chris_b

What kind of bad back? Problems with posture, muscles or discs? What weight is your bass? If you have lumber disc issues the strap will matter less. We should always use good supportive straps, but a lighter bass could also be the right solution.

This. I once played a Pino and it was one of the best Precisions I've touched. These days £5k is beyond my budget by a mile, but it is within the budgets of many and they are the intended audience for these instruments. Good luck to them.

February has been an unusually busy month. I have worked up about 60 songs for 4 bands. That's for a 50's rock n roll, r&b and ska band, a blues, r&b, funk and soul band, a soul and smooth jazz gig and a reunion with the 3 surviving members from my school band. About 50% of these songs I've played before, 30% I kinda know but have never played and the rest were originals or I've never heard. There are about 4 which are a stretch and pushing me beyond my comfort zone and 2 are a worry, but I have 10 days to get them right. Fingers crossed.

I've used both, and a Three10 (Two10 + One10) and a Four10 (2 x Two10's). I thought they all sounded good. They were loud, punchy, light and had a great tone. The various combinations worked well in all my bands, but I had 7 BF cabs sitting at home and finally decided I had to rationalise the "collection". It was a difficult decision, but I slightly preferred my 5 string basses through the 112's (SC, SM and BB2), and sold the Two10's. I still use the One10's for practice at home.

I was picked up in West London at 8 am, we drove in an old ex-GPO commer van to Ponteland for a gig, then we drove straight back. Got caught up in the morning rush hour coming into London. Dropped off at about 11 am. About a year later also did the Sunderland Empire as a one-off. Sorry but no downsides for me. We had 2 great gigs.

Then you have chosen wisely. . . .

You'd get on stage and play your socks off.

If I struck a pose like that I'd need someone to help me up afterwards!!

I prefer clean, warm, full, punchy and well defined. I dislike distortion, hair, breakup, dirt, grit etc etc. My signal chain has always been bass, amp and cab. IMO simple quality ingredients make the best meal.

I was "fired" once. I noticed the band was gigging. . . . with a different bass player! I was never told, the band leader just stopped calling. Most of the people I know in the music business are nice, honest and reasonable. Of course there are exceptions, that's life. If you run into one of life's a-holes, they are not worth a second thought, unless they owe you money, just move on in the company of the good guys.

I was in a band 20 years ago and the band leader started to give a bass playing friend of his some of our gigs. Same story, I was down graded to a "pool of deps" in my own band. I told him to shove it.

Most of the gigs I see are being run by fans, people who love live music and work very hard to run clubs and gigs. Holograms might work in a pub environment but they won't be replacing live bands. The slow demise of the hospitality industry and noise issues with neighbours will have a more serious effect on the availability of live music.

That's all I ever wanted to do. Playing bass was the one thing, only thing, I could imagine doing for the rest of my life. In the late 60's we had a chance of making a "living", but now I'm no so sure. Most of the pro musicians I know are teaching or running their own non music related businesses. The week I left school I joined a pro band. It was tough, see-sawing between everything and nothing. Trying to make it, then not making it. You have to be resilient to deal with the constant ups and downs but I never regretted that decision for one minute. Now I know, being "pro" is a frame of mind, and it never leaves you. After 6 years of some success and a lot of failure, I finally jumped ship and joined the early days of the IT industry. That was almost as mad as some of the bands I played with.

The world is your lobster, but I would be looking at good used Mike Lull or NYC Sadowsky basses. Best basses I've ever owned and played. Or. . . . a long shot, a Rob Allen Deep 4/5.

I wish they'd bring out a superlight version of a 5 string P bass.

IMO Hi-Fi is fullrange, clean and undistorted. I have 2 amps that do that, Thunderfunk TF750 and Aguilar AG700. Other makes in the ball-park, Quilter, GK, Mesa Boogie, Genzler and maybe, at a push, Markbass.

@Geek99 If you are playing with guys who can't get it right then don't blame yourself. You did well to come away knowing where improvements should be made. So practice, practice, practice and, next time, if no one sensible is in control, you take charge.

IMO I put a Bartolini pickup in a Precision bass and the improvement was 1000%. Spurred on by this great move I added a preamp and got 5% improvement at most. For what that cost It wasn't worth it. My take on modding is that some things are worth it and many are not. I'd replace the pickups with a good make like Barts or Nordstrands etc, and maybe add a good set of flats and see where you are at that point.

I thought Beefy was amusing and annoying all at the same time.

An SVT3-PRO at about 26lbs might fit the bill, but if you are experiencing back problems you should really be looking further down the road, to D class amps and neo cabs.

Not always so great. I asked for an open-ended loan of an Alembic and no one bothered to reply!!

First thing I'd do is put a set of Labella flats on and a lump of foam. If that doesn't work I'd replace the Precision pickup with Bartolini and disconnect the J. You'll get such a great sound out of the Barts and you won't notice the missing J.

These are conversations and can go where they go. Some people don't like that, but talking around the subject can make for a more interesting and informative thread.

Sad news. His was a unique voice on bass.