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A small rant because sometimes you just have to. I frequently look through the sale thread here and Gumtree/eBay and various other selling platforms, and keep an eye out for certain things I would like to own again or like to try. Recently a few things have popped up and I have got all excited until I see photos or the description which basically outlines how the owner has done loads of (unnecessary in my opinion) modifications to the instrument to 'make it better' and now they want basically what the instrument cost new, or close to it, or even in some cases, more than it was in the first place. I am sorry, but this seriously p*sses me off, why would you badly fit a load of hardware, damage the bass, sand or refinish it yourself and then expect to get so much money for the thing?? Worst of all is that most of the time they don't even keep the original parts to put it back to how you actually want it. I have seen tuners fitted wonky and the person didn't even go to the effort of buying tuners that retrofitted, botched logo changes (seriously who are you trying to kid) huge amounts of damage through use and low and behold its £20 less than I could buy new one with a years warranty! That is all, I am in a bad mood today.

Trying to buy basses 'without' an Adam Clayton signature is becoming difficult, I think the ones without will be worth a few quid in years to come!

Said Constable Yawn....

Fretting hand....(you need to be playing through your amp for this). Just spend 10-20 minutes putting gradual fretting pressure with fretting hand and hear when notes play/sound cleanly. Start with no or very little pressure and add pressure until note sounds. This is all the fretting pressure you need...any more is wasting muscle energy and may cause fatigue and badly intonated notes. The thing is to be constantly aware of this (minimal fretting pressure) when playing. Unfortunately, when people start concentrating on what they are doing with their non fretting hand that the fretting technique goes pearshape and they start to overpress again.

Ok. Well I got mine the other day but so far have only been able to give it the briefest five minutes check over. Bear in mind that I'm learning the bass at the moment so don't really have a wealth of experience to fall on. What I would say is that almost certainly this is designed for guitarists, not bassists. Yes it will work with a bass - it doesn't need to hear chords in learn mode to work out a rhythm, it will respond to a bass line and then you can turn the bass down completely to just hear the drums but as a drum machine alone it's not that brilliant. They are not that convincing and as Al points out the rhythms it produces are random so for my needs as a practise tool it has limited value. What I need is something that will produce a consistent rhythm every time I practise the same piece, not a different rhythm each time to keep me on my toes. Would I have ever paid full price for one of these? Hell no, but for the £40 I splashed on it its an OK bit of fun. A dedicated drum machine would be much more useful though.

My phone has auto-corrected to worse things than that in the past!!!

I'm amazed this is a thing! ha ha ha! It's a bit like saying that an able bodied person prefers walking with their left leg rather than the right.

Well, you never know. There might be new BC members that don't know my position. Plus the whole "Proud B List Bar Band Player" is sort of a new tag phrase for me. (: Blue

So - lots of fun today First of all, I had to get that silly vertical cable to lie down. You wouldn't think Schaller mainly deal in guitars and basses...how many 3" - 4" deep basses do you know that could have a control chamber that would accommodate this design 'feature'? And the only way of doing that is to invalidate the warranty on what is a very expensive bit of kit by taking off the very stiff, very thick sealed rubber boot: And while we're on the subject of 'I love Schaller, but...', if I turn round the guitar to see the other side, let me give you a quick quiz... Question: Between the two types of knob: nicely powder coated solid brass knurled, allen-key secured, standard 6mm shaft beauties push on, plastic, non-standard 3mm shaft, small top hat ...which is the dirt cheap Harley Benton offering and which is part of the Schaller flagShip top of the range (and very expensive) piezo pre-amp mixer offering? Yes - the nice knobs are the Harley Benton ones. Honestly, I DO love Schaller - great service and some great, great products but, if you're looking, fellas...come on...you are better than this! So, I found this in my bits box: And the bottom left hand bit has an i.d. of 3mm ...and when you put it on the sanding wheel, you can get this - a 6mm o.d. (you make knobs, Schaller - yes, 6mm...the standard size of the knobs you supply to millions of us!): And that fits on the non-standard 3mm shaft of the three way rotary: On which the nasty cheap Harley Benton knob itself fits: Call me uncouth, but I think that looks better : And then came the rest of the day (pretty much 12 hours) with the myriad of tweaks, and drills, and earthing and tinning and checking and planning, until: And - knock me down with a feather - it all bloody works! And the hatch still fits. And I'm going to go and have a long sit down....

The original bassist in Saxon, played open as much as possible, so the other hand could be held aloft in rock salute! \m/ ?

There is negligible difference in tone between open or fingered note. The reason to avoid open strings is when it comes to transposing: Far easier to transpose a riff/lick/line etc if all notes are fingered.

Purchased a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 from me a few months back. Nice chap, very easy to deal with, payment up front, no hassell - would recommend. Thanks Freddie

I know this will open a can of worms but personally i just don't get the fuss??? Admittedly he was unique and extremely talented but some of the stuff in my opinion is just a muddled up row....millions of tuneless notes played at extreme pace. Give me Jamerson anytime a master of Groove....i can feel my ears burning already lol.....Jaco played some memorable stuff but just not a fan of that nonsense noodling sorry

Haven't seen anything about this here so I thought I'd put the word out, currently on Kickstarter - For the lazy - it's a 3 channel looper/mixer, each with High and Low Pass filters, send level, different filter slopes, and crucially, internal sends to the other two channels. On the surface it sounds like a boring utility pedal, but it opens up a lot of possibilities that led me to order the super DIY version for a modest $60 (incl. shipping), though a full version will run you about $250 I think. Multiband distortion with completely different pedals is a big one, but the possibilities with time-based effects are what really appeal to me, the idea of stacking delays and reverbs in controlled feedback loops makes my inner post-rock/ambient nerd go all a quiver. It's 200% funded so it's definitely happening, and VFE are a solid company so you're not throwing your money into a black hole (like some of the other pedal kickstarters...) Take a look, or don't.

I've got a Streamer Stage 1 and a Streamer JM, they are very different beasts. I like the Streamer shape a lot, it's exceedingly comfortable, even if some of the contours aren't to everyone's tastes. As mentioned already, the only difference between the FNA and Streamer JM is the body shape. Both are bolt-on with the same electronics.

Love it. You already have a bass collection! 10/10!

I know what you mean. It's hard to judge on videos and sounds clips. It seems you need to try a few different types before you decide. Although if you buy a used one and aren't happy you should be able to sell it for the same. To be honest you could get two identical models of any bass and you'll probably find they sound / feel slightly different! Good luck on your quest!

just installed Firefox and im in fine, thanks Phil Starr!

I'm in the fens in South Lincs - I bet it's flatter here than your zero fret (unless you have a board of less than 12" radius )

Yep 4 notes that can be found easily regardless where the left hand is before or after, for example im glad of the open A on the instrumental break In freak and the 2nd part of the good times line , that's just 2 examples of one bands songs

'Following' is different to 'commented on' - they are now two separate things. Confused me too at first. I tend to check my 'new posts that I've commented on' and only ask for alerts to things i've manually followed that I need to keep track of better.

Opinion, yes. Sort of means a reason for or against. Where was your opinion ? You just posted a big yawn. If you see a thread title that has no interest for you, move along. No one forced you here

In the good old days I used to value open string playing as it allowed you to smoke a bit of your fag with your left hand (then push it back under the E string between the nut and machine head). My old precision has burn marks on the headstock where the fags burned too far down). I've always found that open strings are harder to damp and can ring out louder than fretted. I had an old Burns bass with a zero fret, but it didn't make much of a difference.

Class BC actually

Your OP does not mention whether you've already visited a site called basschat.co.uk where there actually is a forum section for gear, in which a forum called "Bass Guitars" contains dozens or even hundreds of treads were all the info on the 4H is readily available. Other than that, it's reported to sound closer to a StingRay, and the H pup is indeed positioned in the StingRay spot. Somehow, the back of my mind seems to tell me the 4H does not have the 4-band EQ, but I'm sure someone will correct me if that is wrong.

Don't forget to post what gear you are using

Loads of admiration for the guy. I've read his biog, watched clips of him play with my mouth agape, wandered how marvelous it must have been to be in his presence, acknowledged his influence, and understood that he changed the world of bass playing.... ...but I don't really like any of his tunes. Also, Dry Cleaner from Des Moines would have been better through Jamerson's taste filter. IMO, obviously.

Totally understand, Duroc!

I was going to say that the scratchplate screws look old. A faker rarely has old scratchplate screws knocking about. Oh, I appear to have said it! A funny thing, the English language...

Nice looking bass. Looks like it was originally Olympic White... (possibly black looking on the right edge of the neck pocket) Can't imagine the racing stripes on a Mikey Way would be easily removed to leave a finish like that, and the Mikey Way seems more silver to me than this. EDIT - what's the pickup rout like?

I admire his skill and think his playing with Joni Mitchell was exquisite. I do love Weather Report though for me the draw is Zawinul not Jaco. And I probably enjoy Alphonso Johnson’s playing more. Jaco’s solo work tends to leave me a bit cold though and always feels a bit self indulgent to me. However impressive it is. Perhaps for me he’s just a player I prefer when working within constraints rather than free to go where he wanted...

I've said it before, but I'm amazed at how neck dimensions seem to vary so much I used to think there were P necks and J necks.... and that was it! How wrong was I? I once owned a 70's P which was heavy as hell, and had a really wide, really deep neck Just the other week, I went to try another 70's P, and that wasn't particularly heavy, and the neck was a tad wider than my more modern P basses, but not overly deep I've played others which have deep necks, but are not too wide, and others which have quite wide necks that aren't overly deep.... It demonstrates that if you're a bit fussy about neck dimensions (either way) you really do need to try a bass out BTW Bridgehouse..... lovely P bass drool......

And yet here you are

I remember walking into the drum-hall att Musikmesse for the first time... Danne McKenzie in the Wincent Drumsticks-booth described it best: - When the doors open, it´s like in Lord of the rings-movie when they´re in the mines and the orches are first heard and then gets closer and closer and louder and louder...

Hi, again James (it's alright folks, we've pm'd on a different topic) When I get a linky tag thing from @Norris I know I HAVE to respond! Tru-oil. Wonderful stuff. And like always, there are choices. First of all, unless you've already ordered a bottle, a 3oz bottle will generally do at least 2 guitars or basses so plenty for one even with trial and error repeats Used on unstained wood, I would echo what @Bridgehouse said - use tru-oil with sandpaper to create a slurry. Wipe it off after a few minutes and the slurry acts as a sealer and grain filler. Repeat a few times and progressively drop down to, say 250 grit, and now, not just wipe it off but vigorously buff it off. Quite quickly you will get to a beautiful, quite durable, silky smooth satin finish like this: I do ALL my necks this way....it has to be felt to be believed Next option is to do the above just as a grain filler stage but then just apply coats of tru-oil wiped on (I use cheap household microfibre cloths) and left to dry without wiping or buffing. After a number of coats, with a wet sanding of 1500 to 2000 wet and dry every two or three coats to flatten any cumulative ripples or dust buggies and then a final couple of coats as the final semi-gloss. I say semi-gloss because tru-oil does dull down a touch after a few weeks. This one was done that way: For stained woods you do also actually have a few options: Stain it, apply a couple of coats of tru-oil left to dry overnight to act as a sealing coat, then apply wiped on coats as above, doing the first light sanding (1000 grit used wet) after, say, the fourth coat (so you dont sand into and through the stain) then carry on as above building a semi-gloss build-up I'm probably one of the few people who do it, but I have started doing the 'slurry and buff' approach with stained woods. You have to be gentler, but I've found that the slurry takes stain with is so actually, unless you are too harsh, you don't end up with bare unstained patches. Takes a bit more practice, but you can get some decent results (this used to be white): Hope that helps rather than further confuses! Andy

I think that we are perhaps getting away a little from the point of the OP. Like Bilbo, I aspire to pay better gigs with better musicians (but not any form of jazz of course), even though most of the time I play in bars for so-so money (like Blue). Certainly, it is the times when I’ve shared a stage with people like Lance Lopez for half an hour, where I was a bit out of my comfort zone but still managed to hang, that I remember with the most satisfaction. It makes you think that perhaps you could play at a higher level if the opportunity arose. I think that the thing about playing the local gigs with some guys who are perhaps not quite as experienced are that you learn to cover for them and play around the weak points of their playing. Hopefully you can make them sound good and even get them to play better, just as superior players make you play to a higher standard. Of course some just aren’t up to it and you have to try and avoid them where possible…

Wembley Loudspeakers are your friend. They can test it and do any repairs needed. http://www.wembleyloudspeaker.com/

Yep. I've gigged this setup half a dozen times now. I love it. The FR800s are so good that you can go from crystal clean to huge overdrive and everything in between and they just lap it up. The helix is so versatile and the options are endless. I love the versatility of the eqs and the fact I can have whatever I want to hear on stage and if necessary something totally different out front. I'm so happy with it that I just sold my Aguilar DB750 rig knowing it won't get used again.

^^ They are also good if you have short pedals next to tall ones or if your board is generally cramped - saves you doing sideways foot manoeuvres.

Yes, and also because they are sticking out higher than the metal switch less chance of accidentally changing the settings of the effect.

Jimmy Lea, ex of Slade, on Sunday afternoon at The Robin in Bilston. He was premiering his new DVD of his one and only solo gig. Did a one hour Q&A session with the crowd, spoke at length of his current battle with prostate cancer and how his hormone treatment affects his breathing, his throat and fitness due to muscle wastage. He then excused himself to "look for some notes" and came back on with his treasured black Strat and with the help of backing tapes and much support from the 300 crowd he belted through four Slade classics. I didn't see a dry eye in the house. What a bloody trooper!!

Very easy transaction and a good seller to deal with. Everything sorted over PM in a couple of days and now I have a Sub n Up.

[quote name='sifi2112' timestamp='1501277991' post='3343846'] Pics !! ... And congrats .. I bet she's a beaut ... would love to get myself one some day [/quote] Here you go:

Clive bought a pedal from me. Great comms and super quick payment, couldn't ask for a smoother transaction Deal with confidence.

Bought Stephen's markbass 102p cab the other week there. No stress and all, smooth transaction throughout and 100% as described. Deal with in confidence!

Did a trade with Clive ,p bass for a very tasty schechter , Clive alias T-bay is a top fella ,deal with confidence people He's a credit to the forum👍

Steve just popped over to meet his new fretless p bass and to bring me my new stingray5. Super pleasant transaction and he sure takes good care of his toys

Did a swap with Steve - Sandberg California JM4 for monitors. Very nice guy. Friendly, welcoming...a great chat. Wish I could have stayed longer to be honest... Thanks! Davejon

Steve bought a rack light from me. It was all very straight forward, quick decision and payment, and let me know when it arrived. It's great to deal with someone who knows what he wants and doesn't muck about, so definite recommendation from me.