uk_lefty

I've got one of these, I wanted the multi instrument aspect so I sold my Fender rumble 15 before the BEAM arrived. The Beam is great for guitars but I don't like the bass amp sounds myself as they both have some form of drive and I like a good clean bass amp sound more often than not. However if it's just for random noodling when you get a spare ten or fifteen mins it does the job. I am impressed with it for Guitar and apparently you can use it for recording. It's also plenty loud. Does yours hiss a bit when you stream bluetooth through it? If the beam is overkill or overpriced I'd go with an Ashdown Studio. Basic lightweight amp with Aux in, UK based support.

Around New year someone local advertised that they were a guitarist wanting to get back in to gigging after a while out. I'd been looking to put something together different to my proper band and couldn't get the people I wanted involved so thought I'd contact the guy... He's recruited a merry band including another guitarist who has already dropped out and a keyboardist who says he can do vocals. I have some reservations over the song choices and the general nature of some of the chat between the group. Doesn't seem like they realistically know how to start a band. Almost four years ago I targeted joining an established band because I didn't want this aggro, I wanted to learn a set list with people who knew it already and go to play at paid gigs that were already booked. Simple. I'm now in the position of going to jam with a guitarist and keys player I've never met, playing a random mix of six songs together just to see if we can. I'll share vocals with the keys player for this start off period as we both say we can do it but we're not pretending to be great or specialist singers. If all goes well we will try to get a drummer and maybe a singer. This is where I see it falling apart. My proper band has five members and it is like herding cats in summer when everyone has family holidays, Christmas, and new year when they all go skiing. Also, it's five opinions, not one or two. I'm trying to be positive, I could be meeting nice people who are local. I could be starting a decent band. I could be getting a gig singing and playing bass which I've wanted for a while. I could decide a band won't work and be able to persuade one of them to do a duo with me. Or it could be a middle aged embarrassing car crash of trying to do some very, very tired old covers with people who don't seem to know how to set up a band.... And there's my experience of keys players. It has universally been bloody awful. Never been able to face playing in a band with one, usually down personality and lack of ability. Please all cross your fingers for me on Thursday. I do want this to be good, something is just telling me it won't be though!

Take an older bass, hand him the bass, can he play it? If he's making an absolute tit of himself but thinks he's the second coming of Jack Bruce start blowing his sax. Make sure you've had about four or five chewing gums first, not to freshen your breath but to be extra salivary so you can slobber all over and inside the damn thing. Blow as hard as you can so the Reed breaks too. In all seriousness he sounds like a control freak. If you're not being paid to be in HIS band playing HIS music then I'd walk. Otherwise what's the point? He could just go out as a solo act playing along to his home recorded backing tracks. A swift "f off and play Baker Street will you" would be my parting shot.

Si, may well need to take you up on this. Will speak to the band and get back to you. I'm St Albans based, band plays in Herts/ Essex area. We've got a gig in June I might be out of the country for.

I've tried to slap. I was nearly getting there a few years back. My band said I was good at it and insisted we do a song with lots of slap, I think it sounds awful because of my under developed technique. I'd love to know how to do double thumb etc but I just can't see myself ever playing in a musical setting where it would be welcome. When I win the lottery I will play instrumental stuff and learn all these things properly, but these days I have enough of a job remembering my parts in riff based rock! It's funny, what I admire is people who can pick up a bass and play something cool but musically relevant. By that I mean something that stands alone. I struggle with that on my own, yet with the band I can play really melodically at times under the guitars and 99% of the time it fits and works unless I'm consciously trying to do something too wacky. I enjoy a bit of Level 42 etc. but slap is one of those things where you need to be really on top of it to make it effective and musical. I can slap and pop an octave pretty quickly but making tasteful note choices and timing your accents etc is a real skill I think. Probably why I'll stick to fingers mostly, pick occasionally!

Weirdly enough I was thinking of putting this forward to our band. I can't think of the bassline in my head but I just think people will sing along and dance at functions. Will dig it out for a listen now!

Andertons have put an Ashdown at NAMM video on YouTube where Mark Gooday talks about the new Ashdown bass guitars and says they will be available kack handed. That low rider certainly does look good!

I've read very good things about the Squier classic vibe series. So when I was looking for an electric guitar I got a classic vibe tele second hand off tinternet. Needless to say I'm OK with it but it hasn't blown my socks off. Granted I've miniscule experience with electric guitars but I've got good experience with basses from Westfield through MIM and MIJ Fenders to USA Stingrays. I had heard so much good stuff about the classic vibe series I was somehow expecting more. The natural finish body just looks pants, the feel is a bit glossy and sticky, the sound is good enough... What am I missing? It's making me think twice about the vintage modified basses!

Worst: Bought a Boss wireless system on massive knock down from Andertons. It didn't work so had to go back... Since receiving it back I haven't even tested it and won't be using it at my next gig which will be crammed in to a tiny space. Bit of a waste of cash, really. Best? Right-on straps, they're very good.

We've done this one for a while and it goes well, it's good to jam through but it just needs some oomph so we're going to medley it with some other 90s dance stuff, also working on a 70s disco medley too... Not the best recording, farty PA and shoddy little amps in a damp rehearsal room but should give the gist of how we put our little twist on this stuff... Vocals start off low then ramp up as we go Listen to Step It Up BEST VER by clive mustang on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/white-collar-fraud/step-it-up-best-ver

Management does not accept liability for ruining your favourite songs.

Yeah will do once we have it down. It might not be for a few weeks yet as we need to get ready for a pub gig in two weeks and haven't rehearsed the rest of the set, or rehearsed at all, much in the last 5 months. I'll stick it up on sound cloud when roughly done

There's a Grabber on Bass Doirect at the mo, all black, looks lovely.

Thank you all for the advice and pointers, I've got something passable down now which I will embellish as it gets rehearsed with the band... Can understand a few comments on it falling flat. We are sticking it in to a 90s dance medley so hopefully it works as a segment along with others which will only be segments!

Another Time Tree user here. Problem is when people don't put gigs in it and someone else does the responsible thing of looking at the band calendar before booking his holiday to the US...!

Would be interesting to combine the tuner with the old "mass/ sustain increaser" thingy, did Fender call it the Fat Finger or something? I have a cheap one I keep in a case for those gigs where there is no room for the floor pedal, it's could even be Harley Benton. It's OK, does enough of a job.

Not sure... Depends how confident someone is at having a go without the lines I guess. I knew a violin player who was awesome on unlined Fretless as you would expect but personally I would never have started on Fretless were it not a lined. I'd only been playing bass for just under three years when I got my Fretless and had no other musical background, I just liked Ten by Pearl Jam 😊

I'm not so sure about that. My Fretless is lined but I barely look at the neck while playing but I certainly hear when I'm off, muscle memory goes a long way too.

Fretless is good for everything! I went years with a Fretless being my only option.. Granted it looks "hair metal" (my particular bass, not all Fretlesses) but it sounds however you want it to sound. You don't have to slide in to every note so it's not all mwaaaaaaaah all the time unless you want it. It's a great tool to have though, I couldn't manage without one now.

Easy big first one for me... 1.Not everything being available in left handed!! You right handers are so spoiled for choice with amazing new basses and colour combos. It's only recently we've been able to get maple boards on basses below 1500 quid, for example. Granted, the likes of Sire are really looking after us now but I'd love some of the experimental Ibanez and so on... But then I'd probably have spent too much on trading basses for years so maybe it saves me from myself?! Who knows... 2. Whoever said no mute buttons on amps is spot on! Why would an amp not have this?! I'm going more and more just bass > cable > amp, no pedals not even a tuner these says, so a mute button is essential even to just protect the speaker when you unplug the bass. Also amps NEED to have an EQ bypass switch. 3. Lozz, top handles only on heavy amps... When I was a skinny 17 year old trying to hoist Marshall Bass State B150 around it was very hard work!! 4. PJ basses. Most, not all but most, seem to be P design bodies. J bodies look best for PJ basses IMO. And we all know better looking basses get played more. 5. Wireless systems. Now I've got one I haven't actually used it and won't on the next gig. Maybe the one after that. I don't know why I've bought it really except visions of jumping in with the dancers to get a disco number started... I'll probably knock someone out with the headstock and get the poo kicked out of me and it will all be a terrible mistake. 6. One bass to do everything... A complete lie, it doesn't and will not ever exist. Though a lot of music shops tell you it does... A jazz bass does not do a P bass sound with just the neck pickup, not even close. I thought my Stingray did 99% of what I need, and for my live playing it is pretty much all I need, but it's like having a monkey wrench when you need a little Meccano spanner sometimes if you want to get subtle nuances of tone out. If you're just belting out 80s rock for some sweaty drunks though a Stingray is realistically going to do the works. 7. Presets on amps always sound crap. Why?

If the V5 is same quality as the V7 I'll be interested. However if that short scale PJ was full scale I'd be buying, love a PJ on a j body.

Have seen a few Fretless maple neckers of these but not without the Pickguard and never in that condition. Still, for me, and this is just my guess, I wouldn't pay more than 375 but I am a Yorkshireman so draw your own conclusions!

It's in great condition but I think he's pricing it nearer an Ibanez musician than a Roadster. I can't pay 750 for it as much as I'd love to have a go on it.

This is gorgeous: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F293429139087

I wonder how close the current Bass Centre own brand could get with a bit of tweaking...