peteb

Very much this. I don't use MB for gigs these days, but I've had a couple of combos in the past and they always worked just fine live.

We were lucky enough to headline the John Bonham 75th birthday memorial event in his hometown of Redditch last night. There was a great crowd and a really good set of bands playing, not to mention that I got to play through the usual hire-in rig of a SVT4 & fridge, which I don't get to do too often these days. All great fun...

Just played the John Bonham memorial event last night. There was the usual hire-in rig of a SVT4 & fridge. I generally don't cart a rack and an 810 around these days, but you forget how much fun they are and great they sound...

But do you think that punters can't see through that one?? I did a gig yesterday with a few bands on the bill (a John Bonham memorial in his home town). One of the support bands were a bluesy type act, but a bit different with loads of BVs, and there were definitely a lot of cowboy hats on stage! But they got away with it because: a) they were very good, and b) they looked pretty cool anyway and didn't really need to hats to cover any barnet deficiencies! The exception to the last point was the singer, who was an older gent who had a fake ponytail attached to his cowboy hat. However he owned this by keeping doffing his hat (including ponytail) to one and all, and generally not caring that he was a little follically challenged. The main thing was that they pulled it off as it was all part of their image and that they were really good...

I don't see the reason for this aversion to hats comes from - if you think that you look cool in a hat, then wear one... The problem is that people who look good wearing hats are, generally, the same people who look cool without a hat...!

I would have thought that the most notable example of a guy who only uses downstrokes is Cliff Williams of AC/DC, who has got it down to a fine art...!

It seems that MK's brother is no slouch as a bass player...

1966 Precision on eBay for £8k - looks great, but if anything, a little too perfect for its age... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225503035266?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110013%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIMRXI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D249160%26meid%3Da8d3f388519c400e92751bc7eb7c52f1%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D285293132600%26itm%3D225503035266%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DPromotedRVI%26brand%3DFender&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A225503035266a8d3f388519c400e92751bc7eb7c52f1|enc%3AAQAIAAAA8BFMeJ9vNoeV5R6diewUBS1xpEetK6xNI5xYg%2BwrzQBg%2FEveImGFYjHgcWxBv2QULo19cjlrd4Oehz4PLatGfdw%2BwpMLc36I7Y48bQC0vT%2BglFa5UpxKwoECp2Osa0OmzppYmrxliCEPKEiqdO%2B4zSrrqrv1%2FIbd80T3qUajVOJeaxotxYmPCtgZQc6uDtor%2FqnTQpqwPbR6ru0wOsC%2Fu2L5dTcVLoej9SoRVpSaDe8eUkeca6%2BPW%2BwU37Xowk%2BB7Y4UmJxLEOHFj%2B0p1I2Rnu6E1z6CASZPzateG%2BBjSGDm9dvd3nbVNNzI9qrReD2t2w%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675

I saw them playing at a bike rally about ten years or so ago. Completely different band apart from the aforementioned Rocky Shades on vocals. Much better band (i.e. they could play), but still unmistakably Wrathchild, for better or worse...

I once did a gig supporting Wrathchild in a packed out rock club in Birmingham in the 80s. We did our set and went down really well and were in the dressing room getting changed and having a beer when our sound engineer came in saying, 'you've got to see this'. We went out front to see that the area in front of the stage had cleared and the bass player had a cut above his eye where someone had thrown a glass or whatever at him, although he carried on playing like a trooper. There were a couple of guys on the edge of the dancefloor still shouting abuse at the band. It got to a point in the show where the guitar player did (what we shall call for the sake of argument) a guitar solo and Rocky Shades (the WC lead vocalist) hopped off the stage, sauntered across the dancefloor to these guys, decked one of them with a single punch and jumped back on stage to carry on throwing shapes and 'singing'! It turns out that he was a karate black belt, a lot tougher than he looked and really not someone to upset or throw a glass at one of his mates...!

Going way off topic, but I know a guy whose dad played bass on Kung Foo Fighting...! He was a session player and been on a date playing in the brass section. After the session had finished, the producer said he had another track if they wanted to get paid double. However, the bass player had to get off as he had a date or something, so Frank said 'I play bass' and consequently ended up playing on a pop-funk track with no vocals, lyrics, etc. The next time he heard it, it had been released as a single complete with vocals and went on to be an iconic hit...

Yea, but you don't know him as well as the OP... 🙂

To be fair, there's an interview out there with a post fame Eddie Clarke and Phil Taylor, where they said pretty much the same thing about Motorhead...!

Same here, I get cramp just thinking about it... 🤨

I might add that if I was looking for another 5 string to be my main gigging bass, I would be locking for a 35" scale...

I wouldn't argue with that and believe that I actually bought one off you! A great bass, but just not for me....

Not really sure WTF you're on about here. I regularly switch between a P bass & a jazz depending on what gig I'm playing and once borrowed a SR5 off a mate to record an album, because I didn't have a 5 string at the time. It sounded fine and he loves that bass, but for me the string spacing and the fact that the G string feels (to me) like its clinging to the edge of the fretboard. It works for him but not for me, so I went and got a different 5 string - simples! I'm guessing that I make more music, more regularly and at a higher level than you ever have, so watch the attitude...

Never the less, it does make a difference! I've had two of them, love the sound, but moved them both on pretty quickly - plenty of other good basses out there if there if you don't get on with a particular model..

I got an Xotic 5 string jazz instead...!

I've had a couple of SR5s - they sound great but I just can't get on with the string spacing.

Allow me to explain. Bass Direct are a small company that provide a pretty unique niche service to musicians in a challenging market, and I have used them quite a few times and always found them to be very helpful. However, if I knew nothing of BD or Basschat and was searching on the internet to see if I should use them or not and came across some of the posts here, I might get an unduly negative impression if those posts were to go unchallenged. The thing is that they are not a big box mover with lots of staff and they are never going to manage their online operations as well as a company like Thomann. But Thomann, good as they are, are never going to give you the level of in-person service / advice that BD will, nor will they give you the opportunity to actually try out gear out before you buy. Every thing you say about BD you can probably say about Bass Gallery, who I think are great even if their website is even worse than the BD one! Now I know that BD really don’t need me to champion them and they're doing OK despite a few negative posts on BC, but there’s not many of these types of small companies left in this country and we ought to appreciate them (or at least cut them some slack) while they are still in business…!

I was beginning to think it was just me - either that or I had indivertibly wandered into a self-help group! I always wonder how people function in bands if they can't talk on the phone or have social issues with dealing with people face-to-face. It seems to me that they are choosing the wrong lifestyle! I've never had issues talking to BD on the phone (apart from the odd occasion when they're too busy to pick up) - they've always been very helpful...

Must make getting gigs and dealing with agents, other band members, etc difficult...

Why would you be so adverse to speaking to someone on the phone? When it comes down to it, Bass Direct is an old school bricks & mortar shop providing a specialist service to a niche market (in fact, a niche part of an already niche market). It's target customers are generally people (like me) who appreciate the personal touch and are happy to discuss a potential purchase and any possible alternatives before we buy an expensive bass / amp / whatever. If you want something generic then you can probably save a few quid buying online from Thomann, who are great at what they do. But Bass Direct and the Bass Gallery, etc are a different thing and offer a different service...