TrevorR

Another vote for Sandberg. My Wals haven’t been out of their cases since I got this in January!

Ballad of the Alamo - Marty Robbins

Absolutely beautiful!

What a great idea and a fitting tribute! ❤️  RIP Nick.

There’s a professional photographer who comes along to our jam night occasionally. Rather like this shot he took a few weeks ago of my Sandberg…

I fought the law - Nanci Griffith with Sonny Curtis & The Crickets

…yes, really!!!

On 18/03/2025 at 10:16, Hellzero said:

It's definitely his Roland G33 fitted with a mirror pickguard.

 

Check this:

 

I saw them live twice. Second time was on the Thunder & Lightning farewell tour and he was using the Roland bass. The previous time was summer 81 with Snowy White in the band. He was playing the Ibanez then.

29 minutes ago, casapete said:

I saw Thin Lizzy at Bridlington Spa in the late 70’s, and they were really good but just not my kind

of thing. Got tickets from their record company when I worked in record retail, so around that time

I went to loads of gigs I maybe wouldn’t have paid to see and that was one of them. 
Possibly one of the loudest gigs I’ve been to probably didn’t help either, my ears were ringing

for days afterwards. 

Lizzy was the first band I saw back in 81 (St Austell Colosseum). I asked for 2 gig tickets for my birthday. One week later I was back to see Elkie Brooks in the same venue. Ironically my ears rang longer and louder after Elkie - which was a shock to 3/4 of the audience who clearly only knew “Pearl’s A Singer” and “Lilac Wine” etc. She spent 30 mins at the start getting all the MOR pop hits out of the way then said “Well, that’s enough of that, let’s rock…” the following hour was full on Vinegar Joe, swampy blues and full tilt rock’n’roll. I may be wrong but I think Geoff Whithorn was her guitarist/MD…

15 hours ago, casapete said:

I prefer Seger’s version, more dynamics / groove and ‘soul’ to it.

The TL version sounds a bit like a pub band to me….
( runs for cover………)

37 minutes ago, bremen said:

Lol, I didn't realise you were allowed to think TL weren't all that. I can come out of hiding now  😍

34 minutes ago, bremen said:

And while I'm still getting dirty looks for that blasphemy, can I just add that I prefer Madonna's version of American Pie to the original...

As the film critic, Mark Kermode, has been known to to say, “Everybody is entitled to have their own opinion…     …it’s just that yours is completely wrong!” 😉🤣🤣🤣

On 20/01/2022 at 16:09, neepheid said:

Or: it's a collusion between bass manufacturers and opticians/glasses manufacturers to drive up the sale of spectacles.

First time I saw a multi scale instrument in the wild was when Gordon Giltrap played his brand new multi scale Fylde at a gig.  I remarked to him afterwards about the guitar that I knew he had a reputation for nimble fingers, but I’d never seen someone with playing so hot it actually melted their instrument mid song. That tickled him.

I'm in the middle between the two options- I completely get the engineering philosophy behind them but as a long term 4 string player with no desire to play a 5, it’s all moot for me.

Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

And if we're talking about great covers done by Thin Lizzy, we can't not mention Whiskey in the Jar can we?!

…and if we’re talking about Whiskey in the Jar and great covers let’s absolutely NOT talk about Metallica!!!! 😉🤣🤣🤣🤮

Bob Seger’s original version of Rosalie is incredibly pedestrian. Thin Lizzy’s version is the definitive one for me.

I saw Lizzy on that tour and he was playing the Roland synth bass controller. I can certainly vouch for it sounding fabulous live. Spent ages getting to work out what bass it was until I git far enough down the front to spot the GR logo on the headstock. That was a fantastic gig - though I’ve never been a fan of John Sykes’ NWOBHM style for Lizzy . Darn it but he could play, though. The other time I saw them live was with Snowy White and his sound and style suited the band so much better as far as I was concerned. Phil was playing an Ibanez at that time. I absolutely hated the headstock on that bass. 🤮

On 10/03/2025 at 13:49, Terry M. said:

I shared the link to my strap because it may be of interest to somebody else. For example I'm intrigued by the Italia strap idea shared by TrevorR.

This is the Italia site. Think I’ve got 4 of these straps - all 20+ years old and still in perfect nick! Great quality and lots of colour choices!

https://italiastraps.com/collections/4-inch-wide?srsltid=AfmBOoqngioYLIT2BrY7p6jMjTG5ENV5OqT2r8MeD8C1gm0pQ_etOnJ5

Your strap also looks very nice quality!

On 10/03/2025 at 13:47, Rosie C said:

 

 

Room for improvement though 😉   Though on a serious point, I think the most significant work on my bass was changing the tuners as that weight is right at the end of a 1 meter lever arm. 

 

 

That’s how that bass came - it was bought as a Frankenjazz so Hipshot Ultralites were the first thing I changed!  I considered this but frankly for the likely difference it just wasn’t worth the hassle. A wide strap and it works fine!

Chambering my not help as much as you think… this bass still weighs 10 and a half pounds!

On 08/03/2025 at 12:09, Iheartreverb said:

 

thanks for your reply. I’m aware that any massive changes would be a bad idea, I’m just out of option beyond moving it on.

 

The straps is 2.5” Ernie Ball Neoprene comfort strap. As I say, it made a massive difference but maybe not enough. Also trying to stick with a strap that looks pretty normal and not some of the super wide or padded things. 

For my basses which are 10lb+ it’s got to be a 4 inch wide soft leather strap - I got Italia leather ones for all of them many moons back. They weren’t cheap but I view them as an investment rather than a cost!

1 minute ago, Terry M. said:

Try a post 2009 example and it might be that you worked your way "up" to a Warwick 😉

Strangely enough, I’m still good…

4 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

There's a lesson for you right there. Warwick necks vary enormously - you may simply not have yet met the Warwick neck that suits you.

Fair comment, it’s been many years since I played one - itwas back when they were making very D shaped necks with pronounced shoulders to them - didn’t like that at all. That said, my Warwick-less bass life is pretty well fulfilled so there’s no great impetus to try them. There would be many other brands on my “that would be nice, not that I need one” list before I worked my way down to Warwick.

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

I have to admit to not fully understanding this as the instrument was designed to be plugged in. I've heard it said before however and I'm not suggesting there's nothing to it. Just my understanding. 

I guess the idea is that playing isn’t just an aural thing, it’s visual and tactile. If you don’t like the look or feel of a bass then you probably won’t be won over just by the sound. Also, a lot of folks say you can tell a lot about the resonance if a bass unplugged which then feeds through into the amplified sound. That gets wrapped up in that statement too. 
 

For example, I love the look and sound of Ricky’s but hate the feel on the body and the neck. Their distinctive sound doesn’t change that. Similarly I hate Warwick necks - I absolutely know a W is not for me before plugging it in!!!

I’ve never played a Sandberg that I didn’t love! I finally relented in January and brought this home from Wunjos… absolutely fabulous instrument and it sounds so good in active or passive mode.

I’m always loath to share my playing online because I’m hardly the best player in the world but I’ve been getting so many compliments about the sound of my new VM4 since I got it that it’s getting silly. This was at our local jam on Monday when I got up to do a Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty number. This was filmed on someone’s phone and sent to me but the bass sounds so rich and growly it’s unreal. I so love the feel and sound of this bass. This is just the P (or V) pickup solo’d in passive mode, I think, but the tone is great (in my opinion). No effects, just a Tonehammer amp and a couple of MarkBass 1x12s.

I love this bass! No wonder none of my other basses are getting any playing time at the moment!
 

Some chums of mine are in the prog metal band Threshold. They’ve been going for 35 years or so, have a back catalogue of 20 albums on Spotify but still there are loads of folks who never even think of googling “[my genius, unique band name idea] music” before settling on a moniker… it’s pretty unavoidable even with the power of the interweb at our fingertips. 🙄

…they are the ones at the top!

I remember I was listening to Steve Wright In The Afternoon and the did a “tracks from albums coming out soon - guess the band” and they played a track from Counterparts. I recognised Geddy’s voice but thought, blimey, that’s a change of style for Alex with the grungy guitar.