Dan Dare

6 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

A professional repair technician put a 4 ohm driver in a cab rated at 8 ohms and populated by all 8 ohm drivers... you've had a lucky escape that he is busy! 

Yep. Probably explains why it went pop. It's been copping most of the output of the amp.

6 hours ago, greavesbass said:

As you get older going out nearly every night until the early hrs chasing every penny can loose its shine real quick.

3 hours ago, msb said:

I don’t rely on gig money to pay the bills , so I’m selfish now about gigs. If I anticipate any misery , I don’t do it.

Yes to both of the above. Like many, I've done my share of playing in toilets to animals who hated me because every penny counted. Now I'm retired and reasonably comfortable and don't have to do it, I don't. I won't play for nowt ("It's for charity", etc) on principle, but as long as I cover my expenses plus a couple of beers and the experience is enjoyable, I'm happy. I appreciate I'm fortunate, but I did do my time/pay my dues back in the day, so I guess I earned it.

And get your computer confiscated.

19 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I'm afraid I don't understand the phrase "male grooming routine"

Sounds distinctly dodgy. 

I use a wire brush and Dettol.

"Final price drop" is my favourite.

7 hours ago, TimR said:

If something has been on sale for 2 years it means the seller isn't that bothered about selling it and/or they have an unrealistic view of what it's worth and/or no one wants to buy it

I wonder if those ad's are placed to satisfy 'er/'im indoors who is complaining about the place being cluttered up with gear. "I'm trying to sell it, honest, but nobody's interested. Must be due to the recession", etc.

PJB are clean. Too clean for my tastes. I like and use their cabs, but their amps leave me a bit cold.

I'll add PJB to the mix if you want clean.

He play in the right order, but not necessarily the right notes.

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

IIRC you can buy spare parts for everything that K&M make.

Yep. I have a Trigger's Broom K&M mic stand that is almost 50 years old. 

"Maybe you're looking to stand out from the crowd". Yes, but in a good way.

The Gotoh 203 has the two extra holes. It's a good quality BBOT replacement, made from chromed brass and at least as good as the Fender. The one above is not a Gotoh, which has a curved edge to the base plate.

I'm a K&M fan. I also have a couple of Quiklok mixer stands, which are solid and have lasted for years. If their bass/guitar stands are as well built, they'd be worth a look.

I'd ask Watford Valves for suggestions. They recommended a lower output ECC83 to me for a preamp which solved a similar issue to yours.

Whilst you can get lighter P bodies - swamp ash, poplar, etc - a P bass neck weighs what it weighs and there's little potential to lighten it. Those beefy tuners add to the tendency for neck dive, which tends to be more pronounced on a lighter instrument, because the neck makes up a greater proportion of its total weight. You can reduce that by using lightweight Gotoh or Hipshot replacements, but they're not cheap. I'd agree with those above who suggest a P pickup on a different style of instrument. Either that or try a strap at least 4" wide. I have a Pinegrove wide strap on mine, which is very comfortable. The Levy is nice and good value, too.

Gigs? Drive. I own the PA, too, so no choice.

Rehearsals? Drive. Drummer lives 20 miles away (I'm in the sticks) and has converted his garage into a studio/rehearsal space, so even though I only take basses and use the rig he has there, there's no public transport option.

7 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

Violin between the ages of 4 and 6. Piano from 6 to about 13 (with a stint on church organ during that time) and then self-taught on bass. The piano was a brilliant grounding, as it taught me harmony etc.

I'm very similar - violin and piano - although I didn't learn the piano for long. The office downstairs from our flat complained about the noise of my practicing and as my father worked for the company that owned the building, the piano went and I switched to the violin (which I could practice in a room in the attic so the sound didn't reach the ground floor). Very useful in that it taught me to read in both clefs and also to use the fourth finger (pinky). Why so many don't use it is beyond me. Just makes things so much easier.

Love the guitar p/u, too.

So-called rust erasers are fine grit grinding stones/pads (I have one - not this model - for kitchen knives, etc). Personally, I wouldn't bother. Pole pieces are quite soft metal and I wouldn't be keen to use this on them unless the corrosion was particularly severe. A little surface rust doesn't affect the ability of the pole pieces to do their job and if you remove it, you just expose fresh metal, which will promptly start to rust.

14 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Wow - everyone used to have the same colour hair!

 

And plenty of it. Those were the days. Sigh...

You can never have too many cabs.

11 hours ago, Norris said:

 

The key thing is that music comes before ego. You know who messed up, and hopefully so does the guitarist, but you don't need to stand there pointing and making it obvious to everyone else

I don't recall suggesting "pointing and making it obvious to everyone else".

Putting on a good show comes before everything, including music and of course, ego.

1 hour ago, Norris said:

And if it's the guitarist soloing, follow the guitarist

Hmmm. One has to draw the line somewhere 😁

I enjoy giving the old tonsils an occasional run out, but only do it if it's needed.

2 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

I wouldn't do the 'pointed look' as it will apparent to them that they've sphered it up and it alerts the audience to the fact.

I wasn't thinking of yelling "You plonker" and glaring. More a raised eyebrow kind of deal.

2 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

you’re going to have to tell your band they are wrong.

Only half of them felt differently to me and it wasn't a matter of life or death, fortunately.

1 hour ago, musicbassman said:

But if they start off in the wrong key, then a car crash is pretty inevitable, as there's no undo button.

The keys player always gives them a note if needed (say where there is no intro to lead them into it), so that hasn't happened yet, touch wood.