with PA support). Small and light, good for Double Bass as well as electric, handles a low B, I paid £250 used for mine.

None on any of mine, but a tasteful one in the right place can look superb, like a nice tattoo on a beautiful woman.

I bagsy 'Hot Honey' for my drag name.

Lot of money in them days!

Yes, top end Basses from the likes of Fender and EBMM cost a lot, but there are loads of good Basses around for a really good price... Sire, Squier and Harley Benton off the top of my head. When I were a lad (late 1800s), options for cheap Basses were limited and fairly pants - anyone remeber Marlin or Hohner Arbor? Squier Basses were rubbish then, now they're fantastic. We could (and no doubt will) argue if they're on a par with the US models, but they're undoubtedly well made, decent sounding Basses that are affordable for most people. Some good points made about nostalgia - I'd love a YOB P Bass but as they now go for 3-4K (and upwards), I'll probnably never own one. I'd be really interested to see Bass prices then (70s/80s) alongside incomes of posties, teachers, bus drivers, nurses etc compared to prices now vs those same incomes. I paid £850 new for my StingRay in 94/95 which was a lot of money. Still got it, still love it, still gig it.

I bought a Bass Uke off Paul - he was a pleasure to deal with all the way.

I've had my eye on one of these for ages, it's even made it to my ebay saved searches. When I foolishly decide to get one, I'll let you know if it's worth having.

I'm with @tegs07 on this - A Rickenbacker. I've no use for one, it wouldn't fit in any of my bands, they're so ugly it's beautiful... their only redeeming feature is that you can use the headstock as a bottle opener. I'd love one.

Kmise get rave reviews for the price... I've nearly bought one of their banjoleles a few times.

+1 for Tenor uke. There's also the concert, which is between soprano and tenor in size. Cheap ukes have put many a brave man off and with good reason - they just won't stay in tune! A decent tenor can be had for 70-80 quid and are a revelation. Lanikai and Kala are both decent cheap-ish makes worth owning. Worth getting a decent set of strings as well - Aquila nylgut are pretty much the standard. I fell right down that rabbit hole a few years ago and ended up with a 6 and an 8 string - they sound fantastic and are just as easy to play. A decent 8 string uke is a beautiful sound - half uke, half mandolin and half guitar... I love my Pono 8. Enjoy!

These were just earplugs, not IEMs, the band are very old school. I love IEMs with my other band!