bassbiscuits

For me it was visual stuff first - roughly at the same time as a teenager I became aware of both Kiss "Alive II" and Iron Maiden "Live After Death". The images on these album sleeves of Steve Harris and Gene Simmons; sweat, fire, pyrotechnics, heroic poses onstage etc blew me away. Then I listened to the music and knew exactly which member I was going to be listening out for.

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1488574337' post='3250266'] What about Arion effects? Cheap and cheerful, but the Stage Tuner was a classic and was owned by just about everyone. [/quote] I still have an Arion tuner and it still works perfectly well after 30 years! i also had a book by a bloke called Jim Gregory that had a floppy 7" record in it for tuning and backing tracks.

Satellite My first bass in 1986 was a short scale white Satellite bass. Plywood body, awful sound.

Christmas 1988, first gig ever at the sixth form room at our school ( when I was only a fourth former!) Westone spectrum ST bass Thru some carlsbro bass combo belonging to the drummers brother. Probably rotosound strings

Currently its either a Fender P bass or Epiphone Jack Casady Bass, each with a Comfort Strapp, into a Markbass LM3 housed in the Markbass bag, which is my little office full of bits. That goes into a Schroeder 1210 cab, via a Korg Pitchblack tuner. They're strung with La Bella flats (P bass) and TI flats (the Epi). That's it, apart from my mic (Sennheiser e835) and stand, harmonicas, Earpeace rubbery ear plugs and bunch of leads, plug boards, spare strings and little tobacco tin full of tools, fuses, tape etc.

I used to own an Ashdown 8x10, and did a couple of summer festivals this year using Ampeg 8x10 and either an Orange Ad200 or Ampeg SVT head. I agree- the sound/feel was divine, but the size/weight is ludicrous. I sold the Ashdown 8x10 after getting fed up with trying to lug it up the steps to my house at 2am after a gig... it did make your trousers flap tho.

I absolutely love my one. It's a gold top too - a Korean-made Peerless one from 2007. It's strung with TI flats, but the varitone dial means it goes from smooth acoustic sounding bass, to P bass tone, to really growling stuff. I think they look awesome too. Yes it has a bit of neck dive, but nothing serious and the whole thing is so lightweight anyway. I got it second-hand in summer 2016 and it immediately slotted straight in as a gigging bass. Great bit of kit.

To resurrect an old thread, I'm weighing up getting some quarter pounders too - they're to go in a bass which is naturally quite bright and midrangy, so given what i've read about them, i'm hoping they may add a bit of thud/smoothness to things. I've heard a few people describe them as a bit too aggressive etc - what does that mean exactly? Are they just too hot and push to distortion, or do you mean they sort of overwhelm the sound of the bass itself? I'm a novice to replacement pickups, but there's a point at which i'm just going to have to buy some and see how they get on.

Bought a tort pick guard from Simon last week. Arrived quickly, looked great and already very much at home on a new bass! Nice one Simon.

I sold my main USA P bass to fund a lighter Lull, because it was so heavy, but i missed its fantastic sound. It was in the shop for a few weeks after, and I was tempted to go and buy it back. But it would only have sat in the corner of my room in its case and got sold again eventually. It's only a bass at the end of the day.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1487104576' post='3237207'] I went through a crap separation with my first daughters mum. During that time I bought a Custom Shop 64 jazz, Olympic White, Matching headstock - the best neck I've ever played, 8lbs, just a stupidly resonant bass - sounds silly but notes 'spoke'. Recorded and gigged it, some of the best times of my musical 'career' - sold out some big venues on that last tour. Anyhow, things took a turn and I met Mrs Travis. To get married I sold said white jazz bass. Broke one part of my heart while another was healed forever. That was 5 years ago. Then, a twist of fate... [url="https://instagram.com/p/BP-i_3Tgl3U/"]https://instagram.com/p/BP-i_3Tgl3U/[/url] [url="https://instagram.com/p/BP8li26AKRL/"]https://instagram.com/p/BP8li26AKRL/[/url] It's home. Such a special bass. [/quote] Cool story! Hope you all live happily every after

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1487189548' post='3237965'] Stiffness and tension are probably not the same thing - flats by their nature are less pliable than rounds. Tension-wise, I find 760FLs to be somewhere between Roto Jazz 77s (very tight) and TI Jazz flats (very loose) [/quote] This ^ Roto 77s i had were really stiff, even tho the gauge was just 40-100. Really put me off flats. But then I discovered Labellas and TIs, both of which are different, but both are much easier on the hands.

I hear you - I've been there and lost my mojo too in the past. It can come from overdoing it and losing all the joy, or can come from playing with people or doing music you don't like. There's nothing wrong with stepping away from an instrument for a bit - often helps refresh your brain and your approach, especially if it really makes you miss playing and keen to get back into it. I didn't touch a bass for two years after a pretty acrimonious split with a band I'd invested a lot of time and energy with back in 2002. But music is a lifelong thing isn't it. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Yup - I've got them on my bass. They aren't 'low tension' as such - they are 43-104 gauge off the top of my head. But they feel perfectly comfortable to play. There are some specific 'low tension' Labellas available too but i haven't tried those.

I only used round wounds for over 20 years, but the last couple of years i've been getting really into flats. That said, not all flats are the same. The TIs on my Epi Jack Casady are very musical rather than thuddy, but low tension. The Labellas 760FLs on my Precision are very beefy and smooth, but not particularly high tension at all (i.e. I can still do two-fret string bends pretty easily). That said, I've got nickel rounds on my Lull which sort of suits that sort of bass better....

As the owner of a couple of genuinely scuffed guitars which I've owned for donkey's years and which have earned their mojo (some of it by me, some of it by the previous owners...) I'm not particularly attracted to relics - it wouldn't put me off an otherwise good guitar, but its not something i'd seek out either. My 47-year-old Fender has done a lot of gigs with me over the last 20+ years, and has buckle rash thru to the wood, plus lots of dings and worn areas, but its still not half as battered as my brother's brand new heavy relic Custom Shop stuff...

Nice one! Welcome to basschat - we're a nice bunch mostly. Bass is a great instrument to play live I find.

Not a bizarre request in itself, but we played at a wedding anniversary and agreed that the husband, who played guitar, could get up and play a song of his choice with us - Johnny B Goode in A, he told us. So I gave him a spare guitar and we played the song, tho there was definitely some background noise from somewhere. Turns out he'd played the entire song just mashing away on an A chord.