jezzaboy

For me it isn`t a very nice bit(s) of wood for a natural body. I would cut him down a bit and get it painted if you love the sound. But maybe if you stick some paint on it, it might not sound the same? I think I would look around for one of the modern Classic models and get a s/h one of those.

Fender Rumble 500 all day. Great sound, light, 350 watts on it`s own and you can stick a cab under it to get the full 500 watts. The 200 Rumble would be good enough for monitoring but the price difference between it and the 500 isn`t that great and I always like to have enough power for any eventuality.

I had thousands of lp`s, hundred`s of cassettes (all gone) and still own about 700 cd`s. I still buy the odd cd but I mostly listen on Youtube or buy digital downloads from Amazon. I know lots of people don`t like the quality of mp3`s and years ago, when I had expensive separate hi fi gear, the quality of the sound might have bothered me but now I don`t really bother too much. It sounds good enough to these tired old ears. I will keep my cd`s as I spent a bloomin fortune on them and they are nice to have but I`m afraid the digital download and internet services have won me over. I remember buying The Unforgettable Fire and Brothers in Arms about 1986 and they were £15 each!

Thanks for your kind words, they really add something to this thread.

Cool Dave. The dead live from 1972-1974 are my favourite. As you say, they rarely played the song the same way. I hope your singer fluffs the lyrics just to keep things authentic

Fender used to make a plastic protector type thing that covered the back of the guitar to stop buckle rash. It had some adhesive on it and was stuck all around the edge of the body. I have seen them on some vintage Strats. Terrible looking thing.

Your so vain by Carly Simon. Decent enough song but every time I hear her getting interviewed, she insist on refusing to name who the song was about. Get the message love. WE DON`T F......N CARE!!

I play in Her way to hell, the only female fronted Bon Scott tribute in Scotland, mabye in the UK. We just played Bonfest for the second year running, up in Bon`s birthplace of Kirremuir last week and went down well. The tunes are exactly as the band played them either on record or live versions that the band did, except of course we have a girl singer. This comes in quite handy as we can play all the songs in their original key and even ac/dc don`t do that! We don`t add in any fancy widdiling that wasn`t there originally unlike some of the other dc tributes, just straight ahead rock n roll.

If I remember right, the bass was a combination of all the favourite bits from Mike`s P basses. The pickup was a custom (shop?) one by Fender. Great basses but the one I had weighed a ton. Great sound though. I think it`s a 54 body shape with 57 style pickup and you couldn`t buy a model like it in the 50`s.

The Amazon one looks ok. Van Damme cable and Neutrik connections are decent materials.

It`s never to early for that!

Sound like a bunch of bankers to me. Especially the sound guy. Why are they moaning about the size of the bass amp? Unless it`s a SVT and matching 8 x 10, what`s the problem?

Good singers are hard to find so I would cut them some slack. Having said that, an ipad on a mic stand looks a lot better than a A4 folder.

The 500 will be loud enough for any pub/club gig when paired with an extension cab to get the full power I reckon. Never tried the 800 but it gets some love on here.

Best combo I have owned and my band loves the vintage look. Perfect for home use as well, just hook it up to the laptop and use the headphones.

I had a black and maple VM 77 18 months ago and it was really nice. I changed the tuners and bridge and sold it, God knows why . I think I payed £230 for it new but due to all the stuff that has went down, it`s now £319. My first bass was a Squier P bass special and the VM blows it out of the water fit and finish wise. Mine weighs just under 5 kg so no light weight. They do seem to vary quite a bit in weight. But with a good strap, it hasn`t caused me any problems.

I was going to play safe and go with a Squier but at £350 ish, I think that`s taking the pee. Had the Sire not been to my liking, it was getting sent back and I would have bought a JD. The Sire V3 is just crazy money for what you get. I believe the pre amp is the same you get in the V7. I hope they bring out a version with the P/J pickup in the V3 range.

Sorry mate, just seen your post. Well, I had a good look around at JD, Squier, Aria etc. But in the end up after watching Andertons "All about the bass" review of the Sire V3 basses, I took a punt on one of those. I had a V7 Sire last year and returned it as I didn`t like the knobs, the bridge and head stock shape and it`s almost twice the price of the V3. Boy have I changed my mind! I got a white model and I`ve got to say it has won me over. The bass arrived in this box so I thought the worst. But by some miracle, the bass was fine. The intonation was spot on, just a small adjustment to the action and I took it to rehearsal that night. Played through my Fender Rumble, it sounded great. The stock strings were crap but a set of Daddario`s sorted that. A set of Gotoh tuners I bought from here and a set of black metal knobs completed the look. I was playing Bonfest (acdc festival) up in Kirremuir last night and took the Sire along with my Yamaha as a back up. I used an old Marshall head that was well beat up into a 4 x10 cab and cranked the head up. No time for a sound check so I just used the previous guy`s settings, put the Sire into active and got a decent sound on stage. It must have sounded ok out front as a few guys said it sounded good. I`m really glad I bought this bass as having the active option saved my bacon last night. And the price? £234 delivered to my door. The tuners and knobs were about £50 all in and I changed them more for the looks than anything. I`m glad I took the chance on buying another Sire and in the future, I might get another one and just use the two of them.

There is a Gotoh version of the BBOT that is a direct replacement. There is one about £30 ish, the 203B-4 and the TI 203B-4 that is the same style but has titanium saddles. A very nice bit of kit that keeps the same sort of look. JJ Burnel has one of these models on his sig bass.

Hey Muzz. Sorry to burst your 5 count jazz theory but Whole lotta Rosie starts with a 5 count. Of course, we could be playing it wrong.... Got a similar one. Auditioned a guitarist a few years ago for your standard pub rock combo. Guy seemed nice enough, nice Strat, Vox amp but he had a army type kit bag with him. He opened the bag by turning it upside down and out fell about 20 pedals plus assorted cables and batteries. My Spidey sense was tingaling now. He proceeded to arrange them on the floor, moving them until they were in some exact position which took about 15 mins, then started to connect them and change batteries when he discovered some were gubbed. By now, the band are giving each other the WTF look. After what seemed like an age, he seemed ready but the sounds he was getting were unsuitable for the songs we were playing and after 20 mins or so, we knocked it on the head with the standard "we will be in touch."

This is a common problem with many cover bands. Members seem to forget that it`s the entertainment game. I have left bands in the early rehearsal stages when members start wanting to play songs that very few people will have heard of. Playing popular songs that most people know is a pub covers band lifeblood. To the op. Your drummer would do my head in. I would either be looking to change him or would walk myself. Sounds like a right negative character, just what you don`t need in a band.