Sean

I like it. Looks like the opinion is yin yang I've always liked that design and I wouldn't give a stuff about the Wooten association either; I have a Lakland DJ that is like Adam Clayton's and he's not bothered in the least.

You'd have thought that after using Marshall VBA400 amps that he would have chosen an Ashdown Small Block 427. I had an ABM for a while but couldn't get on with it.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='990267' date='Oct 16 2010, 02:52 PM']FTR I am a bloke and I am straight, I just got the hunky homos avatar recently to balance out all the airhead bimbo avatars.[/quote] FTR my avatar ladies are neither bimbos nor airheads! Thank you very much! ;-)

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='988105' date='Oct 14 2010, 02:58 PM']both discontinued now, to be replaced by ME25b and ME70b, which are pretty tough to come by as of yet. The 20 was a fun, easy to use unit and the 50 was a real giggers delight as simple as having seperate pedals, and you can get them cheap enough now second hand. The 25's seem to be laid out with presets in mind, tidier sounds and Usb out to record to computer etc, and the 70 has improved sounds and a few more effects. Great idea, especially if you're in a genre spanning covers band.[/quote] I've had/have both. I'd agree with Andy, the 20 is a great little unit if you don't demand long effects chains and use a strightforward collection of sounds. The sound quality is pretty good and it is very small; you don't really a good idea of the scale of it from the website but it surprised me when I saw it in the flesh. I bought my 20 from a basschatter - I intended to use it at small rehearsals and for taking to our drummer's house so I could emulate the sounds I use for the function band set without carting my full board around. I had the 50 a few years ago and I think the reason I ditched it was because it didn't have the bank switching capability without an outboard extra pedal and also because it didn't have some effects combinations. I can't quite remember. I'm selling my ME20b now. It's boxed and you can have it for £80 + P&P if you are interested.

Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now album - it's a collection of twelve great songs that have been assembled to chart twelve stages of a relationship from meeting and falling in love through to breaking up and getting over the break up and realising there is life afterwards. It's a masterpiece that everyone I have introduced to it has fallen in love with. Crack open a bottle of red, put it on jump in, it's a very moving and soulful work with big lush productions. I also like anything by Tom McRae and REM's New Adventures in Hi-Fi for those more contemplative moments.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='986611' date='Oct 13 2010, 09:05 AM']Sounds good to me. I think maybe the best way to do this is with a multitracker and some parametric EQ twiddling on a mix - I'll see what I can knock up...[/quote] Would it be possible to include some EQ advice for rigs relating to room acoustics too?

I have a BB that you can see here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=81828&hl=Yamaha+bb"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=Yamaha+bb[/url] and I have another two that you can find under the review forum. Great instruments and there's always room for another. I fancy a BB3000MA - great basses and they look so wrong with those totally stupid inlays.

Just like there are no people who regret learning theory or reading, I've never heard anyone regretting learning good technique. I'm a better musician as a result of my reasonably decent technique as I rarely have difficulty playing anything I need to. I see bassists around that play with that three finger (no pinky) approach and many of them seem to have to work harder to play the notes whereas someone with good technique will appear to be more economical and someone with great technique can make it look effortless. Bad technique generally makes doing anything harder and less accurate. Unfortunately having good technique means that you turn into a complete twat that no one wants to know or play with - it's a trade off but one that many of us take Last week I was watching bassist Josh Stopford of Yes Sir Boss, he seems like a very friendly chap who can groove with the best of them. He has great technique, very economical and an obvious thorough knowledge of the fretboard and it was as much a pleasure to watch and learn as it was to listen to. If anyone's interested, they're playing Motion in Bristol on Nov 5.

[quote name='4StringFortress' post='983324' date='Oct 10 2010, 01:36 PM']Yeh I own a BB414 (notice in my sig) Brand new they cost around £250-£300 but they are discontinued so you can only pick them up second hand. I bought mine from here for £140 which is a absolute steal! They are amazing basses pick ups are very hot build quality and finish you would expect from a top end bass. They will go forever and never fail on you, if you can find one on here or ebay I would highly recommend grabbing it. Its the kind of bass that you will never get rid of simply coz it will stand up to any future basses you buy. I would say best way to start learning get some lessons only as many as you need just to get the basics, then you can decide weather to carry on or start to teach yourself.[/quote] What he said! There a review of a Yamaha BB415 in the reviews section of this forum and other than the B-string stuff all the comments apply to the BB414s I've played too.

I use lots of different strings but lately have been using Ernie Ball Coated Slinkies. I tried a set of Legacy strings from stringsdirect and they are pretty good for £7.99 delivered. There was a Rotosound QA ticket in the box so I guess that's where they are made. Couldn't argue for the money. Try a set and see.

[quote name='JTUK' post='983230' date='Oct 10 2010, 12:06 PM']You need to be very careful unwinding and winding on as this can prolong the amount of times you can do this more than the cleansing.[/quote] Could you please elaborate?

So once you've "methylated" your strings, do they have the same lifespan as before and how long before they need doing again? How many times can they be done?

If anyone who is going has a Boogie 400+ I'd really appreciate it if they brought it along and let me put it through my Berg cabs. I've had gas for one for years and I need to be convinced either way, finally, once and for ever whether I want one. And if anyone's got a VBA400 it would be cool if that could be there too. Maybe a monster valve amp off on the day?

Pearl Jam!

I'm going! I'll be bringing: 1 x Yamaha BB2024x 1 x Yamaha BB2025x 1 x Spector NS5-XL 1 x Mesa Walkabout Scout 12" combo 1 x Mesa Carbine M6 2 x Bergantino AE210 Assorted FX Looking forward to catching up with those of you I've met before and saying hi to those I haven't met yet. See you all soon. Sean

Cheers for the heads up on that. What about those Muse sounds? Is it capable of doing a soundalike?

Looking around at multi-fx units and not really seeing anything I like, the Octavius Squeezer looks like a great Swiss Army knife for my needs. I use filters, octaves, fuzz, always love synth sounds and have recently been asked to do some muse songs; Starlight, Uprising and another I can't remember the name of at the moment. Anyone know who stocks them? - Google hasn't turned up anything. Anyone using one to do Muse stuff? Thanks Sean

Yam for me. I'm yet to play better than a BB.

There's a BB424 for sale [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=98388&hl=yamaha"]HERE[/url] at a very good price from one of our own forum members. The 424 necks will be much more resonant than the 414 ones and that thru-stringing will make a big difference on the 5-string versions.