asingardenof

Yes, the Sires are that good

I the words of the prophets, I had a doozy of a day. This is a long one so tl;dr version is my car broke down on the way to the gig so I got towed there, the gig went great and then I spent all night waiting for the RAC. First gig of the year and we were playing at the East and West Ardsley Social Club near Dewsbury. I was very excited, and even bought myself a new shirt for the occasion. Well, things did not go to plan for me. Half a mile away from the venue all of the warning lights on my dashboard came on, along with a warning of an engine malfunction and I believe the full beam headlights as someone coming the other way flashed me. I managed to pull into a bus layby and turned the engine off, after which the dashboard and lights stayed on but the engine wouldn't start and I couldn't close the windows or open the boot. After resisting calls from the band to have someone pick me and my gear up and abandon my car at the roadside, I suggested if I got towed I'd be able to get my gear out through the backseat and would call the RAC at halftime. Our drummist Mick and a bloke from the club came out with the shortest tow rope ever and a towing eye, and we very gingerly made our way to the venue with me trying very hard not to crash into the back of Mick's Range Rover. Mick took the turn into the venue too tight though, which snapped the tow rope and meant I had to be pushed to a parking space. We were only about half an hour to kick off at this point so I hastily assembled my rig (ABM atop Two10S, with the P-bass used for the first time in a while with my Sire still to receive it's new Sadowsky preamp), and with no opportunity for soundcheck (or "tonight's office" photo) we began. Someone in our following very helpful told us we were a bit loud so we all dropped the volume slightly and all was well. The crowd, other than the twentysomethings in our following, were very subdued and at halftime we debated cutting new tune Club Foot from the second set as it might not go down very well, but we figured if nothing else it would be a paid rehearsal so opted to include it and it went down pretty well. Our second set is a lot more energetic than our first and we were having a great one. We even got three encore calls which was surprising as we usually only manage one, maybe two. I was caught on the hop by Mick launching straight into Chelsea Dagger for our second and just managed to grab a pick in time to start where I should. Then we were demanded to play A Town Called Malice again, so I was a bit broken by the end. Afterwards I resisted further invitations by the band to crash on various sofas as my car was still unlocked, and with north of £1500 worth of gear in it I didn't want to leave it unattended, albeit in a well-lit and CCTV-monitored car park. So from 11pm I sat and waited for the RAC. And waited. Then waited some more, with a final burst of waiting after dawn. Finally the recovery patrol arrived at 7.30 and managed to get my now completely dead car to start off a jump. After dumping all my gear at home I left the car outside a local garage ready to call them tomorrow to get a confirmatory diagnostic of a possible ECU failure. Then it was home for some sleep. Hoping for a quick and inexpensive resolution to the car woes before the next gig in a fortnight. I had such a good day on Friday, but yesterday was a day full of finding out the bonus I'll be getting for getting chartered will now be ringfenced for car repairs.

Fun fact, the nut width on both the Precision and Jazz 5s is the same. I suspect they're actually the same necks with different labels.

He's touring with Ola Englund later this year, with two gigs in the UK.

It's arriving today so am hoping to get it in the bass before my next gig after tomorrow, which is at the end of the month. I'll be sure to take photos and there'll be a demo video at some point.

Now you're just splitting hairs 😂

The bible is strangely quiet on the love of basses, so I think we're probably safe!

The love of money is the root of all evil. Money isn't inherently evil, but what people choose to do with it certainly can be.

The Squier Precision in my profile pic is my oldest. Not my first, as that was a Hohner Rockwood Pro I got for my 18th birthday, but I part-exed it for the Squier as it had annoying dead spots on the neck, and I fancied buying a "proper" bass with some student loan money I had burning a hole in my bank account - this was 1998 so the days when it was an optional thing you had to apply for and got paid it as a lump sum. Still have it, play it, gig it and love it.

I wouldn't necessarily say one was easier to play than the other, but I don't play that quickly whereas I understand that those that do tend to prefer the slightly narrower string spacing of the Jazz.

As someone has mentioned above it's kind of an umbrella term for lots of different styles, rather than a rigidly defined singular genre.

Oh god, I'd forgotten about George Strait. The missus is something of a fan which means I've listened to him a lot more than I'd have ever wanted to. If I have to listen to him sing about his oceanfront property in Ah-Ri-Zoooor-Na one more time I'll go postal - Lee Sklar playing on that track is its only redeeming feature.

I think they've developed it mainly for people looking to upgrade the MetroExpress, as everything will fit nicely in the standard Sadowsky control cavity. Honestly I'll probably just cut it and solder the two ends together as the pickup and ground wires will need soldering anyway so two more wires won't make a huge amount of difference.

It's basically intended to be country as country used to be without all the glitz, glamour, homogeneity and mediocrity that's been associated with "mainstream" country for decades. I'm using "country" as a catch-all term including bluegrass and other American folk genres or sub-genres, but if you swap it out for "Americana" then that's where we're at.

First gig of the year on Saturday!

Unfortunately not an option, but I've watched enough Youtube vids where people have upgraded to know that this is the direction I want to go. It's already winging its way to me from Germany so it's a bit late to back out now regardless 😅

For those who haven't seen my other post it looks like I'll be replacing the preamp in my Sire V7 owing to a broken pot spindle and a desire to make life easier on myself than trying to replace the pot on the PCB. I've seen the suggestion of supergluing it back on but think that would only be a temporary solution if I did that, plus I've been toying with upgrading for a while as I've never been a massive fan of the Sire preamp, both of the sound and the complexity (I'm a simple soul and endless variability makes my brain stop braining). So having done a bit of research I've decided to go with a Sadowsky onboard preamp as a replacement, not just because it sounds amazing but the fact that it looks like it's completely solderless these days means I don't have to go hunting for a soldering iron to borrow. My only question is in regards to the battery harness provided with the preamp which comes with a pre-installed fitting that connects to the control unit. For anyone who's done this upgrade does that connector fit through the hole between the battery compartment and the control cavity on the Sire, and if so is it long enough? Any other issues I should be aware of before taking the plunge?

Willow has done some rockier stuff in the past too, presumably inspired by her mother, which wasn't awful.

"Soft" is a misnomer, it's still pretty hard, and from what I remember of my old Squier VM70s Jazz it's heavy AF.

I think this is the crux of it, Gadd was caught because he was careless. How many more are out there who know more about what precautions they need to take to stay hidden and thus who may never be caught?

Given how a lot of them are driven this would explain a lot.