Marvin

Hendrix. He was an innovator, broke new ground, he did things others didn't even think of at the time. To claim, as the article does, that because he died at 27 that we'll never know whether he would have got better or something is beyond bizarre. I'm not that big a fan of Hendrix, but for guitar he was truly a cut above. I actually haven't met a guitarist who cites Prince as an influence when it comes to their guitar playing. It's only been since Clapton mentioned him, it seems, that every journalist has jumped on that bandwagon.

I'm not a huge Depeche Mode fan but I think they're a good band, write some good and interesting material and always seemed great live from what I've seen on the tv and internet. So, I always wanted to go and see them and a couple of years ago my brother (who's a DM fanatic) got us tickets for their date in Birmingham. Perhaps it was because we were sat up in the gods to one side, the stage partially obscured by the speaker array hanging from the roof, and that those around us all sat there for the whole gig like they were at a funeral (I include my brother in that), BUT it was the most disappointing gigs I've ever been to. It was utterly 'cold'. Depeche Mode performed as you see them on those great live videos on YouTube, but actually being there was really meh. From then I've said I wouldn't go to another stadium gig.

My kids ( 13 and 16) watch The Simpsons, and so do their friends.

If they were able to back the album up with with some live dates I think this would be create more interest... unfortunately we are where we are. I note Mr Smith is a keen angler, so he's now been elevated to my 'top favouritist' musicians list of all time.

Poor lad. I can, at times like these, be incredibly smug because I've never liked Stephen 🤗

I noticed that, he's probably been watching and listening to Harris over the years

I'm a big Kotzen following, he's a fantastic musician. He's teamed up with Adrian Smith from Iron Maiden and they've made an album. It's noting ground breaking but I'm liking it a lot. Adrian Smith has got a pretty decent voice and it's been interesting to hear him doing something different (I wasn't aware of his solo material up until now). Nicko McBrain appears on one track...nothing against Kotzen who plays most of the drums, but you can clearly tell when a drummer is in the seat. Anyone else had a listen?

I thought the original video was very badly made and as a result did near nothing to convince either way. The basses all sounded very similar. Any differences are so small that you have to you high quality headphones or monitors to notice them (if you can), which is telling in itself. With such small possible differences I'm not sure what the obsession is, as when you play in a band context such subtle differences (if they exist) are all but lost.

I've bought second hand gear from Rich Tone before and they were good to deal with. If the OP can get to Sheffield...

If you were to want to put all your eggs in one basket I think you'd need to try that 'one' bass first (not that always helps). I stopped gigging before the current unpleasantness and had 3 basses when I finished, a P bass, J bass and double pickup modern looking BRIGHT RED bass. I sold the last one as it never got used. It seemed pointless just storing it in a case in the corner of the dinning room. Most of the time I play the J bass, as it's the nicest bass I've bought. BUT, I won't sell the P bass because you always need a P bass Neither of my basses were expensive though so keeping them isn't really an issue...unless I need the room. I did think about selling both and putting some money with the sale and getting something I really wanted...but I'm too lazy to advertise them and all the other faff

I don't play things wrong, I play them differently

Mentioning Talkbass is a bit like saying 'the game' to anyone...you forget it's a thing until someone mentions it. I can't remember the last time I logged in or even looked at the site. I don't like the interface at all. It's so big and busy that threads almost instantly end up on page 2084 because of replies to other threads. It's just too big and a bit clunky. It seems to be taking longer to get up and running than my old laptop is to install the latest Windows updates.

I received a promotional email about these a few days ago. They look considerably better than the last incarnation of the BA combos...which looked dreadful. I know we should concentrate our focus on how something sounds, but still, they looked woeful. These on the other hand look great, they seem to have quite a straight forward set of controls as well. I'm not fan of overly fussy controls and gimmicks on amps and combos, if I want to modify the basic sound that's what effects pedals were created for. I just checked GuitarGuitar and you can preorder the 210 combo for £639. I think that puts in between the cheaper Rumble and the more expensive Ashdown. From experience the Rumble takes some beating to be honest.

Thank you for the info and links. That's a great looking greyhound We're rehoming a 4 year old female greyhound from the local branch of The Greyhound Trust. She's quite small apparently, about 26kg, quiet and a bit shy. She has to be neutered and given 10 days recovery, but hopefully she'll be with us just after Easter Bank Holiday.

Is that a greyhound? We're rehoming a greyhound in a few weeks

I've borrowed Laney bass combos on a couple of occasions, The first time was an abused Laney Linebacker. I think it must have been broken somewhere because it sounded a bit weedy. The last time was the last time I played in room with other 'musicians'. I borrowed a Laney R500 115. I quite liked it. It kept up well with 2 guitars and drummer. Easy to use, decent sound, not that heavy. A good combo for doing the pubs around my way.

The vast majority of the places I play if you move around you'll be knocking into something or someone. If I can move around a bit I will, but that's mainly to stop cramp in my legs. For quite a while, mainly due to vanity, I looked very grumpy when playing. This was almost entirely down to refusing to wear my glasses, hence not being able to see anything properly (including the set list taped to the floor at my feet) and frowning for almost the entire set. Just one minor point for the OP, if you're in a shoegaze band, staring at your shoes is pretty much part of the gig.

This thread needs to be deleted...or something. The title is way too long and it's upsetting my OCD every time it appears, it looks out of balance with the other threads

I was going to buy one of those a few years ago but couldn't justify yet another bass in the house. The only thing wrong with that particular Squier is that it looks like a biohazard and may get confiscated by a special UN chemical weapons inspectorate. 🤢🤮

Generally I don't listen to radio, most DJs irritate me more than if fibreglass loft insulation got stuck in my underpants. (Someone mentioned TalkRadio, I'd rather ram a carving knife through my temple than listen to that). The only time I listen to radio is the small amount of time I'm in the works van, and that'll be Absolute Radio, which is meh at best. They tend to play the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin more than the Beatles, but mostly it's late 80s onwards.

This

I liked both. Which isn't very helpful is it...

I've got a Peavey MiniMax that I bought from a fellow basschater for £180 (could have been a bit less, I can't remember, but it definitely under £200) and I've put it together with a Fender Rumble 210, that I bought new. It's light, not cheap but not expensive, and it has volume but not what you'd call LOUD! If I needed more headroom then I'd add another cab I suppose. I've done gigs with similar set ups and they've managed well...but then I've got to an age where I refuse to play loud

Mrs Marvin and I went along to a gig with the singer in a previous band to see a local band at a small venue. The band play decent support slots for bands doing 3-4000 capacity venues (?), but this was a tiny place where they were doing a gig for their home fans. I'd never heard their stuff, they were ok. I was stood with Mrs Marvin far enough back from 4 guys trying to mosh at the front (it wasn't that well attended). One of the guys insisted on falling back into my wife and I. After the 3rd time I asked him to stop. The 4th time he got a stone cold stare, the 5th time I told him if he did it again I'd drag him outside. The 6th time my wife said we should leave early.

I wish I'd had remote volume control or mute for one guitarist I did a few gigs with. He always angled his speakers across the stage...so more or less at me. So for those gigs I had him at full volume, it was really irritating. I usually use my tuning pedal to mute, but will use my amp's mute, or pedal if I want to put my bass down and not change any settings. It seems most guitarists have everything on '11', so if they turn a dial, let's say the volume, down to mute then they just turn it back up to 11