stewblack

I've nearly walked away for being told what and how to play and that my sound was wrong. I don't understand people who fuss and worry about such things when they have their own stuff to deal with. I'm persevering, we'll see.

I guess the idea is that so many people will edit and improve that ultimately the chords will end up correctly laid down. In reality musicians are lazy bastards and just take what's there and run with it.

When I read the title I thought I knew how I felt about this kind of sniffy attitude. However I was wrong, the OP is anything but sniffy. I have a lot of sympathy for what he's saying. I play with a guy at an acoustic night once a month. He picks a couple of tunes, I learn them we meet and play. Last month I failed entirely to make sense of what he was playing. Transpired he downloads the first chords he finds online, and somehow adjusts what he sings to match no matter how horribly wrong the chords are. Nuts.

Worst time this happened to me on stage was in the Wedgewood Rooms. A big crowd, all going welI, I swagger to the front to play the intro to Rudy, A Message To You. We'd played it for years and years and suddenly I could not bring one note of it to mind. Not only couldn't I play it, I couldn't even remember how it went. That moment of blind, bowel loosening terror has remained with me ever since. To this day I get a shiver of dread when I have to start a song. It's a viscous circle. The more I worry about it the more likely it is to happen. So I'm learning to read music. A glance at the opening bars of any song I start sets me on the right path.

The guys I've used to fix amps in the past have always been able to work on them without a problem. Many different brands. Not MB. I have to courier it to the approved repair company. Not cool.

Got to say I love gold basses. Shame it's active.

Thanks for the laughs folks. I'm sure none of you really experience such strong emotions about the look of an amplifier or a guitar. Being serious for a moment, I like everything about the MB gear I have except for the fact that I can't buy bits or schematic to repair my broken amp myself. That stinks. Anyway sorry for hijacking a fun thread. Let me try to join in: Um, phwoooar I love how that bass looks/think it's horrid. (Delete as applicable)

Kev, I've been playing for about a hundred and twenty years, recently decided to get lessons so I might learn some theory. I've played countless genres, been in signed originals, bog standard pub bands, functions and tributes, I have gained a reasonable idea of how to navigate a fretboard. So I sit down with my relaxed, friendly, fresh faced young tutor and he asks me to run a couple of tunes so he can get an idea of where I'm at. Not only am I unable to bring to mind more than one recognisable song but the rendition I produced was so appalling he must have thought I'd found the bass on the pavement outside having never seen one before. We never know when performance anxiety will strike but learning to overcome it is such a useful tool. If you can go back I would. The confidence you will gain will be invaluable. Also personality is so important in a band and they obviously liked yours.

Oh yes, the internal lights are very sexy

I have pedal options to warm the sound should I decide to. Overdriving the input isn't particularly pleasant (as one might imagine). I bought this as a back up to my Orange Terror but I suspect they'll rotate depending on who I'm playing for,

I don't mind that clean sound, your word warmer is the key here. Thats why I think the tube version must be amazing. Because the M has just about everything else

I'm betting the tube version is a killer. Ran my MOSFET through a barefaced 110 and an ampeg 410 at rehearsal and it sounded awesome. Huge bottom sharp and crisp tops good selection of mid-range options to suit the room. Only criticism I could find is it's a little bit clean for my tastes. Which is why I suspect the tube preamp might make all the difference.

All I ever wanted when I started playing bass in the early 80s was a big TE rig. A 15, a 4 X 10, and a glowing green lit head to reach up and plug into. The ultimate set up it seemed to me. When I finally acquired my first Trace many years later it was a small 130w combo. It sounded every bit as good as I hoped it would and lasted me for years, but it wasn't the huge rig I'd fantasised and lusted for. Fast forward to the present. My dream set up appears regularly in the for sale section here and on eBay and guess what? Now I can afford it I can't bloody lift it.

Reading the comments in response to a best bassists type video and one of them asserts the 80s was the high water mark for bass guitar in popular music. What do you think? Apart from the obvious - I too agree comparing and ranking musicians is pointless - which decade was the bassy best? More importantly, why?

That picture is positively pornographic! Congratulations, beautiful looking rig and gorgeous bass.

Don't have the JC but do have a semi acoustic which caused me similar grief. I found an acoustic guitar case fitted the bill perfectly

Mine was an Amazon 'as new' guessing it had been returned. If my fading memory serves it was around £160 - £170. Collosal bargain.

This one is well regarded https://www.thejazzguide.co.uk

I'm not a scientist so please take whatever I say with a pinch of salt, but I've played both this amp and an Orange Terror (allegedly 1000 watts) through the same cabs at various venues and I've never noticed any loss of volume/power/output/headroom (call it what you will) when using the Bugera. Doesn't bother me what numbers the marketing people choose, it's lightweight, pretty, versatile and sounds great