WalMan

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='553422' date='Jul 28 2009, 12:14 AM']Hello Today I got a box through the post, In it was a lovely Bass POD xt live I bought off of Carl (Carlsim). Lovely (and great fellow too) I can not make the thing talk to my computer as it has been already registered by a previous owner. This will probably be the person Carl bought it off. He bought it possibly in early may off basschat, we can't find the sale thread. Did you have a Bass pod xt live? Sell it a few months ago to Carl and post it to Gt. Yarmouth? Know anyone who did? Please de-register it with Line6! PLEASE! Thanks Luke[/quote] You need to go to the support forum [url="http://line6.com/community/community/support/onlineservices/registration"]HERE[/url] and post a new thread asking for a support ticket to be created to remove the previous user. Also have a read of the [url="http://line6.com/community/docs/DOC-4283"]FAQ[/url] [i][b][u][size=7]IF[/size][/u][/b][/i] they ever bother to reply to you, and they do, but have been completely ignoring my "thread request" for five months now, they will ask you to provide proof of purchase (PayPal payment etc) and release the unit so you can register. You should be able to get the unit to talk to your computer without registering (I certainly have been able to do so with the POD xt I have been trying to get released). Create an account in the Software/downloads section and then search out the latest software, drivers, editor, etc., download & install.

Not a bad night, but I really need to get some rechargeables for my transmitter & receiver!! First set the battery in the IEM that looked OK on the tester was clearly too knackered & the receiver farted all set long Turned it off about halfway through. Second set went better with fresh batteries cadged from the guitarist as my stash was empty - well it makes a change. It's normally the other way round! Good crowd though there were the usual selection of dipsticks. [list] [*]the guy who tried to have a conversation with our singer in the middle of songs............TWICE! He was ejected shortly after [*]The guy who came up after we had finished the second enc, the lights were on & CD playing through the PA and asked if we let people get up and sing, and could he sing Hallelulljah...er no, and we are already past the curfew anyway [*]the guy who asked if we could do "Dock of the Bay" again after everything was finished and off and again..........eeer no, have you not just heard the set of ROCK covers we've just finished [/list] FFS!!! What is it with some people. Sadly a long gap to the Pebbles gig on 29 Aug due to assorted hols I may start twitching before then

[quote name='jakesbass' post='542727' date='Jul 16 2009, 11:02 PM']I don't think thats exactly correct, I think in fact the sale price gets added into your capital pool as a positive amount eg if your pool was 4k and you sold equipment for 1k your pool is now 3k. Last (tax) year I sold a bass for a profit as I'd owned it for 20yrs and I was advised by the (very helpful) people on the HMRC helpline that this was the correct course of action.[/quote] Broadly correct. But you might want to double check that Jake. PM me some details if you like) You will normally have a pool of capital items including bass, amp, pedals/effects. Anything the has a mixed private/business use (for example your car if you don't just claim 40ppm as above, or your PC) goes in its own separate pool. So you have a pool of gear you are claiming a writing down allowance for - 25% of the balance up to April 2008, 20% since then. Its written down value is £4k and you sell a bass for £1k then £1k comes off the pool value [b]UNLESS[/b] you were lucky and bought a bass that became a sort after item and only originally cost you £750 (say) which was the value that it came into the pool at originally. In that case you only knock £750 off the £4k. The balance (profit) you made on the bass is potentially liable as a capital gain, but will probably be exempt under what is known as the small chattels rule. As well as the £50k AIA mentioned above for new purchases if you have a pool of items and the value of that pool gets down to £1k you can now write off the whole of the balance in the year it does so. And finally (for now) a word to the wise re taking advice from HMRC helplines. They try hard, but at the blunt end have very little proper knowledge and IME will often take a stab at the right answer and get it horribly wrong. It is worth getting proper professional advice particularly if more than a few quid are at stake. I know I shall regret this but PM me if you like and I should be able to give some pointers. That is not to heap ordure on HMRC - having come over from the dark side myself many years ago now. They have a difficult job and with the cut backs things are getting worse & worse. Many do try to help, but as I say at the call centre level have minimal training and try to answer from a crib sheet. I have heard tell of a tax adviser being told by an HMRC call centre drone that they had been taught all about tax in a coupl of weeks and did not know what all the fuss was about - and then went on to give a wrong answer to a straight forward question

[quote name='gareth' post='542149' date='Jul 16 2009, 12:37 PM']In my experience you can therefore have the best of both worlds, by being honest with HMRC (and have no worries in this area if you are a worrier) and get money back![/quote] Indeed, but as above there will come a time with claiming losses every year that they will say "enough, it's a hobby" Should add to my earlier screed for motoring costs if you are receiving less that £15k a year for gigging you do not need to keep all your motoring receipts but can claim 40p/mile for the first 10k muso miles and 25p/mile thereafter which makes your claim a bit easier. Nothing to stop you claiming the actual costs, but it saves the hassle. I have been waiting for a further enquiry with so many of the pubs we play wanting the works on the receipt to be signed at the end of the gig - NI numbers, address, phone etc (funny how the rest of the band suddenly forget how to write at the end of the evening!). I keep all my receipts but have never gone for claiming a loss even in years that I have been sent a return - because at the end of the day it is just a hobby for me that keeps me from taking an automatic weapon into the office & creating carnage, and really only breaks even once you add it all up. I just add a note in the additional info section of the return to the effect that "I received £x during the year as a musician. This is a hobby and taking account of all expenses does not give rise to a profit" Now if you are in a functions band playing once or twice a week and getting rather more than £20-30/gig, while travelling an 80 mile round trip to do it, then that would probably not suffice, but for what I do I believe it is sufficient and at least gets something on file. And as mentioned elsewhere if you do sign a receipt don't sign a blank with no reference to the amount on it or you could end up on the sh*tty end of a bent landlord returning a whole lot more than he paid you to the brewery for his entertainment budget & pocketing the rest

[quote name='bythesea' post='542021' date='Jul 16 2009, 10:33 AM']For some people you might be able to add strings to that list All good advice (and it sounds like you worked for them more recently than me, but I remember those estimated assessments).[/quote] I've just come over to the light, and as one of the girls & I at the ex of the office get together last night rather ashamedly admitted are starting to find bits interesting

Gaffa tape a duster folded a few times to the back of the bass. Worked a treat on my Wal and the Gaffa had no effect on the finish

[quote name='Musky' post='540319' date='Jul 14 2009, 01:50 PM']Want to bet? I found myself with a £20,000 tax bill when I was self employed because somebody at the tax office seemed to think my earnings would be doubling every year. It was absolutely ludicrous. Fortunately that person (who had totally dug their heels in, despite invoices to the contrary) moved on and the person who replaced her settled for a far more realistic £5,500. [/quote] If you've records to back up claims and submit accounts then there should be no problem. You are possibly thinking back to days pre Self Assessment, which we have now. Years ago when I worked for the dark side we used to have to raise assessments each year (now you self assess by submitting your tax return) and I remember going through the process of raising estimates for people who had not submitted returns for a few years. It was supposed to have some basis in reality, but for someone who had not bothered for a couple of years we just doubled the previous years estimate to try to elicit a response - on the basis that they had been happy to just accept the previous years so lets try a biggier number to see if that brings a head above the parapet. With SA you submit your return and make your assessment, which HMRC may enquire into within 12 months of your submitting the return. If they send you a return and you ignore it eventually they will issue a determination of the figures (ie an estimate) and that will be the figure until such time as you submit a return to prove otherwise. You have to do that within 5 years or it will now become final, and an old scheme called equitable liability, where the collector would correct figures for a determination that had gone out of time is being withdrawn, so beware. In theory you can submit a claim for expenses and if they exceed income set the loss againt other income and get a tax refund [b]BUT[/b] to claim a loss you need to be trading with a view to making a profit. If you do not make a profit within a few years then HMRC will say that it is a hobby and only allow you to carry the loss forward, not set it off. You can claim for rehearsals, strings, batteries, motor costs and anything else required to carry on your business. Instruments, amps etc (things that have an expected life longer than a couple of years) are capital items against which you can claim a writing down allowance of 20% each year, or more likely at the moment the Annual Investment Allowance which allows you to set the cost of capital items up to £50k each year against income. BUT REMEMBER when you come to sell the amp or bass the proceeds come in as income so a claim for that is only a timing saving until you sell the gear on. And if it happens to be an appreciating asset like a vintage P bass you will pay some tax in the end. I keep thinking I should add something to the WIKI, but life is just too short sometimes

[quote name='daveeneeband' post='540563' date='Jul 14 2009, 06:06 PM']thinking of downsizing rig,as its to big for small gigs, and to bloody heavy, anyone tried the new ampeg svt micro? what do you think? or whats the best combo on the market ? Hope this thread is in the right place as im a newbie and not used to posting yet.[/quote] Not tried the Ampeg, but my downsizing fairly recently, but before the price hike, was to a MarkBass CMD121H to which I have added an Epifani 12 recently which is great. Weighs next to nothing but really kicks out a good sound (and lots of it). The combo on its own is plenty loud enough for rehearsals. But of course all that is IMO and I am sure others will be along with other suggestions. With neo speakers and D class (I think that's what they are called) amps there are loads of really good, loud & light rigs around for bass players nowadays

Not a lot to add, other than echo comments at the sad loss. Condolences

Nice As a matter of interest roughly what did it cost? I could probably look it up, but I'm a lazy b'stard

Back to The Swan @ Woolston, but a man down (more money woohoo! ) as #2 guitarist had gone to Cuba with his g/f for her birthday. Had a r/h Monday to run through some stuff to check out stuff to play as a three piece. Nothing particularly difficult, but we hadn't played them for a loooooooooong time so getting through unscathed first try on Monday was a surprise and they went in last night - Smoke on the Water, Wishing Well, Broken Dream & Too Much Too Young. Last night was the first with the Gramma riser I picked up at LIMS a couple of weeks back and it got ditched in the break. It'll either be kept for recording (like that ever happens ) or will shortly turn up here in For Sale. Unfortunately it was just too good at decoupling the rig from the floor to the extent that the bass disappeared on stage in the first set. Second set with the rig on the stage felt a lot better as we could all feel it. Drummer took the Orange Sticker award last night - despite valiant attempts by the rest of us forgetting words sections of songs we have done for ages that were odd back as a three piece (instrument wise) - by going for the fill at the end of SOTW, catching a stick under the ride cymbal and watching it spin across the stage, picking up another stick, going for it again and doing exactly the same thing to everyone's huge amusement except possibly his. Crowd were good dancing & singing through the second set and for a gig where I thought there was a strict 11:00 curfew we ended up going on 'til around 11:30. Got some nice compliments at the end along the lines of "Great night and you always look like you are enjoying yourselves, unlike ******** who do a similar set and proficient, but miserable as ****" to which my standard reply (after Thanks) is "isn't that what it's all about. If I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't do it" Down side to the night. My Shure E2c's packed up, or rather the left hand plug did, possibly drowned in sweat running into my ear - eeeeuw!!

You wave both hands in the general vicinity of your bass in a vaguely rhythmic fashion until it sounds like someone throwing a large box of assorted Lego & Meccanno down a concrete stairwell. Can you tell I am just jealous because I cannot do all that wicketty whacketty woo

Got back around 8 in the evening having caught a train up 12 hours earlier and after only a few hours sleep following Saturdays mammoth gig. The show was a bit spares, but the crowd I was with had a good day out anyway. My drummer, former vocalists brother (also a drummer) and his two sons plus former keyboard player and his son. Had a good laugh throughout the day and came home with a few bits, including anAuralex Gramma for under £30. Didn't play much, a bit of a noodle on a 'Ray on the Strings & Things stand but otherwise nothing much - probably 'cos nothing much caught my eye. Watched Nicko McBrain & Pete Lockett (interesting but a bit samey after a while) and Simon McBride who was good, but for whom the audience dwindled as the set went on. Missed Albert Lee & Jan Akkerman. I didn't think the volume levels generally were as bad as previous years. I had my plugs and used them a fair bit, but in many areas and for much of the time there didn't seem much need. Not sure I shall bother next year unless a few more of the big players in the instrument business are there.

^^^^Oh dear, that doesn't sound good as I'm up there with a shopping list of assorted bits. Still it's a day out with mates so I really must get to bed now ready for the phone call in 4 hours for the pick up

Friday. We were OK, but no one there. I don't think we shall bother again. V scary wench who completely put Max off what he was playing when she clambered onto a table in front of us, got down on all fours & waggled her very pert butt at us. Saturday. Was everything expected of the Fountain in Chi. We were actually set up ready a bit earlier than usual and it seemed empty, though there were loads of people outside. Come start of the first set though the place was packed & its usual ebullient dancey/singing self HURRAH!!! Both sets went really well and of course because it was particularly good and there was loads of very vocal support and few cock ups / alien abduction moments the ADAT wasn't in the rack and the gig wasn't recorded, which was a real shame. Hard work as ever with two long sets. First set was well over an hour, and the second ended up as a fraction under two hours with encores. Bit of a scare a couple of songs into the second set as my fretting hand started cramping up, but necking half a litre of water (out of the 3 litres consumed tonight) sorted that out. Bass was sounding particularly nice tonight (that'll be the new stings) And now I have to try to wind down quickly (a contradiction in terms) as I need to be up in four hours to leave for the Music Show.

Ah well. My Sunday is confirmed with at least two drummers possibly a couple of guitards & a keyboard player so we'll be the ones going for the heavy remake of FAME..........not! I shall have a short(ish) shopping list with me

[quote name='thedonutman' post='504130' date='Jun 2 2009, 07:39 PM']Are you John Jowitt from Frost*? [/quote] [quote name='phsycoandy' post='504621' date='Jun 3 2009, 12:55 PM']I could well be, what a good looking guy![/quote] You could indeed I believe Mr Jowitt has recently jumped ship from Frost* Oh and my latest is me rocking in the avatar (unless you are watching the repeat on Dave and I have since changed it )

A slash, a couple of pain killers, a Vocalzone (must buy some more tomorrow I'm out) Our singer has to have a lucky dump and when to gold star to the dressing room is hanging on the gents we chat over the door and then try to sneak off leaving him talking to thin air, or preferably a bemused punter

[quote name='Musicman20' post='507885' date='Jun 8 2009, 12:11 AM']One day I'd like to come to one of these bashes. Is 28 too young?! I dont mean that offensively [/quote] Good grief no!! All ages welcome at all I've been to. We're generally a nice bunch of chaps, but then we're bass players

Something I've been messing with. Four times through the loop with the first one without the main kit. A sort of dancey thing. [attachment=26671:A_Loop_in_E.mp3]

you should also be able to feed in a CD player to one of the ins on the back to play along to stuff I think - though I never have myself.

Cheers in Bognor, well Friday - last night was a mass band piss up (sorry the annual soiree) round the drummers g/f's house, which was fun except that I ended up driving MrsW as usual though that said had a good time even though sober. ANYWAY, Cheers. Did its usual. Noone there (much) at 9 for the start, but filled up pretty quickly. So the new number got soundchecked, played as the set 1 opener and then again for Set 2 and went down well despite being a completely unknown song by a pretty much unknown Canadian band I downloaded from eMusic. A Steve said when introducing it the second time hopefully within a few gigs the crowd will be getting into the audience shouty bits (it's only YEAH!!! after all). Gig went well and a good crowd with a load of musos in - well lots of drummers anyway . Kev got collared by 4 during the night & didn't need rescuing from any. We also seemed to work a miracle as a guy who shuffled in with a stick (walking not Chapman) spent the second half headbanging & playing stick guitar Next week it's The Royal Oak Hollywater/Whitehill/Bordon Friday and back to The Fountain in Chichester Saturday with a day out to the Music show Sunday, so a full one

[quote name='bassmeg' post='507161' date='Jun 6 2009, 07:04 PM']Ah, these sre great venues, especially the fountain. Always a great crowd. Hope to catch your band around sometime- i see your band advertised everywhere as we play all the same haunts as you do![/quote] Indeed. Without wishing to put the kibosh on it The Fountain is always a goodie - got the award for most water consumed on a gig last time when I drank 3 litres on the night and didn't spend the whole night up & down to the loo peeing like a horse!!

This months "tour" continues with Fri 12/6/09 - The Royal Oak Hollywater, Bordon, Sat 13/6/09 - The Fountain, South St, Chichester And then Sunday I have to try to drag myself out of bed early to get the the Music Show, so no late night wind downs like tonight!!!