molan

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1385304067' post='2286591'] Fair enough. IMO you should never assume that anyone else is going to do any promotional work even if they say they will. Always do as much as you possibly can and then the blame for low turnout can never be levelled at the band's efforts. [/quote] I must admit I would normally have done a bit more to cajole people along had I not been told it was likely to be really full. The pub was quite a distance from my house and I didn't scope it out beforehand. The last similar venue I played at was one where I got lots I people to come along - that one was packed and lots of my friends ended up stuck round a corner and able to hear us but couldn't see anything. On the basis if that one I didn't want to repeat the experience when we have 2 more local gigs that I can get friends along to. I guess it's 'sod's law' in a way I'll know better if we play there again!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1385298121' post='2286498'] How much promotion did the band do? [/quote] Website promo, band email to subscribers, FaceBook page, Twitter feed. In all honesty we didn't really push it because the person who booked us told us not to bring that many friends because he said it's always rammed. Quite how he got this impression I don't know but we'll certainly ask!

I know one dealer that's not going to be stocking Mesa Boogie now because of the pricing on this

Played at a nice pub last night. Decent sized venue, good beer, nice people - problem is there were hardly any of them there! We'd been told it was busy venue and probably not worth dragging lots of friends and family along because it's always so busy and gets very crowded. We couldn't believe how quiet it was. At one point there couldn't have been more than 20 people in Chatted with the landlord afterwards and he said it's always quiet for him this time of year. He gets a big summer crowd and end of December is busy but November is always a bit dead. One of the locals told us that he does absolutely zero promotion for his live music - there's a blackboard outside with the name of the band on and that's about it. It's a country pub so very little walk-in traffic and most passing vehicles won't see the flimsy blackboard. The odd thing was that the landlord said he was really pleased, sang along all evening, smiled when he paid us £200 and said he'd happily have us back in the New Year! All seems very odd to me - why not do a bit of local promotion to drum up trade? If he'd even told us to drag some people along we'd probably have doubled the audience size. In the end it was like a paid rehearsal, useful for us as a 2nd gig but I felt a bit of a fraud taking his money

The new PJB Double Four is an amazing piece of kit. It's tiny, sounds huge, weighs nothing and has an aux in for MP3 and headphone out if you want to practice quietly. Needs to be positioned near a rear wall for maximum bass output and would certainly fit on a study shelf because of the low weight and narrow depth. They're around £350 but really impressive. I can't think of anything that really compares to them

[quote name='lazybones' timestamp='1385247158' post='2286170'] i cant understand the reason to but a guitar that looks like a fender but aint,,, [/quote] Usually because it might be better made, sound different, feel nicer to play etc. etc. Fender make some fine instruments but a lot of the classier specialists can add things that people want that a mass market brand like Fender can't really handle. Something like a Modern body version of a Sadowsky (surely the leading 'super-jazz' brand in terms of volumes sold and reputation) feels very different and sounds quite unlike any Fender I've ever played. It still looks essentially like a Fender but it's a very different beast. I don't think there's a really accurate car analogy for this because there isn't a generic car in the same way that there's a Fender-bass.

Budget or 'diffusion' lines can often really hurt values of the original brand. In general Fender seem to have escape the worst of this but Warwick and Musicman used values have plummeted in recent years. Of course, for new buyers this is a good thing. You can pick up a decent far eastern version at a 'budget' price or an original German / US made used one for a lot less than they once were. However, for owners of those original basses it's not such a good thing. Maybe more importantly for the brand itself a poorly received offshore product can have long term brand perception issues and could even, theoretically kill the parent company completely. Imagine what would happen to US Ric sales if you could buy a great official version made in the Far East for £800. New sales could be badly hurt, used values of US models would drop, perceived value of new ones would be lower because they depreciate by so much, couple of years down the line and the company could fall over completely. Love 'em or loathe 'em the world would be a sadder place without the iconic Ric brand

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1385157262' post='2285265'] I'm picking fights? That's very funny. And I did answer his question. You just weren't paying attention. Oh, I know why people are ganging up. Because there's strength in numbers. If its okay for a bunch of other people to do it, it's easy to join in and be one of the crowd. Hell, read your own post. You don't even know what occurred and you're parroting the accusations. It's fascinating actually. [/quote] It must be a difficult world where you're always right, everyone else is always wrong and those wrong people start ganging up on you to tell you you're not right after all. . .

There's some Lulls out there with this configuration. I also have the reverse - P body & J neck

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1385092308' post='2284431'] " I get message boards.. It's a mob mentality. No one is going to speak up for the guy who's getting piled on. And no one likes to be proven wrong. I was just being straightforward. If someone helped me and was a little gruff I'd say THANK YOU. [/quote] If the "guy who's getting piled on" didn't keep trying to pick fights with people then the "mob" wouldn't be telling him he's continually out of order. Sounds like a. Bit of paranoia creeping in here. I still think you simply didn't answer a very straightforward question and seemed to try and go out of your way to basically tell the OP that he didn't even know how to ask the question in the first place. That's quite simply rude and the "mob" are quite right to say it's not really very nice. To then continually say you deserved to be thanked for telling the OP he didn't know how to ask a question, and without ever actually even answering it, beggars belief It's not like this is an isolated event either, seems to be happening again and again. I find it hard to believe that you genuinely think the people here are somehow ganging up on you for some obscure reason known only to them. . .

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1385079502' post='2284381'] You can all go on about how rude I am -- it gives everyone a free shot to insult me. That's fine. But you may not want to reconsider being a musician if you can't take the slightest bit of direction. [/quote] So you don't think telling people they need direction on how to ask a question is rude? Astonishing - maybe all the people who comment about the way you respond to them are all wrong and you are the only one that's ever right? Or is that just because you're the only real musician here?

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1384717586' post='2279939'] I agree with Billy Apple, your comment came over as laced with vinegar. I don't think anyone here is dumb enough enough to think everyone appreciates their own musical tastes so why p*ss on someone's else's parade? As for your reply, it must be lovely to live in your world [/quote] Lowender trying to wind other people up with crass comments and trying to appear somehow 'clever' at the same time - surely not . . .

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1385076117' post='2284336'] Wow, everybody's panties are a bit tight today. Hey, I stand by what I said. I answered your question and you're breaking my balls? Take the advice or don't. And yes, B has the same notes as Ab7 -- both have B, D# and F#. But the Abm7 has an Ab root. So if you play a B with an Ab in the bass, it's same chord. Next time, instead of trying for the snarky come-back, try listening. You might learn something. [/quote] I don't think think this is actually correct? The OP asked an really simple question and was looking for an equally simple answer - something he received without anyone trying to look 'clever'. You told him to "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]understand what the tonic is and where the chord series begins. The piece is in Gb. You're starting on VI. [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]You should also mark how many beats each cord plays. That will clarify where the changes come. e.g Gb///I////IEbm///I/// etc. [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Secondly, a B has the same notes as a Abm7. What determines the actual chord 99% of time is the bass note. As a bassist it's imperative to hear that. In this case, the bass is playing an Ab" [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Basically you told him that his question was somehow lacking in a basic understanding of music theory in, what appeared to be, an attempt to make you seem superior in musical knowledge to him.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]That's not other people getting panties twisted - it's just you making a crass and cheap shot at another bass player (or two). . . [/font][/color]

Newer Elixirs are much better in terms of fraying than older sets. I've been using them on at least one bass for years and have definitely noticed improvements The new steels are good too. Haven't had enough time to really get used to them yet though.

I haven't got round to posting them officially for sale (I'll try tomorrow!) but I've got a few different P Bass pickups at home that have all been fitted once, tested and then swapped out again (they came in a PX deal from a project builder friend of mine). From memory there's a Bareknuckle '58 Split P, an Aguilar 4P-60 (this may already be spoken for) and a brand new stock Fender P that came out of a Tony Franklin (these are the standard US P variety used in a lot of different US Fender variants). Also a Nordstrand NP5 and a Fender P5 that was rewound to be hotter by Bareknuckle. N.B. I'm not trying to get around the classified listings rules. I have an annual paid up account. Just thought I'd mention I have some here as people were asking. I should also say that I've heard some demo sets of Fatboy pickups and was rally impressed. About £80 for the hot wound P bass set.

Should be fine. That's a pretty standard MarkBass setup. Generally it's only all valve amps that need a load connected. Momark is a great concept I think. You can build some really flexible heads and they really don't cost as much as some people seem to think I specced out a twin channel version for someone the other day with two inputs and two complete eq strips, could be a really nice little head.

Be super careful with a PF500 and any low impedance load. They have a nasty rep for going 'bang' at the slightest provocation A dead PF500 isn't the worst thing in the world but if you shred your speakers at the same time then it really won't be a lot of fun. Definitely make sure you have a separate DI option (like a little Sansamp pedal or similar) if you're planning on gigging the PF.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1384779104' post='2280547'] Echoing a few sentiments, I doubt this would be of any use to people with more than a 'few' pedals on a board. I have 7 or 8 and at least 4 are always on. What kind of fall back do you have if it runs low during a gig? [/quote] Only that you can plug it in I guess Kinda defeats the object but it works via mains and charges at the same time I think.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1384700263' post='2279605'] If you use some headphones with an impedence in 16-32 ohms range with a sensitivity of at least 100db/mW you should be able to get a decent volume level even with battery -powered portable devices, Barrie. Because of the popularity of things like mp3 players there are lots of headphones on the market now within those specs, so plenty to choose from if you are looking for new pair. I would be interested to hear what that Fodera headphone amp is like , because excellent as it is , I am on the lookout for a better-sounding alternative to the Korg PX4b for playing through at home with headphones on . I have had my eye on that Fodera unit, or the EBS equivalent. [/quote] Just tried the Fodera with my Grado SR80's. Still struggling for volume a bit with these. Maybe I need closed ear 'phones rather than the Grados which are very open?

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1384731508' post='2280185'] I find this quite funny as the only thing that's broken on mine is the handle. "Just came away in my hand Officer" [/quote] Lol - the handle on mine has held up well (so far) - maybe it's only a matter of time

[quote name='nottswarwick' timestamp='1384702043' post='2279631'] I press and hold down on the space where it is and it appears. What I do wish though is that people would put some text to say what it is, so that if I don't want to look I don't have to. [/quote] If I do that I get the sound but no visual content

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1384205477' post='2274074'] My favourite strap of all time is the [url="http://www.richterstraps.com/epages/15454046.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/15454046/Products/%221161%20-%20Supreme%20II%20-%20Black%209cm%22#RemoteViewAction"]Richter Supreme II[/url]. [/quote] Richter make some great straps. Once they've worn in they feel fabulous