Rich

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-East-J-Retro1-Active-Bass-Preamp/323658142530?hash=item4b5b875342:g:nPkAAOSwgb1cRHRb:rk:2:pf:1&frcectupt=true I very much doubt it will stay at this price though.

I've seen a couple of ads along the lines of "Band seeks bassist, gigs waiting, covers but not the usual stuff" which turned out to be "Guitarist seeks bassist, drummer, vocalist, in fact everyone except guitarist, gigs are a distant aspiration, and the first things on the set list are Dakota and Sex On fcking Fire".

And it 'sold' for £390...

Beast used to do a similat shirt for the, errm, features to which you refer, it bore the legend...

I listen to all kinds of music (apart from C&W and trad.jazz). I'm passionate... about music.

We wear individual combinations of red and black. Anything we want as long as it's just those colours. In my case it's unfaded black jeans and either a Ferrari polo shirt or a red Beast T-shirt with 'gert lush' on it (it's a Bristol thing ).

I find the song unlistenable. The bass is like fingernails down a blackboard.

This, very definitely. I've always managed to sing and play ok, but talk and play? Impossible.

The things you see when you ain't got a gun.

Do you have 'In Rock We Trust', perpetual holder of the Worst Rock Album Cover In History award?

They sound like a class act. It's always a good sign when a band are so organised. Good luck with the audition, don't worry you'll breeze it Yes, I've been caught out like that before. Before learning a song these days, my first question is "which version?".

I want to ask which songs, but I suspect it'd make me weep. I love playing ska.

I liked the Quarrymen until they sold out and went electric. Splitters.

The best one I ever had was during a gig with my old jazz-fusion trio at a jazz venue in Bristol. Halfway through our set of very-obviously-jazz-associated-and-not-remotely-hard-rock-at-all instrumental tunes, a spotty oik with one too many alcopops inside him asked me if we did Iron Man by Black Sabbath. He did it again after the next tune, and again after the subsequent one. I'm sure he would have done it again if I had not invited him to sex-&-travel.

I'd have fretted and fretless 5s too. A matching pair of Wals would do nicely.

Yup, this is what I was getting at when I was whingeing about that Mavericks dirge. I think you probably worded it better than me

I'm 100% sure I couldn't come up with a bassline that would improve the song, because I'm firmly of the opinion that the song itself is beyond redemption. The bassline is the same few notes over and over again because the song is the same two chords over and over again -- this in itself wouldn't be so bad if the other parts of the song were more interesting, but the vocal line is just an uninspired drone too. For me, the only interesting aspect of the song is the horns -- everything else can be filed firmly under 'meh'. As I said, YMMV. I know some people love it, and for some reason it always fills floors at parties.

Are you going to ask the same question of everybody who has expressed a negative opinion in this thread so far?

If I'd been fired for not doing exactly what he wanted without any question whatsoever, then I'd have gladly walked. Call me a big softy but I like a band to be a democracy, not a dictatorship.

Oh, probably. My dislike for the song extends to the bassline. Same 5 notes over and over again. Yes, I know Simple Minds' Waterfront is just one note, but I'd rather play that all night than the feckin Mavericks thing even once. As always, YMMV.

I quite like the Bona bass, with a few reservations. The blunt headstock looks like it's had a bandsaw accident, and the angle of that G tuner is all wrong. And the ramp should be either clear acrylic or body wood, or not there at all. As it is, the huge expanse of black looks ugly. I quite like the body shape, with that tail cutaway that reminds me of Stanley Clarke's Spellbinder. But the world needs yet another P or J bass like it needs a hole in the head ozone layer.

In terms of repetitiveness, my bassline from hell is Dance The Night Away by the Mavericks. The song makes my skin crawl anyway, but the idea of playing that bassline almost makes me nauseous. OK I know it supports the song and isn't overplayed and all that, yeah yeah well shoot me, it's awful. Many years ago when the vocal talent in a band I was in announced at a rehearsal that we were going to do it (a unilateral decision, not a suggestion), I played my absolute veto. He was adamant, but so was I. It became quite a frank exchange of views in the end, especially when I told him that if he insisted on doing it at a gig, I would head to the bar for the duration of the song and they'd have to do it bass-less.

There's a bassline from yesteryear that irritates the hell out of me. It's like fingernails down a blackboard. Sets my teeth on edge. But it's nothing to do with dullness or repetitiveness... it's that it's so horrendously out of tune. I refer to this offering from the Godfather:

Bugatti the company were steadfastly Italian from 1909 to 1963 and again from 1987 to 1995. The current company bearing the name might be headquartered in France, but I think their history makes them rather more Italian than French, certainly spiritually.

Good tip, and very timely -- I'm thinking of getting some moulded plugs as a present to myself when I eventually get back to playing. I do sing BVs so I will need to bear this in mind.