BaggyMan

musical style 'opinion Crosses genres as well btw , tried out for a folk band, played well all looked to be good, but they heard i was also in a rock band and dropped out because of that. You play really well but....

Haha it doesn't bother me personally, but I know quite a few players of a certain age who land up depping because they cant get into a band because of age. Smiled when I saw 'paunch' that's stoutist that is haha

Both of them are session players outside the Chas n Dave day job...nuff said

Most of see us see ourselves as open minded inclusive sorts...or do we? If you saw a band advert for "all white band seeks bass player, ethnics need not apply..." what would be your reaction? (some sort of indignation hopefully.) Ok next up "all male band seeks bass player" Men only please.. getting tricky eh?, why? because we expect equal rights perhaps? But How many adverts for 'all female band seeks...." Hmmm getting trickier positive discrimination is allowed i guess The point I suppose I am moving towards is how many adverts say: "rock band need bass player, ability to play <style or level of accomplishment>> needed, otherwise age/gender/sexual orientation irrelevant" None to my eye. Why do i bring this up, well as a 54 year old bass player, i have my own rock/indie band (this is a good point to attach the well tried labels of "dad rock", middle aged rockers ...blah blah). This last few years I have become more aware of ageism. Let me expand that a little, the automatic assumption that someone who has played for 30 years+ is "stuck in their ways" and indifferent to playing well. Cant tell you the number of throw away comments here where I have seen the attachment of 'age' to being crap, or indifferent or uninteresting. My band is well rehearsed, has good gear, and chooses tracks that only keep us happy as musicians people enjoy hearing. I would quite happily have someone in the band on merit alone and not look at their age or anything else for that matter. Don't get me wrong there are lazy crap bands out there...age isn't the primary driving factor tho.. So are you a bigot??

For my few pennies worth. Local to me (medway towns), the big problem for the venues brave enough to try live music is: a) unless you can guarantee a crowd to follow you in they cant afford band entertaining an empty pub. Hence established acts are good to go, new starts or something a little different, struggle to establish themselves. we have lost three venues this last year due to the noise abatement issue. The flip of responsibility for noise issues from the Police to the council has meant a complaint comes in and they act as if it was a noisy neighbor complaint. Disco or Karaoke is all they are allowed after only a couple of complaints... A couple of really good venues have been castrated by this .. c) the pub culture is changing as said above, people don't have the same drinking patterns as before and why spend £3+ for a pint when you can buy a 12 pack for less than a tenner. The govt (successive ...not just this one) aren't interested in the pub/bar scene. So cut price booze sales from supermarkets have turned people off the 'pub for a pint' ritual. Sighs....

Totally enjoyed the lively discussion from #1 G&L's...so thrying out this ..#2 why would someone buy a Fenix I had a Bone white P bass special (the one with the extra bridge jazz pickup) back in the nineties Basic sontruction was very good, swapped out the bridge for a badass like one, and some hot pickups. Awesomely good for not much money. Budget basses (even with a few upgrades) dont have to be second /backups imho.

Ok I'll kick it off..I have owned two SB-2's. One US and one trubute. The biggy for these is that they have two volumes, one per pickup. Simple as a stick to play, and brilliant giiging bass.

Just for a bit of fun, we all have out favorites. SO if someone was considering buying a G & L...whats so good about em??

Agree with molan on the geo-snobbery angle. I have played some god-awful us basses and some very good indonesian ones (had a Ray 34 and it compared favorably to my US stingray considering it was something like half the list price). I find it weird that there was a fad for the roadstar basses a few years back because they were 'vintage' (a bit like the JV squier thing i guess) and yet the ATK and RDGR ranges are cult basses at best a overlooked completely at worst.

And again putting my money where my mouth is just bought another off of here, a single cut this time..

Spooky I have a G&l SB-2 one of the all round finest basses i have ever owned (and i am tipping the scales at 150+ owned since 1980 that's adhd for you friends ooh look a squirrel!..) Completely destroys any p bass i have ever owned and played. My guess that in the end i buy basses that play and feel great and THEN look at the label..

I agree I love 'em. I buy and ultimately sell them as much as the other brands..in fact buying another this week from here, the single. cut, to join the Rdgr5 i have.. Amazed there are so many so so basses out there and Ibanez seem to have the big name without the price tag...

I have been fortunate enough to pursue the hobby not only 35 years of play but through the advent of ebay and places like here, buy/try trade or keep many many basses. My bass ADHD has been fed by Yamaha, Washburn, fender, squier, lakland, musicman, olp, and ..slowly getting to the point ibanez. I have had 4* 5 string BTB's, a 6 six string BTB, the ultra weird Ergodyne EDA905, an SR535, the massively underrated RDGR series basses (4 string and 5 strings...) and the ATK. All of them really really good instruments, and all of the for less than £300 second hand. So what is it about Ibanez people don't like? The materials are excellent, the sound good, the build is always good. I have seem a couple of comment w/r to the neck being thin, but yes maybe on theSR's but certainly not the othere .Just dont get it .. Thoughts??