gjones

Recently our guitarist went and got himself a Marshall stack,and since then, the volume has definitely gone up. Last weekend we played a bar, we have often played in the past, but this time were asked to turn down by the barstaff. Despite our guitarist's grumpy reaction to the request, we duly reduced our volume Surprisingly, we got a really good reaction from the crowd, who up until then had been a bit cold. Goes to show the band are sometimes the last to know what the sound is like out front and if they are playing too loud.

Went to see Garbage, at The Festival Theatre Edinburgh. My niece's band, Honeyblood, were supporting them on their UK tour. Honeyblood were fabulous, as always, and Garbage were great too. I met Duke Erikson, while he was outside having a sly fag, and he said they were pretty nervous as this was a brand new set with some songs, included, that they'd never played before. Their set went well, until Shirley Manson lost the monitor mix in her earplugs. The band had to stop in the middle of a song, until the monitor engineer got his act together, and they could start again. But all in all, it was a great night.

It may have been assembled in the USA but the parts were mostly manufactured in Mexico, if I remember rightly. Just as the Traditional and California models before the HW1 were. Probably USA pickups. The later models had an American standard, neck with graphite rods, and a Badass bridge.

Gets my vote.

I like this better than the original.

Scariest gig was the one where our band played some bar gigs in Belfast, as part of a festival over there. I turned up at the first gig, to find the regulars standing outside, cheering on a bloody fight between two seagulls (lovely). The drummer, who used to be a cop, then turned up and made us aware that there had been a murder there a couple of years ago, orchestrated by the local IRA commander (nicknamed The Surgeon) whose wife had been insulted by the murdered guy. When he refused to apologise, he was dragged out and knifed to death, in the street outside the bar. When the police tried to question the regulars, they all said they were in the toilet and hadn't see anything (all 71 of them). The accused were found not guilty. Anyway, we set up in the corner of the room and decided to just keep our heads down, play the gig, and get the feck out of there. At that stage the drummer pointed out that the 'The Surgeon' was sitting at the bar and appeared to be taking a great interest in our band. We must have played the songs, in our set, at twice their normal speed. Two years after we played at the bar, 'The Surgeon' was shot dead. We won't be back.

Your're wrong!!!! Edit: I thought I'd better add a

Ed Freidland's latest words of wisdom https://www.bassplayer.com/lessons/r-b-gold-sep-2018

I recently bought a G&L L2500 tribute. I just fancied trying a 5 string and had no great expectations. But it sounds great! I particularly like the sound from the front pickup. With the bass up high and the treble rolled off, it sounds VERY smooth and FAT. It's not a sound I would normally go for but it sounds great on it's own and fits in perfectly in a band situation. I like it so much I seriously thought of buying the 4 string version.

'James Brown Is Annie' are keeping the flame burning for Funk/Soul in Scotland. Hamish stuart is a fan, as you can see. Barry Gordon is the brains behind JBIA. They seem to have had a bit of a revolving cast of musicians, over the years. I hear Hamish is producing their album.

I've now got 10 basses (including a DB) and 5 amps. Many of them bought via Basschat. I justify the basses, to myself, by seeing them as an investment - as they were mostly bought secondhand, are sought after makes, and will hold their value well. I've got all my bass needs met, for the music I play, and I really don't need another bass. But I still find myself scanning basschat or Ebay for the perfect, olympic white, Precision. Why???

Paul Weller''s bassist plays one. It sounds very woolly to my ears. Almost as if the bass player's amp is covered with a huge mound of pillows. Not a good sound.

I bought a Jazz from bass direct recently and the action was so low, it was if the strings were painted on. I can get my action pretty low but whoever set up that Jazz really knew their stuff. For £65 I would hope you'd get a pro setup that will really make a difference to playability.

Techs I see setting up basses on youtube, set up the action firstly by adjusting the truss rod then, if needed, fine tuning it by adjusting the bridge. Many don't bother loosening the strings.

I bought one of these cheap, when my bass was nicked, back in the late 80s. Same colour too. It had the Jazz pickup as well as the P one. I loved the sound - so punchy. But eventually I managed to save for a Yamaha and the Charvel had to go (too much headstock pointiness).

I have just purchased a 5 string and am getting used to an extra string and the narrower string spacing. This post is very useful in persuading me to stick with it.

I recommend the new Fender Rumble 100. I have played with an acoustic drummer and decently loud guitarist and it kept up. It's loud, light and cheap. I got mine, secondhand for £165. I own, much louder amps and cabs, but the Fender is fine for the pub type gigs I do.

Don't be afraid of your truss rod. Give it a tweak now and then, or it will seize up. Because, over the years, mine did.

The wider they are the better the weight distribution. I have a comfort strap but my Levys 3.5 strap is much more comfortable over a long gig.

I own a bitsa P bass, consisting of a Classic vibe body, a Korean Jazz Bass neck and an unknown brand pickup (it came from the second bass I owned, bought used, in1984). I also own a 2018 Fender Precision Elite. Despite the fact that the Elite cost me more than my last car, to be totally honest, I prefer the sound and playability of the cheapo P bass. So to answer your question, play a whole lot of P basses first and then make your decision.

What I'm going to have for my tea.....

Just in case you decide to do further pickup swapping, remember to take a photo of the original wiring for reference. I always do.

She said that Lenny Kravitz 'insisted' that she played his vintage Jazz. She would have preferred to have taken her Stingray on tour with her, if given the choice. edit: Duh....I see this has already been mentioned.