gjones

Bass players were real men back in the Trace Elliot days. That 8x10 combo weighed 14 and a half stone.  😮

When you play bass regularly you'll get blisters and eventually calluses build up on your fingers and they don't hurt anymore. If you don't play regularly the calluses don't have time to harden your fingers and every time you pick a bass up and play it, after a while, your fingers will start to hurt again. I don't think changing the strings will make it hurt any less (and strings are expensive to experiment on).

Most of my guitar playing friends, who occasionally play bass, tend to use a pick for this very reason. Maybe that would be an idea for you.

Back in the 80s they were manufactured in the US and thought of as high end brand. They brought out superior versions of Jazzes and Precisions and were pretty expensive. These days I know nothing about them other than their prices look like they're in Squier/Sire territory which I assume means they're now manufactured in the far East.

12 minutes ago, Smanth said:

If they come back with a reasonable offer I would intend to carry out the repair myself.

 

 

Ssshhhhhh.....  😂

10 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

"Modern music" is not some discrete entity. It is, as music and art has always been, enormous and diverse. You aren't going to find interesting or original music or art on any mainstream media, which chases ratings/viewing figures and therefore adjusts its output to appeal to mass taste and opinion. Don't go looking for gold in a tin mine.

Yes, pop music (whether in 2023 or 1953) is the equivalent of fast food. You have to make an effort to find something more nourishing. 

It might be an idea to use a normal size pot and drill a hole to increase the size of the control cavity.

Interestingly, I watched a video of Eric Clapton's onstage setup and his tech says he takes 3 electric guitars on tour with him, and they're 3 identical copies of his EC Signature Stratocaster.

I prefer there to be a band leader, with talent, who knows what they want and has a good idea how to achieve it.

I'm in two bands, one of which is a band-ocracy and the other which is a band-tatorship. The first has been going since before the lockdown and still hasn't managed to get a gig (our first gig was supposed to be last weekend but had to be cancelled as one of the guitarists had the lurgy).  The second has been going for over a decade and operates like a well oiled machine.

I had my bass stolen and had to get hold of a bass ASAP. I had seen a friends band and the bass player was playing a red Charvel by Jackson which sounded excellent. The guy was selling it cheap and I bought it. It did me proud for a year and sounded really great but it was too pointy for me as I was playing in Blues bands at the time and it just didn't suit the genre.

I bought a Fender Precision Elite bass 4 years ago and the jack position is a right pain in the erse. I was always knocking the jack as it poked out from the bottom of the body. Recently the jack input (which is a plasticky, fragile, stereo one) gave up the ghost. I've just recently managed to track a replacement one down and import it from Spain. I'll be fitting it soon, hopefully it will last longer than the original one.

I play various venues where backline is provided and the guitarists in my band usually bring their own head and use the cabs provided. Bass players are not usually so bothered by what amp they're playing through, as they know they're going to be DI'd and put straight through the desk anyway.

One of the venues I play has an Orange bass head, which is really bassy even through the DI, so I bring my own little Gallien-Krueger head and play through their cab. The sound I get onstage and out front is much clearer and the sound engineer doesn't mind.

I'm sure the sound engineer won't have a problem if your guitarist brings her own combo.

After the incident with the tiny model of Stonehenge and the midgets, I kind of lost interest in Deep Purple.

He's a cheapo headless bass which might solve your problem https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363785824349?hash=item54b353285d:g:eQkAAOSwuNNjRZLK

I had a shot of the Alembic of the bassist in a renowned 70s Scottish Rock band and the action was shocking.

Even worse.........he played with flats and a pick.  😱

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

I'm thinking of all the tribute acts you could start, Beige Against the Machine? Queens of the Stone Beige...?

Simply Beige

I used to play with my brother in law years ago - he is the front man and plays guitar. His usual bass player couldn't make a gig and he asked me to dep for him. 

After the gig he said how impressed he was that I played all the songs in his set flawlessly. I told him that it wasn't such a big deal, as he hadn't changed his set for 35 years (we played that exact same set together, for 10 years, until I left 25 years ago).

Some people are just resistant to change.

I bought a Markbass CMD 121 P over lockdown. I've played it at a few gigs and rehearsals and am very impressed with it's sound and how much volume it can put out. It can compete with two guitarists and a loud drummer.

At one blues gig I depped on, I brought my Barefaced compact as well as the Markbass. I ended up disconnecting the Compact as it was overkill - the Markbass combo managed fine all on it's own.

Received a VVT loom for my Jazz Bass, from John. Sounds great and easy peasy to fit

Definitely recommended.

Gareth

I own a US Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass, a US 75 Reissue, a Mex 70s reissue, and have owned a MIJ Geddy Lee and a Mex Roadworn. 

My favourite is my MIJ 60s style reissue, that I put together from parts off Ebay. It's got a lot of character, plays great and is fitted with a John East Retro pre amp.

Exploring music genres was an expensive habit back in the 'good old days', which meant many people stuck to what they knew and didn't explore different types of music. These days the whole world is our oyster and we can listen to anything our heart desires. 

I used to be into Heavy Rock, back in my teens and twenties, these days I barely listen to it and I've developed a taste for 'Yacht Rock' (look up Young Gun and Silver Fox).

I've used The Stratosphere a few times https://stratosphereparts.com/

17 hours ago, Muzz said:

Did you have PA support? Loud drummer? I'm doing a regular Jam Night hosting gig these days, and I could do with a smidge more than my Rumble 100 on (very small)stage, without taking up any more space...

I have a Rumble 100, which is a great little combo, it struggles with loud drummers though. 

I bought a Markbass CMD 121 P recently, which is about the same size but is significantly louder.

If you want a loud but small combo I recommend it.

Oooops!

Reminds me of a gig my band did where the night before the gig (which was a Xmas party for checkout ladies from Asda and Tesco) our female singer advised us she had flu and couldn't perform.

The guitarist said he could do the singing himself, so me and the drummer said we were ok to do the gig, with him as the frontman.

Unfortunately the only songs he knew were Clash and Iggy pop stuff, along with some Johnny Cash numbers done in a punk like style.

It did not go down well with the checkout ladies, and they asked for their money back from the agency that had booked us.

The guitarist managed to plead our case with the agency (he said if we'd have cancelled they wouldn't have had time to book another band - so we'd done them a favour) and we got our money.

Sitting in a silent, empty, shop demoing basses is not for the faint hearted. The last time I did that was in my local Guitar, Guitar on a wet Wednesday afternoon.

I was playing my usual bluesy, jazzy stuff and just for a laugh started to play the sailors hornpipe (it's actually a good warm up routine). At which point all  the shop assistants burst out laughing.

They listen to you, you know.....

Every note.

They probably have score cards n all.

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

I'm sure he didn't pay for it, but at least Ed F is actually gigging his MV, not just snuggling up to it on YouTube.

True