RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

Wow! Don’t like the attitude of that music shop in Sheffield . If it were me , I’d send an email addressing my disappointment about their lack of concern , care and customer service. Plus of course I’d be telling them that a replacement or a refund is the only possible outcome if they don’t do a proper investigation. I’d also go straight to trustpilot! As for the courier co , straight to trustpilot also .

I do sometimes wonder whether the younger generations would bother with vintage basses in the future. Will they buy something from the usual big names such as fender,and just pick a bass because of the colour and perhaps weight? Some brands like Warwick for example , don’t seem to be in fashion at the moment . I could be wrong of course . My corvette ticks a lot of boxes in a good way . However,basses that look like tables are a bit marmite . The one I have is the weight of a buffalo ,but fine when playing with a strap, I listed it on here a couple of times but decided to have it tuned low and keep it . Metal style basses with pointy necks are also marmite etc . more headless basses are com8ng out now , but status and old steinberger will hold their value and increase imho

Yuk! That is one horrible overpriced bass imho .

A friend of mine who I used to work with, queued up late at night for an album signing by ….lost prophets! I felt sorry for him 🙂

Not sure tbh . However if it was someone who is deceased or very rarely signs anything , then the value would be a lot higher . Maybe check the bands fan clubs and see what gives 🤔

Myself and guitarist/ teacher were gonna form a band , the hamsters of death . We would have been Ray Bid and Bloa Ted . Life got in the way unfortunately. Stage names I have considered in the past ; Philip Eno , Wayne Kossoff ( free tribute band?) and Phyllis Glass . They didn’t materialise either 🙂

I remember the gig they did at the Lyceum ( heaviest night of the year tour or something like that ) . We did have a chuckle when he was introduced 🙂

Just saw this ! I won’t be purchasing the box set . I have 99% of their catalogue anyway . I may pay for separate downloaded tracks , or wait till R60 As for going to see the Rush tribute , I have more or less quit going to gigs . 2017 was my last one . I will probably purchase dvd or live downloads when they are released. They will probably do the o2 again , which means a soul destroying attempt to get tks in the first place which will not be cheap . Then travel etc . Annika is a great drummer from various clips I’ve seen on the tube . Anyway , if you do manage to catch them congratulations and I’m sure it’ll be a great show !

Okay , catching up … From what I’ve gathered ( mainly on you tube of course) , is that if you have for example a sub 37 then you don’t need the 25 as well. Also there are comparisons to other moogs . By this I revert to a nice excited jack on Andertons comparing the moog sub 37 with the Grandmother! Worth a look , if you haven’t seen it . Also with the bassy moogs , you may not need more than one . In my position for example , I have the Grandmother and the Minotaur. I really really like what I’ve seen of the sub 25 , but it would seem silly to get it ! The one thing I love about the minitaur is its size , ideal for me in my small flat . I did wonder about offloading the Grandmother and minitaur for the sub 37 or25 , but I’ll stick with what I have ..but it is tempting and I am jealous of you sub 25 owners 🙂

Might as well mention another moan about EVRI … yesterday I received an email from next advising me my order is on its way via EVRI ( 7-9pm) I sent an email to next around 9.30 complaint etc. I didn’t want another 10.30 delivery .Then the courier showed up at 9.45pm. He was very apologetic, and in a way I wish I never complained. However, when I got the EVRI feedback email,I gave it 2 stars and told them that the courier was a nice guy ,and that he probably was given too many deliveries . I did mention that EVRI are not a professional outfit . I did receive an email today from next advising me that they are taking the matter seriously . Hoping that they see the driver is not the problem .Then again if next don’t get complaints then they’ll keep giving a shoddy courier service .

Thought I’d better update … D’adarrio EXL 165-5 string bass strings ,custom light 45-135 long scale £ 29.99 silver guitar service Bass £50.00 Total £ 79.99 😼👍 Hats off to Absolute music for doing another nice setup . When I put bass in for service , the tech man wasn’t there , but one of the staff pointed me in 5he direction of the strings , and that he did this to his Warwick also. I’ve just got back a short while ago , and the job they have done is amazing ! Even the frets look as new . I forgot to enquire about that . They serviced one of my other basses ( a headless fretless purchased from mybass here . ) That was tuned B-E-A-D also , and after not giving it much of a chance I love it ! The strings I purchased at the time were D’darrio from Amazon . They were a 4 string set meant to be tuned low apparently . A slight tangent ; I was thinking of other Warwick’s , the Taranis sprang to mind but I think I’ve gone in the right direction by sticking with this. As I’m old ..ish and just mess around at home , I was thinking about selling a few basses that I have trimming the heard and get a proper status and or steinberger from the golden age when I get a little inhertance . I’ll probably not do that ,now that I’m pleased with today’s outcome.

A tad confused. Are you quitting bass playing altogether , or are you still going to be playing at home ?

Sorry to hear this . I haven’t used parcelforce , but used. Royal Mail many times over . Nothing is perfect as we know , and EVRI is my enemy . However what does infuriate me with Royal Mail , is proving that they need to compensate you when they lose or damage things ! That is when I hate them with a passion . When they delivered rare vinyl damaged . The process of uploading the jpegs , quoting the size/ depth/ width of the item is soul destroying! Then they have a cheek to tell me I am not being compensated after providing them with all the proof required . That is when they are a p.o.s ! When as you say , you see your item in the post office and you have to prove it is yours when they should have collected it is extracting the urine ! There are a couple of occasions where I purchased vinyl on eBay for it to go missing via Royal Mail , and I got refunded in a pleasant manner on both occasions from the eBay sellers . I made sure of course to leave great feedback . Regarding the damaged item , the vinyl want rare , but the 12” gatefold cover was. I refunded the postal charge where I was ripped off from Royal Mail , and the buyer thankfully left good feedback explaining that I resolved the issue . Hopefully I can stop buying and selling stuff eventually 🙂

EBay have been going through a lot of ‘changes’ over the last year or so . Probably longer . Finnicky ,and initially hard to get to grips with all the goings on I find . Don’t forget DHL have been taken over by EVRI ! My hunch is that EVRI are the culprits here! Also ,EVRI are being forced upon us if we use Next , M&S, John Lewis etc . Fwiw EVRI time I get deliveries from them ( apart from one occasion) , they are always late! The app only changes when you receive an email advising you that they will be indeed late ! When a parcel is due to arrive between 1-3 pm and doesn’t arrive until just before 10.30 pm you know that they are crap . Next have refunded me . I allow a few hrs, but if it’s after8 pm I complain on the next app! As for dealing with eBay sellers, I always ask what courier they use. One seller gave a snotty response so I advised them they lost a sale ! Also , the only real way to find out who the eBay seller uses is to press the ‘buy it now ‘ button . Then decide if you want to proceed or not . I stick with Royal Mail or dpd as much as I can . No courier co is perfect , but EVRI are absolute crap ! ( just my observation )

I was in a couple of bands in the ‘90s / early 2000’s who played in the Grey Horse in Kingston ( not Jamaica ). I was told by a couple of band mates at various times briefly that it had Legendary name Musicians who played there . To me the bar looked okay, but the gig area was like a rundown social club . Most of those legendary musicians are either dead or in care homes. It meant nothing to me . All we ever experienced there was bad band promotion , dodgy bar managers resulting in a few punters. Yes, we played to the bar staff exclusively as well . We gave it our all so to speak , treated it like an extra practice session with payment fluctuating to allow for shady managers. That was the worst . We just took in on the chin and moved on ,and refused to go there again .

I got a fretless Warwick thumb copy back in 1996 .Vester custom shop . Got it to see if I could play fretless ,and how difficult it would be to adapt .It looks the same as Tauzero’s above. The neck is fantastic, the strings are a very light gauge. I was told by a couple of basschatters who saw the bass , that it was a quality instrument. The strings are groundwound , which are supposedly expensive but make the bass really easy to play. It has a brass nut also. The only downside I’d say , is the weight .

Sounds like the band would do a Les Dawson alternate version 🙂

I’ll just wait for the Harley Benton version for £500 in yellow 🙂

I like the look of most Dingwall basses I’ve seen . Not so this one . Awful colour ,and looks cheap . Only imho.

No offence , but from that picture it’s one of the worst steinberger basses I’ve ever seen . The bridge / saddles look cheaply Chinese like those in cheap headless basses. Even the spirit series look much better . Ned keeps changing things , but the basses don’t seem to be as prominent in the press / in Basschat etc as other companies. If he revisited the xm-2 , that would gain a lot of attention imho. Each to their own ..

Sounds like you’re an ideal fit for any band with all the work and dedication you are putting in already. It just comes down to people at the end of the day . As has been said , be yourself and see what gives . A lot of bands looking for people to join them are not as dedicated as you . Best of luck anyway !

G4M are great ! Nearly had a heart attack when you asked if they're still going . Can’t lose anymore top retailers .

It sounds like if they keep going the way they are , the gigs will dry up . Not sure how long they've been gigging ,from what you said . If it was the first or second gig, then maybe advise gentle constructive criticism if asked . I must admit you did make me laugh at your observations . I would keep out of it otherwise if it were me . I don’t know if you could be washing the cat 🐈‍⬛ the next time he asks you to go along 🤔. Alternatively they could do some show stopping songs when the audience dwindles . Tracks such as ‘don’t leave me this way ‘, ‘ if you gotta go now ‘ ‘ should I stay or should I go ‘ etc musos react differently to criticism as we know . Having said that ,you have to keep on improving. This includes taking criticism not in a personal manner , but something to spur you on to improve . Trouble with that is , when most of the band are poor , not all take the constructive criticism kindly ..