logicred

NBD for me yesterday. After reading reviews/hype etc. Great bass. I have had quite a few basses over the years but was not prepared for a bass with controls set out quite like this. I have no idea how these got through testing to be honest. I appreciate it's a lot of stuff to cram in a small silver control place though! The active pickup switch is quite simply laughable, it's really hard to flick as it's tucked between two other switches and is off centre so it looks randomly placed. The stacked nobs are awful and are tall enough to knock a mic stand over. It's hard to see where the main tone and midrange control is set to. Out of the box had the action all over the place (bottom and top string were about 3mm lower than the others but the bridge looks ace and a quick tweak and all good. The finish on mine is good but not amazing like other people have said. Mainly the plastic cuts around the pickups and scratchplate had lots of plastic peeling bits which to be fair are soon rid of. I must say I love the dark fret markers of my squire VM bass and playing back to back I struggled with the faint white block inlays of the Sire bass, completely personal preference though. The bass is a keeper. Great tone. Crazy low price, with the worse controls I have ever seen. The icing on the cake was that it has craziest controls I have ever seen but no instructions come with it ;-) (easily found on the web though).

That's interesting, thanks for that. My physio chap explained to me where all the nerves went and showed why I was getting them in my chin. He was pressing down on two places on my back which shot pains to the places I got pins and needles. I have some exercises to do now, but I think when I am sorted I need to get my upper back stronger and practice standing up from now on.

Thanks. I hardly played at all in the past to be honest, it wasn't until just over a year ago when I suddenly started playing more seriously (joined a band so my practice went up significantly). I thought initially it was the weight of the bass on my shoulders for the 3 hours per week at practice, but now I think about it, I think it's more the hunching over the bass when sitting down (could even be both). I seem to remember the Warwick being really heavy though. Weird how the pain went away after a while though, but when I started practicing for longer periods due to the Rockschool exams the pain has come back again.

I have played bass off and on (mostly off) for many years. I am now 40 and about a year ago I decided to get into it seriously and bought a Warwick Bubinga bass which was quite heavy. After practicing with it on my lap and at a studio each week for a few hours standing up I developed a pain in my upper back/neck/left shoulder. The pain went but left me with permanent numbness and pins and needles in the left hand, then the right hand, then the chin. This was 9 months ago and the pins and needles are still there. I then started to practice more and more and the pain is now back again and worse than before. I have had blood tests/MRI's etc which have all come back fine. Finally a physiotherapist has taken a look and I have tendonitis and my back was out in a couple of places. My muscles on the left side are spasming down my arm, back and the shoulder. He seems to know his stuff and has said that it sounds as though the numbness/pins and needles fits in perfectly with my back ailment. He has put me right, but I have had to stop playing now for a while which has cheesed me off big time as I have just started to get into the Rockschool exams ;-( Good time to learn more theory though! I suspect it is my sitting down position which has done it. Thinking about it I tend to "lean over" the bass to see the notes. Never really thought about it before. I sit down all day at work so I think a combination of the two have really done me some damage. Just wanted to see if anybody else has had something similar, or practices standing up instead of sitting down, or does any other particular exercises to help their upper back? Take care of your back folks!

Thanks, just an hour slot. I appreciate your comment about the beer, made me laugh.

Thanks, there will be about 10 bands throughout the day I believe. I have just been told there is a token payment for expenses etc. I know it's a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, but had absolutely no idea what to expect to be honest. I didn't know if most bands did local festivals for 'exposure only' and it was expected to not get paid.

Hi all, I have been gigging for about a year at local pubs/parties and the band has taken off well. We played at a local pub who have a beer/music festival each year and have now asked us to play at their festival. Nothing has been said about fees yet. I know it sounds ridiculous but is it normal for me to now go in with our fee to play there, or would they expect us to play for free, or would I ask them how much they will pay? I know it's a basic question, and we have already done enough 'exposure' gigs etc. Thanks in advance.

I went through cheap basses, then warwicks, stingrays, vintage Fender Jazz and purchased a brand new squire VM 70's jazz for £250 and it's a spectacular bass. I am happy now.