Geoff

My band got reviewed in the latest Metal Hammer for a gig we did supporting Wolves In The Throne Room, which was all good. I say review though, it was one line saying "from now on Middenhelm will be known as fair to Middlehelm". In some ways i wouldve preffered a more comprehensive review saying we were utter rubbish haha I guess we werent Black Metal enough for most of the people there So, has anyone else had funny/rather meaningless reviews of thier bands done?

Cheers Nick! I have been trying to sort my technique out which has been helping, but I think ive traced my wrist ache down to working in IT. Ive been getting pains in my shoulder as well and I think its down to having to sit at my desk all day. I noticed that after doing rock climbing (or other exercise) the pain subsides for a couple of days, so I guess a big part of the problems I was having with my playing was down to this.

Thanks McGraham, I will check out those vids! I do need to assess my technique, as its so easy to become complacent. Im at a level where I am comfortable playing what I do, but I wont be improving anytime soon unless I take a step back and look into the things like posture/bass height etc, which are so easy to forget about! And yeah my plucking hand does get pretty crooked I guess when im playing...just ashame I cant play like Micheal Manring!

Hi, Yeah that is me in the avatar and its my right wrist that is aching. I have been messing around with the height of my bass, I now have it set at a height that is about the same as when I am sitting down, which has improved my left hand placement, but my right seems to still get some grief. Im guessing I have got into bad habits whilst playing over the years and maybe it is just a coincidence this has happened since my new bass arrived. I will check out the floating thumb technique, as I do anchor my thumb on the pickup pretty hard, especially when Im playing live.

I have been playing bass for 7-8 years now and for the last 4 years I have been playing a Sandberg Bullet, which has a single Bartolini set half way between the bridge and neck. I have never had any major issues with my hands or wrists hurting, but recently I bought a Sandberg California (PM config) and every so often I am finding that my right wrist is aching quite badly. Now I dont know whether this is because of the layout of the pickups and the way the bass sits when I am playing, as I have noticed my fingers are splayed out quite a bit, rather than being parallel to my thumb as they do when I was playing the Bullet. I love the sound of this bass and the feel of the neck, I just dont know whether it is going to be too much of a pain to play, or whether a simple change in technique will help. Anyone else had trouble like this and managed to sort it? Are P basses harder to play with fingers than J basses, or am I just more rubbish then I think?

I really want a lighter weight cab for any touring that'll hopefully happen this year. Possibly one of the EBS 2x12's, but im searching around at the moment. Ampwise im going to have to be careful as I splashed out in December and cant justify anything new for a while. So yeah, not much on my list yet, but im sure that'll change soon enough!

Maybe it looks like its going to be heavier because of the size and so you just assume it will be. Like you say 12kg isnt heavy at all......unless I am just a nancyboy then.

So, the TD650 arrived yesterday. All I can say is that this amp is bloody loud and bloody heavy. I havent had too long to mess around on it yet, but from the small amount of tweaking I did Im thoroughly impressed. With eq set flat this amp sounds amazing. Such a punchy but warm sound and then I can just kick in the drive for a hint of distortion. Cant wait to get out of work and mess around properly tonight!

Leave the dirty truth here...

Extremely fast payment from this guy and very easy to do business with! Kept me updated throughout it all.

[quote name='Josh' post='348042' date='Dec 7 2008, 07:07 PM']If it's got a horn it should be fine.[/quote] Yeah it has. Just noticed you're using a TD650 and 2x 2x10's. If I was looking at a more portable rig for practise, could I safely run the TD650 through 1 2x10?

[quote name='lee650' post='347426' date='Dec 6 2008, 06:59 PM']I had an EBS TD650 for quite a while, and it is the best amp ive ever used and i miss it greatly, it is more than loud enough for any situation soundwise the HD350 is very similar, but the valve in the 650 just gives it a lot more warmth and guts, it has a great tube overdrive which i think will be right up your alley, but trust me try it with a Proline 4x10 youll never be buried in the mix again it is a very heavy rig to cart about so i hope you dont do too many upstairs gigs, the weight was the reasoin i had to get rid of it, asi only play in theatres and it used to scare woodwind players hee hee . Highly recommended quality gear, ive never tried a fafner but i heard they are a lot warmer with a very tubey sound, so trying one of those would be a good idea. Good luck with the search- lee[/quote] I may upgrade to one of the Proline cabs, as i've heard many good things about them. Im using an Ampeg 410HLE at the moment, so im hoping it'll sound good through that.