paul_c2

How does the room limit volume?

I can lend you my Antoria Jazz bass (its only 4 strings...), its not worth much monetarily but it has sentimental value so I'd never sell it. But let's say, a £50 deposit? With the sentimental value, I'm 100% assured to return the deposit when you give it back.

Ironically, the last time I went through Stoke, was on a boat.

I bought a train ticket on Friday to get home (Derby --> Capenhurst). I went for the cheapest on Trainpal, although it didn't actually offer a choice (sometimes there is a choice). Sometimes on the ticket you'll see a route restriction such as "not via Liverpool Lime St".

On my ticket, it said "via Stoke-on-Trent only".

50 minutes ago, wishface said:

, while the Amazon one is "used, acceptable". 

 

 

 

Good spot, that's probably why its cheaper (but better/higher spec). It sounds like its The Asus Store themselves fulfilling this, but its a return (probably with no fault whatsoever, just opened then rejected within the 14 day period for a reason other than faulty). They're covering their a*** with the "may have scratches" description but its probably cosmetically fine. Its obviously a newer model so can't be that old anyhow.

So given that, I'd say the Asus and the HP (from PC World/Currys) are well matched. Either would do the job, and you'd never know if the other were 'better'. AMD is a 6 core while the Intel is 4 core, this often means that certain workloads run better on the more cores, while things which tend to be single core heavy (like games.....) run better on the Intel. I don't know if the average DAW and plugins would even tax a CPU enough to worry about these days, its not really a "heavy" load like Cyberpunk 2077 or video editing etc.

I think you're right to avoid secondhand desktop PCs.

Your existing laptop: Intel Core i5-3210M
Currys link (HP): Intel Core i5-1135G7
Amazon link (Asus): AMD Ryzen 5 5500U

The Asus has 512GB storage too, where the HP has "only" 256GB. Of course, you might never need the extra, so it may be moot. And the Asus is 15.6" where the HP is 14". HP laptops tend to come with a lot of preinstalled rubbish too, which slows them down; and I like the black finish of the Asus over the silver HP. There are probably other more minor details such as quality of screen, sturdiness of construction etc (both are plastic though....'premium' would be a metal case, which is more durable) which I've not researched or considered.

For the above reasons, personally I'd go for the Asus if I had £400 to spend on a laptop.

1 hour ago, wishface said:

Someone suggested this on another site https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Vivobook-5-5500U-Backlit-Keyboard/dp/B09GKK4RTH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G7RXDPY8QHKJ&keywords=ASUS+Vivobook+OLED+15+M513UA&m=A2OAJ7377F756P&qid=1657916208&s=warehouse-deals&sprefix=asus+vivobook+oled+15+m513ua%2Cwarehouse-deals%2C440&sr=8-1

 

Seems pretty good?

That's a pretty decent spec, I'd say slightly better than my previous Curry's suggestion.

It is worth physically seeing and holding a 15.6" laptop vs 14" laptop, to see if you are happy with the bigger size and weight - it might be you like the bigger screen and keyboard and the extra bulk/weight is not a factor.

By the time you've bought a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, microphone and webcam - granted you might not need all of the last 3 but it makes it equivalent to a laptop - the price difference closes up a lot. The main benefit of a desktop is that when you get into high-performance stuff like decent gaming, the prices are cheaper and the cooling possible with a desktop is much better (because the case is physically bigger). A gaming laptop is never as powerful as a gaming laptop, and invariably end up being thermally throttled when pushed hard. But if you don't need the power.......

11 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

... but i3, dual core. Nice price for new, though. 

Well yeah, its a lesser CPU than the i5 quad core obviously, but i3 is better* than Pentium/Celeron, and is probably still "good enough" for the OP's use.

I wanted to check out Argos because they're slow at updating the prices, tending to stick to the same price for a while. Sometimes a laptop (or other item) is raised in price because the initial one was set too low, or supply issues, or something else, but Argos will be the only retailer not to put the price up and thus, be the cheapest for a particular make/model/spec.

Also I'd stick with the "well known" brand names and bigger retailers, for simplicity of return/refund if there's something wrong. For example, Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Aspire. 

If you REALLY wanted to save a few £££ though, you could search and search on eBay/Amazon for a specific model number, after looking carefully at the specs, sometimes there is a weirdly low priced one there, sometimes "seller refurbished" or "new (other)". For example there is an HP (the one linked above) which is normally £379, listed for £312 because its a refurbished return with a damaged box. Just check it HAS been properly wiped (in more ways than one) and doesn't have something disgusting on it - like country music or a downloaded Sandra Bullock movie, for example.

*When comparing, generally, within a generation of CPUs. 

The above PC World one has a USB-C port too, which you might find useful.

If you're not bothered about USB-C and don't mind a heavier/bulkier laptop for a 15.6" screen, there is this for £349, £30 less than the HP from PC World:

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4375690?clickSR=slp:term:laptop:2:8:1

For £400 you can buy a reasonable laptop. Personally I'd go for these specs:

14" screen

try to avoid touchscreen - its a bit of a gimmick, isn't that useful with Windows, and the quality isn't as good as a non-touch

256gb storage

8gb memory

try to avoid Pentium/Celeron, go for i3 or i5 or the AMD equivalent (Ryzen 3/5) and the latest gen (11th for Intel stuff)

To save the searching, this fits the above criteria:

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-14sdq2512na-14-laptop-intel-core-i5-256-gb-ssd-silver-10222231.html

Phew............thought my nieces were for sale then.

Do I have to play in a band which tells me how many instruments I can take? 

Or maybe, the stage is just so small that there's no room for the 2nd one to stand up. Can you get someone to pass it to you from the shadows?

11 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Just seen this on an advert on Facebook.

 

What's the ad for??????

Its a pretty reasonable approach (that the OP has made), though.

51 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

 

That doesn't stop Bombsite Motors from trying it though!

No, but they'll be working hard, even with "bending" the law, for a very marginal gain on each car. I used to date a car dealer who sold nearly new high-end German cars at a franchised dealer - £30-50k price range. It was like falling off a log - the cars were so good they sold themselves, it was just a bit of admin per sale for £1000-1500 profit each time. 

Buyer expectations on cars under £2000 are sky high compared to what you'll get for the money, and anything under £2k these days is considered "banger". The consumer protection offered is so good these days that a dealer who operates in that area really has their work cut out, and will end up upside down half the time too. Try to operate under £2k with the "trade only spares/repairs" rubbish and you'll be constantly dealing with scumbags, chancers, small time drug dealers, etc etc many of whom are well connected in the locality on Facebook, some of whom own (and aren't afraid to use) a baseball bat, etc.

There's definitely a resonance that occurs once the string is vibrating, which is either amplified or dulled by everything else which vibrates with it - which includes the string itself, the (wood of the, and every other component of the) guitar, the speaker cabinet, the speaker cone, the air in the room etc. So while its only the strings pickup and electronics creating the original tone, whether it sustains or not afterwards is down to literally everything else.

"Trade sale"; or "sold for spares/repairs". There is no such possibility of simply labelling a sale as a trade sale - its defined by whether both parties are in the trade, or are (retail) members of the public. If they're normal non-trade customers, they have legal rights, they can't just be signed away! 

Ironically, if its a private sale (not trade), the ONLY thing a seller could do which could is illegal is misdescribe the item. A dealer or trader has many more responsibilities eg in cars, it needs to be roadworthy, within 6 months its assumed to have be the dealer's fault if it has a problem unless proven otherwise, etc etc but a private seller can simply say not much on the advert and the deal is done. Putting something flowery onto the description opens the door for that "misdescribed" comeback.

I think they should ban Squiers being listed as "Squier by Fender" or any reference to Fender, because it makes searching for an actual Fender, tedious. Maybe the search term should be:

title LIKE "%Fender%" AND (title NOT LIKE "%Squi%" AND body NOT LIKE "%Squi%")

1 hour ago, Phil Starr said:

 

 

 

For me, in addition to the original post, this post is the most interesting. It shows that a musical instrument isn't "perfect", it has imperfections which can scientifically be measured and observed. BUT...that's what gives it its character, its "uniqueness" if you like.

The OP is interesting in that.......the body isn't one of those things!

The only real way is to control what's within your power to control.

If this means having a sound engineer of your own, so you CAN control the mix (and overall volume) during the gig, and who understands the needs of your band and yourselves more accurately than "random student wannabe sound engineer" (I'm sure some of them will go on to make good sound engineers) then that's what to do. 

If this isn't possible - I appreciate it may be a step up too far - then stopping briefly to solve the technical issues, WITHOUT annoying the audience, is the way to go. Certainly I'd try a brief pause and chat with the relevant, without asking/moaning on-mic, before anything else.

I wouldn't go buying more and more kit, if the issue is the way the existing kit you use (albeit the venue's) is being controlled.

1 minute ago, neepheid said:

John Entwistle on The Who's "My Generation"

 

Mic drop.

That was going to be my second suggestion. Bass solos just about the right length, don't want to over-egg the pudding after all.

The Who 5:15 by Thunderfingers of course:

10 hours ago, Jakester said:

It must be great being so amazing that you never make a mistake, eh? Thanks for coming down off your pedestal to let the rest of us know how great you are though. 

 

In the grand scheme of things it isn't life or death. It isn't even a particularly expensive item. I am less irritated by this particular occurrence as I am with the general trend of retailers (and in the main it seems to be music retailers) to advertise stuff as 'in stock' when it isn't. 

 

 

Yep, that's how it should be. Anything else is just 'bait and switch' and poor customer service. 

You didn't make a mistake though?

Unfortunately, shopping nowadays especially online is often based simply on being the cheapest priced, so companies will do anything to cut costs. 95% of the time it works out for you and me as a consumer, sometimes things like this happen though.