bassbiscuits

Hello all, Does anyone on here use an amp stand of any sort to raise their amp and project better on stage? I've never used one but recenrly done a couple of gigs where I'm practically standing right in front of the amp and even tilting it back a bit doesn't really help. So does anyone use one, any recommendations on which are any good, and how the affect the sound? Cheers

[quote name='matski' timestamp='1438852378' post='2837923'] And magic mushrooms... [/quote] Nope - not my style!

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1438793480' post='2837436'] There used to be a legend round here about the Headless Bassman. On dark nights people would see him going round with a Steinberger then - poof! - he'd disappear into a pub. [/quote] Ha ha! I reckon I've seen him too.

ha ha what a genius thread - well done!

Depends what you're after. A lot of people swear by older instruments - a good one will have a really comfortable played in feel, the wood will have mellowed and aged nicely, the pickups may well be from a legendary period of production (i.e. PAFs in Les Pauls etc) any repairs or restoration will have been done professionally and the overall vibe and little details may well be exactly what someone wants, such as particular neck radius, body material etc. Then again, not all vintage instruments are great examples, and in that instance something like a custom shop or good accurate reissue will tick most boxes as reliable, well-made vintage replica. Something isn't automatically good just because it was made in 1968 for example. If it was a dog in 1968 it'll still be one now. I do think that new basses do feel and sound very different alongside vintage ones generally - older ones are often warmer, mellower sounding, tho each is different. Again it depends how important that is to you. And of course that £12,500 vintage bass is going to keep its value a lot better than a brand new £1,200 one. Horses for courses at the end of the day - an investment, an accurate reissue or just a good, standard, working instrument. There's a place for each of them.

UPDATE - the parcel has now been delivered to my house by my helpful neighbour, who is a Hermes employee. I haven't seen it yet but apparently its in good condition etc, so i'll check when I get home. However I still haven't heard anything more from MyHermes investigations dept despite both myself and the sender chasing them. I'm just glad its arrived. But suffice to say, they won't be getting any more business from me.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1438724797' post='2836782'] The most pertinent line in this story was "a few drinks and smokes". [/quote] Ha ha yes - sadly not that many drinks and smokes, and there were an awful lot of us who saw it too...! I'm not convinced what it was, but it was a bloody strange experience. Nowt since then tho, and that was over 20 years ago.

The other really weird thing happened to me and my brother when we were both kids, me maybe seven and him ten years old or so. We lived by the sea in South Wales and were often on the beach. One really sunny hot afternoon we were playing on the sand when my brother said: "hey can you see that massive man over there?" And sure enough we watched what can only be described as a man, completely black and spindly like a burnt match, with no features, walking down the side of the headland at the end of the bay. You could pick out the coloured clothing of other people on top of the cliffs nearby but none of them seemed to see this weird long black figure at all. Compared to them he must have been about ten foot tall or so, but completely black even in the bright sunshine. He silently strolled down the sloping cliffs and then disappeared from view at the bottom. It wasn't scary cos it was the middle of a hot summer day on the beach, but me and my bro remember it like it was yesterday, over 30 years later. Seriously weird. I'd like to add tho that I'm not particularly convinced about ghosts or the supernatural, largely because after 40 years on earth I've still not seen anything to make me 100% sure. But experiences like this do leave me scratching my head a bit.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1438704132' post='2836559'] That's the stone tape theory. My mom knows someone who was on holiday. The last day she took a photo of an empty rainswept beach (yep she was holidaying in the uk 😁), when she got the photos printed, the empty beach was in fact occupied with lots of people all wearing old fashioned clothing. [/quote] What's the stone tape theory then? Sounds intriguing

My weirdest one wasn't bass related, but was when i was a student. There was a big parkland behind the campus which we sometimes used to dawdle around at night after a few drinks and smokes. One night we found a interesting old derelict shell of a park lodge building which was being renovated, with some scaffolding, workmen's lighting etc, and unusual ornamental gardens outside, right at the furthest part of the park. We went back exploring a few more times over several weeks as it was quite interesting and scary to walk arounds the grounds in the dark. That all came to a stop the next time we went and found it was all completed and fully occupied, with plenty of noise and bustle and visible thru the new glass windows were lots of people moving about, sitting at tables and chatting in the well-lit interior. We didn't bother going there for a while after, but when we came across it again a month or so later, it was still all derelict, run down and completely empty. Never got to the bottom of that one. its since been converted into a restaurant.

wow - Hiscox sounds like a good firm. Thanks all for your help!

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1438697282' post='2836471'] I just spoke to Hiscox.. yes, they are interchangeable. If you email Peter at Hiscox - [email protected] - he'll get one or two in the post for you! :-) [/quote] wow! thanks guys - thats really kind of you to check it out. I'll drop them a line straight away. thanks all. Good old Basschat

Wow that's a hell of an offer mrn1989 - thanks very much - but it hasn't actually got my bass in it at the moment, so its not a total disaster. the case is open, but the locking catch is actually clamped down in the locked position, so i can't open or close that particular lock rather than the whole case. I never use the key but the mechanism inside seems to have slipped into a locked position. i guess its just as easy for me to pop to a local music shop which has them in stock and see if one key fits all in the style of a MkII Ford Cortina.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1438696298' post='2836464'] Bad luck. I've had rubbish service from myHerpes on more than one occasion, and if I buy anything on here I make a point of asking the seller not to use them. [/quote] Don't blame you at all. I've never had any probs with other couriers (tho i accept that it must happen from time to time) but this one seems dreadful. I first complained to their customer services yesterday and got the response that "I had received it earlier today." Yeah thanks, that really answers my question.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1438695381' post='2836456'] I take it you checked the roof and gutter first? [/quote] ha ha yeah - the thing is they haven't even got my home address on the parcel cos I got it sent to the local drop-off point newsagents "...[i]because it would be easier....."[/i] sounds like they just couldn't be bothered to deliver it and its gone back to the depot. Spectacularly pointless crap service all things considered.

Stupid question - but are the keys for hiscox lite flight cases all interchangeable, or all different? I ask more in hope, as someone whose case has a glitchy lock which has got stuck in the 'closed' position without a key. hmm. I also have a claw hammer which is looking tempting...

Unfortunately I'm resurrecting this thread with another horror story about Hermes. A parcel which was sent to me a week ago showed up on the My Hermes tracker as having been delivered and signed for yesterday morning at my local drop off point. Except the guy at the shop reassures me nothing for me has come in, let alone been signed for. I hadn't received any confirmation from the shop or Hermes either to say it had arrived. Later that day the tracking info updates again to say its now been delivered to somewhere else during that afternoon. Again, i've got no idea where - seems to be making its way round the country. The clever guess is that they've made no attempt to deliver it and just sent it back to the sender, who I've tipped off that it may arrive back with him shortly. A local Hermes rep lives nearby and i've asked them if they use their contacts to try to intercept and redirect it on route. I've also emailed the Hermes customer service dept (of course there's no actual phone number....) Absolutely piss poor performance from Hermes i'm afraid. If it gets satisfactorily resolved I'll update this post in the interests of fairness, but as it stands they're not a firm i'd recommend to anyone.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1438532821' post='2835219'] The big question is; what did the audience think. I've seen bands, I've even played in bands with shocking drummers. The bass player seems to be the only person who knows what's wrong. Sometimes the rest of the band know there's something wrong but not what it is. The bands never seemed to get re-booked but there was never any feedback why, even though the floor was filled. Music is an odd thing sometimes. [/quote] Good point mate - I've been in a band which had two rubbish drummers in succession (the second one slightly less crap than the original one in fairness!) and your average punter just doesn't notice, or certainly doesn't single out where the problem lies. But some things like attempting heroic drum fills you know they're not gonna come out of in time are noticeable to everyone I'd say. When you play with a proper drummer the difference is easy for everyone to appreciate. I reckon if you've got rock solid bass and drums going on,you can get away with a ropey singer or a dodgy guitarist. But if the drums and bass aren't happening it all falls apart.

Saw a band play at a party last night and they had a reasonably decent set etc but the drummer was shocking. It took me a song or two to work out why none of it was hanging together properly, and the feel of the songs was all out as a result. Regardless of what the rest of the band did nothing was going to disguise that. My missus told me to stop being so rude about them.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1437600050' post='2827557'] The cover that most impressed me I saw done at a beer festival a few years back - a full on funk version of Bobby Gentry's Ode To Bille Joe complete with horns section. Completely filled the dance floor even though I'm not sure how many people would have known the original. I think it must have been the band's own arrangement because I've never been able to find a recording of the song being done that way. [/quote] That's a belting song too. Love to have heard that!

Good lad! He's a great player isn't he? Always liked him from David Lee Roth days but he also does the straight groove playing thing as well as the shredding.

My band sometimes does the music from Barry Norman's Film 98 ( or any other year around that time ) which is called something like Oh For A Life of Dreams I think. We talked about doing Sparks ' this town ain't big enough for both of us' but it never got further than that. I do some occasional solo acoustic/vocal/harmonica gigs and chuck in anything I feel like, however off the wall it is. Included in that has been Fleetwood Mac 'Big Love', Roachford 'Cuddly Toy' and Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World' which are all epic, seldom heard gems in my view... There's also been some Charles Aznavour and They Might Be Giants in there, in the same gig...

Ah Westones - they were lovely back in the day. Over a few years from about 1986-1991 I had a white Spectrum ST bass, two natural Thunder 1A basses and borrowed my mate's black Spectrum DX as a spare for gigs. The Spectrum ST was my first serious bass after I'd limped along for a year on an awful short scale plywood Satellite bass. I got the Thunder 1As later as back ups as I'd tracked them doing cheaply secondhand. They were great but I remember both weighing a tonne.

I've got to sing at a mate's wedding next month. The two songs he wants? Highway to Hell, and So Lonely.