Dave Vader

[quote name='MB1' post='833692' date='May 10 2010, 09:55 PM'].....No LEVEL 42???? [/quote] I might give it a watch on a repeat then, you promise no Level 42?

[quote name='Marvin' post='830787' date='May 7 2010, 04:22 PM']Do you buy your picks local? i.e Soundpad. The last time I went in there, rummaged through the picks and couldn't find any triangles. If, and that's a big if, I use a pick, I've only got some little Fender things. Either .73mm or .88mm. I don't like either. I prefer triangles but don't really like using a pick.[/quote] Nope, I get them from stringsdirect.co.uk when I put in a heavy-duty string order, I get some more picks. I don't use them much either on bass, but we do Adam and the Ants in one of my bands, and you got to get some pick in there for those funny rhythms, especially while shrieking BVs. I think big Stu in Bideford does triangle picks, can't remember what he's called his shop though.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='830236' date='May 7 2010, 01:46 AM']About half that would be nearer the mark. The early ones (with the Fender-shaped headstock & Sunn amps type logo) are seriously undervalued for how good they are, if the Strat I had was anything to go on - one of the few guitars I regret selling. Jon.[/quote] Don't let anyone else find out, the 80s ones (probably this one included) are really great bits of wood. As lon gas it's made in India with the fmic logo on the headstock, then you just need to do the standard japcrap upgrades (pups, total new set-up, electrics, maybe bridge and tuners) and they play and sound fantastic. My main P-bass is one of these, came from an Argos catalogue in '88-'89ish. I can't stop playing it since I stripped it and put a Kent Armstrong and CTS pots in it. Don't let the collectors find out, they're already trying it on on the bay. Saw one with a reserve on it the other day, the nerve of it.

I use the black dunlops on guitar, have done since 1989 (cripes DM!) but I prefer something bigger on bass, and use either big purple dunlop triangles (don't know the gauge but it is thick and nice) or the big triangle stubbys, which sound really great, but do kill your wristies and grips. Big triangles are always better for bass, less chance of missing.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='829817' date='May 6 2010, 04:57 PM']Ark? This remains one of my faves... [/quote] You could well be right. Shame I can't see the youtube link at work, but I expect it's good. I like the first track from the Stealers Wheel album as well (again, no idea what it's called.)

Yeah, what he said, check out the first track on City to City, the title escapes me now, but it's lovely first thing in the morning.

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='824085' date='Apr 30 2010, 02:15 PM']Rather than gain tempo info. from one part of the band, I listen to the whole thing and rely on the most flexible and usable tempo regulator I've ever known, my own sense of time. T[/quote] +1

See, I always miss these, and am merely jealous that I didn't hang on to the myriad of westones, ibbys, tokais, fernandes, arias, etc. etc. etc. that flew through my hands in the 90s, for almost nothing. Still trying to get my hands on a couple more Sunn Mustangs before people work out how good they are as well....

[quote name='Alfie' post='822930' date='Apr 29 2010, 12:23 PM']The Fender '51 is slab bodied where as the Squier CV is contoured, the extra £400 buys you more wood. More wood = good.[/quote] Although, if you are old, and have a bad back, less wood = less back pain = good. Or if you are fat, and the straight edge digs into your gut, contour= more comfortable = good. All down to preference. (though I do agree about more wood personally, good thing)

Comes to something when you have to rebadge Korean crap as japcrap... I know these are great guitars (the old Jap ones) but why did they have to start getting expensive and collectable? So many I turned down for £25 back in the day.

[quote name='El Bajo' post='822873' date='Apr 29 2010, 11:37 AM']I'm looking at buying a Vintage bass which do copys of Fenders but to really high quality (apparently the guitars are top notch). This is wrong to say, but I feel better about buying a Vintage than a Squire.[/quote] You've got that the wrong way round my friend.

[quote name='Badass' post='822775' date='Apr 29 2010, 10:17 AM']I have been looking at some of the new neo speaker cabs / combos on offer, and I came across this snippet from a GK manual...Preamp headroom maybe? I have always, in 40 years of playing, set the gain then the master. Anyone else do it the way described by GK?[/quote] I just got a GK, and started doing it the way they say, and yeah, it seems to work. The clip light on my BL600 goes even when the gain is right down, same with the EQ, it just tells you your Bass is too damn loud before it hits anything. The boost does all the gainy overdrivey fun, and the levels and master, are more of a mix thing. I like doing it this way, better than what I used to do with my ashdown..... (not be heard through the mud )

+lots If glasto don't make you pay, then nobody should.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='820982' date='Apr 27 2010, 06:59 PM']Here's my GS LP[/quote] Damn, I had one just like that that I had to sell to pay the rent back in '98. Seriously regret getting shot of that thing. Though I did buy it for 150 off a guy who also needed to pay the rent, and sold for 175 4 years later. SO profit! Though I do believe they go for a lot more than that now.

I have the Tokai Rickenfaker, and unless you're prepared to spend a lot of time and money on set-up and replacement parts, don't bother. It cost me about £500 new, and then I had to spend a good 350 on pickups and bridge, plus routing and messing about. Ibbys are really good though, friend of mine has one. Pickups in the Tokai are just wrong, really wrong.

I call my Tokai RIc copy the Rickenf***er, and the Mighty Mighty Dave bass, will always be called that (frankenstein job from an old Ibanez Roadstar). Also have an ancient strat that long ago got nicknamed the sh*tocaster, the name seems to have stuck.

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='820759' date='Apr 27 2010, 03:53 PM']But if it's a classic bass then get an expert to do it, whoever had my old Jazz bass before me has taken off everything but a millimetre or two of the rosewood fingerboard, I'm expecting the truss rod to burst through the front any minute like in the Alien movies. On the plus side, it's the slimmest Jazz neck in history![/quote] My frankenJazz bass currently has a neck from a no-name POS I got from hatherleigh car boot for £15. Killing it will not make me cry, in fact it will be a nice excuse to get a new one. Do you need a radius block to do it properly, or can you skim by eye with some heavy grit, and then smooth it off?

Hey, did you guys play at the Tally Ho in Hatherleigh last year? I recognise the name and the gear (not that I was gear stalking....) Welcome to BC.

[quote name='hubrad' post='820576' date='Apr 27 2010, 01:01 PM']You can always learn to do your own skimming![/quote] Now this is probably where I'll end up, I do pretty much all my own maintenance on my instruments, done fret dressing enough times, will probably read up on it when the time comes and have a go. A friend of mine is a furniture maker and often comes up with ingenious fixes for basses, I think he'll help.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='820552' date='Apr 27 2010, 12:49 PM']My old Jazz got churned up pretty quick, i imagine it'd take a few years of regular use to get really bad. If it's just a cheapy then a new Mighty Mite neck would be economical[/quote] This was what I was thinking I'd do, it is very cheap and nasty, and slowly every part of it is being replaced with good bits, so new neck is on the list, but I don't want to have to get it too quick, as money is ridiculously tight at the moment, and I may have just got myself a gig where fretless would be a must have. If money was no object I'd like one of them maple boarded 70s fretless Ps, like out of the bad company videos... I just wondered if anyone had let it go down all the way, and if it buzzed and clacked and choked like a set of eaten up frets do.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='820522' date='Apr 27 2010, 12:28 PM']If you're REALLY heavy-handed you could play through to the maple! Apparently Pino did, according to one of his early interviews. I imagine he had it skimmed a few times.[/quote] That sounds like the sort of thing I might end up doing, I do squeeze the heck out strings when I get over excited (see the maple board of my Stratocaster for proof of this sort of thing). Might go Flatwound then.

If I were to continue using roundwounds on my rosewood fretless neck, without bothering to epoxy it or anything, what will eventually happen? Cos after just a year or so of being played a bit here and there (haven't even gigged it yet) it's got wormy trails on it. Now, let me make it clear, if the problems are only cosmetic, I am fine with that, but will it become unplayable after a while and need sanding down, and all that Jazz (see what I did there? hysterical) because I'm not so happy with that, it was only cheap, and I begrudge spending any money on it which coulc be spent on a better neck. Any experience with pushing it waaaaaay too far with a rosewood board? Let me know.

Serious bargain, well done.

[quote name='HMX' post='816588' date='Apr 23 2010, 07:19 PM']Oh, good stuff. What band do you play in, and is that Exeter - I'm not too familiar with local venues (I'm a northerner at heart). I'd drop by but I only finish work at 8:30PM.[/quote] It is in Exeter (not sure exactly where yet, haven't looked at a map yet) starting about 9ish I think, called Spaced Invaders, it's an 80s electro/new romantic tribute thing, not my cup of tea to be honest, but the basslines are surprisingly fun to play, and it pays.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130357707149&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWAX:IT[/url] Yeah, sounds pretty good, check out the american ebay link guy! I can't believe these will sell, so I am watching them avidly.