chris_b

None of us will get bigger than this. A few years ago I played with an ex-ELO guitarist. ELO were playing a packed Wembley Stadium. The keys player was first on stage and had to press a button on the keys which kicked off a preprogrammed introduction and the first song. The whole band would join in at various points. It was pitch dark on stage, about 70,000 people started cheering and the keys player hit the delete button! That was it. No backup, no introduction and no first song.

I bought a flight cased Peavey 215. The seller helped me load it into my hatchback, but when I got home I found it was so heavy I couldn't get it out of the boot!! In the end a neighbour had to help. I was very red faced after this one. There were 2 gigs, one was called Blues On The Farm and the other was called Blues At The Farm. I went to the wrong one! I turned up at Blues On The Farm in Billericay to discover I was the only person there. The band was waiting for me at Blues At The Farm, in frigging Chichester, 156 km, a 2+hr drive and 4 counties away!!!! It was a festival and fortunately the 2 bands after us were already there and didn't mind going on early!!

OK. . . . a few years back, I did buy a Thumpinator, but either it was broken or I didn't have a problem in the first place, because I didn't see or hear any difference.

I'm a fan of the Sadowsky preamp pedal. With my eyes shut I could almost mistake my Cort for a Sadowsky. Flats beef up the tone of a bass. If that's not the sound you're after then they won't be any use to you, but if you want a full blooded thump, to strengthen and reinforce your tone, then flats will be perfect.

I've bought stuff over the years that I thought would be a good move. Sometimes I was right and sometimes I was wrong, but I've never bought anything because of peer pressure or because "I felt I ought to".

My terrible sound guy story (well one of them), I saw Little Feat, Craig Fuller era, at Shepherds Bush. The first few numbers were great, just like listening to the record. We stood at the back next to the sound guy, and I was surprised to see him constantly twiddling all the controls from the word go. By half way the sound was a distorted mess. I couldn't hear any instruments clearly, there were no audible vocals and my ears were ringing for days. That was all down to the sound guy. I don't know what he'd been taking but he single handedly destroyed what could have been a great evening.

Index finger on the root (not quite a rest stroke as such, but not a pluck either) and middle finger on the octave (definitely a rest stroke here).

Of course they did. Things don't stand still, but with all the flaws, issues and competition, Fender Strats, P basses and Jazz basses still form the bulk of the instruments I see being used on gigs and on TV. I now play 2 FSO's. Fender designs with all the wrinkles ironed out and taken to the next level. I couldn't be happier.

I don't know much about PJB gear but if space is really critical the One10 must be a contender. The size of the Monza puts it in Super Compact territory, and that's a whole different ball game when it comes to comparing the tone, volume and frequency range.

Gentle rest strokes all the time for me. IMO gets a better sound, with a lower action, better flow of notes and uses less energy than trying to pluck the strings.

Yeah, Paul Tutmarc got there first, but all I can say is I'm glad Leo's company came up with the ultimate bass guitar design when they did. It totally changed my life.

I play 18mm and 19mm and don't notice the difference. Any narrower and I start to suffer.

I gig in a cover band and the guitarist wears earplugs and plays way too loud. His Fender combo is also pointing at the back of his heels. The rest of the band are matching his level, which isn't good. The singer is always complaining that she can't hear herself, but no one seems to care enough to fix the problem.

In one band I get a lift to gigs with the guitarist. Lately I've had to ask him to turn down the volume on the satnav. It's so loud it's hurting my ears!!

+1 Bassgear was a great place. Played my first Fodera basses there.

Most of the deaf guitarists I know are in denial. They wouldn't acknowledge they have a problem if you paid them. A couple are wearing hearing aids as well. Their hearing is obviously shot they're still playing way too loud.

Nice one. Learn to love it. It’ll pay you back in spades.

I used to go to music shops during the week. Saturdays was a nightmare with multiple guitarists playing loudly and badly. You couldn't hear yourself think!

Give it 100%. You're professionals and good at what you do. Don't let anything put you off doing the best gig you can.

I haven't walked off, but on one gig the guitarist was so loud I stopped playing and stood there with my fingers in my ears. The guitarist started ripping me a new one, but his wife (the band's singer) weighed in on my side, telling him his volume was stupidly loud. We were half way through a contract playing US airbases in Germany so were stuck with each other, but we never got on after that.

Many years ago I played with a very good guitarist. He did a lot of recording and West End theatre work, and got every tone of every guitarist at very sensible volume levels. He was using pedals and his amp properly. It was a treat playing with him.

2 guitarists is one too many, 3 is madness. I do occasional gigs with a cover band and I've told them that they are too loud and play the songs too fast. . . . it's water off a duck's back!! I bought 26dB filters for the very loud guitarist I play with and find I'm wearing them for most gigs these days. Volumes are definitely going up, across the board. I guess it's in proportion to how deaf everyone is getting.

Hi Dave, the music shop under Centre Point was Baldwin, the piano company who bought Burns. I played my first bass though an amp in that shop, a Rickenbacker 4003, probably through a Burns combo. They had glass cubicles where you could sit and play the instruments.

While it's not as clean sounding as a Barefaced 112, a Barefaced One10T with the right amp won't sound "rock"!! To get the best sound out of any cab you have to be looking for high quality, properly designed cabs. My shortlist would consist of your Barefaced suggestion and an LFSys cab.

I drove past Bell's yesterday. It's now a Hairdressers!!