NancyJohnson

I'd say from the outset that while I have basses made by a handful of manufacturers, I would qualify myself as [i]not [/i]being a fan of Fender basses; I had a Precision for way too long, a brief dalliance with a Geddy Lee jazz and still own a short scale Badtz Maru Bronco/Mustang thing, but in general, I'm not a fan. That said, last night I clapped eyes on an American Jaguar bass; I didn't actually touch the thing and it was just on a stand, but I'm kind of smitten. Dang it was lovely. I'm really not on the market for another bass and certainly not one with a £1.3K price tag, but oh, man, hubba bubba.

I have a board with a few drive pedals (Sansamp BDDI/VTBdi/GT2, plus a Boss ODB3). My marmite stuff: EHX Black Finger Compressor (distinctly underwhelmed, couldn't hear any difference whatever I did) EBS Octabass (didn't really track fast enough and wasn't happy with any of my five strings)

I'd concur about the font. Horrible! I'd also go with a darker background colour.

Jeepers...I had a listen. Really, really not for me. Best I can describe is you know when youre a bit stressed and you get a dull ache in your chest? Listening to it was a bit like that. I was just willing it to get going. It was actually making me feel anxious.

A guy I played with for a while bought a left-handed Crimson guitar (actual photo below). While the total price was unspecified, it was inferred that it cost a horrific amount of money...he mentioned he could have "bought two or three Les Pauls for the price", so go figure. There were issues with the build, Crimson liquidated mid-build and then restarted, eventually finishing and delivering the instrument. I jammed with the owner a few times and he used the guitar for a couple of songs, it certainly didn't have any wow factor. It disappeared and I never saw it again. I found out a while later that the guitar sold on eBay for about 20% what he paid for it. Yikes.

[quote name='jimbobothy' timestamp='1467221475' post='3082080'] Bought a used Limelight jazz for £700, spent a bit on a few things for it and sold for £550. I thought I got a good deal when I bought it (well I did!). The market can be very strange sometimes can't it! [/quote] I could see this happening a mile off with the Limelight stuff to be honest, not because I don't like what they're doing (because I think they look decent enough). It's difficult to quantify and I don't want to upset anyone; I'd love to believe that their basses are lovingly crafted with due care and attention (like the Bravewood stuff), but I just get the feeling that this isn't the case. If it's the latter, it's potentially a tremendous mark up for bolting together some instruments in a Dr Frankenstein manner.

I read about this in Bass Player...I keep forgetting to add them on Spotify. All done. That's my drive home sorted!

I think in 30-odd years of playing, while there's been much cooing over gear, I've had perhaps less than five comments about tone, ability etc; it doesn't particularly bother me as I'd doing this for myself more than anyone else. I don't really qualify myself as being an outstanding player or this fantastic showman - I do what I do, I'm well-rehearsed and know what's required. I don't really ache for recognition in any respect as a musician, although as I've always done the bulk of the songwriting in virtually every band I've played in, a little nod from someone saying, 'Oh, I really liked the song that goes...' is by far the better compliment. [b]Sorry, just editing here. [/b] A couple of weeks ago Bill Carter (Screaming Blue Messiahs) was at a gig we were doing. He did say I was a good player and asked if I lived close to him (for whatever that meant, but the answer was 'no'), which was nice.

Been giving some thought to upgrading my DAW; currently using the now unsupported Adobe Audition 3.0. It's been fine but I'm just getting to the point where I find it a bit limiting...stuff it won't do out of the box, although I've formulated the odd workaround to achieve what I want it to do. A little reluctant to go the free-DAW route, just wondered whether anyone is using FL Studio Producer Edition. It seems reasonably priced (£120-ish, with free lifetime updates). I'm generally recording on my own, sometimes with either the guitarist or singer. Preference for looped Beta Monkey .WAV live drums (no clue how to do MIDI drums!). PC is an old, but well specced Dell machine, Windows 10. Cheers

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1465417271' post='3068111'] Do you have a screwdriver you can change the ends on, you usually get the bits in a case with the handle and the bits pop into a hex hole at the end. [/quote] Do you know, this is such an amazing tip. I've got a Stanley screwdriver like this and it's never actually crossed my mind that (if it fits) I could possibly use it this way. Top tip.

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1466976943' post='3080230'] Those bracelets are a brilliant idea [/quote] I used to work for Hollister (we were definitely [b]not [/b]the clothing company) and we used to supply the coloured wrist tickets for these festivals...Reading/Leeds etc.. They were pretty much the use-once-only identification things that we also supplied into hospitals. We did it for years and things only went awry when some temporary scally in our Berkshire warehouse stole a box of the wristbands and started selling them around Reading, the asshat.

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1467017967' post='3080395'] Coldplay...music for people who don't like music. [/quote] [quote name='ras52' timestamp='1467018798' post='3080405'] Perhaps that they're a band for people who put being part of an "event" before the music? They do the crowd-pleasing thing very well. I've not followed their career closely, but I remember that when they started they were talked about in the same bracket as Radiohead! [/quote] These are pretty succinct comments. I've never liked Radiohead either! I just looked up the Wikipedia page for Glastonbury and more specifically the bands on the main stage (or day-headliners). I reckon since 1970 or so, there's probably less than five bands I would have paid good money to see but not for standing in a muddy field to do so. Each to their own, but really not for me.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1466979689' post='3080254'] I know it's all been said before about them, so I'm sorry if I upset anybody here, but I've just finished watching Coldplay at Glastonbury and I really did struggle to stay awake. [/quote] Why does everyone feel the need to prefix criticism by apologising? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, some will agree, some will disagree! I watched about 30 seconds and decided it was time for bed (yes, 9.00pm and I'm grown up and everything). I just don't get Coldplay and never have. Clearly, they have passion for it (and they're clearly adored) and they all seem to be nice enough guys, but I find them so dull musically that they leave me cold. Same goes with Muse. Same goes a lot of these festival headliners.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1466949657' post='3079901'] I think you are right that the P/J config looks the best. Have you never considered a Spector? I would've thought they'd be right up your neck-through rock-machine schizzle? [/quote] I did give a bit of consideration to the Forte 4X...the Thunderbird shaped one, but the prices were horrific. £4k+ when I enquired. I played one of the Legend bolt-ons, it was ok, nothing special though. It's weird that the Gibsons are seen as being fine for my old school punky stuff, but the Spector was a bit more 'metal'. I'm getting very envious of your stuff...

That's a very cool looking bass. Very cool. Much prefer the look of the P/J pickup configuration over the soapbars.

[quote name='cetera' timestamp='1466064149' post='3073067'] I'll see what I can do [/quote] (Preferably one that I might want to put a cheeky offer in for on the day, eh? )

I had a Bongo 5HH a few years ago...it was a lovely bass, but the actives really did my head in; it was more a case of my discipline in leaving the tone controls alone while [we] were playing, but more often or not what started as a great tone ended up a horrible mushed up mess with every control on the bass turned to the maximum. I did raise a question here about pulling out (or disconnecting) the active circuitry and running it passive somehow, but I couldn't really get a definitive answer as to whether this was possible. The bass is long gone (and I do miss it now and again) and I'd still like to know! Would it have been possible to simply desolder the pickup cabling and route these through regular pots? Paul

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1466187571' post='3074045'] Boschma. Just watch the feet on the bottom as they have a tendency to pop off the screws. Everything else about the case is fantastic. My 6U and its contents case survived being dropped from chest height followed my me falling on top of it. [/quote] Is there footage available of this on You Tube? Work sucks today and I could use a giggle.

I've not used the model you mention, but so long as whatever you plug into the aux-in (or an effects loop return) should work fine. All you're doing is (as you say), bypassing the pre-stage of the unit; assuming you're feeding the amp from an iPod/phone headphone output, the only overriding factor is to make sure the input signal isn't super hot or the output may overdrive/distort as you're hitting the power stage with a signal that's got too much gain. At the same time you obviously need to ensure there's enough output to drive what's behind the aux input, just don't whack the iPod/phone up to 100% immediately. Start low, work up and control the overall volume with the gain/volume pot on the front of the amp. Easy.

I had an Orange Matamp (top left). Bought it at this ex-hire place in Chalk Farm, Landaan, late 70s. It had Davey Johnson's name stencilled on the back. My dad had it revalved at his workplace (MoD) and it caught fire when we were jamming in a friends bedroom, at which stage we were pouring Coke into it to put the flames out. It was a lovely amp. I dread to think what it would be worth now.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1466451832' post='3075950'] Apologies [/quote] Accepted with thanks.