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...and I've just played Streets of London with Ralph McTell. Just him, me, and a choir. It was gorgeous.

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OK... before I fall asleep, here's the crack. Sorry if I ramble. I was asked to do the gig about three months ago. At that point, no-one really knew what was going to be in the set. Over the following weeks, I was drip-fed some possible tunes, so I just started to do my homework as much as I could. Bear in mind at this point I also had no idea who would be singing any of them, either. I'd heard Ralph McTell was coming along to do 'Streets of London' with a choir, which is a song I love. He rarely - if ever - plays with a band, so I was surprised and pleased when he asked for a bass accompaniment. I guess it might have been because it's a big hall, and wanted something for the choir to lock into. Video Killed the Radio Star was an interesting one... I bloody love the tune. The bass part is mint. So when I heard Trevor was going to be singing it, I immediately prepared myself for the possibility that he'll play bass on it, like he always does live. Sure enough, I got the call to say he'd be playing bass on it. We don't get a chance to rehearse with the stars until the day before the show, so I had to learn the part anyway for band rehearsals the previous week. I was slightly gutted, but I saw it coming. Fast-forward to first day of band rehearsals, and I walked in, cases in hand, and said 'morning!' to our MD. Before I'd even put my cases down, his phone rang... it was Trevor, saying it would be simpler for him if I played the bass. Happy? Hell aye. The band is me, drums, 2 x keys (one being our MD, the other being Alan Clark from Dire Straits.. about to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!), guitar, 4-piece brass and 3 lovely backing vocalists. Rehearsals were hard work, but fun. If we were flagging by the end of the week, we were kicked up a gear when we shifted to the Arena on Friday night. I'm lucky enough to have been involved in some big productions before, but this was another level. Four flown arrays, three massive LCD panels, 22(!) cameras, scores of crew... just a logistical head-scratcher. All the cues and camera positions had to be worked out and rehearsed - the show also features comedy sketches, etc. - so nothing could be missed. We ran though the tunes a few times on Friday night, and all day Saturday (a 12-hour shift). Sunday morning was dedicated to sketch rehearsals (the Auf Wiedersehen Pet cast traditionally reunite for this show, and there were other great artists in there too, including Johnny Vegas, Jason Cook, Vera off the telly, and that). We got a quick line check, and no time to get adjust to the room. We were going in cold! We kicked the show off with (Reach Out) I'll Be There, which sounded massive... and it all went like a dream from there. Along with Trevor and Ralph, we had Jill Halfpenny singing 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now', A great up-tempo blues with local legend Ray Stubbs, Tim Healy sang a great Alan Clark song, Ryan Molloy (Jersey Boys) did 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You', and was then joined by Joe McElderry for an incredible duet on 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me', which took the roof off. We closed the show with a couple of Lindisfarne tunes, 'Clear White Light' and the Tyneside national anthem, 'Run for Home'. Then... we had to kick around for an hour or so, and muster the energy to do it all again! The second show was looser, as you'd probably expect. The evening crowd were a bit more raucous, too. It was fab. So proud to have been a part of this - the show is massive, and so many people have worked incredibly hard on it. It's worth it - it's going to raise thousands and thousands of pounds to help young creative talent on Tyneside. GEARCHAT.. I kept it simple, 'cos that's all I know. A pick (for Video Killed the Radio Star) Fingers (for everything else) LR Baggs Venue DI (used for in-line tuning only) Maruzczyk Jake w/rounds > House DI Limelight '67 Precision w/flats > House DI Handbox WB-100 head (Thread here), and absolute dream of a head I have on loan. I'm considering selling a kidney to buy it. Big, rich and LOUD. My R-400 was under the stage in case I felt like switching to it, but I didn't. TKS S212 cab (best cab ever) > Mic'd ...and that's it. It sounded marvellous. DVD's out in April!

Ha! And there, my friends, is everything you need to know about choosing a bass.

I know we had this before some years ago but it's worth it again and I always really liked Ronnie Lane's bass playing.

Things not to do in a music shop?

Love them! Here are mine..... Two very rare Hamer Impact basses (designed by Kip Winger) - these have a very Spector 'feel' to them......... and a white Hamer Scarab bass.

Just pinched this off Instagram...

... and Ronnie Lanes bass if you're interested:

I prefer Alder or Ash! In all seriousness I am of the opinion that the neck, and in particular the fingerboard wood makes the biggest overall contribution to the dynamic of the instrument.

Remember this? David Paton on the bass we don't mention....

Still my favourite looking bass. A super rare Hamer Impact neck through, from the 90's..

Given the amount of GAS evident on this forum alone, I'd say A LOT.

You leave my hole career out of this.

I've had a slew of the LMII, LMII, Rocker, etc heads, all of which were pretty ground-breaking a few years ago, but are now kinda Last Generation Class D, and sound it. Like other folk, I always had to zing the LMs up with an always-on pedal in front of them, which ultimately doomed them for me. The cabs...I've had the 104HR and the 15 combo and 15 extension, and again, they were good at the time, very light and efficient but just not as efficient or light as kit that has come out since. I hated the tweeters, they were a major turn-off for me. They may not be in the same price bracket as the likes of Vanderkley, Berg or BF, but at £650 or so for a 212, they're not far off, and, for me, if I'm going to that expense, a little more to get the best is well worth it. A pal of mine in the retail business always said "It's very hard to sound bad through MB kit", and while I'd agree, it's still kinda damning with faint praise... All of the above obviously is IMHO, YMMV if you like the cab colouring etc, etc...

Not surprising, a comically backwards thinking company run by clueless idiots that produces novelty knock-offs of classic instruments. This is their latest idea, apparently the cost is $4,999: Based on that alone I can't think of a more deserving company to go bankrupt.

I know of at least one big name Japanese guitar manufacturer who is readying themselves to buy out Gibson for their history and assets. Could be the best thing to happen to them. Japanese QC, forward thinking design and marketing etc...

Like most manufacturers, Markbass have never stood still and are currently going through a significant evolution. Sadly the new cabs (5 very different ones. 2 Marcus Miller, 2 Michael League and the Stu Hamm 2 x 15, which is amazingly articulate, given the configuration), which were launched at NAMM, won't be in the UK until June, I suggest you reserve your critique until then, because I suspect you will be pleased with the result! Preview here: http://www.markbass.it/media/upload_area/2018/01/18/cat_news2018_web_light.pdf I am currently getting my head around the new Little Marcus 800, and it is a beast! A very different beast, and while it can easily be made to sound just like an LM3, it is far more old school and a darker, warmer tone at its "everything at 12 o'clock" setting. With five tone knobs and that the VLE now extends a further 50hz down to 200hz, makes a massive difference... The new Combo I think will be quite exciting too, as the head is offset, meaning that the cab is as small and light as it could possibly be, given the frequency range it'll be handling. Both the 500 and 800 heads will be at the London Bass Guitar Show, where I will be working alongside MSL again, so do say hi if you're coming!

Shall I bring my G3 Midget?

Can't agree about the Thomastiks if you have a heavy playing style (like me). Thomastiks respond well to a more delicate touch ... they're wasted on me. LaBella FLs are the best but they're bloody expensive. GHS Baby Boomers or the Lakland branded strings offer a cheaper alternative that's almost as good.

Here’s a murky shot of playing Video Killed The Radio Star with Trevor Bloody Horn :-D

Best bass hang out ever, bassically (see what I did there). A chance to do all the things you mention... ogle and try out gear you’d never find in one place anywhere else, jam if you want to (I’ve never actually got round to that), meet other BCers in the real world, chat, listen to interesting and varied seminars if you want to... I first went three years ago, ostensibly because Silverfoxnik asked me to do a talk on Wal basses. It’s been a fixture in my diary ever since. Great bass day out. The second year I went Herbie Flowers was chatting - I wasn’t to miss that! John from Squeeze was fascinating. Last year was Davey Rimmer from Uriah Heap. I’ve no interest in the band but it was fascinating to hear his thoughts on playing and stepping into big shoes like John Wetton’s and Trevor Bolder’s. Steve Lawson was random, philosophical and amazing too. For a flavour you could do much worse than checking out Bluejay’s excellent photo blogs on the Bashes... https://silviabluejay.blog/2015/10/05/basschat-south-east-bash-2015/ https://silviabluejay.blog/2016/10/05/basschat-se-bash-2016/ https://silviabluejay.blog/2017/12/08/basschat-se-bash-2017/ Basically, get it in your diary and I doubt you'll regret it.

Surely in an anti-gravity situation the strings play themselves? And you don't need a strap.

Reef’s ‘Naked’, appropriate title for such a sparse bassline. It works perfectly for the song, but I hated playing this when my band had it in the set, bored me silly,

I just purchased a Hohner B-bass from Andy. It was exactly as described and really well packaged. Despite the best efforts of the morons in the post office it got here safe and sound. I would happily deal with Andy again

Lovely! Next SE Bass Bash that Scarab needs to make an appearance! (Please!)

I think thick necks are critical to that Vintage, thick P bass sound. That’s why I now have two Vintage, thick-necked Ps, the 50s in my video and a 59 CS... Everything with a skinnier neck didn’t manage to do it. The other bass that came close? The Yamaha attitude II, based on a thick Telecaster bass neck. It can’t be the be all and end all, but it makes a huge difference in my opinion!

It seems that a non-modded MXR EQ is pretty wretched, noise-wise (see video below). Also, it's non-true-bypass, in case that makes a difference. Source Audio make a good EQ with true bypass, has a few (slightly fiddly to access) presets: https://www.thomann.de/gb/source_audio_programmable_eq.htm

Sorry, I'm no native speaker (or writer). Here's the missing --> W <-- for you to put in...

Pulled the trigger on the La Bella 760N set - hopefully should arrive by the weekend!

New blog entry in the NAMM series - general views: https://wp.me/p2ZbyY-Ae

Sad as it is it wouldn't bother me if they stopped making basses, there's nothing that gives me gas in their range.

My mam and dad were at the afternoon show- they loved it.

I wish i'd seen this thread earlier, i've just come back from a music shop where the first thing i did was light up my trusty crack pipe, then I started morris dancing, and in the excitement i shät myself, and with all the energetic morris dancing it sprayed all over the equipment in the shop. When the staff tried to stop me, they took me by surprise and I accidentally assaulted them by throwing excrement at them. It all worked out in the end though because I apologised and purchased 1 used plectrum for 9p.

Flat/tapewound strings are your first port of call. But you’ve said that a ‘Sting’ bass gave you what you want.....so get one of them?! Si

Thanks again for all your get well messages, I’m very grateful. i have a hospital appointment tomorrow to assess the damage. Hoping the doctor will have some good news for me.

To me, he was Thin Lizzy.

For furthermore clarification, VOLUME is amplitude of the waveform, that is the height of the peaks and troughs (vertical distance). (Frequency is the number of times the waveform repeats per second, and is intimately related to the horizontal distance between two adjacent peaks.) Higher harmonics are naturally at a lower volume compared to the fundamental. So by turning down the VOLUME knob you will get to a point where some of those high frequencies become inaudible. By contrast, a low pass filter REMOVES the higher frequencies ALTOGETHER, but leaves the lower frequencies intact (their volume remains unaltered). Since extreme low frequencies are difficult to hear anyway you might PERCEIVE the applying of a low pass filter as a reduction in volume (as the higher, more audible frequencies are gradually removed) but that’s not what’s actually happening as it is not modifying the amplitude of the fundamental waveform. I can understand how you’ve conflated these two phenomena, after all, the end result is that the audible frequencies become inaudible. However, the reasons why that is so is different in both scenarios - low amplitude versus not being present due to having been filtered out altogether. I hope that makes sense.

This fella is 1st go to, somewhere between 200/300 gigs. It's seen SEI's, Sadowskys, Alembics, Ricks, Status, Am Deluxes all come & go. But obviously, as many tell us, it's a crap Mex

My first thought after reading the thread title was ‘defecate in the corner’. I think I need to speak my therapist 🤭

Gene Simmons too. Sid Vicious released "Sid Sings" but I think that was debateable on many levels!

just think that they should know instantly when they've sold the last one in these days off computerised stock systems, so should show out of stock on their web site, I wanted it for this weekend, but it's not the end of the world but I don't want to be waiting weeks for it, think I'll give them a ring like you say

Met Scott at the London Bass Show last year. I asked him if I could take a photo of him playing my bass, he obliged willingly. Seemed exactly the same person as his online persona. #topfella

Not really, for Mortals; it's just a fancy way of complicating things in an esoteric fashion, used by a few dilettantes. One can say that the key of 'C' is also the key of B# (which is true, but not really useful to most folks...). If one goes into double # and double b, we can create 30 keys (so 'C' can also be Dbb, for instance...). There's no great reason to stop there, though; go the whole hog and use triple, quadruple etc # and b, so that 'C' can be Bbbbbbbbbbb. Ignore it; just use 12 keys; many musicians don't even use all of those..! Just my tuppence-worth, subject to correction, completion and/or contradiction from others.

my next gig is cannibal corpse in Manchester its going to be brutal

Put together this video yesterday, quite new to recording so excuse the EQ! but I think it represents the tone of this bass quite well