4-string-thing

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1331568045' post='1574959'] I vaguely remember Roost but I don't recall RSC. I do remember Linear though, and FAl and RSC seem to have derived from them - [url="http://www.chambonino.com/work/linear/info1.html"]http://www.chambonin...near/info1.html[/url] [/quote] I remember the name Roost, and RSC had a shop on High St in Leicester, I bought a 50w 12" driver from them. They used to have a catalogue a bit like Andertons and it was mostly mail order....

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1331464532' post='1573052'] I was wondering about OHM but I couldn't be certain that they were they were about in the 70's. Quite dinky little boxes with a textured grey paint and 'OHM' carved into the foam speaker baffle? They seem to have diversified away instrument amplification these days, if it's the same company I've been looking at. [/quote] [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif]I seem to remember OHM amps looking quite good, definitely around in the late 70's. [/font] [font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif]Slightly off topic, my mate used a FAL 50w 4channel PA head through a homemade 18" cab for guitar! I can only wonder how bad that must have sounded![/font]

I started with a Selmer and progressed to a Marshall 100w superlead through a Wem 2x12, the cab then got replaced by a 4x12. A mates brother played a Precision through an Acoustic 126 bass combo and it was brilliant, so I saved for months and in 1980 I bought an Acoustic 220 head and a 404 (1x15) cab. It cost me £440, which to an apprentice electrician, which is what I was at the time, was over 3 months wages! I still have the head and cab, they are still in almost new condition, have never gone wrong and they still sound brilliant! I sometimes wish I had kept the Marshall though, it was one of the early ones and would probably sell for a fortune now!

In my last band, a comedy 80's c**k-rock parody (if only they'd stayed that way and not started getting serious, sigh) It was snakeskin print spandex, converse with leg warmers, scruffy old biker jacket (no shirt) studded leather codpiece, mirror aviators, long blonde wig and a German airforce officers hat!

[quote name='Lorne' timestamp='1330097071' post='1552737'] I once had an American B.C.Rich handmade bass sent to me from the USA, in a cardboard box, no hard case, minimal packing inside the box, and to top it all off, the box was at least 4 inches too short, so they just cut a hole for the headstock to stick clean through the end of the box (With NO bubblewrap or anything on it) It actually made it here unscaved! [/quote] I bought a bass last year from a Basschatter via ebay, it arrived in just a gig bag and bubblewrap. I have to say, I was a little nervous when I opened it up but it too arrived in one piece and mint condition! On reflection, it was only 30 miles away and it probably cost as much for postage as it would have done in petrol if I'd gone and fetched it.....

[quote name='Lorne' timestamp='1330026719' post='1551749'] I had a flightcase sent to me once covered with bin bags! [/quote] I had a Warwick hard case turn up in a cardboard box with the word "Fragile" all over it. Who said the Germans don't have a sense of humour?

I think I saw Marseilles in about 1978 supporting UFO at the De Montford Hall in Leicester. Do they do a song called "Do it the French way"? Or did I just imagine that?

[quote name='Slipperydick' timestamp='1318424948' post='1401959'] If we're really scraping the barrel, my first one ( other than the Hofner which I swapped for an air rifle) was a Top Twenty. real class. I took the logo off cos Top Twenty sounded naff ! [/quote] My first bass was a Top Twenty, short scale, P shape, tele head, rubbish pickup that I replaced with an Ibanez, awful piece of junk.

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1328743166' post='1532166'] or perhaps you are better than you think.......... [/quote] Hmmm... I've been accused of this before, didn't really believe it though. Then I saw a video of my old band playing a festival and found myself thinking "did I really play that? Bloody hell, I'm not bad"

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1328735002' post='1531999'] Wow, I didn't know my band were auditioning replacements Oh well, plenty more fish for you mate. It's all experience, etc. [/quote] If thats your band, I'd get out now, while you still can! To be fair, apart from the drummers faux pas, they seemed like nice enough blokes, just nowhere near as good as they think they are! I mean, I'm no Jaco, but if I can learn a song after just one run through with no prior knowledge of it, then it can't be up to much.

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1328365744' post='1526044'] Exactly right. Please let us all know how it pans out! I love following these sagas. [/quote] Well, I went along last night..... it was fairly terrible! Their songs were boring and all used the same 4 chords, they had no style as such, and I learnt 4 of their songs in about 20 minutes, hardly challenging! To cap it all, the drummer started telling me how to play, after running through the first song once! I resisted the temptation to lamp the tw*t and made my mind up that there was no way I would be joining. The search goes on!

[quote name='oldslapper' timestamp='1328365736' post='1526042'] You can always tell how good a drummer is by the number of drums in their kit..... That fella was super.......oooh it's snowing. [/quote] Agreed, I am a firm believer in the old adage "The smaller the kit, the better the drummer"

[quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1328365105' post='1526028'] . I still wouldn't have asked the drummer [/quote] Ha ha, normally I wouldn't either, but he's the one who saw my profile on Bandmix and got in touch.....

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1328311374' post='1525540'] This is just me... but I'd simply thank them and decline. There are several possibilities - they don't know what they play (bad!), they actually don't have any songs (worse!) or they are just dicking you around to see what happens (inexcusable!). My one experience of "oh, just come along you'll know some of the songs and we'll help you with the others" has mentally scarred me. It consisted of incredulity that I didn't know all manner of weird and obscure "standards" and or the singer making weird symbols with his fingers that (I later found out) denote chords in some offbeat religions. Sorry.... I'll shut up now [/quote] I won't know any of the songs, its all originals and I only play guitar a bit, so if it's basic chords, I'll be able to follow them, but if they go up the dusty end, I'll be lost! At the end of the day, the rehearsal place is a 15 minute drive away and it's a couple of hours out of my life. Hardly the end of the world if it all goes pear-shaped!

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1328303124' post='1525355'] [u]Audition next week, how do I prepare?[/u] ......back sack and crack wax ! [/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1328298243' post='1525255'] I think I would have done an Anne Robinson on him. [/quote] Sadly, it wasn't my decision to make, he was a mate of the other 3 and they were keen to have him in the band despite his shortcomings.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1328288839' post='1525092'] You could write four 45-minute sets of originals in that time [i]at the very least![/i] [/quote] As I said, ham-fisted meat head guitarist was the weak link, the rest of us had it pretty well sussed after just a few rehearsals!

Some interesting replies here, thanks chaps! I would almost certainly have taken the Precision anyway, it sounds good through almost any amp (even the rubbish they have at this particular rehearsal establishment) They play originals, so learning a few covers seems a bit pointless, as they won't be playing them anyway. I have played rock covers before, so if they wanted to jam something, I'm sure we'd find something we all know. I don't think they have been together long, so probably have no demo recorded, hence the lack of mp3's but a few chord/lyric sheets would have been handy. As for my previous bands taking a year to get gig-ready, I can blame line-up changes in the folk-rock band (people joining then deciding after a few weeks that it's not for them) In the rock covers band, I can mainly blame a guitarist who took a month to learn a song because he insisted on learning every solo etc note-for-note. His lack of ability to improvise a solo was incredible! One song a month = a year to learn a 45 minute set!

So, I have an audition for an "original rock" band next week and I was wondering what your opinions are on how I should approach and prepare for it? My two most recent bands have been a rock covers band and a folk-rock band. The covers band was pretty easy, as I recall. Get a list of songs, learn songs via youtube and tabs, play songs, get frustrated at guit, sorry, ham-fisted meatheads inability to do same, but carry on anyway. A year later you have (just about) enough songs to start gigging. Folky band was also easy, I knew most of the stuff anyway, and I ended up calling the shots, so I picked songs I liked and the others went off and learnt them! A year later (and a few line-up changes) you are ready to gig, simple! This band is not so easy though. I had a chat with the drummer the other day and he wasn't very helpful. All I got out of him was that they play "rock music" he wouldn't elaborate. They have no, or are not willing to send me any, mp3's so I can't learn any of their songs. He wouldn't say who their influences are or who they remotely sound like. All I know is, they hate blues, HM and funk (just like me) So, do I practice? Do I just turn up and hope for the best? Which bass do I take? These and a few other questions are going through my mind. What would you do? Thanks in advance, Mark.

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1327689095' post='1515506'] The DX would be perfect if I played in a comedy hair metal tribute band called Spam Dagger but fortunately I haven't sunk that low yet. Maybe next year ;-) [/quote] I used to play in a comedy 80's hair metal band called Iron Python.... I used a Yamaha BBG4 which was a cracking bass and might well fit your criteria?

Did a gig with Basil Brush once...... He's not a real fox you know!

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1327172866' post='1507477'] I politely informed him that I no longer wish to be part of his band. [/quote] I've done that! [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1327173215' post='1507484'] I'd have lured him to a deserted warehouse and shot him in the face. [/quote] I've thought about doing that! [quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1327180035' post='1507622'] then slap him with my cock [/quote] Never thought about doing that!

[quote name='mrdreadful' timestamp='1327179793' post='1507613'] For me the worst ones are where the person is selling something they allegedly own and use but just stick up the first picture they got off Google. [/quote] Guilty as charged, I'm afraid! I put a kayak spraydeck on flea bay a few weeks ago and really tried to take some decent pics of it, but just couldn't get it to look like anything other than a black blob on a white background. I gave up and used one from the manufacturers web site. It didn't sell.... I am also probably guilty of using poor quality pics and apologising for them, I really am just very bad at photography. It doesn't mean I am dishonest though.

First off was a CMI 10w practice amp that lasted about a week before I blew the speaker. A while later came a Selmer combo with no speakers, given to me by a keyboard playing neighbour. I put a 12" speaker from RSC in it. I think it was called a select-a-tone cos it had pre-set tone buttons. It was 30 watts, iirc. Then came a Marshall 100w super lead and a Wem 2x12 cab. The cab got changed for a Moore & Stanworth 4x12 which weighed more than the Vauxhall Viva estate I needed to move it around in! (probably lasted a lot longer too) After a year or so, I traded in the Marshall and 4x12 for an Acoustic 220 head and 404 cab, which is still my main amp some 32 years later. I added a 402 cab a few years ago. I've also got an Ashdown Mag 600 evo, but its only a back up in case the Acoustic ever dies (it won't)

[quote name='Bass-ic' timestamp='1326792326' post='1501876'] PMT in Bristol are bloody awful. Absolutley rubbish service. Mostly surly and unhelpful. I bought an amp from the store. The amp was price matched to the web site. I think that because the staff were sellling something cheaper than they wanted, they didnt care a rats ass about my money. I asked one of teh staff about the amp, and was told that they didnt know much about it. I was directed to another member of staff who asked me to wait while they finished talking to someone else. No problem there but once I had talked about the amp and the price match, I pretty much got ignored. Staff member wandered off and then I had to go and find him. I then got tol sthat I couldn't have the box and I had to reall hassle to get a mains lead for the amp. There was no paperwork and I had to demand a receipt. if the amp hadnt been quite so cheap, then I wouldnt have wasted either my time or my money there. It's a real shame they dont have much competition in Bristol. I think it would be better to go to Mansons that use PMT if in the South West. You have been warned. Cheers Matt [/quote] I had pretty much the same thing in the Birmingham branch. The staff member was more interested in telling me about his band than about the amp I wanted to buy. When I did buy the amp, I was told there was no box or mains lead, and when I asked for instructions I was told " Plug in, switch it on and turn it up" The only reason I bought it was because it was as cheap as anywhere else, and it was actually there in front of me, not advertised on a website that probably didn't have it in stock anyway!