Marvin

I've never had the money to be loyal to a particular brand 🙂 I tend to buy the gear, at a certain price point, that will give me what I need in terms of playability, sound and to some degree aesthetic if possible. I do though, try to buy brands that hopefully have a good reputation and/or decent after sales network if something goes wrong. There are brands that if they go wrong you may as well bin as the parts or repair options are non-existent. That said, I do own a Sire v7 and I'm not sure how you get the onboard preamp sorted if it goes belly up. If I had the budget for higher end gear I'd have to try it first, I think. I don't know where I'd start to be honest.

P bass tone up all the way. J bass, which can be active but I switch to passive, tone up all the way and balance pot in the middle.

On YouTube is Tom Petty - Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers I watched it this afternoon, it's about 90mins. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it, it is a little somber at times. His band clearly miss him a lot. They were, I feel, the very definition of a band. The clubhouse is...well, who wouldn't want somewhere like that? And when you listen to Mike Campbell sit there and talk a little about it....

Currently this.

I think I've only bought 2 albums this year, both new releases though. Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith's Smith/Kotzen album is a great collection of songs, definitely one of my favourites at the moment. My favourite of the year though is Eliza Shaddad's album The Woman You Want. I saw her support Turin Brakes a few years ago and she was brilliant. I'm really pleased that In The Morning is on the album, just a fantastic song.

The last time (several years ago now) I ordered strings from Amazon I ended up with a phone case for a Samsung S7. Customer service was as much help as a chocolate fireguard. I very rarely buy from Amazon, partly because for the things I buy online they're naff. For fishing gear Amazon is abysmal, there are much better retailers that I use. As for next day delivery, the times I have used Amazon that's been very hit and miss, many items have been 3-4 days. And to be honest, when did we become so impatient? Someone on social media posted the following 'In Communist countries everybody buys from the state, in capitalist countries everybody buys from Amazon. Not too far from the truth.

Ask Billy Sheehan 😁 In all seriousness, although it may not style you're looking for I imagine there's some videoes out there where he could give some important pointers.

Thank you. I shall keep passing on the suggestions...and having a laugh with him with the ones that may be inappropriate

I've used Flats for the last 6 years, maybe more, on both my basses. I've only changed strings 3 times. Once on my P bass because one of the strings had become damaged, it'd started to rattle so I could only think the core had started to go downhill. On my Jazz bass, I changed my flats to rounds a couple of months ago...then changed them back again after 10 days because I really didn't like the sound of the rounds. So a total of 3 times in 6 years

I'd go along to a shop and get the feel of some instruments, but don't feel pressured into buying something on your first visit. Maybe go back and try the bass you think could be OK again a couple of weeks later. When I started way back when I always wanted a Warwick, I used to lust after them. Then a few years ago I got to practice and gig one. I hated it, the most uncomfortable bass I've ever played. Out of your list, the only bass I could comment on would be the Yamaha TRBX304. I had the next one up, the 504. Probably the most comfortable bass to play I've ever had. Body sits well on the strap. Nice weight. Neck is slim (from the back to front) and us very easy to play. But that's me, others may think differently.

Middle son is doing music GCSE (it's the equivalent of a GCSE) and set the task of, with his group/band, identifying a song suitable for a wedding (then practice and perform it). So you wonderful people let the suggestions come in. My first suggestion was Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles, which was swiftly rejected...

I got into one band by not being the best bass player. The other guy was/is pretty good, he's now an Ernie Ball and Gallien Krueger endorsee and I'm not and never will be 😁 Practice room bands are sometimes the worst. I was relived to be ditched by a practice room band...although they went about it in an underhand manner by saying they'd packed it in when they hadn't. I tore strips off them when I saw them. Just chalk it down as tried and done and move on.

If I were in a band playing the same set week in week out I'd not feel it at all necessary to have practices or rehearsals. My problem is I've got a shockingly bad memory. I have to play something A LOT to remember it to the point where I'm confident I can just play it at the drop of a hat. Dakota by the Stereophonics is probably one of the simplest songs you could play, but I couldn't tell you what the 4 (or is it 5?) notes you play on the bass are for it, I've not played it for...some time. The thing that niggles me are the 'amateur' bands (who think they're professional) that are so cockey that they boast that they never need practices as 'they make the songs their own'. What this actually means is they can't, or can't be arsed to, play the song properly, or to properly arrange their own version. An example of this is a band I was asked to dep for recently, the drummer of which I was in a band with a few years ago. I've seen them, they play rock covers in a rock style...but because the guitarist/singer can't play any of the guitar solos they just don't bother with them. Take then Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. The drummer told me that the guitar solo part was done a capella with just bass and drum...I have no idea what that even meant. They could get away with it, to some extent, when it was an all female trio due to the large number of dirty old men and leches at venues. However, now the original bass player has left, the remaining two have had to resort to asking grotty old farts like me to play bass...I don't think the attraction value is there anymore

Sire P5...if you can find one that is.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about nuts and necks to suggest any solutions to that side, @gary mac might be able to point you in the right direction there. Regards the volume and tone controls, I had an SR300 on which the controls went a bit belly up. I asked @KiOgon to make me a passive wiring loom. It had a separate volume and tone control for each pickup, but I also asked for one of the tone controls to be a series/parallel switch. If you pulled the tone control 'out' you had a big humbucker (I think, that's how it worked). It sounded great. I never liked the old active eq on the SR300 due to the variable mid sweep, I could never get a setting I liked. Only thing to remember is, if rip the electronics out, make sure any new loom has a barrel type input jack, normal ones won't stay in place.

Basses are made in Indonesia, amp and cab made in China. It's what I can afford.

I've got some AKG K72 headphones. About £35. Decent sound and quite robust. Others I've bought, the bass just crucifies them.

I suppose like most I've mixed feelings about this re: the original question. In most covers bands most of the songs I've played I've never really had a strong like or dislike about them. Some of them have been interesting and fun to play, others not so much. I've been sent audition lists and seen a song or 2 and thought 'oh dear god, not that one again'. But in the main I suppose I've been ambivalent about the songs themselves and more interesting in whether the band as a unit works. There's stuff I wouldn't consider playing, if someone said 'do you fancy joining a Black Lace tribute band?' I'd politely say no thank you. On the few occasions I've played songs I've loved it's always been a disappointment. The Thrill Is Gone simply doesn't sound right without BB King, it's sort of ingrained into my head A few years ago I was in an originals punk/indie band. I must admit most of the material wasn't my thing (the songs not the genre). The band was ok as such, however every gig we played no one was interested. Actually the best compliment we got was from the owner of a local music venue. We were supposed to be supporting a band one night, midweek, but they had to cancel. We had a gig on the Saturday so asked if we could just play for free as a practice, the owner said yes. The singer was late, so whilst waiting the guitarist, drummer and myself had one of those half hour blues/rock/psychedelic jams that we all used to do and forgot about. The owner said 'that was great, you should play more stuff like that' 🤣🤣

The old Warwick Rockbass basses had chunky baseball bat necks. I hated the one I had, although it wasn't helped by the way it hung on the strap. The first fret felt like it was a 1000 miles away. The overall combination was the most uncomfortable playing bass I've owned. I was relieved to get rid of it.

I considered doing the same with an SR300 I had. After extensive looking, all the pickups and eqs I found, that would fit, were more than what I bought the bass for. In the end I gave up and sold the SR300.

When I got back into playing I used JoinMyBand and Bandmix, then a few start ups came through word of mouth and a couple from Facebook. I've never got anywhere with open mic nights or jam nights. The last open mic I went to, only a few months ago, was basically a lot of retired chaps warbling away whilst playing their very nice acoustic guitars. Even though I know a couple of people who run open mics it's not done me any favours, I've never got any contacts that way. Currently I've just about given up. I got offered a spot a few weeks back in a band, the singer was in a band I was in some time back, but it was the same songs we'd been doing years ago, I'm not interested.

Those butter ads, always brings me back to these misfits. (contains some grown up words btw)

Mike Campbell is superb, very much overlooked. I've just mistakenly watched the Radiohead gig on Sky Arts. I've got quite a few of their albums but I'm glad I've never gone to see them live, hell they're dull. They seem to have persuaded audiences that 'garage jams' and dicking about with old gear with loads of patch cables sprouting from it is edgey.

Such a good band.