BigRedX

[quote name='JJW' timestamp='1440200480' post='2849128'] I know its an auction but it would usually have at least one bid by now. [/quote] Only a fool bids before the last 15 seconds of an eBay auction.

Interesting. That has a lot in common with their version of the Karamer Duke.

My band of the time were on GarageBand from almost the very beginning which got us a lot a really good exposure and some record company interest which we blew by splitting up... We did make it on the first (only?) GarageBand CD sampler and were voted best dance track for what that was worth. I discovered a couple of interesting bands as a result of reviewing (and a lot of terrible stuff I never wanted to hear again). Like most of these communities if you were on it and active at or near the beginning when it was still quite small and finding interesting music was relatively easy, it could be a useful promotional tool, but ultimately I couldn't help thinking that the audience was mostly members of the other bands on there rather than ordinary music fans - which are the people you need to be reaching if you want to increase your fan base. By the time it closed, unless you already had a large number of fans who were prepared to review and hype up your tracks, anything that you uploaded simply got lost amongst the thousands of other songs on there.

Well if they have solved all the technical problems of the original production model, there will have been significant amount of R&D, plus they will most likely have had to pay to use the name and the IP. We all know that the cost of making anything with a limited market is considerably more than the sum of the parts, labour and shipping.

Isn't the gloss or matt finish dependent on the type of clear coat you put on after the colour?

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1440081072' post='2848122'] ah and I see you're in Nottingham. How big is the capital FM arena? [/quote] It's the biggest indoor venue I've ever been to, but then I'm the kind of person who thinks that Rock City (c. 2000 capacity) is plenty big enough. I've only been to one gig there and for me it wasn't a particularly pleasant experience. According to Google the capacity is 10,000. I don't know how that compares with other big gig venues.

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1440080711' post='2848117'] It does look very cool, but $450? I'll stick with my cheap eBay cello bow thanks. [/quote] That's probably a reduction in real terms over what the original production model cost.

Fair enough. But when the cheapest tickets I can see are over £70 and it appears to be seating only (WTF) I think I'll stick with my memories of an awesome gig back in the early 80s.

I saw them on their first proper tour in 1981 at Rock City when "Planet Earth" had just charted. TBH I'm not massively keen on the nostalgia reunions/tours by any band, although I did see The Human League last year and really enjoyed them.

Fantastic. If it really does go into production, I'll be looking at buying the guitar version provided it will fit one of my guitars. Hopefully they will have solved the problems with the wheels wearing away and the fitting not holding the Gizmo firmly on the guitar which were the main problems with the original production version. Not sure about the USB powered motor - does that mean that there is a battery in the unit that can be charged by USB or that it needs to be plugged in all the time to function? However I can't help but feel disappointed by the aesthetics of the final design. The original prototype had a minimalist elegance to it as it was integrated into the bridge of the guitar. I can understand the desire to make the production model fit any guitar and be easily removable, but I still think that a replacement bridge unit with the Gizmo built in would be more better both from the PoV of looks and overall practicality. I know that if I had one it would be permanently mounted to a guitar dedicated to Gizmo use.

And there is no 100% guarantee that you will be able to take your instrument on board as hand luggage at the moment. No matter what you may have been told in advance by the airline etc. the ultimate decision rests with the cabin crew at the time of the flight. If they decide that they aren't going to allow your bass in the cabin, you either have to put it in the hold or don't fly. Also the Hiscox case - which is IME slightly smaller than the standard bass hard case is over the Easyjet limit at 124 x 40 x 15 cm.

Have you tried tape-wounds? Unfortunately round-wounds never sound like flats no matter how long you leave them on the bass. And if it's a fretted bass all that happens is that you eventually wear away the windings where they come in contact with the frets and end up with strings that won't play in tune anymore.

I don't know what the build quality of your Rockcase is like, but the one I have for my Warwick Starbass is atrocious - and that's after I sent the first one back because it didn't close properly! Just from normal use in the band van over the last 12 months the top and bottom surfaces have become horribly scratched and 2 of the protective corners are starting to come away. If the Hiscox case fits the bass properly use that.

I have a Yamaha HSS "super strat". Most of the time it's on the humbucker (bridge position). Occasionally I use the two out-of-phase positions. TBH I don't like Strats much, but I do like the locking vibrato this one is fitted with.

The worst amp I've ever owned was the Ashdown Superfly. In theory it would have been excellent. A programmable amp with plenty of memory locations, 500 W of power in a tiny and light (by the standards of the time) form factor and very competitively priced. Mine developed the classic output whine within 3 months of buying it and after another 3 months wouldn't power up half the time. Ashdown were totally disinterested in fixing it and I couldn't take it back to the shop under Trading Standards because the place I had bought it from had gone bust. Eventually I sold it for parts on eBay for a fraction of what I had bought it for. I will never ever own another piece of Ashdown gear. I also couldn't get on with Genz Benz. There's one in a rehearsal room that we use (not a Streamliner - something older). The gain structure makes no sense and the tone controls don't appear to be centred on what I consider to be usable frequencies. Maybe with the manual it would all become clear, but at rehearsals and gigs when I'm using unfamiliar gear I just want to adjust the input gain so it's not clipping, flatten the EQ and use the master volume so that I'm in the right place in the mix, and not have to spend ages tweaking things and still not get a decent sound. Now when I see it at rehearsals I always ask if I can use one of their Peavey heads instead.

If looks are important then it has to be a double bass. Otherwise any bass with no frets and flat wound strings will do the job.

Even more perplexing, if you change from list view to grid view, the number of deko models changes from 4 to 8 and the results total from 18 to 19. WTF...

Looks like an SD Curlee to me.

With that amount of "mojo" does it really matter what colour the bass is? ;-) Plus it looks dark blue on both my computers.

I'm lucky because my band is simply one vocal, one guitar, drums and theremin and we have spent a fair amount of time getting each instrument to it comfortably in its own sonic space, the bass sound I use with the band sounds pretty good on its own too. In my last serious band we used a lot of synth and sample backing which I was responsible for putting together, so even when practicing at home I was doing it with probably 50% of the band sound and the bass sounds I used were an integral part of that backing. Once again there was no need to use anything other than the sounds I would use on the various songs for home practice.

Rehearse? With the full band 2-3 hours a week. Split between tightening up any dodgy bits at the last gig, trying out new running orders for the songs and transitions between them, and then the rest of the time is spent working on new songs with the full band. Practice? TBH I don't really practice. Most of the time when I pick up a guitar or bass, it is to write new songs. That depends on how the mood takes me. I mostly work from home, so sometimes if I'm musically inspired and work is slow I'll spend most of the day playing, other times I won't pick up an instrument for a couple of days. The only times I do practice is when my brain comes up with something my fingers can't do, so I'll work at it until I can. Occasionally when I find myself making the same mistakes in a particular song, I'll work at it on my own until I can consistently play through it without making those mistakes.

I spent most of the 80s playing synth exclusively and then the next 15 years using them as backing for my other bands. Over the years I have owned: Akai AX73 Akai S2000 Casio CZ5000 Casio CZ1 Cheetah MS6 Control Synthesis Deep Bass 9 EDP Wasp Ensonic EPS16+ Ensoniq ESQ1 Ensoniq ESQM Korg MS20 Korg MS50 Korg VC10 Nord Rack Roland SH09 Roland MC202 Roland Jupiter 6 Simmons MTX 9 Simmons SDS V Waldorf Microwave XT These days I do everything with plug-ins "in the box". I just sold the last of my synths - the Nord - last week. If was to hardware, it would probably be a modular system that I could build as required.

Fantastic story. Congratulations!

I'm partially left-handed. I'm very left-eyed which tends to affect some handed things. I can remember the first time I picked up a guitar, my natural inclination was to hold the neck in my right hand. However it was obvious from the design of the guitar that this was the "wrong" way round. When I actually learnt to play I learnt "right-handed". Also I was learning folk guitar finger picking, so both hands were involved in complex unfamiliar actions. I was completely rubbish for the first 9 months, and then all of a sudden it clicked and I went from being able to barely string 2 simple chords together to being able to play recognisable songs. Whether this would have happened any quicker had I learnt "left handed" I don't know. In the end I'm grateful that I learnt "right handed" simply because there is a far larger selection of instruments available to me this way. I certainly wouldn't have been able to indulge my love of the weirder side of guitar and bass designs if I had been limited to "left-handed" instruments.

Any reason for the removal of Alex's reply? He's been nothing but helpful in this thread and I'm sure that I would have found whatever he said useful.