Hi Harry,
The local GC here in South Portland ME has also gotten rid of their security going in and going out. Freaked me out the first time I went in and no one was checking my passport.

Love that Peter Gabriel photo. Where did it come from?

Ah you noticed

My band and some family members were lucky enough to be in the front row for PG's very first solo tour. This was at the Capital Theater in Portchester, NY.

While singing, he noticed my brother next to me fumbling with his camera hoping to get a good shot of PG. Mr Gabriel actually looked at David, continued singing while remaining in the same spot till the photo was taken.

Classy guy

Great show. Truth be told, I was up for keyboard player in that band. Turned out PG's publicity company had their offices two floors below the market research firm I worked for at that time. He actually advertized in the back of the Village Voice "Keyboard player needed for established band"

I was told that I was the fourth choice. They went with a guy named Timmy Capello because he doubled on sax. Good thing, too. He was a good sax player but his keyboard playing ifyoucan'tsaysomethingniceaboutsomeonedon'tsayanything.

And that's how we got that photo

Sounds like you are being taken care of, that's great! Yes, there has been a big change at GC recently. They were losing so much money that their investors took over the company, fired the management, and put in a new team to run the place. They are now reorganizing the company to try and salvage some of the assets. There are some analysts who are not very optimistic about their chances of being in business in a year.

-Eric

GC keeps their commitment to allowing peeps 30 days to use their new purchase. If you have a good working relationship with one of the salespersons at GC, you're in good shape.

TRUE STORY - Last week, I sent in an email to the general email queue on the GC website with my phone number and question regarding a policy on store credit - no joke, the manager calls me up 15 minutes later - gives me his name, tells me his hours and let's me know to ask for him when I get in. I've been shopping with them since they were a one store shop out on Sunset boulevard. Sure wish they were able to stock Sticks - maybe someday soon..!?

The only time I bummed out on passive pickups through a line level amp was when I was switching between Sticks with passive and active pickups. That's a balancing act best done with a Stepabout.

So it's not just something in the stuff they call air here in Queens.

I sincerely hope GC pulls itself out of whatever hole it's in. It's hard to find a music store whose employees do not have the following mindset: You, the customer, know little or nothing about the stuff in here or what you need. I don't care what you want and care less about what you need, you're a consumer; you're a potential purchaser. Not like me, I'm employed at a super cool store that sells exotic gear I could never afford to buy with what they pay me. It's okay, though. One day some producer or A&R guy will hear me play, be blown away, give me his card, and I can finally get that break I deserved to have gotten years ago.
And then? I'll walk into a place just like this and be offended by the way I'm treated by the staff.

@ earthgene: that's a wonderful and rare thing these days. I had a similar experience with Timberland. I had no receipt, the boots were over 10 years old! On a whim I called them and said I hardly wear them because they're not very comfortable. The man (Abe) sounded truly concerned. Within a few weeks I had picked out a pair of boots I liked at a store in my area, told Abe the model number, and had the boots in time for that weekend's snowstorm. Whatever happened to 'standing behind your product or service'?

When I got my current job I was hired by a 90 year old man. His most powerful and endearing quality was loyalty. It guided his life and made him universally loved - and extremely rich ~~~

So now that I have my stick and my amp, I take out that truss thing, hit it with a tuning fork, then replace it. But what do I do with my nuts?

Cheers

Then again that there Roland KC-110 looked pretty good too, and it's a keyboard amp and it's stereo...and it's about the same price as the Fishman.

Hmmm

Geez, when did I become such an indecisive flake? before the stick? After the stick? OR could it be a case of ~~ oh no! G. A. S.

hms

If you get the Fishman, you'll be able to plug stuff with any impedance level in and it will sound good, whereas a keyboard amp really wants a low impedance input; you would need to get a direct box to play anything with passive pickups through it.

Another thing: the effects on the Fishman are pretty good. Go play through one before you decide, though.

I know Olivier rated the Phil Jones BG100 pretty high. Very portable. He took it with him to play in the Caribbean and hooked it up to a massive sound system at one point. No built in effects, but I know a number of bass guitarists who rave about his stuff.

Anyone else used Phil Jones at all? I am thinking of replacing my Crate Acoustic amp soonish.

I have played through the Phil Jones several times, and was quite impressed with the low end.

@ Steven:

I agree with everything you said about the Loudbox Artist Pro LBX-600. But my budget won't let me approach that $500.00-ish price tag. I actually did buy the Loudbox Mini pro-lbx-500 (60w) for three hundred and change, and it sounded great but naturally it didn't have the features or the flexibility of the Loudbox Artist Pro lbx-600.

I wanted true stereo, hopefully with a sound as clean as your amp

I've seen other posts by people who say they've used the KC-110 with both passive and active pickups and were happy with the sound. Perhaps I misread something, or do not understand some of the fundamentals taken for granted by stringed instrument players. I'm coming from the piano / keyboards / and almost straight from the early digital days of the late 1980s.

So you think I would need a what in order to play the entire stick through the KC-110? I'm a little behind the times, but at least I never owned a DX-7

update:

Okay so I just did a search and re-read some of the posts. Still a little confused but it sounds like a box called a Sunday Driver by Lehle might be what I need. Or something similar. Forgive my naivete but is this the "phantom power" I've heard about? I have an M-Audio Fast Track Pro with a "Phantom power" switch. I also have an Alesis IO4 audio interface whose inputs each have a switch for 'instrument' or 'line/mic'. Would such things be useful (better still a replacement) for this Lehle object?

THX (1138) MUCH
h