chris_b

Nooooooooo. . . . . I've had other guys tell me that, but it's not true. What you've got left is better than nothing, which is what you'll end up with if you don't protect your hearing. Even at this late stage protecting your ears is an important thing to do.

I used an SVT Pro-3 for years with one or two 8 ohm cabs, depending on the gig. IME always a good sound.

I'm talking about ACS because that is where my experience is. There are different forms of hearing protection and as long as you pick one that works then chose your brand. A glance at the Knops site makes me think they are not doing anything different, clever or special. Just controlling overall volume. They don't seem to "process" different frequencies differently, so I don't see how their results can be any different to other products on the market. I might be wrong. Buy a pair and see what they do. Let us know. I would be interested in buying some if they are effective and actually do what their marketing department is claiming. We are all playing for different reasons. My intention when I was learning was to play in bands. My ACS plugs are very effective and allow me to do that. I have no interest in giving that up and "playing at home".

Nice. I liked it. Beautiful bass sound as always from Mr McBride. Good to see that guys at this level can also have timing "issues" when playing stabs over a drum solo.

Im currently using ACS PRO17's. I was using foam plugs for years but they were worse than useless, been using ACS for over 10 years. You've got tinnitus? Welcome to the club. Like a lot of people I delayed and started too late so I have "issues" with my hearing. In the past I've met several players who had ACS plugs but didn't use them, for lots of reasons, mostly based around how they didn't like the way the plugs changed the sound. These days they all have very serious problems with their hearing. Of course ACS plugs cut out ambient sound. How do you imagine they would differentiate between what you want to hear and what you don't want to hear? ACS are a hammer to crack a nut, but currently they are the best hammer we've got. If you think you need ear plugs now then you should have bought them last year. Your hearing is already damaged and unless you do protect yourself you will carry on accumulating more damage. I'm not going to lie, ear plugs do change what you hear. That's what they do when they are doing their job. For me it's manageable and I don't have a problem with that because I'm not ready to stop playing, which is what I would have to do if I didn't wear them.

I was chatting to Nick one lunchtime and a guy came in wanting to sell a Wal Pro. He only wanted about £300 but was told they couldn't sell them and they weren't interested!!

The rehearsal studio was on the ground floor, entrance in the side road and the basses were upstairs. After it all switched around I knew the guy running the drum section of the school upstairs.

Park on the outskirts of London and get the underground.

In the mid to late 80's I joined a band and we used the rehearsal studio on the ground floor. That's when I discovered the Bass Centre. Later they moved down to the ground floor but when I first went there they were upstairs. What an Aladdin's Cave of bass gear and the first time I'd seen more than a couple of basses and amps in one place! Over the years I bought several amps and cabs from Nick, Grant and Alex and used to drop for a browse on many occasions.

There are several guys who come to gigs in this area and they record the bands. It's a hobby, but they are quite professional in the quality of what they do. They ask if we mind them filming and recording and they send the videos to the band leader so he has the final say on what goes online. Of course most don't do this! These days it's difficult to have a bad gig because someone invariably posts your nightmares online. We should all have some control over our online images. So I don't think it's a problem if we ask for particularly bad videos to be taken down.

I totally agree, but I'm not sure I was implying anything like that. The post you quoted purposely didn't mention gear at all.

Humble instrument? The Tambourine that Jack Ashford played on so many Motown Records. Sometimes he's mixed up front and sometime he in the background, but he's there on most of them.

A lot of makers are using Morado or Pau Ferro as a replacement. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjAv_OqiZLeAhVoCMAKHe3iCd8QFjAAegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wood-database.com%2Fpau-ferro%2F&usg=AOvVaw1qyns2uFejzSfmxAxx2EVu

That's right. Buy a Standard (or is it the Player range, these days) or any other bass you like and create your own signature bass by the way you play it. I don't understand the trying to sound like someone else or play "their" bass thing. I have played a Pino and it was a fantastic instrument to play, but I wouldn't pay that money for it. . . . and I still bloody well sounded like me, so what went wrong there? The one thing great and iconic players do, they all sound different not because of the different pieces of wood they are carrying but because of the lines they create and the style they are playing with. Any room for me in that bunker?

Not ready to gig after that many rehearsals? Ask them what's wrong with them.

Same here. I bought a Rob Allen fretless (lovely bass) which I thought would be a good fit for 2 of my bands. Good for the rock and roll band as they were used to double bass players. I asked the band leader after the first gig and he said, "Sounds good, but I preferred your precision!" I also used it with the acoustic duo and just got a "remind me what exactly was different?" reaction. Cue sale of one hardly used bass and back to what I usually do.

This is true. If there is a musician in the audience and you are playing like you don't care, you have probably lost networking and gig opportunities. Always give 101% even playing to one man and a dog. . . you never know who's listening in the other bar. I've been asked to join every band I've been in since 1985. I've picked up every gig and band because a band member suggested me or a band leader dropped in and thought I would fit into his band. So how you sound is important but how you play is even more important. Every gig is a potential introduction to more players.

If you have a problem with the answers maybe you should have phrased the question differently. This is also the problem with "click-bait". If you point people in one direction you can't complain if that's the direction they go! Then there is the long post problem. People generally don't read long posts so any points being made in a long post will probably be missed. Long posts are generally not to the point. Sorry, but I tried reading yours and drifted off several times. Perfection is overrated. The value of anything to be "good enough".

. . . because he can!

Over the years I've asked several people about various new basses I've bought. The reply I usually get is, "It sounds good. It sounds like you". When the penny drops you realise that all anyone wants from any band member is that they buy their rounds, don't sound bad and play good stuff. . . . and no one really cares how they do it. I had a boring 15 mins when a drummer was telling me the difference between snare drums, wood, brass etc. All I knew was he sounded great and I loved what he played in the songs we did.

Every bass is the right bass. . . for someone. I don't think about the "best". All you can do is to ensure that the next bass is better in some regard than the last one. That way, when you finally stop playing, you'll be playing the best bass you've ever owned.

Sadly Bonamassa manages to steamroller anyone who plays with him, but he always has great bands. This time he's got two of the best session players in the states atm, Anton Fig on drums and Michael Rhodes on bass. Nice surprise to see such good players on Later.

Currently the EU is viewed as a single entity in terms of movement of goods between members. So you won't be required to provide documents between EU countries. Outside the EU who knows what kind of monitoring will be in place, but be prepared for the worst.

Your cheapest option is to find another Hydrive 115, but IMO you can do so much better than that. Definitely check out a BB2, but if you don't need a tweeter then a Super Compact or a Two10 might be for you. Where are you? Maybe you can check out someone using a BF cab on a gig near you.