RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

**feet courtesy of ET **

It was too early this morning to do an unboxing type of video . It was 8.15am and I was just about to have a shower., and this turned up via DHL! Times are tough , but on 5th of November I had to make a somewhat rash decision while in bed . 🛏️ . I couldn't see UK currency , so had to ask Rhino 🦏what the chances of this being available in the UK. This was after trawling the internet with no success . I didn't have to pay import duties or anything like that thankfully . It's now sold out as it's ltd edition of 3,000 copies . Tbh it shouldn't really be unavailable in this country , and I don't know why it isn't . I feel sorry for those who didn't get one. That may change . Who knows ? Anyway thought I'd share 🙂

Great stuff! Don't miss Testament or Kreator on the same bill ! 😼👍

The Moog Minitaur is great . Especially if you want a small desktop synth . Lots of presets if you're into that kind of thing . You need a midi / usb keyboard though which may or may not be what you want . I'd avoid the Korg ms-20 mini ,as the build quality is very poor. Like the moog grandmother ( which is big and chunky) , it is semi modular which may be off putting for some .

Mmmm... I did consider getting one of these a while back . Everyone's views may vary on tone etc, but to me it sounds a cross between a Warwick and a Hohner headless cricket bat that I had . I had heard of and seen Washburn Force ..but never a headless one ! Thanks for that info and pic. It looks like it would fall into the full body Hohner Jack Bass category imho . It sounds to me that the sound that would suit your requirements headless wise, is the Washburn Status . You may have had one but anyway , compared to the sounds I've heard from the Artisan the Washburn status is like a slap in the face You would be noticed for sure ! I have one . On my headless journey , I had a Steinberger XM2 . Pricey now , and the sound was great also . I decided to sell , because it was great for pick playing but not much else for my needs . Possibly the string spacing was too narrow for me . It replaced my Hohner professional which a friend told me it sounded like a tuba ! Action and feel were good , but I didn't think replacing th3 EMG Select pickups would be worthwhile and too much of a gamble . My Jack Daniel's Bass feels like the Hohner , but has a bit more bite to it . I have a fretless made by mybass , and got it set to B-E-A-D . The feel is great and the Bassline Humbuckers sound good . I think sometimes about getting a 5 string , but I have a Digitech Bass Whammy which is bulky ! I play at home only ,so not too big a deal . I did think about the Ibanez healdless basses. Cheapest one is made of Basswood Body . It seems like Cort manufacture the same type of necks ( and possibly the rest ) in Indonesia . The sound seems similar to the Cort in places . I've heard demos from Nate Navarro and Low End Lobster . Some Basschatters changed the pickups on the Ibanez for Aguilar ones and raved about the improvements . Have you considered changing your amp ? ( A bit extreme ) Or possibly get something like a Zoom B3 or similar ? If there is a shop near you to tryout your bass in different amps , that may be something to consider, Times are hard right now , but just ideas that came to me while typing .

Wow ! Just stumbled across this NOT QUITE DELETED thread 🙂 Okay , I did infact post here infact about the Waldorf 2Polle . I was going to tell you how amazing it is . Then I realised , I may have posted it in the wrong section .🤦‍♂️ Oh well here it is .. can be used by djs , guitarists , bass guitarist and much more . Well you did ask 😬

If I never had a moog I'd be on this . Cheers for the heads up . Some ebayers will be a bit disappointed . This topic may be moved to other instruments section though 🤔

Speaking of EVRI ; I purchased something small on eBay 2 weeks ago . I ( wrongly ) assumed it would be delivered by Royal Mail. Unfortunately I didn't do my basic homework and it was indeed sent by EVRI . If I knew that, I would have pyrchased the item from a different seller . Why? Well I left instructions to stick the small box into the letterbox. That was too challenging for them ,and I found the item outside the door at about 8.30 pm ! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ I did not leave any feedback . I did not receive any either . Some sellers don't bother leaving any . Fair enough. The other thing with EVRI , is that their deliveries are always " between 6pm -10pm" in my experience . I do have a Sodastream , and unfortunately they use EVRI also . The slight exception there is that I have had bottles delivered around 4pm. If that changes in my next order, I will sadly have to cancel and hope that I can get glass bottles of fizzy water from either Waitrose or Ocado . The amount of times I got plastic bottles sent as a substitution forced me into going down the sodastream route. mini rant over ..

I got him to sign that video back in the Wapping bass centre back in the day . It smudged unfortunately ,and is long gone . On that video he did make me laugh about rocking at the bar 🙂

Always cross my fingers when saying anything 🤞 My eBay transactiond are , so far so good ! To me it depends on what you're buying or selling . I only had one potentially bad experience when selling vinyl 12" and albums ( selling ) . Royal Mail somehow deliberately damaged a rare ish Metallica 12" . I asked the buyer if it was okay to refund postsge and that he keeps it . ( The sleeve is rare ) . He was okay with that and provided positive feedback explain8ng my helpful solution . Buying vinyl from 2 different sellers which never arrived . Got refunds and apologies . Me being polite etc helps . Buying a kaossilator pro which didn't power up . Thankfully eBay and PayPal sorted problem within a few days and refunded. I haven't sold any basses on eBay , but did buy from 2 sellers in Germany who were great . If I was selling basses I'd ask for collection only as then in theory there should be no problems . What I find annoying about eBay these days is , if you so much as look at an item you have an offer from the seller. Or they send messages about things that don't interest me ,and think I should buy it .

Being the youngest of a large family , it wasn't easy to get into a routine without distractions . Long story short , the 3 most valuable things spring to mind : 1. A graphic designer who worked in the same company as mine gave me lessons for £5 once a week 2. Rudy Sarzo Hot Licks instructional video 3. After reaching a plateau , I found a teacher in Tooting via loot magazine ( John Hills) . He played double bass , and he let me have a go on his Wal Fretless . This encouraged me to get a fretless bass . The circle of 5ths is what I found very useful . He even got me playing autumn leaves while reading music instead of tab. Troubke was unfortunately, work and trying to stay sociable plus joining bands etc made it difficult to keep up. Sometimes going to Tooting on a Saturday morning from the Borough half cut from the night before was manageable for a time . Then overtime on a Saturday morning put a kybosh on that . All this before the days of YouTube ! You tube is something I recommend . So many options out there ..

Same , except I haven't got a real status ...yet !

Mmm....I nearly sold mine last year . Thankfully I changed my mind . I would say anything up to £600 due to rarity now, and that in the past I've seen ones in good condition go for around that . I have seen some in not so good condition shall we say, get purchased for around £450 . I don't think they got a good deal there . I love the little clicks when adjusting the volume , bass and treble knobs . Well I did , until I got mine modified . ( more below) The output is thunderous , and very powerful from the status active pickups ( 9v battery ) . The sound is very bright sounding, and could be too much for rock bands . ( again more below) . In bands I've been in , I have been asked to turn down . What they meant was cut off the treble . Also, you cannot hide mistakes ( if you're like me ) , due to the bright tone . As for the body , it is " rich American walnut " and quite heavy . A bass of quality in terms of looks and build . The jack is not the greatest quality . A lot of headless designs are made with basswood bodies . I would like to think of your opinions of those . The reason being , is that I have a Jack Daniels bass made with basswood . It sounds great , and fantastically light to play . However although I have gigged it in the past , I do wonder if basswood would be as resilient and tough as my Washburn status 🤔 is the sound as good ?🤔 Anyway , back to the modifications on my Washburn status and why : 1. I got carried away in a rehearsal with a blues band , and I thumped the bass in a Rudy Sarzo like manner .😬 Took it into Denmark street and had a switchcraft Jack replacing the broken one . There were still issues . 2. I kept getting radio signals ,and local taxi services going through the pickups . So, Graham Noden at Denmark street tested the strength of them . I didn't need to change them . What he did was take out the active circuitry . This meant unfortunately (?) that all I need to do is plug and play . No clicks on the tone knobs anymore . Job done ! No more batteries , plus the bands I'd been in since loved the tone of it . what Graham Noden pointed out was that so many manufacturers followed a trend in the '80s by putting active circuitry in basses as standard . Words to that effect anyway . I say get one ! Headless strings and normal strings are compatible . Look fantastic ! I have a dimarzio strap with straplocks which take the weight off of the bass when moving around .