Machines

n.b. That's my old TC head. I will get down at some point in the next couple of months, it looks great.

Ibanez SR506 is a good all rounder at that price, they can be a bit beat up though so try and find a good condition one.

I thought it was a troll advert until I saw there were others. Good lord.

Looks like a Venus to me, I had one like this apx 2009: Original pic by @ped

My gig last Fri was DI from head, allowed me to control my own amp volume. Worked fine. I've used IEMs before without a backline and it really didn't have the same impact, I need to feel it through my feet too.

Last night's gig:

First gig in 2 years 2 days ago. Great stage and FOH sound, it would have been the perfect gig had the guitarists Gibson SG not decided to inexplicably die 30 seconds into the first song. Good news - he brought a backup, just had to retune it and was back in about 90 seconds later. In the meantime I jammed around the chords - it was fun !

This is subjective.

For bassists, yes. But it wasn't advertised as a bass show either.

I was there today from about 1-3. I went with my band's guitarist knowing full well there wouldn't be much bass stuff, but it was not as bad as expected. Checked out a few new luthiers with some interesting ideas, caught up with the MarkBass guys too as we'd chatted a lot at Liverpool Show. Ashdown was a bit underwhelming as a fan, as they had a lot of space but not much in it. I did get to check out the John Myung signature drive, but without having it at home i'd never really know if I liked it. 30 min per hour being half quiet was appreciated, as the god awful sound of dozens of shredding guitarists when I walked in made me question my choice of going. The highlight was undoubtedly the lamb curry & rice from the catering stand.

I've seen a few basses recently that have headless hardware, but still have al almost full sized headstock. I don't get it.

I've had 2 Dingwalls and 2 RedSub Coliseums (cheapest proper sized multiscale going). I think the benefits it gives are really only obvious if you play in the low register a lot. When I go back to the 34" basses they feel tiny (like going from a bass to a guitar), but it passes quickly. I currently have a Dingwall D-Roc and a Spector Euro 5LX as main instruments. The D-Roc sounds as above but is warmer and has less top end (as is passive). The Spector sounds similar to mine, i'm not sure the Andertons video really capitalised on the extended scale and did a lot of high end widdling. As they are more expensive to produce than parallel fret instruments and are generally associated with metal, I think they will become more popular, but in no way will they replace anything.

And this is why Amazon will take over most things.

I've just ordered some D'Addarios for my Spector from Amazon for £27, they will arrive tonight ! Strings Direct ? £40 and would be Tuesday at best.

I've unfortunately abandoned private strings companies - Amazon has some great prices on Ernie Balls. StringsDirect £24.99 +£2.99 shipping or Amazon £16.99 delivered ? Such a tough choice.