Marvin

Fender Rumble V3 500 combo

I’m constantly twiddling my TH knobs. I’m currently experimenting with gain at 9o’clock, drive at 4o’clock, EQ at 12o’clock (with minor tweaks for the room) and master wherever it needs to be. It’s not a clean sound, quite valvy but not fuzzy.

My perception regards gear changed a few years ago. I had loads of gear and was constantly tone chasing. That was until I borrowed a Behringer head and beaten up 1x12 cab. It sounded fine and had done hundreds of gigs. I just thought “what am I doing?” So I sold all the big gear, the rack mount compressor and other stuff and bought a Rumble...which sounded superb, and I had a few quid left over. A comfortable feeling bass is number one priority then an amp that can be heard, neither of which need to cost a lot. But most importantly, a good band.

I’ve looked into making a Hackintosh and from what I’ve read it’s far from straightforward. It’s not like building your own PC. If you have the time, it’s not going to be your main computer and you’re not overly fussed about upgrading the OS and software...then maybe it’s a goer, otherwise it’s simpler to buy a second hand Mac of some description if you’re trying to keep cost down.

The one thing that isn't impressive about the Sire range has been the price increases. I have one of the very first, signed by Marcus Miller, V7's and that cost me £280. That won't get you a 2nd gen V3 now, and the V7's are £160ish more than what I paid for mine. Improvements cost, but this now seems to be moving away from the original ethos of the bass.

I’ve never understood how anyone would think that those types of bridges are a good design, it’s complete bobbins

Good neck Quality tuners Top loading bridge If active, an active passive switch + no discernible difference in output or basic tone between active and passive. If active, a quality 3 band eq with sweepable mids. 2 band is almost pointless. I wouldn’t be interested in locking jacks, I’ve never trodden on my lead and pulled it out. I always tuck it through my strap.

9 years ago I posted on this thread and I still can’t play properly with a pick. 😞

Excellent performance. I'm not really a fan, liked some of their stuff, but it must be said that was really rather smashing

I'd like to add a caveat to this post. I've just been listening to the Let It Be - Naked remastered album. Now, that one sounds substantially better than the overblown tat and nonsense that Phil Spector produced. Right, as you were.

I run a Mac Mini. Nice piece of kit. I've upgraded the hard drive to an SSD and it would be very straightforward to upgrade the memory. It's a flexible way of getting a Mac as you can buy whatever peripherals you want really.

I bought a Fender neck from Harry ( @rubis ) at the beginning of the week. I'd have no hesitation in buying from Harry again. The neck was in excellent condition and he's great to deal with. Cheers

I prefer the original recordings. The remixes and remasters make the songs sound like they were recorded now, so for me they lose a bit of character.

The main niggles with the 1st generation were the tuners and battery compartments. The plastic battery compartments are very tightly fitted and the lids are prone to snap it seems. I must admit, whenever I've opened the ones on my V7 I've always been extra careful. Also the wire inside is very short and it's a real PITA replacing batteries. Although then new battery cover maybe not liked by all, it's probably an improvement. As for the tuners, I've never had a problem with mine, but know others have. Whether that's been rectified, who knows. The neck on the 1st generation was the killer thing for me about the V7 so the changes don't really do a lot. I like the 7.25in radius and gloss finish, so the new ones aren't that appealing. That said, I still maintain Sire are miles ahead of Mexican made Fenders.

I saw Turin Brakes and Eliza Shaddad earlier this year, they were absolutely brilliant. I'd seen Turin Brakes for the first time last year without knowing anything about them - I went along with a band mate who had a spare ticket - and thought they were one of the best bands I'd ever seen. So, I promised my wife I'd take her to the next gig they did our way. It was a brilliant gig, and Edie Myer is an absolute gem, both on bass and as a general good laugh. Eliza Shaddad was superb, probably one of the only support artists that I've ever really taken much interest in. There were people at the gig who'd bought tickets specifically to see her. I'd definitely see them both again.

Exactly! If you can’t sit at the bar and talk inane rubbish with the landlord...THEN IT’S NOT A PUB!!

Wetherspoons can't pay that well, staff went on strike recently over pay. And I'm not entirely certain that Wetherspoons has a reputation for treating staff generously. Besides all that, the food is at best meh...heaven knows where they conjured up their Chilli Con Carne from but it's truly repulsive. The ones I've been in have had some really unpleasant odours. Basically though, they're not pubs. They're soulless, cold places that are the antithesis of what a pub is. You can't have a chat to one of the bar staff, there's never a feel of *belonging* in one. I won't go in one, they are to pubs what Milli Vanilli were to music...completely fake. I'll stick with my local.

My Sire has gone up in value...but then I got one of the first 1000 that had the signed neck plate. The headstock is no worse than that on a D.Lakin or Sadowsky. Neither of those would pass an aesthetics contest to be fair. I was thinking of buying a second V7, but the changed neck profile and satin finish doesn’t appeal to me.

A chance photo of John Deacon used to trawl back over already known info, it’s pretty poor journalism...and I use that word loosely. I’ve got a lot of respect for John Deacon, he’s done the right thing IMO when it comes to Queen. Queen was the four of them, it doesn’t work without either of them. Taylor and May should have had some self respect, and respect for the band’s name, and known when to stop with Queen. The current incarnation is awful. And Roger Taylor needs a dictionary, sociopath? He sounds like he holds a grudge tbh that John won’t join in killing the band

I don't worry about nut width on a neck, it is actually how 'thick' it is i.e from back to front. I used to have a Rockbass Corvette (one of the first ones). It was a 38mm standard jazz style nut width but the neck was like a baseball bat. I found it almost unplayable and made my hand hurt. It was also complicated by how those basses hang, which makes the first fret feel a thousand miles away. My current basses have very playable necks regards their girth

If it was me I'd be going for the Rumble...as I used to own one and regret selling it. It's got all the features you need on it, lightweight, plenty of volume and quite simply a lovely tone. GK is good stuff, I've owned some, but on this it'd be the Fender.

Creed, Nickleback and what seems like an almost endless list of similar bands took grunge and commercialised everything about it. The resultant 'post-grunge' thing is generic, homogenous, derivative etc, etc, etc. It's actually difficult to distinguish one band from another. It's essentially pop music, and not particularly good pop music at that. Dull, comes to mind. 'Later' is probably representative of music at the moment, in that you very occasionally stumble across a half decent band or artist, but in the main there's nothing much of interest.

Over a week ago now, but I went to see Editors at the O2 Guildhall Southampton. Absolutely brilliant, loved it. My wife and I managed to get near the front, about 4 from the stage, so a good view. Some bods grumbled the sound wasn’t that good ( on Social Media), but I thought it was ok. I could hear Tom Smith singing perfectly well. The guitars got a little lost in some songs but nothing major. I thought they played a belter