molan

I'd be interested in reading this - always like Mr Wobble

I recently tried a Diamond Bass Comp and really liked it. Just the most 'musical' of all the compressors I've tried

[quote name='geoffbassist' timestamp='1335370925' post='1630096'] I love what Bass Direct are doing. Phil is a great guy and I wouldnt hesitate to recomend them. [/quote] Getting a bit confused Geoff Bass Direct is Mark's business whilst BassGear is Phil's

I have to vote for BassGear - not least because I quite often cover the showroom if Phil isn't around (it's only 20 mins from my house). In fact I'll be 'minding the store' tomorrow Phil, the owner, tries to make people feel at home and is always on hand with tea and coffee and words of advice. I've known people spend 3-4 hours trying out basses and amps with nothing but encouragement from Phil to make sure they are really happy about any prospective purchase He's also enlisted the help of young bassist Vic Davies for a day or so a week and he's always full of enthusiasm too. As well as this he has a sponsorship type deal with Tom Kent who's just graduated from ACM and has been supported by supplying some great basses for him to use on live gigs, sessions and tours One of the things I really like is that most of the stock is only available from BassGear as Phil has exclusive deals with people like Fodera, Alleva Coppolo, Ritter etc. Plus he's always bringing in new stock like the range of Wood & Tronics bolt ons and I hear no less than 4 F Basses are heading over soon. It's great that there are always some of these in stock for people to actually play rather than listening to sound clips an reading about them on TalkBass I think it's good that he's able to set up masterclass sessions too. I know he's had Joe Zon with Michael Manring & Jens Ritter so far and has one coming up with Enrico Passini from Wood & Tronics with Alex Lofoco playing. These things take a lot of organising, not least because they all involve overseas suppliers. So, I will be in 'kid in a candy shop' mode again tomorrow if anyone fancies popping over

I'd love to hear a whole album, I think they could pull it off

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1334665682' post='1619333'] In the link above it states that they are ex demo, so i can see how they arent priced the same as clicking on the gear on the main pages. I would expect to pay less for ex demo anyway but they are good prices i guess. [/quote] I'm in the shop right now Basically what Phil describes as 'ex-demo' are simply his display stock. E.G. They sit on the showroom floor, don't get moved, don't get played at anything above 'shop' volumes and are all immaculate (certainly the MarkBass gear as I've just checked them all over!). The only thing that marks them as being as 'ex-demo' is that they aren't in their boxes still - although Phil does have all of these. Pretty sure most retailers out there would class something that's simply on the shop floor as being 'brand new' I've tried a few of the amp/cab options and the Randy Jackson setup is nice. My personal favourite was the MoMark SD800 into the 4x10. Never tried a MoMark head before but it's seriously nice. Loads of 'heft' through the 4x10. Phil also has a used 2x10 in stock and the MoMark into 6x10's sounded just great!

I had one of these and absolutely loved it. Best bass head I've ever owned but, unfortunately, just too heavy for me It really is quite a weighty beast and I found I could get a lot of the tone I wanted from a tiny little TH500 (matched with the right speakers). However, if you're OK with the weight & want a serious gigging amp then, in my opinion, nothing else comes close!

I think it's a 'proper' sale for a fixed period and finishes on Saturday (as opposed to one of those dealers who always have a sale on). That's probably why the route to the sale prices is only through he direct link. I'd actually seen the prices via an email link an hadn't checked the main site

Ok, so I'm a little biased as I sometimes help Phil at BassGear when he's really busy but I've just seen how far he's reduced prices on his MarkBass stock so thought I'd stick a note up here Some of his new prices (with full manufacturer's warranty) are around the price I've seen some used ones go for in the past! Brand new Randy Jackson head for £699 plus the matching cab at £599. Jeff Berlin combo for £799. CMD 1x12 combo at £699. MoMark SD800 at £656. 4x10 cab at £699. I have to say that the RJ head at £699 is pretty tempting and the MoMark SD paired with the 4x10 ought to sound pretty cool

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1334255103' post='1613394'] Bonnie Raitt is a goddess. [/quote] She certainly gets my vote

Haven't listened to much of this yet but it's been getting good reviews and has the, ever tasteful, Hutch Hutchinson on bass on most tracks I think. Available to listen, officially, either in entirety or track by track here: [url="http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/148930343/first-listen-bonnie-raitt-slipstream?ft=1&f=1039"]http://www.npr.org/2...eam?ft=1&f=1039[/url]

[quote name='ashevans09' timestamp='1334235452' post='1612971'] Hmm, I think I'm leaning towards a stageclix, to those using a stageclix, where's the best price I can get one? I'm tempted by the line 6 simply because they're easier to pick up second hand. Also to people who own both the line 6 and the stageclix, how to they cope when out of line of sight/with an active bass? Thanks Ash [/quote] BassGear near Reading stock them - currently listing at £359 http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/accessories/digital/stageclix-jack-system/ I know they've got a spring sale on at the moment and not all prices are listed on their website - might be worth emailing them to see if there's a deal available I've tried one by the way, thought it was great - managed to walk to the other side of the store car park without losing signal!

Quick update from me I took a few people's advice & have had a go at setting up a new band & already have drums, keys & lead guitar sorted! We're getting together next week to discuss material & what we need to finish the line-up - obviously a singer (or two) is going to be needed as only the drummer can sing out of the four of us & we are not going to start a Phil Collins tribute band, lol. Looks like we will be auditioning for some singers so I'll make sure we handle it really professionally. . .

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1334138809' post='1611336'] The finish is not good and probably not original, the neck looks too clean in comparison to the body which raises questions, there is serious repair work to the neck and one of the pots and the bridge don't look original either. This might be a great sounding and playing bass but as a Fender, vintage or not, it raises too many questions and it misses out on top money on too many fronts. I think you'd be hard pressed to get 1.5K. But then I'm not an expert. [/quote] I think Chris is probably about right here. The fact that it's 60's rather than 70's makes an emotional difference to some people & will nudge value up correspondingly. Unfortunately the body refin, a neck which looks much cleaner than the body and that headstock erpair, however good it is, are all going to hit value pretty hard I have a few Fender P's at the moment (63, 64, 72, 79) and the only one of those that cost over £2K was the 63 which has an older refin body & early 70's guard but is otherwise more or less original. With a really good refin this would definitely go up in value (I'm basing this on the fact that it's already be refinned once). However you'd be looking at between £280 & £400 for a really good job. With a nice refin, and in a desirable colour, then I think you'd be able to hit £2K, depends on how much that neck repair is going to bother people though. It's certainly enough to put off the more serious collector but shouldn't worry someone who wants a 'player' so long as the repair is really solid & showing no signs of opening up again.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1334077527' post='1610605'] For keys you need pretty much the full frequency range and a flat response. I'd suggest using PA cabs and unless you already have an amp then use active cabs. They are usually pretty good value for money too. The bass could then use a sansamp or similar. anything more specialized is likely to work out pretty expensive [/quote] Would the keys just run straight into a powered PA cab or would it also need a small pre-amp (maybe with a DI option to feed a PA?)?

A friend of mine is on the lookout for some sort of decent quality amp/cab (or combo) rig that might work for both bass and keys. I wondered about a nice powered cab like a Bag End with a Sansamp for bass and maybe a simple DI for keys. I've also heard that Roland have offered hybrid combos in the past but I know nothing about Roland gear. In fact, I know nothing about keys either so no idea what sort of set might work Any ideas or advice gratefully received.

Thanks for all the comments guys I did think about the 'we're putting the band back together' idea but shied away from it only because it seems to so tough to get gigs these days. I used to play in & 'manage' a 13 piece soul band a few years back - fantastic gigging experience but a monster pain in the butt keeping everyone together & I guess that's jaundiced my opinion about trying to set something up from scratch & being the chief organiser I do also know a singer who I'd happily work with again so maybe there's something in this idea after all. . . Also - I've just applied for an audition for a regular gigging function band & I know at least half of their set well already. Never know, maybe this is the one

My band 'fell over' a couple of months ago and, due to various personal reasons, I haven't been out looking for anything else until recently. I've had a couple of experiences that, quietly, have really surprised me about some of the people out there in other bands. First up was a group that had been forced to partially disband because three members were unable to continue due to distances involved for gigs. The band advertised for bass / drums / keys. Because my band had split & I was good friends with both my drummer & keys player we thought this might be a perfect match - We even played a fairly similar set list. I contacted the band leader and said I'd be up for auditioning on bass & could probably bring drums & keys with me if required. I got a very positive response although the guy said he couldn't call me for 4-5 days. This was Ok really & we exchanged numbers. Lo & behold, no call, no response to any messages or calls either. Just totally ignored me & I've given up trying to contact him now as he's obviously not interested. You'd think he could at least have bothered to say why he didn't want to see me (& the other two possible band members) or just say he'd found something else etc.? Second experience was a smaller band just looking for a bass player. I spoke to the guitarist for about 30-40 minutes and we seemed to hit it off. He said they were having two sets of auditions & I was invited to the 2nd of these. He gave me 4 songs to learn & a complete set list from which to choose a few more. I dutifully took a day out & learned the main four plus several others. Downloaded originals, checked keys, adjusted with Audacity to their key, spent a couple of hours going through my basses to decide which one would work best with their material / lineup etc. etc.. I sent a couple of messages asking when the next audition would be & explained what I'd been working on without any reply. Then, I'm sure you can guess what's coming, 3-4 days after their first auditions I get a rather curt email saying they found what they wanted and hoped I'd find something in the future. Also that they'd keep in touch in case the guy they have chosen doesn't work out. I have to say that this one really pissed me off - why supply a full set list with keys & stuff and ask someone to learn a batch of songs without even letting them audition. I have to assume that they did the same to other people as well because they'd said they were seeing others the same night as me. They could at least have let me know immediately after their first auditions instead of leaving me to waste time over 3 days learning a large chunk of their set? Just seems rude to me - or maybe I'm being too precious over it all