Delberthot

Once I get the spare roomdecorated, I'll have a bass room as well. Currently every room is a bass room. Im sat in the living room and can see a big box of bass spares to my right and my Trace TVT9 guitar combo to my left that i use to practice new tunes

I've used the ER20s for a couple of years now. A bit weird at first, had to take off the cord that came with them as I kept pulling them out when I moved. They do sound pretty strange until you get used to them. I found the opposite to everyone and actually had to turn [i][b]up[/b][/i] slightly. I can hear everything better than I used to. When I go anywhere loud I have to wear them as i cannot handle loud noise anymore whether it be a pub/ club/concert/motor racing/whatever. I find I can hear people talking easier and don't have to shout to be heard. I've thought about going to Specsavers and getting a custom set made which come in at around 160 clams but I actually like the sound I get just now and fear that they may sound completely different and end up going back to my £10 ER20s.

Octaves are your friend - The main method that i got the strength up on my pinky. Dance Dance Dance is an amazing song to play as well. Another good thing is that you build up your stamina so that you can play constant octaves for ages before your hand cramps up. Another cracker of a song to play to build up the strength is Billy Jean by Michael Jackson. Sounds easy but if you play it in its original key of C# with your index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and your pinky on the 4th fret you will give yourself a fantastic workout as immediately after playing the F# you have to drop your pinky down to the A string to play the C#. the main riff is - F# C# E F# E C# B C# A relatively simple octave song to get you going is Disco 2000 by Pulp

I thought at first it was Harry Hill

possibly Bartolini. I have a 2 band eq which has a single volume and a dual contentric 2 band eq.

I just used a surge protected 4 gang zip tied to a blank rack panel and screwed onto the back of the rack. I had that kind of setup for about 12 years and never had any problems

The 1225V was my ultimate combo back in the early 90s - never even got a sniff of one

My Schroeder 1212L is the first neo speaker cab I have had. For years I went through mainly Trace and Ashdown cabs and the main thing about those is that they are bloody heavy. They're bigger as well so I found that they produced more bottom end. The things I love about the 1212L are that it is light, which was one of the main factors for buying one. It is very punchy - don't know enough to tell you why - it could be the small size or the angled 12" or some kind of mystical third thing. It can go very loud - in fact much louder than the 2 Ashdown ABM 115s that it replaced. It could also be the mid hump that people talk about that makes them sound different but I think that's what makes them louder as you don't need as many watts to amplify those frequencies as you do to generate the bottom end. This could also be complete rubbish but its my take on it anyway.

I've always wanted to try a trace 4x12" as well. I missed out on getting one a few months ago as it was too far away to collect.

Okay - my bass is a bit of an extreme example but I could never get a good, convincing P bass sound out of a regular split P pickup bass and went down the single coil route and absolutely love it. Why not try one of the reissues and if you like it, you could go for the earlier late 60s telecaster bass with the single coil pickup.

I like the sound of that. Whereabout in Edinburgh is your practice room?

Precision bass, jazz neck - problem solved Can go from very mellow to hard and aggressive just by moving your playing position.

You could always try one of the humbuckers. I've been thinking about getting one for ages. Seymor Duncan do them as well as a few others. I think Sting has one in his '57 single coil P bass

Yes, we're very conservative

I would say to try and wean yourself off your home comforts so that you don't miss them on the road. Take an MP3 player and a good book. Learn how to relax and meditate if you have time before you go as it lets you keep focussed on what you are doing. It also allows you to get away from everything without ever leaving your room. You could try jogging or even a brisk walk as that's also good for getting away from everything and allows you time to think and reflect. Anything really that keeps you calm, relaxed and occupied but isn't too taxing. This isn't from experience but is everything I would do if I was about to embark on something like that. I do meditate though.

where are you?

My bass is passive - I don't do active. Its just a single coil quarter pounder in my Warmoth. I like simple - running everything fully open on the bass and using just the amp to adjust the sound. Thing is that I generally use the minimum of adjustments to an amp. Mainly everything run flat. I like having the valve overdriving just like I used to use the boost control on my old GK head for similar effect although having the valve in there has more of an effect.

One of the most in your face, agressive basses I ever owned was a Gothic Epiphone Thunderbird. Absolutely loved the thing and would probably have went on to buy a Gibson one if it hadn't been for the awful neck dive. I absolutely love the sound of a mahogany body, the reason my gold bass has one.

The one thing that got me was, instead of finding gentle overdrive, becoming more distorted as I turned up the volume like I was expecting, it sounded more like I was using a really cheap disortion pedal set to 'cheap farty sound'. It did give off a really disconcerting buzing vibration when I switched the amp off standby to use it so it was possible that years of bands who maybe don't know the correct procedure for switching one on has taken its toll. I'd never used a full valve amp before. I have an idea in my head of what I think one should sound like but that Ampeg sounded like a really cheap tranny amp. I love the Shuttle because it can be very aggressive - I have the tube overdriving on every note I play. I expected a valve amp to be able to take that aggression one step further without it becoming full-blown fuzz. I suppose the next step might be to find somewhere that I could try a few out. The Marshall is one that i wanted to try as well as Fender, Peavey, Orange and possibly even the Mark Bass one. The only barrier I can think of is that I have never ever seen a valve bass amp in a guitar shop ever other than Ampeg. A road trip may be in order.

I was playing at PJ Malloys in Dunfermline last night. When I got there, I was under the impression that the bass amp they had there was an SVT III but after setting up I had a look at it and discovered that it was an SVT II Pro. I've always wanted to try a valve amp so moved the amp over to where my own gear was and connected it to my cabinet. I waited in anticipation before I flicked the standby switch and was immediately disappointed. I couldn't explain what was wrong initially but my guitarist said that, although it sounded a bit warmer, it lacked what my own amp and sound have. I'm glad I got the chance to try it as I had been eyeing up a Marshall VBA400 for ages. They probably don't sound the same but I think that it gave me a good indication of what to expect. The thing is that I tend to go for an edgy, grindy, aggressive sound and thought that tubes would sound better than my current Genz Shuttle in that respect but its definitely solid state 1, valves 0. I'm glad I got the chance to try the amp out as valve amps are few and far between but I think that as far as my own sound requirements go, solid state is definitely the best option. Not to mention that the Ampeg weighed as much as my bass, cabinet and amp put together.

100 clams? Now that's a spicy meatball

Until I play Wembley I'm using OBBM cables. If I ended up in the big time I would get the Stageclix system. Best part of 500 clams but the ultimate as far as I am concerned.

The only place I can think of is McCormack's in Glasgow

I sold my Gothic T-bird for £100 more than this one a couple of years ago [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Epiphone-Thunderbird-Bass-Great-condition-Never-gigged_W0QQitemZ220392556095QQihZ012QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Epiphone-Thunderbird...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url] Absolutely fantastic rock basses but bloomin hellish neck dive.

I vote cabbage. Even if it is Fender, the logo is wrong for the era. Fretless Fenders never had fret lines cos that is too much work innit? The MIM ones do now but in the 70s they had hee haw. I believe it to be one of those Feckless Pee Bases.