Marvin

A few years ago I saw The Winery Dogs touring their second album. We'd managed to get to a really good spot near the front towards the side Kotzen was playing. I know, Sheehan was there and all dues he plays some unbelievable stuff on a bass, but Kotzen just ripped it up for me, he was outstanding, the band were amazing but he was incredible. I'd seen them play about 18 months prior at The Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton. Unfortunately I got stuck behind a pillar and could only see Sheehan, which wasn't that bad, but the sound was a bit meh and the heat was so oppressive you could see it was taking its toll on the band. Many years ago I saw The Real Sounds of Africa at a local Arts Centre. They were phenomenal, both in terms of musicianship and performance. Wille and the Bandits at a place called The Palladium Club in Devon. Small place, what a gig, they were on fire that night, the playing was great.

The Smiths were a great band of musicians ruined by Morrissey moaning over the top. I've always viewed him as one of those terminally irritating schools dweebs who think they're far above, and way cooler, than anyone else, when in fact the opposite is true. It's quite telling that some of the 'musicians' held up as being rebellious or cool in their day, have just turned out to be the conspiracy theorist and/or pub bores they were supposed to rebel against. Perhaps I've been lucky so far, I've never liked Morrissey, Ian Brown, John Lydon, Roger Daltrey... I'm sure there are a few more. As for the BBC, it's been on a downward trajectory since it had to apologise for Andrew Gilligan's piece for Today on R4. Now it's scared witless of rocking the boat of those in government, whatever the colour of their rosette.

I've used the MiniMax just using a pair of headphones and I was very impressed with the range of tones I could get out of it. The fan is a bit noisy but it's not an issue for me. I'm looking forward to pairing it with a cab.

A Peavey MiniMax 500 from a fellow Basschatter and I'm waiting for a Fender Rumble 210 cab to arrive soon. I'd sold my previous rig as I had no intention of going back to playing, but sometimes you just can't help yourself. Very proud of one of my sons, he's 13 and just bought his first guitar. That's it. I might buy a small USB mixer

In all seriousness. In North Devon the pubs that put on music aren't very big. Appledore had quite a good music scene, places like The Champ had a landlord that is a real music nut. You've got village halls that occasionally put on a band maybe. The usual beer and food festivals which are usually quite good. There used to be a festival called The Final Fling, that was excellent, great festival to play. In Bideford there is/was The Palladium Club. Had a good mix of stuff. Played there a few times. In Torrington there's the Plough Arts Centre. Played there a couple of years ago. They put on mainly blues and folk. Local bands don't play there a lot though. Getting to South Devon is a bit of a pain, and I've never been in a band that did gigs in South Devon. From what I hear Torquay and Paignton can be good for bands. However, it's easier and quicker to get to Taunton to be honest 😁 Like a lot of places there seem to be more bands than venues and you get quite a few that'll play at the opening of an envelope. In my experience nothing's big. And like everywhere right now, everywhere is shut ☹️

I just watched this clip by Guy Pratt. Quite interesting how he's approached playing early Pink Floyd, especially as he playing with Nick Mason. Thought it might be of some interest Just to add, it might not play. Apparently YouTube's copyright monitoring doesn't like this video sometimes 🤔

I've tried to read album reviews but stop about 2 paragraphs in wonder off and go and watch some grass grow. I'm not really sure what the purpose of a music critic or album review is. How can you know if you'll like it from someone else's opinion (usually someone who never even learnt how to play an instrument, let alone had the guts to get up and put their stuff out there)? I'm currently listening to Hard-Fi's second album. I just had a quick Google and apparently it wasn't much liked by the critics, I prefer it to their first album. Just to add, I never ever bought or read NME, had better things to spend my money on, usually beer and cigs.

You could get some lessons if you wanted. @Stuart Clayton lives just outside of Barnstaple. Although given lockdown he's probably only doing Skype lessons so it doesn't matter where you live then... I'll get my coat

Grockles, all of them. And South Devon, completely different country...they'm all weird down there. The last band I was in, the guitarist had a band back in the 90s and Muse were once their support band. The guitarist couldn't remember if they were any good that night... he'd over indulged.

Probably best to buy a small boat...it rains a lot in North Devon

Scratchplates/pickguards (delete as your preference) that don't sit flush on the bass body. I can't stand it if there's a slight gap. On my p bass I had to buy a new string tree as the other one was too short and the strings sat too low, it just looked wrong. I don't like 210 cabs that only have feet so you have to have them sit with the speakers horizontally. 210s need to sit with the drivers aligned vertically. Horizontal looks daft. Too many knobs and switches that look randomly placed. Amps that overhang cabs.

Setting yourself the challenge of learning a bass line note for note at home, yes, fine. Live however, not really, not note for note, I can't remember all that stuff. A lot of the bass lines we're all trying to learn were improvised there and then and even the person who played it in the studio probably doesn't play it note for note from the recording. The problem I have a lot of the time trying to learn note for note, is I just can't remember all the different slight variations from bar to bar, chorus to chorus etc. How do you remember all that?

I really want to buy a cab, I've not got one at the moment (I've got a head), but I feel that right now it'd just be a wast of money and not be used for who knows how long. I'm very pessimistic about the near future. I think we're looking at a sustained period of needing social distancing and other measures to keep on top of the spread of Covid, and that ultimately means no gigs. Maybe meeting up for practices and jams is the best we can hope for at the moment.

Weird isn't it.

Is it just me or does anyone else get a near blank page when they're looking for bass cabs on the DV247 website? Exhibit A: below. That's it, that's all I get, on all the bass cab tabs. I've tried different browsers, clearing caches and all sorts.

No. The only thing my brother can play is the fool...and he's not very good at that to be honest

If you click on the UK flag at the top of the page it'll give you a drop down menu where there's a US flag...click on that it takes you to the US site, and it says free shipping across the US. Apologies if this results in you spending money you hadn't intended on spending

I haven't bought a mixer yet. I'd be only looking to record a maximum of 2 non-mixed sources at any one time. This is the only piece of hardware I have at the moment that will connect an instrument to my computer, I've used it a few times to record on Garageband, that's it really.

Although I've never had expensive gear, it's not to say I never wanted to have some. There was a time, about 5 years ago, where I was going to save as much as I could for a 4 figure £'s bass, a cab from someone like Vanderkely or Barefaced, and an amp that was equally cool/hot/expensive. However, apart from never really having that sort of money available even if I saved and saved, combined with that I've never really played enough to justify the expense I also had a bit of an epiphany moment. A band I was in supported a very well known local band one night. The bass player played a Squier Affinity P bass. These guys did maybe 200 shows a year. He also let me use his amp and cab, a Behringer head with a 112 cab that looked like it had been dragged behind a truck. I just thought, I need to get my priorities right...which was I had decent gear but I don't practice enough

Quick newbie question. What is the best way to plug a non-USB mixing desk (one of those little 6 or 8 track ones) into a computer? AND how do you do it so you can monitor it by using the headphones output on the desk (so you can hear what has been recorded already and what is going into the desk for the new track you want to record) ? Also I read somewhere, I didn't really understand it tbh, that, when you're recording a new track and monitor previous tracks using the headphones, it you don't route the signals properly you can effectively overdub what has already been recorded onto the new track???? I hope that makes sense.

I had one of the B410hlf 410s. It was a great sounding cab. It could shift a serious amount of air. Big. Built like a tank... unfortunately weighed about the same as well. Having owned one, I always look to see what Ampeg stuff is for sale.

I've only ever played one expensive bass. Someone at an open mic let me use a US Fender Jazz FSR with a John East pre fitted. I didn't play with the eq settings, despite hating the midscoop that had been dialed in. That aside, it was ok. I've only ever been able to afford cheaper basses, and some I've liked, others were meh, one or two I hated. However, they've all been decent quality, I've not bought one that had actual faults. My current pair of basses are a Sire V7 and a Squier VM Precision. I've had them for a few years and I really love them. They do what I need them to do, I've not got the cash to splurge on something more expensive anyway 😁

I took this thread in the spirit it was intended and I to tried a bit of Yes. No, just no.

Squier Precision, one of the Korean made ones from 1991. The neck looked lovely, it was like flame maple. Fender Rumble 500 combo, probably the best sounding set up I've had. Almost forgot. Hohner B2A, I sold with a Peavey Basic 60. The Basic 60 was worth nothing really but I sold both for a stupid low figure.