Chris Sharman

I WANT THIS!!!! I NEED one of these in my life and have contacted the seller. (please see my earlier thread about the one that got away). I think I might even be able to persuade the domestic finance committee (aka Mrs S) over this one without much trouble.

The first one I bought was an Alto. I now have a Tenor which I bought off Fleabay as the Trevor James Revolution I was looking at was hundreds more than I had. Got mine for £300! Fortunately Mrs S plays Sax herself so doesn't have much to put up with. The Cat's not so keen mind....

No Thanks! On the original subject of minor sale becoming major indebtedness I once went to a music shop in Derby (the late lamented Neville Brothers) to buy a set of strings for my acoustic (£6.00 or so). I went back to the office after lunch with a nice, shiny, brand new saxophone. I still dont understand how. Any ideas?

A quick update for you all. The gig went ahead (almost) as planned, one of our supporting artists has injured his shoulder so can't hold/play his guitar however we arranged another couple of people to put together a quick 20-minute spot to start us off. The PA amp went pop near the end of the second acts performance however we managed to jerry-rig something using the powered monitors we had (tbh we had far more gear there than we needed for a venue of that size) and saw out their acoustic slot. We then managed to drop the venues own PA amp in place of ours and got ourselves fired up for our live debut......it couldn't have gone better. The room was filling but not overfull so it didn't get too hot (except on the stage under those lights), our music went down well with all present and even enticed some chaps up from downstairs in the pub when they heard something a bit different on. We made just enough money to cover the room costs and give the support act that had travelled from Nottinghamshire some petrol money and buy them a pint so they ended up cost neutral and we had an absolute BLAST! I haven't played bass in a band live for well over ten years if not more. It is good to be back, bring on next Saturday. p.s. before anyone makes the point that without pics it didn't happen a few have already been posted to the bands Fb page and video will be forthcoming over the next few days. Thank you all for your help and support.

In the early nineties a band I was in "Grind" (old school punk covers) did a gig supporting the anti-nowhere league and during our soundcheck we did one of their tracks "so what?" about half as fast again as the original. The guitarist and bass player were stood at the back while we did it. They loved it. Fortunately.

Cool. I never thought I would be grateful to Justin Bieber for anything but he may just have saved me the cost of a hitman. Oh, just read the rest of the story. Dammit!

I used "Join my Band" to get with the guys I am with now, just make sure your advert stands out wherever you choose to go. [size=2]Other websites (including this one) are available. User experiences may vary.[/size]

Check out Derby Express Couriers. I think we use them when we ship to our distributor in Belfast. Haven't had any bother. (haven't shipped a musical instrument though :-) )

Done. I didn't note the number but it was either 735 or 736. Observation not my strong point.

That looks gorgeous! I am now looking at my RBX370 and twitching.....(....flame maple.....transparent red lacquer.......) I need to lie down now.

Just seen this. Glad you are now sorted but if there are any probs I will be going to London weekend of 6th December and I live in Belper so if you need to make any changes let me know.

My first bass was also an Encore E83 in Black. Bought second hand in 1988-ish for £65. Solid wood (not ply) and far better quality than the 'Marlin Slammer' of the same period used by some of my contemporaries at school.

I speak here with only limited experience having only played one once for any length of time, at an open day at Soundhub in Belper. Ric's have always had a strange effect on me sometimes I love the look of them and sometimes I hate them, depends what mood I'm in. Any-whoo I saw this one, dramatic in it's blackness and as it caught me on a good day I thought I ought to have a go. I did. I hated it. I just couldn't get on with the neck at all it seemed almost perfectly round and just didn't fit my hand comfortably in any way. I recently tried another one for comparison as it has been a couple of years (didn't get either of the model numbers) end result; bought a Fender Jazz. Predictable I know, but when you know what you are comfortable with...

Thanks Dad, it's kind of different for me being a salesman by profession I am used to being more hard nosed, but when doing the music things I let out my inner hippy and trust more to Karma. What goes around comes around etc. Just can't wait to play live again after all these years.

Hi JTUK, Appreciate your point re: later gigs (i.e. when the mates run out etc). Since my last posting we have been offered an early slot in an all day charity event the following week so we now have TWO GIGS booked. The charity event concerned is a fundraiser for a local music festival so hopefully doing this can get us on there next summer. Plus I know the guy that runs it so we will see what that leads to. If nothing else it will get us known in a new town and outside of our usual circle of mates/family etc. As regards percentages of take etc we are this time literally doing enough to cover the room cost and anything else we will split to cover expenses (fuel etc) and I will personally prefer if we cover the costs and a few beers for the support guys first then ourselves second. I know that is not a business like mindset but I think on this occasion we can afford to be that way. I have no idea how we would play it if we were going to make a more regular thing of it, and if we were to do this again I will probably be back on here for more advice!

What would Tony Franklin say?

Alembic Basses. Don't know why just had a completely irrational dislike of them. Think I saw the price and thought "How can they try and justify that?" or something. Played one recently........now asking my boss for a pay rise...... Jazz. Hated it, hated Jazz musicians, hated their clothes, their smug-'look how good we are'-ness, and the fact that even though they are playing as a group they never seem to have been introduced to one another. Then listened to Miles Davis and grew up. Jury still out on tomatoes.

Again thanks to all for their input - Steve - they only charge to cover their own costs. When they have events they have organised they get the door take and pay the artists we are reversing the usual roles. sort of. ish. Bassbunny - we don't intend to make money, just music. Just a bit of fun this time, our charges are purely to cover the room cost. GJones - we are the last on but they are only allowed live music until 11pm and pretty much everyone that is coming knows all of the acts personally anyway. Chances are the bar will be staying open much later than 11, if not we will just drift downstairs to the main bar. Plus it is on a Friday night just before Christmas, break out the festive hangovers! Lozz - good idea. Stolen for next time. Thanks! rOB - best of luck for your new project.

Thank you all for that. Dad3353 - sorted staff wise, they have a small lighting setup there (4 coloured PAR cans). Appreciate the idea ref: video. Will get some cameras sorted with suitable operators. May also have access to a few bullet cams that we can fix around the place and collect the video from them on SD card without needing people operating them. EMB - Ta! We want to keep it low key hence only advising our friends on Fb, family , mates etc. RB599 - Hope your next gig goes well. Seems we are both using this approach as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. BRX - We had the option of paying £30 for the room and use the bar downstairs or pay £100 and use the bar upstairs (covers staff, wastage in the pipes etc). We chose the latter option hence the £2 door charge. For £30 we would have covered it ourselves. Good advice one and all, I will let you know how it goes. Bring on December!

Afternoon, Soooo, the band I have been a member of for a few months have decided it is time to take our material out of the practice room and the interweb/facespace/soundclod/twitsphere and into the real world. It is fair to say that our stuff being original is not your typical pub covers stuff (have a listen you'll get where I am coming from) and as none of us have done a live gig for a while (several years in my case) we have decided to run our own little thing, upstairs room at a local pub, invites via our friends, family and facebook page 'likers'. We also have a couple of other local acts involved who are just helping us out for the hell of it. A small £2 door charge to cover venue hire that so far no-one has objected to. The idea is to have a tame audience with copious supply of good quality real ales, an evenings entertainment and hope for the best. Does this sound to my learned Basschat friends as a good way to get back into it or do any of you have horror stories of such things going BADLY wrong?

I have been hung up for several years on a bass I had in my 6th form years and afterwards which I had to sell during a period of spectacular financial underachievement. The bass concerned was a Westone Thunder III with soapbar pickups and could produce the most amazingly wide ranging sounds that covered literally all of the music I did with various bands covering a wide range of genres. Although I cannot afford it at moment I have declared to my (moderately understanding) wife that if I see one available in future and I have the necessary finances at hand I am having one. I will always think of that bass as 'The One That Got Away'. So, go on then, What was yours?

Our school had a cheapo no-name precision copy that looked like it had been used to hammer the first years into the ground. One of them took it home for a weekend to strip the paint off an varnish it. Only when it re-appeared did we find out it was actually made from plywood. I have to admit that the Encore P-bass I bought was a step up from that. However one of the music teachers lent me his Vox White Shadow fretless to do a recording and I have always had a thing for fretless basses ever since.

Seems like it IS that time of year as I was recently 'released' by one of the bands I am in (female fronted covers band). They had parted with their young guitarist and bassist and myself and a guitarist stepped in. They still had a gig booked and since we weren't ready yet the previous incumbents were asked to dep. You can guess the outcome...... Yup, "we'd like to come back"...."yeah, go on then". Never mind, it wasn't really me, just a chance to get back gigging again after so long out. Still, it has allowed me to concentrate on my main project of original material and we now have our first gig booked in December Yaayyy!!!

Ha ha! Mojoke, like it. Leen, I got a bargain with the Fender due to a mis-spelling in the listing, and the Yamaha was a friday night, couple of wines, silly bid and 'Oh! I've won it'. To be fair both of my basses left me with a feeling that I had almost stolen them. I am told this is guilt. Whatever.

Hello All! I have viewed your forum in the past gauging others opinions on certain equipment and thought I should introduce myself and make my presence here more official. I started playing bass at school in the late 80's and played with a number of bands over the years, an instrument I returned to earlier this year after a few years sabbatical due to a number of reasons (ex-Mrs etc). In the intervening years I played the odd acoustic spot and tried learning to play the tenor sax, which it turns out I have no talent for whatsoever, however the acoustic performances made me realise that I need to be playing and creating music far more than even I had realised. Raids on Ebay have taken place resulting in a Fender Jazz Mex, a Behringer Ultrabass amp, and most recently a de-fretted Yamaha RBX370. I am pleased to report that after meeting with a couple of local chaps I joined up with them to further their musical project and we are now writing some very interesting stuff that we hope to unleash upon the startled populace in the near future. More on this can be found at the bands website www.waterfordogs.co.uk Thanks for listening!