Gareth Hughes

Hey Daniel - Drop me a PM with your number. I had the same thing happen to mine and had an amazing repair done by a good friend who works in Avalon Guitars and Lowden's before that. He's down in Comber, so not too far from you. Fear not - help is at hand. I also get work done by a guy that works on the Ulster Orchestra's bass's, so there's a few options.

Hey Chris - expect the alien-hands-on-electric-bass feeling to continue. I've been playing electric bass since I was 13, upright bass since I was 21 - so whilst I'm more proficient on the electric I somehow manage to get most of my work on my upright, especially original work. I've done several 3-4 weeks tours on the upright and when I come home and pick up the electric it's heartbreaking - 20 years of playing and you play like this?!?!?!?!?!?! I think it's not only the difference in string spacing but also the timing of your attack that changes. To me an electric responds immediately to your touch, whereas an upright is a little slower as the note develops, so you subconsciously start to accommodate that. Moving back and forth between both - it's like getting your sea legs I imagine. The other weird thing you might find, coming from the electric world first, is that when I'm gigging the upright with a loud band (drummers/guitars) the upright never sounds solid enough. I think that's because I'm so used to hearing an electric bass in that context. So what I'm saying is that you sometimes have to mentally adapt your expectations of sound and performance to fit the setting. And whenever you get the feedback blues and the rest of the band are yelling 'can't you make that thing any louder?' - just reply with 'That's why we have electric basses!!!!!'

Sounds dodgy, as it should clearly have a model number somewhere on the combo - especially on the speaker connection plate. But if it is a CMD103 it should have plenty of welly. I run an LMK through an Epifani UL310 and NEVER go past 5 on the master volume - and that's with the loudest band I play with - a 7 piece with horns and HUGE P.A. In my opinion I think the Markbass heads (well, the F500 and LMK that I have) are so well voiced for bass that they honestly seem way louder than they should be. That - or the amps I've had in the past - Ashdown 400w, Acoustic Image Focus 2 600w, Euphonic Audio iAmp800 800w and Epifani UL902c 900w into 4ohms x 2 - were all seriously over-rated in both watts, chutzpah and general usefulness. Apologies if I've offended any lovers of those amps, but after years of frustration with them my opinion is that my Markbass heads just wee's on them

Yup - I just sold two basses, bought one a day later - and enquired about another on the day that the mew one arrived. Maybe we need to set up www.selfrestraintchat.co.uk?

[quote name='thinman' post='884327' date='Jul 2 2010, 08:38 PM']Bought an EHX Bass Synth from Gareth. Excellent to deal with in every respect. In fact, I'm amazed he's got anything left to sell![/quote] You'd be surprised the amount of stuff I have lying around. I just gave six pedals to Bigwan for repairs, and loaned an amp - and life is carrying on as tho nothing had changed

And hello from Rathfriland. Up Down.

Now I have GAS, and it's not for the pedal

PM'd.

Again - what is there to add to all of the above? Except to say that it's all true!!! I just took delivery of a Fender 70's RI Precision ("Sid" as he is affectionately known) and Simon was amazing to deal with in every way. Given the amount of waffle and indecision he had to deal with from me, if we were talking on the phone I wouldn't blame him for making a cup of tea and watching the footie while I rambled on (as is my want). So, needless to say Si is a top bloke and buy with absolute confidence.

[quote name='fatback' post='881155' date='Jun 29 2010, 05:19 PM']Meh. Only UK orders accepted. EDIT Waay! Ebay dealer will deliver outside UK and is £30 cheaper [/quote] Hey Fatback - Whereabouts are you in Ireland? I'm just north of the border, so if that's any use to you let me know. I do stuff like that a lot for colleagues in Dublin getting stuff on eBay, saves a fortune on delivery charges.

This might be irrelevant as I'm not too sure what goes on with speakers BUT I had a similar sound coming from one speaker in a Hartke 2.5XL cab years ago. Turned out to be the dust cover had worked it's way loose. A little bit of silicon was used to reattach it and everything worked lovely. This was done by Ernie McMillen in Comber, so if that's anywhere handy to you, PM and I'll pass on his details.

+1 for playing on the side of your finger instead of the tips. I literally have a callous on the side of my finger from my fingernail to my last knuckle. Another tip would be to lower the action (if possible) so you have less tension to work with. Superglue has gotten me through a few tough gigs, but so has some electrical tape. Not ideal by any means, but it worked. And good luck!!!

Are there chord marking above the score? I've been there before too - makes for a bugger with repeated sections. If there's chords, it's a busk with an eye out for any noticeable rhythm markings.

THis is a great look at bass playing/music in New York in very exciting musical times: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birdland-Broadway-Scenes-Jazz-Life/dp/0195085507/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277626565&sr=8-3"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birdland-Broadway-...6565&sr=8-3[/url]