gjones

I used to have a Fender V3 100 combo and it was great. Extremely light and small, decent EQ, capable of competing with a quiet drummer live and unobtrusive for home practice. I then bought a Markbass CMD121P and it can do all of the above, as well as the Fender, but it has a better EQ and can really pump out the volume and compete with a loud drummer when playing live. I would recommend the Fender, because it's cheaper than a Markbass combo (if you're buying second hand or new) and you don't require an amp to pump out the volume, in a biker bar.

I checked with Google AI and it said that copyright generally lasts for the life of the last surviving author plus 70 years. Up until 2013 it was protected for 50 years. Then Paul McCartney said......'Hold on a minute!' and Keith Richards said 'Oi mate!'.

Well I've played some large gigs, to large crowds, all who have paid for tickets to see us. The bass amp will be provided (usually an Ampeg with an 8x10). we're treated very professionally by the stage crew and we're usually paid reasonably well. The audiences are usually, civilised, appreciative and receptive, which is good. I like those gigs a lot. On the other hand, I've played some fabulous gigs in, sweaty dives, to a drunken rabble, at 3 in the morning....... and I really liked those as well. I think the best gigs are the ones were the crowd is great, the band is rockin' and the onstage sound is excellent. You can't beat that.

I'm in that minority too 🤣

It's difficult when you realise a band has no future (especially when you like the people in the band) and you have to bail out. I've done it a couple of times. I recommend asking ChatGPT ,or Grok, how you would write a very diplomatic 'Dear John' letter to your band. I'm sure the AI will come up with something you could use.

Nobody will make much money from AI music, as you can't copyright AI created content (and spotify only pay $0.003 per stream anyway) but the streaming companies will save from having to pay out to record companies and artists, when they stream AI created music. Hopefully AI music will eventually be tagged as non human, and that means I won't need to listen to it. I suppose artists can incorporate the fact that they are human in the art that accompanies their music (i.e what used to be album covers). So that, if you listen to a track on Spotify, or whatever, and if it doesn't have the word human in the album art, then it's obviously AI generated.

I've owned a lot of Japanese Fenders (including a Japanese Silver Squier) and every one of them was excellent, including a Precision 57 reissue, which had a lovely shallow neck. I now own a US Elite Precision and I much preferred the neck on the 57 reissue. By the way, American Fenders are no longer allowed to have Made In The USA stamped on them any longer, as many of the parts are manufactured overseas (maybe all of them, who knows?).

That's my problem too, except I try to get every (non Jazz) Bass I buy, to sound like a Jazz Bass. I should really just stick to Jazz Basses.

I bought a G&L L2500 tribute because I felt I was missing out on something by not playing a 5 string. I have to admit it's a great bass and extremely versatile soundwise but I've never actually needed the 5th string, so stick with my 4 strings. I bought an Auralex gramma pad, a dozen years ago, when everyone was going on about them. I used it once or twice and, by mistake, ended up leaving it in a pub that I had played in. I was so underwhelmed by the thing, that I never bothered going back to collect it. These days I just put my amp on a chair, or a beer crate. I bought a Nord string mute, which I have never used live (maybe one day). I bought a John East J-Retro pre amp..... and liked it so much I bought another two! 😊

On the other hand... The guitarist in my band plays through a 15 watt Pro Jnr combo and is still asked to turn down by sound engineers. He really isn't that loud.

At 7.53 in this video the bassist in Lynyrd Skynrd wished that wireless guitar systems had been invented in 1976. In fact, after this incident, he may have been the person who actually invented them

Slap bass (mainly because I'm crap at it) 6 string basses (when will you ever play that skinny string - never) Wireless guitar/bass systems (pointless unless you're in Lynrd Skynrd, or plan to crowd surf while playing bass) Hofner Violin basses

The band I used to be in, played a regular, well paid gig, in the bar of a 5 star hotel, in Edinburgh. One night we were playing to a, very large and appreciative, crowd of Americans. They were on a trip over to Edinburgh, paid for by the bank they worked for. At the end of the night the President of the bank came up and asked us to play 'one more song'. We told him that the management told us that the curfew was 11pm, for the sake of the residents staying at the hotel. Under no circumstances were we allowed to play after that cut off time. He replied 'Goddarn it, we ARE the residents!!!!'. He had a point.... So we played one more song. The next day we got an email from the management to advise our contract had been terminated 😢

I used to own a Classic 450. The problem I found with it, was that the low mid control had almost no effect on the sound. After I bought it I went back to the shop and tried the display model and the low mid on that had the same issue. I sold it and bought an Ashdown ABM head, which had a very effective low mid control.

I found that removing the pickguard, then fitting the control plate, and then re-fitting the pickguard usually works. It took me a while to figure this method out though, as in the past I've ended up sanding the pickguard to get it, and the control panel, to fit snugly.