rushbo

Nothing dates music more than keyboard sounds and production tricks. When you listen to music from the eighties, the reverb, the enormous drum sound and the ubiquitous DX7 are all over a huge chunk of it. That's not to say I don't like a bit of that wide screen glossiness, but it absolutely nails that music to that decade. Timeless music - that's hard to find. Maybe pre-"Judas" Bob Dylan. Or The first Violent Femmes album. Or stuff that is so far removed from everything else that it exists in it's own world, like early Devo or the first Van Halen Album, maybe - although they're not truly timeless as they couldn't have come much before their time, but they could have been from any time since, if you can follow my logic...

There's a special place in Hell for ANY musician who noodles away aimlessly at soundchecks. How long does it take you to get a noise you like? Is the minuscule performance area in the Dog and Trumpet significantly different from the minuscule performance area in the Dog and Trampette? You may need to do a little low-level tweakage, on your gizmos and doodads, but there's absolutely no need to whizz through all four sides of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" just to check your delay repeats, while the rest of the band glare at you with murder in their eyes, hoping that the Grand Lord of Electricity gives you a potent, but non-life threatening reminder of your selfishness and mortality.

I did this a few years ago and it makes life loads easier. No arguing over who's identical black lead is who's and no scrabbling for black leads in the inky black darkness of a rock club stage. Having coloured leads on stage might not be as slick looking as basic black, but I'm happy to make that trade.

That is the definitive answer, really. I vacillated between MFX and individual stomp boxes for years, before I settled on my minimal Zoom B3 + BDI 21 set up. That's all I need. I use maybe 4-5 pedal sounds and I could use stomp boxes for those, of course, but I like the fact that there's not much to go wrong with my set up. And if it does all go 'bang!' at a gig, the world wouldn't end if I had to bypass them completely. Collecting pedals is fun, but when it comes to people really noticing different sounds, unless you're using filthy drive noises or ultra-wobbly chorused sounds, you might be the only person in the room that hears the difference.

Due to my mistrust of those stands which angle cabs and combos back - a fear not based on any research, personal experience or science, by the way - I looked at these before I went for the Thomann mixer stand. They tick a load of boxes, as they're a decent height, robust, not incredibly expensive and they'll take a lot of weight. The thing that put me off was the footprint. The legs splay out quite a bit which means that for pub gigs, where space is at a premium, they might not be practical. Depending on how big/heavy your rig is, maybe something like this would work?:

I loved my B9.1. It's one of a few bits of gear I regret moving on - it was a big ol' thing, but it did everything I could ever want. I went from that, back to stomp boxes and then back to Zoom Multi FX again. As lovely as the B6 looks, my needs are pretty minimal now, so I don't think I'll be investing in one right now. I'm hanging on to my modified B3 - for the moment, anyway...

Interesting... https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/multi-effects/bass-effects/b6/?fbclid=IwAR2vWIJ3oqxhF91D3Clk1SO6FBUhMva0E8SRI2-cavz7ILoMO5CgexQIEBE

I've been using one of these for a while for my Genz Benz combo and it's made a huge difference: Really sturdy, and fairly light. They also fold up into a neat 'T' shape. I've also taken the extendable legs off as it's at the perfect height without them. The best way to raise your cab up is to stick another cab underneath it, but for when you don't really need 1000w of sub bass for your pub gigs, I've found this to be a quick, cheap and easy solution. £27 from Thomann: https://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_mixer_stand.htm

It's yours now sir, so go nuts! The flats on it at the moment aren't very "boutique" - they're Adagio flats (45-100, I think). I use them on my Bruce Thomas signature P Bass and a lovely old Squier which I picked up in a pretty shoddy state for not much money a few years back. I'm in no rush to swap them for something swankier just yet. I've got (black Picato) tapewounds on a cracking Eros semi acoustic bass - old school thump for days.

Blimey! I'm glad you like it - let me know how you get on. It's the skinniest neck I've ever played, which suited my Trump-like hands. If I remember rightly, it's off an old Aria and had a "hook nosed" headstock, which I reshaped. The body was oiled with Tru-Oil.

Thank you. When I had the pickguard made, I asked the guy to use an off cut and make a little cover. It makes a change from the standard black.

(Apologies if this has been picked already...) Even if you're not a fan of his playing, Billy Sheehan is a hard guy to dislike. I love everything about this bass - from the grafted in mudbucker to the hotel room bodged repairs, via the almost falling to bits pickguard. It's stinky and roadworn and gorgeous. There's some nice footage of him playing and talking about it here:

The first time I saw a Bongo (just to clarify, that's the model of bass, not the percussion instrument...) I recoiled in horror. Now, I think I quite like them. I like the way the headstock almost reflects the body shape. That's a nice touch. I wished the knob placement mirrored the curve of the lower bout of the instrument, but I am an ex-art school saddo, which probably completely derails my argument. I'm not sure about colonic irrigation brown sparkle as a colour choice though.

Its the grand poobah of all neck shims. It is the neck shim that all other neck shims aspire to be. It is the neck shim that other neck shims worship like a god.

Oi! I used a file and everything!

Prince went from (arguably) the most conservative guitar shape - the Telecaster - to a series of instruments that even Salvador Dali might have thought were a bit outré.

Things I like about this: The nifty fretboard markers The pickups The bridge Things I don't like about this: The body. It puts me in mind of a prop used in a pornographic, same sex cyborg movie, set in outer space. Artwork on the body: I have no doubt that it looks great close up, but from 5 or 6 metres away, it'll just turn into a grey blur. I bet they play beautifully and sound even better, but aesthetically... not for me, thank you.

I have a soft spot for: BeBop Deluxe: Live in the Air Age Cheap Trick: At Budokan Rush: All the World's a Stage Loud Family: From Ritual to Romance Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day Neil Young: Live Rust

Another word of warning: I have a lovely Nissan Note (2011) which ticks loads of boxes for what I need it for. Unfortunately a P bass hard case wont fit in the boot and has to live either in the rear footwell, or in the boot with the back seat dropped. Even in a soft case, it'll only go in the boot at an angle. Not a huge issue for me, but, if you ever leave your car unattended, even for a moment, your bass will be "on show" in the back of the car. With the back seats dropped, it swallows loads of gear (it accommodates all my gigging rig, a full drumkit and two people very comfortably) but if it was about 15 cm wider, it would make a huge difference. It's a great car tho'.

Harsh. But fair.

Good grief, Bassassin!

Bulbous! That's the word! Cheers, Cetera.

Even this one? : It's the single cut basses with the REALLY pronounced top horn* that I find aesthetically challenging. (* I don't know the proper term for the part of the bass where it looks like its lurching forward just above where the neck meets the body and then randomly attaches itself to the neck, somewhere around the fifth fret.)

I'd say that considering the BZ 7000 NT7 currently retails at £329, glue may be a major contributing factor to the price point. ...unless it comes with the hard case in the pictures. If that case has been made by Isambard Kingdom Brunel from specially treated, solidified angel's tears, then it's probably worth a punt. Or are we missing something?

Someone needs to make a massively comprehensive multiFX unit and call it "Pandora's Box." Here's the flight case for it: