ThomBassmonkey

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1337856975' post='1666389'] No. Why would I want this? I practice to play in whatever band(s) I am in. I want to be using the sound(s) I use with those bands. [/quote] Some of us like to noodle aimlessly or play different stuff to our bands too.

[quote name='Warwick_Official' timestamp='1337853704' post='1666313'] There are no geographic limitations for this giveaway. Warwick will pay the shipping anywhere in the world...however, the winner is responsible for any local duties. [/quote] Do you know how much duties would be to the UK? I've got a feeling if someone here won there might be a nasty surprise waiting unless there's some way of bypassing it because it's a prize, I've only imported one thing so I don't know if that'd be special circumstances.

I think maybe some people are still missing what I'm trying to say. Ok, imagine you're a millionaire, you have a huge mansion with a totally soundproofed room in it and inside you have a bass and amp that is only used for you to practice on your own. You also have another setup that you use with your band, since you're ludicrously rich, the two setups can be whatever you want them to be to fit the situations, are they identical or do you have a different setup for practicing on your own as your gigging setup? Convenience, worrying about disturbing others etc aside, does your perfect solo bass tone sound the same as your perfect "in a mix" tone? I hope that makes a bit more sense.

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1337809028' post='1665948'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/177038-mark-d-phillips-guitar-improvermaster-bodger-this-guy-cracks-me-up/"]http://basschat.co.u...y-cracks-me-up/[/url] Should be links to previous threads in there too. [/quote] Holy crap, I just looked through his listings: "[font="Arial"][size="4"]This strat is based on an Encore model as they have the most consistently excellent fret finishing and leveling... never the sharp fret ends that cut you as you slide up and down... they are just as good as a Fender neck, but people don't like the name on the head as much do they![/size][/font]" Is that so? As for GAS, it's curable, don't worry. I found my cure was a couple of nice Rays and GKs. It took a fair bit of cash to get there though!

My college chained the amps to the wall/shelf so they couldn't be moved. That would prevent damage resulting of them being moved about (like valves falling out or being moved whilst hot). The teaching people to turn an amp on and leave it on until it's warmed up shouldn't be a problem. Anyone flicking a power switch on and off repeatedly is obviously doing it to deliberately cause damage once it's been explained and people that are intentionally damaging college equipment should have action of some sort taken against them anyway. Moving gear around is theoretically fair enough though, moving amps to get them to face each other, swapping rooms etc. Chaining the amps down then having the keys available to anyone that needs them (tutors, that is, who can lend them to trusted students) should fix that. I'd still go with SS amps though, college amps take a lot of wear and tear even if they're used properly, there's no reason to have to fund valves and the like just because they sound marginally nicer. I own a Bandit and echo other peoples' suggestion of that.

I spoke to you guys a while ago (Thom from James Warner Prophecies) and you were talking about getting GKs in stock, that'd still be good, they're great amps and could use a bit of a profile raise. There's a lot of good amps out there for all budgets, it's not very inspiring to see Ashdowns (which I'm personally not a fan of) in every shop. As Gareth pointed out, Hartke are a good one too.

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1337802355' post='1665783'] In my instance it was my own doing I guess, and I wouldn't expect anyone to part with cash for an amp that wasn't for them, I'm not gonna tar the person with the timewaster brush necessarily, just a bit miffed that my time was most definitely wasted... [/quote] If I'm buying, I always make sure that I work to the seller's convenience just in case that happens. Like you say though, it's not specifically the "buyer's" fault. I've had some bad experiences on here. Be thankful it's just your time that was wasted. I'm down over £150 after buying a bass with a bad neck from another basschatter. Even the £50 we agreed on for him to pay me back never showed up, then he had the nerve to claim I was trying to charge him for an overpriced set up (after he'd seen the reciepts from the luthier). Another one I spent about 2 weeks trying to sort meeting up with someone for a trade (including telling others that the bass was already reserved) only for him to pull out because he wanted to keep his bass, then put up a "for sale/trade" ad the next day. I've also been offered £400 for my GK "big rig" (2001RB-II and two 410RBH) when I tried to sell that briefly. People will always try it on, basschat is a free service with no background checks before trading, with that it has it's risks. If you don't like it, there's nothing forcing you to use it. I still trade on it, I always leave honest feedback and thankfully most of that has been good. Just don't get your hopes up until you've got cash/gear in hand and you'll feel much more relaxed about it.

There's no need for this guys, either sign up for it or don't, it's a generous offer from Warwick and nice of them to make sure this forum hears about it rather than relying on word spreading from facebook. Out of interest, who is it at Warwick that posts? I've had a chat with Harald about a potential endorsement and though it didn't work out, he seems like a nice guy and I've only heard good things about the other guys there.

Atta boy, Lozz You know I love my ray/GK setup. [quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1337769888' post='1665081'] I use the gear I use, if a band doesn't want me to use it I suggest they get a different player. I thought this thread was going to be more about using a 10w practice amp which is what I do. Mainly because I don't want to upset the neighbours and I can't be bothered to take my rig out of the flight case though. A lot of amps just don't sound so good at low volumes. [/quote] I'm not talking about whether or not the band wants you, I'm talking about you getting a tone that you think is perfect and what contributes to your idel sound being different when it's just you and when you're in the mix.

I was talking to a sound guy at a gig we did a while ago, I always make the effort to get chummy with them for various reasons (they make more effort with sound, better prospects of more gigs if it goes well, another contact etc) and we were talking about DIing my bass amp, he was adamant he never does it in case there's a fault with the bass amp. I managed to persuade him and after my band's soundcheck he came up to me and said that it sounded fine and there were no problems. I said something along the lines of "yeah, there's so many amps around like Ashdowns and the like" which he agreed to. Cue the bassist in the next band come up and ask where he should plug in. The sound guy asked him what amp he was using with a grin at me, we both knew it would be too good for chance to miss and right on cue the poor bassist said "Ashdown". Our guitarist has a habit of not at all thinking about what he's saying on stage and there's been more than one uncomfortable situation caused by it. It's usually meant in jest but for example, playing a Love Music, Hate Racism gig then exclaiming that you don't like blacks on stage isn't really appropriate (just for the record, he was totally joking, he just wasn't thinking about the situation he was in). We didn't know whether to laugh or cry, especially as he kept going on then after a sharp nudge from me finished off by saying "oh and I don't like jews either". Luckily everyone could see he was drunk and ignored it. He's also started off a gig at an awards ceremony we were playing by saying "I hope you had a good day, I buried my ****ing nan this morning." (which was true) then launched straight into the first song before anyone (including the band) really had a chance to digest what he'd just said which left a few people gobsmacked. Playing a large festival in France (in my other band), most of the songs are "she left me" type songs and the singer had bought a record on the market for the purpose of destroying on stage. He spent about 5 minutes between songs doing a mock rant about how he'd loved the girl on the cover of this record and she'd left him. He then said "and this is what I think of her now!" and tried to break the record, spending about 2 minutes making a futile effort to snap it with over 2000 people watching him publically humiliate himself.

I was speaking to someone t'other day and made the comment that if I wasn't in a band, I'd probably be using different gear to the setup I have now. That's not to say that my gear doesn't sound brilliant on it's own, but I think that if fitting in with a mix wasn't a concern to me, I'd probably be using both different basses and amps. I LOVE the way my ray/GK gear cuts through a mix, with our guitarist's Mesa it all fits like a glove, I don't have to worry about when the guitar drops out for a section the music sounds empty or muddy and in the band we have a full sound despite being a 3 piece. I just find when I'm playing at home and it's just me (assuming I'm using one of my proper amps, not just my 10w practice amp) that it doesn't sound quite perfect. I honestly can't imagine it sounding better in a band context (for my tastes) though. It mainly comes from things like bass bashes or trying out basses/amps in shops, they always sound different to in the mix and there's been some tones I've been blown away by on their own. It's like the guitarist thing of scooping your mids when you're alone but in a band it doesn't really work. Anyone else ever think that or is it just me? Or for those not in a band, do you ever think that "I love this gear but if I get into a band I don't think it'd work as well"?

It sounds more like an issue with the amp, a jazz should be able to do the sound you're after. A ray could do those tones too (I understand what rising is said, but it depends on the amp, rays can pump out a hell of a lot of bass in the right setup).

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1337645187' post='1663514'] Goog god! You look SO different to how I imagined you! Good shot too. [/quote] Is that a good or a bad thing? I'm not sure I want to ask what you were expecting. Yeah it's a good pic, Chris Seddon is a great photographer. He does most of our photos, here's a promo one by him: I'm on the left of course. Chris, that last pic is a little scary if I'm honest, you look like it suits you a little too well. haha

I don't think the difference between a 2x12 and 2x10 is big enough to worry about if you like your current cab. Also, try looking at 1x12 cabs for a small solution, there's a lot more available than 1x10s.

Here's me a while back at a hot and sweaty gig:

I think it's probably safest for you if they're not introduced over here, you already have so much GAS, lighting a match in the same county as you is a health hazard. On a serious note though, they sound good. I don't think 1x12s have really taken off here and 1x15s are the generic cabs in general (rather than lightweight). Both are available over here but with them not being so popular, it's maybe not such a wise commercial move.

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1337625058' post='1663053'] Hey Gareth is that [url="http://www.leicestershire-luthier.co.uk/index.html"]http://www.leicester...o.uk/index.html[/url] out at Thringstone? I've found them to be a top quality outfit. [/quote] Be VERY careful about going to him. He seems like a good luthier but I took a Thumb BO5 to him once and he took more than one liberty with it. All he was meant to do was to fix a warp in the neck, he did a great job of that, I wasn't impressed when I looked the bass over and realised he'd damaged the nut (he'd broken the tabs off the just-a-nut) and neglected to tell me. He also told me after that he'd drilled holes in the nut/neck to help the nut stay in position (not at all needed and drilling holes in my bass without my permission pissed me off to say the least) and he'd done various other things too, most of which I forget now. He also fed me a load of crap about cracks in the grain on the body and neck and started quoting me prices for that, I don't him not to do anything with that as I couldn't afford it and I thought it was just the grains met at the joint anyway. Regardless he went ahead and did that against my instruction (though he didn't charge for it). He did a wonderful job with the neck but I'd never use someone who thinks it's ok to drill holes in an instrument worth thousands of pounds without even letting me know, never mind asking permission. He said he did about £200 woth of work and "only" charged for £100, I had to bite my lip to stop pointing out that I should be charging him for irreversably and intentionally damaging an expensive instrument. In fairness, he did offer to replace the nut at his own expense, but he'd already had the bass a fair bit longer than he'd originally told me and after he'd already messed with it in ways I didn't want him to, I was worried he might get itchy fingers and end up cutting off the horn to improve the weight or something.

Haha, classic Derby! They're nice guys, a bit dippy sometimes though. £50 sounds fair for a jack socket replacement and cleaning up the pots on a couple of other basses to me. Last time I had a repair done, the guy quoted me £40 an hour just in labour (not at R&D I should add). I'm not a regular there though, I've just bought a few bits and bobs whilst passing through.

[quote name='bobmartin' timestamp='1337598809' post='1662425'] I got it from Thomann in Germany, a big mistake, cheaper at GAK and I don't think that Polar would have any interest because of this. The techs at Thomann can't find a fault and I've contacted GK who are looking into it at the moment. 400 ohms good, 64 ohms bad.. [/quote] You could still try Polar, they're really nice guys. They're not big fans of Thomann though, admittedly, but they're good people so I expect they'd try and help you anyway. If you're directly in contact with GK though I doubt Polar would be able to do anything that GK couldn't.

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1337604379' post='1662552'] I think the people who're arguing that a PA makes the band sound better even if just for vox are ignoring the point that a good bass amp/cab also makes the band sound better, and also costs a lot of money. If you want to put that money into a small/cheap combo for stage monitoring and the rest to PA, that's a different solution - maybe a better one but that depends on how much you as an individual prioritise that band over anything else musical you may be doing. [/quote] If your band has distorted vocals because you're using a cheap PA, that's a huge problem and will cost you gigs. If your bass sounds a little muddy because you're using a cheap amp, it's not ideal but it's far better than screwing the PA up. It's always joked about on here but there's an element of truth when people say that punters don't listen to the bass. There aren't a lot of people out there that will say "the bassist is only using an Ashdown Evo 300w? Nah, let's get someone else" compared to "whenever I see them the vocals are quiet and sound horrible, let's get someone else". The OP's on about 2 bands sharing the PA (same members I know, but 2 bands none the less) and between the two bands (bearing in mind that covers bands and acoustic acts can easily get paid several hundred a gig) it shouldn't take long for the PA to be paid off. If you have to use your own PA, all the better, charge them for rental for that too and get a bit more towards it, my band charges for PA rental when we use our own, generally an extra £50-100 depending on how much we're being paid for the actual gig. The biggest thing for me is when people are expected to pay money into the band (and it sounds like that's what's happening here) it becomes an argument about who should pay for it (which again, sounds like it's happening here). It's a tool for the band, it's not the singer getting GAS over *that* desk or *those* cabs, it's something that the band feels it needs to get better gigs. The band paying for the PA is just the band paying it's own way. That's a different situation to a bassist thinking "I really want that amp" then spending thousands getting their ideal set up. If I were in the OP's shoes, I'd be annoyed that the guitarist is basically saying that he wants the band to pay for a new PA for him, that's unfair, it should be the band's PA, not his, but the singer is being more than fair offering to buy her own monitors. Bass and guitar amps are mostly for onstage monitoring, her buying her own monitors is very fair, then having the whole band pay for the desk and FOH cabs sounds like a good deal to me. Edit: Just to be clear (because I don't think I've said it outright yet) I don't think the OP should end up giving money to the band. Once someone puts money into the band, then the band owes them and it'll inevitably get messy, especially if someone leaves. Taking money from gigs before it's been given to members, though essentially the same, feels different. As long as expenses are covered and the money's going towards getting better gigs, it shouldn't be an issue to take the money from band earnings.

That sucks, it's a pain when personal matters get in the way of music. Talk to him about it (I guess you're going to have to anyway if you're going to call it off), he might be able to reassure you that it won't change anything. To echo what other people have said, skill level is irrelevant, most people can play in a punk band after a month tops, if you want to play prog metal you might need more practice, but I'm sure you'll be able to find a band that caters to your skill level. Anything from blues or jazz through to old school metal bands [i]can[/i] have simple basslines if you're really unsure. Besides, if you push the boat out a bit, you might surprise yourself with how good you are. If you've got experience at improv (which is 90% of musicianship in originals IMO) then you should be able to put together something for any situation.

Agreeing with most of the points people have made. I think what ZMech's trying to say is that if someone spends a lot of time looking at basses and a lot of money buying them, that time and money would be better spent practicing and getting lessons which makes sense. I certainly know in the past I've put a lot of effort into buying new basses that I didn't really [b]need[/b]. I also agree that GAS isn't about finding something better, it's about finding something different. I just feel like I have two basses and two amps now that are great tools and sound brilliant. It's not the first time I've said it (my Sandbergs!) so I'm definitely not saying "never again", but for the moment I'm quite happy, I don't even really look at the for sale section out of curiosity regularly now. I think maybe I'm quite lucky in that I only want something functional, I like the look of fancy basses but I can't say I'd ever want to own one. I don't think anything would improve my sound now and with me not having a lot of money, I'd have to give up one of my rays to get a new bass and that would only be detrimental to my sound.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1337582741' post='1662147'] Is that really that unreasonable? My band has a very defined keyboard sound. The sounds are all generated on a very specific '80s keyboard, saved in a library which we can take to fly aways on a memory card specific to that make and model keyboard.[which is provided in the tech rider - if it isn't we're screwed]. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would own the keyboard we need them to use and the band has our own. [/quote] I'd say so, having your own instrument is part of the job. How would you practice if you don't own an instrument? Edit: Wewt, 2000th post!

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1337593212' post='1662316'] The thing I always found weird with the one-row cajun boxes is that they've only got two chords in the left hand, one on the push and one on the pull, and players use them for rhythmic effect, so the "wrong" chord is sounding some of the time. It's part of the sound on lots of cajun stuff, but if you try to come up with a bass line by following the accordion, it makes no sense at all! [/quote] That's why it's a godsend that most zydeco songs only have 2 or 3 notes in them then it's about getting into a groove and sticking with it! I *think* most 1 rows have 4 chords (2 buttons) though don't they? I know they're very restricted on keys, no fancy scales going on there. If you want different keys, you need more accordions!

If the kids start coming to gigs again, just sit down and have a proper chat about it. Tell them what you've said here and that you're worried that if the kids are along, the focus isn't on the band as it should be. There's no need to call their parenting into question if you think they'll react badly (regardless of if it is questionable). Gigs aren't suitable places for children, they're loud, boring (during soundchecks/before playing), there's no way someone that's playing the gig can keep a proper eye on them and leaving them in the car isn't suitable for that length of time, as already pointed out, if they're locked in and something happens, it could be a disaster, if they're not locked in, someone else could get in and that could be just as bad. If you really have to force your hand, try finding out what the actual laws on leaving children in cars are, if they are doing something illegal, just point out to them that all it would take was one call to the plod by a passer by (remembering that they're in a public place) saying "hey, I've been at this pub 2 hours and there's been some kids stuck in a car unattended all this time" and they'd have social services on their case right away. I don't know their specific circumstances but often home-schooled children have had involvement from social services to some extent anyway, it's unlikely they'd want more trouble with them.