casapete

It's the later model Lytes that come with chrome hardware, most of which are made around 95 /96 and as you say have '50th Anniversary' stickers on the rear of the headstock. These are relatively rare compared to the gold hardware versions, and were the last of the run of the Lytes. I think Fender robbed the parts bin at this time, as 2 of mine have 'Made in USA' neckplates despite being Japanese! IMO the chrome not only looks better but lasts longer than the gold, which seems prone to tarnishing. I have two sunbursts and a white one from this era, all sporting chrome parts as did a red one I sold recently. The later sunbursts were darker / more 'tobacco' than the earlier ones, which were more 'caramel' if you get my drift, as in the one pictured above. Great basses, still affordable as well. .

Can you not phantom power it from the mixer? I use my Sansamp that way, never missed a beat. ( My stand-by Behringer BD121 however doesn't have that feature, but then again for £24 it would be asking a lot! )

When I went to see Willie Nelson, one of the band went off whilst the others were playing and came back with what looked like a tray with a pot of tea and mugs on it. Given Mr Nelson's.... err...interesting past with other substances, this seemed quite amusing. Also what about the famous Rick Wakeman story when he was with Yes. [b]At one of the Free Trade Hall gigs, Rick Wakeman drank eight or nine pints and began thinking of curry. He told his keyboard tech below the stage, "John, we'll go for curry when this is all over." John only heard the word "curry" over all the noise. Twenty minutes later, he brought Rick a chicken Byriani, a few poppadoms, and an onion Bhaji. Rick enjoyed the smell and decided to lay the curry on his organ and eat it. Jon turned to him and said, "I don't believe it - he's eating curry!" Steve Howe was also displeased.[/b]

The EB Stingray will be better all round - build, electrics, sound etc, but as to whether it is worth the difference is really your call. Why not go for a s/h USA Sub bass? These are in most people's opinion as good as the USA Stingray, albeit with some price saving features - slab body with no belly or forearm cutaway / textured finish / painted neck , but having USA pickup and 2 band preamp which makes them sound fantastic. ( Just be aware a few passive models were made, so ensure you look for the active one.) Rumour was that they were not cost effective for Musicman to keep making them so were discontinued. S/h ones are starting to go up lately, so expect to pay around £400 for one, roughly 50% of the cost of an equivalent s/h EB Stingray. Great way to experience the might of a USA Stingray on a budget. PS. Just looked on here in 'basses for sale' and there's currently a grey one up for £420. Cheers.

THE reason I started playing music. Absolutely gutted, a legend. RIP.

No problem, hope you get it sorted!

Here you go. I'm guessing international postage shouldn't be a problem either. http://www.audioloudspeakers.co.uk/boultons.shtml http://www.wembleyloudspeaker.com/

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1489825603' post='3260083'] The guys here will work out the tuning for you, I'm going to take a slightly different tack. Buzzing from a speaker doesn't mean its terminal. possibly the most common cause is something loose in the cab. Check all the screws holding the speaker are tight, that there are no loose joints near the speaker or foreign objects loose inside. Check the speaker cables inside the cab aren't touching the cone. Now examine the speaker itself, any tears in the cone? examine the dust cap in the middle of the cone, has it come loose? Now work your way round the corrugated surround, has it come away from the speaker frame or from the cone itself. Just about all of these things are a very simple fix, just re-glue with a latex adhesive like Copydex. If you find anything let us know and we can give details of what to do. [/quote] +1 to all of this. Also, don't forget that if the speaker is at fault, you can probably get it reconed. Can't remember which thread on here recently mentioned a couple of places that do reconing, but think it worked out at around £45 plus postage for a 12" driver. If I find the details will add to this post.

One night with my country band, the dep drummer didn't turn up, due to a previous altercation with the landlord , something to do with their girlfriends... ( The guitarist was also a dep, leaving just 50% of the original band! ) I found this out just before leaving for the gig. A few attempts at getting a dep drummer drew a blank, so I had to break it to the rest of the band what had happened when I arrived. Anyway, after a quick discussion we decided to do the gig, and of course it turned out great. Without drums many of the songs took on a fresh identity, and even the more rocky stuff went down well, full dance floor etc. I think our regular audience admired us for having a go too. From my point of view it was challenging but also liberating at the same time, and made me realise it's not just the drums that people listen to when dancing.

I suffer from the same problem as the OP. Sound check over by 5 ish, then a bit of a mad dash to source/eat food before a 7.30 start. Our default setting is Wetherspoons, as pointed out by someone above. Their menu has a reasonable choice of small meals including salads etc, and bigger stuff / meal deals for the crew! The hardest bit for me is not getting a nice pint of their 'Devil's Backbone' with it though..... Some of our guys bring pasta / rice based dishes from home and use the theatre's microwave, I just like to get out for a while and have a look round wherever we're gigging and leaving it more to chance. Always end up having something, even if it's just a sarnie from Sainsbury's.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1489667548' post='3258774'] Also listen to the PIANO on Chucks stuff and more importantly on ANY of Fats Domino's records. We all assume it was guitar-led music but so much of the feel actually stems from the piano parts. An absolutely classic example of this is Teenage Wedding. Check it out. OOPS SORRY! Just noticed someone earlier had commented on the piano led nature of a lot of the early stuff. [/quote] Apparently Chuck joined / took over the Johnnie Johnson Trio, which possibly explained how some of his songs were in un-guitar friendly/ piano keys? As in a previous post, he also was influenced by T-Bone Walker and also Nat King Cole,which maybe carries this theory on, with a lot of their songs being in 'flat' keys too. Agree with you about the piano on 'You never can tell ' (Teenage wedding), it's ace!

So are the Lidl ones cheaper than buying Duracells in tens off ebay? (This can work out from 80p to £1 each delivered)

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1489565984' post='3257894'] Just focus on the pulse and make sure you understand the relationship between what you are playing and where it sits in the overall performance. I love playing without drums as it allows for more finesse in my own phrasing. [/quote] This. I love playing in my acoustic duo where the tempos & feel of the song are not overly governed by a drummer. Quieter too :-)

How do the Lidl ones compare to Duracells price wise?

Used to use Duracell Procells, but believe these were replaced by 'Industrial' range. Look on ebay, usually available in boxes of 10 for around £10 delivered, job done.

Doing Chuck Berry stuff properly is a damned sight harder than you may think. Getting the feel of the originals is notoriously difficult, with the drums and bass often not playing the same styles ( straight / shuffle etc. ) As Keith Richard once said, most bands can rock but few can roll..... Also it's easy for songs to descend into a Quo type thrash, and for the chord changes made the same. ( For example , in 'Johnny B. Goode' so many people insist on playing the IV chord towards the end of each verse when it stays on the V etc.) Good luck, hope you enjoy the gig!

Never a UK hit, until the dreadful UB40 version (itself a cover of a cover by Tony Tribe) in 1983. Great song though. * Beaten to it ^^^^^^

Great stuff, thanks for posting.

Did this when I couldn't play bass guitar after an injury. Really weird at first, wondering what to do with the other hand and also being unable to wander around the stage whilst playing. Nice not having to wear the instrument though, and not needing to keep checking the tuning. Enjoy, you'll be fine.

Well I don't care -MUSIC STAND!! I use one as my eyesight doesn't allow the use of one of the iPad mic stand jobbies, they're just the wrong angle / too close for me. The music stand (there, I've done it again...) allows perfect positioning for a myopic old bugger like me. Never once had anyone comment on it being there either. With my Country band we have probably 300+ songs in the pad, so none of us can remember music/words to all of them. Before using the iPad, massive folders of parts did look a bit naff, so it's now a lot better.

I use forScore on gigs where I need access to parts / lyrics etc. Don't know how it compares to others TBH, but works fine for what I need.