NancyJohnson

I saw what you did there.

I bought a couple of sets of the 5-string Nickels. I've used them before...and at £18 a set, it was too good a price not to turn down. Christ, if Spector are putting their name on them you'd hope that they weren't terrible.

Yes, sorry, GT1000FX. It's 'just' a powerstage; to be honest, to my ears it sounds fine, whether or not it's supposed to be for guitar or bass. I had a day up in the Midlands with the Matrix guys about a year ago and their attitude ultimately came down to the unit being fine for whatever you needed to push through it...bass, guitar, keys, PA. It's reasonably priced and weighs very little...I have it housed in a Gator 4U rack with a Korg tuner. Easy!

If I could submit a two part scenario, I use a Matrix GT100FX-2U power amp and have previosuly fed this with a Tech 21 Sansamp/RBI pre-stage and now a Geddy Lee Sansamp pre-stage. Until I went this route, I went through a ridiculous amount of gear...from lowly entry level Carlsboro combos, H/H, Orange, Trace Eliot, Ashdown etc etc. The only all in one unit that was equally good was a Tech 21 Landmark 300, but it just wasn't loud enough. The current rig does everything I could ever want. Loud/quiet. Clean/dirty. Phat/thin. An pretty much everything in between.

I've run one amp for probably 95% of the time I've been playing, but the old swing-o-meter for basses has gone from 1 to a perhaps a dozen or more at any given time over the years. Thing is, I find that gear in shops distinctly underwhelming. Doesn't matter where either, the small/large standalones (GAK/Andertons), the chains (GuitarGuitar, and obviously the bit US ones, Guitar Center/Sam Ash), it's all a bit meh. It was like shopping for clothes at Gap. I just took a look at the Bass Gallery in stocks. There wasn't one thing that I'd buy (but the Normandy Archtop looked quite nice...). The big brands tend to bore me stupid now, hence I'm going with someone who can make what I want that doesn't resemble a coffee table. Anti-gas is good.

I believe you just have a bout of anti-gas. It'll pass soon enough, once you see what's new at NAMM in a couple of months.

Sadly the thread doesn't have any real closure. Neeph, get on it, eh?

Didn't we have a headless Thunderbird in these pages a while back?

I know I have considerable monetary investment in Lulls, but cost aside, the JAXT4 is the best bass I've ever played, bar none. I'm hoping the new one is equally as good, or better.

Great isn't it? Honestly, don't see what the issue is though. In a blind test, no touchy, could you tell the difference between a bolt-on, set neck or neck-through tonally?

Delano make two pickups that look like this...one is wound/intended for use in a P/J set, another as a standalone Precision pickup. This one is the latter.

I've got an age-old version of Photoshop CS3...now, I know people will say it's only for this and that, but ultimately isn't it about using your own creativity and squeezing as much out of your software as possible? Everything I've done with images, from logos, CD covers and labels, flyers, posters, banners etc. it's all been with this package. I understand everyone has their preferences and I think if I was coming into this game from scratch, I'd be asking questions as well, BUT for the odd one-off, get someone else to do it for you as Adobe's pricing structure is mental.

Roomwise it's one of the conference/wedding rooms at Cirencester FC. It's not going to have to be huge. He's a bit vague. I suppose if you think of what a club band or DJ might use. I guess they'll only mic up the bass drum and snare. It's a punky gig. If you can help, I'll happily pass over his contact details.

Oooh. Wouldn't that be a thing?

There a few pics peppered about. Try this thread: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/311768-hipshot-kickass-bridge/?tab=comments#comment-3370200 When I got it, it needed everything looking at, it did have a set of Schaller machines on it, but everything else was shot . I have, to date done: New bridges, BBoT now a KickAss Fret Levelling Full set up Delano pickups, new pot and knobs New black scratchplate Dunlop straploks ...must remove that sticker.

I know the thread is about the one particular bass...my old Aria Primary was like this, fundamentally solid, but requiring TLC. The tiniest of tweaks can make so much difference. I'm not really a Precision fan as such and I know the Aria is a copy of one, but I love it dearly...granted, it's turning into this test-bed of different hardware, but it's a beautiful thing and plays dreamily.

In answer to your first question, they're using the dep who they pulled in without my consent earlier in the year. This is/was the root cause of me leaving; the whole insensitivity surrounding that furore was just another issue that ultimately broke the camel's back. Gigwise, I use the colloquial 'we' here as yes, we were doing Reading on the 25th, the Yellow Bus gig on 2/12, a radio thing on the 3rd. He booked two toilet gigs mid-December (Maidenhead/Southampton) on dates he knew full well I was unavailable...these places are shitholes, especially the Southampton one, but well, he booked them anyway and didn't even bother asking whether I was OK with a dep. 'We' also had a load of gigs in for 2018. You know, on the subject of deps, one thing that the singer said as well over WhatsApp was this (this is a direct copy and paste): "Also, it's not like there is a finite number of gigs. If we turn down six and play six with you, we've played six gigs. If we say yes to 12 and play six with you, you've still played six gigs." There are loads of quite irrational comments like this peppered through our final exchanges and even reading this now, I'm shaking my head trying to understand the logic behind it. So much for putting in the hours writing, rehearsing every week. I'd still have played six gigs. That's all that matters, eh?

I'm not there either as I left my band a couple of days back. I'm handling his artwork until someone better than me offers their services! *I'm doing the Sounds Of The Cotswolds posters this weekend!

Isn't it generally like this though? Bands I've played in have folded and it's simple to keep it civil and friendly, but here it's just different; there is no way I wanted to commit to doing the rest of the gigs, especially as it's so easy to find a dep The singer was overbearing, controlling, brutish and thought everything he said was right. Even at rehearsals he used to go on about where we all stood, because he, 'wasn't interested in what the bass was doing.' There was no denying he was a decent frontman or that he helped to lift the band to the level it's at now, but he didn't care who he trod on to achieve that and the total lack of empathy towards my half of the rhythm section over the last few months was just appalling. He just broke my spirit, so much so that I just walked away.

It's well documented here that I'm no fan of Adam Clayton and this also extends to the use of his name on signature models. I'm sure that having fellow bandmembers on the board of directors at Fender just makes it far too easy to put his name on a pair 60 year old designs in a sparkly finish and claim it's something new, especially considering his dalliances with other manufacturers. I'd have respected Fender more if they'd bought these combinations out as a standard option! P

It's just a nice touch on my part. I want those asshats to turn up to mix on Sunday and my stuff is all gone.

Let me put a bit of meat on the bone. It's a long one, sorry. I started Nancy Johnson early 2011...much like any band, it has been a little like Trigger's Broom, the line up has ebbed and flowed but I have been the common thread throughout. I was writing everything up until around a year ago. A couple of years back we took on a new singer and quite soon after, I really felt that I was losing my band...this guy was pursuing gigs and booking rehearsals, taking over. The last year has been busy; maybe 60-70 gigs, radio, television, studio and rehearsing pretty much every week, I'd say 80% of it driven by him. Personally, I think it was too much, sometimes I'd be out three or four nights a week (keeping it spaced, keeps the fires burning). Around midyear, and this is important, my father-in-law's health deteriorated (and he has subsequently passed away) and my mother who has lived with bladder cancer for three years, got ill again (she's still with us, crazy as ever). This seemed to have little effect on the singer though, who was pouncing on every gig opportunity, irrespective of whether it was a mile away or a midweek 200 mile round trip playing to 5 people (yes, that happened more than once), and whether or not the band had their full quota available on our band calendar. It got to the point where he'd say, 'I've got a gig on such and such a day,' and I'd say, 'Look, my father-in-law is very ill, I really need to help support my wife and mother-in-law,' to which he just suggested using a dep; something I have never adhered to and requested we didn't on several occasions. If it were me, I'd prefer that if we were a man down, that we politely decline the booking, giving reasons why, and see whether a promoter was prepared to reschedule. His drive was fairly insatiable and almost driven by the fact that I'd already said I couldn't gig. Eventually he didn't even bother asking whether I wanted to cancel what I was doing, it was pretty much, 'We've got a gig, Paul's not available, we'll get Tom.' He also remarked that using a dep doesn't have any effect on me personally (duh?). We locked horns a few times about things and I think everyone in the band would agree that he was difficult, but the guitarist and him were tight and the drummer just sat on the fence, so it was pretty much two versus one and the majority are always right, eh?. The dep issue came up again a few days ago, this time with vengeance. I had some long-standing stuff booked for December; Albert Hall twice, works Christmas bash, family dinners, working away, seeing my mum, and finally on 16/17th December a weekend away with wife and mother-in-law; the 17th being my late father-in-laws birthday, so we felt it was best to be around MiL that weekend. Despite these days being in the band calendar, gigs were still accepted and my commitment was questioned; laughable considering what I'd done this year - I felt the remarks made about not gigging on the 16th were just hurtful and below the belt, so I decided that if they loved using a dep so much, they could find one permanently and I quit. I just felt a huge wave of relief when I hit the send button. Like I've said, a huge weight off my shoulders. Amazingly, they posted a statement on the band Facebook page. Paragraph 2 was pretty telling. Amazingly, and unprompted, a load of my mates have just piled in against them, which is pretty hilarious. My messenger services have been pinging most of the day with people who are amazed and I've had six video calls over Skype and Messenger. I've also noticed the bands likes have gone down by a few as well. Fast forward less than 90 minutes after I quit and I've had two offers from bands, so project #1 kicks off on 7/12/17. I would concur that this is like being in a relationship with a bully, or someone you don't particularly like or trust. A few people here know me pretty well and would vouch for my character; I don't really do confrontation, I just want an easy, peaceful, fun life. My band, deteriorated to such a point that I hated it, or hated what it had turned into. Everything that guy did just built up until I reached a point where I didn't want to do it any more. I wish they guy had never responded to our vocalist wanted ad.

Well, there we are. First rehearsal booked for 7/12/17. That was a little too easy.