mingsta

Thanks for that, never heard of her before, but that's right up my street!

Ah brings back memories! @la bam you weren't too far wrong about two months wages, I spent 2 months working nights in a warehouse in '94 to save up for my trace combo. Sadly it never left my bedroom and I ended up selling it about 8 years ago to my mates dad for all of about £200. I reckon it was probably the most pristine example of its kind out there. Just as well, though, as this coincided with when I started gigging on a semi regular basis... I'd be in a wheelchair by now if I hadn't switched to a lightweigh genz benz rig!

I suck at pick playing, I can just about pass at home, but always chicken out of playing pick in a gig situation as I'm more sure of my fingers. Anyone that says that it's not proper bass playing needs to have their head shoved down the loo and made to watch Bobby Vega vids on YouTube when they are let up for air.

Spot on! I'd answer instantly that my "keeper" is my Sadowsky Metro HPJ-RV. I'd relate it to my darling wife; my soul mate and lifelong partner. Then I'd patiently explain that my other four basses are like my girlfriends and mistresses. I could live without them, but variety is the spice of life. They give me some welcome relief and ensure that I come back to my sadowsky refreshed and all the more appreciative of it after a brief break. Most importantly, my five string does things down in the bottom area which my Sadowsky would be unwilling and unable to do. I think she'd totally understand after all that.

I got my 5HH Stealth new for the princely sum of £560 (plus shipping and taxes, which added a couple of hundred iirc) from the US back in about 2008. Along with my Japanese sadowsky metro its the nicest playing bass I've owned, fast neck and nice low action thats basically not moved or needed any adjustment in over ten years. Tonewise, the I read that basswood was deliberately chosen for the bongo for its tonal qualities. I've found that while the bongo has a fair bit of built in flexibility due to the pickups and eq, it's definitely got a signature tone, which I'd describe as a very focused lower mid punch with a bit of zing on top (but not quite up to extent of a stingray). It's definitely its own beast, which I find a refreshing and useful addition to my stable of J, P, Ray archetypes. I find the position of the pickups limits a bit of the HHs flexibility. Together they work very well but I find the neck pickup a bit too bloomy on its own due to being a far bit left of the P position. I tend to leave the pan at 50/50. I tried a Dingwall NG2 at Andertons a while back and was massively impressed. Another one to consider if you're looking at the bongo. Both mould breaking basses with big, punchy and articulate sounds.

You have my sympathies. Its like an island amid a sea of one way traffic, that pub. Hope you had a good gig!

Thank you sir! PS your sound could clips were the reason I took the plunge! Good work!

I've just received my FI and it's exceeded my expectations for delivering those 80s pop synth bass sounds that I didn't think I'd ever achieve with a bass fx pedal. Thanks Mr Q for uploading all those patches to the site. The only fly in the ointment is that I've not been able to get great tracking, a fair bit of glitching and missed notes. I need to adapt my style a bit and practice how get the best out of it, but I'd like to think that I've got a pretty clean technique to start with. Has anyone got any tops about any setting to make? I've heard you need to get the input vol right so it's green on the whole and only goes red for really hard notes. I've also read from the manual to go for higher numbers on the two global note on and off levels, but it'd be good to hear ppls own experiences on what has worked best. Does the C4 track better? Hopefully I'll get to a happy place with the FI, but if not I might give it a shot!

The Bastard!!! I bought a stingray in 1993 with my first part time job because I thought that's what he used to record BSSM, then wondered why I couldn't get close to THAT tone. Then years later I read that most of it was recorded on the Wal. So obvious now in the age of YouTube vids and sound samples.

I've loved that solo since back in the days and it put him on my all time list. There's countless guitarists who can shred like hell, but few who could get close playing those few, sparse notes with the same emotion and feel that JF delivers. Sad to see Josh go, as he brought something new to the band and I liked their last album. JF will always be the iconic RHCP guitarist, but each time he rejoins I think it's a new story, so time will tell if it's the right thing for him and the band. Let's hope so.

We get the singer to cough really loudly and switch to the right tempo straight after. A bit like trying to cover up when you know you're going to fart. It's particularly effective for the infamous wedding first dance, which are invariable slow numbers that get started way too fast.

I'll go for six months plus, but I'm from the Jamerson school where a slightly dead string is no bad thing.

For me, yes. Though I appreciate that people play for different reasons. If I don't have gigs to work towards I hardly play, though this is more due to bonkers job and three young kids swallowing up my time. I love whole process that surrounds preparing for a gig, learning the music, rehearsing and getting tight with the b a nd, but this would all be quite meaningless if there wasn't the payback of delivering it all to an audience. The best bit for me is when you start out with an indifferent audience, but make things happen so that everyone is up and dancing and asking for for at the end of the night.

Yup. Always good to play different styles. I did a stint in a metal band a few months back and it was great as you need to be tight tight tight and I levelled up with my pick playing coming out if it.

What did you think? I saw them on the Saturday and it was the best gig I've been to in years. Thought they sounded bloody amazing live. Getting back to southwest London was a pain, but well worth it!

I'd agree with the sentiment that with singers, you need to have your cake and eat it. They need to be great vocalists, no point stepping out without a good front man, no matter how good the band is, but they need to be at least tolerable on the personality/organisation side and have the same work ethic as the rest of the band. Our singist does the work and delivers the goods, so we can live with the occasional hissy fit and even have a bit of a laugh about a few years later after he's calmed down.

Yup, its all part of the merry dance. Kinda have to take a deep breath when you put something up of any worth and get ready for whatever may come... I had a MM Bongo up for sale a few years ago, had a young guy who was super keen but was obviously struggling to get the money together. Had many back and forth emails where he was pleading for me to hold it for him while he sorted his stuff out. I probably could have sold it a couple of times over to other buyers but was cool with it as it was by all accounts his 'dream bass'. Anyways after he finally got his affairs in order, on the evening we were going to do the sale he pulled out at the last minute with no explanation. Did me a favour as I ended up pulling the ad and five years later I'm glad I hung on to it. I wasn't too bothered tbh as I know what a big purchase that was to someone starting out and how much I used to agonise over every detail back when I was a callow youth. What really gets my goat, however, are the professional moaners on ebay. The one's who play the system knowing that if they play their cards right, they can potentially get to keep the item and get a full refund from ebay. I shipped a Genz cab to the US and one of the plastic corners took a bash in transit. I was happy to offer £30-40 off (you can buy a plastic moulding for £3), but the buyer wasn't happy with that. This was one of the bottom rear corners so you'd never see it. Anyways, he ended up getting a full refund off ebay global shipping and keeping the item. While I was quids in as a result, it just seemed totally bonkers and is only going to encourage ppl who are angling for that kind of result.

thats made my day! though it would have been even better if the workshop had gotten busy with the hacksaw and upgraded said bass with some genuine bone nut and ivory inlays ;o)

Ooh that's bloody lovely! Congratulations and hope it brings you many years of enjoyment!

Ive got three workhorses, my Sadowsky RHP4 which is undoubtedly my go to bass, a Sire VV75 and a Bongo HH5 for my metal side project. My two fringe basses are my 93 Stringray and a 2010 Stingray 4HH. Ironically I can't sell the two rays as I've had the first one since I was 17 and it's too much a part of my early years to let go of, and the 4HH was a wedding present. So they hang on the wall, largely unused but looking magnificent.

I've got a PJ on one of my basses and it spends 90% of the time solo on the P. I find if it's the P sound that you love, having the option to blend in some J just dilutes the goodness. I'd happily have just the single pickup, but the bass is a stone cold keeper, so I'm also happy to have the j.

Yup try that. The app needs to be connected to your stomp in order for it to load properly.

Helix edit is the one. Do you have your stomp connected to the pc via USB?

Not much. I tried several and the differences were subtle at best. On paper the ash and maple board vintage 5 that I settled on would have been the opposite of the thicker, darker tone that I prefer, but it hit the spot.