Musicman20

Great looking bass! I still want a RW P and J/

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397475845' post='2424196'] I think it depends very much on the band. I quit my covers band last year because it was simply far too much work for too little reward. The fee per gig that we were getting might have been more than my originals band but by the time we'd detected all our expenses and the amount of extra time it took to set up and break down the lights and PA etc. I was actually coming away with a better hourly rate playing originals. [/quote] I agree with this. When I was younger, I joined a band who started doing covers, but then wrote 4-5 songs of their own. You know what, their own songs were really good. The vocalist was a typical high maintenance indie swagger type guy, brillliant voice though. He could play about 10 guitar chords and wrote some stunning songs...so simple yet....well, right.... I was 15/16, earnt a fair bit for my age, but realised I had to play my own music. Took a huge break from covers bands. A few years back I joined up with an old friend and we played around our hometown whilst I was waiting for a new job to start. It was fun, I admit it, but only because we knew each other. The money was pretty poor, as it seems most bands seem to get now in small towns. We played the odd wedding and I still didn't think the fee was worth it. In between all of that, I've played in 'originals' bands, and it is incredibly fun writing, gigging, and that FINAL piece of recording and nailing it. A lot of fun, especially when the recording chaps noted how the basslines suddenly got much better when I joined the band. I've had a lot of fun on the way, and not earnt much from originals bands, but then again, money isn't it for me. Maybe it will be when I'm older, but to be quite honest, my day job is for money, and music is for sheer fun. Covers can be great to get technique sorted and learn new genres, but I prefer writing with a band from scratch and that is what I'm concentrating on now. If I was offered or found the right covers band, I would do it again, but I'm not playing local pubs for £50-70 each then spending half of that on strings/transport/a few pints. No point.

No one has yet proved that there isn't a 750 watt module in there...its just held back and effectively turn the amp up to full tilt and it won't break a sweat.

It arrived from Amazon (cheaper than everywhere else and good returns system). I'm happy with it. At first I forgot how to use the patches as I was concentrating on getting rid of hum from my Telecaster. I was too busy moving away from the monitor, then realising it was a pretty quiet unit, once I was in my normal practice space. I then went through the instructions and found the preset patches. Some of them really are fantasic. The U2 delay patch and Beatles AC-30 type patch are really useful. There are loads of possibilites with this pedal, the same as the B3, but you can have 6 effects/simulators on at once, which is pretty amazing. For £114, I am very impressed. It is a great bit of kit and will, for now, be used as a practice tool. A few hours a week I'm going to spend time getting better on guitar and learning a few songs/writing a few parts of songs. It doesn't have 'aux in' but hook it upto the computer with USB and just use headphones for the sound from both via a few settings changes, and you can even play along/learn from YouTube. The HD Reverb is brilliant. It's also really fun to whack on a lot of distortion/gain and write some dirty riffs. It makes me realise how easy it can be to write heavier riffs. Even the Telecaster sounds meaty (yet still has the twang and clarity). IMO, yet another great Zoom product.

I went from the Markbass LM3 to a Genz Streamliner 900. That was the 'warm/clear/tubey' side covered, but with better limiting and IMO, a better amp with better features and a great treble control. I initially bought a Shuttle 9 when they came. I didn't like it straight away so I sent it back and took an RH450. I LOVED that amp. Something in the baked in EQ worked for me. I upgraded to the RH750 and again, despite the fact people can't accept that it is capable of more volume than most similarly rated micro amps, I think the tone is fantastic, plus it will allow more treble sheen which is great. This is just me, but now I wouldn't go back to Markbass. I think they really had a good grasp on things, and they should have just made a LM4 by now, and upgraded the F500. I'm not as interested in their new products.

I've bought many new pieces of gear.Some of the basses have been on a credit card, which was either quickly paid off as I had the cash (and wanted CC protection) or I spent a few months being careful and paid it off. Either way, if you are clever and careful with credit cards, they can build your credit rating up. Basically don't pay the minimum. If you have half of the cash ready for the bass, then the rest can be put on a card if you KNOW you will have the cash coming in monthly.

I don't train in the area of law thats involved (although the basics are available and understandable to most). It's much more complex due to this being the internet, the liability of the owners of the website for the actions of its members, and the fact it invokes an international flavour. I can understand why the owners didn't want to carry on with the threats. As much as we are a fairly litigious bunch in the UK, I don't think we tend to dive in and sue at the first sign of a legal dispute like some other countries. Ric will sell Ric's no matter what. I still want one. I'm quite interested to find out what happened with the many high end Fender copies and the cases that stemmed from that. Obviously, they didn't win, but it does seem crazy if you think about it; Leo Fender invented the Fender P and J, yet other companies can do what they want with it (to an extent) and Fender just have to try and compete. Saying all that, if I was a regular Ric seller, I would be annoyed I'd paid the subscription on BC.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1397325215' post='2422884'] John Hall stands to benefit a great deal by stifling the secondhand market in his basses. It can only serve to help the sales of new ones. [/quote] Ay...look at my position, I can't buy off here and I've been eyeing up new ones. I won't bite until I know its going to be the right one though.

I had the same model in white/red tort/rosewood. Same sticker, roughly same year, MIJ P Bass 62 Reissue, but the standard MIJ model, not with the USA pup. It was a fine, lightweight and solid bass. I used it i punk and hardcore bands for years and it still looked pretty mint at the end. I then sold it rather stupidly. It was a great bass! I think in the 90s, when these were new, they were £420-460 for the model I had.

I'd still like one but not having them on here means I can't try a decent used one. I don't really want to go to ebay.

I'm really tempted to get a Bongo in that colour...its the same price as normal.

PDN Honeyburst Musicman Bongos. Yum.

WANT http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Sting5HSSRW/ Over the top but mint.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1397216560' post='2421867'] However, a Precision will always be my go to bass, and if I could find a Fender I find as playable and as toneful as my Yamaha - a far more expensive Precision - I'd be all over it like a rash! [/quote] The Yamaha's are lovely!

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1397208405' post='2421743'] As for the 'happiness is a warm P' thing, I've never understood that. Don't get me wrong - I love Precisions, and learned to play on a Fender USA P. But over the years I have always found them far too limited to cover all of the different kinds of music I want to play. Try playing Chic's 'Good Times' on a P - it sounds terrible! Conversely, I've never understood why Stingrays are always thought of as a 'one-trick pony'. I think Rays are far more versatile than Ps - in fact, if I was only allowed to have one bass I would probably go for a Ray. But of course YMMV. [/quote] We agree on this. I love P basses having learnt on a P style bass for years, and growing up with them. However, they can get a little bit boring. A few years back or more, everyone was 'superjazz' and was yearning for an expensive boutique active jazz. That is still there, but P basses are very much 'it' at the moment, (although they have never been unpopular, its just they are VERY popular at the moment). The thing that I can't understand personally is the super expensive boutique P basses. Just buy a Fender/similar and be done. You don't need to spend £3000 on a very simple design which may still not sound like a P should. Ray's are my favourite basses of all time, and always will be. Style, comfort, kicking tone, excellent build quality.

Check out Carvin's new Vanquish bass, or indeed any of their nice tops on the latest P/J basses they make. Decent prices, nice quality. I personally love a Musicman bass. Classic Stingray/Stingray/Sterling/Big Al and even the Bongo.....(yes the Bongo looks amazing in a bright colour). The NYC Sadowsky basses are stunning.

It sounds completely ridiculous, but a bands appearance and attitude can change their popularity completely. I know it should be all about the music, but it isn't.

I've seen so many covers bands turning up like tramps its unreal. These guys get paid. Then you see the well dressed and smart original bands who have an image with the music, and they don't get paid (I'm talking the local small bands...not The Beatles/Hives/Interpol or any other band that wore/wears suits etc). I've never managed to get a band interested in decent clothing...but not everyone has an interest in fashion I guess. If I had a choice, fashionable suits all the way.

Dingus has nailed it. Unfortunately, despite knowing that is the reason for it, it STILL winds me up. It feels to me like it applies more to music gear more than a lot of other items, but Im probably imagining that. Clothes/music/DVDS/Blu Rays/gaming seems to have come down very very cheap, but music gear increases. In 2009 I paid about £830 for a new American Fender P and the same for a J. In 2011, about £950. I moved some of those on, and inbetween bought my favourite P bass (same model, just better) for a silly low price new. Now? £1100+.... It's still a good deal...but that is one heck of a jump. A PS3 cost me £450 new (ish) on release day. I don't own that as it played up, the store game me a new one, and a refund as they had reduced the price, (nice suprise). I then moved on and traded it etc for the slim version, even cheaper. A new PS4 is £350 ish. I will eventually buy one. A new LED Smart 40" 3D TV is now also very cheap in comparison. Weird. I know its totally different markets...but it does perplex me.

...and considering you get that nice Gibson case with it...absolute bargain.

Fantastic amps.

The OBC115 does have a nice mid range content, to my ears, but you won't get the ping and crispness from it as it's not voiced for it and it doesn't have a tweeter. It will grind though, and provide a big warm pillow of bass.

Ay, this is probably Gibson's best bass in a long time! I'd like one in the Sunburst.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1396890650' post='2418454'] Yes. As I said in my first post in this thread in my teens I worked out the intervals in the major, minor and pentatonic scales, which got me started. However, I've always used what I can hear in my head as the end point when composing. It gives me tunes that sound good to me rather than ones that are easy to play or fall neatly into one of the scales. [/quote] Ay this is kind of how I think. However, Dingus, I totally understand that in a way, I am 'hearing' the music theory...and one day if I have time I'll look into learning a little more. I was a punk rocker playing fast NOFX/Rancid bass in the 90s. I still like that stuff, but my interest in more song based music like The Beatles has taken over. Both don't, as yet, need me to do anymore than be able to hear what I need to play (or want to play if writing). I do need to get much better on guitar so at the moment, that takes preference.

[quote name='lemmywinks' timestamp='1396895950' post='2418551'] I would just get your money back tbh, this sounds like a lot of messing about for a cab cover. £75 is also a lot of money for a simple thin cover. [/quote] These guys in the past were pretty good value...not sure if the prices have jumped up?