lemmywinks

Had a quick look on eBay at lunch, there's 5 string Sei and Pedulla lined fretlesses on there at the moment. Nothing nice in my price range though.....

Mine have just arrived, crazy bargains for £30! Loads of plush padding, protected area going down the length of the strings/headstock, seam running the length of the zip to keep water out, great quality fittings and feels very rigid. Not as good as the Gator Pro Go I use (the expensive one) but not too far off and nothing can touch these for the silly price they're going for. All straps and handles feel built to last and there's some handy storage options on the straps and on the back behind the headstock as well as a velcro neck block. Glad I bought two and not just the one! Only complaint is that it's a little big compared to the Gator, it looks like it will fit big bodied basses though, the max length seems to be 120cm and the max internal body width is around 40cm if that helps.

If everybody else thinks you're too loud but you're struggling to hear yourself then the solution probably isn't buying a different amp which does pretty much the same thing. Get an amp stand so you can angle your cab up at you or if you do want to change rigs then get something that can be kicked back into a wedge format (Markbass did cabs and combos like this) or just buy a good quality PA cab which also caters for this. I went through a few different solutions and ended up with a QSC wedge which is great as well as being tiny enough to fit anywhere on the stage. You could skip this entirely and get in ears, you won't have any volume issues then and it's even less to carry!

Do it, you don't need to spend a fortune either. Definitely consider a piezo bridge, even a cheap one will add an amazing tonal quality to the bass and I wouldn't have a fretless without one now, I think this one was £25 new when I originally bought it and I have a 5 string Fishman version tucked away for when I find the right bass to put it on! Here's mine, a bitsa with some simple modding. It's an old Hohner body (Korean Cort) with a Mighty Mite P neck (ebanol board), Wilkinson tuners, Duncan Designed Jazz pickups and a cheap piezo bridge with a Bartolini buffer circuit. One of the best basses I've ever played and probably the nicest sounding. I had a nice cheap fretless jazz and a fancy Warmoth Pau Ferro jobbie, neither are even close to this. Total spend was under £300 after some patient online shopping, excuse the terrible pics - it's late!

I'd stick it flat on the floor, I think you're covering the vents on the side there?

The LP Studio has been around for donkey's years, a proper USA Gibson without the fancy furnishings for £1k, it was around £600-£700 a few years ago too when a friend of mine went shopping for one. Also at one time Ephiphone had a Les Paul in the £900 range, now they have the Elitist models circa £500.

He keeps listing them singly, don't be surprised if another pops up in an hour or so! There's also another seller listing them at £33 with best offers available so you may get that for the same price. Apart from that the next cheapest ones were around the £50 mark.

There are also guitar gigbags for good prices too if anyone needs them, from various sellers. I've put our guitarist onto them, maybe he'll stop transporting his Fenders and high end Yamahas in flimsy starter gigbags. Then again maybe not.

I noticed those a while ago, look great for a cheap bag but those Blake's look amazing, just a brand I hadn't heard of before. They look more like a premium semi rigid bag than a cheap fabric one which is why I have now bought two. Watch them arrive and be rubbish now!

Crikey, from briefly scouting the internet these weren't cheap. I picked one up for my spare bass but I'm tempted to grab another.

There seems to be a few sellers on eBay clearing these gigbags out at crazy prices, cheapest here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blake-Bravo-bass-guitar-case-New/253605991627?hash=item3b0c1854cb:g:6RQAAOSwgAJa50x2 Ordered one myself so will know what it's like shortly but does anybody have experience of them? From what I can gather they were a UK company supplying high quality gigbags but they seem to have gone out of business hence the sudden influx of bargains on eBay. Looks like a great quality gigbag with features and build quality you don't see on a £30 bag. No affiliation just saw something cheap and thought I'd share, don't blame me if it falls apart!

I ran a LMII and a 1212r for years, never once struggled to get a great sound or an absolute ton of volume. Just seemed to fit perfectly in whatever mix I was in without any effort at all and definitely a pairing which is more than the sum of it's parts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rickenbacker-4003S-Bass-1982-OHSC-STEREO/153005296837?hash=item239fd38cc5:g:gmYAAOSw~O1a6PaO Did a bit of digging myself, looks like he's already flipped it using your photos and description!

If he's paid with Paypal then that's a terrible idea, buyer could say the bass wasn't delivered and the OP has zero proof it was. Ends up with no bass and no money. If you're handing it over personally then refund the Paypal and ask for cash, otherwise get them to leave positive feedback before taking the bass.

I think you've misunderstood, those perspex cages are to control on stage sound and prevent mic bleed, they have no impact on what the audience hears but give the engineer a better palette to work with which leads to a better mix. Now can all this silly faux masculinity be put to bed please? Having a loud valve amp wallowing all over the stage doesn't make anyone a tough guy/gal, it just makes you a PITA for whoever is engineering your gigs.

The thing is I'm sure we've all at some point been in a similar band to the one mikel is in and had the same attitude, I certainly did many moons ago. For the last 7 years I've been playing with a group that strives for clarity at a healthy volume, our drummer is a former pro (as in pro drummer, not as in selling himself, although I wouldn't rule it out...) in his 60s and he's partially deaf and has tinnitus. No way I'd go back now, the on stage sound is fantastic and super clear.

Somewhere along the line amongst all the corporate branding, collector-targeted pricing and buying up random companies to produce tat with a a Gibson logo on it they forgot to make serviceable, pro grade instruments at a price a working musician is willing to spend. They have been relying on brand aspiration and rich collectors for years and this has come to a head, I know only a handful of gigging musicians who regularly use their guitars, maybe things are different with classic rock bands but still... I have a friend who is one of those "I want the guitar my heroes played" type guys, traded a lovely LP Studio (black with gold hardware, great sound and played itself) and £300 cash for an absolute dog of a LP Standard. Had a neck repair in the usual spot and can't hold its tuning for the duration of a song, weighs a ton, sounds terrible and can't be set up to play anything like his old Studio. He's well chuffed with it though, it's a burst LP Standard which superficially resembles what his heroes played, even though they wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. This to me is what Gibson are now - a prestigious brand with nothing behind it. A new regime would be the best thing that could happen to them. Besides it's not like the Gibson of today bear even a slight resemblance to the company of old who made all those great guitars you hear on classic albums, that went long ago.

Keep the yellow!

Markbass cabs (especially the tolex covered ones) look great IMO, definitely better than those crusty looking Vox amps either side of you!

You have to be ruthless really, if a song doesn't work it has to go even if every band member loves it. I've played with a few people who don't get that and it holds the band back, nothing worse than seeing a dance floor empty while the band are having a self indulgent moment. Realistically there's plenty of musical circumstances for people to play what suits or gratifies them but a party/function band ain't it.

Thanks! I'm still genuinely surprised at how good and loud it sounds, not as much of a compromise as I first thought it would be. You'd assume the amp section of those little learner combos would be as rubbish as the driver and housing but paired with a decent cab it sounds very nice, wouldn't guess it was only 10w either.

Set up an action camera recording the audience for one of your floor fillers, do the same for one of his self indulgent B sides or album tracks. Watch them back as a band to gauge the audience reaction, if that doesn't make a difference then either bin the drummer or leave. What do the rest of the band think about it?

Korean Samick, nice basses. Mine were bought and sold for around £100 so you got an absolute steal. Couldn't really fault them - nice hardware, well built, lightweight and sound great.

Bought a tidy little PSU from Al Krow, pleasure to deal with.

I'm going to leave it as is until I can redo the whole thing, I already knew my dimensions were slightly out before I'd finished due to the warping of the metal case which is visible in some pictures. I've got the hang of cutting acrylic now though and the last cut I made was smooth and arrow straight, my jigsaw is only a cheap single speed jobby. I'll have a look at using a blowtorch for next time, realistically I'm only concerned about the front looking smooth. I can get a full set of polished pre-cut pieces for £14 delivered which is another option, albeit a more expensive and less fun one.