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@chris_b Not treating your customers like mugs or insulting them? Showing some expertise? Just trying to make a sale with knowledge and interest rather than assuming you deserve it? Not telling the customer what they want without listening to their actual needs? Those things cost nothing. I'd rather shop locally, but I'm not going to be treated like a mug in the process.

A few weeks ago me and a mate went to a couple of gear shops in Bristol. My mate wanted to buy some for of drum machine. He'd narrowed it down to the Roland Aira TR-8, the TR-09 and the Arturia DrumBrute. We went into PMT first, they didn't have the DrumBrute in stock. But the guy was mega enthusiastic, without being annoying, he gave a brief and knowledgeable rundown of the workings of the TR-8 and then left us to it, popping back every 10 mins to answer questions etc. We had a quick poke about with the TR-09, but counted it out. Chatted about gigs and stuff with the PMT guy for about 20 mins and then we left. We then headed to Elevator Sounds, a synth shop a mile or so away. After being stood in the shop for 15 mins looking at things the owner sighed, looked up from his laptop and asked if we wanted to try anything. My mate asked about the DrumBrute they had on display. Owner sighed again, wandered over, switched it on and pointed at some headphones. He then went back to his laptop. Meanwhile I was looking at all the modular synth stuff. He had a used module I wanted at a decent price. I asked about it, he replied with no enthusiasm "urgh, If you want it that means I'll have to get it out of the rack... "Don't bother" I said I'm not interested now. I asked my mate if he was getting the Drumbrute. In a loud voice he said "F**k this guy, we'll go back to PMT". and off we went. I'll never go back to Elevator Sounds. EDIT: The guy lost nearly £600 in 2 easy sales.

Is that Anton Du Beke on Les Paul as well? 🤔

Yep, they made the Squier PB-331 in black, white and sunburst. They also pop up slightly earlier than the E-series... below is mine, it's an A-series dated '85 (plus, I believe, Fender Japan made them in late '84 under the Squier JV series, though likely not exported... and they also came as regular Fender Japan models, but that's another can of worms). Great little basses.

Me - Do you sell Rotosounds? Them - Yes Me - Why?

I'm not wasting my time with a shrink when I could be running through the streets with ten mini capes flowing in the breeze behind me.

I've just ordered ten. With a five pound saving on each one I've just saved fifty quid in a matter of minutes. I can now get a 'free' set of flats with the money I've saved, and still have some left over.

So yes, anyway - this was today... The songs are coming together, so I had a bit of time to do some A/B-ing. Basically, as they have the same pre, the characteristics are the same - the richness & clarity. But the WB-100 is bigger and 'bloomier', whereas the R-400 is more focussed. So no surprises there, then...

Sorry Mate, but that's a contradiction. He either does a good job, or the frets are buzzing. You can't have both. Don't know what he had it for, but if it needs adjustment it would have taken nothing to do it. If the frets need leveling, he should have called you and got your agreement to do it while he had it.

I kinda feel sorry for the staff in music shops. I also feel enraged about the staff in music shops. I remember having a good chat with one of my friends (somebody who has worked in the one of the music shops in the midlands for many, many years). I said it annoyed me that whenever you go into a music shop and ask to try something out or be shown how something work, 9 times out of 10, the staff are clearly winging it. They have no idea how or what the device/software does... and even start telling you a load of horse shizz in the hopes of selling you something. His response to me was that the guys in shops cannot possibly know everything about everything they sell - and it looks worse because customers have often done research before getting to the shop (who would have thought eh?). I said that I agreed - but even the nominal level of understanding is rarely displayed. What angers me is that these same shop staff are usually sitting on their derrières - they could be learning about the products that they are selling in the times where the shops are quiet. I understand that not every member of staff can not be clued up on everything - so how about divvying up the products so there is at least one member of staff that has some understanding. I would have a lot more respect for a member of staff that says to me, "I can't help with the product in depth - but if you wait for xyz, they will be able to take you through it all in detail...." It's funny - the desire to be clued up seems to have vanished. A guy I knew, sadly no longer with us, could never afford any of the equipment that he was interested in but had a real passion for synths. This was back in the day before all the information was available to download on the manufacturers websites. He would often contact the manufacturers and purchase the operating instructions and tech manuals just so he could learn about the products that ultimately, he could never afford. Anyway, cut a long story short, he used to go into shops to play on this gear - and his knowledge of everything blew the shops away - especially when they found out that he was showing them all the advanced and deep editing features. Before long, he had given up his job of fruit machine repairs and went into music retail. Within 6 months, after the synth reps came in and saw what this guy was capable of, they were fighting over him to join them. Shortly before his death (very sad botched appendix operation), he was consulting on the embedding programming aspect of much of the stuff found in modern DSP. I often think about him - and his passion for learning - compared to the guys selling stuff that they haven't spend 30 seconds looking at or even having a brief look through the instruction manuals. It's though it should be a given that anything should be instantly usable to the nth degree with zero learning curve. Very sad. So yeah, it upsets me that the selling staff are mostly clueless about what they are selling...

There's an album i haven't heard in a while - it was brilliant tho wasn't it? Must get on Amazon and find a copy...

We used to play Girl Like You by Edwin Collins. Practically a one note bass line for 4 mins. I used to read a book during that one. Audiences liked it though.

If it's like I'm visualising it's reasonably common, though a pic would help to confirm. I've seen it on basses and guitars at all prices points (cheapys, Warwicks, US Fenders amongst many others) and it's simply where the wood has moved. Being three different pieces of wood they can all move at different rates and directions. There isn't a fix unfortunately, but it usually doesn't result in anything too disastrous. In extreme cases the wood can burst at the seams, but 9 out of 10 times you just get the lines like your'e seeing now as the wood has already moved to the position it wants to be in. People don't really think of body wood moving/warping, but it's actually quite common. That being said, if sending it back is an option, I'd definitely do so.

It'd be really useful if people described how they use their boards and the logic of the signal path. There's so much variety and so little overlap between boards, that I often have a really hard time imagining what combinations of pedals are being used and what kind of noise can be achieved.

Can I join in? Some wonderful suggestions here and so much I can learn from all of them. This little gem also springs to mind

Saw this on Instagram the other day - not the usual “any good for metal” finish...

I had to...

Hi guys, my new band have recorded an EP recently, and we’ve just put our first single on Soundcloud. With it being a cover/mashup, does anyone have any idea what the score is with licensing/permission? You can check out the track here if you are interested: Thanks!

Just taken delivery of a BSW from Skinner and I'm on holiday this week - I haven't had so much fun for a long time! It's brilliant and ridiculous in equal measure and, far from putting me off, I'm delighted that I can see no reasonable applications for it in the foreseeable future other than contributing to the breadth of my grin. Win!

Basswhisper?

We're all different; I can handle being unhappy. I can't handle not gigging. Blue

Could be relly useful if you were a sandblaster who liked to noodle at lunchtime?

Tot a malmsteen wannabe, or any rock or metal player, the songs you name are a yawnfest and would rather gnaw their ears and digits off than play them. You may think that sort of music is the dogs' shiny bits but to many of us it's lift music's anal seepage. People eh?

Ok, could someone tell me what's the real use of this cover ? Maybe for those living in castles to match the carpet on their stairs...

I've just ordered one of these (on a whim). My Mate has just got one and raves about it, even his Dingwall sounds better apparently. Hoping it will replace my BDDI. I realised ive been using the BDDI mainly for EQ, as i have a Pork Loin for dirt, so having even more EQ is going to be fantastic.......in theory. Not a cheap thing to buy just for a bit of EQ, but it does look lovely IMO, especially those red knobs lol. Oh, and @dood, yet more money spent after watching one of your video reviews ;-)

1590a Big Muff kit now available from pedalparts.co.uk if anyone is interested (no affiliation). Looks a fiddly blighter!

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I’d love a sunburst Fender Japan model with a tort guard...

One of the best voices ever.

I agree. If I had PA backup I wouldn’t have pushed mine so hard. The fact I know I can use it without PA to me is a good thing, though I do think if that were the norm then I’d avoid it! As a backup it’s perfect for my “loud” gigging situations and for my “less loud” situations I can use it as the main head if I want to

Albatross (Fleetwood Mac) takes some beating.

That's what I told her!

Given the choice I'd have these on everything: That knurled finish means there's no slippage and you can feel how much turn you get.

Sorry I've been using a GR55 for a few years now & I just can't remember .

Looks generic and values itself too highly; therefore it's a great fit for the Chapman name.

Here's just one example ...

That makes me not a bass player!

One of these

Me or the cab ?

I think multifx (e.g. my Zoom B3n and Zoom MS-60B) is great for chorus, delay, tremolo and flange and of course being a tuner. I also find the B3n is really useful as a headphone amp with its aux in and headphone out. It's got these areas covered just fine. But I think all but the best / significantly pricier multifx pedals (and Zoom are in the value for money end ) struggle to come close to the best analog pedals on some of the 'trickier stuff': a) synth / filter, b) octave tracking both mono octave down (low and without latency) c) polyphonic octave up, d) compression and e) dirt.

Just awesome.

Modded the Gypsy Rose with: Cali neo pickups Kiogon wiring loom Schaller black tuners black scratchplate D'Addario Strings graphite vinyl wrap on headstock with vinyl decal generic black bridge, screws, neck plate, strap buttons, string tree..

After doing [url="http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-org-workbench/103276-tech-pimp-your-ibanez-ts5-tubescreamer.html"]this[/url] mod to my Ibanez TS-5 'soundtank' overdrive, and loving it so much on bass, I thought I'd try the same sort of thing on my Joyo JF-01. I found this scematic for the TS-5 online, and and then worked out which componants were mapped to which by following the traces on the JF-01: I removed the equivalent diodes D2 and D3, the resistors R18 and R19, and the capacitor C10 from the Joyo circuit board. Here they're labelled up as they would be according to the TS-5 schematic: So I replaced R19 with a 10k ohm resistor, R18 with a 3.3k ohm, C10 with an 820nF ( or 0.82μF ) mylar cap, and D2 and D3 with a 3mm red LED and a 1N4002 (observing the polarities). I had to solder in the capacitor on the underneath of the board due to size - but there's plenty of space to do that. This makes it so much more useable as a drive pedal on bass. C10 allows more bass through, R18 and 19 allow the drive to be turned right down so the pedal can be used as a clean boost if so required, and the diode combination sound great. I tried a variety of different combinations, wired into micro switches to see which I preferred, and the LED/1N4002 was best.