Belka

That's actually quite a good point, although it may be skewed somewhat by genre and geography. I would associate the early '80s a bit more with British pop and rock bands - the second British invasion as MTV might have termed it. In the later '80s British commercial music went into something of decline, and American hard rock/Hip Hop became a lot more popular.

Looks like a fun setlist - good luck with it. One thing to watch out for - with all those key changes I'd hazard a guess that the guitarist(s) is/are using a drop pedal/key change function on Kemper - from my experience they use the wrong preset, or forget to switch tuning at least once per gig - sometimes they realise and correct it, other times they don't - if they don't (if it's just one guitarist with no other melodic instruments to indicate he's in the wrong key) you might have to transpose on the fly.

https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-basses/products/1974-fender-precision-bass-black-refinish https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-basses/products/1974-fender-precision-bass-olympic-white-refinish Couple of nice refinished P basses up at Andy Baxter at the moment - not collector's items but quite a cheap way of going vintage. They sound good too - the black one is very light and has that really woody hollow tone I often associate with early '70s P basses. The white one seems to have a thicker sound - more going on in the midrange (I think they have identical strings on them).

Yes, of course, and the very best session musicians, the likes of Chuck Rainey, Marcus Miller, Anthony Jackson, Pino etc., have/had the skills and theory knowledge to ensure they knew to create interesting lines which perfectly outlined the harmony, and could listen to what the producer/artist wanted them to play and interpret that appropriately; they didn't get gain their reputations by just being 'good enough'.

Although this may be slightly outside the OP's question, from my experience of depping as well as playing with a lot of deps, I would point out that it's always good not to forget about your overall musical development/improvement. It can be exciting playing with new people all the time and flying by the seat of your pants, as one poster put it, but you run the risk of becoming a 'busker' who learns the overall form of the songs but never learns anything properly. Of course, when it's a last minute thing this is a great skill to have, but I've come across too many 'professional' deps who have atrophied musically and are only concerned about things being 'good enough' rather than doing things properly.

I've heard of worse things than counterfeit guitars/amps from people in the trade about the Harrisons, but it's all anecdotal and you have to wonder how reliable these people are themselves. At the same time, I'm guessing that most Serbian gangsters would want more from a working relationship than a percentage of the proceeds of a stolen guitar, so perhaps there's something to it.

About three years ago I booked a last minute holiday, and agreed with my bandleader that I would find a Dep. Advertised, found one, and put him in touch with the bandleader - this was still around 6 weeks before the gig was due to take place. Anyway, after a while the guy goes quiet - not answering bandleaders texts. Bandleader shoots over a final message, just to ask if he's still interested or if we should look for someone else. A few days later a text arrives from the Dep's phone, supposedly written by his wife - the essence of it was he'd been in a terrible motorcycle accident, now in a coma in hospital, 50/50 as to whether he would live or not. Cue the standard commiserations, 'family more important than gig, etc, won't bother you again', from the bandleader. When I got back from holiday I was suspicious, looked the guy up on Facebook and the whole thing had been made up - he was still gigging with his other bands and posting family stuff. I considered calling him out on his behaviour, but reasoned that for someone to do something like that hints at deeper personality/mental health issues, and it was better left alone - we are talking about a man in his 50s with adult children here.

Just wanted to write about my recent experience with Bass Direct. I've been wanting to check out an Xotic 5 for a while and on Thursday evening I noticed they had 4 of them in stock. I drove up there yesterday and tried them out. I have to say, I really like the new pre-owned showroom. Tried out all the basses through a decent amp, the new guy working there is very nice and helpful, they even let me change the strings around to find out which had the better B string. In the end I came away with the oldest and heaviest of the lot (it just sounded the best to me, although the lightweight one in surf green was extremely nice too) for a very reasonable price. I've been coming here/buying online since 2018 and can say that they have really turned things around in the last two years or so. Really pleased with my purchase and my recent interactions with them.

Preamp pedals. The likes of Nobel, Cali, Caveman, Jad Freer. I mean, if you're at a venue that insists on a silent stage I can see the point of something like this, although you could use a plain DI. Every time I used one of these pedals though, it just seems to make my sound worse; fewer dynamics, less top end. Generally, using the DI out of the back of a modern amp will sound just as good if not better, give you far more control over the sound, you can always mute the master volume if it's a silent stage situation, and you'll save £100s.

Yes, I know a lot of people here love the idea of modding basses, imagining themselves as some kind of mad Frankenstein in a shed putting together a monster that they think will slay USA Fenders or boutique basses, but having a shed and a screwdriver does not make you the bass world's equivalent of Colin Chapman. Harley Bentons/Squiers are fine for what they are. They don't need USA Hipshot Ultralites, Babicz bridges, Kiogon looms or Warman pickups. If you want a £250 bass, buy one and play it. If you want to spend £1000s, there are plenty of great options off the shelf already.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/91466142-fender-precision-1972-olympic-white-a-neck-profile-uk-export-custom-order-exc-condition-original-dealer-hsc-free-worldwide-shipping?bk=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiIwOGYwNjliNy0zMzhhLTRjMDEtYTVjMi03YjdkYWJlOTQ0OTUiLCJpYXQiOjE3NTQ5MjcyMDIsInVzZXJfaWQiOiIiLCJzZXNzaW9uX2lkIjoiM2JiNjc4ODktOGYxYy00MWRkLWJjMGQtNGRlNWIzMjhkNmU5IiwiY29va2llX2lkIjoiMjNmYmE3Y2MtZjA4MC00ZDBmLWFhNzItOWYzOTI5MWQ3NjJlIiwicHJvZHVjdF9pZCI6IjkxNDY2MTQyIiwic291cmNlIjoiTk9ORSJ9.v1PB7-nx1xPxrMjhATKUy0-xs0GiviLIyNmsurRq8KY What do you all reckon of this? Personally after wading through the florid AI assisted text, and looking at the pictures, I think whoever is selling this is a very naughty boy/girl. It's obviously a '72 neck bolted to a '74 body, and even then I would have questions about that 'genuine' Fender pickguard, as well as the cloth wiring, which I thought had changed to plastic by 1969.

It looks like the very worst attempt at a 'custom colour over another colour' I've ever seen. And the fretboard looks filthy. Personally, there's no way I could own that without refinishing it, even if it's just back to natural. At that price, once you factor in the £500 for stripping/refinishing and a good setup, you're looking at around £1800-2000 all in. You see decent condition original 77-81 Precisions for those kind of prices all the the time now at places like Bass Bros, so not really worth it.

It looks mostly genuine, but I'd agree with Hellzero in really not liking the look of all the cracks on the bass; all over the body, and that one on the headstock/neck too. It's probably not about to fall apart, but that body has had some mistreatment over the years. It is very cheap for a '64 but for that money I'd much rather get a late '60s CBS in good condition.

Individual string bridges - I can understand their use on fanned fret basses, but they just look wrong when the frets aren't fanned. And even the most skilled luthier can't seem to make them line up properly:

It's funny, listening to the original track, I would also presume fretless StingRay, but isolated it sounds more like a fretted two pickup bass (the Alembic he used around that time perhaps). The high levels of compression and (I presume solid state rather than tube) distortion really kill the tonal nuances of whatever bass it is, but it still sounds great in the final mix. I also have to say, if it is fretless, his intonation is really quite good.