tauzero

What a marvellous coincidence: [attachment=4125:coincide...ick_4003.jpg]

[quote name='bremen' post='103886' date='Dec 13 2007, 02:37 PM']It'd have to sound mighty fine, and play itself, to compensate for the way it looks. IMHO.[/quote] It looks a bit like the bastard lovechild of a Streamer and a Bongo, with a Rick somewhere in the family tree, and with Steve Wishnevsky roped in to do the control plate.

I thought for that price it would be rude not to have it...

[quote name='TimmyC' post='100785' date='Dec 7 2007, 11:34 AM']Going out there and looking for effects for the sake of effects is a dangerous and expensive world.[/quote] Just trying them out can be very expensive - I went to try out a Boss octaver twenty years ago and finished up with a Warwick Thumb (and £900 in those days was, well, £900). Never did get an octaver, though there's one in my BP-200. Still got the Warwick though. So to keep your spending under control, either take your own bass or use a crappy one to try out the effects... +1 to the multifx, anyway - I've had a Boss ME-6B and now have a Digitech BP-200 (TBH, I was in two minds as to which to keep). Cheaper multifx (and some dearer ones) have the rather less convenient up/down patch switching system. Ones like the ME-6B and its successors have direct bank/patch selection by footswitch. I'm probably sticking with the multifx for the time being rather than going to separates anyway.

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='101092' date='Dec 7 2007, 07:42 PM']All I read was "leather over carbon fibre"... I knew it was pointless reading the rest. My wallet jumped away from me.[/quote] All I read was "Loading...". CBA with Flash sites, life's too short.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103696' date='Dec 13 2007, 07:48 AM']There is a genuine reason to have private bidding though. When I sold regularly on eBay (not usually bass related items they were multitools and Leathermans) I got emails from potential buyers (who had bids on my items) that they had been contacted by other ebayers offering identical items for either less money or they guaranteed to sell for less than xy or z amount. In the end I bowed to the pressure and I started to make my listings private, funnily enough one of the guiltiest sellers of this sniping, started making all of his listings BIN.[/quote] Perhaps the answer is to have bidders' IDs shown publicly in the bidding history after the auction has closed. Still not ideal, admittedly.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='103623' date='Dec 12 2007, 11:28 PM']'Oooch dearie me' did I say that he would get at least £711 And the second highest bid from someone who kept bidding up in small increments was... £711[/quote] Whoever it was (Bidder 1) didn't keep bidding up in small increments, they were the first bidder and put in a £711 bid on 6th Dec. The rest of the bidding was on 12th Dec. It does look somewhat fishy - if Bidder 1 is morkeal, it downright stinks (a good reason for bids not to be anonymous).

Covers band: 1 bass in hard case 1 GK 200MB combo (may be replaced by rackmount head and 1x10" cab in the future) 1 aluminininium box with leads, wireless gear, and cheat notes for "Music" 1 stool 1 guitar stand Ceilidh band: 1 electric upright bass in case 1 bass in hard case 1 Crate powerbrick 2 Skylab 150W PA speakers (these and the powerbrick are for foldback) 1 bag of leads 1 top hat 1 straw hat 1 guitar stand Open mic night: 1 bass in hard case 1 book of chords for things people have played in the past Oh, and I have sufficient tuners to have one per instrument in the case (well, that's the theory, I need another couple of tuners)

It's easiest to do if you've got more than two hands. You need to keep the peg pressed down (doesn't have to be terribly hard) while keeping some tension on the string by pulling it up or to one side (this can all be done with one hand) while turning the tuner and trying to guide the string onto the tuner shaft (this is the bit that really could do with two hands, making a grand total of three).

Guitar - a few months before joining a school band playing Glenn Miller covers to play rhythm guitar. Bass - started playing bass after we put the band together at university and I was voted bass player. Played for a few months, did a practice gig and then the hall of residence end of year do (and got paid too!) and then dropped out of university and didn't play bass again for a few years.

My house. Well, my house without the bitch-spawn from hell in it anyway.

My experience may well be coloured by the fact that I've been going to Musical Exchange (as it was then) in Brum since it was in Broad Street, which was mid-70s. Since then it's moved halfway across town, and more recently, changed to being a Sound Control. Obviously, over the years, I've got to know the staff a little bit, and as I occasionally spend money in there, they'll humour me. PMT in Brum is AFAIK run by Gary, who is a former Musical Exchange man (I think he owned it), and there seems to be the old ethos of Musical Exchange to the place, helpful enough and also not pushy. What I miss is the second-hand instruments. Musical Exchange used to be mainly second-hand instruments (or "pre-enjoyed" if they're something like Parker Flys). Now it's all new, with a little corner for slightly injured or unloved instruments. Hmmm, I feel another visit to Bob at Stirchley Musical Exchange (which is a second-hand shop) coming on.

I've been a multiple bass owner for much of my bass playing life - nowadays I tend to restrict myself to one bass per category, so I would have to have a particular reason to buy either a 4- or 5-string fretted, or a 4-string fretless, as I have now got the best of each of those categories that I have encountered. I still have to make a decision on the 5-string fretless Tsai but will probably be keeping it, and the 7-string will be staying too. I don't want to burn bridges by going to 5 strings to the exclusion of 4s, hence I will have at least three and probably at least five basses for the foreseeable future. Wouldn't mind a 5-string headless like an XZ-25 too, for entirely practical reasons.

[quote name='Dazzlovski' post='99243' date='Dec 4 2007, 10:16 PM']All that remains is to pick the right unit. Tascam or Pandora?, CD or Mp3 ? [/quote] Digitech BP-200, Aiwa combined CD/MP3 player (as long as you've got a CD burner to burn MP3s to CD)

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='101671' date='Dec 9 2007, 12:33 PM']Or if you're a cheapskate like me, get a 50p neoprene mousemat, cut up & stick some slices together with double-sided tape or glue.[/quote] Oh good, it's not just me then...

Is he related to Steve Irwin by any chance? Just wondered if he wanted to fsck a stingray in revenge...

Both of my Warwick Thumbs have stacked treble and bass controls with centre detentes. On one of them (the young 'un, in fact), the centre detente isn't - there's a vague hint of a click but it's not exactly noticable. A replacement would cost a bit over a tenner from warwick.de (assuming that the ones that they have are suitable) - just wondered if there was a quick fix that would enable me to keep more money for beer and avoid having to desolder and resolder six tags. I imagine there's some springy thing which has lost its, er, spring. Anyone know of such a fix?

[quote name='simon1964' post='98648' date='Dec 4 2007, 10:28 AM']Not many places in the Midlands I'm afraid. Fairdeal Music in Birmingham had several combos in stock when I was there last week. I got mine from Music Scene in Mansfield, at a very good price, but their stock is small so it would be worth checking before making a trip. Otherwise, your best bet is probably Electro Music in Doncaster - a bit of a trek if you're in the Midlands, but they hold a decent stock, and are a very helpful bunch.[/quote] Turns out that Flightcase Warehouse (a few miles from me) are now running an amps and effects business too, and are stocking Markbass, so I shall see if there's one to try out when I take the hardcaseless Tsai up there to check for size with one of their £40 hard cases (probably £35 over the counter if my experience with rack cases and keyboard bags from them is anything to go by). Their price is £620 (inc VAT and delivery so I could probably get a few bob off for collecting it myself) - I see somewhere in Bedford has them at £609 but that's a lot more travelling, how does £620 seem in relation to other places?

I tune my basses once a month, whether they need it or not. Basses are so stable compared to guitars that there just seems no need for a bass version of this. Even guitars don't necessarily need tuning more than once a gig.

I'm playing all the right notes. Not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='98821' date='Dec 4 2007, 01:59 PM']And either way, swearing at the little mites is probably not the best way to broaden their minds.[/quote] Quite, it's far more effective to take one ear in each hand and pull outwards.

I don't use one, but that's not because I think they're the instrument of the devil, I just never think to use one. Come to think of it, I never practice. Oops. I can see a major use for them, and that is if a band has no drummer. I've seen the consequence of a band of very inexperienced youths learning a set with no drummer and no metronome, and then recruiting a drummer (a very good one) and playing a gig shortly afterwards - the drummer had to try and keep time with what the band were doing as they were incapable of listening to her. However, with experienced musicians that should be less of a problem.

Another faint possibility - I've just had to open up my elderly Nady which was cutting out occasionally. The side of the jack socket had cracked so I think the spring contacts are loose as they're not being held against the jack plug - just need to find another of these wretched enclosed jack sockets...

(Planet Waves springy jack plugs) [quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='95965' date='Nov 29 2007, 08:50 AM']Dreadful? Not in my experience, in fact just the opposite. Whilst I have experienced a noisy and unreliable connection on one of my basses, this was due to using a cable with standard plugs and was caused by the socket.[/quote] The guitar I was using it on was a brand new Variax - for some reason, a Planet Waves stereo lead was supplied (it runs power up from the splitter box as well as taking the signal). Crackled dreadfully. Used a stereo lead with standard plugs, problem solved. After that, I won't touch the things.

Being a bit strapped for cash at the moment, and tempted by a Markbass CMD 121P or H, I wondered if any of the shops involved in [url="http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/takeitaway/index.php"]the Arts Council's "take it away" scheme[/url] were stockists of Markbass - I did try hunting through the West and East Midlands shops but couldn't find one, but there's no list of Markbass dealers that I can find. Does anyone happen to know? Where did you all get your Markbasses from? And just how annoying is it that Guitar Center in the US is selling the CMD 121P for $850?