Huge Hands

Totally with you, but in interests of transparency, the band on the original JLH recording supposedly was Jamerson and the Funk Brothers moonlighting from Motown. So you could almost say this is a soul record too.....

I'm not claiming to be an expert in any way but I just watched the video and was surprised at the amount of movement in that connector on the board when you pressed the cable. I'm wondering if there are dry joints underneath? It did seem to affect the audio at the other end too, so could be dry joints at both ends?

I work in pro service of electronic equipment and for B2B repairs, that is a normal (if not slightly cheap) charge for a standard first look at something that is not under warranty by a repair house. However, as @warwickhuntsaid, these charges are usually refundable if you go ahead with the repair. I totally get why they do it - after they give their report, 90% of the time people will say - it's not worth it, I'll buy a new one, so they end up working mainly for free if they don't charge up front. The company I work for got rid of their own in-house repair dept as it wasn't worth paying someone to spend all day trying to repair a DVD player that was only worth £30 new. BTW - I'm not having a go at the OP - just explaining why these companies charge. I hope you find a more reasonable tech.

I have never been involved in radio in my life, so am probably talking out my a**e, but I always assumed most radio stations have really limited playlists because it is easier for them when recording PRS/royalty dues if it is always one of a few songs rather than having to constantly look up obscure tracks. For me commercial stations like Magic, Heart, Kiss FM etc are all the worst as it can literally be a couple of hours before the same songs seem to come back around again.

I wish I had known about this when it was released. Although I love it, Lego is extortionate enough without paying someone on ebay 5 times the price for a secondhand one with bits missing.... Having said that, it isn't that realistic - it does seem to be missing all of the bird poo on it.....

Hi @Phil Mann I just wanted to say that for Christmas I decided to treat myself to a year's SBL subscription as my ear has always been good but my theoretical knowledge to back it up has been rubbish. I can read sheet music for the band I play in but I have tried to learn the theory behind triads, circle of 5ths, modes etc on several occasions over the years and it normally just fries my brain... I decided to go straight for your Functional Theory For Bassists Vol 1 course and although I will need keep reviewing to lock it all in I already feel that your way of teaching has helped me see it a lot easier, I now feel I will get there and am a lot less overwhelmed by it all. I'm also impressed watching a leftie play the correct way around 😁 Thank you - I will keep plugging at this and check out some of your other lessons as I go along. After looking at this thread, it looks like I also need to check out the interviews your YT channel!

Maybe not, but they do sell jeans.....

I'm originally from Birtley, the next town up from Chester-le-Street. My grandparents lived in Chester-le -Street, so often used to cycle between the two to visit. My great-grandfather (who died before I was born) had been a specialist in old geordie dialect/folklore and used to tour the north east in the 1930's - 1950s doing recitals. I believe he even did some local radio. Just before my grandparents died, we found some of his old notes in their house and none of us could understand much of it - amazing how it had all evolved over the centuries. I also remember whilst at University in the Midlands, I took my coursemate (who was a local Derby lad) up home as I was getting some welding done on my van by one of my Dad's mates. My dad's mate was from Seaham/Murton way. He was a bit of a character and hilarious and was cracking jokes all day and I was falling about laughing. As we left, I mentioned to my coursemate that I found it odd he didn't seem to find much of the welder's repertoire funny. He replied "I didn't understand a word of it" - my dad's mate had a heavy Sunderland accent. I translated all the way back to Derby and this time my mate was rolling around in the van like I had been!

In regards to setup, I found my NS Design NXT-5 was shipped to me with a really low action, much more like a bass guitar. I did keep it that way for a long time, until tried to learn to bow on it - the action was way too low for that and it was nigh on impossible to get the bow at an angle where I wasn't playing 2 strings at once. I raised it and found it easier, and also was much easier to do the rockabilly slap thing. However, I hardly play bow (I found out I have a skin allergy to roisin) nor do I play much rockabilly, so ended up going back towards the lower action. In summary, you will probably want to set it to suit your style of play once you get more into it. Enjoy experimenting!

I really wanted to get involved in this conversation as I was born and raised just 5 miles south of Newcastle and spent most of my weekends wandering the town but have just realised I haven't lived there permanently for around 28 years! I have plenty of nostalgia for the area and images of the Tyne bridge still stir huge patriotic and homesick vibes in me, but have no recent knowledge other than what my family briefly tell me. I used to go up there regularly but poor health has kept me away - I am hoping to take a trip up there around Easter as my parents are getting much more frail. Of course I would recommend it. I would just say to Blue that the Geordie accent can be very strong and sometimes sound like a completely foreign language if you're not used to it! If you get the chance, try Greggs' stottie cake (bread) while you are there. It is a revelation and not sure why Greggs never took it across the UK when they expanded.

Quite.... I don't think BigRedX and I would be listening buddies - I am a huge fan of Pino's Soulquarians stuff 😄

That sounds like a pretty eclectic mix to me - surely what you would want, rather than just one genre? My thoughts exactly. I must admit I didn't watch it this year (was in bed by 10pm!) and am no fan of Jools' Boogie Woogie obsession but if this goes, what decent, regular live music TV shows are left, especially on NYE if you don't like the one performer doing a full gig on the other channels? Ok yes, you could modernise the presenter(s) and staging, but ultimately you would still need a few "nerdy indie bands", a "soul chanteuse" or two and some world music? I would prefer to see the usual Later format of all independent bands and have no regular full house band but I can see it is a regular paying gig for Jools and his guys so can see why they do it.

I love Hammond organ but don't have the room or cash justification to buy one (especially as I can't really play one). I have fancied the organ one (YC?) since they were released a few years ago just to mess around and learn on but have never managed to pull the trigger. I would also like the Rhodes one....and now I have seen @Happy Jack's video, I would like the DX7 one..... When I was at college doing Music Tech in the 90's we did a whole term on FM synthesis and the DX7 as they had a couple. I don't remember anyone getting anything decent out of them and nothing like the sounds in that video!

I have only ever bought 2 basses in a shop in my life, and both were the worst basses I have had and the only ones I have ever moved on. Mainly due to my hatred of being in there and the pressure to play some slap or amazing jazz solo, I have folded at the first one the sales person has tried to foist on me (and probably the only one in my paltry budget at the time).

If you're not sure, I have two Squier "Precisions" which are P bodied but have J pickups, Indonesian made, from mid 2000s, I think. They are 19mm and have necks like cricket bats. I see them come up occasionally on eBay for around £100-£150 - might be worth a try if you don't want to blow a load of cash on something without trying. In my experience, a lot of lower end basses are not as wide as 19mm - my Sire V7 and Harley Benton MB-5 are more like 17.5/18mm ( I have never measured them). Just a thought.

I have been playing my MB-5 that I bought last December (last purchase before Brexit) a lot this month as it may be heavy to some, but it is a lot lighter than my main Sire V7 and my back has been giving me gyp. I love mine as a back up bass and it is still totally stock, apart from a set of cheap flatwounds. My only gripe (if you can call it that) is that it seems to have sustain for days and days which is not good for me so this has been solved with a bit of foam under the strings.. I also miss the single volume control of the V7 but I am really clutching at straws to moan about a bass that IIRC was about £110 delivered at the time.

Try them first without chopping any connections off - you may be pleasantly surprised!

Apologies if I am repeating what someone has already told you, bu the reason your DI box has made the volume drop is because your DI box effectively drops the the level input signal to mic level to allow long runs over XLR (the same as pressing a line pad button on a mixer input). Are you using balanced (stereo) 1/4" jacks from the interface, or unbalanced (mono). The interface having TSR on it could be the same as TRS (tip ring sleeve) which would suggest to me they support balanced jacks. If you are using balanced and are happy to mess around with your cables you could try wiring it back up as interface straight to speakers, then chopping off the ground connection at the XLR end (tape it up so it doesn't catch anything). This should prove/rule out any ground loop theory. Obviously this won't work if you are using unbalanced jacks. Happy to PM if you want any more info.

I'm no expert, but my assumption was that if Joel is gigging 2-3 times a week and fully booked for 2023 (as well as quoting prices in USD), he is more likely to be based in the US and touring there. Anyway, welcome Joel - I remember someone espousing about the virtues of the aluminium driver Hartke combos back in the early 2000's. I got to try one myself and did not like it as I like a more mellow sound and this seemed much more harsh and bright. It seemed to be a one trick pony - I couldn't get a comfortable sound that I like with the one I tried. I then saw one of my heroes Jack Bruce on something like Jools Holland's show in front of a big Hartke rig and I thought it sounded awful - a cranked up version of what I had experienced. Again, not knocking Hartke for others, just agreeing with you and they are not for me. As others have said - I get a personal sense of dread if I walk into a rehearsal room and see one sitting there....

I think I have told this story on here before but around 2004ish I used to play in a blues band (mainly covers of obscure blues music). The last gig they played before I joined was a wedding - a fan of the band's daughter had got married. It turned out he was the head of one of the London district councils, and booked us for his council office Christmas party. I piped up and asked the guys in the band if we "...should a least not throw some bluesy versions of some Christmas songs in there?" The answer was a flat "no" - it would tarnish the band's image blah blah. That was one of the most cringeworthy gigs of my life. Watching the bloke who booked us grooving away at the back of the hall while a load of young office staff just sat and stared at us with the look of "what the f**k is this s**t?" I certainly grabbed the money and ran that night....

I remember looking at the 5 string versions online around the same time and even the website shots looked pretty poor in terms of dodgy finish and weird gaps. I was about to pull the trigger on one too but then backed out. Glad I did by the sounds of things!

As a teenager in the early 90s, my Dad had just bought a CD player for the first time and his cousin, who was doing some building work at our house, decided to buy all the Beatles albums on CD. As he didn't have a CD player himself, he left the discs with us until he got one. This left me with all the albums (including singles compilations) to play to death whilst I was at home on my own. This left me with a great appreciation and love of their music, even though I wouldn't say theirs is my main taste. I found the recent Get Back releases fascinating to watch and devoured all 6 hours with glee! As I have said before, after starting as a drummer, watching Paul play the beginning of "I am the Walrus" in the Magical Mystery Tour film made me realise the bass player was much cooler than the drummer and got me to switch!

I have seen a few people say this over the years but I always found the stand on my NXT to be quite sturdy and often used to pivot it on one tripod leg while playing. Not as free as a endpin on a DB, but enough to have fun with - then much easier and quicker when you want to put it down and pick up your bass guitar!

I have had a NXT5 for about 7 years. I am not sure the difference between this and a WAV but mine looks a fairly similar setup (albeit mine is all black) to the one in the sponge guy's video. I have said this a few times, but with mine, it doesn't always sound that double bassy to me when standing next to it and playing, but when I have heard recordings of me playing it as heard from the audience, it does. I love mine but get @Happy Jack's point about the look. I used to play in a 50's blues band with mine and would get purists scoffing...but also a lot of punters being all "what the hell is that" in a nice curious way, and would be good to see the looks on their faces when it sounded good..

I think my taste in music is quite inclusive and popular. I think it may be me who is a bit isolating in the way that I tend to obsess over favourite tracks and play them repeatedly. Mrs HH refuses to listen to my playlist for this reason (that and the fact that I sing way too loudly and badly along to them!)