Jacqueslemac

Mike Dirnt uses his own signature series (well, the Fender ones anyway. Not seen him play a Squier on stage).

Anyone?

I know what you mean about the scratch plate. It is a bit "cheap". Funnily enough I dragged mine out at the weekend and used it at band practice for the first time for ages - and loved it. I think I'll be using it as my main bass (for a few weeks until I get itchy feet again!).

I never knew Gibson did a Höfner copy!

One of my $$s is 8lb 11oz and the other is 8lb 9oz (the Nirvana black finish is heavier than it looks!). The bubinga-bodied fretless I had was 11lb 11oz.

I'm in the "if you want a Warwick, only a Warwick will do" camp and I've had several (all German-made). As has been said, why would anyone buy new when there are good (read "as new") secondhand examples around for one-third of the new price. For Warwick, that does not spell long-tem success. Looking on the bright side, if no-one is buying new Warwicks, the value of mine must go up one day, surely, as the supply of secondhand ones dries up?

Is it the time of year? I left the band I'd been in for a couple of years (my heart wasn't in the musical direction the lead guitarist was dragging us in) to join a straight-up classic rock band. The singer of that band left because he wasn't happy with the direction the band was taking (he's more of an Indie singer) and we've struggled to find singers to audition, let alone find one who has the right voice for the band. So, I'm torn between going back to my old band (the singer is playing bass but finding it cramps his ability to bounce around on stage - and if they want me) and just hanging on hoping a decent rock singer emerges. Or looking for an entirely new band. Or hibernating. The trouble for me is that without a set of songs to work on, I lose my commitment to practice.

Thanks for the tip-off. I'm in France at the moment, but the wonders of Sky+ means I've just set it up to record.

Some of the really big threads (e.g. the Jazz and Precision pictures thread) seem to have reached capacity. Even though I've posted in both and subscribed to both I get notifications from neither. There was a [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/186461-no-notifications/page__fromsearch__1"]thread[/url] about it, but it dried up without being resolved.

[quote name='Bloodaxe' timestamp='1381781412' post='2243767'] If you haven't got GuitarPro, hunt down a copy of TuxGuitar. It's free & can open most GP files up to version 5. P.[/quote] Bugger, doesn't appear to work on Macs. Is there one around anywhere that does, do you know? (I hate having to fire up my ancient PC just to download GuitarPro files.)

Good news from me too. My amp went back to Orange and, despite it being way out of guarantee (I bought it within a few months of them coming out), Orange didn't repair it, they just sent me a brand new one! Top marks for Orange's customer service. I think I'll be sticking with Orange for the rest of my playing career.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but until the Black Album Metallica hadn't actually sold many records had they? Since that album, they've become one of the biggest (in terms of sales) rock bands on the planet, selling many millions of CDs. Hardly a "demise" is it? I suspect a lot of people who think that once a band has become successful (in terms of sales), then somehow they've sold out and it's wrong to continue to like them. Personally I prefer their later material. I've listened to the earlier stuff (I have all the CDs) but it may as well be by a different band. It does nothing for me at all. I understand that a lot of guitarists don't rate Kirk Hammett very highly, but as someone once pointed out (on a YouTube comment I think), he's the lead guitarist in one of the biggest rock bands there is, so he can't be that bad. The same could apply to the whole band. A list of their albums ranked by the number sold would be interesting. I wonder which would be their "best" and which their "worst" album?

I fell in love with the looks of the Corvette long before I tried one. I eventually bought one, tried the neck (after having mainly Jazzes) and thought I'd made a mistake - the neck felt as chunky as my Mike Dirnt P. However, I loved the sound of the active MECs and all those tone options and kept picking it up. And putting it down again. A couple of years on and I now find it's the most comfortable neck shape for me. It's thin at the nut but thick enough front-to-back to be comfortable after a gig (I now find the thin Jazz neck makes my fingers ache after a while). It's also a light bass that's easy on the back, is small enough to chuck around and different enough that I've never seen another one being gigged. I love my Corvette $$ so much I bought a second one, then commissioned a clone (plus another body), so now have the makings of four $$s. On the other hand, I thoroughly dislike every other body shape that Warwick produces, so I don't think you should put them all in the same boat.

Just shows how different we all are! I had heard some of their stuff and really enjoyed the Some Kind of Monster DVD. Having now got all their CDs I've decided I only like their later stuff since James' voice was pushed further to the front of the mix. You can keep the early stuff as far as I'm concerned. I absolutely love The Unforgiven III. Rammstein you say? Thanks for the tip!

That sounds hopeful. Mine died on me last week again. Seems to be the same intermittent fault, only this time I could hear a tick, tick, tick sound. I took it back to PMT on Saturday and they're going to send it back to Orange on Monday. Let's hope they can replicate the fault this time round.

I installed the HT6 FastTune app when it was free last Christmas. Works well enough.

It's a paying gig for [url="http://www.pyedesign.com/empire/"]these guys[/url]. One of the band is a mate of the singer in my old band. I can't do it (mainly because it's a bit short notice for me to learn 30 new songs), but said I'd put some feelers out. If you're interested, get in touch and I'll pass your details over.

Don't know if anything in [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/211364-ive-killed-my-orange-terror-bass-500/page__fromsearch__1"]this thread[/url] is of any use, but have a look anyway.

The MIJ Precision Deluxe or older USA-made Precision HotRods had Jazz-type necks. My Mike Dirnt Precision has a narrow nut width, but the neck is fairly thick front-to-back.

Err, how do I upload a pdf, please?

I have a pdf of Fender's explanation if you want.

Just watched it all the way through. The only concert videos I have ever been able to watch the whole way through have been Green Day ones. They're a real lesson in showmanship. When they play live they're a five piece, with a second guitarist so Billy Joe can interact with the crowd more, plus a keyboard player (you only see his head above the stack of cabs).

My first gig with the band I've just joined. My - and their - first wedding gig (it's a rock band, but the bride and groom did know what they were booking). The happy couple own the pub and they'd closed off the garden for the day. We were playing under a gazebo (a fairly decent one, with decking, the poles lashed to the ground and wired up permanently). We couldn't set up until well over an hour after we were due to (do weddings ever run on time?). When we were finally allowed to set up the sun had gone and the clouds began to gather. I don't think we'd done more than one song before the rain started. the gazebo was water proof, but the rain running off the edges ran onto our amps and the edge of the mixer desk. We gradually slid everything towards the middle of the gazebo - apart from the poor drummer who ended up with a very wet back and soggy seat. By this time the crowd had all sought shelter, so we were facing an almost empty pub garden with a few brave souls under umbrellas or scattered among other gazebos at the far end. The biggest shelter was the smokers' one right behind us. We decided to take a very short break and go straight into our second set. To play to the crowd we turned ourselves round, so we were facing the drummer - and our amps, while the PA was swivelled round so it was behind us. No idea how it would have sounded because the power suddenly went off. Lights, PA and our amps all went off. So we packed up early. I hope the other gigs with this band go a bit more smoothly! On the other hand, I used my new custom [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/206179-re-bodied-warwick-corvette/page__fromsearch__1"]Corvette[/url] and I was very happy with the sound - as were the rest of the band.