tauzero

You could try going mad with the finish and going for hi-tech sticky-back plastic: [url="http://www.mutr.co.uk/index.php?cPath=6_414"]Modern optical materials[/url]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='625658' date='Oct 14 2009, 12:57 AM']I had one of those in the 1970s - on the heavy side but a nice British bass. However, over-priced at £395, in my opinion[/quote] Ditto and ditto. I'd be tempted if one came up a bit cheaper than that.

Kingstanding Warriors Royal British Legion, Birmingham Load in through side doors next to stage. They don't push you straight out either. The Pickle, Acocks Green, Birmingham Load in through side doors which would be a little awkward if you were carrying anything big, but it's so small in there that you wouldn't be. Bromford Social Club, Erdington, Birmingham Another side doors to stage one. Shard End Social Club, Birmingham Upstairs. One flight of stairs that doubles back. Not far from the front door to the stairs though, and they're wide (double width) stairs. Cotteridge Social Club, Birmingham More stairs, single width, be there early so you've got a place on the pocket handkerchief car park. Rednal Social Club, Birmingham Car park is at the bottom of a steep hill to the club. You can either reverse up the hill or carry the gear up. I carry the gear, the guitarist burnt his clutch out reversing up. New Oscott Social Club, Birmingham Upstairs but there's a goods lift which will fit things as big as bass cases in. Marston Green Social Club, Birmingham Door to the dressing room at the side of the stage. E57 Social Club, Birmingham For the lounge (all I've done there), side door to the room which is ten yards from the stage. Banbury Club, Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham No stairs, not too far to walk. Heartlands Club, Nechells, Birmingham No stairs and the doors are close to the stage but they're also where the natives cluster to smoke and converse in the exotic local accent.

What's parking like round there on a Saturday? My hazy memory of Nottingham tells me it's generally crap but if there's somewhere not so bad to park, I might well make the trip up.

How brave are you? If you wanted to try rolling your own, you could get an [url="http://www.arduino.cc/"]Arduino[/url] duemilanove and program it to read the switches (you'd need to multiplex the switches) and output a MIDI signal. Shouldn't be that hard

[quote name='Musky' post='622593' date='Oct 10 2009, 06:56 PM']And there was me thinking that it was safe to call any '75 to '87 Aria a Mat. That's a lovely looking guitar, regardless of who made it.[/quote] I had a Kasuga LP copy (bolt-on like that one but sunburst) and it was lovely. Can't remember why I sold it now.

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='599246' date='Sep 15 2009, 02:21 PM']Who is JMJ?[/quote] Jean Michel Jarre, of course.

Best bet is probably to look at the band website - musically they need someone who can play the bass lines pretty much as per original (there's nothing really taxing in the set). As regards other aspects, everyone mucks in as far as gear lugging and so on goes, the set list is subject to a slow churn (it was static for two years until we ditched the singer) so it's not a challenge to keep up with the new songs coming in. Denis was talking about revamping the set list, which TBH it could do with. If you're interested, PM me with an email address and phone number, and I'll pass it on.

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='583428' date='Aug 28 2009, 12:12 PM']Yes of course - you are absolutely right. I suppose I was just pointing out the bleeding obvious - that from the listeners point of view, a 5 string gives more bottom range. I'm intrigued to know why you "almost never play below bottom E". Used sparingly and musically, those low notes can be very effective, especially when one double stops with the octave above.[/quote] Isn't "almost never" the same as "sparingly"? The band I would make most use of the sub-bottom-E range is the ceilidh band, for which I use the 4-string fretless (hence no extended bottom) and an electric upright bass, which until very recently was a 4-string. I've now got a 5-string Ergo upright and I'm going to try to get into the habit of playing from bottom D rather than from D on the A string when we're playing stuff in D (melodeon dictates that we play everything in G, D, Em or Am, and don't ask me why we play in Am but not C and D but not Bm).

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='582892' date='Aug 27 2009, 08:44 PM']The only reason for playing on a (standard) 5 string BG is to extend your range lower. If you have no use for those lower notes, stick to a 4 string.[/quote] That's not the only reason at all. It also enables you to play more across the neck, reducing hand shifts. I almost never play below bottom E and could quite happily manage without playing below it at all, but I prefer my 5-string to my 4-string. I play 4-string fretless because I haven't yet got a 5-string fretless that can match the 4-string for playability.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='583194' date='Aug 28 2009, 08:25 AM']IMO, while not the nicest bass ever made, it is the nicest bass that Jon Shuker's ever made. A fretless with five strings might possibly tempt me, although if I could afford them I'd rather have the Pagelli or a Ritter that as others have pointed out in this thread do seem to be the influence behind this bass.[/quote] Agreed about the 5-string fretless. They're all just nicking the idea off Tony Tsai: [attachment=31769:me_and_tsai.jpg]

I don't see that's a sign of shill bidding. Seller put a reserve of £600 on it, bidder 5 put in a snipe at £600+. If anyone prior to bidder 5 had put in a bid of £600+, that would have triggered the reserve so £600 would have become the current bid. As they didn't, putting in a bid of £600+ wouldn't have helped shill the item.

I've got a JD Thumb which has the lovely shallow neck - best neck I've ever played. It looks like they're only slimming them down a bit, not to the old dimensions.

[quote name='yorick' post='579132' date='Aug 24 2009, 03:01 PM']I played the Farmyard Party biker bash back in '96 (i think) with a punk/folk band called Bleeding Hearts.[/quote] So you'd have been my replacement then, after Steve threw his teddies out of the pram and decided to sack everyone else in the band? I've played the [url="http://www.tamworthbands.com/rockfestival/index.htm"]Tamworth Rock Festival[/url] nine or ten times, starting with the inception year of the two-day festival in 1984. It went OK most years, except that in 1986 there was a huge downpour so we took everything to a nearby club, the Rathole (the name suited it, the plaster was falling off the walls and the wiring was seriously dodgy). I last played it in 1995 on the acoustic stage, as a solo spot.

I'm somewhat overcommitted so I'm leaving one covers band, [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk"]Breakaway[/url], who are based in Birmingham (the others are from Northfield and Kingstanding, and rehearsals are in Brum). I have told them and they've started looking for a bassist, so I thought I'd try here to see if anyone fancied replacing me. There's a pretty up to date set list on the website, plus you'll see what the band is like. It's not desperately urgent as I'll play for them until a replacement gets drafted in, but it would be nice to get someone in fairly soon. If you're interested, either get in touch with me or contact them direct.

[quote name='cetera' post='562068' date='Aug 6 2009, 04:33 PM']It'll be fun being incognito.... [/quote] Oh, is Cognito coming then? Lovely girl... I might make it down, not sure yet.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='561570' date='Aug 5 2009, 10:48 PM']Are you doubting his authentierty?[/quote] I now have an image of Cartman yelling "respect mah authentierty!". Dammit.

Used them ever since I got a Warwick with Schallers on in 1987. I have had a guitar come off a strap and never want to repeat the experience. I use the [url="http://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/p-542-boston-guitar-strap-locks-black-strap-lock-system-for-guitar-and-bass.aspx"]Boston Schaller clones from Dangleberry[/url] which have two nuts per strap-end bit and consequently are less prone to undoing themselves than the Schallers. A tenner isn't a big investment really...

A couple of things: You can get the editor (v1.4) from Ashdown just by going to the legacy products page and going to the [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?ID=199"]Superfly 500 page[/url] where you will find a link to the [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/SuperFly1.40.zip"]v1.4 editor[/url] and [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/software/SuperflyUSBWindows.zip"]the USB driver[/url] (presumably for XP). From my own experimenting, I would say that you need to connect the Superfly direct to your computer, not go through a USB hub. You should also use XP, because Vista is a resource-hungry pile of poo that Microsoft can't wait to supersede, but that's not important right now. If you have the Superfly connected to a PC, you can make changes on the fly, although it doesn't look very rock'n'roll. I use mine with a Korg AX3000B which sends out program change messages on MIDI. As the Superfly's first ten slots are fixed presets, I use bank 4 (and upwards, if I start getting ambitious), patch 1 of which corresponds to program 12. I suppose if I was really ambitious, I could get an Arduino and program it to output some different program change but I think my needs are satisfied for now.

[quote name='charic' post='560249' date='Aug 4 2009, 02:54 PM']Is it bad that all this talk of amps and cabs is giving me gas for a new rig... if alex done a 4x10 that looks rawk I could be in trouble lol.[/quote] Looks like there could be a market for cardboard boxes made up to look like 4x10s then.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='557767' date='Aug 1 2009, 01:31 PM']D'you know what if, I was Fender, I'd sue. [/quote] "How dare you have a more attractive, richer, deeper sunburst than us! We'll see your ass in court!" I've never been entirely sure what donkeys have to do with the American legal process but it does seem to feature them a lot.

Friday - the new (to me) band's first public outing after a couple of parties, at the Adam and Eve in Brum. Not only the first time I've played there, it's also (rather surprisingly) the first time I've ever actually set foot in the place. Started at 10.30, did two sets and finished at about 1.30 with lots of sweaty dancing people around us. Much fun, the gafferess liked us, so hopefully there will be plenty more gigs there. Saturday - a wedding reception for the ceilidh band in a (quite nice) church hall in Stourbridge. Just for a change, the buffet was on while we finished setting up, rather than an hour or so in like normal. Normally, the first hour consists of a few people getting up to dance while everyone else waits for the buffet, but they were up for dancing from the start. As most of the guests had children, they gradually evaporated through the evening, so we finished up at 10.30, which was nice for Mrs Zero and I as we hadn't got to bed till about 4 in the morning. Oh, and we made use of Mrs Zero's new satnav for the first time, and jolly useful it was too. It's nice not being shouted at when you don't turn at the right place...

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='556542' date='Jul 30 2009, 08:29 PM']Or the quantum headless - brilliant bit of kit and great for lugging around hotels etc[/quote] I had one, I was able to transport it plus a GK 200MB (plus a leads and effects bag and a sleeping bag) on the back of my bike. Not a bad little bass.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='556142' date='Jul 30 2009, 01:39 PM']The guy has been paid so it is EBay's property to give.[/quote] Presumably it's actually Paypal's property (ie. Ebay wearing another hat) - just wondering if the actual mechanics of the Paypal system (the bits frantically paddling as the Paypal swan glides along) is that Paypal effectively buys the goods on your behalf and then sells them to you.