mcgraham

I know I know I KNOW!! I haven't seen the bass either y'kno If it's going to be shipping to me soon I'm happy to wait until then. Then (once I've had a little time to get used to it so I don't suitably embarrass myself when attempting to play it), you're more than welcome to check it out! The wife and I are planning on doing a road trip up to and then down from the North of Scotland so we could stop off in Edinburgh on the way Mark

Oh, incidentally, I may request that they hold onto it til just after Christmas/New Year to ensure the bass doesn't end up sitting in a cold storage yard til an actual working day during the Christmas break.

Well, after a great deal of silence from Italy and the guys at the workshop, I dropped them an email to see if I could get some sneak previews of my bass, whatever state it might have been in! On Friday 11 Dec, I got an email back saying "If you could wait a little more, I will take pics shortly of the completed bass, whcih we will be able to send you in approximately 10/12 days..." Even though things have been pretty quiet on their end, Enrico has been giving me the occasional email update, and it sounds like he's more than a little impressed with how it has turned out Needless to say I can't wait to see the final result and play this beast! Finally, a reason to work on fretless for a good long while! Mark

Personally, I'm glad there's some people out there who are willing to share their less-positive experiences with gear. I think Shockwave's review was honest and fair, as well as being very tempered despite the general stress the whole situation doubtless caused. Ultimately I don't appreciate reviews that are overly 'emotional' or exaggerated in either a positive or negative way, e.g. 'gushing' over how it's the best thing since sliced bread without some substance to such a claim, or 'slating' the actual company/seller where the product simply doesn't suit you, etc (not that I think either case occurred here). IMO, one of the reasons some people are getting defensive in this example is that (unlike, say, Ashdown) there is an actual 'face' and personality to which the negative review may be 'held against' in people's minds. However, at the end of the day, I'm sure we'd all like a balanced opinion of a bit of gear if we're thinking about checking out or buying before we get to that point, otherwise we'd all just be wasting our time and money. Mark

I've got all the basses I'll ever need now (including the soon to be arriving fretless). So that leaves... [url="http://www.suhrguitars.com/images/artistModels/govan/?image=Full"]Guthrie Govan model Suhr guitar[/url] *drool*

Good post! The point about getting good starting on each finger also resonates with me. Neglecting this can often lead to a playing weakness, if a player can't play certain things if it's not starting on a particular finger. The same can also be said for using a pick. Make sure you are equally confident starting with an upstroke as well as a downstroke. Mark

[quote]Bad technique is different to unconventional technique[/quote] [quote]If it sounds ok and you are not harming yourself by doing it then it's fine[/quote] More or less what I was going to say Mark

Ugh, bloomin' snakes! Usually, the sound team's problems come down to collective inexperience and lack of practical know-how. I was about to post a short rant, but decided against it Lets keep it positive eh? We're all on the same side here, even if we can't always see things that way. Mark

Another plus one for Al. I messaged him out of the blue about a 2 year old for sale ad. He swiftly got back in touch, and very generously honoured the same price he'd advertised it for. Al got it to me quickly and for a great price (considering the item's weight!). Top bloke and would recommend dealings with him to anyone. Mark

PA was a mess yesterday at church (we rent a room, and is therefore not a static setup). The PA team did their best but a slow start and lots of 'gremlins' in the equipment meant sorting some half decent monitoring for myself was a no-go. Something to work on anyway! Mark

Here's a recent one[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=63241"]Sell your rig and get in ears?[/url] BC thread... You contemplating going down the IEM route?

Awesome! Glad to hear of other success stories! My foray into in-ear monitoring has been fraught with difficulty, mostly due to the PA equipment I'm plugging in to having occasional issues (just bad timing/coincidence!). But when the whole setup works, it's absolutely amazing. I love being able to hear everyone so clearly as if they are right beside me. I've also been using IEMs for acoustic guitar and electric guitar as well as bass, and it makes a world of difference. The sound isolation you get it is also brilliant. Not that our onstage sound is deafening, but I love the completely controlled version of onstage monitor mixes I get with IEMs. This means I am still contemplating selling my rig! Or at least downsizing it... I haven't used it in about 2 months! Mark

[quote]After many attempts (4!)[/quote] Is that 4 or 4 factorial?

This one of course! It's not a Shuker I'm waiting on!

[quote]3. A Wood and Tronics Zoid because they look so weird and wonderful.[/quote] I got me one of them arriving around Christmas!