Huge Hands

I believe it does. I recently bought the Nux GP-1 from Amazon for about £10 because I was concerned about wasting more on the Vox if I didn't like it and reviews had said they'd used the Nux for bass. If you're into premium tone, then don't buy this, but if you mess around with the gain and tone controls, you can usually get a fairly distortion free sound. I have only tried it with an active bass so far, a passive may be better and less likely to over drive it. In summary, you get what you pay for. I would love a PJ Big Head, but I can't justify £200+ at the moment. For a tenner, this is more than fine for a quick practice without messing about.

I too respect Ashdown for taking the time to respond to customers on here, it just seems to me that the person doing it is taking the comments a bit to heart and replying in the heat of the moment as themselves, rather than Ashdown as a brand. I'm saying this after seeing a few recent replies - especially the B-Social thread, it wasn't just this one occasion. I would take the c word from a mate too, but not a company I expect customer service from (I realise Ashdown didn't call anyone a c word before you say anything!) However, I totally wouldn't want to see or be the cause of them stop posting to help their users. I can see I'm in the minority in thinking the tone of the replies was a bit off. I'll get off my soapbox.

Lets hope he washed his first

I think starting any reply to any concern, especially one that is as serious as suggesting you may have been liberal with your marketing facts by implying the customer is having "a bad day" smacks of not taking them seriously or treating them like they're stupid. Maybe I'm having a "bad day" when reading it, but to me it comes across as massively unprofessional and conjures up the image of a one man band operation, smoking waccy baccy and telling me to "chill out". Again, all IMHO of course. I'm sure 99% of bass players would find it cool.

Bigwan, you're a better man than me. As a service delivery manager in a related technology discipline, I'd have been extremely unhappy if one of my team took the mickey out of and patronised a customer with a genuine concern. But hey, it's banter, right? With this and the response I saw in the B-Social thread, I think that's the last I'll be buying from Ashdown (and I've owned my fair share/defended it enough in the past). All my opinion of course, if you like your companies to treat you like an idiot, then ignore me. *Cue some handbag memes, stinging patronisation and an attempt to cover it off as humour by talking about beer or coffee from Ashdown....

If you're a finger player, it might be worth thumbing the string downward instead of plucking upward to see if there is a difference in volume. I've had a couple of 5 string projects where the low string travels outside the pickup's range and sounds muted. If you thumb it downward, it stays within the range for the initial attack. I'm not saying to change your playing style, just do it to test the pickup

I find this comment interesting. I have an identical bass to the one in the ad, except I didn't change the tuners. I admit the they don't seem great, but it always amazes me how mine can spend over a week in a gig bag, and is still fully in tune when it comes out.

This has Spinal Tap written all over it. Surely one of Derek Smalls' collection?

Although I totally agree the firm appear to be out of order, and massive condolences to his family, I can't help but think of the amount of "xxxx courier are rubbish" threads or "how much to send an amp?" threads I've seen on here. Makes you think, doesn't it? It seems a pretty cut throat/thankless business, and we're much more of a instant/demanding society now....but am I willing to pay more/wait longer for my deliveries to ease pressure/pay to give staff better working conditions? Tricky one.... ...and before anyone shows me up- yes, I'm sure I have negatively particpated in some of those courier threads myself...

I'll second Rich's comments on the V7. I bought mine after a couple of pro mates of mine bought theirs and raved about them. I love mine, and actually like the headstock, which seems to be the main bone of contention about them on here.

Are we sure it is only 34" scale? Hard to tell in the videos. Sorry to sound like a stuck record, but it does look like it has been copied from, whoops I mean, has taken inspiration from the NS Design like mine, so would have thought it longer. *Cue someone telling me my NS Design is only 34" scale. Is it? EDIT: - The NS is 42" - I just checked. Phew!

I thought the design (apart from the bridge) looked very similar to my NS Design. I can make my NS sound like that if I mess around with gain/EQ etc (or should I say I can stop it sounding like that if if mess around). It seems more to me like someone trying to show how clever/trendy they are, rather than showing what the instrument can do, which, as evidenced by this thread, is a bit of the wrong thing to do if you want it to sell.....

Just my 10p worth... Before you get too hasty, in my experience it is rare to be in a group of 4+ people where someone doesn't wind you up, especially a band. I have played with many egotistical and fwit keyboard players and guitarists, but it has always been down to what they give to the band/music as to whether I'm willing to suffer it or not. In my experience, most really good keyboard players are egotistical fwits but they're really hard to come by and keep in the band because all the other bands want a really good keys player and so inflate their ego further by trying to steal them all the time. However, as BigRedX and others have wisely said, if you're at the point of slagging them off on a forum, then it may have gone too far. All FWIW, IMHO etc....

Whilst I wouldn't dare make a comment about his technical abilities, the guy playing the bass' shirt was sending my eyes all funny. Must....resist...the...urge....to....kill....

GRRRR!! I thought I was GAS free, but now...... Thanks a bunch!

That sounds like a standard initial stock answer from any manufacturer - send you to the "local" distributor to get it sorted. I presume Sire would then expect Thomann to offer you a replacement Sire part through the correct procedures/channels. Might be worth sending Sire the response you got from Thomann and say you're not happy with it - they should surely then get involved, if they have anything about them?

A lot do. I've played venues that have kit and guitar amps, but no bass amp, which can be infuriating when you are dragging a heavy amp in whilst the drummer waltzes in with a cymbal bag and pedal. I was unfortunate that the majority of the gigs I did were in London, but I live in Crawley, out in the sticks. Venues would often want you to play beyond the last tubes (hence the reduced crowd for the last set) and trying to plan around night buses or one train an hour was a nightmare, so would have to take the car. I had a few sweet spots to park across town, but I'm not giving away my secrets! This all ended around June last year when I had to quit my band due to surgery, so it's all probably a lot different now (I think they've finally got tubes running overnight?) Hopefully be back playing soon, so will have to relearn it all again!

This says it all to me. I had it in a previous band but for different reasons. The drummer could drive but was hopeless at navigation. He often got lost or misjudged when to leave so regularly turned up late for gigs and caused havoc with setups and sound checks. I took it on myself to always pick him up and make sure he got there on time, but after about 10 years of this it did start to get annoying that it was quite a way out of my route to pick him up and drop him off, and he was getting to kip on the way home while I was searching for matchsticks to keep my eyes open. However, I loved him like a brother so kept it to myself. It came to a head when the rest of the band got sick of his lax attitude and voted him out. I tried to help him understand why they were upset, but he lashed out at me and hasn't spoken to me since. Drummers, eh? (Sorry Dad!)

I use a small wheeled suitcase by IT luggage - I find the supermarkets often have deals on them. They fit my amp head, guitar stand and various mains extension/spare leads, and have some pockets outside and inside the lid. Their main selling point is that they're supposedly the lightest luggage available on the market, and as I was having back troubles at the time, I was trying to save weight/improve portability where I could. I'm on my second one after I broke the zip on the first trying to jam too much stuff in, but I'm really happy with mine. They also come in a range of funky colours, if you're that way inclined...

Wow, I know a lot of Chuck Rainey stuff, including the amazing Rocksteady as posted by the OP. I didn't know of this track though. Thank you Chris!

There are two private events gigs that stick in my mind: 1. As a teenager, I played drums in a soul "Commitments" type band. We played at a private event in a bar for doctors and nurses which I think was either on hospital grounds or just outside it, IIRC. We played our set, and no one seemed to care or want to dance, nothing. The minute we finished, the food was announced, and the queue went right past the band, so we thought we'd wait to pack up. We were thinking we'd bombed, and were about to start destructing everything when the DJ said "right, next it's bingo, but after that, do you want to hear the band again?" The crowd screamed yes, so we waited, and duly played the whole exact same set again, in the same order. They were all up dancing, and cheering between songs. The moral of this story? What a difference food and 5 more pints can make to a crowd.... 2. I joined a blues band as a bass player. They had just done a wedding with their previous bass player, booked by the father of the bride. That Christmas, the same booker got us to do the local council Christmas party, as he was the head of the council. As we started to play, I could see him grooving along at the back of the room, but everyone else, including lots of young staff, were staring at us as if to say "what the **** is this?" In the interval, I asked my new band colleagues if we should try and jam something Christmassy to get them in the spirit, but the reply was along the lines of "we're too cool to do that", and "if they don't like us, we'll still get paid". Well, we did get paid, but I have never been so embarrassed on a stage in my life!

That's the one, thank you!

I thought I remembered seeing a Stranglers clip on the UK TOTP wher JJ Burnel is jumping around wafting smoke away instead of playing and then Hugh Cornwell mimed the guitar solo in mid air below the guitar neck. If that's one of the already posted clips, I apologise, but I just skimmed through and couldn't see it. It made me howl with laughter when I first saw it. Then again, it could have just been some sort of perverted dream I had.... There is also the classic clip of Sting singing Roxanne and just swinging the bass, not playing it.

If only......