Mark Dyer

Hmm? Should I stock up on replacement valves for my Streamliner now?

A good way to introduce a setlist into the band and keep the set flowing is to segue a few of your songs, the obvious one is first into second song or maybe even the third if you're feeling ambitious. Try coming out of something hectic into a mid paced funk song with no break, you'll often sense the audience lift with you, they think you sound professional and tight which of course you are, because you've thought about it, rehearsed it (hopefully), compared to last week's band who just made it up.

At 2.25, spat coffee over the monitor. He appears to have two personal security guys all to himself? I wonder why.

Hmmm, let's take a look at some of the biggest rock bands out there, see what makes the bass player tick eh? The Rolling Stones: Bill Wyman, what a nutter, all over the show him, couldn't stand still and play for 5 seconds! The Who: Jon Entwhistle, total loon, if he wasn't leaping off Moon's drum kit he was climbing the lighting rig like a baboon, crazy man on stage. Ok, what about a more modern band I hear you say? Oasis: Total madness on stage, didn't know where to look half the time, no wonder they split up, they were knackered!

I've strung the Jazz both ways and not noticed any difference in sound, maybe, and I might be imagining it, but through-the-body stringing does seem to give the string a little more tension, a tighter feel? I read somewhere that some slap players string the E & A through the bridge and the D & G through the body, but that just confused me when I tried it. The biggest difference I made to the Jazz is replacing the standard bridge with a Hip Shot, any minor improvements in through body stringing were completely negated when I did that!

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1389363065' post='2333343'] Yeah man, that's why you have all that bass gear and joined a bass forum. [/quote] Nah, I went and joined a band again.

If you're not in a band then give it up. Sell all your over priced bass gear and go buy a motorcycle... I did.

[quote name='operative451' timestamp='1389354587' post='2333150'] Yep, that looks cool! Compare: [url="http://londonphotos.biz/galleries/music/livework/photos/B4908_Level42IndigO2_034.jpg"]http://londonphotos....IndigO2_034.jpg[/url] Very not cool.. [/quote] He's right y'know, Mark King looks like he's just been punched in the bollox!

Some of you may find this link useful regards sitting position, wrist angle etc. If you are one of those players who like the Heavy Metal, pointy ass body shapes, you may run into some uncomfortable difficulties... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ejj2nu0ts"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ejj2nu0ts[/url]

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1389345418' post='2333004'] ... Probably best to book your time in advance. But, Mark has lots of great kit, and BD is well worth a visit. [/quote] Good advice. I always call Mark beforehand if I know I'm going to make a purchase and let him know what I want to try out. Mark might not always tell you what you want to hear, but he will help you make the right choice for sure. I've purchased several basses and my current live rig from BD and have no complaints. It's probably the best bass guitar shop we have in the UK tbh.

Been through four overdrive/distortion pedals in the last year or so, finally settled on the Rodenberg 809B Drive (thanks Ryan, if you're reading this you were mad to sell it!) Three selections of distortion from the 808 and 809 switches and super fat distortion from the 909 switch, turn up the drive and beautiful sustained distortion leaps out of the cabs. Tone control lets you dial in any bottom end that's lacking, easy to set up. Gigged it for the first time last night, sounded awesome in the mix. Prior to this I was using the Source Audio Soundblox Distortion Pro, which has more settings than you could possibly need imo, and most sound a little on the artificial side if that makes any sense. But a great feature the pedal has is the ability to save sounds as presets! Two banks, A and B, with three preset buttons to each. If you're prepared to spend some time setting this pedal up it will do the job, I just didn't like the sounds. Before the Soundblox I was using a Microtubes B7K by Darkglass. Never really got on with this pedal, nothing wrong with it, well made, bags of tone control with the 4 band EQ and all the distortion you could wish for but, it was always on the edge of being out of control, a metal pedal basically. I always felt I was spending my time trying to reign the damn thing in rather than get a sound out it. And finally (sorry for the long post/review, it's Sunday, it's pissing down outside, and I have a hangover to work off,) I still use a Farndurk BGX2 for subtle, warm overdrive tones on bluesy type songs. Simple to set up, it has one volume and one tone control and a three way toggle switch to engage different levels of drive. It is also a thing of beauty, hence the pic. I think the overriding issue I have with distortion/overdrive pedals is there is no one-box solution. If, like me, you're in a covers band, the set up you have for bands like RATM or Muse are not going to work for adding a little warm tube sound to a ZZ Top track. Does this make any sense? Anyway, for now it's the Rodenberg… but that might change.

Received pedal promptly, REALLY well packaged, in near mint condition as described, would have no problem dealing with Ryan again.

May be a good opportunity to time my purchase of a new rig from Bass Direct with this event. Has anyone invited Macca?

The day it arrived, Jan this year, hard to put down... Must take some better photos sometime...

[quote name='JellyKnees' post='1243005' date='May 24 2011, 02:49 PM']Hello from Brokenhead[/quote] Ah, Birkenhead?

Hi, been on here for a few weeks now, about time I introduced meself. I'm based in Wallasey. Played for a number of bands in Merseyside many years ago but put it on back-burner to pursue a career, but found more time for playing now. I'm a lefty and adept at sneaking purchases past the girlfriend. Introduced to this site by Steve Amadeo here, who is my bass tutor. Just purchased a 2nd hand Jazz and reading up on Bad Ass bridge install article, very useful. This is a great forum.