Musky

[quote name='observer' post='359440' date='Dec 20 2008, 10:58 AM']Hi. I've bought recently the ash abm 115-500 cab, and I've been searching for some more information about it. On german ebay I found this 115-500: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASHDOWN-ABM-115-500-1X15-BASS-CAB-UK-MADE-VINTAGE-RARE_W0QQitemZ330295585407QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAmps?hash=item330295585407&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASHDOWN-ABM-115-500-...A1%7C240%3A1318[/url] It looks a bit diffrent than mine, as mine had cloth grill cover, rectangular handles and is front ported. Anyway, My questions are: 1. Do you know any reason to call 10 years old cabinet (about) "vintage"? 2. Is this cab really worth £350? Cheers Kris[/quote] 1. Some people seem to get suckered into ads using the words 'vintage' or 'rare' (and that cab is only about 4 years old). 2. No.

Smaller combos/cabs are never are never going to give you really deep bass but are usually fine for practice, and are often useful portable and compact enough not to take up too much room at home. The Studio 110 and the Roland Cubes (both the 30w and 100w versions) have had the nod from users on hear for practice duties. But if you want to look at secondhand gear you could go the whole hog at get something you could gig with. Good deals can be had on both Warwick and Ashdown stuff within your budget.

[quote name='nick' post='358705' date='Dec 19 2008, 12:06 PM']And another one! Pricing a bit optimistic me thinks [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/hondo-II-late-70s-bass-guitar-japan-lawsuit-case_W0QQitemZ280295776892QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item280295776892&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1298%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/hondo-II-late-70s-ba...A1%7C240%3A1318[/url][/quote] I thought the starting price was optimistic, and then I saw the BIN! Mind you, that other Hondo is up to £310 with over 3 days to go. Quite ridiculous when you consider how much more accurate fakers have been going for recently. 'Semi set neck' - does that mean he can't get the neck bolts out?

[quote name='OldGit' post='358620' date='Dec 19 2008, 10:39 AM']All you have to do to switch the power from the promotor to the band is pull 200 punters every time you play. Then you call the shots and they ask you nicely when you'd like to come back and do it again.[/quote] Precisely. But again, that is not the issue. If you can pull 200 punters it's unlikely you'd want to touch a P2P promoter - they do nothing to promote or put on a good night! There are enough promoters that manage to put on coherent bills of unknown bands that can still run a viable business (Bugbear at the Dublin Castle springs to mind). They even pull in punters for their nights regardless of the bill because they have some quality control. P2P doesn't - they just need to fill their slots - 6 of them in the case of Club Mgriff! There will always be bands that can't/can't be bothered to pull any punters, just like there will always be plumbers who can't do their job properly. But you wouldn't deliberately hire a crap plumber and then charge [i]him[/i] upfront in case he does a bad job!

[quote name='OldGit' post='358453' date='Dec 19 2008, 12:23 AM']Being forced to use someone elses back line seems extreme but [b]in general Pay to Play is perfectly fair [/b].. All you have to do is be good enough, and on the promotion case enough, to draw a crowd .. That's usually all the promoter wants you to do.. This guy sounds a tad different, but in general pre-sales etc is all about getting the lazy bands to do their bit to bring in enough people to make the evening financially viable for all. Nowt wrong with that. No one owes you a gig...[/quote] Sorry, but that's just tosh. 'Promoters' of these events (and they don't really deserve the title promoter) pass all risk involved in putting on a gig over to the bands. Their costs are more than covered by the bands before a note is played, so they don't actually have to do a thing to promote the gig. So they don't (and no, updating a myspace page isn't promotion). I wouldn't expect you to have heard of Club Mgrif in Cardiff, but nobody except the bands that play there have heard of it in London either - he's been operating for long enough at plenty of venues so you might expect some kind of profile. But he doesn't have to lift a finger because even if the place is completely empty the bands will be earning him a tidy profit. P2P promoters don't even have to bother putting on a matched bill. Of course a band will always do better if they can pull in friends/family/fans, but that is not the issue. The issue is that all risk is pushed onto the band giving the promoter no incentive whatsoever to put on a good night. When you say that these gigs are 'financially viable for all' the truth is that it's just financially viable for the promoter - the bands too often end up out of pocket (on top of usual band costs). If the promoter believes a band can't pull anyone down, what the hell is he doing putting them on in the first place? Plenty of other promoters manage to put on well matched gigs without charging them a bean - if the band doesn't pull any punters they don't get rebooked. A P2P promoter on the other hand will happily continue putting on these bands safe in the knowledge that he's lining his pockets regardless. So what we get are depressing gigs of bands that need have little in common with each other, hence no reason for punters to hang about to watch other bands. 20 years ago these types of promoters had a strangle hold on London venues - we don't want them back. It's bad for bands, it's bad for the live music scene.

What's your budget, and are you looking for something just to practice with or something you could gig with in the future? What sort of music are you looking to play? Edit: beat me to it Merton!

The deal from ISA doesn't seem that great - they charge about the same as Tunecore and CDBaby but take more in royalties. It's always worth looking into the details though, as you can get hit with annual charges with some distributors. I read recently that ReverbNation have started what on the face of it is an extremely competitive distribution service. Ultimately the one you choose depends on how much you expect to sell and how long you want it up there. CDBaby could be a good choice for you as you've got a physical CD.

FWIW I think the neck is probably genuine albeit butchered - the binding seems to have gone AWOL, probably at the same time as the defret. I don't remember any copies with a bullet truss rod, though Jon would be the person to talk to about that. The body though could be anything. It doesn't seem to have holes for a bridge cover (which on the face of it rules out the 70's Fenders), but it could easily be a later Fender body. There's just no way of knowing on the basis of those photos.

[quote name='YouMa' post='355570' date='Dec 16 2008, 02:22 AM']It dependzz but i think it wont be to long befor macs are obsolete.Bill won just admit it.Even if vista is sh*t.[/quote] Clearly wrong - OSX market share has been rising for years. FWIW I'd be tempted by a Windows machine - the new MacBooks are horrendously priced IMO, though the white ones are still available at a decent price. And that's from a confirmed Mac user.

[quote name='bremen' post='356704' date='Dec 17 2008, 10:14 AM']Oh dear. Here we go again. Who's going to tell him? Did Fender ever make necks with the truss rod adjuster at the headstock end?[/quote] Oh yes - the bullet truss rod adjuster, as seen in that auction. The decals are right for a lefty Fender, but the nut doesn't look right - it looks too big and there should be a bit of rosewood visible above the nut. It's possible that someone has done as bad a job on replacing the nut as they have done defretting the thing. The body looks too clean for a bass of that age, especially given the condition of the neck (we have to take his word on the flaking, as he hasn't included a picture). The control knobs are wrong and the top strap button appears to be in the wrong place. It could be a genuine but butchered hybrid, but I'm inclined to think that at least the body isn't Fender.

We've been here before... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Relic_W0QQitemZ130275939848"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Precision-Rel...emZ130275939848[/url] God loves a tryer.

[quote name='Rich' post='355935' date='Dec 16 2008, 01:40 PM']+ the 1. Here endeth the story, in a happy way. [size=1]Musky, I LOVE your avatar :lol:[/size][/quote] Cheers Rich - it's about that time of year when christmas spirit is at it's lowest ebb.

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='356096' date='Dec 16 2008, 04:00 PM']It is Club McGriff, but it wasn't done on the pretext of pay-to-play. The singer is dealing with it - should be okay.[/quote] Yeah, when I suggested he might be getting 'confused' I was giving Mr. Griffiths the benefit of doubt. He doesn't do stuff on the pretext of pay to play, just on the pretext of 'encouraging' bands to bring down a minimum of 20 people.* Or maybe he doesn't do stuff like that any more and just made an innocent mistake. *Yes, that's another euthemism.

Dry Bar? This isn't Club Mgriff is it? The guy is known for pay to play so maybe he's confusing you hiring the venue with his dubious practice of demanding money up front. I'd tell the guy to do one, whoever it is.

[quote name='Rich' post='355890' date='Dec 16 2008, 01:06 PM']'Allbang & Strummit', anyone Eee, them were the days... bunk off college, £4.80 return from Reading to Paddington, and then a whole day spent drooling over [i]stuff[/i]. And there was Tempo Soundhouse in Hanwell, I don't think it's still there... back in the mid/late 80s it was run by a lovely fella called Laurie Keys... he sold me my old Laney Pro-bass combo (21st b/day prez from mum & dad, love 'em) and my fretless Jaydee. Fast forward about 10 years, I had a CD-launch gig in West London and my faithful JD let me down at the last minute... galloped over to Tempo and Laurie was still in charge, bless him he remembered me and lent me a fretless Status for the night. Top banana.[/quote] I remember Allbang & Strummit in Earlham St - I've still got a Morley Delay/Volume pedal I bought for £15 from there.

Lovely bass Reuel - glad to see it's finally arrived safely.

[quote name='Earbrass' post='355726' date='Dec 16 2008, 10:36 AM']Of course, when I was a lad it was all just fields. But try telling that to the young people of today....[/quote] Blimey - how old did you say you are? [attachment=17304:Strypes_1720_map.jpg]

I've never had to ship anything to Italy, but precise costs will depend on exactly where you're shipping from and to as well as the size and weight weight of the items. Resellers of the larger couriers (UPS, DHL, etc) will usually work out much cheaper than going direct through them - I know waynepunkdude got a very good price on shipping a cab within the UK recently, so maybe it's worth asking him who he used. Then it's just a case of going to their website and filling in some details to get a quote. There's likely to be some pointers for good services in the Couriers sticky in this forum.

Just to correct something here - active pickups are often quieter than the passive variety. Because they use electronics to boost the output level of the signal they can get away with using fewer winds on the pickup, and hence a lower impedance output. A lower impedance pickup is less likely to pickup noise and can have more treble content. Proof of the pudding is, as always, in your ears. It has to be said that most people use passive pickups, but it's mostly down to taste.

Hmmm... I think badges and stickers are OK to give away, but aren't calendars relatively pricey to produce? I'd tend to target them at previous clients/promoters or others likely to be of direct benefit to you. Though I suppose it depends on how flush you are.

Love Cats by The Cure?

I'm not too surprised to be honest - Westbury might not be brand on the tip of every players tongue but they were made by Matsumoku. The Track 2 basses don't come up too often and this one was in pretty good condition (missing saddle excepted). Algis Kizys out of Swans used to play one of these incidentally.

Looks good to me - though not for a Stingray. It's an old Musicman Sabre. Edit: Mind you, I'm wondering how genuine the sale is - the picture looks as if it's in a guitar shop and has been lifted from the web.

Wow - I remember those ads, and I'm suddenly feeling very old. 1980-ish? I paid £250 for my Precision at the beginning of '81 (and another £50 for the case). I've still got a bunch of music mags dating back to '75 stashed away. As for the bass that Alan Jones is holding, it looks like a one of the PE series guitars Aria did but I've never seen a bass version. How strange.

Congrats on the new combo! Yep, any 8 ohm cab will do. You can in fact get away with a lower powered one if you wanted - with the extra cab the MAG will be knocking out about 150w into the internal speakers and 150w into the extension cab.