NancyJohnson

My main band has undergone a few upheavals in the last year and while I'd stress that losing our guitarist (to another project) was just plain sad and awful, even he's admitted the new guy is a far better fit. From the experience perspective, we've all been doing it for decades; the new drummer and guitarist both have what qualifies as experience but for one reason or another neither had played in about a year. With both guys, I spoke to them at length on the phone and circulated audio ahead of the first get together, but if either of these guys had been asshats, it would have been apparent during the first conversation and they wouldn't have been invited along. I'd rather play with guys who want this to be fun rather than virtuoso fret-w***ers. Obviously with the prevalence of social media, it is quite routine to do some online checking to support any credentials - just a few minutes ago I read a Facebook entry on a musicians wanted page where some guy said he's played 'over a thousand gigs in the last ten years'. Clicking on his photos showed up loads of photos of trees and his dog, but not one of the guy playing with anything other than a football. What does that say?

I'd listen to some EARLY Japan stuff; they were a lot more rocky/punky/funky at the start, although their material smoothed out with each album. Mick Karn's lines are fluid and still quite amazing to my ears; the way he weaved his playing into, it has to be said, some fairly formulaic tracks, makes the Adolescent Sex, Obscure Alternatives and Quiet Life albums inherently listenable 30 years after they were originally released. I'd also recommend the Polytown album Karn did with David Torn and Terry Bozzio. While it's difficult to find a CD of it, it is up on Spotify.

I've had three; Bongo, DJ5 and a Streamer. The Bongo played best by a country mile, I adored the design, balance, feel and string spacing but tonally it was a mess and if I could have converted it to passive somehow, I would have. Tonally I'd say the DJ5 edged it.

I'll have to admit to being fairly GAS-free at the moment; I really couldn't be happier with my set up, but hey, in a few days it'll be 2017, so let's see. #1 - I've promised myself that each time I change strings, they'll be to Elixir Nanowebs. #2 - A series one Hamer Cruise Bass this side of the pond (anyone?); they come up on eBay periodically, but to import, I can't justify the expense. #3 - If I can shift my Hartke stuff, a Barefaced Super Twin or Big Twin II. [Edit] #4 - At my wife's suggestion, an EUB.

I'll have to admit I'm not really hankering for anything either. 2017 we'll see what happens, eh?

I have a mate whose TB500 went the same way and I think he'd just given up with it and it was heading to landfill. Quick message sent.

Paul Schuster has said it's (currently) strung with a custom made set of La Bella strings. No intelligence the gauges.

[quote name='SpcMnk' timestamp='1481978780' post='3196715'] With a bigger scale the distance between the frets increases so you would need really big hands to become friends with that one.. [/quote] Arm length would be more of a factor I suspect, however as I said earlier, I could feasibly rob two or three inches by moving the bridge further back on my JAXT4m so the additional length would only be c.3" beyond the nut. There's a scale length calculator over on the Stewmac site to support measurements. [url="https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator.html"]https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator.html[/url] Just type in the scale length and number of frets. Interestingly (and if you have a Fender Precision close to hand), the nut (open tuning) would be at a position equivalent to dead centre that of the D-string machine head capstan. The fifth fret on the 40" scale (so an E) would be roughly at the equivalent position of the 2nd fret (F#) on the Precision.

I did a search and all there were were a few hokey live photos of him playing a Jazz Bass shaped bass with a MM pickup on it. It could have been silver or pink. That's how good those pics were.

I think for me the issue is purely down to the visual aesthetics. Longer scale, bigger body. I've got a JAXT4 which has a Thunderbird shaped body, albeit 20% bigger...you could easily(!) steal two or three inches at the bridge end, just by setting the bridge further back, which would only mean adding four to six inches to neck length. It's an interesting concept...sadly it would probably cost an arm and a leg.

Paul Schuster at Lull posted up the image below on the Lull Facebook page yesterday. The bass on the right is a one off build for a customer; a 40" scale monster tuned BEAD. Aside from this (and a little plea for more information), I have nothing more for you. (If you're interested, left to right the models are a 30" scale, a 34", a 34" with an oversized JAX layout and finally the 40" brute.) I mean, credit for Lull for actually building this. I just get a little tired of standard basses being 34" or 35", just because, cough, 'Leo got it right.'

I've uploaded a track we recorded on 11th December 2016 called Stay Out Late. Band is Who Killed Nancy Johnson? Vocals: Stefan James Guitar: Peter Moulton Bass: Paul Anthony (yours truly!) Drums: Marky Wren. We all did backing vocals. Music: Paul Anthony (me!) Lyrics: Stefan James https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6t04blibq9sju5/4%20Stay%20Out%20Late.mp3?dl=0 (Hopefully this'll work. If not, PM me.)

I use Sennheiser HD202. I didn't pay much for them and just checked Amazon and they're £20.00!! I think that's actually less than what I paid about five years ago. They've been brilliant really.

Isn't the 'most' thing just a disclaimer? The transmitter side of the product utilises a (standard) 1/4" input and in 'most' cases your instrument will have a (standard) 1/4" output jack socket, so a short patch cable will suffice. All they're alluding to is that some instruments might have a different output types, requiring a different cable or adapter.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1480504627' post='3184852'] It's disappointing that the BBC are using a racial angle in their headlines. [/quote] I thought this as well.

Evening all No affiliation here. There's a Hamer Blitz bass up on eBay for the bargain price of £450 (I found it while searching for a Cruisebass), however, the seller is also selling it for £395 on their storefront website. Looks very clean for a guitar 30+ years old. The serial number shows it to be a 1983 model. Link/photo below. Good hunting Paul [url="http://shop.musical-money.co.uk/guitars/6081-1983-hamer-blitz-bass-guitar-metallic-red.html"]http://shop.musical-money.co.uk/guitars/6081-1983-hamer-blitz-bass-guitar-metallic-red.html[/url]

I hadn't given the gloss element much thought...all my stuff is either solid colour or varnished/poly and it takes a few minutes for them to gets a bit sweaty to speed things up.

I did a little guffaw at 3.5mm. Yikes. Granted I like my action low and a bit rattly, but a decent twelfth fret action here is 2mm or less.

I played the Fighting Cocks in Kingston last night. Lots of fun, although apparently the sound guy walked out for five minutes because he was offended at the content of one of our songs. Sheesh. I mean, we've all gone out on a blind date with a girl called Zoe, only to find out it's a guy, haven't we?