D.I. Joe

One time while I was doing sound for a band at a wedding, we got all of the gear in for the bassist to find that he'd left his amp head at the rehearsal studio, some 50 miles away. Luckily he had a Line 6 unit (okay, maybe not so lucky...) so that we could take a line into the desk and use the amp modelling to bodge a useable sound. Another time with the same band (who btw I now play for) the drummer threw a stick into the crowd after a solo - OK when you're playing Wembley Arena, but not so in a pub with the audience 10 feet away! It clocked some guy on the head and later on we heard that the shock from this triggered his psoriasis, which that doctor gave him an ointment for that made his hair fall out! Same drummer, different gig - after nearly killing us all on the drive up ("What traffic lights?!") he almost refused to play a gig because he was charged for soda water at the bar. This was, btw, a charity gig in aid of a local man with leukaemia! I love drummers!

I dropped a couple of clangers a couple of weeks ago - firstly the Friday night, I forgot the last verse of Sweet Home Alabama. Luckily one of the guitarists (and usual frontman) jumped in to help then later that night I have a glance at the setlist then announce the next song, Don't Stop Believing only to then realise that that was later in the set, and the song I had looked at was Don't Look Back in Anger, which wasn't even the next song anyway! The following night I fluffed SHA again, so now instead of the last verse, I throw in some Werewolves of London and All Summer Long

The thing I dislike most about slap is the misconception that anyone who can do it quickly is a "good" bassist. Geddy Lee doesn't slap!

Last night I replaced my usual Rotosounds on my HW-One P bass with some Blue Steels, gauge 50-105, only to find that the D string is completely dead. Seriously, there is more life in a tramp's vest! I bought these strings from a fellow Basschatter and when they arrived the pack was still in it's cellophane wrap, so this is obviously a dud. Anyone else had this problem?

I have a Korg AX3000B for sale at £100. It does everything you need from a multi effects and a load of stuff that you don't but are fun to play with anyway! It makes a decent preamp/DI and is also useful for recording too.

It was great yet also somewhat disappointing. It was great because TM Stevens is such a fantastic guy - he was mingling before the show, he watched both support bands, and after the show he stuck around and spoke to everyone who wanted to speak to him, had photos with people, signed stuff. My mate's girlfrind had her bass signed! The show itself was a little disappointing though - he was only on stage for 70 minutes and at times it felt more of a workshop than a gig, and there was a disappointing lack of gratuitous plank spanking! But TM is a fantastic bloke. I had a photo taken with him which I will upload when my friend emails it to me.

Time to get fonky! Tickets £10, doors at 7:00 Duhduhduhduh Duhduhduhduh duh Ooh-Uh Yow-HEYYY!

Anything that would look out of place on stage. For example, it wouldn't look right to be playing soul with a BC Rich, or Metal with a Hofner. As a guy who plays just about everything, I like basses that fit just about everything - Fenders! Particular dislikes though, include - 6 or more strings Natural finishes Pointyness Headless Single cutaway On-board Active mission-control EQ (2 or 3 band is ok, push/pull pots, 100s of switches, more knobs than a Brighton gay bar, coil taps etc etc - f*ck off!) And the big no-no... LEDs - I'm on a stage, not a runway!

Fender strings are now all made by D'addario. I don't find D'addarios and Ernie Balls to be identical but that's not to say they are definately not made by the same people. I read somewhere that Rotosound have a line of string which is sold under a different budget brand name but I can't remember which it was.

Just done mine! >

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1331400660' post='1572455'] This how I see my collection and those similar: Most passive basses are your family saloon - solid and reliable..Active basses are like the Turbo-ed version of that.. [/quote] ...The universal sign of a small penis

I've been using Roto 66 for the last 3 years. I've tried other strings but I keep coming back to them, the tone I get out of a set of worn in 66s is amazing. Punchy, warm and balanced. I've just put some Rotobass 50s on my stingray and acoustically they sound very nice - warm lows, bright top and not too clangy and airy like fresh from the box 66s, but haven't played them plugged in yet. Should be interesting to see how they wear in. Might try some nickel 66s too but they don't appear to make those in 50-110. Rotosounds are my go-to sounds

Sweet thread! Mine's an '07 HW-One precision in Honey blonde. It seems that replacing the scratchplate is a recurring theme with these, as I replaced the WBW with a BWB. Don't know about you guys, but I kind of think that a white plate makes a fender bass look cheap(...ish). I've also fitted a thumb rest in what traditionally is the Jazz thumbrest position, and I've been through phases of fitting an ash tray pver the pickup. I love this bass No decent photos of the bass at the moment, but here is a gratuitous action shot from a jam night - because after all, hahahaha (Sorry - saw that emoticon and had to use it!)

Greetings fellow low-enders! The name's Joe, been playing bass now for about five and a half years and in that time I think I'm doing pretty well at it! My previous musical adventures lay in the brass band world, so I came into bass fairly well equipped with some knowledge of music theory and literacy - still struggle to sight read bass clef though! Current gear is: Basses - '07 Fender USA Highway One Precision (a friend for life no doubt!) OLP Stingray HH Shine RK2000NT (for sale) Shine mystery 5-string which a mate of mine picked up at a car boot sale for £50, works pretty well though! Amplification - Marshall MB450H Marshall MBC410 speakers Effects - EHX Bass Big Muff Morley Dual Bass Wah Danelectro FAB Chorus Behringer PB100 Preamp Booster DHA VT1-Bass-EQ-Drive pre-amp/overdrive Fender pedal tuner Korg AX3000B MultiFX (for sale) Strings - Rotosound - Swing bass and Rotobass (50-110) Dean Markley - NPS Roundcore (45-105) Always looking at new toys and upgrading gear (as I'm sure we all are) but unfortunately finances do not allow at present, but as you can see I have a couple of items for sale at present, which I will post in the for sale forum too. Plus I have a spate of wedding gigs coming up which is always welcome! Genre wise - I just about play anything and everything. With Fragile Sanity, who I have only recently joined, we cover everything from the Beatles to Metallica, via Calvin Harris and Michael Buble. I frequent jam nights around Cornwall where anything goes, and have also played acoustic rock with a couple of bands, some fuzzy garage rock, metal, reggae, blues. You name it! No Jazz though, need to get the old scale book out again first! So that's me - looking forward to getting stuck in on the forum and making some friends, hopefully even some around me! Thanks for reading!