Wolverinebass

Yeah, they wouldn't have seen me again after that either. However, they would have been seeing an emergency dentist....

They're tools. Get yourself a better band where you're actually "in the band."

Let me know how your stand up set gets on. However, if that was actually a serious comment you've never ever been to a show where Entwistle played. He was monstrously loud. I don't dislike Pino, he's just wrong for that band. His clean tone with virtually no treble is just wrong. No grit, treble or chorus. Plus, his disciplined approach goes against everything that the Who's semi organised musical anarchy stood for. He's great at fusion, but being in the Who? Er, no.

I think that depends on what you're looking for. In north London there are more progressive metal bands. In south east there's more covers bands. Shall we exchange houses?

No. Saxophones sound like a dying seal being squished into a milk bottle.

Only if it comes with a hammer to smash it to bits.

As an addendum to this sorry fiasco. I put up a few adverts to try and find a band over the last few weeks. Less than an hour ago I received a message from Bob asking if I could read music and played a precision through an ampeg rig. Should I ask if his jaw has healed? You seriously can't make this stuff up.

At least he's not talking about how he ruined My Generation with the Who.

Three grand for a bass that looks like its been tossed about inside a cement mixer? Er, no. Or you can choose "mild destruction" and just have it roughed up enough to get a skelf when you play fingerstyle. Hold me back.

You're either in the band or you're not in the band. If I'd seen that post I'd have quit immediately. I don't take crap or even dare I say it, the scraps from other people's tables.

Yes. So was Death Magnetic. An album where not only was there very little bass guitar, it also reached peak Metallica idiocy of a hyper crushed, virtually unlistenable static in places. However, if you know why someone would destroy 2 surprisingly decent albums with that, you're certainly more enlightened than me. After all, what's the point of getting one of the best metal bassists to join your band if you can't really hear them? I'm referring to both Jason and Rob here. They're tools.

In truth, none of this is surprising. Lars and James will never admit to a mistake. Have they ever apologised to Jason for all the crap they gave him? The fact that they haven't changed this album is testament to this fact. In truth, I generally enjoy their stuff. Not for its content, but having a laugh with a few fellow producers I know about what innovative way they can ruin their new album with abysmal production. Each of us put in £20 and make a nomination with winner taking all. I got the Death Magnetic digital distortion debacle. The reason being is that Metallica are generally 5 years behind the curve with things. Loudness wars kind of peaked before that album 5 years beforehand with Foo Fighters. However, I digress. They're doing the checklist though. No audible bass, appalling drum sounds, St. Anger snare sound, digital distortion/clipping, atrocious guitar tones from Kirk. Let's face it, the list is long and extensive. They're tools. That fact was clearly brought out by the Napster hearings and Some Kind of Monster just put the icing on the cake in terms of them demolishing any sympathy for their respective public personas.

Then listen to The John Entwistle Band - Left For Live. Dropouts, not recording the bass part of the bass signal, the drummer sounding like he's just smacking a glass bottle with a steel bar. I could go on. Such a pity as for the most part the performances would melt your face off.

Acton 2007 Many years ago I decided to take on a second project while my main band were on a break for a few months. I get invited to this audition which sounds interesting. Kind of like the Doors, but they don't have anything online. I decide to chance my arm. This sorry escapade was the last time I ever did that. I show up and the band aren't there, so I set my gear up and go outside for a cigarette. I get a text saying they're running "5 minutes late." 40 minutes later the drummer and keyboard player arrive. The guitarist apparently isn't coming. Flags are starting to ascend in my mind. We get in and the keyboard player (we'll call him Bob - not his real name) asks why I've got such a crap bass and didn't have a precision. I was playing an Alembic. Bob then literally throws some sheet music in my face and says this is bassline. I had asked and confirmed that I could make up my own bass parts. Seemingly, this had been forgotten. "Can you not read?" Yes, I can, and I took about 20 seconds to read it before getting it into my head. We start playing. It's quite clear that Bob is taking every song as a keyboard solo. The bass part whilst very fast isn't what I'd play. Bob reluctantly agreed to play it again giving me some leeway noting sternly "that the songs are already written." So we start again. I play a bit looser and so does the drummer. The song sounds really fun. Then Bob stops playing and quite annoyed says that I'd "deviated too far and that I was playing like "a f@**ing talentless idiot." Hmm. That sounded a bit like an insult so I broke it down in my head. "Idiot?" Yeah, that's probably true. "F@**ing idiot?" Maybe. I don't have documentary evidence on me to refute it. Hang on, I'm not talentless... I politely ask Bob to repeat that as I assure him it'll be much more difficult to do so once I knock out his front teeth. The drummer asks Bob to calm down. I hasten to say at this point that Bob is 6 foot 2 and I'm only 5 foot 9. Still, I guess the sight of an angry Scotsman starting to clench his fists is enough. Or at least so I thought. I decided to leave really quickly before I really lost my temper. Now, I always wear earplugs. Bob wasn't so he thought he'd said something that I wouldn't hear under his breath, but sadly, slightly too loud. As I was putting my bass back in my back I hear the muttered "f@**ing w@**er" behind me. So, I very calmly stood up and lamped him. He went flying over his keyboard and into the wall. I then calmly pick up my stuff and leave (the drummer is in shock and doesn't say anything). A few months later I was contacted by Bob through Myspace (he didn't know who I was) asking if I'd join his band. As tempting as it was to agree and go in disguise, I didn't reply. Finally, there is proof that you can get a callback after literally doing anything at an audition.

True, but it defeats the purpose of using a Wal to strip out all that low mid and crunch. Why fight the natural sound of a bass like that? I tried a set of those 30-90s and was terrified I'd snap them. The tension was all wrong too. They came off after one rehearsal. Utter crap.

Conversely, I happen to think his Wal sound was awful. Thin, weedy and insipid. I say that as both a Wal and Rick owner.

I would say £50 is about right unless there's tons of other stuff to be done. Maybe £65 if you didn't supply strings?

Also, can't find an audience sixty miles away from home? Oh well..... Didn't think of that when you took any gig to the detriment of the band. Div.

Not at all. HP beans. Not even Heinz....

No, they're not always subtle. I run my 12 string with bi-amp distortion as well as dual flanging and dual delay on the top as well. You can hear everything even in a band context.

If you want something cheap and cheerful, I got given this as a leaving present. Not bad.

Obviously there wasn't enough room for the "full beans" rig, which consists of 2 fieldmice running on wheels inside a cigarette packet with tone knobs painted on. That'd be vastly more powerful than the Elf.

Well, today I took delivery of a rather shiny and hilariously triple boxed Vanderkley 2x12LNT. So I had a quick play with my 50s precision. In comparison to my Markbass cabs it's much brighter on the same settings. My rig is all midi, so it's the same settings without question. In other words, I think that it's much closer to the DI signal as it sounded horrible when I recorded it. After some very quick fiddling and this mainly involved turning the treble down by about 40% and the bass and mid range up slightly, I was good to go. As with all things, change one thing you have to adjust and this will take some time to programme my rig again. One thing I will say is that the weight of the cab is given as 24kg. I think it's less as I can quite easily lift it with one hand and I'm not a big guy. I'm happy with it. Just have to adjust. Maybe I might get 2.....

How about something like that Hagstrom with say a babicz bridge, dimarzio pickups to keep the look and an ACG filter circuit? Or have I went too far?

I guess the debate is ended if everyone wants to get a banana.