T-Bay

Morris dancing is one of those activities that from a cultural point of view I am glad someone keeps it alive, but with the proviso that I do not have to be involved in any way shape or form, including watching, listening or partaking.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1492357193' post='3279634'] I used to get my ears syringed by the doc every year or two. Just a big syringe filled with warm water. Then they introduced a new improved method involving a pistol grip device with a tube you put in the sink filled with water.....doesn't work, my ears were more blocked. Progress lol I bought a small syringe to do it myself. [/quote] Most GP surgeries refuse to do even that now, the idiotsbthat run this country decided that the RCN insurance system was a 'monopoly' so introduced the free market, what resulted was an increase in premiums and a list of procedures that were counted as being too risky. Ear syringing being one of them. Now a consultant has to carry out what is delightfully termed an ear toilet and suck it out which can be very painful. I just diy it now.

I find his annoying smugness just too much for me, I watch less and less TV these days and cannot bring myself to watch a large number of popular presenters these days, the likes of Jonathan Ross or Clarkson have me instantly reaching for the off button. Sadly Mr Holland falls into that category and I say sadly as there is far too little music on TV as it is.

I am sure this will have been advised/ tried but menthol crystals can work well, but Sudafed type drugs work better in my experience. Go back to the GP/ consultant and keep at them. Sadly hospital budgets are being squeezed by the day so they are keen to to do the cheapest way/ hope it goes away if they can and can need a gentle prod to take it more seriously. If the outer ear is blocked then good old olive oil works but does take a time, I help it along with warm water and a washing up bottle with a tube attached, it's frowned upon by doctors now but works for me every time and I balance the small risk against the hell I suffer when my ears are blocked.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1492330684' post='3279390'] I'm not going to defend Schaller's as I'm aware they do have their faults, especially in getting the strap part fitted to something like a nice Levy's leather. What tends to happen is the hole is never big enough on the strap to take the Schaller and in forcing it through the existing gap, it bunches the leather around the hole and exaserbates the problem. To this end I purchased a set of leather hole punches. They were dead cheap ones from eBay and there is one in the set that is just the right circumference for Schallers. One clump with a hammer and the hole is trimmed perfectly to accept the Schaller without bunching the leather. In an ideal world I would love Dunlop Flush Mounted Locks fitted on all my basses. Fodera fit them as standard and I love 'em, but Im not taking a drill to and of my basses that don't already have them [/quote] This^^^^^^ cork borers are also perfect and readily available in exact metric and imperial sizes.

I use Dean Markley SS, I like the sound they make, will be trying the nickel ones in the near future as well.

Servicing a valve amp is not for a beginner but solid state ones can be looked at by the inexperienced. Look on YouTube for videos on cleaning hi fi separates to get an idea of what is involved, but generally it's just using air and alcohol to gently clean the dust and muck away. My mate does it on the side (he is an electronics engineer) and charges £30 on the grounds it takes him an hour to do one properly. I would guess someone doing for a living would charge a bit more.

That's the sort of thing, tbh I hadn't thought of what will happen when 150-200 odd people are in there! Will be an interesting one........

Video is great, so many try too hard when something relatively simple can look really good.

Just googled it and luckily I use something very similar at work so will cut a square of it and give it a go, thanks!

We have a gig coming up but we will be setting up on a sprung floor. Luckily we had a chance to use it as a practice room so got a chance to try it out. It sounds awful, the bass just becomes a mush, presumably because of movement in the floor. Does anyone have any experience or tips to improve things at all?

If they are tight then he should have placed a suitable spacer around the metal to support the wood to prevent just such a thing. It is poor workmanship and he should be prepared to properly correct it at his expense. If he had pre warned you there was an issue that could result in damage and asked if you wished to proceed then it would be different.

Sorry to hear that.

I am pretty new to Bass and have messed about with a few amps and rigs over the last few months. It's hard to generalise really and one mans perfect sound would have someone else going back to the shop. Bigger isn't always better BUT generally I have found that bigger setups on low volume sound better than smaller setups cranked up to 11 to get the same volume. There is some amazing stuff out there that is small and light but it's not cheap!

I use bigbasstabs quite a bit and there is a link to the track on songsterr at the bottom. 9/10 times if I click the link it will be silent. Occasionally it works but will 100% not work the next time I open the tab up. I looked at the app but they want £4 a month! I only use it now and again just to fix a tricky bit in my mind. Has anyone else had this and if so how did you solve it? (If you did) or are there other similar sites out there that work better.

Peaches and no more heros are epic but there are loads more I would love to do.

Not a popular colour perhaps? Or unusual spec? Just guesses........

If you get a chance to have a go with the smooth hound wireless system I would give it a try. I am amazed by mine and have shown it to a few people I know who are professional musicians and they have all been very impressed by it's performance.

I have no personal experience of lightweight stuff but at our gig on Thursday a local guy was in the bar and listened to our first set through the door. He came up in the interval and asked what I was playing, turns out he has been messing about with different amps and cabs for years and his present set up is a lightweight rig costing over £1500 he was more than a little surprised when I told him it was an old Marshall combo that weighs about the same as a small car. His opinion was that it had far more oomph and presence than his kit. I did (jokingly) offer to swap but I wouldn't be surprised if a lightweight rig turns up on eBay close to me in the near future. He also couldn't believe the tone I was getting from a cheap 80s Aria but that's another thread entirely.

I had trouble with night cramps a few years ago, two things sorted it - wearing socks in bed (even in summer when it's hot) and a spoon of Andrews liver salts in a pint of water before I went to bed. I used to wake up in the most horrendous pain that was almost unbearable. As soon as I tried that I never had a problem again, stopped the liver salts after a week and the socks after a couple of years and it's never come back for me so may be worth a try.

I have one that I have a love hate relationship with. It's heavy as hell but still manages to have horrendous neck dive. It is not great to play for any length of time but the sound is truly gorgeous. As soon as I plug it in I forgive and love it, then end up hating it again in half an hour when the weight and neck dive shows itself. The one I play the most and always love is a cheap and fairly battered old Aria that sounds good but is just perfect to play for me. It's always the one I reach for if I want a serious session or to learn something tricky on.

Second gig with the new band and found out Wednesday that the second guitarist was injured following a judo match the night before. At 2pm yesterday we found out that we would be a three piece. We looked at rearranging the set but decided just to go for it. It worked very well and a good night was had by all, the extra body fills out the sound but we could do three of us again if we had to.

Being new to this game I could be talking rubbish but to me there is a lot of 'emperors new clothes' about makes and models. I have messed around with a load now and a lot of cheap ones do sound terrible, but so a few costing hundreds. Some of the cheap ones do sound pretty good though and would fill a hole if needed.