Happy Jack

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1483534881' post='3207963'] That's easily the most depressing and wildly inaccurate point of view I've seen since joining this forum. [/quote] Hell no! Not even close!

Sorry mate, you can't have two No.1 rules. It just doesn't work.

That don't make it good. Just playable.

No.1 rule for bass players = Don't make definitive statements about anything, anything at all. Life is contingent.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1483524103' post='3207824'] It's a lot easier to play three chord guitar band tunes from the 60s and 70s than it is to play anything from to 80s-00s. . [/quote] That's because so much of the "music" of the 80s-00s was either pressing the occasional button on a pre-programmed sequencer or simple re-treads of great original music from the 60s and 70s. Next?

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1483521841' post='3207784'] ... & the Drummist is a 25 year old Sassenach from Wick. [/quote] I didn't think anyone from Wick could possibly be described as a Sassenach, or is there a surprisingly large ex-pat colony of jolly old English people there?

I had my 60th last week, held a party in a curry house with all the musicians I've gigged with in the last 10 years. Naturally there was a 2-hour jam session once the curry was all gone. Some pretty decent musicians present, too. The only non-middle-aged people there were my two kids plus three of their friends, all five of them aged 21 - 28. We were playing exactly what you'd expect us to play, and none of it was aimed at the yoof market, but the five youngsters were blown away by it all. They hardly ever check out live music unless it's at a big festival that they can boast about to their friends afterwards. They'd all forgotten about, or had never actually known about, the buzz and the pleasure to be derived from yer actual, live music.

My biggest problem is explaining to the local Irish pubs that my band is four, white, middle-aged Englishmen. It's the 'English' bit that does the damage. Age / colour / religion is of little interest to them. Whether or not we play The Pogues, Thin Lizzy, and ... erm ... "songs for the boys" is what matters.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-player-wanted/electronic-guitar-bass-player-needed-to-appear-in-a-music-video/1208183215 No, not you - they said no time wasters.

I've always been impressed with the wear patterns that Nash inflict on their poor instruments. Given how many photographs exist in the public domain of genuinely old basses with genuine wear patterns, it's really impressive that Nash always manage to make their basses look like a 10-year-old was let loose with an electric sander for a few minutes. Still, £1500 eh? There really is one born every minute.

Tricky blighters, mirrors. Never trust 'em, meself.

The more you do for people, the more they'll let you do. As another serious tinnitus sufferer, I have zero sympathy these days with turn-it-up clowns and I certainly wouldn't be prepared to disrupt my own life to help them with their big swinging dickery. If your guitarist is really a star, he'll get you access all areas next time he plays Wembley or the O2. Otherwise, he can turn down.

Yup. Just you.

Had a quick go on one at the SouthEast Bassbash and liked it. Then an old jamming mate invited me to join his steampunk folk band so long as I played DB rather than fretless electric. Bought a no-name £300 Chinese starter bass, got an hour's intro from Jakesbass, and I was up & running ...

Also check out the Tapco range, e.g. http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/DISC-Tapco-Blend-6-6-Channel-Mixer/3G9 The point is that they're the Squier to Mackie's Fender, so the quality level is higher than you might expect. I picked one up pre-owned for £30 and I've used it for dozens of small and semi-acoustic gigs since then.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1482881777' post='3203363'] ... and I can make a set last nearly a year. [/quote] Bwahahahahahahaha!!! Time to move to flats, Chris.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Teuffel-Tesla-Headless-Boutique-Guitar-Sale-Or-Swap-px-For-Strandberg-Varberg-/172461919339?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

If it really does have a 25.5" scale, seems to me that design is almost certainly a bastardised guitar rather than an instrument designed as a bass.

I bought a Zeller from Clarky for not a huge amount more than your £600 budget, absolutely lovely "cheap" bass which he was replacing with his dream DB, an 1880 German flatback costing him several times more than he sold the Zeller for. He spent the next three years trying to persuade me to sell the Zeller back to him because it sounded nicer than his flatback. It's not always about price and reputation. So is my Zeller a bit of a special, a one-off? At the DB Bash a few months ago, someone else had one just like mine, so I tried it. Even with his string choice and his set-up, it played and sounded a lot like mine.

I could make a very long list of albums which were "game changers" for me, starting with Revolver and coming all the way to Graceland, but in truth the one that had the biggest impact on me was probably Piledriver. I saw the Quo regularly from 1974 until the original line-up reformations of the last few years. I can't think of many 2016 casualties I will miss more. Thanks Rick.

http://www.adesignsaudio.com/reddi-all-tube-direct-box.htm

People constantly come up to me at gigs and say how much they wish that I'd brought my rig in on a forklift truck. [size=4] [/size]

Beethoven - Beethoven's 5th

Well flats will instantly take you in that direction, and make both slides and (ahem) note correction much easier. What you will lose is the exaggerated growl that you get from playing rounds on a fretless. On the other hand, you'll also do far less damage to your fingerboard. Bear in mind that there's just as much variation between different brands & styles of flats as there is with rounds. La Bella FLs (my own favourite) are very stiff and very expensive; Thomastik make strings which are far more compliant and need a much lighter touch, but sound really lush when played well.

The elephant in the room is that, to keep the visuals working properly, he's clearly scaled up the body to match the huge neck. Given the typically very light weight of a Lull 4-string (say 7.5lbs) then scaling it up by 20% wouldn't turn it into a back-breaker at 9lbs, but unfortunately I don't think it works like that. I suspect that the 20% upscale need to be cubed for three dimensions, and 1.2 cubed is 1.73 which would take that 7.5lb startpoint over 11lbs, and that's before you get into the ergonomics of playing a thing that size. Still love the idea, mind.