chris_b

For our Belgian members. . . . Anyone remember Euromusic, Parys Flore, Rue Du Midi, Bruxelles? I just found the receipt for my Fender Precision, which I bought in 1969 from there. Great shop and friendly staff.

A long as it's too high for the punters to reach.

I went to school in West Ealing, only a short walk from Marshall's shop in Hanwell. I spent many lunchtimes looking at the basses and getting in the way of the staff. 33-37 Wardour Street, W1, the Flamingo Club was in the basement, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go was on the first and (maybe) second floors floors, and Pan Music was on the third floor. They always had a fantastic selection of basses hanging on the wall. That's where I saw my first Fender Precision bass in the flesh. I bought my Vox Foundation from Pan.

Basses that sound better when someone else is playing them. . . .

You could have highlighted the rest of my post.

Where the bass is made is irrelevant. The QC is solely dependent on the contract between the factory and the client, and is down to how much the client company wants to spend making each bass, and how well the client polices the build quality.

I get bike boxes (free from bike shops), cut them down to the right size and line with expanded polystyrene sheets.

Gain is your tone, Master is your volume. My SVT3PRO User Guide said, dial the master as loud as it will go and balance your volume on the gain. Maybe that was because it had a valve preamp. On my D class amps I prefer the gain to be pushed and using the master to balance the volume.

I took the covers off my Precision because I played right over the pickup, I didn't like the sound of the foam, it was a hassle to change the strings, and most importantly because John McVie took his off. I was easily influenced in those days!!

We had the same problem with O'Neil's in Richmond. We were very loud on stage and on the dance floor but because of the low ceiling the sound didn't travel to the other end of the pub. The management complained about the lack of volume and in the end put the pub music on in the bar area! We did get rebooked but O'Neil's moved out a year later. O’Neil’s in Harrow was run by a nice woman. She always filled the place, but was fired, fingers in the till! The next guy didn't care and we played to half empty rooms. We got the blame for that and they dropped us. O'Neil's had the right attitude in the beginning. They told us it was their job to get the punters in and it was our job to keep them there. Fair enough but that changed, and the pub managers started asking why we didn't bring a crowd!

. . . . and then Monica arrives with her noisy weekends!

The screw pixies ran off with mine sometime in the mid 80's.

Some promoters are morons. We were playing a well known pub chain and the manager had to fight his way across the heaving dance floor to tell us he wanted us to play more danceable music!!! The dance floor was full, so we carried on with the set and everyone had a great night. . . . and we didn’t get rebooked!

I had the Staccato and RH750 and had no problems with either. Forget the silly press on the power amp figures, my amps were easily as loud as claimed. I finally decided the TC sound wasn't for me and moved to Aguilar. I found "The" tone with a TH500.

You've got 10 pedals. . . . . . ?

Ask the sound guys if are having trouble differentiating between bass, bass drum and keys. Their answer might solve everything. My suggestion, take some bass off the bass and add low mids. Take some bass off the keyboards and, while I didn’t hear keys overplaying on the recording, make sure the keys aren't playing bass guitar lines. Yesterday I played at a festival and the FOH was boomy and indistinct. The bass drum drowned out the bass! The sound guys didn't seem to have a clue. If that's what your sound guy is like, get another one.

Nice socks.

Nice. Let us know how you get on.

There's a saying, "Buy your second bass first", ie don't buy a beginner bass because you will outgrow it in no time and have to buy a better bass. Buy that better bass first. Looks like your budget is around £200. if you can squeeze £500 out of the wallet you'll have a much better choice of basses. Pick wisely and you may never have to buy another bass.

Insuring basses is a pain, so I insure myself. My boxes are bombproof so I'll stand any losses. I haven't had to payout so far.

I don't know either of those basses, but as you are just starting out. . . . play as many basses as you can get your hands on. You need a bass that sounds good and feels great to play. Worry about looks at some time in the future. Now you just want to buy a bass that is going to inspire you to play. Good luck.

If they "work their way out", push them back in!!!

I've been using a set of TI flats for the last 10 years. . . . and I sound exactly like Pino. Well I sound like a bloke playing TI flats on a Precision bass, which is what Pino sounds like. I'm still working on the technique and bass lines though.

In March I sent a bass via Interparcel/Parcelforce and used a heavy duty bicycle box (130cm x 40cm x 20cm if I remember correctly) with no extra charges.

My bands are getting louder. I can tell, the dB number on my ACS plug filters is creeping up. A friend lived in a village near Newbury. In the 70's they had an influx of people from London. Straight away the incomers started complaining that there was no street lighting and the pavements were inadequate!! The locals hated them even more after that. The Bull's Head at Barns, a music venue since the early 60's, had the Met Police garage next door. When that was sold to a developer, the pub had several meetings where they informed the developer and counsel that they were a music venue and there was noise, and the builder should take that into account when they designed the flats. Everyone, including the builder, agreed that that would be done. Basically the developer agreed not to put a window in the wall over looking the pub. Guess what? That's exactly what the builder did. As soon as the flats were sold the owners started complaining about the noise! Under current rules the pub had no comeback, and had to spend thousands on noise insulation.