SumOne

It doesn't seem like most rappers or Afrobeat or Dance music artists are from rich backgrounds or necessarily need loads of expensive equipment, but the charts are full of their music and festivals and clubs are busy with them performing to keen young audiences.... Not 'proper' music unless it's got a Bass player and the band tour arond in an old Transit van though eh?! Get off my lawn!

I think it's quite a big assumption to say life is worse/everything is relatively more expensive for musicialns (or anyone) now than it was in the past. It's a bit of a media thing to keep banging on about 'cost of living crisis', yes - many things have shot up in price, but one of the worries for the Bank of England is wages are also rising quickly and combining to cause longer-term inflation. There's always some sort of 'crisis' wheter it's 2008 banking crisis, early 90's recession, 1987 'Black Monday', late 1978/79 winter of discontent (look at the interest rate rises in those years compared to now), it seems to happen every decade for a few years. Some things, like car insurance have definitely relatively increased. But the flipside is there are now services like Uber and hourly car/van rentals. And if car ownership is so unobtainable now compared to the good ol' days then how to explain this: "The proportion of households without a car has fallen from 48% in 1971 (based on the Census) to 22% in 2021. In 1985 to 1987, there were 8 cars for every 10 households in Great Britain; in 2021 there were 12 cars for every 10 households in England" https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2021/national-travel-survey-2021-household-car-availability-and-trends-in-car-trips#:~:text=Household car access,-Chart 7%3A Percentage&text=The proportion of households without,every 10 households in England. Unemployment is relatively low (especially compared with times like the early 80's). House prices are relatively much higher than historically, but that's partly due to what are still historically low interest rates making the high borrowing possible: I dunno, I think by-and-large things are not worse nowadays - just different. Yes, people on lower incomes can't afford to live in what are now fancy areas, they might have to move out to un-glamourous suburbs, but for many jobs you probably don't need to commute most days of the week, it's different. Islington or central Bristol probably aren't the place for a young aspiring musician on low wages to live nowadays, perhaps they'd need to live in places like Sutton, or Newport (I mean, hasn't this always been the way? Haight-Ashbury wasn't a fancy part of San Francisco in the 1970's - being cheap is why artists moved there).

They could live communally in 5/6 bed farmhouse with outbuildings and 11 acres instead of central/North London in that case. (Or live in cheaper London places like Sutton, Croydon, Feltham/Hounslow).

Yeah, he's still got it. His recent 'midnight rocker' album with Adrian Sherwood is good too.

Horace Andy & Jonny Osbourne in Brighton on 27th March. With Uppercut Band and Pama International. & Horace Andy & Misty In Roots in London on 30th March. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0nuwLNBDhpforUM1xiN9CQdhRM5zoLVZm73e6TYHXQN9c8ZHzXhyfGHJb3nhjWP6sl&id=100044208770344 Tempted to go to both!

^^^ Music is still on the curriculum. "Music forms part of the national curriculum from key stage one to key stage three. This means all maintained schools must teach music from the ages of five to 14." (and past that, can do it as GCSE) https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/access-to-music-education-in-schools/#:~:text=Music forms part of the national curriculum from key stage,ages of five to 14.

Your question assumes pop music is in a dire state. Not everyone would agree with that statement. Also, is cost of living actually worse now than times like the late 70s (when lots of great bands were making music)? And it's cheaper than ever to get budget equipment an old laptop and record your band and self-release music and promote via social media. I'd say in many ways it's a great time for making music. Just different to how it was before.

And Venom for pioneering Thrash and Black Metal.

Nice one, that's all the convincing I need! I've just ordered the Prime P2. I think at a minimum it'll be the thing I take to band weekly practice to save lugging about a whole pedal board and power adaptors (and adds effects and drum loops etc that I don't have as pedals) and It'll be a backup for gigs, but perhaps it'll also become my main live gigging pedal as I tend to do very little pedal stomping with the current setlist (Tuner/mute and Drive are the only things I tend to regularaly click on and off - if I miss having footswitches for them then there is the Mooer F4 wireless footswitch).

Seeing as you have about £1k worth of Pedals there I'd get a hard case to protect them.

£208 with free shipping from DV247 seems a good deal. I'm in two minds to get one (again) but mostly to use with a keyboard - the alternative is getting a £49 software download that I can only use with my Akai MPC Keys (Minimoog model D emulation, and here it is in action) I dunno, FI is £159 extra but can be used with Bass (although the 'note-on' trigger annoys me, I guess I do a lot of octave jumps when playing synth basslines) and can be used with other keyboards and sold second hand, whereas the Mini D software is just for Akia MPC stuff and can't be re-sold. 🤔

You asked quite a specific question 'Best octaver pedal for 5 string fretless' and even more specifically about the MXR M288 for that use. It's a bit of an obscure/niche question to get in a huff about not getting a response in less than 3hrs! Even if someone was in that small niche and happened to read your question in that time perhaps they couldn't drop what they were doing to urgently tell you. Anyway, I don't know about on fretless but the M288 is a decent analogue octaver. Personally, I prefer the Octamizer though. No analogue ocatvers I've used have been very good on notes below the low A though so that B string didn't get used much with them.

I'm interested in hearing how well the Prime has worked live. The Prime 2 looks like a good upgrade too as can change presets and access the tuner without a phone (although it's bit expensive right now as it has just been released). I'm figuring that the Prime (and Prime 2) will be particularaly useful for me taking to weekly band practice sessions and leaving the big pedalboard at home (no need for a power supply, all sorts of extra effects available in-case we think one will be useful for a new song, drum loops available for when the drummer is late!). It's probably also useful for home practice (although I guess the Nux Mighty Plug I have might be more convenient) and a big bonus if it's good enough to play gigs with - somethign reliable with tuner, compressor, eq, and changing presets for a couple of songs with more overdrive is all I need.

Honestly, I'd say perhaps consider growing thicker skin. Obviously I'm a stranger on the Internet and and don't know the full context though - so take my opinion with a large pinch of salt!

2023 was a year of buying/selling stuff I've already owned. I had already bought an Ibanez EHB 1005 MS and Boss GT 1000 Core (both brand new) and sold them, only to then buy other ones (both brand new again) and sell again....and I've done it before with Zoom B1 four, NUX mighty plug, MXR M82 and probably a few others. Next up will be Boss Waza air bass that I regret selling. I suppose it's good for the flow of goods through basschat marketplace, not so good for my bank balance! There's probably a lesson to be learned for 2024, I won't be learning it though!

I wouldn't mind, I swap Bass for keyboard for a few songs, it's good to broaden musical horizons and it makes you a more valuable member of any band. If you already know the structure of the songs and the key changes then playing a few keyboard chords is simple enough. If I was worried my Bass playing role in a band was in jeopardy then it's probably not the band for me, or it'd encourage me to up my Bass playing and multi-instrumentalist game to be indispensable.

Guilford neck of the woods?

Nice. If I'm understanding 'upto four effects modules (two pre amp and two post)' correctly it's got nothing on things like the Boss GT 1000 Core with 3x parallel paths and about 27 effect blocks as far as long/complex effect chains go. I don't suppose it's really designed to compete over numbers of effects blocks though. I expect the Kempler is the one to go for if you are mostly after amp/cab sims and the DI stuff.

If the Pod Go is too complex for you then the Stomp will be too (it has more going on with fewer hardware controls). But a couple of hours with either of them should be enough to understand them to set up the patches you want and just be able to scroll between them. I'm interested in the Mooer Prime P2 . I'm not sure I'd gig with it, but for home practice and band practice it seems decent: Pocket sized (and can work for 5hrs from it's internal rechargable battery), Tuner, drum machine/metronome, looper, bluetooth in and headphone out, lots of effects, 80 presets, touchscreen to go between presets, or can use a phone app for control and more in-depth editing. I'm mostly considering it as I carry a big flightcase with pedalboard/pedals/power supply to practice sessions and all it usually gets used for it tuner/mute, drive, EQ (although can do that on the Amp)....seems overkill when the Mooer would fit in my pocket and do very similar. For gigs I do like the tough/simple/stompable/what you see is what you get of individual Boss pedals though.

Ale bought a Bass from me and all was good - there were delays to the courier and Ale was understanding and we made different arrangements that worked out well.

I don't reckon an itch for different Basses is necessarily a bad thing, after all, 'a man's mind grows narrow in a narrow place'. 5th string, fretless, short scale, multiscale, active, semi-acoustic, MM stingray pickups, bargains, lightweight, vintage, different looks etc etc. All just waiting to inspire you (and, if bought/sold/traded second hand possibly won't actually cost much money).

I dunno, that doesn't sound great to me. They shouldn't send a Bass out with saddle screws missing and the electronics cutting out, needs a bit of QC before leaving Andertons or they're wasting everyone's time. As it was ordered online they have to offer refunds within 14 days regardless of any faults of they'd be breaking the law. I've bought a lot of stuff from Andertons but over time I've gone right off them. Edit: Cases in point: Terrible part excahnge offers once I'd travelled there to pick up a Bass I couldn't quite afford otherwise and it wasn't worth me then not exchanging after the travel - they clearly saw an opportunity to rip me off and took it. A new Bass arriving with several small but quite noticable defects, they took the return but it meant staying in for a day when receiving the bass, in for a day for it to be collected, in for a day for a new one to be delivered, it all seemed a waste of my time as they didn't put the time into checking it in the first place. A package getting lost in the post and not arriving for about 2 weeks, not their fault but when it did arrive it was clearly used and I decided to return it for a refund - which they initially refused as it was ordered over 14 days ago (in the end I got the refund, but it took some hassling). And right now, I'm eyeing up a couple of things including some Boss Waza Air Bass: £349 in various shops, £419 at Andertons, and that extra cost is quite often the case......if the expectation is they are just basically a Warehouse middleman and they won't check quality then I fail to see what advantage there is to using them over cheaper companies (many of which like GAK, PMT, Guitar Guitar, Kenny's also have actual shops) that have the same legal obligation for 14 day online purchase refunds.

For Bass practice, I use the Audio Technica ATH M50X as they give a fairly neutral sound and are somewhere between the Sennheiser HD-25 and the HD-560 in terms of noise isolation and comfort and they have a good long coiled cable. They don't last forever - I'm on my second pair, the foam covering on the ears and headband is particularly thin/weak. For home listening and other stuff though, horses for courses, but I'm a bit of a Sennheiser fanboy: If you want tough, loud, good isolation, then the HD-25 have been DJ and broadcast industry standard for over 30 years for good reason (I still regularaly use my pair that are about 25 years old). But they are best suited to stuff like DJing, they can be a bit uncomfortable to wear at home for a long time and there are headphones that sound more neutral that are better for production stuff. I like open back for listening to music at home if the house is quiet, it feels more 'open', a bit more like you are in the room with the music rather than it directly pushed into your head. They don't block out outside noise though - great if you want to hear the doorbell, not great if you want to block out someone else watching telly in the same room. Sennheiser HD-560 are light, sound good, very comfortable. They'd be my go-to for listening to an album at home in a quiet room. Not always best for Bass playing if you're doing stuff like slap as you can hear the acoustic outside noise as well as the amplified headphone signal. If home listening and wanting wireless and noise cancelling then I like the Sennheiser Momentum 4 as they are quite comfortable, good noise cancelling, good sound, bluetooth. You can plug a cable into them for Bass practice but my main use of these is train and plane journeys and work calls rather than Bass playing. ....or, the Boss Waza Air Bass are great, I had some and sold them but am keeping my eye out to get some again. On paper, they're not much better than using an NUX Mighty Plug with the ATH M50X (a combination which saves about £200), but getting rid of that headphone cable is quite a bit more liberating than you'd expect, tough call to say if it's £200 worth of liberation though!