Happy Jack

Blue, the clue is in your use of the word "busy". My main band likes to gig 2/3 times a month. We're too old to want to do a Fri & Sat double-header so that means we gig 2/3 weekends each month. There just isn't room for another band with the same level of gigging. But there is room (for me) to be in a bunch of other, less busy side projects. I'm currently in three which do maybe a dozen gigs a year between them, including midweek stuff and daytime festivals at weekends. I wouldn't have it any other way. Much as I love playing in the Junkyard Dogs, I couldn't face a future of playing Brown Sugar and Spirit In The Sky every Saturday for the next year ... and nothing else.

[quote name='spyder' timestamp='1444661576' post='2884865'] I got it home and fitted new strings, went to adjust the TR and bang, it snapped and the neck shot across the room in three bits. [/quote] I've had moments like that involving fixing motorbikes. Funny in hindsight, but a real heart-sinker at the time.

I know nothing about the brand but, for that price, it would need to be really very good. If you buy one, come back and tell us about the bass, won't you? In fact, come back anyway.

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1444657208' post='2884813'] Definitely Darkglass. Great pedal! [/quote] Yup, you're right, there's only one possible answer. Bwahahahahahahaha!!!

Few things are more 'personal' than choice of pedal pre-amp! I've used two of the three you list, plus probably half a dozen more. As of now I have at least three pedals that would tick your boxes if you were me. But you're not me! Basschat is a great resource, especially when you move into meatspace. If you ask around, you'll soon find a dozen Basschatters within a short journey of your front door who'll offer to let you play through their preamp pedals. Don't buy blind (or should that be deaf?), go out and meet real bassists and try their stuff out. If that's not for you, for whatever reason, then add the Sansamp BDDI and The Hartke Attack to your list ...

In all honesty, it's never occurred to me to check. My bad, probably.

Following on from the SouthEast BassBash, the best VFM system might be this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pair-of-PROSOUND-300W-10-DJ-LOUDSPEAKERS-WOOFER-HI-FI-SPEAKERS-/281816026427?hash=item419d8b4d3b

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151008-six-neglected-drummers-who-deserve-recognition

I can't believe that no one has commented on the really cool keyboard with the angled keys.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1444414940' post='2883177'] Who was looking for an 8 string recently?? [url="http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/112426753/8-string-custom-made-bass-guitar-bison-design.html"]http://www.preloved....son-design.html[/url] [/quote] That was me, but I now have a Dean Edge. In truth, the basic weight of a 4-string Bison would put me off. I dread to think what an 8-string weighs.

Surely you mean "vintage bollocks"?

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1444423793' post='2883256'] Most of the mods make no sense at all ... [/quote] People have been banned for less than this, y'know.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1444423793' post='2883256'] That guy is considered low-hanging fruit in these parts. A shame, because there is something insidious about his M.O. These instruments are marketed for beginners, so his target market know not if they are being sold complete junk or a brilliant instrument. From what I've seen it is the former. [/quote] Agreed. If there was even a hint of irony or self-mockery in his listings, some recognition of the funny side of these lash-ups, it would be more palatable. It's the apparently po-faced certainty that he's a craftsman improving poor design by others that really grates for me.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1444478203' post='2883541'] I have on more than one occasion opened the gig-bag to find what I was not expecting. [/quote] I have told you before to keep your shotguns in a steel cabinet ...

You see my friends it all depends on the mood I'm in.

Any idea what the deal is with the reviews? Roughly two thirds say great, five stars; the remaining third say it does nothing at all. Operator failure? Or does it need a specific config to work?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1444411080' post='2883130'] Learn how to sing. [/quote]

Yup. First time I picked up a banjo I was absolutely astonished. I simply had no idea ...

It depends. That's a reasonable question, but too many variables and (for some of us) an unrealistic budget. £350 for everything I'd need for a 'proper' gig with a pub rock band would simply mean I'd offer the gig to someone else. On t'other hand, my Thomann Deko U-bass plus a cheap DI box to go through someone else's PA ... sorted for £120.

+1 on start with G+L. Failing which, England is full of remarkable specialist outlets selling every imaginable nut, bolt, screw and fastening. So long as you can accurately measure the part(s) that you want to replace, you'll find someone operating out of an obscure industrial estate in the Fens. If all else fails, I have just such an outlet 50 yards from my studio in West London (on an industrial estate, natch).

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1444384176' post='2882711'] Have you been listening to the usual whiny voices of those who bemoan the excessive slapping and high volume ... [/quote] You rang, M'Lady?

It's a rich man's world.

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1444397379' post='2882917'] Mock all you like but it's the way it's designed dude [/quote] I interpreted that as a piece of Benny Hill-ism ...

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1444388423' post='2882788'] I have it up for sale at the moment ... [/quote] Where? I can't see it anywhere.