Painy

Beat me to it.

Biggest indoor gig I've played so far is still the LCR at the University of East Anglia back in 1997 when I was just 16 (Skunk Anansie had played there the week before which was pretty cool) - capacity 1550. It was part of a multi-band event as the finale to national youth week although we did headline it. In March though we will be playing OPEN in Norwich (only band playing this time) which will probably be the biggest that we've played since at a capacity of 1450 - although it's a private function for the deputy director of Norwich City Football Club so not sure if that counts. I did also play an outdoor gig once that technically had about 6000 people in attendance although to be fair they weren't really paying much attention to us as they were more interested in the livestock and tractors on display. 🙄😄😄😄

I have liked Fender Flats when I've used them in the past but unfortunately it seems they're no longer available in 5 string sets.

I'm going to be ordering a set of flats this week to go on my Sterling Ray 25CA and I've narrowed it down to 2 options but I'm still a bit undecided which way to go. I want something that will tame the aggressive highs of the Stingray a little to allow the lower mids to punch through a bit more but I still don't want to lose all the clarity and note definition so I'm looking at more 'modern' flats (I've used Deep Talking flats on another bass before and they felt nice but seemed to sound a bit too undefined for me). There's been a fair bit on here about Cobalts recently and they seem like a natural contender so that's option one. On my other basses though I'll be continuing to use Dunlop Superbrights steel roundwounds which are my favourite strings which has me wondering about the Dunlop flats. They would be a couple of quid cheaper and I like the idea of sticking with the same brand but they're seems to be more of a mix of views from what I've read about them - some comparing their brightness to Chromes and Cobalts and others saying they're not quite so bright - more like Fender flats. In any case I'm not 100% how bright ill need them to be to achieve what I want. Has anyone used both that can say how they compare or even just give some insight that might help (car also has its Mot this month and flats aren't the cheapest strings so I don't want to waste my money going for the wrong option if I can help it)? Thanks.

Get the drummer to wear one of these to isolate the mic from the drum? Available from all good vets - plus, as he's a drummer, it will have the added bonus of preventing him from licking his own balls (sorry @Dad3353). 😁

If its a business seller and you click onto their profile you can then click on your legal information which should show you where their business is actually located (or at least registered). The amount of times the listing says it ships from London but you check the legal information and the company is located in Shenzhen or Guangzhou!

Only wish I could afford to. 😞 Unfortunately the already expensive pastime of trying out loads of different strings is made even more costly when they're flats and again even more so when it's a 5 string.

I recently bought a Sterling Ray 25CA which I'm liking a lot but I fancy trying it with some flats. I want to get a bit of that flatwound thump and punch but without losing too much of the Stingray bite. At the moment I'm thinking of EB Cobalts as they seem the obvious choice to fit the bill but I'm open to other suggestions if anyone has any?

It's been a bit of a nightmare trying to get together in the lead up to Christmas (especially as we both have young kids) so not had a chance to get much further than chatting about it so far to be honest. Hoping to get our heads together at some point over the next few days though if we can. If we manage to come up with anything tangible - sketches or what have you - I'll post them up here to see what you guys think.

Ooo, mid 1990s me loves that! Current me however (fortunately for my bank balance) only loves it up as far as the nut.

I had a Korean Spector Legend 5 string once that just sounded utterly insipid - literally the most MEH sound ever. It also felt really flimsy like it was made of balsa wood even though it wasn't especially light. I also recently bought a Gibson EB13 5 string - one of the stupidly cheap end of line ones from GAK. I really liked the quirky looks and it felt really comfortable to me. It also sounded great - right up until I tried actually playing it with the rest of my band. No matter what I did it just seemed to disappear almost completely in the mix - just hopeless! Fortunately it sold on ebay for more than I'd payed new and I was able to use the money towards getting my Sterling Ray 25CA which I'm now enjoying much more. 😊

Back in 1996 I was asked by some school friends (who had heard that I played bass) if I'd come and have practice with them just for one evening as their normal bass player couldn't make it. I impressed them enough that they asked me that to join their fledgling band and agreed between them that they would sack their current bass player as they felt he wasn't really up to the task. We then agreed to get together again the next evening as everyone was keen to have another go ASAP. The next day at school, word got back to the other guy that he was about to get the boot but nobody had a chance to speak to him directly. That evening we were setting up in the singer's garage when there was a knock on the door. Turned out to be the other bass player's mum come to tell everyone off for being mean to her son. Of course everyone sheepishly denied that they were planning to sack him and that's how we ended up with 2 bass players for our first half a dozen gigs. Unfortunately it sounded pretty dreadful and the guy had all the stage presence of half a house brick and slightly less musical ability so in the end I got fed up and told everyone that if they were too scared of his mum to sack him then I'd do it. Later on at a hastily called band meeting at the local play-park and after an awkward 15 minutes going on the swings and down the slide workout saying anything I eventually told him he was out of the band. Didn't feel great about it at the time to be fair but 22 years and around 1500 gigs later I'm still with the band and the only bass player so it all worked out in the end.

If you read my first post it's my UNholy trinity precisely because of this. The P bass is also a Squier!

New pickguard now installed and I'm really happy with it!