Paul Cooke

Zoom, easy to change patches... just stomp on the up or down buttons (you just have to remember which code relates to which patch)... Boss (I have the ME-20B) the sounds are great, but it's a real pain switching patches and you have to put it into memory mode first so if you get a power glitch, then you're frantically trying to get back into memory mode... the Zoom just reboots straight into the last patch it was in... The slap patch on the Boss ME-20B is massive and even I can slap when using it, but it's such a pain getting in and out of it... The Boss ME-20B in memory mode only has three patches immediately available... one for each foot switch... it's even a pain trying to get in and out of tuner mode...

I "murdered" my old P-Bass... I'd been given a cast off '69 sunburst finish P-Bass by my cousin as he'd given up and handed it down to me... I was in a punk band in the late 70's and went and painted it gloss white with emulsion so it looked like Sid's P-Bass... I honestly didn't know what I had in my hands back then... to the vast majority of us, it was a clunker Fender bass and then was less than ten years old... I sold it on in the mid 80's as I needed the money to buy a car and kit out a nursery... bit difficult to transport new born and mother around on the back of a motorbike or in the Bond Bug... and I was seriously strapped for cash. I believe I got £300 for it, which was pretty good considering what I'd done to it...

it needed several coats of gloss varnish over it... don't look right in matte...

I've only replaced the control plate assembly on my VMJ as I was able to get my hands on a fully loaded ex Fender Geddy Lee plate for next to nothing. Otherwise, I'd not have bothered at all. I've got no problems with the pickups, bridge or tuners... they're fine. Strings... well, there was nothing wrong with the stock Fender strings, but I've gone over to nylon tapewounds and in a short while, when I can afford to let it out of my hands, it's going into the shop to get the nut replaced with a bone nut cut to fit the Rotosound Tru-Bass strings I've got waiting for it (gosh, they're fat... and they don't do a set which will go straight on without messing with the nut)

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='315065' date='Oct 26 2008, 02:07 PM']Ah - quoted the wrong post. Easy done Hendrix did actually play right hand guitars left handed. And Macca used the Hofner fiddle bass so it would not look odd upside down. Lots of left handers play right handed instruments to save themselves a lifetime of problems finding the right instruments. Especially piano players [/quote] there is one left handed piano in existence... [url="http://www.lefthandedpiano.co.uk/"]http://www.lefthandedpiano.co.uk/[/url]

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='314743' date='Oct 25 2008, 08:11 PM']I happened to be chatting in a fairly polite manner to one of the guys behind the counter - discussing said Aria, mentioned that I have a number of Arias in my posession; chap asks me how many basses I've got, he is told current number! Other ruder staff member then passes comment![/quote] I'd have asked him if he liked losing sales... I've done that before now in PC World and Currys when the staff haven't been fast enough in coming to my assistance or have given me stupid answers

sadly, I would get some serious "care bear stares" if I were to turn up to play in church with that on my headstock...

when did Fender start using crosspoint screws?

felt pick and wallet stuffed up against the bridge...

what the bleep is it then?... that doesn't look anything like a Buzzard or Vampyre... nice trick that lifting the Vampyre spiel off the Warwick website... oh, I love this silly factoid "All Warwick-branded instruments are hand-crafted in Germany" he lifted... when the headstock is showing Made In USA...

Got dragged along to see Mamma Mia the other day... I was absolutely transfixed by the quality of the bass playing in the songs... who is this guy?

[quote name='Rich' post='303799' date='Oct 10 2008, 01:09 PM']A couple of years ago we played a music fest on the same bill as, ahem, a well-known Eurovision-winning guy-girl quartet who are not called Buck's Fizz. The girls were really nice, chatty, friendly, watched some of our set and complimented us afterwards. The blokes however were a different kettle of fish... didn't say a word to us all night, appeared to go out of their way to avoid even looking in our general direction. Miserable pair of feckers. So far up themselves, they must need torches. And having heard their soundcheck, I know just how much is on their backing tape... let's just say it's an [i]awful[/i] lot more than just a drum track... [/quote] ABBA?

[quote name='Sean' post='303870' date='Oct 10 2008, 02:16 PM']Everything we've been told about South Africa is negative and everyone tells horror stories so I'm not really looking forward to it much. I think I'll be stuck in the hotel quite a bit watching Ashes to Ashes and Life On Mars on my iPod.[/quote] everything you've heard is true... even the hotel bar isn't safe... [url="http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2215070,00.html"]http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/...2215070,00.html[/url] [url="http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2203225,00.html"]http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/...2203225,00.html[/url] [url="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20081004141351671C262747&click_id=13&set_id=1"]http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20...13&set_id=1[/url] the last one was this week... makes you think when the locals check their guns in at the entrance to the Montecasino shopping center in Jo'berg... and the security staff have an armed squad on immediate readiness... ps, the Montecasino place is great... plenty of bars, live entertainment, open late... but when your driving about, you must lock the doors from the inside and put the windows up... and be prepared to floor it at stop junctions as they can be popular hold-up spots... if you see the second of the two signs, then worry... a holdup gang could be waiting to pounce [url="http://anamericaninpretoria.blogspot.com/2007/12/south-african-road-signs.html"]http://anamericaninpretoria.blogspot.com/2...road-signs.html[/url] [url="http://www.haasje.com/images/20041014_za_hotspot.jpg"]http://www.haasje.com/images/20041014_za_hotspot.jpg[/url]

[quote name='cytania' post='303070' date='Oct 9 2008, 03:14 PM']Watch out for tutorials books that have no tab or push sheet music reading as a sacred grail. I found Ed Friedland's 'Bass Grooves' very useful last year because it teaches simple common grooves and emphasises timing and control over flash technique. Ed's 'Blues Bass' is good too because unlike most of his other books there are real blues songs tabbed out.[/quote] The Blues Bass one is a very good book... My copy started to fall to bits, I'd been using it so much... I'm now playing off of photocopies of the pages, the book has been put away to save further wear and tear

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='302131' date='Oct 8 2008, 01:16 PM']This is cheaper (ie free) [url="http://wheatsbassbook.org"]http://wheatsbassbook.org[/url][/quote] +500 and rising...

strange how everything in their "shop" is brand new and/or sealed

when are they supposed to be pulling the plug on FM radio then? That's the biggest problem DAB has to fight against... oh and apparently, the UK has the worst bitrate in the world on DAB and most UK DAB stations are only in mono as a result.

[quote name='NickThomas' post='299927' date='Oct 5 2008, 03:16 PM']Is it easy to do? lol[/quote] it is if you're running Linux...

[quote name='NickThomas' post='299613' date='Oct 4 2008, 09:23 PM']Hi guys. From my understanding, asio drivers aren't supported in Audacity.So how do any of you Audicitites get over the latency issue? Cheers, Nick.[/quote] downloaded the non-free source code (Steinberg SDK) along with the free source code for Audacity and recompiled audacity to use Asio. The licence for the Steinberg SDK prohibits it being distributed compiled into Audacity. [url="http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=ASIO_Audio_Interface"]http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?tit...Audio_Interface[/url]

Did the business promptly on receipt of payment... was well packaged...

apparently people do this feedback thing...

[quote name='bobbass4k' post='298817' date='Oct 3 2008, 06:32 PM']I've recently fixed my project fretless (I defretted my first bass), as i've previously only ever put groundwounds on it, I was wondering if anyone could reccomend some economy (<£20) flatwounds? I'm after a warm, but not flat tone (which has been my experience of grounds). I only really use it for noodling, so i dont want to spend a bomb, thusfar [url="http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/601-picato_stainless_steel_flatwound_bass_45_105"]these[/url] picato's look pretty good, any opinions?[/quote] The Picato's are very good for the price... I found them to have a lower tension than Rotosounds and a completely different feel under the fingers... they aren't bright either when first put on so they don't take long to break in, but I wouldn't call them warm either. I've never had mine on a fretless, so I can't say whether they give any mwaaah or not... I'm actually hanging on to my Picato set to put onto my Encore P-Bass clone when I get around to defretting it... That's about all it's good for... The Rotosound SM77 jazz flats are on my V950B and Warrior IV and my Squier has got LaBella Black Nylon Tapewounds on it... (got them second hand)