Leaderboard

Well after 40 years of playing, Mrs JPJ bought me a beginners book of reading the dots and an introductory lesson with a local music school. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, especially as I’m working with ‘proper’ musicians these days. So yes, this 54 year old is going back to school and I couldn’t be more excited 😎

I'm not going to try and work out how much a little piece of rubber would have saved me over the years!

I also think that Rutherford's role in the multi-12 string guitar thing that Genesis made their own was a massive factor in their freshness and originality.

1972 all original Fender Jazz, with the original case, she’s aged beautifully with great looking wear and checking all over, she was Olympic white but is now a gorgeous buttermilk colour with the most beautiful piece of tort I’ve seen, I think my soul was a small price to pay.

A bit weird to see Geddy in the Guardian. Like they've finally allowed in from the cold which is a bit ironic given Neil has stopped drumming. What are your favourites ? https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/24/geddy-lee-on-rush-greatest-songs

A Zon Sonus Standard 4 string bass and 6 Dunlop Ultex 2mm picks :-) I had a pair of lounge pyjama bottoms and a new scratchplate for my Precision on my list but it went a bit wonky........

Not a Morning Person myself... after a quiet day and a sedate couple of G&Ts it's time for a play. I've just started a policy of rotating my (now stable I hope) family of five basses, today it's the fretless, for the first time in a while. It's the smallest and heaviest of the five - I need to do some strength training before I gig it again 😞 Ps half an hour later - I'd forgotten how easy she is to play and how good she sounds! 🙂 🙂

Got nothing bass related today so pulled the trigger on an Orange 4 Stroke 500 as a gift from me to me 😂 Arrives Friday

My luthier friend dropped this in my lap last week. Part gift, part barter for preamp design work I've done for him. Purpleheart fingerboard, custom neo sidewinder pickups optimized for slide bass. The bottom knobs are a temporary set I put on so I could get started on the electronics package. I'll probably go with something blond to complement the pickup covers and headstock.

From my daughter. Main pressie from the wife was the Bassix EUB.

I made it until about 4pm when I heard this and had to whip out my bass

A huge part of Genesis was about having two guitars. Mike's role was just about unique. Something they also did was bring bass pedals to the fore.

This. That era (Permanent Waves in particular) is the point where they stopped being a mishmash of plagiarised influences and defined their own sound, to my ears. Never been one for picking "best" or even "favourite" tracks but if I wanted to play a track that represented Rush to someone who didn't know them, it would be Free Will from PW. Hits every defining Rush feature, for me. Re: the article itself - a bit of a shame that even after Rush being validated by an outrageously successful 40-year career, the Grauniad writer can't get past the sneery put-downs - "widdly-woo music" and the inevitable implication that musicianship & technically complex music are intrinsically valueless. Seems some dismal & dated music hack tropes are destined to never go away...

Stop getting Rush wrong! It's Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures that are the best. Not the bland synth Pop of the latter years.

Now now, what would the Nickelback museum need Geddy's basses for? 😉

How’s about this then, Santa’s only gone and got me tickets from the Friday at the palladium. So it doesn’t matter if I get the call or not, I’ll see you there.

Ah, you’re referring to the 1/4” amp output then, which will be at instrument level. Merry Christmas, Rock & Roll Killers!

As if you could buy eggs at this time of night on a Christmas Eve! 😂

Totally get what you mean Dribble is her middle name. Never got why she is so popular, although its seems she is more ‘hip’ than popular. Bland self indulgent wailing springs to mind.

Agreed, I get concerned when our band leader calls multiple 12 bar blues tunes. Thing is we have so much other material . However it's not my call. Blue PS: I'm in New Jersey over the holidays and had a chance to jam with my close childhood friend Doug. We started our first band when we were both 12 years old.

Hiya. Mug anyone is in the market for an Ampeg SVT this could be the best Christmas present ever! £999 from guitarguitar https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/07120610302928--ampeg-svt-vr-vintage-head

How long did you hold out before doing the best thing you can do with your clothes on? I made it to 7 minutes past 6. Which frankly surprised me. I normally play immediately after breakfast.

To be honest, I think you'd be better off contacting Spector customer services directly for availability of what you're after. They'd be able to give you a definite answer and possibly a price range (I'd imagine it won't be cheap though). In terms of price and quality, just going from the one I own and others I've looked at, the level of craftsmanship on the Euro models is superb. Real top notch woods and flawless construction. In terms of pricing, they're slightly cheaper than the USA models and although I've never played a USA model, but looking at some of the woods they use on the USA models, I'd imagine the price difference is purely aesthetics.

It’s the Hal Leonard one: https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=696481&lid=8&keywords=Blues bass&searchcategory=00&subsiteid=7&

most bands have only got a couple of decent albums in them, sometimes not even two, they've got one way of playing and one style and when that's exhausted it's a descent into repetitiveness or, as you say, blandness

I'm claiming my Jack Casady was a three-weeks-early Christmas present to myself and not just another result of random GAS 🙂

@CameronJ & @lemmywinks. Have just sat down for a more educated hours playing through the Fishman into the K12.2 using the Bass Amp preset and at Instrument level. It sounds great, I think I was just freaked out initially by just how loud it was so I was assuming I’d got it on an incorrect setting.

I had a quick noodle on the Hofner violin bass that son #2 wanted for Christmas. Just a cheap Ignition, but actually a very nice little bass which arrived set up, intonated, and even in tune from Anderton's. I've never really fancied one before myself, but it's rather fun

Oh yes, just sat down for an hour playing through the new rig, it is glorious.

If I had a 55-02 that I liked, I really would not spend time trying other basses. To me the electrics are 'consumables'... you can change, modify, replace. You can restore to original if you wish too. I used to own a 55-02, and I thought the electrics let it down a little. A little. That thing felt great in my hands, it was beautiful, one of those rare instruments that feel just right. Had I kept it (not really into 5 strings after all) I might have replaced pickups and preamp: for me 1st the bass must feel physically right, then I'll deal with the electrics. That's just me.

Smooth Hound wireless. Not used it at rehearsal/gig yet but after a couple of hours noodling around at home I'm already thinking of getting a second set just for the house!

I'd agree with that - when I was at Liverpool Uni, OMD were kind of the "house band" in the student union just as they were breaking through, and I loved the early stuff, especially "Messages". They were always pop, but I found the later material bland in the extreme Great times - Echo & the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, and Wah Heat! played there too as local bands just hitting it big, though one of my favourites were Original Mirrors who never did

Second week of July, 2022..?

I have something coming today. Bear with.

I use the instrument level input on the QSC K10.2 from the amp output on the Fishman, works fine for me.

I use Rockboard, EBS and Harley benton flat cables. I need all the space I can get. Too many pedals 😁. They all seem good quality.

Its a fair point I suppose, but they way the lyrics are shoehorned in are exactly what I like about Prog style music, nothing is ever simple! 👍for Turn The Page though. Hold Your Fire was one of the few 80/90's albums I actually liked.

Here you go

It's Christmas morning. 4.23am. I'm wide awake, listening to foxes howling somewhere close by. And an owl hooting. Woo-hooooooo. Woo-hooooooooo.

Yes - I read an interview with him where he was saying that he’d specifically got a Fender Jazz from each year of production to see if he could hear any difference and see how they had changed, and came to the conclusion that “pre CBS” was a genuine difference in how the basses sound. I’m not a Fender fan either, but it’s a very personal project and it’s interesting to see his opinion. probably more interesting for those with a Fender and Rickenbacker interest tho

The buyer is probably another antique dealer.

You joke (perhaps...) but was in a guitar shop that had a secondhand Ray 34 in superb condition. Someone else was trying it out and it sounded rubbish through an MB CMD121P - weak and lacking. They put it back on the wall and left. I had a go and was unimpressed. Grabbed a sales person and asked if he would check the battery... lo and behold, it didn't even have one in it. He popped in a new one, I tried it out and it came home with me and was very pleased for the money I didn't actually keep it - neck was just a bit too chunky for me, but made some money on the sale (which is pretty much a first for me...).

I found it intriguing , it's not likely to fit with the music I play but interesting nonetheless.

Frank I love your convert's zeal! But have you seen what @Bridgehousehas recently dragged in with the cats? He is single handedly (well with both hands and a fork lift truck) rescuing rock n roll. Just in time for Christmas 😀

I had the opposite. Back in the early 70s I lusted after a Gibson Les Paul, but finances would not allow, so I bought an SG instead. It was a lovely instrument but I never lost the desire for the Holy Grail, the LP. I started playing guitar again in the late 80s and I decided I would have my dream. I was in the local music shop and the guy gave me the LP standard and plugged it in. It was awful, I hated the fat neck, the weight was just silly and access to the top frets was difficult . I put it back with a rueful smile and saved myself a lot of money. Lesson learned, don't put anything or anyone on a pedestal without knowing exactly what you are getting. Or, try and check its for you.

Black Sabbath. For me the first 4 albums created and defined the genre of 'Heavy Metal' but, for me, they went a bit off the boil apart from the odd song here and there. Then Ozzy left and it wasn't BS any more, despite the name.

My best, albeit small, purchase was the Electro-Harmonix headphone amp. I often practice in the a.m. when my wife is still sleeping. This amp does nothing but reproduce the sound of your bass. No hiss, no noise, no bells or whistles. Housed in a metal casing. Instrument cord in one end, headphones in the other. Operates for mucho hours on a 9-volt battery. About $45 on this side of the pond. Made in Brooklyn.