Roger2611

Best buy for me this year has to be my Bass Collection SB802 I have waited 30 years to find another one after foolishly parting with my first one, and despite a lot of electrical issues and ending up replacing the pre-amp I am really pleased with it. Worst buy, undoubtedly an off white P bass body sold as solid wood and a in nice condition, turns out it is solid Balsa wood and whilst it resembles a Precision bass in shape nothing from a Precision fits it, not even one of the 15 odd pick guards I have lying about fits it, it has been resigned to the corner of the studio awaiting next year's bonfire night.

I am still a fan of Elites on my P basses. On another thread recently I mentioned I had recorded the bass line for our latest song twice, once on a P with Fender flats and again with a P with fairly fresh Elites, I wasn't sure whether I liked the sound of the flats so decided to let the band decide which version they preferred so, with two identical mixes just one with the flats bass and one with the rounds....the band unanimously went for the version with the roundwound string bass recording.....so we now have a definitive answer!.....OK maybe not totally definitive but definitive enough for me

Bye eck, some people don't half try it on!

I had a Blackstar HT20 set up some years back, I have to admit I was totally uninspired by it, in the end I brought a Fender Superchamp XD which I still have and record with, I guess it depends on whether you are a Marshall fan or a Fender fan the Blackstar is definitely more Marshall than Fender.

A mic clip is pretty small, I always have one in my leads case (knowing full well that if our vocalist broke theirs they would not have a spare with them

It's all about marketing isn't it! I have a (now much upgraded) Squier Mike Dirnt Precision, which is probably absolutely nothing like Mike Dirnt's actual basses, is it a decent bass...definitely, is it even close to the actual bass he plays....err no! We supported Midge Ure a few years back and he went on stage with a totally stock, out of the box, Vintage V100MU signature guitar, so I guess in his case his signature guitar is the one he plays and we can buy one for under 400 squids and never sound anything like Midge does

It is an unusual bass, I haven't seen a bolt on neck with the scroll top before, I have the through neck version which is in somewhat better condition that the one on Ebay, it's a cracking little violin type bass but being hollow bodied, howls like a b'stard if the mood takes it!

I saw Bootleg Blondie last week with Clem Burke on drums, excellent gig and following that I have just put a set of Fender flats on a Precision and have recorded our latest track with them, not 100% certain yet I like what I am hearing as I usually record with as new a set of strings as possible so it has given me a different sound, I will see how it pulls together in the final mix.

Synth Restore. 1st floor, 57 Harpur Street, Bedford. MK40 2SR. United Kingdom Email: [email protected] I used this guy for a full overhaul and service of my JX3P I really cannot recommend him highly enough, he clearly knows all there is to know about these old synths and he has a genuine passion for them, I was considering buying a PGM200 programmer for it, he showed me how to go in and edit and create the sounds without the need for the programmer. This guy was excellent and I wouldn't hesitate to use him again Rog

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-TANK-BASS-Rare-Unique-One-Off/143415900949?hash=item216440fb15:g:GFAAAOSw5r9dqtQZ I am struggling to think of a single occasion where I would think, "I wish I had that bass to hand now!"

I should have played piano, my mum was a recorded concert pianist and tried desperately to get me to take it up as a child...of course a 5 year old me knew far better and resisted all attempts to teach me, I was forced to learn the basics but nearly 50 years down the line I play and record all the keyboards for our band and I really wish I could play like my lad can (my mum taught him from the age of 3) I still love playing bass but with such an accomplished and free teacher on hand I could and should have achieved so much more......please promise you won't tell my mum I would never hear the last of it!

I love the way they have cleverly managed to hide the puppet strings

Close mic'ing to a decent cab should negate acoustic issues in all but the worst rooms and mixed nicely with a DI signal should give perfectly adequate results for what is going to be a "bedroom" studio recording, I would tend to agree with "Jus Lurkin" it sounds like the issues are more likely to be either too low a signal at the recording stage or something in the mix? I use an MD421 mic 3 inches (or 1 inch from the grill) off the centre of the cone of my Markbass 112 cab in an untreated room and a DI signal from my Ampeg B1 which has been giving fantastic results. Mixing wise I will often duplicate the DI track and add just a little distortion to the track and sort of hide it behind the clean track on the same pan setting, a mix of the 3 tracks is what I use in the mix.....probably not the right way to do it but it gets me the sound I want

Not tried the latest Fantom but our guitarist has an earlier version which is a massively capable bit of kit, probably far more capable then he is at getting the most out of it, despite it's undoubted abilities we still use Reaper as a recording DAW as it just has far better visibility and sounds wise my System 8 supplies all of the keyboard parts.....is the new Fantom worth £3000? Possibly, but at that price it will always be appealing to a limited market.

They are also pretty good for setting your mates bedroom on fire! I had one and sold it to a mate when I brough a Carlsboro Cobra 90 bass amp, he had it for about 3 weeks, apparently he left it on, went downstairs to grab a drink and by the time he got back it was burning away nicely!

I have just had a look through the first 7 pages of his online store, yeah, there is certainly more desirable items on sale but everything looks way overpriced to me

I thought it sounded like the 1980's Galaxian arcade game?

Shelling out £2200 on a Gibson 335 custom shop, then discovering I just could not get on with the sticky feeling nitro neck, gigged it twice then traded it for a brand new US Strat which turned out not to be as nice as my bitsa Strat so sold on again for a further loss, I reckon that in the end I managed to end up trading the 335 for a sherbet dip!

I, like many probably read the original post and thought, "living the dream" I guess it is what most of us could only dream of achieving, I can understand getting down about the constant repetitiveness of loading, travelling, setting up etc. But would you swap it for a target based sales role or fixing ex hire cars and arguing with those that damaged it why they should pay to repair it......I thought not! I was chatting with Gary Numan's bassist the other year and he was telling me how physically punishing it was to actually tour and how hard it was to come home from a tour and pretend to be normal for a while! I said "Tim, you own a music shop, you sell that dream to every little, and not so little kid that walks through the door and buys a bass or a guitar, to them you are living the dream that they so want" his reply was "yeah, i get what you are saying" I can't really advise as to how to change things for the better when what you describe as your day to day existence would still be what I would call my dream job but then again, never having had that dream job I probably have no comprehension of the realities of actually living that dream!

I have a reverse situation as well, a couple of years back we supported a former chart topping band from the 80's at The Soundhouse in Leicester, a venue apparently well known for being a pain to get a good sound in, a mate of mine had said "make sure you let the in house sound guy do your sound" we duly did and given the reaction from the crowd it was a good thing, the main band used their own sound guy who appeared to ignore any advice given by the venue's sound man, the result was that they were possibly the worst sounding headline band I have ever heard! A win for us as a support act!

We do Seperate Ways as a cover, relatively simple bassline but suits the song extremely well!

I guess it depends on who the remaining member is, in the case of Francis Rossi, he was a key member of the band and was instantly recognisable on all of their songs, much like Mark Burgess from The Chameleons, however, Marky Ramone still tours as the Ramones despite not being an original member and hardly a vital part of that Ramones sound, I think they had at least 4 drummers during their lifespan which does support the statement that the original drummer wasn't the key to the Ramones sound

To be fair I have brought half of the gear I own from his shop, he is am amp tech to some very big names in the music business, he is totally trustworthy but he seems to be standing his ground on this being an unaltered bass despite evidence to the contrary