mingsta

Ha I'll swap you a singer for a drummer! Got two great vocals in my band, but struggling to find a drummer!

The worse thing is that I know two great drummers from back in the days, but one's moved to San Fran, and the other doesn't play any more and it'd be hard to talk him out of retirement as he's now got two sprogs. I find good funk/rnb drummers even harder to find - as many rock drummers can overdo it if they haven't got the feel for it

Just got involved with starting up a six piece band in SouthWest london (function band doing soul/motown/rnb/pop covers) - great line up, great set list...super excited!!! But we're missing a drummer and so far its proving really difficult to fill the seat. Are drummers a dying breed? I guess its one of the hardest instruments to pick up given the amount of kit needed and practice. Anyone got any ideas for where to look? Is there an equivalent to Basschat out there for drummers?

[quote name='vicar' timestamp='1358705291' post='1943707'] I see a lot of money changing hands for second hand TE cabs but was always led to believe they were only celestion speakers in them! [/quote] I'd observed the opposite! From what I can see, Trace amps and cabs tend to go for pretty cheap nowadays - your typical TE 2x10 or 1x15 cab going for the £70-100 and the 12-band 250 watt combo's going for around £250-300. I just old my aboslutely mint 1215 SMX combo, plus a 2x10 cab for £250, though to be fair, I let it go for cheap to a friend. I think all the heavy amps from 10-20 years ago are now going for cheap, which means that theres some bargains to be had if you can put up with the weight.

Yeah I feel ya. Went through a similar patch over Xmas where I was obsessing over whether to get a new amp in the sales. Then started pondering selling off a perfectly good sadowsky that I have in search of the perfect p-bass. Fortunately I came to my senses and realised that I just need to play it more. Sad to say it, but the best thing to do would be to stay away from the forums for a bit, stop looking at gear on tut web. Instead listen to new music and remind yourself that if we spent as much time playing and practicing as we did on the web, we'd be rather good!

Would be really useful to know where the band is based/practices.

hey owen, thanks for the headsup - I contacted Beedster and have a lined fretless neck heading my way.

I'm after a fretless neck for my old faithful '92 ray. Finding one out in the wilds is like rocking horse S**t....I know that status do a graphite neck, but I just can't bring myself to put the black shiney stuff on my lovely old bass. Is there anyone out there who makes or can make a replacement neck?

Yeah I guess its horses for courses! I've got a five way switch on my Stingray HH and prefer it to the blend control on my Sadowsky.

Stuart was using a Warwick Streamer in the early 90s' I was lucky enough to bump in to him at the London Bass Centre in Wapping in '92. At the time I was trying out a few amps and busting out a load of chops from emergency on planet earth, not realising that the dude sat next to me was Stuart Zender!!! He asked me how to play a Chili pepper line that I was messing about with and we struck up a bit of a chat. He came across as really down to earth. It was only a month later when I saw him on the front cover of Bassist that I realised who he was!!!

Has anyone had any experience of the Tony Franklin Precision (fretted version)? I'm fundamentally after a really good classic P-bass tone, which led me down the path of a passive american standard P-bass. Was trying to find one in a natural finish, and ended up stumbling upon the Tony Franklin PJ model . I like the fact that its got a switchable P/J rather than a blend knob - is this preferable if you want to get a pure unadulterated P-bass tone and use just the P pickup for 70% of the time? Is there any volume change when switching pickups? Would also be interested to know what the build quality is like, is it on par with the recent Fenders (which I understand to have improved in quality)? I'm gonna have to move on my Sadowsky Metro HPJ4 to fund this. Its a great instrument but in many ways it fills the same slot as my go-to Stingray 4HH (both active, same color, rosewood board) and I've also now realised that I prefer the thicker neck of a 'Ray/P-bass. Am I mad to be selling this on?

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1357172792' post='1918802'] Can this be used as an audio interface as well ? [/quote] Yes.

Just got paid the princely sum of £45, subbing for a friend at private party. Great gig, great vibe, it was easily the best 45 quid I've earnt in my life. And when we got paid cash in hand, I imagined that we looked like bohemian minstrels, performing for our next meal, rather than the deadbeat IT project manager that I am in reality. Got married and took on a mortgage this year, so I've agreed with the wifey that I'll be putting any spare in to savings rather than toys. However, any money I get from gigs can go in to the music fund. So I only need to play another hundred or so gigs and I can get that Wal series 2 or Alleva Coppollo that I've been dreaming of...wooooot!!! ;o)

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1356435195' post='1910183'] I was looking at this myself to couple with my Cub, but the general view of those in the know is that it is a bit wanting in the volume dept despite the wattage. This is certainly true of the Cub, 100w through its 2x5 speakers isn't as loud as you'd normally expect from that wattage. [/quote] Yeah I was half expecting this. From everything that I've read, it seems that a lot of power is needed to drive those 5" speakers. What was a surprise was how warm and punchy they sounded as I was expecting something very hi-fi and clinical for some reason. I think where the PJB's shine is for lower volume or acoustic gigs where sound quality above volume is the priority...its a shame that for bigger volumes you'd need either a monster amp or one of their behemoth cabs which isn't really practical for the average pub gig etc. I tell you what though, I've just picked up a Bass cub for home practice and it is THE solution for getting a really good tone at low volume. Sounds full and fat even a playing-at-midnight type volume. While its a bit spendy for a practice amp (got mine for £350 from thomann) I spend far more time going through the practice rig than playing through the big stack.

Hey guys, thanks for all of the input. I visited a few shops yesterday. Tried the Phil Jones PB-300 powered cab and it sounded fantastic, really punchy and warm. But the downside is that although it was plenty loud in the shop, I could tell that it might run out of juice in a loud gig/practice situation. Also used a Genz streamliner 600 and shuttle 3.0 - I loved the tubey overdriven sound of the streamliner, but the shuttle seemed a little more focussed and was more versatile. I can easily see why a lot of people recommend having both a shuttle AND a streamliner, but I decided that the shuttle would be the best all rounder. I've ordered a Shuttle 6.2 210T from the states - I considered going for a head and separate cab but I really want the convenience of a combo. FYI - if anyone's after a Shuttle 6.2 112T - do a search on ebay and a seller called musicpower is selling for $799 - works out a couple hundred pounds cheaper after tax etc though the discount finishes today.

I've got a 15" trace elliot 1215 GP12 SMX combo from the mid 90's and a matching 2x10 extension cab. Sounds good, but the whole setup weigh's in the order of 60kg's and I'm thinking about replacing it with something lighter. I'm currently weighing up the following options: 1) Stick with it and put up with lugging it for the occassional gig/practice session, as its low cost and sounds fine 2) Flog it and get the Phil Jones PB-300 extension cab for by PJB Bass Cub for a flexible, light weight set up (but possibly lacking volume for big gigs?) 3) Flog it and get either a Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2-210T or Shuttle 6.2/Barefaced Compact setup Options 2 and 3 will definitely give a portability/weight saving. However, I've not heard any modern amps and was wondering from those of you who've been through a load of gear, would I also be upgrading my tone as well as saving weight? What are your own experiences of these set ups? Sound wise, really after something versatile but simple - play lots of different styles of music, but don't like fiddling with the amp too much. I'd want something that can put out a warm, punchy tone but has the ability to go clean/hi-fi etc too. Thanks for any input!!! Will of course go and check out a few options first hand over the xmas period! Ming

Whoa thats a nice rig!!! Looks perfect for those polite coffee house acoustic gigs

Cheers guys...I'm starting to think that the remove head, find a lightweight cab approach might be the best thing here as I lack your woodworking skills!!! I'd be gutted to flog the whole thing off as it was the first thing I ever bought with my own earnings...worked a summer job packing food in a frozen food warehouse to get that bad boy! Must check out these barefaced cabs....

Aye! Its amazing how cheap the old stuff goes for. You can get a killer Trace Elliot rig for 200-300 second hand, the only price you pay is portability, but I guess thats why they're going so cheap now. If they were 40% lighter, I'm sure they'd be going for double that. [quote name='JohnFitzgerald' timestamp='1355473071' post='1898714'] You'll find what you need in the for sale sections in here. Far better value than S/H in the shops or ebay for that matter. You just need to get into the habit of checking all the time. My budget these days is not at all dissimilar to yours. Would you believe that the stack you see here cost just a little bit more than that ? £80 for the 1153, £80 for the 2102 and £80 for the AH150-7. £240 for a mini stack of doom which I can break down into bite sized chunks. Way better than whatever you can buy new. This is definitely NOT for sale, but just pointing out what can be available if you're resourceful. Incidentally there's a matching pair of these cabs for sale on here right now for very similar money. If I could find another amp head, I'd be tempted. [/quote]

I've got one of the original series Trace Elliot 1215 SMX combo's (circa 1994). Haven't really made good use of it over the years, 6 years in the bedroom on about 0.05 volume setting, then I stopped playing for 11 years. Its only this year that I picked up the bass again and am now jamming/gigging on a reasonably regular basis. I'm now finding that the old boy still sounds great, but at +30kg's it weigh's a frickin' ton!!!! I'm a bit loathe to sell it on for the peanuts that these things fetch nowadays, so was wondering about the following options: 1) Replace the 15" Celestion with a lightweight neo cone - is this going to mess up the sound? Are there any amp tech's close to london who might be able to advise on the best pairing and do the work? 2) Remove the head and get a lightweight cab. Any ideas as to what might be a good match? 3) Alternatively I've just ordered a PJB Bass Cub, so if I really do want to move the Trace on then I could buy the PB300 powered cab for the Bass Cub for a potentially modular and gig worthy set up. Just wondering if anyone's had any experience of how loud/deep the PB300 can get as I've heard that the PJB stuff isn't particularly loud for the wattage. Any suggestions or shared experience would be appreciated. PS not necessarily looking to preserve the "Trace Elliot Sound" with the solution, I tend to bypass the pre-sets and EQ and just play it flat with a bit of compression.

Great price, but at 69lbs you'd have to built like arnie (Conan/terminator era) to gig with that.

Well done mate. I've just agreed to sub for a mate and thought I had it bad learning about ten tracks over a fortnight, but three and a half hours takes the biscuit!

Surprisingly chintzy and I'm disappointed that there wasn't a torture dungeon somewhere in the basement.

I've donated - it was thanks to the BC community that I've picked up a Zoom B9 for an absolute steal.