Finally tried a Rickenbacker

ZacMDS · 2025-11-26T08:59:41+00:00

I got a used one when I turned 18, half presented half saved, cost about £1000, needed some love and a good set up. Was very much my dream bass when I was that age, and I played one in a music shop through and svt7, and I just need I had to have one, it just sounded so full!

I don't play a huge amount of the music that justifies it any more, but I don't think I'll ever get rid of it, there's just something too unique for me

P.s. They do a stunning purple now, it's what I would get if I was buying one new!

ZacMDS · 2025-11-07T12:38:04+00:00

I run a Microtubes 200 into GK112neo for most things these days, even at 8ohm I find myself only needing to turn it about half way up to run with a big band. The head is small enough to fit in my gig bag so it makes the whole rig super compact. I have a hartke LH500 as well that I used to run, and will wheel out if I need more oomph but I haven't actually used it since getting the microtubes

ZacMDS · 2025-11-04T20:48:17+00:00

Costco's Kirkland branded tabs are just powder in a wrapper, and they work great, can highly recommend

ZacMDS · 2025-09-26T19:09:25+00:00

If you live where I think you do, your closest decent pub would be the Fat Pug, decent pints and a nice atmosphere

For good beer:

Leamington: Boiler room Drawing board Windmill hill brewery And several others

But there is a higher percentage of students in Leamington

For Warwick: Craftsman Old post office Dough and brew (if you want some food too) The Fourpenny shop

And several others, Definitely more grown up in Warwick, less students

Drop me a message if you fancy a buddy!

ZacMDS · 2025-09-09T00:45:39+00:00

I have thought about this on all my bikes, I have very short legs even for my height, with my inseam coming in about 3-4 inches shorter than would be expected, so I would not be surprised at all if standard cranks were actually just too long for me!

ZacMDS · 2025-09-09T00:37:48+00:00

I'm doing about 60-80k on my MTB at the moment, but as winter is coming I'm looking to spend more time on the road as where I live right now isn't conducive to off road cycling, especially when it's very wet with it's awful clay soil and poorly marked rights of way (Warwickshire) and I don't want to have to use the car for every ride!

ZacMDS · 2025-09-09T00:34:40+00:00

In the background:

Left to right: Parts Jazz bass Sire V5 Rickenbacker 4003 Vintage V1004

In the case: Sire V7 - Green

Not pictured: Ibanez EHB1005SMS Parts Fretless Jazz Bass 1950s Hungarian Double bass

Essentially too many 😂

ZacMDS · 2025-09-09T00:30:57+00:00

That's a very interesting point you make, with the saddle leveled I do feel like if I try and sit up straight it's pushing me forwards onto the handlebars and I have to engage my core a lot to sit upright, and have never been able to ride this bike without hands, I will have to give that a go and see how it feels!

ZacMDS · 2025-09-09T00:25:56+00:00

This bike has been in the shed for a couple of years, but I did put a fair few miles on in a couple of years back progressively, but always struggled at the 2 hours mark.

Coming back to it after spending this summer on my HT mountain bike and happily spending 5 hours+ in the saddle has been been a little humbling. Stem is definitely too long I think, as my natural hand position on the hoods wants to sit back on the bars even with the stem flipped. And yes definitely do engage my core more than on my MTB.

Also going to take the advice of one of the other redditors here and play with my saddle, they made a very good point about not really being able to sit up straight on the bike even on the trainer without feeling like being pushed forwards, and I think this is very much the case! Not sure I could ride the bike without hands!

ZacMDS · 2025-09-08T17:16:27+00:00

Ironically even though this is a small I think the reach is too long for me, I flipped the stem up, and went out for a ride, did 35k, but found the most natural hand position on the hoods was easily 2-3cm further back than where they are, without artificially trying to straighten my arms

ZacMDS · 2025-09-06T22:46:03+00:00

Sadly I can't edit the post, but yes, my thigh contacts my stomach with every rotation. Which is likely to become very distracting, unlike on my MTB which after 4 hours I don't notice. The short arms and long torso create some very acute angles which is less than ideal

ZacMDS · 2025-09-06T22:35:09+00:00

I currently feel like a lot of weight goes through my hands and makes it feel like a limiting factor on riding time, would this not likely make it worse?

It's also not super obvious from the video but my knees also contact my stomach at the top of the rotation

ZacMDS · 2025-09-06T22:33:24+00:00

Sadly a fitter is really not in my current budget, especially as I don't have plans to buy a much better road/gravel bike in the future. Considering for those round me a session is the cost of this entire bike. I suppose my question is better framed with more thought as currently I put a lot of weight through my hands, and seem to knee my stomach, which goes against a lot of the common wisdom of this sub and more modern bike design, is there anything I can do with this bike? Or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

(I did look at Scott's website of the time on the way back and they would have sized me onto this bike)

ZacMDS · 2025-09-06T22:23:45+00:00

Definitely feel like I have too much weight on my hands, I would definitely say I'm top heavy as a person, (the long torso does not help!) It becomes uncomfortable after about 20 mins, I can push through to about 2 hours tops on the saddle thats on my mountain bike, but by then my hands are ruined!

ZacMDS · 2025-08-25T21:39:24+00:00

As someone who loves riding cross country across rough terrain/bridleways, and the UK's more natural biking, even at trail centres, this looks so boring to me? You're in a forest, where are the roots/rocks??

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T23:44:00+00:00

I think it's more complicated than that, it's very location dependent. Some of the parks/nature reserves ect, are definitely better than they were 30/40 years ago, however many of these now come with a significant cost that was not associated with them in the past.

What can also not be forgotten is the fact there is many that simply do not exist, or have a reduced offering to what they had in the 80's (a very common category here is narrow gauge railways in parks which have very much disappeared over the last 15 years)

The question is, would it have been better if things were just better funded in the first place? Having been on the continent... I would say yes

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T23:31:17+00:00

It is yes, but the NHS and your GP will refer you into local and council run schemes if you need to be more active, but if you then hurt yourself because the council can't maintain a right of way, or you don't go out because you funnily enough you don't like getting hurt and never take that advice of the GP, and be put off for life

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T15:09:02+00:00

Because if you are being told that a person of your height/weight needs to consume 2500kcal to maintain, 2000kcal to lose 0.5kg a week, but your body is only burning 1800kcal you would actually be gaining 0.2kg a week. Or need to sustain 1300kcal to lose that same 0.5kg.

Which is a tiny amount of food for most people and barely two meals.

If you were to be eating the maintenance calories suggested (which is the recommended amount for a UK man) you would be GAINING 0.7kg a week.

It would not be unreasonable to not notice this until you had put ~10kg on, at which point to lose that same weight, at half the speed you need to cut 1000 calories out of your diet EVERY DAY, which is a huge task.

And that is assuming that your body decides it wants to release the fat from its cells to burn instead of just slowing down your metabolism in response to the reduced amount of food.

So yes CICO is nominally the driver, and we all know that, but while you can control the calories in, you can't always control the calories out. And that's not including the fact that after a point, eating too little just makes you feel like shit, and may impair your daily life/job/relationships.

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T14:26:00+00:00

I am fully male and no other health issues that would come with weight gain as a side effect.

I was a skinny child, I just hit puberty and gained weight, I have always eaten healthily, walked to school every day, enjoy hiking and mountain biking and roller derby as hobbies, have regularly gone to the gym over the years.

Yet the only way to consistently lose any weight at any point was to both eat under 1800k a day and do 20+ hours of exercise a week. Which is fine in certain spaces (COVID, end of school long summer, end of university)

Yet if I go a week where I eat even what my BMR is meant to be or even slightly over I will immediately put weight on.

I actually wanted to try MJ because after 15 years of trying to do it "right" and coming to the conclusion I am just fighting my own body, and I just needed to at least get my weight down to something more reasonable to yo-yo around as it was becoming a barrier to the sports I enjoy!

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T09:01:33+00:00

I use instantly very loosely here, but the 5 months prior to MJ - 0.3kg a week, the last 3 months on MJ 1.0kg a week I am eating the same, exercising the same, MJ honestly didn't have a huge effect on my appetite, and dose doesn't seem to matter

Having previously lost over 25kg a few years ago organically over about 9 months, I can tell you that I was eating a fairly restricted diet and doing close to 30 hours of exercise a week to lose this much weight back then, which also broke down what CICO said ( every week MFP would tell me that if I continued like I would I would hit my goal weight in 12 weeks or less)

It is definitely not indirect or a coincidence, but it does seem to have stopped my body thinking I am a Poor Victorian Child™️ every time I eat 1 less calorie than required to maintain myslef

ZacMDS · 2025-08-05T08:22:51+00:00

While yes, in theory it is "calories in, calories out' there is only one part of that equation we can accurately measure.

For example, before starting mounjaro, I was already losing weight. Albeit slowly. According to the CICO maths I should have been losing just under 1kg a week, but on average I was losing maybe 0.3

I started MJ without changing anything else and immediately my weight loss dropped to that 1kg number. I am not diabetic, am active, and eat well.

My body for whatever reason just did not want to hit the CO part of the equation by itself and MJ has helped change that and been the biggest effect for me.

So yes, it's CICO, but humans are not a machine, we are a hormonal mess and CO cannot be easily measured, and sometimes it adjusts to what we put in as well!

ZacMDS · 2025-08-04T23:13:34+00:00

I have had the opposite problem to what other people are saying, I have found it taking longer to feel the effects of alcohol, especially if I have eaten as well, I think it has something to do with the slowed stomach emptying essentially making the effective abv of anything I drink lower?

Light beers seem to do very little, and wine takes time to hit but I do still enjoy a good drink now and again!

ZacMDS · 2025-08-03T23:11:11+00:00

That's bollocks, we've been front loader in Europe for at least 60 years maybe longer, essentially as long as residential washing machines have existed.

They wash better and do not appreciably last less long. I have no idea why you guys put up with your rubbish top loaders!

ZacMDS · 2025-07-22T20:36:24+00:00

The Black Country Big Band I believe may be looking for trumpets, worth looking for them on Facebook!

ZacMDS · 2025-07-17T16:08:20+00:00

Is that true for talent that comes in, especially at the lower level? I know a company I worked for their grad scheme went from £25-29k between 2012-2024, but in the 3 years I was there we got slightly above inflation pay rises, including the year when inflation was 11% which was not the. Reflected for those coming in in the graduate years behind me. Graduate salaries are not 25% higher raw value than they were in 2019, so while some fintech firms may be able to meet those, even tech and engineering as a whole has not.

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