casapete

Tracks of my tears - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles. 50 years old and still does it for me. Honky Tonk Woman - Stones. That cowbell / drum sound / guitar thing is just so good.

Local hotel dinner dance, scratch band made up of 4 good mates so an easy and hopefully fun gig. Expect to be playing all the usual function band stuff, but infinitely preferable to other options. Home by 1.30am to watch recorded Jools with a beer too......

Once used a chorus pedal for a couple of songs, but other than that never use 'em. Got a graphic eq which comes in handy if I have to use someone else's amp though, saves messing up their settings. Same as Lozz above really. Am always a bit confused when people buy an expensive amp head and then use an expensive pedal in front of it as well in order to get their sound - seems a bit OTT to me. I just buy an amp I like the sound of with nothing added, in my case GK stuff.

As previous post, I've found most of the branded roundwound strings I've tried over the years quickly lose their initial twang after 1 - 2 gigs, then stay the same for maybe a dozen more after which they become dead which is when I replace them. I'm not a very sweaty handed player, so this of course may be different for those who are?! Might try the boiling thing soon just out of curiosity.

As above - I have used quite a few bronzewound strings on my Washburn elec/acoustic bass, and found the best are D'Addario and Elites. Not so good (for me anyway)are Fender or Martin. Have n't yet tried Elixirs but have heard good things about them. Assuming your bass has a piezo type pickup I think bronze acoustic style strings will give better results than standard electric bass ones.

^^^ Quite a few times - I'm the bassist!!

A great loss, RIP.

One Korg, and a couple of Snark clip ons in bass cases which for £8 a pop are really good. Oh yes, and a Korg GT6 bought in1979 by an ex girlfriend. Amazing tuner, still works fine.

EXL 170's for me on all my 34" scale basses. Used 'em for years, never a duff one, or a breakage. Last for ages with me, although I don't sweat much at all! Use their short scale ones on my Dano too, perfect.

Try checking whether the baffle board is loose, maybe get a mate to play your bass whilst you listen or feel for the rattle. Physical vibrations in a cab usually easier (and cheaper!) to rectify than speaker unit problems. As you say, tighten every screw / bolt you can find too Good luck.

Am so fortunate with my band. All great people, and amazingly for an 8 piece outfit we all get on fine. Any problems are dealt with in a businesslike and adult manner, so every gig it is possible just to concentrate on putting on the best performance we can. Even our sound / light crew are fantastic team players too, who I enjoy being around. Sickening eh?.....

Just been watching U2 on TFI Friday and thought Clayton was pretty good. Not my kinda thing but sounded fine to me.

When they start to go dead (and I keep adjusting the presence/treble on the amp..) Usually every 8-10 weeks, sometimes a bit longer. One at a time, clean and oil fingerboard if necessary, check intonation and swap battery. Takes me 30 mins, quite enjoy the process and having the bass in top playing fettle.

+1 for Musicman. Had a few Stingrays and a Sterling from various decades and all been exceptionally good quality. Also GK amps, always maintained a consistently high standard over a long period.

Words fail me.......

I have my GK amp serviced annually. Fan cleaned out, any connections checked/tightened etc and a general once over and bench test. Returned to me with PAT certificate which many venues insist on. Never had it miss a beat yet. Costs around £20, so 40p a week is my risk - not much for peace of mind? Of course it may go on for years without this, but for me I see no reason to take any chances.

I remember seeing Little Richard at a rock n roll package tour event. Fantastic band with horns section, sounded amazing. He had two bassists - a great player of mature years holding it all down really well, and a more err..'flamboyant' young chap (looked a bit like Prince) whose job seemed to be running around a great deal & occasionally playing some unison lines etc. And smiling a lot at LR.

[url="http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Alto-SXM112-12-Active-Stage-Monitor/G45"]http://www.gear4musi...age-Monitor/G45[/url] I've heard these and they are pretty good for the money.

As mentioned above, JSG in Bingley was a wonderful shop. I used to make the journey there from Hull in the late 70's / early 80's, over an hour's drive up through Bradford. You could park outside the adjoining bike shop, and then the anticipation as you walked down through an almost tunnel/cavern like entrance was fantastic. This led down past PA stuff to the main guitar and bass area. They carried a fantastic range of instruments, both new and secondhand. Full range of Fenders in all colour combinations, both guitars and basses.All were available to try through any amp you wanted, and the staff were friendly, and patient! I bought quite a bit of stuff from there, including a fantastic Orange 80 watt valve combo that I could barely lift. Also a Vox AC30 for £70 which later had some...err....flammable qualities. My pal bought an Orange bass bin with an EV speaker that was amazing too. I believe the owner was called John, and he later went into making flight cases with Lyn Blakeston of Greyhound Cases / The Gig Shop in Hull. Happy days.

Just one of the reasons I find 'Strictly Come Dancing' so hard to watch. Great band, but the audience killing it every time with clapping on the 1 & 3. Aaaaarrrggghhh.............

Some good advice already offered. Try to make sure your bins are n't on the stage wherever possible. Most stages are hollow, and just encourage boom and rumble which can be problematic. Setting the PA offstage can help reduce this, so try experimenting at different venues to see if it helps. Good luck!

www.wdmusic.co.uk Usually have Musicman plates in stock in many finishes.