Cat Burrito

Found one

Ampeg AUB-1 I believe. Rick is awesome and his bass tuition DVD is worth it for Rick alone. He clearly had a drink or two before to steady his nerves

Not live shots but

Great band name!

Occasionally, more so if I am swapping to different instruments. I had one gig where I went on to a mandolin and I suddenly forgot every chord shape I'd learnt!

They are great on acoustic instruments & I see them almost universally used in folk & blugrass. I use them on my mandolin & banjo but I sometimes have to reposition it a few times when tuning the double bass

Having played one for 20yrs it's what I always come back to. My 2 cents: 1) I've only recently started to fully appreciate how much tone you can actually get from such a simple set up. But yes. 2) Not especially, just got a bit weighty in the late 70s on some models 3) I've seen them cheaper but that's fair 4) No not really but always try before you buy! Precision or not. 5) Yes & a gig bag with many of the others. I really rate the MIM Classics & I'm genuinely amazed they don't get raved about more on these pages.

I love them both - great stuff

Awful situation but I too would cut your losses. I had a mate bust a tuning peg on one of mine in the early 90s. He's coming over tomorrow - didn't pay at the time (or since), I just don't lend kit to him these days

[quote name='cocco' post='631552' date='Oct 20 2009, 05:30 PM']I find Watford Valves to be the best. they test tubes in a ridiculous ammount of ways and you can garauntee fast freindly service. [/quote] I agree on Watford Valves

A shadow pickup through the PA - sounds great

I love my wife and part of that love is based on the fact we would never but such conditions like that on each other

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='631577' date='Oct 20 2009, 05:51 PM']Aren't they 30" ?[/quote] No, I can confirm 100% that it's 34"

I bought the same bass this week & love it. Loads of tone & feels like a tricked out jazz

The earlier ones looked really fake up close but I'm seeing more in the shops that look better done. I think Fender MIM is really good once you get past the standard range.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='630999' date='Oct 20 2009, 12:42 AM']brilliant. A good shop. maybe add something to your first post so that the fact you solved the problem comes through to ppl reading randomly.[/quote] I did, I edited the thread title but fair point. I'll re-edit so it's clearer

OK so I get a reply from one of the Andertons & they strike gold! I am impressed with this guy. From my emailed response In response to your email I would firstly like to thank you for taking the time to write to me. Although not good reading, I always take customer complaints very seriously and want to know when we do not achieve the standards of Customer Service that Andertons is known for. I appreciate how frustrating your experience was, and I’ve spent the morning reviewing our systems & speaking to the staff involved in order to identify what went wrong and how we can make sure it does not happen again. Firstly, let me please apologise for the service you received. I have reviewed all the CCTV footage from the time you were in the store on Saturday & I think I’ve got a reasonable picture of what occured & which of my staff were involved. As I hope you can appreciate, due to the space constraints of the store, our bass guitar section is not ideal when more than one person wants to try something and I apologise for the time you had to wait to try the Hot Rod bass - Saturday lunch times are always a busy time for us. However I acknowledge that we should have found you somewhere to try the bass quicker than we did. This will be discussed with my Guitar Department Manager & training will be carried out as necessary. Turning to the issue of how the fault on the bass was dealt with after you pointed out the problem, this was not dealt with in the manner I would expect. Whilst the salesman was correct in saying that our guitar technician would not be able to look at the instrument himself until Monday, I would have expected the salesman to go through some basic checks before you left. I hope you understand that, if the fault had been electrical, my sales staff are not permitted to attempt electrical repairs. I admit that I am disappointed with how the particular salesman dealt with the problem – it appears that instead of checking the basics (ie the lead & the amp), the individual involved has taken your comment about the possibility of an earth problem as fact & acted accordingly. We should have done better, and we did let you down. Just to rub salt in the wound, I have personally checked the bass and there is no fault with it - I can only assume that the cable that was being used had a poor earth connection. The very slight hum I got from the bass this morning was normal pick up hum – this was not loud, & went away when both coils on the bass were selected (which is normal). There was no noticeable reduction in the hum when you touched a metal part, and when we tested the bass on a meter, we couldn’t find any earth issues. As a result of your email, we are going to introduce a better system for customers in our basement to ring up to the main sales counter to ask for help. I am also asking our Guitar Technician to train all staff in a basic fault checking process so that we do our best to eliminate this sort of problem in the future. I would also like to do something as a gesture of goodwill & to restore your faith in Andertons. As you rightly say, Andertons has a great reputation in the music industry and whilst we clearly haven’t delivered a great experience in this instance, we genuinely do put customer service at the top of our priorities. I am in store every day this week (except Tuesday), including Saturday and I would like the opportunity to meet you & apologise in person for our mistake. Alternatively I am happy to call you if you another visit is inconvenient at this time. I am more than happy to offer you a very special discount on the Hot Rod bass, or send you some vouchers to use against a future purchase. Please let me know if you’re going to come down to the store so that I can make sure I’m here when you arrive. You can call me on the number below, or reply by email. Many thanks, and once again, please accept my sincere apologies for the service you received.

Don't forget the import taxes on top of the buying price and postage

Checking an old bank statement today I realised it was Andertons who sold me my pod and the service was quick and excellent. I don't doubt they are capable of being excellent but there is a lot to be said for lazy & disinterested Saturday staff. Again thanks for the well wishes - I may start a different thread on this for reasons that may become apparent.

Good to hear. As a recent covert to double bass I have 3 bits of advice that got from this site and consider essential. Apologies if you know all this but it may be useful to anyone reading the thread who is new to this and doesn't know; 1) Get a cheap tuition DVD as it will show you correct positions etc & iron out bad habits. Failing this (or better yet) bite the bullet and get a couple of lessons. It is different and it's just to prevent you cementing bad habits into your style at the early stages of you crossing over. 2) Get a powerball if you don't have one. You can pick up injuries easier so you need to train for match strength 3) Practice little and often - build it up. You'll have loads of fun. It really is great playing this style.

[quote name='retroman' post='629172' date='Oct 17 2009, 11:44 PM']All I can say is, I've seen 70's wall paper that's more tasteful!! [/quote] My problem, and I know it's wrong, is I quite like 70s wallpaper!

I really like the look of them, although not for me. I just can't believe how tiny they are when you see one in the flesh

[quote name='YouMa' post='628927' date='Oct 17 2009, 06:44 PM']Good luck with your op.[/quote] [quote name='The Funk' post='628941' date='Oct 17 2009, 07:01 PM']Yes, good luck with your operation. That kind of service sounds pretty standard these days. Someone actually talked to you - that doesn't even happen in the Bass Cellar.[/quote] [quote name='skankdelvar' post='628942' date='Oct 17 2009, 07:03 PM']Indeed, best wishes for your operation. Hope you find a Jag to your liking... FWIW, I've heard some [i]interesting[/i] stories about Andertons' amp repairs as well.[/quote] Thanks everyone. [quote name='Pete Academy' post='628946' date='Oct 17 2009, 07:06 PM']As someone who works in music retail, I think it was pretty bad service. Maybe they genuinely didn't have a guy who could sort out the problem on the premises? But at least total honesty would have been the best bet. We have a 'tech' guy who doesn't work Saturdays. I'm totally useless with electrical problems. However, we are lucky in the fact that our guitar repairer lives 5 mins away. They could have dealt with it much better.[/quote] One of my friends runs the local guitar shop & I spend a lot of time in there with him. There are occasional idiot customers but this level of service really is shocking & particularly towards someone trying to actually buy something. I have emailed them an edited version of the start of this thread. I'm not looking for discount but I do want the shop owner to know. I'm realistic, they must be good to keep the shop running from 1964 & it was a Saturday but still, not good enough!

The double bass is the best instrument I have ever owned, bar none. I wanted one for 15yrs which I can't say about any of the other instruments I've owned. However it is horrendous to cart around and it confuses 99% of soundmen. Your decision is definately a head verses heart decision and I can understand it. But I sympathise too.