Happy Jack

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20SOLD/Shuker%20Horn%202010%20SOLD/IMG_6501.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20SOLD/Shuker%20Horn%202010%20SOLD/IMG_6501.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Bwahahahahaha!!! It's in Japan. And they want $886 for it? What's Japanese for "you're taking the piss, mate"?

I picked up a bass for the first time on my 49th birthday. Then I settled down with a copy of http://stuartclayton.com/books/crash-course-bass/ Stuart is also a Basschatter, and this book assumes that you are starting from no knowledge at all. After a couple of months, I thought it made sense to start spending money on lessons to build on what I'd learned from the book. Six months in, I started jamming with a guitarist. Nine months and I was attending local jam sessions. I joined my first band 18 months after starting. I now play 40/50 gigs a year with several different bands, on both electric bass and double bass. I am not 'special', I didn't already play guitar, I have never studied music. I wish I had started as young as 40!

No use to me ... I already have three of those.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/302-0631-A/bass-amp-heads/gallien-krueger-mb-200-bass-head?LGWCODE=3020631A;56375;6335&gclid=CjwKEAjw4vzKBRCt9Zmg8f2blgESJADN5fDggZCWqRkpV0hEOiO0AVAq7fdWSQhlPqr4GV7KePNqaxoCTtbw_wcB About the size of a large paperback, and weighs about the same. If you're planning to carry a backup to all of your gigs, then you want it light ...

As a well-known [i]fanboi [/i]of these basses here on Basschat, I have to say that the 5-string was the only one that just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was a string selection issue, but I found the low B strangely flabby.

You do realise that it's not actually a bass from the 1950s?

I had an identical bass 7/8 years ago (the one that Nick Beggs played on Too Shy, though I didn't know it at the time) which I bought from Silverfoxnik in need of a major restoration job. I sold it a year later (to Clarky) for £2000 IIRC which just about covered the purchase price and the restoration. Maybe I should have kept it ... [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20SOLD/Wal%20Pro%20IIe%201978%20SOLD/100_0171.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20SOLD/Wal%20Pro%20IIe%201978%20SOLD/100_0171.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='davegriffiths91' timestamp='1499162020' post='3329563'] Band I play with likes to play the "original" version of songs. When things have been sampled etc people know the melody but often think we have re-arranged the tune. Examples - Labi Siffri - I Got The Anne Robinson - You Did It Max Romeo - Chase The Devil Etc etc [/quote] [quote name='blue' timestamp='1499243647' post='3330168'] Getting older is really tough. I've never heard of any of those artists you listed. I'll YouTube them. Blue [/quote] [quote name='davegriffiths91' timestamp='1499248061' post='3330218'] They are all old! [/quote] Well Labi Siffre is but you're not going to find him if you spell his name wrong. As for Anne Robinson, I quite liked her [i]Points Of View[/i] period but she went right off the rails with [i]The Weakest Link[/i].

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anygig-AGB-Portable-34-Full-Scale-Length-Right-Hand-4-String-Bass-Guitar-Black/182617521251?_trksid=p5411.c100167.m2940&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140131123730%26meid%3Dfcfec879270e496a951b2e6e6b129ebb%26pid%3D100167%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D222563875003

Some very odd replies here. The main reason is simply that people's vocal ranges vary hugely. Think Paul Robeson and Robert Plant. I'm a natural baritone. I have a rather unexciting mid-ranged voice. Loads of rock songs are pitched far higher than my voice will go, because they're designed to be sung by tenors like Robert Plant and Bruce Dickinson. Plenty of songs are pitched way lower than my voice will go, because they're designed to be sung by Barry White. I suppose I could sing (a version of) Stairway To Heaven if I really felt like it, but never in the original key. That's not because I'm lazy (I'm not) or have an untrained voice (10 years' choral work in a bunch of choirs, thank you very much). It's more a matter of physiology and, y'know, yer actual physics and that.

You get me a gig at the Royal Festival Hall and I promise I'll use the controls on my bass wisely.

A weak excuse ...

Switch it off, then switch it on again. Works for me.

But nobody except you will ever notice ...

Seeing as it's Wimbledon week, here's our encore from our debut gig at the Prince of Wales, opposite Centre Court, last Saturday. http://youtu.be/8lNJTap2Xbo

Why on earth would you touch the controls on a bass? Set and forget, guys, set and forget.

Seems like a pretty modest price. Not being of the guitar persuasion, it's of no interest to me anyway. But what would really kill it would be the weight. Which the vendor doesn't mention, of course.

I've used the custom ACS plugs for years. The filters are very easily swopped, so I have a set of 15db and a set of 25db for when things get really loud. The beauty of these things is that wearing them is like hearing what everyone else hears, but with the volume control turned down. They don't muffle or distort the sound. Can I hear nuances that otherwise I'd miss? Well ... yes, but only in the sense that you can always hear more when listening at 'sensible' volume levels. Every guitarist knows that enough volume will hide even the grossest mistakes. I wear them because I already suffer from tinnitus and I really can't stand the idea of going deaf. To repeat something that has been said here many times, ACS custom plugs are NOT cheap. But if your hearing is worth less than £200 then you might want to think that through again.

And of course it's not just Class D. I played the Ealing Beer Festival a few years back, using my Matamp all-valve head. At 11pm they wanted all the punters to start going home so they turned on all the floodlights. The sudden draw on the (huge) generator caused my amp to cut out instantly and it was over a minute before I could get it back up and running. The heart of our PA was a Powersoft Digam solid state power amp which barely even noticed the interruption!

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1498589037' post='3325752'] I used a J&D Jazz that i paid £65 for at a wedding in Italy on Friday. [/quote] Good thing that the guy at the wedding wanted to sell his bass ...

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1498809837' post='3327144'] That does seem to me what they're saying over at the Lakland Owners Group, Plek is for Skylines, all US are hand fretted. Si [/quote] Which leaves me hopelessly confused. I thought that the Plek process gave unbeatable results?

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1498821151' post='3327293'] Hello all, when i was playing, in my car chase, Acidjazz, funk band back in the day, we did alot of tv theme tunes, new avengers 2001 starsky and hutch [/quote] Your band used to play Also Sprach Zarathustra? Respect.

I am, I am ... Tottenham Court Road.