ezbass

1 hour ago, xgsjx said:

To me, the point of vinyl is as much the physical side as the audible side. 
It’s the interaction of reading and admiring the art on the sleeve, taking the record out of its sleeve and placing it on the platter, turning it on and placing the needle, then sitting and listening to the first side, then you get to do most of that again to listen to the other side. 

Very much this and I think it is down to size of the format. This is what I miss about vinyl. Poring over the artwork of some albums, especially gatefolds, and finding some small detail that you’d missed before (difficult with cassette or CD, as they’re so much smaller) is something you can’t replicate without that 12” size.

Regarding sound quality, I had a conversation, many years ago, with a colleague about hifi gear. We came to the conclusion that non musicians were more likely to spend more money on their setups, compared to those who played an instrument. Players being more concerned about the quality of the music, rather than the quality of the reproduction, that and the likelihood of many musicians to have impaired hearing anyway.

Life's A Gas - T. Rex

Bend Me, Shape Me - The American Breed

22 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I concur with @BigRedX, some stuff - like my old Sparks, Sweet, Mott The Hoople singles - needs to be played on an old Dansette.  No amount of £2k tonearms are going to make those babies sound better.

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

For me, any records I bought as a teenager simply don't sound right unless they are played on my old dansette that cost £8 from a junk shop in 1973 and played one side of the stereo mix much louder than the other. These are versions/mixes of those records I am used to and everything else sounds wrong no matter how superior the reproduction might be.

I bought Who Do We Think We Are? by Deep Purple and I wore out the intro of My Woman From Tokyo and it skipped like a beast. When I hear it now, it sounds wrong, without that jump.

Skweez Me Pleeze Me - Slade

Iron Out The Rough Spots - Paul Young

I have nothing to add to which is format is better, or which turntable drive system is best (other than they all have their shortcomings) and my shot hearing probably couldn’t tell anyway (no probably about it). However, I watched a video the other day about vinyl ownership. There were some statistics mentioned (they might have been complete BS of course) said that only about 50% of new vinyl purchasers actually an own a deck to play the medium on. For some, it seems, it’s about ownership of the latest cool thing, or displaying the sleeves as artwork (I can get my head around the latter, it’s what I really miss about vinyl, not displaying it, but interacting with it, whilst the album played. I gave all mine away). 

Iron Man - Sabbath

GarageBand is free, so why not start there and upgrade to Logic if necessary? Use the saved cash for something else you might need now.

58 minutes ago, Wombat said:

Yamaha make great ‘starter basses’

I started on bass back in ‘82 but was lured back to full time guitar playing until the early 2000s, when I ‘jumped ship’ properly. Both times my first bass was a Yamaha. They don’t make a duff instrument at any price point IMO.

10 minutes ago, _Tom_ said:

Once you’ve narrowed it down you can always ask someone in the shop to play it for you so you can hear what it will sound like once you’ve got the hang of it.

And any decent shop will be happy to help as, if you have a positive experience and don’t feel ripped off, you’ll be back again & again & again…

A trip to Bass Direct (no, it’s not all high priced exotica, there are a decent bunch of sub £400 basses, albeit not MM types) or Guitar Guitar in Birmingham will be well worth it.

It doesn’t really matter that you can’t play much right now, you know what feels comfy and is aesthetically appealing. These 2 things are the most important for your first bass, you’ve got to want to pick it up and if it doesn’t appeal to your eye and feels ‘wrong’, you won’t play it and that defeats the point. Set your budget, go to a retailer, play a bunch of basses in your price range and go home with the one that feels and looks right. Will this be your forever bass? Unlikely, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

1 minute ago, RaNoFuNkY said:

UPDATE:

Fair play to the lads at Bass Direct, and La Bella. They sent me a replacement, and everything is now fine. I've never had that issue with a string before.

I’d hadn’t had a duff bass string in 25 years or so, then I had 2 in fairly quick succession.  Glad you got this sorted.

Can’t Keep It In - Cat Stevens  

Roundabout - Yes

Donald, Where’s Your Troosers? - Andy Stewart

Enter Sandalman - Metallica

Slipper Sliding Away - Paul Simon 

Cat Scratch Fever - The Amboy Dukes

18 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

He was also a huge Be Bop Deluxe fan and tracked down, and bought, the white Hoyer Les Paul on the back cover of Axe Victim. 

Top knowledge there, Steve!

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Big place, London. Very big. Really very big indeed.

I am reminded of The Hitchhiker’s Guide… You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts compared to London. 
 

All joking aside, Greater London is fricking huge and South London (born & bred there) is a particular PITA to get around.

9 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Is this some kind of hybrid air guitar thing?

An air guitar with substance and noise?

Combined with the added frisson of being able to alter the construction of your fingers. 😳😖

On The Road Again - Willy Nelson