bassintheface

Responding to the slightly off topic 'gear weight' thing - I'm 34, keep fit and active by doing competitive Muay Thai 3 times per week - training, sparring, inter clubs, fighting, plus weights and a circuit once per week. I have two young kids who keep me on my toes and I feel in the best shape of my life. I gig generally 5-6 times per month on average, taking a full PA (inc active subs, valve guitar amps etc) and all the usual bits and pieces and there's absolutely no way I'd change my set up from my 'lightweight' Aguilar Tonehammer 500 and SL112 cabs. No way! The guitarists have even seen the light and bought Fender Blues Juniors!! The Devilles and Twins stay in the studio! Regardless of how fit and strong you may be, lugging gear at the end of a gig where you've been stood up, wearing a bass for say 2.5 / 3 hrs means you'll be physically shagged (and probably mentally drained from concentrating and the effects of loud music). Everything feels 3 times heavier when you're packing away and the risks from lugging the 'good old gear' (which I've had BTW) like Trace gear, Marshall heads, Ampeg SVT heads and 8x10 cabs etc just aren't worth the hassle and risks anymore! I don't want to feel like I've been hit by a bus the next day. I've got a prolapsed disc in my lower back from a few years back (long story), but unless I've got roadies lifting, setting up and packing away them I'm happy being a 'wimp'!!

34, soon to be 35......... I'm still struggling to comprehend how and when my '30's' happened to be honest.

Paul bought my 75 RI MIJ Jazz just before Xmas. A great guy to deal with - simple communication and agreed the sale and collection quite easily. Thanks Paul. Enjoy the bass!!

Was 4 up until last week, but selling my 75 RI MIJ Jazz has taken me down to 3 temporarily, with the intention of replacing it with a Precision pretty soon. My main gigging bass is my black 62 RI Jazz with flats. I also have a early 2000's Stingray 3 EQ which comes along to gigs now as my back up bass. I also have my 73 Jazz which lives generally at home.

When I started playing bass (late 90's after a couple of years on guitar), I wasn't really interested in looking up to a particular bassist and I certainly wasn't into the 'technical wizards' - I didn't even know any until I went to see Steve Vai and he had Stu Hamm on bass - whilst I appreciate his skills, he's never really 'done it' for me. Maybe it was just me, but I was just 'into' guitar music - I loved (and still do) Zep, Free, Purple, Hendrix - the usual suspects I guess. I got into the songs, the grooves, the sounds etc. It was only after listening more to these bands and opening my ears to other stuff that I learnt who JPJ was, who Andy Fraser was, Jack Bruce etc, then I continued to soak up more and more music to develop a much more open minded and eclectic taste. Even now, whilst I seriously appreciate just how accomplished people like those such as Stu Hamm, Janek, Victor etc and many many others are (and I'm miles away from what they can do and do do....if that makes sense...), I still listen to 'the song' - whether it has an interesting bassline or not (although I'll probably be a little more interested if the bassline appeals), but what attracts me is still the song, the sound, the groove, the feel - 'something' will grab me. I find for example, some of Macca's lines more interesting in the context of a Beatles' song than some technical wizard ripping through some jazz. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that (from my experience FWIW at least) maybe 'the player' isn't important in terms of influencing the young guys. Some will just want to be in a band, some will like the image being in a band portrays, some might pick up a bass to get in with the 'cool' guys, some will get the bass by default because they couldn't play guitar very well.........all sorts of reasons. As long as there are bands and people playing guitars and basses on TV, radio etc, then I'm sure the kids will get involved and it'll be fine! As people become more mature and more accomplished, they naturally open up to more and more music and will discover the greats! I didn't have a clue who Janek was until I joined the forum (and he's superb BTW)!

yes, but only for a tuner, Boss OC 2 octave pedal and a sans amp (which I rarely use, unless I want some dirt). The sans amp is also a back up if for some reason my Tonehammer 500 amp ever went down, as we take a big PA and run IEM's too.

Chris bought my 2 Aguilar DB112 cabs in a really easy transaction. He messaged me quite quickly and we did the deal. He paid really quickly and arranged for his courier to collect (due to us being about 5 hours or more drive away from each other). I packaged the cabs up and labelled them for him etc for them to be collected from my workplace. We've spoken a few times on the phone and he's a really good guy. Am more than happy to deal with Chris again - buy and sell with confidence guys and gals.

Simon bought my Silver series Squire telecaster. Great communication, no mucking about. We did the deal, he paid me quickly and I posted the guitar out. Happy to deal with Simon - buy and sell with confidence.