4-string-thing

Didn't really think so, there's a bit of baby powder blue going on, but no graphic.

Saw this on evilbay and wondered if its an Acoustic B120 from the eighties? The pictures not the best.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Amplifier-in-flight-case_W0QQitemZ150423157905QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL?hash=item2305eb3c91"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bass-Amplifier-in-fl...=item2305eb3c91[/url]

[quote name='theosd' post='780834' date='Mar 20 2010, 03:08 PM']Hehe, nice budget option for a budget instrument![/quote]

Ha, it was about as low budget as you can get! My first ever bass, a top twenty! Wonder how many others started on one of those?

[quote name='keving' post='778460' date='Mar 18 2010, 12:05 PM']I'd be interested to hear why nobody has suggested the Ashdown practice amps. I haven't tried one yet but was considering one for quiet accoustic jams as my rig is a bit overkill. Should I reconsider?[/quote]

I have the Ashdown Perfect 10. Not bad at all, 30w, headphone socket, cd input so you can play along, 10" speaker, and about £100 brand new. Looks pretty cool too.

I did one years ago and used Araldite, seemed to work ok and left a nice dark line. Can't remember if it was easy to sand or not, but I suspect not!

I had been thinking of posting something along the lines of "is there a midlands bass bash?" for a while now.

Guess you've just answered my question, so you could count me in!

Let us know when and where your next is.... I could do with a lesson in stagecraft!

Hope the harmonica is ok?

Mine's either a 77 or 78, I'm not sure which. I've owned it since 1979 and have no intention of selling it. Not sure if its a good one or not, cos I've never compared it to another one but it suits me fine.

Upon hearing it for the first time, the drummer in my last band declared it "The best sounding bass I've ever heard" But it was through a Markbass stack...

As has already been mentioned, you can't go by the year, just by sound, feel and looks. If it suits you, then it is the bass for you!

[quote name='mep' post='773119' date='Mar 12 2010, 08:10 PM']I was in a Stereophonics tribute band and we were followed on stage by The Nolans, complete with younger daughter & Niece - with 2 of the original members. I managed to get a photo with them in their dressing room as we knew the guy who was doing their backing tracks.

[attachment=44683:nowlans_4.jpg][/quote]


Ha ha ha... I love the idea of a gig with The Stereophonics tribute and The Nolans being on the same bill....

Once had a long bass-inspired chat with Dave Pegg, who was with Jethro Tull at the time. Also talked bass with the guy from Therapy? And got chatted up by Sonya Aurora Madan from Echobelly!

I used to live just around the corner from John Deacons parents (and presumably Johns childhood home) John Illsley from Dire Straits is also from the same village apparently.

Wonderful World by Joey Ramone and Straighten Out by The Stranglers!

I could only stomach a minute and a half of this drivel....

Finally got round to taking a few pics of my all original 77/78...

[attachment=44352:bass2.jpg]

[attachment=44351:bass1.jpg]

I went through the same thing a few months ago. No band, no inspiration, felt I had gone as far as I could on bass. In fact, I was tired of music altogether, even listening to it!

I got loads of great advice and support from BC'ers and after a few weeks got myself a couple of auditions. Learning the songs for the auditions got me interested again, and being offered both jobs got me fired up even more! I joined one of the bands and we're having our 4th rehearsal tomorrow night. And although it's quite simple 70's punk, I'm really enjoying it, learning and playing songs that I've never played before.

I say, take a couple of weeks off, look for a band thats just starting out, something different to your usual stuff and you'll be fine.

Whatever you do, do not sell your gear! You'll only regret it and spend a fortune replacing it later on!

When I was in an originals band many years ago with ambitions of "making it" we had a bit of a motto...

"If you want to be a star, you've got to act like a star" This included dressing like a star, I guess.

We didn't much, thats why I drive a van for a living now (oh, and having crap songs and a crap drummer)

[quote name='nottswarwick' post='765387' date='Mar 5 2010, 04:51 PM']you mean I am NOT with them - the timewasters that is..[/quote]

unless there is something they're not telling you....

Hope it went ok for you, but I have my doubts about this... A couple of weeks ago I received an unsolicited email from a band in Nottingham thanking me for my interest in their band and inviting me to audition (I hadn't answered any adverts from any band in Nottingham, as far as I can remember)

I then received another one telling me the auditions had moved time and place, and yesterday received another one from some poor guy who had actually traveled to audition for them. I've cut and pasted the contents of said emails:


[color="#4169E1"]Hey, again sorry about last week's disasterous venue hire situation.

We are definitley on for this week however, and will be meeting at Magnet in Sneinton Thursday at 8pm. Please let me know if you are able to attend. Thank you

Vicky

0*********5

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 10:49 AM, Vicky Barnett <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi guys,

Thanks for your interest in the band. We are looking to get together a great set of party tunes and songs that will make people want to get up and dance or enjoy listening to. Our aims are to get gigs at weddings, Firday /Saturday night pub nights, private parties and corporate events.

We would like to invite you to come down for an audition on Thursday 25th Feb, the songs we are going to be running through are:

20th Century Boy
Lets Stick Together
Sweet Child Of Mine
Walking on Sunshine
Mercy

All songs will be in thier original keys, and we will be in touch nearer the date with a venue. If you have any queries or problems, feel free to email, text or ring. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Vicky
0*********5

[color="#000000"]Here is the email from Will.[/color]

[color="#4169E1"]Vicky and colleagues,

After loading two cabinets into a car, driving 15 miles into Nottingham, unloading at Magnet, waiting an hour, talking to the guy who runs Magnet about what a bunch of utter w***ers you are, loading up again, driving home and unloading again, I would respectively suggest that you can shove your f***ing band up your collective arses.[/color]

Thanks a bunch for wasting a whole load of my time.

Will [/color]

As you can see, Will was not impressed, and I can't say I would have been either!

I hope your experience with them was better.

Mark.

I used to be in a band with a lovely girl singer, used to spend most of the gig looking at her behind.... Not the worst job I'll ever have!

I did a similar thing about 10 years ago with pretty good results. I had 2 rooms though, knocked through, put in sliding glass doors and offered my services as a demo studio. As most people have said, you won't soundproof a garage, all you can do is try to reduce the leakage as much as possible. Sound proofing is not the same as acoustic treatment.

As stated, its all about mass and isolation, sound travels through walls, doors etc by vibration, so the "room within a room" is the thing to aim for.

Using Rockwool slabs as opposed to roof insulation is good, the more dense, the better. If you use 3 layers for your walls, I think I read somewhere once, that the middle layer should be a different material to the outer two? Joins should not be in the same place and should always be caulked. Windows should be boarded up and rockwool packed between the boards. The roof is probably the hardest bit, if its not an internal garage, it will need loads of rockwool and boarding with a plasterboard/chipboard/plasterboard layer.

The garage doors will also need a similar thing, the 5ft space you mentioned is good, I did the same for storage of all my studio kit that I didn't want on display (mic stands etc)

It all sounds quite daunting and a lot of work, but it is possible to reduce the noise outside to something thats barely noticable. It helped in my case that there was a 20 yard gap to my next door neighbour and we lived on a fairly busy road with a bit of traffic noise. I recorded quite a few loud bands in my place and never had any complaints from neighbours.

My first gig (apart from school gigs) was in 1980, I used my 78 Precision through my Acoustic 220 head and Acoustic 404 cab.

My last gig, last august, I played my Warwick Corvette through the same Acoustic 220 and a s/h Acoustic 402 cab.

I've just joined a new band, who play 70's punk/new wave, so the Precision has come out of retirement and will be used at my next gig, along with (you've guessed it) my Acoustic 220!

I spent 4 years in a folk-rock band, and we used to play 2 or 3 gigs around St Pats night (usually the weekend before) We didn't play anything out of the ordinary, just our usual set of English, Irish, and Scottish songs and tunes. We used to play up the Irish bit though by wearing a bit of green and offering prizes for the best "Irish dancing" etc. We used to avoid any political songs though, stick to the cheesy stuff, I would say.

Only ever had one heckler moaning about us not being Irish and apparently she used to heckle every band at that particular venue anyway.

Last August, I went to Rattle and Drum in Derby, with the intention of buying myself a back-up bass. I fancied a corvette and was sure the rockbass version would be just the ticket. I tried a few different basses and to be fair, the rockbass corvette was pretty close to the German one, quality wise. Same pickups and electronics. The neck was maple and ok, the only thing I didn't like was the heavy gloss finish on the body, I felt it looked a bit cheap and tacky. I bought the German one in the end, because my girlfriend said it looked nicer! Ash body with an oiled finish. And it did feel slightly nicer to play so I wasn't going to argue. I paid £640 as opposed to £320, but I have to say, build wise it didn't feel twice as good.

This is the amp that made me sell my old Marshall 100w back in 1979! My mates brother had one, and once I'd played my P through it, I had to have some of the "Baby Powder Blue" gear. I bought my 220 and 404 (1x15) as soon as I could. Still have both, and if I had any spare cash, I'd snap this up. Looks to be in great nick and no doubt still sounds fantastic.

[quote name='guybrush threepwood' post='744091' date='Feb 13 2010, 04:01 PM']If you go to the [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com"]ashdown website[/url], you can actually register your gear online with them.[/quote]
yeah, just need to get round to it! My point was though, that they couldn't be bothered to go and look for the box which would have had all the paperwork in it.