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Him being my favourite bass player, I politely disagree. I'm not expecting anybody on a bass players forum to agree with me though

Looked the part but, at least in my opinion, just a bit of a prat really. As someone else has mentioned, Lemmy tried to teach him bass for a couple of days but it was 'flipping hopeless'. On the album, Steve Jones did most the bass work with I think Steve and predecessor Glen doing a track each separately.

There's an awful lot of great stuff out there for cheap nowadays, you don't need thousands to get great guitars. I'll namedrop two cheap Ibanez's which I personally think were unbelievable value; a GSR (I think 180), which having not played for four years, I was delighted to find played wonderfully, except for a slightly dodgy input connection problem, and a recently acquired acoustic bass; PCBE12MH-OPN, which I just cannot believe was £180, pretty damn good for an acoustic bass.

Ridiculous, hate people like that, it's only rude if you go out of your way NOT to say anything, he was probably annoyed about something else, or just joking badly...

Looks damn fine

Here's mine. It's pretty chaotic, please stick with it.

I'm late for the competition but I thought this was a cool idea so I did one anyway. Apart from the drums, it's all bass. Some of the stuff I've been hearing on this thread is fantastic.

Yo guys, That old question of 'I've got rusty pickup poles, what's the best way to clean them'? Historically I've just used WD40, back of a scouring pad, but generally I don't actually mind the rust that much, I'm not a clean freak, does rust on pickup poles actually matter all that much? Cheers then, H.

I use the 75's mainly and find the same, really safe.

Seems like a good idea that I guess would allow you to change straps between basses as how and you please without having to unscrew the straplocks, might give this a try

I recently got a cheapo new Ibanez short scale acoustic bass which is nice to play (with fingers not pick; not accustomed to the body size) and it's leagues above in playability to my 80's Takamine G series acoustic. The short scale made all the difference but most of them I find to be a wrestling job to play with proficiency.

Had one of these from new since they came out in 2015, was very happy with it on purchase and I recall the rave reviews at the time, though wondering what people make of it after a couple of years? In many ways I've been disappointed with it, especially the reliability; I loaned it at one gig to a friend, and the amp and speaker (an Ashdown 8 ohm 500 watt cab) both blew inexplicably, and Orange charged I think £130 to fix it. The output transistors were shorted and the power amp PCB needed to be replaced. Since it's repair, the power light is intermittent, although the amp plays fine. So I'm constantly worried about it when using it really, which is a shame because I mainly use it as a spare. I also find the volume control quite inconsistent, with the volume on about '1' being fairly loud, at noon being of course a lot, lot louder, though beyond that doesn't seem to get much louder. It's hard to control.

The problem I have with Schallers is the the actual straplock holder rotating so the weight of the bass isn't held as the catch has rotated 90 degrees, and eventually, one sad sad evening, the bass drops on the floor. Tightening it with an adjustable spanner every so often seems to prevent this but it's another thing to keep an eye out for.

I go for a growly tone and fresh strings seem to be the single most important factor in obtaining that, without a doubt. I've always been skeptical about the more minute aspects of sound and tone from a guitar/bass (I know collectively details make all the difference), as there's so many variables, and a lot of snobbery, and I just think 'a fresh set of strings is going to completely change that', and you'll get three of four separate types of tone over the next week or so as they die. I use Rotosound .105's mainly, largely because they're good at not breaking when being violently thrashed, and because they're cheap enough for me to replace every so often. I change them every gig now, or every 2 gigs if on tour. I know Rotos have a reputation for dulling quickly, but I don't find them any worse than anything else in the same price league.

Ever played an acoustic bass?

Hey guys, I'll be recording in a few weeks with my Takamine G series electro-acoustic bass, though it needs a bit of TLC. A problem that I cannot get my head around is a very specific buzzing every time I activate the onboard tuner/eq unit, which causes an almost 'beeping' style buzz every time the tuner light is illuminated (which is every second or so), so the buzz is in tandem with the tuner lights. It's nothing obvious and can't find much online about the same issue. Has anybody had any experience of this kind of thing? Any direction whatsoever would be appreciated. Cheers.

Hey guys, Happy new year! A couple of months back I got myself one of these (excuse poor photo quality, have misplaced my proper camera), the Ibanez PCBE12MH-OPN, brand new, for about £200 all in. I've already got an old Takamine G series semi-acoustic bass which I have used on tour, though found it to be difficult to play at the best of times, and have had other technical issues with it. Moreover, just the size of the thing is huge and made it difficult to play, so when I got the call to do a filmed acoustic gig, I thought I'd get something more playable for the occasion. This thing is just great. I find the acoustic bass market to be a difficult one, everything is either too cheap and of poor quality, or ridiculously expensive and still frankly difficult to play. On top of that, I was looking for a short scale, as, even though I'm a big guy, the long necks of I find absolutely laborious. I tried this one out in a show and was instantly impressed with how it plays, the ease of fretboard access, and the rich tone from it (strings supplied are Ibanez 80/20 bronze wound, 0.40-0.95). It being that much smaller makes all the difference, and unlike the Takamine (which still sounds great), I leave it out constantly to noodle about on when I can't be bothered to get my electrics plugged in. Intonation on the E string a bit off (which coincides with another thread I'm about to write concerning my Takamine - where best to get an acoustic bass set up, guitar shop or luthier?), but for £200, I just cannot believe how good this thing is. It's so useful for casual jams and get togethers, and I've yet to have any qualms about the electronics (touch mahogany-coated wood). All the reviews online seemed to be good as well, I'd highly recommend getting this one for your bedroom. Does anyone else have one and what do they think? Or is there anything better for short scale ('32) that I didn't see? Cheers, H

That's such a cool idea, going to try that out straight away. On another note, I once heard that scaling down was good for lower tunings, anyone know if there's any truth in this? I don't quite understand how it can physically work, but I heard it on a YouTube rig rundown. I've been jamming the idea of an EB or similar bass, this could be the perfect excuse to get one...

Hey guys, Does anybody know where in the UK I could find an input/output jack replacement nut and collar for my bass wah? As seen here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dunlop-Input-Output-Jack-Replacement-Nut-amp-Collar-for-Wah-Pedals-/201887836842 - Just trying to avoid spending £20 and waiting for ages for something that should be cheap. Cheers and beers, H.

Hello everyone! I've recently acquired my first electro-acoustic bass, a lovely Takamine EG512. It's in mint condish although the guy who sold it to me, though having kept it pristine, never really played it, and the strings are old and scuzzy. The action is also way off the mark higher up the neck, but I'll mostly be using this for acousticy-folk stuff, just doing typical lower end basslines, so I'm not too fussed. I'm eager to change the strings but have no idea what gauge is on there, so I was just going to slap on some 105's which I use on my electric, will this be okay do you think? I know it's a broad question but I've zero experience with acoustic. Additionally, what are my options for getting the action set right? If I was ever reluctant to adjust the truss rod on my electrics, this is another level that I don't want to risk the bass for, is it something a standard guitar repair guy may be able to fix? Many thanks, H.

Hi guys, really useful thread here, nice one. I have read through and found some answers to a similar question but I'm just wondering if anyone could give me an answer on a specific scenario, I have recently acquired an SWR Goliath III 410 4-ohm cab that I was hoping to try out in series with my Ashdown 410 8-ohm, is this possible or not recommended? I know I can't run them in parallel as neither of my amps have 2ohm outputs, but if I ran from amp > cab 1 (4ohm) > cab 2 (8ohm) in series, would that create a total impedance of 12 ohm therefore could I run it from the 8ohm out of my amp? Hope that question makes sense and I'm frustrated at myself for still not completely understanding all of this stuff. Maths isn't my strong point so I find it easier to get a second opinion. I'd also be interested to know if people think it's unwise to match different types of cab anyway, regardless of impedance. Thanks guys.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1487324267' post='3238900'] Just one question, Jacks or Speakon? If your amp has jack outputs that could be the culprit. I remember one amp manufacturer putting a very high percentage of power amp failures down to shorted jack cables. [/quote] [quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1487300295' post='3238784'] Speaker short circuit failures are rare. When a voice coil gets toasted it usually results in an open circuit. The usual reason for a short circuit is failure of the speaker cable. I'd check the cable and the interior wiring of the speaker. [/quote] [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1487332334' post='3239015'] It probably doesn't matter because you'll never know, and there is no reason not to check your leads and speaker wiring. Just a thought though, what repairs were made to the cab, which I assume is now working? 'Almost certainly failed short circuit' implies that either he didn't actually check the speakers or wasn't the person who repaired them. [/quote] The cable used was a speakon>jack, which seems to be all fine. So, Orange repaired the cab and had no involvement with the speaker, and Ashdown sent me a new speaker, which I just clipped in.

Report I got back: "[font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]The amp's output transistors were shorted and the power amp PCB needed to be replaced. What is almost certainly the case is that your speaker failed short circuit and, in turn, shorted the amp's output section.[/size][/font]

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1486977964' post='3235910'] bad luck, The truth is your amp shouldn't have blown your speaker and even if your speaker did short, which is extremely unlikely, the amp should have been able to protect itself.Without being there we will probably never know what actually happened. Underpowering is a bit of a myth. Without getting too technical an amp can produce a little more power than it's ratings under very limited conditions but that isn't going to blow your speaker. Your Burman is perfectly safe to use. It's not simple to be absolute about matching amp and speaker power. Amps are measured in terms of their electrical output with a test signal and speakers by how much power they can continuously take without over heating but music isn't a test signal, it has loud and quiet bits. The biggest variable is the person using it. If you turn your amp down a notch you are probably halving the power. Your 500W amp can be a 1W amp if you turn it right down. You've been using it without problem for years and with it mended nothing has changed. You can go on using it in exactly the same way without worries. There is one other possibility, It could simply be coincidence, your amp may have been about to blow anyway and the friend was just unlucky enough to be the guy playing when it happened. Broken amps can pump a lot of power into a speaker under certain conditions. It might well be bad luck and him paying half the repair bill a fair income. I'd take that for peace of mind rather than walk around feeling hard done by, especially since you will never knoe the truth. [/quote] Yeah that's how I've been looking at it really, just thinking about the future. I've been thinking 'oh I must get a 500w cab now' but that's a bit of a drag financially and just a hassle. I won't bother now, will just be cautious with the 500w in the future. Thanks for your thoughts.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1486945907' post='3235836'] Oddly enough, I was editing mine at the same time. The answer is still the same as my original edit. Use your cabs with the amp. Use your ears. Bill the fandango for the repairs & don't let anyone use your rig again unless you're there & have some trust in them. [/quote] We agreed to go halves. Difficult politics as borrower (promoter) is a friend. I'm hoping to make the difference back in free gig entries haha. But yes, I won't be lending gear again - I do music full time (regrettably a gear theory amateur) and can't afford to burn my work tools like that. Thanks man