Bassman Sam

I have just put my trusty old bass up for sale on this site and feel well down about it. I have had it for the best part of 15 years and when I look at it, it brings back great memories. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and now can't play but still get GAS . I thought I might buy a cheap bass to take it's place on the wall for the good days when I can play for 5 minutes ( but have pain for 3 days after) but it just won't be the same. I know that it's the end of an era and it don't feel good. How do I get over this?

[quote name='grayn' post='1076457' date='Jan 3 2011, 04:46 PM']I suspect this has been done before (more than once, probably) But I thought I'd give newbies, like myself , a chance to say who inspired them to take up the bass. 1. CHRIS SQUIRE (Yes): Inspired me to get a Rickenbacker, in my teens. A dynamic, ensemble player. 2. MARTIN TURNER (Wishbone Ash): A solid player with a sense of the dramatic and melodic. 3. PAUL McCARTNEY: In his mid-late beatles days, he wrote some great bass-lines. Counter-melodic and great song enhancers, too. 4. DANNY THOMPSON (Pentangle): Master double bassist, who played with many of my favourites, Nick Drake, David Sylvian, John Martyn etc. 5. TONY LEVIN (King Crimson): A real entertainer and gifted bassist, who has played with many of the greats. [/quote] Have you been looking over my shoulder, the 1st 3 are in the same order on my list also. 4. Greg Lake: another Prog rock hero to me. 5. Jack Bruce: Cream: just the best at the time

Does he play this bass through a "Tranny" amp? I'll get me coat.

[quote name='StevePearceBass' post='1069328' date='Dec 25 2010, 08:32 PM']Hi everyone, I've caught up with Basschat a bit late!.......It was, indeed, me on the Saturday Night Fever TV show...A 1976 Fiesta red Precision and a really cheap, plastic little Chinese-made Behringer bass phaser pedal made the bass sound on 'You should be Dancin'....It's really noisy but I love its grunginess...In fact I bought two in case one broke!.....Steve Pearce.[/quote] Hi Steve, Merry Christmas and nice of you to join us. Just like to say great playing on the show and nice sound. thanks for the extra info. Sam

Started on the piano at 8 years old, played it to grade 5, stopped aged12. Then DB at school for 2 years, kicked out of the String section for not wanting to do the O level, just wanted to play and not learn about Bach. At around the same time, I went to see Hair, the musical, as there were Nudies on stage, well I was 14. That was the 1st time I heard a live bass guitar, that was it it for me. Been a fan of nudies ever since.

My first rig in '73 was a H H 100watt head into a Marshall 4x15 slop front cab, bloody heavy, a Ricky 4001 fretless and a '72 Fender p-bass. All long gone and now have a USA '57 RI made in '83. Amp is a Torque combo. Wish I still had the '72 P bass, best I have so far played.

Stumbles clumsy around a 4 stringed plank would be a good description of me.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1063009' date='Dec 18 2010, 09:51 PM']When I left school I moved to Brussels to join a 10 piece soul and pop band which did quite well. I bought my Fender Precision in that band. Several years later I spent time playing the US bases in Germany. It was fun and good experience. We played 5 sets a night with 6 sets on Friday and Saturday. After that you can play anything. Most of the soldiers were drafted, fed up and homesick. The bands were the only non army people they met so we were all treated like royalty.[/quote] I can relate to that. Used to play in Dunoon Queens Halls in the 70's for the American navy guys that were stationed there. They would have just come back from sea to their base and wanted to let their hair down. Met many great guys with stories to tell. They would bring bottles of JD and bags of weed for the band as thanks for entertaining them. Good old days.

I left Glasgow in 1975 for the bright lights of London. We were very green, thinking that we would be the next best thing. It didn't happen but we had a blast, met some wonderful people and got me a wife. I wouldn't have done half what I did if I stayed on in Glasgow. The grass is always greener etc but if you don't try you'll never know.

[quote name='absolutpepper' post='1059691' date='Dec 15 2010, 04:17 PM']Hi I have a lovely wine red Washburn Status 1000 bass. Its all original (inc a brand new set of Status double ball strings) and has recently been fantastically set up by Mark (7string) at Setups Glasgow; the only thing missing is the case. Condition wise its pretty good, there are the usual knocks in the finish and pitting of the brass hardware but these are superficial, most importantly the bass sings! Used but far from abused would be an apt phrase. The reason for the post is that in light of my band taking a 'possibly' permanent break I really don't need the number of instruments I currently have and I could do with cash for some more studio equipment. So does anyone have an idea of the going rate for these? I've seen prices vary wildly so I was hoping for a rough ball park. I am really only toying with selling at the moment but if I do i'd like to know a reasonable price for this site so I don't drastically over or under-estimate things. Cheers Chris Oh, its the bass in my avatar.[/quote] I sold mine on ebay and got £180 for it about 4 years ago but have seen them go for £360 recently. Wish I had never sold it tho', lovely bass and still miss it.

[quote name='the_brow' post='1054625' date='Dec 11 2010, 12:46 AM']Hi everyone, found this forum while doing some Matamp research, thought I would throw in my $0.02 I have a GT200 and i love it. It is fairly clean, especially the preamp. Most of the distortion is going to come from the power section when you turn it up, which is the way I like it. I have never owned the AD200 but I do own a 70's SVT, Mesa 400+ and a Traynor YBA-3, and I have also previously owned a YBA200 and Fender 300 Pro. The SVT is by far the loudest of the bunch, but the Matamp is no slouch. Lots of volume. Someone compared it to the Mesa and I would have to disagree. The Matamp has more subdued highs and more lower midrange grunt. You can quite easily get a Mesa tone out of it, but I find that the Mesa can't really do the Matamp tone. As far is Matamp's customer service, I have not dealt with them directly but I did deal with the North American distributor. I did have an issue with my GT200 when I first bought it. The amp would run for a few hours and then shut down. I took the amp to my tech and the distributor put him in touch with the Matmp factory. They were very helpful and found that a solder had come loose, probably during shipping, they paid for all the repairs and parts with no hassle at all. The amp runs perfectly now and it sounds great. Now I am waiting for a custom face plate from Matamp, and I will definetly go back to get either an 8x10, 2 4x10s or a 2x15. edit: I should mention that I did slightly modify the GT200 preamp. I changed the capacitor values on the depth knob. I found that with the depth knob all the way to the right there was no where near enough bass and I could not think of any situation where I would use that setting. I moved the capacitor form the middle setting to the right and I added a new value in the middle with slightly less bass than the bassiest setting. Also, as with all my amps, I replaced the V1 preamp tube with a 5751 which has a little less gain and smoother overdrive than the ECC83/12AX7.[/quote] Just what I like, a shy Newbie. A warm welcome to you. Edit: That make me look like Gary Glitter

My dream bass. Pass the tissues :gas

Thanks Bassassin, i'll see who things pan out.

Opps forgot the link. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kasuga-Bass-guitar-/220706898907?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33632803db"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Kasuga-Bass-guitar-/...=item33632803db[/url]

or anyone else. Caught my eye on the bay. what's the story with them, Any good?

Check this one out, this ad has it all. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-SQUIRE-PRECISION-BASS-VGC-Cream-Korean-1990-/110620877781?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item19c184a3d5"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-SQUIRE-PRECIS...=item19c184a3d5[/url]

[indent][/indent] My maple thumb rest from Guy Lewis arrived Monday morning, fitted and looks great but I can't try it out as my RA has flared up so no playing for a month or two.

[quote name='KiOgon' post='1045798' date='Dec 2 2010, 10:59 PM']Same here If you don't want to drill any extra holes you can use single hole thumbrests & use the pick guard screw hole already in that position. [url="http://www.bassguitarthumbrests.com/"]Guy Lewis[/url] does them, I'll put a picture on when I'm back at my PC, you might be able to see one in my avatar pic. For me the single screw holds fine & in just the right place. Cheerz, John[/quote] Thanks for that link, I've been looking for something like this for my '57 RI as I don't want any holes that not original. Just ordered a single hole maple for £10.50 including delivery. Happy Bunny.

Money - Pink Floyd Hit me with your rythym stick - Ian Drury and the Blockheads America - Yes

[quote name='britpoprule' post='1034672' date='Nov 24 2010, 02:26 AM']I wanted to know...if I buy on ebay from USA or Japan...a part from the expensive shippings, will I be charged by the UK or I will not pay anything else? I'm italian and when I was in Italy and used to buy from the USA, once the product arrived at home in Italy I was charged of the 20% (if I'm not wrong) and I had to pay extra money to the postman...because USA and Japan are not in the European Community.. what about here in London, England?It's like in Italy or it works differently? I'm really interested cause as you know, especially USA offers cheaper prices... thanks a lot[/quote] I think that the same rules apply with regards to import duty in Italy as they do in the UK but local rates may vary.

I used JD 65 Clearner and Polish and it brought the maple FB back to life, smooth as glass.