Delberthot

When I was learning, it wasn't about how good I was, it was more about what I could learn next I was always going for the next unplayable song until I could nail it. I always remember being in a music shop as a spotty teenager really wishing I could play Sussudio. I completely forgot about it untit a couple of years later I came across a Phil Collins album and tried it again and found I could play it You're as good as you are - pretty unspectacular response but there ain't no figures you can put on 'goodness' like you can measure a car's 0-60. There's always going to be someone you think is better than you, no matter how long or hard you play.

I'm having my wife dump my ashes over Filey Brigg and then smash my gold Warmoth against the rocks a la the London Calling album cover

I've been told that I look like a god Budha is a god? I'm told I have go to bed eyes. The girls take one look at me and tell me to go to bed cos I look knackered I did manage to pull one night - the thing was that i was playing at the time but the keyboard player offered to fill in for a couple of songs while I danced with the girl in question. I need to add that we were playing at a wedding!

Personally, ask me a boring question and I'll give a boring answer but ask me the right question and you'll not get me to shut up. Possibly tired journalists asking the same tired questions and the musicians in question have been asked them so many times that what comes out is completely automatic and thus - boring. I have no time for 'bass players' as I consider myself a musician and part of a band. I love bass players that are part of a band and good musicians in their own right but have no time for the w@nky ones. You could play a million miles an hour but if the song shounds sh*t then you're wasting your time I also enjoy reading bass player and other musician biographies over actual interviews

As long as its small enough you should be alright - that's my own personal experience from ordering loads of stuff from them over the years

If you can't cut through with a Schroeder 1212L then you are playing far, far too loud as a band. Its the only cab I own whether for use as a monitor or to provide my out front sound when there's no PA I can understand the lack of bass from a smaller cab and from my own experience of owning one for 2 years, once the speakers settle in you do get more but you have to have a large cab to get any more bottom end. If you have to get something that'll go louder then I'd seriously advise getting ear plugs as you will definitely be doing yourself irrecoverable damage to your ears. Then again, I've never tried an Aguilar cab - they could be pish for all I know but definitely don't try and compare different cabs according to the size of the speakers. Incidentally, my 1212L replaced 2 Ashdown ABM115 cabs. Its clearer and far more punchy than the woolly behemoth. If you get the opportunity, try one at gig levels. Mine is unflappable against my guitarist who plays a Les Paul through a 120 watt Peavey 5150 combo. By the way I'm not trying to have a go at you, just that you'll be deaf as a post if you need something louder than this and don't protect your ears. Your audience will also be deaf after a while at those kinds of levels and you'll end up driving people away from your gigs.

Just got the chance to read the responses. The bass in question is my Squier Modified Fretless Jazz bass and the output is very similar to my Warmoth - ie, rather hot. I have the bass set with the bridge pickup on full and the neck one slightly lower. With the Warmoth, it'll let me play an F# on the G string. The main song in question is Billy Jean by Michael Jackson played in f# on the D string on the 4th fret The riff at the end of the Paul Young song 'I'm gonna tear your playhouse down' starts on the 15th fret so I know how high you can go.

I currently have a Boss OC-2 and have been enjoying using it but since recently investing in a fretless, it doesn't seem to track particularly well on any notes that are held. I know that Pino has used one for years but there's too much warble with the fretless. I'm guessing that I will need to look at poly octave pedals. Thing is, I really like the sound of the Boss - is there anything similar to it that will track better? I haven't tried an OC-3 so don't know if it sounds the same or not.

I'd personally be too embarrassed to let my friends see what an ar$e I'd made of this, never mind the whole world. What a Jack Danny

Just checked multimap and its possibly as far as it could be away from me otherwise I would have had it just for the 2x15" @r$e

And its now sold

And its gone

After last night's gig, I'm getting increasing fed up with the amount of cables and tangling thereof so am contemplating getting myself a good, lightweight combo. I use a Shuttle 6.0 into a Schroeder 1212L as both a monitor for one band and to provide my out front sound with another. Is there such a thing as a lightweight combo that could replace my current setup or should I be looking for a combo to use as a monitor with a cab added for the bigger gigs with no PA support?

I've got a Badass in my parts drawer. Do you think if I sat it in some vinegar for a couple of days I'd get £135 for it? Its even got a broken screw for that added 'mojo'

If you can't find what you want in a production bass then building your own from parts is going to be cheaper than going for the full custom build option. I played 50 odd basses before coming to the conclusion that my bass didn't exist and didn't want to go down the coffee table bass route so specced exactly everything that i liked about the basses I had previously and had it made. Warmoth parts are very high quality and the finishes are superb, better than any production bass I have owned. The necks are chunky due to being over engineered to be as stable as possible but still very playable. There's something very rewarding about putting together your own bass. Its going to be worth hee haw if you ever go to sell it so you have to make sure it is exactly what you want. Unfortunately, you don't get as much for your money at present as you were a couple of years ago. I think I built my Warmoth using gold Schaller parts and an SD quarter pounder for about £600 which is second hand US Fender money. The same spec would probably be around £800+ with the current exchange rate.

I don't like the nasaly Jaco, Manring etc sound, I much prefer a more Tony Franklin sound. In fact, I hate the sound of a fretless being played as a fretless unless its Pino playing it. I always go for a snappy, punchy sound and a combination of bridge pickup full, neck slightly lower, tone about half way and putting the bass up a couple of notches on the Shuttle gave me exactly that. I'm getting quite a lot of quieter notes further up the neck but that's purely due to it needing a proper setup as the notes are getting choked but a good set up will sort that out. I'm a very heavy handed player and the more I get into the gig, the harder I play so I may get myself a higher tension set of strings to cope with that. The TIs are fantastic and maybe by raising the action the amount required will imrpove the tension to the right amount for my playing. As soon as our keyboard player found out i was playing a fretless he brought out the lyrics to 'Wherever I lay my Hat' so it was underpants to brown as I haven't played that in about 6 or 7 years but i managed it ok. Another one we're going to start doing again is the Oleta Adams song 'Get There' which I believe is Pino again. Has a bit of a crazy fretless bass solo in the middle so I better get practicing.

Just back from a mammoth 6 hour wedding gig. I bought myself a new bass the other day on the spur of the moment. I've had the fretless bug for sometime now and I thought that instead of getting something expensive I would buy something cheaper and keep it in the house to satisfy my fretless cravings. Its one of these: 2 things I must point out are that I hate sunburst and I hate jazz basses - never been able to get a decent tone with them. I didn't have the chance to set it up properly but did put on a set of used TI flats this afternoon as I wanted to try and make my fingers last the night before any blisters set in. I began by having the neck pickup on full and the bridge picup backed off slightly as I can vaguely remember something about having both volumes up full results in a loss of volume for some reason. The sound was good but only good. I then decided to turn the neck pickup down slightly and put the bridge pickup on full and that is when it all changed. I've never had such a punchy, clear sound from a fretless - in fact there aren't many basses I've owned that were as punchy as this with frets and roundwound strings. I began the night thinking I would maybe use it for the first 2 songs but used it for the entire night. I cannot wait to give this a proper setup and when the flats have matured a bit and get out and do another gig with it. People say that they're good for the money and you can see that some of the components are cheap but I have to say that after a full 6 hour gig that bass is fantastic for any kind of money. I'm not saying that this bass is definitely a keeper but I'm beginning to see why a lot of fretless basses are Jazzes. I've never had a decent sound out of a fretted Jazz but perhaps the fretless Jazz is where my fretless voice is. The gold warmoth is the ultimate fretted bass to me and will never be replaced but I love this bass and it may be the start of a new quest to find my ultimate fretless bass. There's a couple for sale in the for sale section (funnily enough) and I'd heartily recommend getting one - you will be surprised

Ending tomorrow with a bid on it. I've never had so many watchers on any bass that I've ever sold on Ebay before

A small list of the basses I've owned over the past 20 years: Marlin Slammer (my first bass), Riverhead by Headway, Spector European, 5-string Stingray, 5-String T-Bass, Squier SQ Precision, Fender '51 Reissue Precision, Wesley clear 5-String, 5-String Bass Collection SB305, Hohner Fretless, Ibanez Fretless, 1968 Gibson EB2-D Copy, Epiphone Gothic Thunderbird, Shine 8-String (modified with stereo outputs, 1974 Rickenbacker 4001 copy, gibson EB-1 Copy, Bolt-on Rick 4001 copy, 2 Rickenbacker 4003s, Squier JV Precision,Bass Collection 4 string Speakeasy, Bass Collection SB312 fretless, Bass Collection SB465 5 string, Washburn XB126 6 string, Ibanez SR1006 6 string, Mazeti 8 string, Fender Geddy Lee Jazz bass, Fender MIM Precision, another Musicman Stingray 5 string, 30th Anniversary Stingray, 20th Anniversary Stingray, 1989 lined fretless Stingray, another Rickenbacker 4003, Modulus Flea bass, Warwick Thumb NT5, Aria MAB 5 string fretless, Yamaha TRB6 II fretless, another Musicman Stingray, another new Fender '51 reissue Precision, Squier Vintage modified TB Precision, Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass Fretless, Melody Gibson Grabber fretless copy, Warwick Corvette $$ 5 string, Warmoth '57 spec singlecoil P bass, Fender 1973 Telecaster Bass, Rickenbacker 4000, 2 Jazz copies, another 5 string see through blue defretted. I bought and sold the majority of these trying to find the perfect bass and in the end couldn't find it so had it made: Its the best parts from all the best basses I owned and its a million times better than any one of them. Nothing can touch it and, believe me, I've been trying to find something to trump it purely to see if there is anything better in the world. The short answer is that there is nothing better than this in my eyes. Every so often you'll see a bass appear in my signature at the bottom but it usually ends up having 'for sale' next to it. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it just can't beat the Warmoth

Apparently a technical glitch accoding to Ebay

When I was 11, my best friend at the time and myself entered into a talent show which involved miming along to a Bruce Springstein track. Another friend suggest I borrow his acoustic guitar and mime using that. We even got the Shadows moves and everything going. After the event, I found I enjoyed the sound of it and my earliest of memories is playing the beginning of the solo to 'its a hard life' by Queen. My friend offered to sell the guitar to me for £5 so I took it and played with it. I was then given a Japanese copy of a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic which is probably worth a fortune now (I sold it in the early 90s for £45 to I could get a setup done) Come Christmas it was time to choose that year's present from the Litlewoods Home Shopping Catalogue and being so keen to learn more and get myself a proper electric guitar I went straight to the guitar pages (I was still too young to be interested in the lingerie section at that time :brow: ) Everyone wanted me to get an electric guitar but I spotted a Marlin Slammer which looked exactly like the bass John Deacon used in the 'One Vision' video for the princely sum of £99. It was soon ordered and I found myself listening more and more to the bass until come Christmas day I was able to plug my shiny new bass into my Squier 15w guitar amp via a Brian May style curly lead and play the beginning of 'Another One Bites the Dust'. I loved playing so much that I would do it at every opportunity, annoying neighbours, family and anyone within earshot. Although I rarely, if ever, pick up the bass in the house, I still love it just as much and am still glad that I chose this over the guitar. I've bought a couple of guitars and tried to stick with it to see if I could learn but ended up giving up and am not in the least bit regretful that I didn't take up the guitar. When I play, I go into my own little dream world. Its my chance to properly express myself and be as one with my chosen instrument. Sounds a bit shmaltsy but that's exactly how I feel now. I can play every weekend and I still get the excitement building up the day before a gig. I never want to give up, just find lighter gear and make sure that I keep the valve monster at bay.

Give me just a second No In fact I can't find any of my listings on Ebay right now. Whenever I go into them they either show as being removed or technical difficulty. I've emailed Ebay and if they've removed them I will be seeking mucho recompense as everything I'm selling is due to finish on Sunday