razze06

Their bass amps may be outdated compared to modern offerings, yet I just got a model 1550 bass cab, and it's excellent. Far better than most cabs in the same class from well respected makes, such as ampeg and Hartke and fender. That is the second excellent Marshall bass cab I owned.

Another endorsement for Mick. Bought a PJB briefcase from him, excellent communication throughout, perfect packaging, item as described, happy customer

I like to shop locally for things like basses, amps and effects, as I want to test them before i buy them. I also DO like going into shops and talking to the staff there (gasp!). Having said that, I have bought from Thomann, especially accessories such as strings, cases, and the like. I will use Thomann prices to try and convince the local shop to be a little more sensible with some of their prices. I will still happily pay a little more to be able to buy from a local shop.

If you need to have a speaker, I can recommend the Roland microcube bass. Not very loud, lots of features including a simple drum pattern playback feature, to work on my timing.

In my opinion and practice, both at my day job and with bands, if I agree to audition X people for a job, I will go through X auditions before I make a decision. I will try to give everybody a fair chance, by giving the same task to everybody, and assessing their work. Naturally, I will begin to form my opinion, but the answer for everybody is that we need to finish the auditions before we can make a decision, and that's what I do. If I find someone suitable in one round of auditions, I will close the job and politely refuse anyone else. A little dry perhaps, yet my experience says it's the right thing to do.

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1415231011' post='2598329'] Just read up on La Bella's new Vapor Shield strings. [url="http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2014/11/05/la-bella-unveils-vapor-shield-treated-bass-strings/"]http://www.notreble....d-bass-strings/[/url] [color=#000000][font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]“Using a highly sophisticated Ionic Vapor Process™ developed by Acoustic Science™, proprietary compounds are activated in a glow discharge electromagnetic plasma, modifying the string’s entire surface,”[/font][/color] [font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#000000]Beam me up Scotty.[/color][/font] [/quote] Sounds better than "New strings. Shiny." Not convinced by "Acoustic Science". Glow discharge electromagnetic plasma is the same stuff that makes the light inside neon tubes. Happens when you apply the right level of electrical tension at either ends of a gas-filled tube. It's a different way of applying a coating, which may or may not be better than any others.

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1414767125' post='2593126'] I agree Elliot. Pics or it didn't happen [/quote] I hope it didn't

I have remembered an absolute classic for me. I didn't have any particular personal mishap, yet bear with me. Italy. Early 90's, me and my mates had a very enthusiastic covers band, doing a selection of early and obvious punk stuff (ramones, sex pistols, clash, etc) and loud classic rock covers. This is my final year of high school, aged 17. I still own the bass I played then. We get a gig at some kind of afternoon event in a disused cinema in the next town over, we are on last on the bill. Later we discovered it was organised by the local church group. Egged on by the object of his lust, two of my bandmates (guitarist and keys/singer) and two of our pals in the audience decide that it would be an awesome idea to get almost-punk hairdos and catwoman-style makeup, drop some acid, and go on stage,which they proceeded to do. The drummer and myself are blissfully oblivious to all of this, the drummer being engrossed in exploring the old and battered van that we borrowed, and that he was driving having JUST obtained his learner's driving license. As the time to go on stage approaches, we realises that the gig isn't some kind of rock concert, but rather a succession of bands and individuals doing mellow renditions of well known local classic ballads. With an audience to match. No booze available, other than what the two pals of ours in the audience brought with them (Jack Daniels, what else?). We go on, start with the usual energy and enthusiasm, making the bewildered audience slowly retreat towards the back wall. Soon, things began to go south. The singer keys/player disappears for a while mid song, just as the guitarist begins to stagger aimlessly around the stage. We were playing EMI - sex pistols. The guitarist falls over himself, thankfully unplugging his guitar from the amp. The drummer and I are left alone playing EMI, while our two pals are pogo dancing excitedly in the middle of an empty room, watched in horror by the rapidly disappearing audience. After understanding that the singer had to escape the stage as he was seeing huge black spiders coming down from the ceiling, and the guitarist was simply unsure of how to play the guitar anymore, we decided to play another couple of songs (what else), and to end the show. I packed my stuff, and left. Later I discovered the following: - One of my tripping and heavily drunk pals in the audience tried to fight a priest (this was a church thing after all). Claimed as he was to be the antichrist, that was the natural thing to do. - The other tripping and not-quite-so-drunk friend tried to stop him, only to be "escorted out" in a rather unsympathetic way by the said priest. - The singer went missing for quite a while. Spiders may have been involved. - The tripping guitarist and two feisty pals of ours were loaded up on the back of the van. The antichrist passed out and proceeded to vomit over all the kit and passenger. The van has no windows, and it was a 20 minutes drive to our hometown - The sober drummer was rapidly descending in blind panic at the thought that the police may stop him on his way back, and he might lose his beloved temporary license. He didn't. - The antichrist went further downhill, and was so poorly that had to be taken to hospital. The hospital staff come out to assist, and rush towards the guitarist, thinking that the is the sick one. He was, but not the sicketst of the lot. - The antichrist was half an hour from death by alcohol poisioning. He recovered, but didn't lose his streak... - We were never invited back to play the same venue again

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1414089681' post='2585788'] I did the same £145 on a set of strings, messed the silks up trying them, I was very very grumpy! Took the anchor block off, drilled the holes out deeper leaving about 10mm of wood left from the string ball, unwound a tiny bit of silk from the E string peg end then used a clear nail varnish to tidy up the silks beyond the nut. Sorted [/quote] I'm considering having someone make me a longer anchor block, perhaps I'll some of my woodworking-oriented acquaintances...

Early nineties, playing at an all afternoon and night music event at a local club, the guy that looks after the PA and lights brings out a novelty: wireless microphone! Sweaty after playing several numbers, I get close to the singer to shout a few words of the chorus in the mike alongside him. Flash of light, loud crackle, smell of burnt chicken, and no vocals anymore. Yes, the mike somehow short-circuited when I touched it with my sweaty brow, resulting in a lightning bolt that burnt off half my right eyebrow, and most of my pride. Finished the gig with a spare, wired mike.

If you have a passive or not-too-hot output bass, a good and cheap option is the Ashdown Envelope Filter. I use it for a couple of covers, and sits very well in the mix for me. Not good with high output basses though, can't modulate the effect too well

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1414144450' post='2586321'] We'll be the judge of that. [/quote] You already are!

I play in bands for fun, so I try and be friends with other band members. I have little fun if I can't relax and enjoy the (musical) company of others. If I was doing it for a living, I would be a little more prone to do the job without necessarily enjoying it very much. Having said that, some of my friend are work colleagues, and I get on with almost everyone here. My covers band has been going for nearly 10 years, and I see some of the band members on social occasions every now and again. Sometimes we do band outings, we go to a gig together, or for a meal. Very civilised and friendly. I am an all-round nice guy

I've just put some new Innovation strings on mine, and the coloured cloth bits at the top come all the way past the nut! The E string is particularly long, the green bits goes all the way to where I would fret for F... I think it still plays ok, but is there anything I should do about it?

Ok i'll bite (ish) God I'm jealous.

Someone on BC is selling a full peavey rig from the early 80's for £150. It is the opposite of light and portable, but il will pin the audience (and the rest of the band) to the back wall at full whack... There: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/246520-peavey-rig/page__p__2568882__hl__peavey__fromsearch__1#entry2568882

The true difference in file size will be made by the frame size of the video. If it was shot in full HD (as stated above) it will be big, and no matter how many formats you change, it will remain big. You need to find yourself a converter software that allows you to change the size of the converted video. Some application will have some (advanced) setting where you can set the resolution (frame size) of the converted video. That's what HowieBass meant by resampling/rendering [quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1412782104' post='2572001'] What's the frame size of the original video? If a clip of about 10 minutes needs a full gigabyte I'd guess it might be full HD? Thats 1920 x 1080 in 16:9 widescreen format. Try resampling/rendering it to something like 1280 x 720 or even 853 x 480 which should reduce the file size a fair bit. [/quote]

I'll mess about with the bridge a little longer, see if I can find a compromise... Otherwise, luthier it is