Nightmare

I reached a major milestone in my life recently, when I passed the five year anniversary mark, of my current job. So, I thought it might be nice to treat myself to something special! Initially, I was considering getting a really big Lego kit. I like Lego a lot, and thought this kind of milestone gave me the right to splurge on something really big. But when I thought about it in more detail, I wondered if the celebration would be over too quickly, as when the kit was built, the pleasure of building it was over and done with. So then I considered getting myself something different.

One Tuesday evening in November, I thought the traffic on the way back home might cause me issues later on, when I popped out to my Bass Guitar lesson. So, I walked there instead of driving. But because I chose to walk, I didn’t feel safe with the idea of carrying my guitar across town, so I left it at home. So when I reached the Music Spot, I had to borrow one of the guitars they had there.

They let me use a Yamaha. It was also the first time I played a Bass that wasn’t a Fender. The experience was interesting, as I could sense and feel a level of quality to the instrument. From the way it felt in my hands, to the feel of the strings, and the noise it made, it was quite a moment. As the days passed by, I continually thought about how nice that guitar was, and then one Saturday when walking through Preston, it came to me. Instead of getting a big Lego set, why not buy a new Yamaha Bass? So that’s what I did. I did my research, looked around, and asked for advice, whilst also having a few more go’s on the guitar at the Music Spot. I did consider some other manufacturer’s briefly, but I always went back to the Yamaha, as it felt a lot more special.

I was advised to go on Thomann‘s website, where they had a great range of Yamaha TRBX‘s. Initially I was considering a Yamaha TRBX 304; because I fancied getting something that wasn’t black, and the White model looked really nice. It was going to cost me more than £400 however; so I did look at another model. The Yamaha TRBX 174 was in the same series, just with some alterations (and it was £168 cheaper). The colour options weren’t great though, and I was torn between the two.

What helped me decide in the end, was a cool feature on the website. Underneath the product image, there were some sound samples, where you could hear what the Guitar sounded like, and in different genre’s. As I largely play Heavy Metal, I chose that genre, and listened to both products. The 304 sounded quite weak and tinny. The 174 meanwhile instantly sounded like a Gene Simmons riff: darker, heavier. So that was the one I went with. There were some other colours to choose from, but they didn’t look as good as the black, so I chose the black.

I made the order, and then had to wait for over a week for it to be delivered, as it was coming from Bavaria (I believe), so had to get through customs. The following Tuesday it arrived, and it looked Awesome. The neck was made from quality wood, and the body had a really nice shine to it. I didn’t play it immediately however, as due to an issue with one of my previous guitars, I wanted to make sure it was properly set up. So I gave it to the Guiar Technician at the Music Spot to give it a basic setup. Then over a week later I got it back, and it was ready to be played.

It wasn’t just a new guitar I got either. I bought a new and much smaller amplifier, a new strap, and for the first time ever…a guitar stand. Now all I needed to do, was choose a name for it. Both my previous guitars have nicknames, so it was only right that I gave this one a nickname too. My two previous guitars; Trident, and Disruptor, are both named after competitors from Robot Wars. When I started thinking about it though, I just couldn’t choose a Robot name that would fit with my new one. It wasn’t just a colour thing, it needed a personality too. So I jumped from Robot Wars to Battlebots, and very quickly chose what felt like the perfect name: NIGHTMARE!

Nightmare is a visually stunning machine, that almost has a guitar like shape. Thin body (neck), and big disc (body), plus it was virtually all black other than the disc, plus it was awesome to look at, much like when my guitar first arrived. As soon as the guitar was setup, I immediately adopted it as my main guitar, and it’s really nice to play.

It’s hard to really describe it. Basically, it looks good, and it sounds good, what more do you really want from a new Bass Guitar? As for the first song I played on it…well I can’t fully remember, but I can narrow it down to two. Two songs I know off by heart, and are great songs to really rock out to. It was either; Hallowed Be Thy Name, or Number of The Beast!