Delberthot

I've always gone for the heaviest B available so 135 on my SUB using my usual gauge D'addarios. Years ago I used the Nathan East Elites strings which had a 137 for the B If you like what you have then stick with it, if you have a lighter touch then you'll get away with a lighter B The 105 E sting has a tension of 38lbs and the 135 B is 35lbs compared to 48.35 for the D. Once I've used my supply of strings then I'd consider buying a 4 string set plus a single 145 for the B which has a tension of 41.5lbs

I got a crazy deal on D'addario strings on Bax but a lot of the time you need to be there at the right time as I've found that their deals can change quickly. I bought 4 twin packs of D'addario EXL165s for £26 a pack (£13 a set). At the moment Strings Direct are £40 for the twin packs

Always love to watch Buddy play but this video is the same as ones that appear on Youtube with Billy Sheehan or Stu Hamm. They don't play like this all the time, these clips are there to show that they can play like this should they want to It was when watching this video the first time that I came across this Since then Steve Gadd has become one of my favourite drummers

Waterstone are still doing them as far as I know. Tom Peterssons previous bass before the Gretsch was the TP-12. I had one very similar to this with the Tennessee name on it (who were famous for 8-15 sting basses on Ebay - yes that 15 string ) http://www.waterstoneguitars.com/bass-tp12.html

One thing about playing one is that you either have to keep it fairly simple of have a really good technique otherwise it ends up sounding like someone pushing a piano down some stairs

If this was the kind of thing I did a lot of I would have a preamp pedal with my sound in it that I could take a DI directly from. In my case it would be a GK Plex

Jeff Ament - if you want to hear a 12ver on it's own then listen to Jeremy. That's his own version of the B12A. The "A" stood for acoustic and the regular version looked like this: Unless you play it really low with a plectrum I always thought it looked like a big cumbersome bass to play. In the early 2000's there were loads of cheaper 12vers floating around - most made in the same factory that makes the Dean Rhapsody. I bought one from the USA when the exchange rate was 2:1 and used it for entire rock gigs and I don't use a plectrum.

I saw them 3 or 4 years ago and they were one of the best bands I've seen live

Tom Petersson's original basses were made by Hamer. The idea being that Cheap trick wanted the biggest sound they could get. The singer Robin Zander occasionally plays a 12 string guitar. He still uses one to this day and his most recent one is a beauty - a Gretsch White Falcon the price tag is eye watering but I think in terms of looks it might even beat the Chandler Royale

Practice as much as you can with it. Try playing songs in different positions to get a feel for where everything is.

I too own my dream bass. Everything on my Sterling just feels right. I try other basses from time to time but none of them have the same feel. The balance, sound, string tension, weight and feel of the bass is just incredible. It was originally intended as a compromise from a Stingray 5 with the ceramic pickup as I had been having shoulder troubles so wanted something a bit lighter but sounding similar. It doesn't sound exactly the same but I prefer the sound of this. I haven't touched the controls in about 18 months and it stays permanently in series mode. Strings seem to last a long time as well - I always use D'addarios and in December 2016 got a great deal on 4 twin packs that were intended to do me for all of 2017. I'm about to put the third set on I use it for all rehearsals and gigs and only need to change the battery every year at the beginning of April which is the anniversary of buying it in 2016. There's still life in the battery but I don't want to have to keep checking it every gig to make sure it will last to the end of the night I really must take some proper pictures of it but here's a blurry one from hogmanay

There's loads of bands that I like but invariably there are tracks on many albums that I skip past when listening to them. There is one exception to this and that is Queen. I've been listening to them since Live Aid and I've realised that I can listen to all of their albums all the way through except a couple of tracks on The Game. Including all of the live albums. Excluding compilations that's 24 out of 25 albums I forget where I'm going with this, oh aye, that's a lot of albums - can anyone beat that? (Yes I'm bored out of my gourd)

I don't hold the kind of parties that serve little cubes of cheese and pickled onions so I've never owned a cocktail stick but I always have superglue. To avoid getting it on the bass I coat the threads of the screws and I've never had one come out but they are still easy to remove if you ever sell the bass on.

I developed a staccato technique over the years to compensate for big wooly sounding cabs so that I could hear myself properly and make it sound more punchy. I don't use a plectrum and I've never tried palm muting. I've just realised that there's a song I play where I drop the E to D for the bridge. I then play the open D for a full bar then flip the lever back up to play the E for a further full bar so 2 bars in total.

You need some amount of sustain available, you don't just want a note to stop dead as soon as you've played it. Unless there's something I'm missing and sustain is something completely different? e.g. you play the note and it rings out for as long as you need it to? If so then I'd rather have the option to use it than not have it available but unless you stick mutes or bits of sponge under the strings then I can't imagine any bass not having enough unless it was a turkey

"It's Better To Regret Something You Did Than Something You Didn't do" Deep Kick by the Chilis from One Hot Minute I've done a lot of stupid stinky poo in my time but I don't regret anything. It's all part of learning and maturing

Here are my current two

Why stop at just the hardware when you can have gold frets, sparkly gold body and gold strings

If you get one it will fit in a cajon bag along with your amp and cables. I carry mine in a cajon bag by hand but it also came with shoulder straps

Bagpipes - surely the instrument of the devil. Sounds like a bag of angry cats. Dreadful out of tune wailing noise and ridiculously loud when played indoors.

I always laugh when I think that I've had everything from A to Z apart from Alembic and Zon Primarily a 4 string player I've just bought a 5 which is my first in a couple of years. I still have a craving for a Hamer B12A despite having no real use for one

But it does mean that you can have the most expensive and exclusive party The figure I heard quoted for hiring the venue for the weekend was £15,000. It's normally £27,000 for a wedding just for the venue and waiting/bar staff.

Instead of things you want how about things you are confident that you will never ever buy again? For me there are three: Fretless basses - ideal for certain situations but don't suit my punchy aggressive style of playing. I still love the way they look though. I still have a £50 Lindo fretless precision bass in my livingroom as a reminder - any time I even contemplate one I pick it up and it all comes back to me. Heavy Cabs - I had a flashback this morning back to a gig lifting 2 37kg Ashdown ABM410s up several flights of stairs and telling myself then that was the last time (and it was). Heaviest were 2 46kg Trace v-type cabs or the Ashdown MAG810 that I had that weighed 57kgs. Effects - don't have any use or need for them and just spend my time messing with them during gigs then sell them on the next day

I have a hankering after an Epiphone Jack Casady Blue Royale bass

Has "lifting the stone" been modified by the profanity filter? And sorry I meant spinning in his gravy, he likes a good roast on a Sunday