gjones

That's an old pro trick. If you don't know the song or you've got lost just turn your volume down and dance around like you're having a great time. I did that through 90% percent of a wedding once.......nobody noticed!

The main thing I like about J Retros is that it gives you versatility - you can get any sound out of a Jazz Bass with it installed. But it also means, if you are using a FOH PA, you can alter your sound before it gets to the desk. I usually add a lot of low mid to ensure that I keep definition when going into a random mixing desk and through the PA. It's also really easy to fit as there's no soldering involved. So a thumbs up from me. Edit: I have two

I played a gig in Glasgow recently where the house amp was an Ampeg Micro CL. I took along my Markbass combo, just in case the amp just wasn't loud enough, but when I got to the gig the Ampeg head was going through a Session 1x15 and was pretty loud. Considering we were playing rocky blues with quite a heavy drummer, I was very impressed at the volume a 100 watt transistor amp could put out. We were going through the FOH PA but even if we weren't the amp could have handled the gig (and the master was only halfway).

Checked out videos of them at NAMM and they look nicer in the flesh than in a photos. No real reviews yet though that I can see.

I watched this review and because the guitar sounded so good in the video I had to try it out. When I actually played the guitar in my local shop it was absolutely s**t! The sound was thin and nasty and the tuners couldn't keep it in tune for more than a few seconds at a time. I actually did buy a guitar that day, it was a Yamaha Pacifica that they had going secondhand. It stayed in tune, had a decent set up, sounded pretty good and only cost me £68. Don't believe the hype.

That fella can really sing. What a great voice. I really like Hartke amps. I almost bought the combo version of your Hartke rig but when I tried to pick it up it felt like it was nailed to the floor. A head and cab might be a bit more manageable.

Barefaced are very good but also very expensive. I would suggest you look to less boutique type combos. The Fender Rumble V3 100 watt combo is a great little practice amp, which is very light and is also loud enough for small gigs (with a quietish drummer). I own one and use it as a practice amp and have played quite a few smallish gigs with it as well. I have another more powerful combo for louder gigs. My Fender rumble cost me under £200 secondhand.

I always thought they looked a bit 'weird' but I was impressed by the sound the bass player, Joey Spampinato, got on his Danelectro in 'Hail!, Hail! Rock 'N' Roll'. I think he's the only person I've ever seen playing one. So they may look a bit weird but apparently they sound pretty good.

I think I know that guy 🤣

Are you having to turn gain and master to full in order to get a decent level of volume through your cabinet? The first time I owned an ABM 500, back in the day, I put it through a 1x15 cab that wasn't very efficient. This mean I couldn't get loud enough to play with a loud drummer and a loud guitarist without putting the needle way into the red (gain and master maxed). The reason was, that my cab just wasn't efficient enough (it was a TC Electronic 2x10). I ended up selling the ABM and buying a TC Electronic head. A few later I bought a Barefaced Compact 1x15 and recently I bought a secondhand ABM 500. I tried it with the Barefaced and because the cab is so efficient I no longer had the same problem. What cab are you putting your amp through?

I sold a bass to Will from BassBros a few months ago and sometimes he is very fast at replying to emails and sometimes he can take a while, but he always replies eventually. He has a lot of different plates to spin I suspect. People contact him via Whatsapp, Messenger and email.

I have a G&L L2500 tribute (which is a really versatile and great sounding bass) but I keep eyeing up L2000s, which is the 4 string version. I'm mainly a 4 string player and bought the 5 because I was playing, at the time, in a covers band which played songs in weird keys. Logically, I don't need the 4 string version because I've got the 5 string version, so why do I keep on eying up the 4 string ones? Very odd....

Frankly as we get older I feel we need to be mentally challenged, or our brains will vegetate. Interestingly, my brother in law, who is an professional electric guitarist/vocalist in his early 60s, has complained of forgetfulness and he's member of a band that is the house band at a local music venue. They play with different front men/women twice per month and he has to learn their sets. Some of those songs are standard but many are songs he's never heard before and he learns them pretty flawlessly every two weeks. I feel if he hadn't had that incentive to learn new songs, as a work out for his brain, the issue with his memory would be far worse than it is.

There is something weird going on with that bass.

I've fancied buying one of these but worried about selling it on if ever I needed to (because it's not a Jazz or P bass). I own a G&L L2500 and really love how versatile it is. I suspect the Dimension is a similar type of instrument. From the pictures it looks like the truss rod adjustment is at the heel of the neck, like a musicman, which is something I always like in a bass (my Fender Elite Precision has the same).

I do like them but the gauge is enormous. I've only got one bass where the nut slots are wide enough to fit them.

It depends on how many hours you rehearse and on the complexity of the songs you're learning. I play in a Blues band and have played that type of music for 30 years. As long as I know the key and the feel, then I don't need a rehearsal. I played in one particular Blues band for 10 years and we never ever had a rehearsal. On the other hand I've played with bands where the complexity of the songs were such that we'd need multiple rehearsals to get just one song right. But for standard cover songs I wouldn't want to rehearse more that one per hour of practice booked. Which may give you some time, at the end, to go through the songs you've (hopefully) learned.

Your average musician (who isn't a bass player) probably couldn't name the bassist in their favourite band. Bassists are invisible to everybody, other than other bassists. Sad but true

Last year I sold 3 basses but bought a John East J-retro. Does buying a guitar amp count? This year there's absolutely nothing I need bass wise. Count me in...

This... And when you're practicing playing with fingers don't bother plugging the bass into the amp. It's discouraging when you hear all the clanky noises and mistakes when you're starting off playing fingerstyle. Just get used to playing with your fingers first of all and when you start to get the hang of it, plug the bass in.

My niece has her own Indie band. She's been in the UK charts but makes very little money from selling her music (Her music has streamed ten million times on Spotify in the last 10 years but the annual income that has produced is the equivalent of the average salary of a lollipop lady). She can't play in the EU any more due to the visa restrictions and legal hurdles Brexit created, therefore she's had to apply for Irish citizenship (her grandmother was Irish) so that she can play gigs in the EU in the future (her band will have to stay at home because they only have UK passports). Making an income from original music is very difficult these days.

There was a band in Aberdeen, called Union Avenue, who used to do covers in the style of Johnny Cash.

I play a lot of venues where I'm going straight into a front of house PA. Any amp I have have onstage is just for monitoring. So I use my onboard preamp to tweak my sound before it gets to the desk. That means I have some control on how my bass sounds out front. It also means that when I'm not going through the PA I can go out front at sound check and adjust my sound from my bass, rather than have to go back to the amp to change EQ..

I've been in bands before where the female singer was not that great. But eventually it was resolved by making sure the songs were played in the right key for her range and that she could hear herself through the monitors. If the problem is that she just can't sing in tune, or sing the songs in your set because they're not suited to to her voice, then first of all get the drummer on side and break the news that the rest of the band just don't feel she is suitable for the stuff you do. It's never easy.

It really depends on the cab, as not all cabs are equal. I have an old Barefaced Compact and it is extremely loud considering it's only one 15 inch speaker. I've played cheaper 2x10 cabs and they struggled with a loud drummer. If you're economising then the more speakers the better.