4-string-thing

In all it's glory....

This! Bought brand new in 1981, still going strong (unlike my back) I also have the 2x15 to go with it, a 3x15 2ohm stack is quite a sight!

Fair point!

I can't help thinking you may have been better off spending the £200 on getting the Ampeg repaired....

Of course, with guitar amps (as opposed to bass amps) It's the knob in front of the amp that's the problem!

Yeah, am not especially bothered either way, probably just a bit annoyed with myself for underselling the db in the first place (not sure that I did though) I'm going to try to trade the Fender for a Markbass NY121 cab, which I'll get much more use out of!

I suppose this kind of thing happens all the time. I once sold a Stagg EDB and said to the guy, "I love this bass so if you ever sell it, let me know as I'd like first refusal" Six months later he offered me the bass back, at the same price that I'd sold it to him for! Plus I'd have to collect from Southampton.... So basically, I'd lent him my bass for 6 months, and then would have to fork out around £50 for petrol to get it back!

I will watch with interest, but I pity the fool who pays £850 for the bass, if anyone does. Don't get me wrong it's a reasonable starter db, but it didn't cost me any more than the £300 that I valued it at... I think they were only £800 new! To be honest, I needed the space and have started to thin down the herd a bit so I can't really complain!

I genuinely don't like the Modern Player, it is a very nice bass, set up well, plays and sounds great but it's just not for me... A bit too modern for my tastes maybe.

To be fair, I guess I was a bit peeved when I first saw the ad, my reaction was "HOW MUCH" but now I'm pretty cool with it, as you say It's nothing to do with me.... I don't like the Jazz though, so if anybody wants it, it's yours for £1500 (only joking)

A couple of weeks ago, I traded my cheap Chinese double bass for a Fender Modern Player Jazz via one of the bass player groups on Facebook. No problem, both were valued around £300-£350, met up and swapped instruments both seemed happy. Now I see my bass is being traded again but he's valued it at £850! I don't even think they were that much new! Should I be annoyed that even if he gets £500 for it, he's made a healthy profit from my bass, or should I just chuckle and think "good on him"? Generally when I see adverts on Basschat where people buy stuff then realise it's not for them, they usually just try to get their money back when they sell it on and I would see this as polite, but a £500 profit?

I have a pair of Skytec subs, they work ok, not especially efficient. I disconnected the filter so they work more full range. I've also used them as a pair of bass guitar cabs, they sounded fine. They're not huge, and don't weigh much, which is great for transport, but not so good if you use poles for the tops and they are quite heavy... They never seemed very stable to me when used like this. I'm thinking of moving mine on now, as I don't need them anymore and it's time to start clearing out my cupboards!

One of the small Markbass combo/ext cab rigs might suit... Plenty loud enough and you can just use the combo for rehearsals and add the cab for gigs. Could get a great rig that you'd never need to upgrade for around £700.

'my in-laws are a pain in the arse and I'm glad they've gone home' That's funny, they always speak very highly of you....

I'd be asking the drummer how much HE can afford....

I traded my db for a modern player jazz a couple of weeks ago, this says crafted in China on the rear of the head. This got me wondering....

Hilarious....

Blue, it sounds like you have some great band-mates! Mine used turn up early enough to play, it was just that I had to turn up 2 hours before them! Large PA, bass rig and lights all took me 2 hours to unload/set up... It's hard not to be a little bitter when they were happy to let me do that at every gig and then take an even share of any payment. Maybe I should have charged them for my time and hire of my PA?

Well, maybe I've been worrying over nothing, seems that while I've been away sunning my pale, weedy body in Greece and the drummers been enjoying his bank holiday weekend etc, our guitarist has been putting in the hours! A massive improvement and a whole new attitude (hope he's not read this) Anyway, it went surprisingly well, I probably made more mistakes than the others.... Another plus, my Harley Benton 50's P sounded awesome through my new Markbass CMD121P!

That didn't come across as intended, I like gigs when it all goes well, ie, we play well, it's well attended, people love and adore us etc. I got jaded a while back, in a band where I seemed to be the only one putting any effort in.... Getting gigs, doing websites, running the P.A, loading it into the van alone, arriving 2 hours early, unloading it on my own, unloading it at home alone at 1am etc.... Gigs seemed a lot more trouble than they were worth in those days and it put me off a bit. I then joined a band whose basic ethos seemed to be to play as loud as possible and ruin everyones hearing! Again, gigs were just painful and unpleasant... You can maybe now see why I don't enjoy gigs that much, couple this to being on display with someone who clearly hasn't made the effort to be professional and it doesn't really bode well....

Don't get me wrong, I don't do it for money (just as well, I'd have starved by now) but I find gigs a big enough chore as it is without it being a disaster because someone isn't up to it...

To be fair, this is a new venture, only a few rehearsals old and after just a couple of weeks the guy says "we can do the street fair gig in June if we want" My initial reaction was to see how things went over the next few weeks. Problem is, we have tried songs out, dropped them, tried new songs etc (as most bands do I guess) But we've left it til 3 weeks before the gig to actually pick a set and I don't think that we'll (he'll) be ready. I'm not saying the band won't ever be good enough, just not in time for this particular gig. If we were just doing it for a laugh, then fair enough his attitude would be ok. Trouble is, I haven't spent years learning to play and thousands of pounds on quality gear to play for a laugh....

Hmmm, the said guitarist who wouldn't improvise got quite irate when I once suggested he'd grown an extra finger between run throughs of one particular song. So much so, that after an almost violent argument I quit the band there and then! Some people have no sense of humour.....

You could ask if he learnt the solos from the records (I assume it's a cover band) or if he's improvising them. If it's the latter, you could suggest he listens to the records and tries to play them note for note.... It will take him ages to learn them but at least they'll be right. I was once in a band with a guitarist who refused to improvise, it took him 4 times as long as anyone else to learn a song, but his solos were spot on!