M-Bass-M

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1445245819' post='2889812'] Come on, that's why you watch it in the first place. [/quote] Not only that, but I watch it over, and over, and over again on iPlayer too!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1445241028' post='2889748'] I'd view it as an honour. Look at some of the othe top class musicians who have been guests on the show [url="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZingZillas"]https://en.m.wikiped...wiki/ZingZillas[/url] [/quote] Oh I know - as I've watched more and more of them, it's quite impressive the musicians that they have lined up. Just a shame they're mixed in with those highly annoying animatronic puppets!

So I was up early the other morning with the little one, and happened to come across the following cameo from Stuart Zender: [url="https://youtu.be/kJrHWmCjfx0"]https://youtu.be/kJrHWmCjfx0[/url] Great to see that BBC are doing the decent thing and educating young children about the joys of slap bass Seriously though, how do those sorts of things happen? Did Mr Zender respond to a "seeking professional musicians" ad somewhere, or was somebody who works on the show a massive fan of Jamiroquai/Stuart Zender/slap bass and used his industry contacts to make things happen?

Just purchased a bass from Kert, and I couldn't be more satisfied with the transaction! Nice, friendly messages and had the shipping sorted out in no time at all. Bass was really well packaged, so arrived to me in the condition described.

[quote name='rungles' timestamp='1439669867' post='2844909'] I've been back and forth on this one but have decided on headless. I think. [/quote] Good man! I was in a similar position with mine, but in the end the headless is definitely the way to go - a lot more iconic, and certainly gets you noticed on stage!

Lovely stuff, great choice of bass, and as BassBus said, a fine tribute to your Gran. Headed or headless?

Yeah, I think they mentioned that on the Premier Guitar review, how they've taken bits from all sorts of different bases (and guitars for the PuPs!).

Huh, even more versatile than I first imagined! Really curious to try a short-scale bass now. Wonder how it would look with a slightly smaller headstock...looks a bit out of scale with the body.

Noticed this in my Twitter feed the other day: There's something about it which makes me intrigued...I guess I'd love to know how it plays as a short scale, and what sort of sounds you can get out of that pickup configuration. My GAS has certainly increased slightly!

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1438085207' post='2831476'] Actually now I've seen that picture I think it was that one at Blackpool. [/quote] I had to look it up as soon as I got home as I didn't recognise it. At first I thought it may have been a WAL, but was certainly surprised to find out that out of his vast collection of basses, he's chosen to gig with an Ibanez. Slightly disappointed that he wasn't rocking either his Dingwall or his Anthony Jackson Fodera, but there you go!

Funnily enough, last night he was playing his [url="http://www.daveswiftbass.com/pages/basses/ibanezmusicman.html"]Ibanez Musician[/url].

Ah, good stuff. Similar I guess to the Tecamp Pleasure Board that is available at Bass Direct? Makes sense for his setup has as per the photo, he only had a single cabinet with him on stage.

So last night I went to see the rather excellent Jools Holland, and unsurprisingly spent most the night watching Mr Swift. One of the things that got my curiosity was his amp setup. In the following image, can anybody tell me what that box is that he has on top of his amp? I saw him fiddle with it every now and again, but couldn't work out what impact it was having.

Purchased a TC Corona Chorus from Chris, quick postage and overall effortless transaction. Cheers!

[b][size="2"][font="Verdana"][size="3"][color="#00429A"]"It's mostly barely audible rumblings at the low end"[/color][/size][/font][/size][/b] Really? You don't say! Although if any bass is going to be a contender to create the "brown note", this has to be the one...

Here's my latest: The body I think started life as a Squire Precision Special. I have no idea what the original colour was as I purchased it from eBay in this state - it's actually not a bad natural finish! It also came with a white scratch plate, which I changed for a black one - kind of in homage to John Deacon really. I then pimped the bass with a Status graphite neck - it's actually a Jazz neck, and was original fit for another bass so it's not a perfect fit, but plays fine anyway. The final change was to have the PuPs upgraded to Nordstrands, and an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp installed, complete with battery box - all done by those lovely people at KGB Music in Birkenhead! I've only had this bass a few days, but the tonal possibilities seem to be huge - exactly the kind of versatility at I want in a bass

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1421414165' post='2660903'] If you were to take a like for like by size I would hedge the Online only company would have a much lower cost base [/quote] That would make for quite an interesting experiment, although trying to find comparable sized retailers would be extremely difficult. However, you could start off at the very bottom. You take two individuals, one starts up a local music store, and the other starts up an internet-only retailer. Assume that both business stock identical stock, and employ no other individuals other than themselves. Assume also that both businesses spend the same amount on marketing and advertising - albeit the local music store would advertise in the local area, while the online store would invest in search engine optimisation / paid searches etc. Once these assumptions have been made, then what are the remaining key differences? Arguably, location. Where the online retailer needs storage space for the stock, the local music shop (LMS) is able to make use of shop floor / back office space. To simplify things further, assume that the space required is identical. However, whereas the local LMS needs to have a central town/city centre location, the online store needs only an out-of-town industrial estate to run their business from. Here you have your first major cost difference: out of town industrial units will have considerably lower rate and rents than a town centre location. However, the online store needs to run and maintain a website, and will need to work out a delivery charge strategy. Also, they will pay higher bank fees as they will need to be able to offer secure online payment methods (e.g. Verified by Visa). So the question is: are the associated costs of running an online store lower than the additional rent and rates that a LMS pays for their town centre location? If so, then an online store will have a lower cost base. I don't know the answer, and likewise I wouldn't want to even think about how each business would scale. Might be interesting to download some accounts from Companies House and compare the relative profitability of different music stores.

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1421413876' post='2660897'] I'm afraid you may be one of a dying breed who think like this [/quote] Thinking like that and being able to act like that unfortunately are two very different things. Like many other bass players, any potential purchase has to be approved by the Investment Committee (aka the Wife). Spending a day - or even half a day - to travel to your local music store is a lot more "visible" than going online at work, buying a bass, arranging to have it delivered to work, and then find a way to sneak it into the house.

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1421413589' post='2660889'] Though many Music retailers will be facing the same costs as you mention as the majority do have online presence, shipping costs etc.... just maybe not to the same extent. [/quote] Absolutely that's true, but I guess those retailers that have both online and high street presence tend to also be large, and hence benefit from the supplier benefits and cashflow certainties that I mentioned. As I said, I work for an internet retailer which is less profitable than high street retailers that also have an online presence. This illustrates my point perfectly: online only does not immediately equate to lower cost base and therefore price competitiveness.

Wow, that looks like a very interesting resource! I'd love to listen to all the individual multitracks that make up some of the Queen recordings, sometimes the layering is fantastic.