Maude

That's it, you win! Shut the site down, close the accounts, nothing more to see here, it can't be beaten. I'm taking up crochet instead.

One band is easy, Mod, Northern Soul and Ska. The other band I'm at a loss to describe. Double bass, mandolin, acoustic guitars, ukulele and cahon. Reworked covers in our own style. The tagline is "Hard to describe, harder to resist".

That's the one I got mine from, and so did several others at the time.

There was a thread on here about them a few years back. A seller in China/Japan was doing them at a good price. I put aged pearl blocks on my Variax about four years ago, used every week and I'm a really dig in sort of player with low action, they are just starting to wear away the edges but I quite like them that way as well. Around £8 delivered IIRC so no biggy to just replace every five years. If you play lighter maybe even longer.

Yep, I've got LaBella's on it now and I'm happy. Went with LaBella as they do a set specifically for Hofner basses with the tiny guitar style tuners, wasn't sure if other short scale strings would thread through. Also wasn't sure about length as although it's 30" I think I'd need medium scale, not short scale due to the tailpiece design. Easiest just to go for a set made for the bass. And LaBella's always sound awesome anyway Got them from US for £30 delivered instead of the closer to £50 they seem to be over here.

I was going to say about those plug in testers, much better to know you've go an earth connected in their socket than having a year old sticker on your amp. Yes your own gear should be in good nick, and let's face it, I'd bet it usually is, but if any problem were to arise then shouldn't the venue's circuit breakers trip before anyone got hurt anyway? I'll add that all our gear is PA tested as we have been asked before, weirdly not any major venues we've played.

My Yamaha Bex4 sounds wonderful whatever I plug it into. I've always liked the playability of Yamaha basses and loved the look of the Bex4, especially the tobacco burst one, so snapped one up when it appeared on here. It had the same soapbar as in my BBG5s in a P position and a underbridge piezo so I reckoned it would sound alright but I'm blown away everytime I use it. Our soundman thinks it's the nicest sounding bass he's heard. Less than £300 as well.

I know nothing about podcasts, never listened to one, but this one has caught my attention. I can see it being perfect for the drive home after a gig, a lot of us usually have a good hours drive post gig and it has been mentioned many times that a lot like to just have some kind of talk show on rather than music. The problem I would have with a separate thread for any sound clips is that I would have to then relisten to the podcast along with clicking links which seems very disjointed to me. The podcast would be missing something if soundclips were discussed without the actual clips being played. Personally I'd rather just a standalone talkshow if clips couldn't be done.

Obviously yes. A back up Precision.

I straight away thought of the Jimmy Somerville one, terrible busker though

My band think I'm a technophobe because I refuse to embrace new technology unless it makes MY life easier, if it makes life more difficult I don't need it. Yet this technophobe gigs a Variax bass through a Line6 X3 Live, DI'd straight to the X Air desk, no amp just a floor monitor. With digital multi effects I like that I can have several different settings of the same 'pedal', which is impossible to do with a real analogue pedal unless you buy more than one of each pedal. For instance, using a bit of dirt in the verse of a song, more of same dirt in the chorus and really kick it in to fill out a solo.

Thomann do (or did when I bought some a few years ago) a large range of very well priced bags and cases. Mostly sold as lighting cases IIRC.

Thanks for that link. I've already ordered some LaBella's and hopefully they'll be alright. In your link he says LaBella or Chromes are the best at the stiffer end of the scale. Everyone raves about Thomastiks but I just can't get on with the looseness of them.

When we recorded our album the engineer put about four different microphones near the bass in various positions and had a feed from the bridge piezo. He then used a mix of whatever sounded best. All I had to worry about was playing

I play with dynamics, then I see our soundman fiddling with the tablet(desk) in a quiet bit to bring me up to level. Yes we've had words

The one bass I covet. Absolutely lovely in every respect.

I will only wear a thin natural cotton t-shirt while gigging, anything thicker between the bass and my stomach affects the tone too much. Heavy knitwear will definitely result in a woolly tone, whilst synthetic fibres are good for slap.

After spending some time researching string choices for my Hofner Club it would appear that a lot of string manufacturer websites refer to scale length measured from nut to anchor point. The length I'd always called the scale length (nut to bridge) they refer to as the speaking length. Confusing.

Can't remember exactly, about £90 delivered I think.

Is it wrong that I don't actually know how many basses I have? They're stored in various hidey holes, living room, dining room, in cases in the workshop, in our rented rehearsal basement and a few in pieces "mid project".

There's two Horaces, one has a Ricky for sale. Therefore, an 'orace must have for sale.

Whatever the hiding place was you got the PA out of, just put your missus back in it. Job done!

Dan, who makes the Fdeck clones at the link supplied in a previous post will make one for you with or without the features you want. I had mine made without any frills, just the HPF control on the top and a 9v socket instead of a battery clip. I always use it and just roll off the bottom end as needed. It makes the whole band sound better as the sound in the room is cleaner without all those subharmonics rumbling around muddying things up. Your amp and speakers will thank you as well for taking the load off them. It takes a lot of power to produce the inaudible subharmonics of a doublebass, power that's wasted.

Evenin' all. I've just bought a Hofner Club bass and plan to put some flats on it. I normally use higher tension strings (you know what I mean, let's not start that conversation :)) on my other basses. So what 30" scale flats are on the higher end of the flats stiffness scale? The cheaper the better but happy to pay LaBella prices if they're what I need.

Cool! I need a set of flats for the Hofner Club I've just bought. Every little helps