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Will be there on the Saturday. Be good to catch up with people over some mildly over-priced coffee.

Hello BassChat! Charlie here from The Gallery... Since BassChat is where you're all hanging out these days we thought we'd join in on the fun and start our own thread! We'll be keeping you up to date with new stock, shop news and all that jazz. This is also another way for you to reach us with any enquiries! If you've never heard of us, this is who we are and what we're about: We're a bass specialist shop situated in Camden, London. The Gallery opened in 1993 and since then has been London's largest bass-only store. We have a huge selection of basses, amps, effects and accessories (new, pre-owned and vintage!). The basement (bassment?) of the shop is home to Sei Bass, which comprises of top luthiers Martin Petersen & John Chapman. They build wonderful custom bass guitars and offer a long list of workshop services. Below are a few pictures of our shop plus a couple of photos of Sei Basses so you can get an idea of what we do... That's it from me for now but I'm sure you'll be seeing more of me on BC from now on! Love, Charlie & The Bass Gallery crew.

Just a quick heads up on this one folks and sorry if it has already been posted.. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ernie-Ball-MusicMan-Sting-Ray-Bass-Guitar-in-MusicMan-Hard-Case-UK-SELLER/352279781214?hash=item520582df5e:g:phcAAOSwFnxaWe0Z I mailed the seller regarding the photos of the bass as it looks as though the frets had been removed.....seller replied "this is a fretless bass" that was it! They're not telling lies but they haven't been exactly forthcoming. Just beggars belief as some poor sod may buy this without realising the frets had been ripped out!! Rant over...

An easy way of distinguishing this is to play a piano recording through your speaker. You'll hear immediately what the cab is doing to the signal. It may sound odd, but IMO playing bass through your bass cab is not necessarily the best test.

So what's the score if the singer wants to sing a number slowly, and it turns the song into a pig's ear..? Go with the singer's choice..? Surely not..?

To expand briefly on my much-maligned laconic comment, I would just explain that the cost of producing a 3-way loudspeaker system with a high quality midrange driver and HF unit is much higher than the configuration of a single or twin driver with an optional small tweeter favoured by Barefaced and many others. Although it's fairly obvious that the drive units in a 3-way system cost more, many people don't appreciate that the crossover in a system like some of the early Barefaced models and the current Fearful range is a very high-cost item - not to mention quite difficult to design properly.

True

Tears of a Clown and What's Going On.

Things may be a bit different here in France as we always get fed before the gig, even if it's just a small bar that doesn't do food themselves. They'll buy in a pizza for the band. So no need to eat during the gig, but I wouldn't anyway as it's just plain rude. As for drink, we always get a free tab but as we all have to drive, we're on water. Being the main vocalist, I see nothing wrong in having a bottle of water on hand. And the same for the rest of the band, as it can get pretty warm here in summer...! As to TV, can't say we've ever been in a position to watch it during a gig. But we did have a regular gig at a bar that had a 50" TV right above the stage. They insisted on playing YouTube concerts (minus the sound) while we played our set and it annoyed the hell out of me. But they paid us well...! So one night, our lead guitarist finished a rather splendid solo and the crowd suddenly went ape... Looking at the stage, cheering, clapping and stamping their feet. I thought, well if they enjoyed it that much, I'll give him another solo after the next chorus...! It was then I noticed the bar owner sprinting across the room, diving over the drummer and between our amps, then flapping wildly at the TV trying to turn it off. I glanced up at the screen and found that some wag had got hold of the remote control and switched to a full on porn channel. But my man still got his solo in....

Except, as all gigging musicians will know, it never is just a "few hours work". If you add up the practice and rehearsal time, the travelling time and expenses and staff costs (all bands got ripped off by their "management" back then), then the true cost of being in a band and gigging emerges. Then you see how little the bands actually got to put in their pockets.

Agreed that a clean blend option would have been a useful addition on some of the models although I don't know how many of the models that they are emulating have clean blends? Having said that, Zoom have added clean blends to some of their drive sounds where the original pedals they are emulating didn't have them, so it can be done. Metering is useful too, I guess, although I always prefer to use my ears and dial in my compression sounds in the context of the band mix. I also find the M-Comp (my personal fave on the MS-60B) quick and easy to dial in for the punchy sound that I like Yes, the TCE SpectraComp is a thing of joy, it is paradoxically the simplest and most complex pedal compressor pedal available . I gig mine regularly love it. On those gigs where it's standing room only and I have no space for my pedal board, I use the MS-60B on top of my amp as a tuner and compressor. I just use the one, always on sound, so the limited form factor for chopping and changing patches all night isn't an issue for me. And although the SpectraComp performs 'better' IMO (possibly down to having a small amount of clean signal blended it along with a slight push in the higher frequencies?) (and depending on how you want to actually quantify 'better') the Zoom still holds its own in a live situation with a quality bass and rig.

some musicians should be committed

I used pound the strings like a ruddy jack hammer, Steve Harris style. I was always a heavy player with heavy strings, and it was a bit of a workout doing gigs, especially being the singer too. Then I watched Gary Willis play. Effortless technique and beautiful tone. He looked like he might doze off mid song it was that easy. Now I'm with the Billy Gibbons school of thought. Make it easy for yourself. Lighter strings, lighter touch.... just turn your amp up!

On behalf of myself, Michael G and our Product Engineer Simon Austen, just putting a marker down that your friendly neighbourhood Basschat sponsor Gillett Guitars will be there on stand A0. We'll have our Contour Bass range, a couple of Ashdown amps (UK manufacturers only on our stand ), our bass buddy Freddie Draper, and an itinerant keyboard player to make it all feel like the cocktail lounge on the QE2. Very much looking forward to meeting fellow members of the Basschat gang over the weekend! Scrumpymike, aka Gillett Guitars Sales & Marketing Manager

Another reason I like P basses... as said above, they are very simple but instantly give you 'that' sound in a mix. So you can forget all about the 'tonequest', forget about GAS and get on with the business of actually playing the bloody thing. Which is why I don't much care for on-board preamps, active basses* and over-complicated amps - too much of a distraction. *Spectors excepted, obvs.

Even worse when the perp is the drummer! At least singers can be jollied along a bit by the rest of the band, whereas it's usually just down to the bassist to try and sort the tempos out if the drummer is at fault. I speak from bitter experience....

I have a Jazz neck on one of my Precisions. Some might argue that it changes the tone, but I’d say it has more of an impact on the way I play... which then changes the tone.

Burlesque by Family. And that tone - Wetton nailed it beyond the call of duty For younger members who dont know the band / track

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,

Well, I feel like browsing, so I thought it would be nice to compile a list of the various online shops selling vintage and used basses in the UK, or indeed the EU. I'll add your suggestions to the original post. Here's the list so far, in alphabetical order: The British Isles: Absolute Music (Bournemouth) Andy Baxter (London) AngelDust (Multi-location?) Bass Direct (Warwick/Leamington Spa) The Bass Gallery (London) Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience (Hampton Wick) Classic and Cool David J Pym (Hungerford) Guitar Classics (London) Guitar Village (Farnham) Jimi's Music Store (Dublin) Live Music (Edinburgh) London Vintage Guitar/Hanks (London) Lucky Fret (London) Mansons (Exeter) Mudpie Music (Brighton) The Music Locker (Ripley, Derbyshire - by appointment only) Nicks Guitars (Wetherby) New Kings Road Guitars (London) No.Tom (London) Oasis [Musical Instruments Ltd] (Ringwood) Promenade Music (Morecambe) Really Great Guitars (Ombersley) Rich Tone Music (Sheffield) Some Neck Guitars (Dublin) Strung Out Guitars (Glasgow) Tommy Twang's Guitars (Glasgow) Vintage and Modern Guitars (Thame) Vintage 'n' Rare (Bath) West End Music (Ipswich) Wunjo Guitars (London) Continental Europe: Bass Classics (Somewhere in the Netherlands) Bass Club Paris (Paris, France - can you believe it?) Bass N Guitar (Somewhere in France) Guitare Collection (Paris, France) Le Guitarium (Paris, France) Guitar Point (Maintal, Germany) Guitar Select (Lyon, France) Hendrix Guitars (Lavagna, Italy) (Truly ungodly prices) Kitarapaja (Helsinki, Finland) Paul's Bass Matters (Nijmegen, Netherlands) Scolopendra (Bologna, Italy) Tip Top (Stockholm, Sweden) Vintage Guitar (Oldenburg, Germany) Vintage Guitars (Rennes, France) Woodstock Guitars (Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark)

My time is definitely not cheap. YMMV.

Guys - be nice! The Bass Gallery is a GREAT place and Charlie thank you again for putting up with @CameronJ trying out VK and BF cabs for a couple of hours (with our own gear!) and then leaving without buying anything and even refusing to let us even make a contribution to treating your place as a studio for a couple of hours. You have some awesome gear and some of the finest luthiers in town. I'm certainly looking forward to popping by again.

I wouldn't leave those Basses out on the pavement overnight.......someone may trip over them.

Can you, and I have no idea if this is possible, carve the front and then use the router on that radius to ensure that you don't break through when you do the back carve? Or just cut all the way through and veneer it. Like a Yamaha SLG200 with a lid

Woodstock only became "free" when the crowds broke down the fences. That's when the promoters tried to get out of paying the bands.

No one spotted i put the handles on upside down ?

I hadn't looked at these before, but considering the better hardware and pickups over the TE30 I think it might be worth a punt. Will order as soon as my Epiphone Thunderbird sells...

I wish I'd written this bass line. I love it. In fact the whole album has great bass playing on it.

Space Between Your Ears - Ozric Tentacles. It wouldn't have paid me, or attracted any fame, but it'd be worth it just to know created the soundtrack for so many... erm... experiences. 😊

Its simplicity is a blessing and a curse.... I bought a used but mint wine coloured one back in 78. I was a rank beginner and in my useless hands it didn't seem to have any clarity or punch at all..just dull dull dull. A year later I bought a Ray and I sounded ...well, better or so I thought. I had 25 yrs with that boat anchor Ray and was never really happy. Its only recently that I've finally figured out how to play a P bass which for me personally is Chromes which oddly never seem to go dull, and a light but positive touch..to say I've found nirvana is pushing it a bit but I'm finding it very, very hard to put down.

I did. I put a lefty HB Jazz neck on my PB50 body. Sounds good!

I'm going to work, and I happen to have a very fun job, playing rock music for money. I don't drink alcohol, but if I did, I would never drink on the job. No mind altering anything. I got into this business partly because I love being in control. With drinking or substance that alter the mind, I'm no longer in control. Gig nights, I'll have a light lunch and won't eat again until breakfast. I never eat at gigs even when great food is available and offered. Blue

If only @Bill Fitzmaurice was a member around here!

You want high performance, low weight, cheap cabs - trouble is you can't have all 3! Either compromise or start saving.

I guess it comes down to several factors such as musical ability of individuals in the band, and how well the band gels together (good communication). I've been in a band where the singer was a good musician with great time feel and expression. Before the next song, she'd always pause for a moment to get the feel and then count in the tune..and invariably it was always the right tempo (and pretty consistent across rehearsals and gigs). I've been in a band without a drummer. In that band, for many tracks, we made a note of our preferred tempo and the keyboard player would key it in on a metronome and count us in. Both methods worked well. I've also been in a band where we often finished a tune at twice the tempo that we started at. I blamed the drummer for that! Though generally, I am a believer in tempo being everyone's responsibility in a group.

Nice Elwood & with a Westone Thunder 1A in the background? We clearly have the same bass tastes!!

A 63' what?

Great band, criminal dress sense, criminal...

Gibson: how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. Here's the new 'Modern V' - apparently a new take on the 1967 V OK, not all bad, you think. You look closer and see a list price of $4499. Ouch! But - still - there's something about it that intrigues you. Then you discover it's got a richlite (compressed paper and resin) fingerboard. Alright, Martin use richlite on their cheaper (but still nice) acoustics. And you know that at least one reasonably well-known luthier's refretted a richlite board and pronounced it acceptable. But Richlite on a four-and-a-half grand guitar? Even so, the look still tugs at you. It's one of the less butt-ugly models Gibson have put out recently. Unique, almost. Then - being of a certain age - you dimly remember the Jackson Roswell Rhoads which first came out in the 1990's. Wow, must be worth a fortune, right. Secondhand Roswell went for just under £700 on Reverb just before Xmas. Another one went on the bay for £1500. So, $4499 for a slightly less-than-unique V mash-up with a richlite board. Thanks, Gibson. Thank you so very f**king much.

I'm with the OP - I've never found a P that I liked. Jazzes I can sort of live with but despite nearly every bass player in the world using a P I can't get it. I think some of it must be psychological - playing bass is "different" (not being a geeetareest) so playing a P like everybody else seems to go against my general principle. Leaves more for you fellas I suppose...

For me this: says only that the chord symbol C7(b5) defines 4 notes, wich is nothing unusual. All 4 tone chords define 4 tones. All 6 tone chords (like C7(#11) define 6 tones. Wich scale to play when the chord is played depends strongly on the tonal context. But in many cases the WT/HT scale can be played when a C7(b5) is sounding. Assume the sheet shows a G7 chord and the tune is written completley in c-major. The first scale choice will be c-mixolydian, because that is the 5th mode of the g-major scale and the G7 is the 5th chord of the g major scale. Now assume the tune is written completley in c-minor. Then the first choice to play over G7 would be the phrygian-dominant scale, wich is the 5th mode of the harmonic minor scale . Chords don't imply scales. The choice of the appropriate scale to play depends on the chord sounding and the actual tonal context ( and: taste, not to forget).

These are very approximate prices, I didn't buy everything all at the same time: Herrick Pickup £60 Squier Vintage Modified Two-Saddle Bridge + Ferrules (USA import) £35 Shoreline Gold Nitro £15 Ivory Cream Canbrush Acrylic £9 Wilkinson Tuners £25 Fender Flats £22 Electrics and Knobs £40 Total: £206 Plus the donor bass is around £100 from Thoman, so total cost would be around £300. I'm aware that you can go and buy a very nice-sounding, playable, good-looking new bass for £300 - you don't save money by making a bitsa, you really have to enjoy putting them together - which I do. Also a Squier (for example) will hold it's value pretty well - there's no way I could sell this and get my money back. Which is a good thing, because it means I'll keep it, play it and enjoy it.

Just done a deal with Steve. Absolute gent, decisive, did what he said he'd do, when he said he'd do it. Gear bang on as described. Really nice friendly bloke to deal with, fully recommended by the House of Munster. Enjoy tonight's gig Steve and thanks for making it so easy.

I recently bought an EBS amp from Steve, great comms, amp was well packaged, arrived on time and works perfectly. Deal with in complete confidence folks.

Steve just popped over with one of his BB2's. [color=#282828]Great transaction and nice chat, Steve is a top chap! - Thanks fella[/color] [color=#282828]Highly recommended.[/color]

Hello fellow four-stringers! Just thought I'd give a quick review of the Ashdown Envelope Filter Bass Pedal, which I have absolutely fallen I love with! So, here we go...... Price paid: £49 at Bonners First Impressions: Nice packaging. Opened the box, and found a nicely packed pedal, with an informative manual (which doubles as advertising...it features all the pedals on the sheet). I quickly got the pedal out, and plugged her in! Ease of Use: I'm no pedal freak, so alot of the phrases used in manuals meen nothing to me! I have to just try and experiment. Even with my lack of experience it took me a mere 15 minutes to find something I liked, Ive been tweaking ever since, and found some great sounds. There a 5 pots, and a standard on/off stomp switch. The five pots are labled as: Input, Peak, UP/DOWN, BP/LP, Output. The first and last pot, allow you to make sure you don't loose any volume when the pedal is engaged. The peak, well as I said, I dont have a great knowledge about technical stuff, but it seems to limit the sweep. The up down pot selects whether the sweep goes up the frequency or down. For example, full anit-clockwise is a full sweep up, and the same fully clockwise for down. Bang on 12 o'clock means little or now sweep. BP/LP stands for what i believe Band Pass and Low Bass, Low Bass seems to keep all your bass in, while Band Pass takes it out. The VU meter (which nicely glows, with a white light, just like the amps) helps you set the input level. A small red L.E.D. states whether the effect is engaged or not. On the back of the unit, there is a jack in (from guitar) and jack out to amp. Nice and simple. There is also a 9V input, for an adaptor, or there is a battery compartment (under the unit secured with a single screw). Not to easy for battery changes, but it doesnt matter too much. Rating: 9.5 Sound: So far I've only put this pedal through my Squier P-Bass and my small Fender Rumble 15. I do have higer end gear, but havent got it out yet. The one problem is my Rumble 15 has only an 8" inch speaker, so it cant handle some of the output of the pedal. None the less, there are some great sounds on offer, making some really funky and cool tones. You can go from sutle squelch to full on sweep. Whatever takes your fancy. The up and down pot also enables more control over you sound. To fully explain this, id have to type some wierd noises! I will suggest a peek on the Ashdown website, where you can hear sound clips of this (and the other) pedals. Rating: 9 (only because of my poor equipment organisation!) Reliability & Durability This pedal is built like a tank, as is any other Ashdown product. Its heavy and bigger than most stomp boxes, but this gives a feeling of never falling apart. The VU display has its own 'roll cage' so you cant stamp on it, and the pots are all secured, and are in their own 'trench' so you don't accidentaly change your settings. The stomp switch feels nice and secure and feels like it could withstand many a gig being stomped on. On a side note, I had a quiery about buying a power adaptor, seeing as a current isnt specified in the manual. I sent an email off to Ashdown relatively late one evening, went to bed, and work up to find my question answered in a really clear and friendly way. Customer service was second to none! Rating: 10 Final Impressions: I play mostly self penned stuff with my band, and there are alot of middle eights to fill. This allows me to bring a bit of interest to the bass sound. Im still an unexperienced at effects, so this has been a lovely pedal to start with. Reliable, sounds great, and looks amazing. If this was stolen, I'd repalce it instantly, especially at it's price point! I think I'm smitten! Long Live the Ashdown Bass Pedals! Overall Rating: 9.5 Cheers, hope this has helped some people. Josh