rushbo

Hi there, I'm Ian - a fortysomething Bassist with 25 years of playing experience. I'm looking to join/ form a band into Jayhawks/ Wilco/ Teenage FanClub etc... Loads of gig experience, decent gear, transport blahblahblah...I'm not looking for fame and fortune, but I'd love to get back into a regular gigging band and get playing seriously again. I'm a decent, all round muso and can sing and play Drums and Guitar to a decent level too -I can also write the odd toe-tappin' tune, too!

Jim Dunlop Black 1mm for me Tried loads but these have the right combination of flex and rigidity, Easy to grip, too. I have a lovely, hand thrown bowl full of random picks, including a mixed bag 30 Rock School ones which I scooped up from Ebay (with a natty yellow holder) for just under £4.00. A few decent thickness Bass picks amongst them, but loads of thinner gauges for my cack handed guitar and Mandolin strummage.

I made one of these for a Chinese Les Paul I was restoring, I had a spare one, so I stuck it on a defretted Squier Jazz. It confuses the hell out of people. I like that.

[quote name='BigBeatNut' timestamp='1337375525' post='1659167'] I still have to wire up the daisy chain and velcro it down, but you get the idea .... So tell me, when it comes to velcro, is there any good reason to do spiky side on pedals, soft side on board, or the other way round ... or doesn't it matter at all ? [/quote] Ahw man that looks gorgeous! As for lashing the pedals down, you can't beat cable ties IMHO, although with a selection of pedals like that which is almost an Art installation, you'd have to be really careful what colour ties to use. I really should get out more.....

Nice looking and what a bargain! But only 10cm deep and that's the external measurement...chunky pedals are going to be a bit squashed, especially if they're on a board. I'm tempted to buy one tho', just because I love flightcases. I'm sure I'd find a use for one...

A few years ago, I used to sell classified ads for The Birmingham Mail and we often had people selling stuff who had just bought something, didn't like it for whatever reason and were selling it on. The official guideline that we had was that the minute that the item was sold from it's first retailer, the item could not be described as 'New' even if it was unopened and pristeen. There was no issue with 'As New' as this implies that the item is in exactly the same condition as it left the retailer. The harsh fact is that the minute an item leaves a store following a purchase it is 'second hand'. There's no sliding scale.

[quote name='Donnyboy' timestamp='1337341063' post='1658416'] I've got one that I've messed about with but to be honest I 've probably not used much of it's potential as it seems quite complicated to me - I'm rubbish at stuff like this - settings, patches, banks, patterns- doh! I've been signed off work with manflu - so messing about with it might help my recuperation!! [/quote] Persevere with it! Like most of these FX units, there's a knack and if you 'get it' it suddenly becomes almost second nature. I can remember yelling at my Boss Gt6B and wanting to throw it across the room...the B2 is nowhere near as bad. [url="http://guitarpatches.com/patches.php?unit=B2"]HERE'S[/url] a link to a site with a bunch of patches you can try - I've used a few and they're pretty good. [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/zoom-b2-1u-cheat-sheets-406678/"]HERE'S[/url] a useful link to help you make sense of some of the patches and write down your own (1st post) Get well soon - Manflu is serious stuff!

[quote name='D.I. Joe' timestamp='1337339544' post='1658379'] What is your signal chain rushbo? [/quote] Tuner-Q/Tron-O/Drive-Comp-Octave-Chorus-EQ-B2 (Planet Waves patch leads) It's a slightly eccentric path, but it's a nice clean signal. As I rarely use more than one or two FX at once I wasn't quite so precious as most people are to do it 'the right way' but this works for me. The Behringer EQ works a treat! JellyKnees mentioned the compressor...it's true, it ain't great, but it ain't bad either. What I did was knock the compression off all the patches and I use the Joyo, which does a good, solid job.

What's the problem...who plays the G string anyway?

I have a lot of love for Zoom gear -the 'entry level' B2 sits nicely on my board alongside Boss, MXR and EHX pedals and does a damn good job. And you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work it out... The guitarist in my band has a Boss Multi FX which he has studied to PHD level and can make it sound like anything. Bottom line is don't rule anything out. Don't be put off by the name, give it a try. You might be surprised. My £10 eBay Behringer EQ pedal is ace and does a great job. I've tried a bunch of 'quallty' Multi FX, incl Boss and Korg and have always punted them on, unsatisfied with what they do. A lot of that is down to my lack of patience and techsmarts. My B2 does everything I want, sounds brilliant and i'm really confident about using it. It's not the gear - it's the way you use it that matters.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1337178451' post='1656731'] Totally. The same thing happened when I tried to buy Billy Connolly tickets last year. They all get bought up by people/organisations with the intention of selling the gig out and then selling the tickets on at vastly inflated prices. And this is legal? Do the artists or promoters care or are they only bothered about the venue being full - not the punters who are being ripped off in their name! Grrrrr. [/quote] This is so true. The annoying thing is that no-one seems to be doing anything about it! There are dozens of these 'ticket agencies' cropping up all over the place advertising tickets for sold out shows at insane prices. I'm all for a free market, but bloody hell, that can't be ethical...can it?

I LOVE my B2! They crop up here from time to time for pennies (well, I've seen 'em for £35-£45) and they are worth their weight in gold. I've tried out a stack of multifx, including high end Boss and Korg units and have got rid of them all in favour of stomp boxes. I could never get them to sound how I wanted them to or lost patience with the overcomplicated programming options. The B2 is really easy to program and sounds fantastic. Mine is on my rather modest board, as I was really only looking for a Flanger/Phaser, but this came up, I pulled the trigger and I'm delighted with it. I have the more compact B2 unit, as I'm not really a Wah/Expression pedal kinda guy, but I do have a little momentary latch pedal so I can modify tremelo and delay settings on the fly. Like most of these units, the presets are a mixed bag - the good thing about the Zoom is that there are two sets of identical presets - one you can modify to your heart’s content and one that you cant. What I have done (along with a lot of users, it seems) is to alternate 'effected' patches with 'bypass' ones, so I can swap from clean to effected patches quickly and cleanly without risking the 'step on two pedals at once to put it into bypass mode' option. The minuses - distortions are a wee bit fizzy and you can't scroll through patches 'silently'. The drum machine could be a bit more user friendly - a separate volume control would have been useful, but I guess you don't buy an effects pedal for a drumbox... The pluses - easypeasy to program, great range of sounds, robust construction, quite a few patches available on the net, cheaper than one Boss pedal and it's a loverlee red colour. I'd advise you to grab one and give it a try...it's a great entry to the wonderful and frightening world of FX and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Here's my Zoom on my toyshelf:

I'm there with bells on Yeah, it's insane to book for something like a gig a year in advance, but that's the way the industry seems to work. The mind boggles at the amount of interest an LG Arena full of £75s must be earning somebody.... That said, I've seen them many times, including the 'Time Machine' tour and they never disappoint. I wouldn’t pay that much for many bands, Rush are definitely one.

(muted trumpet) mwah mwah mwaaaaahh....

What a great player he was. No flash, no "party tricks", just elegant, melodic, soulful Basslines. He was an inspiration to generations of musicians.

Precisions look amazing with all the chrome...I've never been a fan of the bridge covers on Jazz basses as they always look way too big. I had a lovely Squier Precision which I tricked out with chrome, but as I played with a plec, it didn't get in the way. Try pipe insulation for a cheap mute - I've had one on my Hofner Maccabass for ages. It keeps its shape better and it isn't bright orange or green... Fine looking Bass BTW...

Does the price include the washing machine?

A true original. Have a peaceful journey Levon.

Here's my Toyshelf... You can have all the Thumpinators and Boutique pedals in the world, but my board's got The Beano and The Dandy on the front... ...and a light from Poundland to illuminate those pesky cheat sheets and set lists. Don't laugh buddy, Victor Wooten will have one of these by Christmas...

If that lot is legit, it'd be well worth a whipround...

I used a piece of foam pipe insulation on my Hofner BeatleBass and it worked a treat. It cost pennies, was easy to cut with a Stanley knife and sits nicely against the bridge. Get thee to B and Q!!

Hey all, Sold Pete my Big Muff...the transaction took all of three minutes. Great communication and a nice guy to boot (not literally, obviously...) Buy and sell with confidence Rushbo