Quilly

The thing that makes me sad is the reduction of serviceability of gear , especially amplification. Let’s face it a lot of gear is ‘domestic appliance’ grade . Cheap and effective for sure but their innards are packed with the same quality of circuitry as a Samsung microwave oven. Once broken (and beyond warranty) it is destined for the recycling centre.

There’s a great store in Waterford city and he’s been there for 20 years. Prices are competitive, has decent stuff and they can compete with Thomann most of the time . Yer man there told me to get rid of my old Trace mosfet monster and get a nice new class d thingey. I wasn’t happy 😆😆

Where I live there’s a store that sells everything from washing machines to cassette tapes (still) , high end power drills and musical instruments. He has a keen eye for decent budget brands like ‘vintage’ and sx, honer etc. always stocks 3-4 different brands/gauges of bass strings, usually straight forward round rounds but good brands EB, Darrios etc . So I’m lucky I guess. He doesn’t accept electronic payment though, and if you ask him why expect a 30 minute lecture on those bastard banks ! but if you don’t have the cash that’s no problem , you can sort him out when you have it 😆😆

And another thing ... just kidding. But seriously I don’t need some patronizing teenager telling me what the difference is between a precision and Jazz is , like he’s some old timer that played with the wrecking crew 🤣

Are online stores killing small music stores? Where I live (south of ROI) guitar stores barely last a wet weekend before folding. There’s about 4-5 establishments in the south east that manage to stay afloat . Is this the same in the UK?

I had to look that up , not a good condition if you play bass for a living . I feel bad now 🙁

If I have to watch another Jazz vs Precision bass video I think I’ll go postal.

He’s a great player and good teacher, but... what’s with the glove ? And this ‘I’m zany me, right mad I am’ persona isn't half tiresome.

With good musicians you don’t need to rehearse too much, just do your homework and come prepared . Some bands rehearse every week and still sound terrible

I’m in a band that plays about 4 gigs a year because there’s like one decent drummer to go around in my hometown and he’s in about 5 other bands , projects etc. We tried replacing him (with his blessing) but we just can’t get a decent available drummer. We tried one and it was a disaster. I hate that my bass playing career revolves around the availability of said drummer , a really top bloke btw. Around a gig a month would be perfect

Agree, I'm in my 40's now as are some of my band mates, so there a 'Mens-shed' aspect to it for us LOL!. Even if you know the nut and bolts of the songs there's no substitute to playing with other musicians to get the cohesion down, and tweaking your sound, technically. I cant understand why musicians beach and moan about rehearsing, like its a big chore. surely you like playing music as much as possible even if its just for reherasal? Beach and moan - very clever BC.

I say a brand new(ish) 1048h go for sale in Dublin for €300, that about £250..absolute steal.

I bought an Ashdown CTM-100 from a lad in Wales for £500, not exactly bargain basement but well below the going rate and a cracking amp.

I was running an 8 ohm valve amp into a 4 ohm cab for a while with no issues (the amp also has 16ohm outputs), I stopped because I'm just nervous of damaging the amp. I bough a 4/12 ohm switch for the cabinet in question (8 ohm isn't possible for the configuration of cab). My question is : Is it better to run 8 ohm amp into 12 ohm cab OR use the 16 ohm amp out into 12 ohm cab. My hunch is the latter is probably better for a valve amp to prevent damage to the transformer. Still not ideal for the valves but better than the current set up.

I bought a burgera SVT Clone for peanuts. It was an amazing purchase. I only sold it because it was silly heavy

Ed Friedlands videos were the best IMO, wasn’t shy on calling out gears flaws. Played a variety of styles also , a fine player but you knew he wasn’t just showing off his chops

The cabs are going for a pittance these days

That’s the best thing about valve bass amps, the warm and spacious tone .

I once bought a warmoth body / jap fender neck jazz bass for £350 , great hardware on it. Cracking bass

Valve amps always played with the gain too high and loads of overdrive 😡

Another annoying thing are the bass tutorials that show you how to play particular songs and you’re like “stop adding fancy twiddly that aren’t in the actual song” or worse, the bassline is just wrong

A guy with a beard ? He did 2 good episodes featuring the history of the p and jazz bass

Anyone ever find a basement bargain or just picked up a cheap piece of gear with no expectation just to be blown away by it ...Or conversely forked out for premier gear to be really disappointed by it. I’m playing at home through an old valve 50w guitar head through a bass cab. The amp cost me €150 (around £120) it’s the best sounding amp I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot of amps .

There’s a guy on Chicago music exchange that’s really good. Doesn’t overdo it.

Lately I’ve noticed my boss ceb3 pedal give off a weird radio-like interference. Especially when I crank up the chorus intensity. I never use batteries and always ensure the correct power voltage is applied. It’s a pretty old pedal. Is it on the way out?