mike257

Would you be happy buying second hand? You'd get some cracking stuff in that price range at the moment. How about saving an extra £50 and shopping for a second-hand Stingray, there's a lot of them about at that kind of price lately. If the Jazz bass is more your style, I've seen a couple of second-hand Sandbergs around £650 too, and you can't go far wrong with that. A second hand USA Jazz (as Markytbass suggested) could be a winner too. I'd have a mooch round ebay, and the for sale forum here, and see what takes your fancy.

I stopped letting people use my rig, after my old Trace Elliot stack came back broke on 3 separate occasions. Since I got the Ampeg, I've barely let anybody touch it. I'll let bands run through the cabs, but the rack gets the lid on after I soundcheck, and doesn't get opened until I'm on stage. It upsets people sometimes, but I worked hard to save for that gear, and based on past experience, I can't afford to be getting it fixed all the time. If you've paid a significant amount of money for a professional standard piece of equipment, then other people should respect that. I'd never turn up to a gig without everything I needed to play the show, I don't see why other people think it's ok. You're not there as a charity. If it's a favour for a mate every once in a while, it's different, but I wouldn't let people I've never met go running off with my expensive gear every weekend. Just my tuppence worth mind. I'm probably ranting because I've just got in from the pub.

Cheers Rich! I thought as much, but I just wanted to check before I went blundering in there Valve shopping next payday, then!

Found [url="http://www.ripngrip.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/hook-loop-100mm.html"]this[/url] too, 2 metres of the 100mm for £6.20. It's white though, so it's not rock and roll enough for my board!

When I'm gigging regularly (which I'm sadly not at the moment), I change mine about once a month. I like the sound of new strings though, whereas some people like 'em old and battered, and some great records have been made with clunky dead old bass strings. I guess it's a matter of taste really, of what kind of sound you like. And how skint you are. That's why I haven't done mine for ages If you're not out and about gigging or recording, it's probably not crucial to do them all the time anyway.

As an idiot question (I've never dabbled with the insides of my amp) do I need to be concerned with biasing if I do this, or can I just throw the new ones in? I think my SVT3 would benefit from this, it's sounding a bit lifeless lately.

I've got a Delano J type and MM type in my Sandberg, and they can do the vintage fat tone pretty well, to my untutored ears at least. Can't comment on the Nordstrand, as I've no experience of them, but I've got nothing but praise for the Delano.

Sounds like a good night Jake, and a good cause, nice one! I've seen Graham Gouldman before, he's ace live. Does he still have that multi-instrumentalist fella hiding behind all the percussion singing the falsetto bits? My outing last night was a chuckle. An acoustic gig with my singer, just guitar and bass, which is a world away from my comfort zone of stacks and drum kits Went pretty well, although the highlight of the evening was a completely impromptu and unrehearsed rendition of Jovi's Wanted Dead Or Alive, that we dragged the drummer (wielding a Djembe!!) and guitarist of the headline band up to play with us. It could've been a disaster, but I think we pulled it off! A good time was had by all, anyway, and I got offered some dep work afterwards too.... paying gigs, whoopee!!!!!

Bass was actually the last instrument I came to, but the first one that I really felt at home on. I spent my early teens dabbling with drums and guitars, but it never really amounted to anything. One day, jamming in a friend's house, his muso Dad made the canny observation which would soon change my life. "You lads haven't got a bass player. Mike, you can borrow this - keep it as long as you need it" With his shocking yellow Hohner Arbor in hand, I set about carving my niche, and never looked back. I've actually learnt to play the guitar and the drums a whole load better since then, more to help with writing than anything else, but bass is where I feel at home. Brings a tear to my eye!

Marlowe DK's stuff is wicked, I hadn't checked his youtube out in a while, but he's got Superstition up there now and it rocks!

I can't vouch for it first hand, but a frined of mine just picked up a MIM Classic 70's Jazz and loves it. His live tone with it was pretty good too, really clear top end.

As usual, I'm going to pitch in and rave about [url="http://www.sandberg-guitars.de"]Sandberg[/url]. Haven't wanted to touch another bass since I've got hold of it. Plays like a dream, sits brilliantly in the mix, looks the biz, and the range of tones is ace. I'm hooked on the neck pickup in passive mode at the moment, it's lovely and thumpy! Anything that's left my beloved Stingray redundant must be something special!!

I bought my Stingray for just shy of a grand in 2004, and it was the first 'proper' instrument I treated myself to. I got my Sandberg in a trade, but reckon it would have cost my a touch over a grand for a new'un. I love the pair of them, and find it hard to see that anything could be [i]much[/i] better than them. I don't think I could justify spending much more than that for an instrument.... and now only if I was paying the bills with it, because I think those two are enough. Once you hit a certain price point, you're going to be getting a really good quality instrument. I'm not sure how much better off you'll be by spending [i]another[/i] £1k. Having said that, I've never tried some of these [s]sw***y[/s] posh expensive basses that some of you lucky lot have in your collections, so I might be talking rubbish. [size=1][i]EDIT: The profanity filter working overtime today then?[/i][/size]

I've been thinking of doing this with my SVT-3, looking forward to hearing how it works out!

I just can't get on with those dinky little bodies! I've got no problem with the tone, but I just can't get comfortable wearing one, and that puts me off, even if it is a bit superficial. Mate of mine just finished doing an album with his Warwick's, and it's one of the best bass tones I've heard on record in ages though, they do sound lovely!!

A drumming friend of mine has had his gear insured with Allianz Cornhill for a few years now (I think it's them anyway). He cracked one of his [i]very[/i] expensive Sabian HH cymbals, and they had it replaced within days. They just wanted written confirmation from a dealer that it wasn't repairable, and they had a new one out like a shot. He was telling me that if something breaks while you're touring, they'll deliver a replacement to your next gig so it'll be waiting for you!!

I haven't seen the basses anywhere, but Dolphin in Liverpool stock the plexi guitar, so they might be worth a shout. On a side note, I tried one of the skinny-string plexis, and was absolutely stunned by the quality of it. One of the best balanced guitars I've had hold of in ages, and a lovely neck. I want