Alfie

Go for a double, LPB with CAR underneath, so where the LPB wears away with gigging and touring use, the CAR will show through.

Basically, buy one of the Squier CV Precisions currently listed in the for sale section. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/159629-squier-cv-precision-fiesta-red-for-sale-now-l200/ http://basschat.co.uk/topic/160375-squier-cv-precision-fiesta-red-l220-inc-postage/ That leaves you with over a grand to get a nice lightweight combo.

When I was a teenager beginning to play I really wanted a Rickenbacker, but I couldn't afford one, I still can't. But that was my dream bass.

Basically, buy the bass you really really want, don't get a cheap bass wishing it was your dream bass.

You should really try as many as possible, but I remember being a beginner and there was no way I was going to sit in a music shop sounding and looking like a complete noob, you might have more confidence however. Back then I bought a cheap Squier and in hindsight it was a mistake, hard to play, poor quality, undesirable image. Moving to electric guitar a bit later I took a different approach, I bought the most desirable instrument I could afford, ironically it was a Squier Classic Vibe, goes to show how much the brand has changed. Owning a shiny new instrument of great quality made me want to pick it up whenever I saw it and encouraged me to learn. My point is that you should get the best, most desirable bass you can afford, definitely don't spend less than £200. Buy second hand only if you are interested in saving money, owning a brand new instrument is a special feeling. If you have the money, spend it. P Bass or Jazz are probably the best directions to go in when starting out as they can be functional as well as flash, Jazz basses have thinner necks so might feel more comfortable to begin with. Find a P or J that you are comfortable playing, or if you don't want to expose your shortcomings in a music store then go with a brand with recognised quality control. Don't just buy a budget P bass copy. The Squier Classic Vibe series have an excellent reputation for QC and are often better put together than more expensive Fenders. A new Squier CV will leave you plenty of money to get a good lightweight amp and a looper to help you practice.

Bass should definitely be prominent, that doesn't necessarily equate to lead lines or widdleyness. The most important things is that the bass sits prominently in the mix, I really hate it when soundmen think that the bass should be barely audible.

I use a Fulltone Bassdrive in a loop with a Boss LS-2. With this set-up I can get mild overdrive and heavy crunch without losing the massive bass terror sound. It also has a clean boost setting for when I want just the OTB's natural overdrive. However your sound is probably quite different to mine as I find 3/4 gain on the OTB to be overkill.

Yeah, that's the model. You may be lucky, these instruments have been made in a variety of factories across the far east and often differ in little details. You would probably save yourself a lot of time effort and money in the long run by sending a template to a custom pickguard manufacturer.

Bands I have been in have generally used the Pinochet technique for removing unwanted musicians: Week One: "Where's Bob?" "Bob couldn't make it this week" Week Two: "Is Bob coming this week?" "No he is really busy at work" Week Three: "What happened to Bob?" "Who is Bob? Do have a Gumtree app?"

I tried getting a pickguard for a Squier P Bass Special. Not only were the screw holes out, the neck pocket was the wrong size and the distance between the neck and the pickups was different. I tried a few different brands but nothing came close to fitting so be warned.

Sure someone has a right to make a profit, but FWIW I think Basschat should be more like a socialist enclave and I will not be silenced by your decadent greed. To accept that people shouldn't comment on pricing is to accept that there is already a level of social engineering in place. If the entente is broken by obvious profiteering then the agreement not to comment is void.

I think it's fair to comment on prices when someone is trying to profiteer on Basschat goodwill. There was a case a few months ago where a bass was sold at a bargain price and the buyer later put it up for sale with a hefty mark-up, thus pricing out people who genuinely wanted the instrument and denying the original seller a fair price at the same time. I really hated this.

[quote name='LowdownRumble' timestamp='1321740472' post='1442711'] Rumple's homebuild. Cool as ice. [/quote] Wow, that is nice, too many strings though. What is the colour?

I really don't know much about valves, but after having some problems in recording studios with the Terror Bass I am looking for something different. Watford Valves sell a lot of different ECC81 and ECC83 valves, are there specific types that I should stick to, or will any work fine?

It's not a pickup height issue. How do I check the polarity of the pickups?

I was wondering if anyone else who owns a Wizard thumper experiences significantly uneven volume between strings? The E and A strings were incredibly loud whereas the D and G are incredibly quiet. Having switched the pickups around now the E and D strings are loud and the A and G strings are quiet. I am very confused.

I love the irony of this video being on a website called "no treble". I could show them a thing or two about no treble.

Yeah, playing it can be a challenge, especially walking bass lines. I have got used to the idiosyncratic tuning, I just play louder to drown everyone else out. Being in tune is also decadent. Photographers absolutely love it. I was playing a charity gig in the summer and a photographer from the Oxford Times beckoned me over to stand next to a guy in a wheelchair for a publicity shot, on the other side was a man holding a burnt sausage on a stick. That is probably the closest I will get to being famous.

As roughly half of my band's gigs are acoustic I decided I wanted a bass specifically for these sets. I don't especially like double bass, nor do I have the room for one and I've always found acoustic basses to be a bit dull, so I commissioned a cigar-box style bass from [url="http://www.chickenbonejohn.com/index.htm"]Chickenbone John[/url]. I wanted an instrument that looked like it had been cobbled together from odds and ends, different knobs and tuners, that sort of thing. I also wanted it to be normal scale and 3 string (because the only G-string I like is between my buttocks). John rustled up a rough sawn box and I provided a label that appealed to my Italian heritage and the American slant of the band. The end result I am very happy with. Obviously there is the neck pickup, which is nice and beefy, there is also a piezo pickup. Acoustically the bass is loud enough for around the camp fire put needs to be amplified for gigs. I have gigged it a few times now and it always arouses comment, people are also surprised by how bassy it is. The downsides are that intonation is a bugger and the neck is like a tree trunk with an action so high that the strings need warning lights to alert low-flying aircraft. Therefore I have to keep things simple when playing (suits me) and not go too far from whichever fret I decide to have in tune. Since getting this bass I have ironically started writing more bass lines that involve the G string, leading to a very confused variety of bass-face during gigs. I have also decided that I also fundamentally dislike the D string, so next up a two-string bass.

Perhaps you could have added a spoiler warning for [color=#0000cd]MULTICOLOURED[/color] [b][color=#ff0000][i]CAPS LOCK[/i][/color][color=#00FF00][/color][color=#008000]WRITING![/color][/b] I am going off to sit in a darkened room.

Keep at it, I'm sure even Leo Fender made mistakes when he was starting out (ahem *jazz bass* ahem)

It could also be because you are mixing brands. I have had trouble with effects pedals mixing Halfords and Plasti-kote.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1319180456' post='1410790'] Terry replied yesterday on his return from holiday as advised above, top marks for that. All in price quoted £185 - seems reasonable. Sims website price guide is a bit unclear (to me) but seems more expensive when you add it all together. Cheerz, John [/quote] I fancy a respray, does that price include stripping a poly finish?