Beedster

Agreed and agreed But what I find most annoying is their failure to recognise the oldest rule in retail; never ignore a customer. I've had shops be rude to me, give me incorrect information, not have the item in stock after all, forget to send the item, send the wrong item, send the right item to the wrong address, double charge me (one forgetting to charge me but remembering about three months later), even lose the item I've bought, but none of them are as annoying as being repeatedly ignored 🤔

To be honest, I ordered and paid online, in part because I don't want the inevitable "hang on I'll just put you on hold while I check if it's in stock...." or "hang on I'll just put you on hold while I check your account...." or "hang on I'll just put you on hold while I check why it's not been sent....". I think I've got to that point in life - AKA grumpy old git - at which being asked to hold while at the same time being forced to listen to a loud, upper mid-heavy atonal cacophony clearly designed by a neuroscientist to make you give up on the call and if not to beat you into some form of ultra-pliable emotional state in which you'll accept whatever you're offered - and usually having spent about 10 minutes navigating the automated call direction system in the first place - is an irritation I choose to do without! Anyway, I escalated this to PayPal and got a refund (I'd asked BD to do so directly and they hadn't replied). Not a single word from BD in that time though. If they have time to process a refund they also have time to drop a brief reply to one of my emails just to say "Sorry we made a bit of a mess of that, hope you'll come back again in future". I've spent a lot of money with them over the years after all As we all know well, these are very First World problems

I use bass-lead-amp but it works for me in my band, it wouldn't work for me if I was in a different band, if I was in an RHCP tribute for example I'm sure I'd need (want) a load of processing to emulate Flea's parts, in an 80's act I might want to smother fretless in chorus, an originals band might require specific sounds to express the music. I don't think there's any right or wrong, virtuous or deceptive either way. It's not the tool, it's how you use it.

Ah, EM 👌

That’s the truth of it

There's a big part of me wonder whether it's the need to bands to retain original members who themselves often feel the string existential need to challenge/escape/transcend the original band ethos that often leads to their decay?

A rather reassuring continuity

A band is an idea, like a business, sports team, even a country. Why should it contain original members?

Mmm, I've never had a problem in probably 10 years of buying from them, but then perhaps I've always bought stuff that was actually in stock. If they routinely ignore people rather than refund when they've sold an item they don't actually have, then perhaps they are the business a lot of people suggest after all

Well despite having used them for years without problems, Bass Direct just lost me as a customer for good, as having bought from them earlier this week I have no item and no response to several emails. Having just looked at the new site (new site, new set of problems), the item in question doesn't even show as something they stock despite having shown as in stock Monday evening on what I guess is the old site. I don't mind delays, I don't mind errors, I don't even mind when something is faulty, but I don't tolerate a business ignoring emails when they are holding close to £1500 of my cash 😡

As far as a (jazz) audience is concerned, if you look and act like you made a mistake, you made a mistake

That’s rather nicely put 👍

The best (only) compliment I ever had on bass was from a session guitarist who said "I love how little you play". My algorithm is one 'moment' per every other song, a moment being anything from a short journey to the dusty even if only to play the same part an 8ve up, to some growly E-string stuff, usually a slide up to a Bb or similar. Try to hold down the bottom end but not noticeably so, in fact from a audio POV they should only notice you're there when you stop playing. Visual POV very different of course, DB is THE centrepiece Don't take too much of that seriously BTW, but it generally works for me 👍

It's jazz, you play all of them and none of them 👍

Stick it in the sales section mate, awesome amp, good luck 👍

Yes, it’s a magical event, the fading light and the fact it was right at the end of the last summer of the 70’s add a really interesting dynamic and subtext also, adds to the ‘end of an era’ feel

Totally agree, and I love that Ric ❤️

Stay where you are Richard! All joking aside you are spot on, but largely because they are all played by the same musician on the same instrument, and those two factors make a far greater difference than the strings. They were mostly recorded with the same mic and probably in the same room, which also play their part. The problem is that some strings suit some instruments better than others, while some strings suit individual playing styles better than others (for example some of those strings sound quite muddy and indistinct to my ear, and this can be made a whole lot worse by an instrument with the same tendencies, or a player whose style does the same). Or so the rabbit tells us.......

I’ve seen DB played through SVT and a fridge and still sounding good. Mine sounds bloody nice through both my Mesa rigs as well as through my Musicman Audiophile and EBS 15. Having said that feel free to buy my EA Doubler and cab in the DB For Sale section, tiny rig that works very well for DB and EB, as I found out following a recent pre-gig DB emergency

Mr Sting with his