uk_lefty

I bought a 1984 Aria SB that needs some restoration in order to learn about tweaking, minor repairs and set ups. It arrives tomorrow. First job, some plank has written on it in some sort of felt tip pen on the headstock... The bit I can't just remove the finish from because of the logo and the headstock writing. Any tips for removing felt tip pen marks without damaging the finish? Thank you

I thought this one was listed for ages and didn't sell? Might just want a quick sale and didn't know how to do it properly

Do it! You get a lot for your money with a Sire, and if you don't identify as a bassist but dabble you've got an instrument for life that you'll never feel the need to upgrade... Unless you stay on BC and read about all kinds of weird exotica and think you need to have it!

I didn't read it as ageist, just more surprised that there was a youthful audience for jazz. I read it more as amazement that anything cool could happen in Norwich!

Anything by Sting and the Police... I just thought they were naff and a bit creepy. My uncle bought me a best of one Christmas and I was a bit disappointed. I absolutely love a lot of Sting and the Police's stuff now. Took me a few years and a dose of the flu where I stuck in the nearest CD on repeat and I realised there was some great song writing in there and a style that resonated with me. I'm determined to front my own band where the opener every night will be Message in a Bottle.

I'd chop off a nut to never have to listen to Jessie J.

Probably my dream bass there. But right handed.

I'll give it a go using a Boss GT10-B for amp sims. My real point though was he has this bit of kit yet the one time it would have been most useful and he decided not to use it! So he obviously doesn't have confidence in it for a pub gig.

My guitarist uses the head rush. It's loud as hell. We gigged in a very cramped space on Saturday and he used his massive fender valve amp...

It was more the round, plummy, big traditional P bass tones than anything gritty. Deacon is maybe a better way to explain the tone I'm after though.

I've got an old set of Thomastik flats that were on the P and I'm tempted to throw them on the Ray and see what happens. They were too light for the P but I think they could work on the Ray.

Hahaha maybe you know something I don't?!

There are some lines even I won't cross and I love some cheesy songs! Our drummer wanted us to do a Take That song. Not an "original era" one either, one of the ITV Mothers Day cow poop fodder 40+ market Take That songs. He was voted down, we didn't even have a go like we do with a lot to see if they work in a pub gig. I would reluctantly do a very cheesy 90s Take That song if we could spin it a way we wanted but not their "recent" stuff. Recent in "" because I mean since 2000 which in my book qualifies as new music!

My band applies the principle... People who can afford bands are usually in their 40s and 50s, so what music do they like and will sing and dance along to? I like data too, didn't even know if I could do demographic analysis of our Facebook...

I really want this band name!

This is it! I firmly believe in a covers band having a theme. Otherwise you end up with "stuff Dave and Terry listen to in the car and can have a go at playing" and people will not know what to expect and whether to bother coming.

🙄

And the winner is Leo from California!

Yeah I have a P, a very good one in fact, I just don't want to keep swapping my basses around on gigs for minor differences that won't get picked up on by most people except me. Just wanting to get as close to it as I can with the Ray with a few knob twiddles.

Morning all. Before you start... I already have a P bass! However, my main bass is a 3 band Stingray. I'm looking to free up some cash and fund a jazz bass and considering letting my P bass go. I then listened to a load of Sabbath last week and had second thoughts about letting the P go, even though its kinda surplus at the moment. So if I can get close to the traditional Geezer type sounds out of a 3 band Ray with rounds I will feel better about things. Anybody have any advice for eq'ing the Ray to get close to the older school P tones, please? I usually have bass on full, slight mid cut, treble only slightly boosted because I find it a bit to trill but this sounds very modern and Stingray ish. I've experimented with cutting the treble, boosting the bass to around 75% and ramping the mids up to almost full to try and get a good "crazy little thing called love" type tone.

Haven't touched the generation 2 models but the first gen was fantastic value for money. A better neck finish and various other improvements at the same price and you're laughing. Really good reliable, solid gigging instrument I think.

I totally get that, I really like the way you've expressed your post. I can't listen to a lot of the songs I play in my covers band, if I do I realise I've been a bit off in my interpretation of the bassline! And also, I'm bored of most of them or I never liked the song anyway. There is something to be said on your DJ point, how many times we get requests we can't fulfil, but DJs with thousands of songs loaded on to a laptop can very easily. I will defend covers bands to the hilt because without them a lot of live music would die out. Where I grew up there were lots of live music venues but the only one with significant attendance was all tribute bands, me and my mates grew up despising tributes as soulless nonsense, but my opinion on that has softened a lot these days. I'd love to be able to play and write originals but the rest of my life doesn't permit the time, and there's sufficient enjoyment and internal politics in a covers band for me!

My personal view is that the Mark Bass probably does clean and compressed a bit better. However, that's not for everyone. I like a clean amp sound but with emulators now you can pretty much have what you want. My Boss board has a Trace Elliot sound that I use a lot with the Ashdown eq disabled, for example.

I was watching a video of Megadeth today, a band who has had many second guitarists and drummers over the years. Are they allowed to "pull faces" while they play if they do a song from a record before they joined? Does that make it a cover act? I'm not sure.

I get what you mean, but most of us playing in covers bands don't think we are great because we can copy the greats, we just have a great time doing it. I play in a covers band. We do play Sex on Fire which makes me wince every time. But we also play covers that I've never heard any other band attempt and yet people sing and dance along. I've seen too many singer sing writers where "and here's a fourth song about the girl who wouldn't even touch me by accident at the youth club but I still love her now and I'm 43" and the whole place empties. I could tar all singer song writers with that brush, but that would be unfair.