TomWIC

My two Epiphone Thunderbirds, between £250 and £350 each (bought new), found them both better to play than the Gibson variants in the shop. Both in need of a good setup now, but I wouldn't change them for the world. I'd gladly pick up several more when I can afford to! Ibanez GSR200 (bought new, around £250) which I sold a few weeks ago (and regretting it) was a cracking bass, missing it already. LTD B15 bought second hand for about £130 is the best 5-string I've ever played, put Bill Lawrence pickups into it after the stock pups failed, and made it even more fun to play. And last but not least, the Squier Silver Series Precision that I bought today from a fellow Basschatter. Got home with it around 4pm today, haven't put it down since, an absolute dream to play and gorgeous tone.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1380221341' post='2222576'] What happened to Charlie Clouser? Loved that guy! And I see on twitter that Trent has Robin Finck back in the band. Should be interesting to have such an old influence back in the fold. It's interesting how Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson always seem to recruit musicians that barely seem to be able to function in day to day life but are capable of incredible artistry and musical foresight. Really very clever musicians! Truckstop [/quote] Not sure if Trent and Charlie are still on good terms or not. Robin however has been playing with the band since 2008 (and was invited to play back in 2005 as well but he was touring with Guns 'N' Roses at the time).

[quote name='olliedf89' timestamp='1380215605' post='2222469'] Oh dear god. I guessed that something was different seeing how crazy he went on stage, really looked like he was exorcising some demons, but that's sad man. Poor guy, hopefully he manages to come back and channel it into music or something, get himself back up! [/quote] Indeed, he apparently never abused drugs or alcohol but the health issues were obvious to the rest of the band through the extensive touring, which ultimately led Trent to not ask him back after the Year Zero tours. Fantastic guitarist, such a massive, precise sound, and a huge stage presence, I really hope he pulls through and gets back into music again too.

[quote name='olliedf89' timestamp='1380213624' post='2222436'] Ooh, I haven't heard much about Aaron, he's one of my favourite ever guitar players just for NIN alone, always admired his ability to produce such chaos while remaining totally on spot and in control.. What's happened to him lately? I usually read up about these things, but alas... I'm lazy. Yup, going to be different that's for sure! [/quote] He's suffered from mental problems over the past few years, mental breakdown, diagnosed with bi-polar, major depressive disorder and other illnesses. Has completely quit music, has all of his gear in a storage locker and admitted in a recent interview he has completely forgotten how to play guitar.

[quote name='olliedf89' timestamp='1380197402' post='2222153'] He still does it, just less often, Reading 2007 was crazy onstage but I think in large part that was thanks to Aaron North who was a bit... Unhinged haha. Brilliant but chaotic. Yeah, a bit of his trademark headbob and a quick run off when a Mic stand heads his way. Hell Trent even had backup singers on that clip, which is a bit... Odd.. [/quote] Aaron was indeed crazy on stage, just watch the Beside You In Time DVD. He even makes Jeordie White a bit nervous at times, and given his onstage history with Marilyn Manson, that's quite an achievement. Very sad about what's happened to Aaron in recent years. I noticed the backing singers too, sounded very strange - look forward to seeing it in full though!

Just bought a lovely Squire Silver Series Precision from Paul, great bloke, great communication and makes a great cup of coffee. Recommended to all!

My Peavey Tour 700 was purchased for £200 from a member of Basschat, my Ashdown ABM 410 was £250 from a private sale, and the ABM 210 that I pair with it was £80, again from Basschat. The vast majority of my effects were also purchased from members of Basschat, however, most of my basses were purchased new.

As far as I'm aware (and I've seen no statements or info to say otherwise), Josh Eustis is still the live bassist for NIN at the moment. Pino recorded several songs on the new album 'Hesitation Marks' so perhaps it's a guest spot for a few songs, and Josh will move to guitar or synths?

Cheers for the replies all, off to see Paul's one tomorrow

I've just spotted these two Squier Precisions on Gumtree near me, and I was just curious as to whether anyone owned these or had played them before and could advise me as to their out-of-the-box quality, and what upgrades (if any) you'd recommend were I to purchase one of them. Thanks in advance [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/squier-silver-series-precision-bass/1030973574"]http://www.gumtree.c...bass/1030973574[/url] http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/fender-squier-precision-bass-1991-korea-will-ship/1033077723

If for any reason Jon doesn't nab these off you in the near future, I certainly will

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1370341984' post='2099273'] Harsh of you? Not one bit! They should count themselves lucky they had a bass player at all after that! [/quote] Admittedly, I wanted to give him a smack, but I calmed down when the sound engineer overheard what was going on, laughed, and told the offending bassist he was f**ked. Luckily, there was no damage caused to my amp. If there had been, I would've walked out with his bass held as ransom until he covered the cost of repair/new amp.

I've got no issue with lending out my gear at gigs, if people ask me in advance, or even on the night. But the last time I did, I got off stage after soundcheck, the next band (the bassist of which had asked to borrow my rig) went on and did their soundcheck. I went back on stage after they were done to move my rig for the next band who were using their own gear, only to find a soggy straw had been inserted into one of the inputs. "Oh yeah, sorry mate, I was only mucking about, heh heh heh." Suffice to say, the twat didn't have a rig to use after that. Maybe harsh of me, but I've always believed if you use someone else's gear, you treat it with the upmost care and respect.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1369507820' post='2089995'] Just had a look at mine and it has a slot, rather than a hole, for fast string changes etc. Not exactly a quantitative assessment, but it looks to me like you could fit a car tow rope through it. I had to fit an extra ball end from an old string onto the G string to stop it sliding through. [/quote] Good to know, thanks! [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1369525373' post='2090228'] Also, you can get taperwound strings and it makes fitting to the bridge easy. [/quote] Tried this today. Popped to my local PMT and was given a .135 Rotosound taperwound and it went through the bridge without any hassle. Getting it to sit on the nut however, was another story. I'm gonna get new nuts for both of them first, and then think about new bridges or changing to taperwound strings. Cheers

Hi all Due to the positive feedback about Hipshot Supertone bridges, I'm currently looking to get two of them for my Thunderbirds. However, the one problem I've got in the meantime is that I'm planning to use at least them of the T'birds for Drop B tuning. I'd like to be using a .125 gauge string for the low B at the minimum, but the issue is that I can't fit a stringer thicker than a .110 through the bloody bridge. My first question is; before I go and buy new bridges, anyone know what the thickest gauge string I could get through the bridge on the Supertone is without modification? Secondly, in the meantime, what would be the best way to modify the stock bridge to allow me to use a higher gauge string right away? Cheers EDIT: Also just realised that this potentially belongs in the Accessories forum. Feel free to move it if that's the case.

Every Ashdown amp head I've used, I've just been completely unable to get on with. The EB180 head I owned a while back was probably the best of the bunch, out of various MAG combos I've used when I haven't been able to use my own rig. However, the MAG410 cab I had was absolutely fine, until I needed something that could handle a few more watts. The ABM410 and ABM210 cabs I use now, I absolutely love. Sure, they're heavy and not particularly good looking, but they do a great job.

Tuner, Sansamp, overdrive and noise reducer. If any of these failed on me, I'd be pretty screwed. I have two overdrive pedals on my board, configured to more or less the same sound so I'm covered for that. I'd be lost without the Sansamp though.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1366962207' post='2059406'] Shame you're not closer, I might have given this a go [/quote] You tease!

This is something that we'll be pursuing soon (finding a synth player for a metal band round these parts is harder than finding a drummer). Nothing wrong with it at all, plenty of bands have their synths on backing track; Architects, Lacuna Coil, Paradise Lost, Marilyn Manson (as well as second guitar parts),Rob Zombie, to name but a few. Not sure how we're going to do it exactly, but we'll worry about that when the album is finished!

I have to do this a lot. Our usual recording/demoing process is: work out the tempo of the track and set up a click track, program the drums in Reason (we're minus a drummer at the moment, but we used to do this when we did have a drummer anyway). The next parts to be recorded depends on the song. If there's a lot of solo bass sections, I record my bass first to the drums. If the bass for that track pretty much follows the guitars, then we tend to do one guitar first, then bass, then the second guitar. Then synths and samples if we're using anyway, then vocals last always worked out really well for us.