Ed_S

I reckon it comes down to the difference between value and significance when you say 'worth'. Some will see the cash value of these instruments, some will see the significance of them, and for either reason some who are able due to finances or connections will continue to acquire them irrespective of their 'generation'. The balance of significance will probably change over time from "it was Pete/Gary/Kirk's guitar" to "it's a thing that's over two hundred years old" or "it's made of a tree that no longer grows", meaning they will probably be of variable interest to different groups over time. The value will fluctuate due to external factors as is the norm, and periods of reduced interest, accidents, malicious damage, natural disasters, whatever.. will eventually reduce numbers to the point where the examples that remain become "priceless", which at the same time precludes their use, prohibits their sale and becomes their tacit significance to everyone who holds them in no other regard as they look at them in a museum. Apparently I'm a millennial, and personally I have no interest in old guitars that anyone else owned - I like new things than only I've owned. I have friends the same age who feel the absolute opposite.

Now that's a proper bass ownership story to tell - the day my music room got hot enough to melt solder! 🙂

I'm not sure which group this should worry most - those who never take a backup to gigs because what could possibly go wrong with a P bass, or those who always take a backup to gigs because if one fails you can rely on the other! Never had anything similar myself. Hope you get 'em sorted without too much inconvenience and expense, and it'll be really interesting to hear what it turned out to be.

Playing violin in a fairly large concert orchestra was helpful in that it got me used to walking out on stage and being part of a big, loud, musical thing where I had a part to play and a lane to stay in. Most of all, though, it trained my ear. Of course getting there involved formal lessons, reading music and knowing just enough theory-words to sound informed, but I really didn't enjoy any of that - I just put up with it because I was told it was necessary. The orchestra had a notional grade 8 entry requirement, but because I hated theory and didn't care about certificates, the only one I ever took was 3. My sight-reading was pretty strong (as it needed to be given the amount of time I didn't spend practicing) but fortunately the piece they put in front of me to audition happened to be one I knew so I just did my usual and played it from memory whilst looking in the general direction of the music stand. I was in, and as long as I made sure my bow was going the same direction as everybody else's and sat on the side of the desk that wasn't expected to turn the pages it was never a problem all the time I was there. Which is a long way to say that formal tuition and playing another instrument was useful, but because it generally trained my ear and provided sufficient experience of being part of a group to show me what was important to me. That let me learn and play bass in a way I'd enjoy rather than resent; no more dots, no more theory, no more lessons.

Agreed, I think it would be hard to do much better than a Hiscox STD-EBS. I've got a proper flightcase with a CNC cut foam interior and I'm not sure it offers a great deal more protection - it's just a lot heavier and more awkward.

I used to play a full step down when I first joined my band as it suited the vocalist, and at the time I was using EXL/EPS 220-5 sets (40/60/75/95/125) on standard 34" scale basses - they didn't feel floppy and I thought that they sounded a bit less muddy than heavier strings. The singer changed and I switched to playing 4 strings down only half a step with EXL/EPS 190 sets (40/60/80/100) which worked equally nicely, and then a few years later the singer changed again and I went back to standard with EXL/EPS 165s (45/65/85/105). So contrary to most advice I've ever read, I actually played lighter sets for lower tuning. All I'd be doing in your position is putting a fresh set of whatever you normally use on, tuning and stretching them in to D standard, maybe adjusting the neck very slightly if needed to compensate for a little less tension and just seeing how you get on.

Aye, I know I'm strange, but I've learned to live with it. It does take both of us to make that world go round, though, because if I wasn't buying them new, looking after them impeccably and moving them on at a thundering loss, then you wouldn't be picking them up second hand in mint condition for a little over half the cost of a new one. Similarly if you were as obsessed with cutting manufacturer logo branded sticky-tape as I am, I'd have nobody to sell to! 😉 That 'new' smell, though.

Ah well, it's all part of the journey isn't it, and I know people who've lost a lot more than a grand on much more painful and profound life lessons. And it's not like I've even learned mine either as I'm currently waiting patiently for a teambuilt Warwick to be erm.. built by the team, having convinced myself that if it's not what I want when it arrives then it'll sell just fine as it's not actually custom. And in any case, I 'paid' for it entirely by trading in basses I no longer use so it is also, in fact, free! 🙂 It's probably accountancy like mine that makes basses seem like a good investment.

Yup, if you happen to be in that fortunate position to acquire something that somebody else has taken the initial drop on for you, and you have the opportunity to play it before you buy it - which they never could because it was two bits of tree and a dream at the time - then you're probably onto a winner. Personally I don't do second hand instruments any more, as every time I've tried, they've never ended up feeling like they're mine. So I'll just stick to nice examples of mass-production that arrive factory-taped and smell of new! 🙂

If it works out, absolutely. It didn't for me - I went to a well respected luthier but sadly the end result wasn't special at all. It eventually moved on at about a 60% loss. The same thing with Fender on the headstock would have moved much faster for a lot more money.

Oh yeah, of course, I'd forgotten about the 5881 - I've encountered those in a Marshall 9100. My back aches just thinking about it!

I don't think I've ever seen a 6L6 anything-other-than-GC before, but you're right and I fully take your point. Do you find the other 6L6 variants used in amps? I've only had a Peavey 6505, a Mesa RectoVerb (which always sounds a bit rude to me) and the Classic 60 with valves from that family in them, so my experience is quite limited. And the 12AX7s in the power amp... again true, I believe I was thinking of phase inverting and said rectifying. And even then I might still be wrong, but I think that's closer? I know one of the tubes in the set I bought had extra snake-oil rubbed on it for good luck, and I think it was that one 🙂 Autocorrection?

I don't believe they do any more, or at least not all of them. I've sold my P 4s and switched to SR 5s in the last year or so, buying new premiums with the proceeds. They have 19/20/21 date codes respectively and none of them came with the semi rigid case - just a branded soft gig bag. Personally I don't mind as I'll keep the soft bag for storage at home, but the first thing I do with a semi or fully rigid case after retrieving the contents is put it back in the cardboard box it arrived in and send it off to whoever will give me a few quid for it. Takes too much room to store, unwieldy to carry, doesn't top-load, gets scruffy and damaged quickly, pain to fit in the car, offers no more protection than a good bag and often a lot less than a proper hard case. Just my opinion of course... I'm sure many people love them, and indeed I never have any trouble finding somebody to sell them to 🙂

I think the US neck finishing feels a bit nicer in the hand, but I've had a few (standard, deluxe and professional ranges) and always found the quality control in other areas to be patchy. If they scale back the numbers for whatever financial reason, but take the opportunity to concentrate much more on overall quality of what they do put out, there's a chance it could actually work in their favour because nothing makes people want something they never even considered before like a slight shortage of it, and if when they finally get it it's perfect and they put pictures and glowing testimonials all over social media, that surely can't hurt the order book longer term.

I don't tend to keep it in a Hiscox, but I've just checked and there's not very much room at all round the body of my Jazz V - it's quite a snug fit in the STD-EBS. I don't think what little room there is would translate to much actual movement in transit either, because the offset of the body takes up pretty much all the width, and the fixed cushions in the lid of the case press on the bridge and bouts. They're great cases, but if I could offer one bit of advice should you get one, it would be to put some tape over the aluminium edging above the handle. The skin on your knuckles will thank you.

Glad it's not just me who does that! I usually feel I'm being judged as a bit of a weirdo for requesting it, but I can live with that much more readily than I can live with a day of listening out for a courier, the disappointment and irritation of receiving something that's not as crisp as the cash that paid for it, a day of fending and proving via email and rejecting offers of discounts if I'll keep it, a day of falling over it boxed back up in the hall, a day of listening out for the courier coming back to collect it, and then several more days waiting for it to be 'assessed' before I get my money back. I'd happily pay a premium, which I would agree to lose if I decided to return the item under distance selling, if I could just have the option of brand new, factory sealed stock every time.

Preamps and audio sources into a mixer and then out to a pair of good headphones is my preferred setup. I favour rack mount so that everything is wired in and ready all the time. All I need to do is pick up a bass, plug in a cable, put on my headphones, flick two power switches and press play on the audio source.

I've used the Digitech Drop fairly extensively and whilst I wouldn't record with it, I've found it to be perfectly adequate for live work (in a loud band where bass isn't a solo or featured instrument) mainly to avoid having to change instruments and break up the flow of the gig. I never needed to go down lower than 3 half-steps, which is good because I felt it got a bit iffy with bass any lower than that. The other thing that I did was put a MicroThumpinator in front of it on my board, the idea being to try and remove as many unnecessary frequencies as possible which might confuse it. I have one on my live board and one on a reduced board that lives at the rehearsal space, and the one with the filter in front of it does behave a little better. Misbehaving seems to manifest itself in a slight chorusing effect, so even then it's not the end of the world - just a bit 80s! Not sure how much use they'll get when we return from hiatus, as during the last couple of years I've gone back to playing 5s pretty much exclusively, but even if I just put it in octave mode with the switch set to momentary, it could still have a use. I can't really comment on actual drop tuning and those lever thingies, as to me that's just an out of tune bass - I have no idea which note I'm playing, but I know where to get the next one I want relative to the one I can hear, so the Drop pedal was the right solution for me.

Purely my own opinion and experience, but I'd actually say there's something about the basic sound of the Fender Rumble (mine's a 500 v3 in the combo) that reminds me a bit of my old LH1000, whereas I found a Markbass Little Mark (2, 800 and 3) to be a better replacement for my HA5500. The lightweight Ashdown amps I've owned (Mi550 and RM800) didn't really remind me of either, nor did the Ampeg PF-800. All good amps, don't get me wrong, but they didn't make me think 'Hartke'. I've only ever seen lukewarm reviews of the actual lightweight Hartke amps, so probably wouldn't be headed that way on name alone - I'd want to try one myself. If I was going to offer up another amp that kinda reminded me of an LH I might actually go a bit leftfield and say the Mesa D800, but getting them seems to be tricky at present.

What is it that the singer actually finds unpleasant and objects to - is it just the 'atmosphere' of you telling the guitarist off and her not wanting to take a side? If you issued the guitarist a very firm but ultimately deserved verbal kick in the trousers out of earshot and he finally took notice, would she honestly be averse to the band getting better as a result? Most enduring bands I've experienced have been benevolent dictatorships, so if the guitarist needs a heavier hand to make him work and the singer needs not to see it happen so she can stay happy... then why not make it go down like that. After all, if it stays the same you'll probably leave, so if you try to fix it and end up breaking it in the process then you've lost little to nothing for trying.

When people at work find out I play, a good proportion say they wish they could play an instrument but they don't have the time to dedicate to it, and a fair few of those have quoted an arbitrary 'so-many-thousand hours to be proficient' figure that they've heard. I always just ask them to log on to their Steam (or whatever) account and show me how many hours they've clocked up playing Age of Assassins: Warfare and Witchcraft. You may be able to tell I don't game, but the people I'm talking to invariably do and their tally is usually somewhere near to (if not far in excess of) the number of thousands of hours they've just told me they don't have available. Fortunately I don't feel I need to achieve mastery to have fun ...and anyway, if complete mastery means playing every possible style then there aren't enough hours left until the heat death of the universe to make me want to learn how to slap 😉

Ha, thanks, I completely get ya! Im happy to report that I don’t ponk and neither does my bass 🙂

Ponky? That's a new word on me but I've got a VTDI and a VTRM so now I really wanna know if I sound ponky, too! 🙂

Same here. I'd personally be more annoyed if the support was excellent but I knew that because I had to keep using it! Back on topic, I can't fault the CMD121P for small venues and as such it gets a +1 from me. I don't do jazz so I'm not completely sure what the requirements are, but I'd bet that if I can play a power metal gig with mine, you'd be fine for volume.

They're alright aren't they - remind me very much of Tortex! I've used their Acetal picks for years and buy them by the hundred - I know some people have that one perfectly worn-in pick that they'd be lost without, but I only like brand new ones and as soon as the edge goes they're bin fodder. Only recently tried the Ravens myself but I'm finding that they do pretty much what's advertised - very similar but a bit less noise and not quite as bright on the attack. I think I still prefer my Acetals, and the Ravens seem to wear out at about the same rate so I can't save any money with them, but they're still really good picks 🙂