EliasMooseblaster

I love the title...and unfortunately that's about it. With the exception of one or two songs, I just can't get on with that era of Hawkwind (the era I always refer to as "Calvert-era" as he was doing most of the lead vocals; basically everything from ASAM through PXR5). For me - sorry Kev, but it's the "endless space synth workouts" that really make Hawkwind for me. I personally think Warrior was their last consistently good album, but then to each his own, eh?

Given that a T-bird is traditionally a neck-through design, and assuming you'd use something like maple for the neck, you'd probably have enough mahogany there to make the "wings" for a couple of Thunderbirds! I've got three basses now with mahogany bodies. It's a lovely wood - if a bit on the heavy side - and a delight to work with (one of the three was a 'Frankenbass' assembled from eBay spare parts). Whatever you do, make sure you turn it into something beautiful!

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1367424234' post='2065509'] ^ This! I look like a right miserable fecker on stage.... To the point I've taken to wearing a hat so it's harder to see my facial expressions [/quote] I don't know, I'd like to think it's possible to look vaguely cool while looking miserable. Keep telling yourself you're simply looking "nonchalant..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjMdpetGMLw (Though I have definitely looked "bored" onstage with some other bands in the past!)

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1367396276' post='2064978'] [size=4]... from what I have seen online alot of people seem to think the MIM Fenders are poorly made I dont know if this is true? [/size]... [/quote] I only recently put a MIM and MIA P-bass up against each other. Both new, both rosewood fingerboards and both the same year (I think). The MIA played and sounded noticeably better. (If I'd had the money to spare, I would have bought it that afternoon, I was so enamoured with it.) But this is not to say the MIM was a bad bass, by any means; I certainly wouldn't rule one out. I really like the look of that MTD but I can't comment on how it might sound or play. Unless there's any way you can try one out, and maybe try out a MIM Fender, I guess there's no way to find out without ordering one. It does look good though, doesn't it?

I really enjoyed that! Had a listen on the Soundcloud link yesterday. The cover of Private Universe is a superb arrangement, and her own songs are really nice as well. Great stuff.

I can see that helping a bit - certainly it's quite tiring fighting against that much tension. The thing I've been finding tricky is fretting the two strings together, though - not so much on the D and G, but on the E and A, where the octave strings seem to get buried under the low ones. Or is that just one of those things I'll get used to with more practice?

Yeah, we had a bit of a jam and then tried a couple of songs. I did find I was having to play much more conservatively, though, as those doubled octaves fill up a lot more space (unsurprisingly!) I did have to switch back to my 4 in the end.

I've moved, quite unexpectedly, into entirely new territory as of yesterday. I happened to be walking past a bass shop (licking the window as I went, of course), when my partner pointed out an 8-string bass in the window. A quick tryout and a bit of haggling, and suddenly I was the owner of a Hagstrom HB-8. I'd only gone out to buy a new pair of jeans... Still, I took it along to a rehearsal last night and had a play around. It's certainly good fun, even if the sound takes some getting used to! What I've been finding challenging is, unsurprisingly, simultaneously fretting a .100" E-string along with a .050" E-string. Does anyone have any useful advice on using one of these beautiful buggers?

I'd go with random slap & pop licks - perhaps I just particularly notice it as it's not a style I've ever liked, but it does seem to be the first thing people do when they feel the need to demonstrate how good they are to the shop assistant! (Next time, I might just begin with Boris The Spider and see whether the Mark King wannabe across the room can keep a straight face)

Just thought I'd make sure we've all seen this version... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAQ95Vln4I4

Those Epiphones really aren't popular, are they? I feel like I should just stick up for them before I go on to name and shame my worst experiences: my main bass right now is an Epi EB-3. That neck mudbucker's become of a feature of the band's sound - of the 11 tracks on our upcoming album, I think I used it on 7 of them. I can appreciate that they're an acquired taste, though - I bought mine expressly for "that" sound, and bought a thicker strap to deal with the neck dive. Worst bass I've played? I once borrowed a little active short-scale - I think it was a Cort - at a jam night. It didn't help that the house amp was also dire, but this thing just felt like somebody had put strings on a Guitar Hero controller. I have also wrestled with an Encore P-bass in the past. Again, not mine: the guy whose gig I'd been called in for let me borrow his bass. The setup was ok, but I think it suffered from a combination of some really cheap (and possibly really old) strings and that budget pickup. It just feels a bit unfair to kick these, when I know they're cheap, entry-level basses. A decent pickup might have made that into a passable instrument.

I think the situation is a bit different in London: most people don't have a car - or daren't drive it through the centre - so a lot of rehearsal rooms have realised they have to provide amps of at least passable quality. So I've played through some decent Trace Eliot combos in some rooms, and had to put up with some hideous Line6 amps in others. Bringing a 115 combo on public transport is something I'll grin and bear for a gig, but for a weekly (or even twice weekly) rehearsal, I'd rather spare my back. We've been quite fortunate, however. Since our drummer started teaching in his own rehearsal room, we've been able to park our own amps in there. So nowadays I can play through my Laney at rehearsals and be content in the knowledge that if it sounds awful, that's probably the fault of the idiot holding the bass!

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1366476668' post='2053092'] Uber-pretentious philosophical objections to the title and lyrical content aside, it's surprisingly good. My main problem with it though is that the modern production sounds very odd with the music, it [b]kinda sounds like a modern band covering a Masters of Reality era Sabbath song[/b].I'm now a lot more excited for the album though, Brad Wilk seems to have slotted in very well (assuming it's him on this track). [/quote] Now you mention it, I can see the similarity with this little epic: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9wF2DDyz2g[/media] This new Sabbath song is a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I'm in two minds about the more modern production: on one hand, it's nice to hear Geezer's bass more clearly...on the other hand, it just makes it more obvious that Ozzy can't really sing, bless 'im.

Actually, this is a serious question my band needs to find an answer to at the moment. The problem is that we can bash out the songs perfectly well, but our singer and guitarist seem to be lacking in that hard-to-define quality which we call stage presence. This is a problem for a lot of bands, but it certainly needs addressing when the rhythm section seems to present more character than the "front" of the band. And I'm very much in the John Entwistle school of standing still and letting the fingers do the talking. Thing is, if either of them comes out of their shell a bit more then the other will follow - it's just getting them into character which seems to be the problem. Which is ironic, because they both trained as actors...

Remember that painful stretch you had to get used to when you first learned how to play power chords? Yeah, you'll go through it again with the bottom end of a bass neck. That said, although you're dealing with much thicker strings, you shouldn't have to put all that much effort into fretting. How high is the action on your bass, and would it benefit from a setup?

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1363955454' post='2020070'] a linkedin style site for muso's would be a good idea tho [/quote] Gaah! Yes, you've just reminded me: it's only just been launched, but I was told that this was basically an attempt to do just that http://www.musicgateway.net/

I get the impression that nowadays the done thing is to pop some recordings on Soundcloud and/or Youtube, then use the links to advertise on Gumtree or include in emails to bands you're applying for.

No mention of "Dear Boy" by Tony Fletcher? Biography of Keith Moon - very well written and supposedly an enjoyable read even if you're not as obsessive a fan of The Who as I am.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1363877213' post='2018779'] I could have spoken about Squier. On TalkBass I remember years ago Squier being often beaten to the ground as utter crap, and gave you the impression that a Squier bass would pretty much disintegrate in your hands as you play it over the following year or so. And that's not true. Some may have been a bit naff, and used plywood bodies... but they are not going to just break down, normally. I found it sad to read from teenagers who have no money talking dismissively about their "crap Squier" (that they saved up for, or their parents bought them), just to fit in with the group... It's even sadder that some might feel... I don't know, embarrased even about using a Squier and a Behringer. That is sad. I wish I could have played something like an Affinity series Squier and a Behringer amp back in the day!!! Of course, if I have the money, I am happy to pay more for something I believe to be better build and offers me a sense of security. It has to sound good, first of all. [/quote] That is sad, and very superficial. It's the same kind of mentality that drives people to blow any little disposable income on expensive designer clothing, because they think it confers some kind of 'status'. And of course, it's baseless. My first bass was a Squier, a little 30" Bronco, and it was a lovely instrument. (I actually found the opposite, with my teenaged schoolmates commenting on what a nice-looking bass it was!) I've certainly played several basses that would have cost two or three times as much but I thought were horrible - or at least, not to my tastes. And I was thoroughly impressed by some of the CV Squiers, just as I've been less than taken by some MIM Fenders. I suspect this is why Gibson and Fender are still by far the most famous guitar manufacturers. Which is not to say they don't make some lovely guitars and basses, but it must be difficult to improve your company's profile if most professional musicians will plump for a Les Paul or a MIA Precision almost as a default option. I was warned when I bought my Schecter "basically-a-P-bass" Model T that it would never have the same kind of re-sale value as a Fender, purely because of the name. Sad but true. (Not that I'm planning to sell my Schecter any time soon, of course!)

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1363872849' post='2018700'] Behringerbass gear might be OK for bedroom use but, IMO, as soon as you're gigging you need something better. [/quote] Oh, I wouldn't have used one for gigging. That said, I've played plenty of gigs where I've had to use the "house amp" or one that the headliners bought with them, and gigged with several amps which I thought were far worse than those Behringer heads and probably cost quite a lot more. (Line6, in particular, were memorably bad.)

I know a rehearsal studio that bought a load of Behringer bass heads - kind of pot luck depending on the room you got whether you ended up playing through the Behringer or a Trace Elliot. And actually, I didn't mind too much. Both sounded pretty good. I did also have a little experience playing through a 90W(?) Behringer combo. That, unfortunately, was pretty horrible. Quite a woolly sound at the best of times. The one thing of theirs I actually own is their Bass OD. Cheap and cheerful, really. Good for doing a passable fuzz-bass sound, although not so good for soloing: if you wanted to make it cut through the mix at all, you had to wind the controls up until it sounded pretty horrible. Eventually upgraded to an Ibanez Bass Tubescreamer, which does that particular job just nicely. That said, of the other ODs I tried, a lot of them didn't sound all that much better than the Behringer - the distortion circuit on the MXR M-80 springs to mind in that respect.

[quote name='shinhoman' timestamp='1363792350' post='2017716'] You mention the Ashdown LB only being 30w, but I wouldn't rule the brand out entirely. Ashdown have 15w, 30w, 100w, 200w, 300w, 400w, and 427w valve heads... [/quote] Oh, I realise they have a wide range, and I certainly wouldn't rule out an Ashdown. The trouble is that all these other models are 'normal-sized' - the appeal of the LB was its size! Of course, if these other ones weigh less than the Nexus' alleged 36kg then they will certainly appeal. (Time I did a little more research, methinks.)

A few of you may have noticed that I recently blew the dust off the Laney Nexus Tube thread. Gassing quite hard for one, but if I do buy a new amp then a couple will have to go. One that will have to go is a Laney HardCoreMax-120B. It's seen active service for about 11 years now, and despite the daft name it's been a really great amp. 120W, 1x15 combo that's coped with everything from small pub gigs to the Covent Garden Arts Theatre. (It even did a live appearance on BBC Radio Wales with me!) Unfortunately, last summer it started playing up. From what I can gather, it sounds like the output transistors have failed, as when I switch it on I get nothing but a constant DC hum. Which makes it a bit more difficult to sell. [b]So:[/b] if anybody knows how to fix such a problem and would like to buy it off me, then make yourself known. I'd have liked to get £100 or so if it were working; will obviously take lower offers now it isn't! [b]Alternatively:[/b] if anybody can recommend a repair shop in London (even if it's your own) that can fix this problem for a good price, in order that I can sell a working amp, any suggestions are most welcome.

Not actually in a covers band any more, but back when I was: mostly for the money.

[quote name='richardjmorgan' timestamp='1363709355' post='2016326'] On that subject, anyone know where I might get a scratchplate done with the pickup coils flipped? [/quote] For a second, I was about to say "well, you could always try putting it on back-to-front." I think it's been one of those days...