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Hi everyone, I'm posting this story because it reinforces what a close-nit community that we musicians, and in particular, bass players are. Some of you might have noticed recently I advertised on basschat a lovely Paul Everson Caiman bass for sale. I acquired the bass through a trade about a year ago with a guy who advertised it on Facebook. We met in a service station. I swapped a very nice 4 string Shuker bass for the Everson, had a nice chat with the fella who bought it and returned home. Whilst we were talking the lad confessed to me that he had found the Everson Bass in one of those second hand chain stores that have 'cash' in the title. He knew next to nothing about basses but had liked the look of it and bought it. He then tracked down Paul Everson on Facebook to get some info about the bass. I loved the bass. It appeared to have been treated quite badly. The electrics were shot and it was covered in a weird thick dust. I had it cleaned, sorted and set up and quickly picked up another Everson that appeared on Facebook. That was around a year ago. I recently decided to sell the caiman. Id always had a little niggle in the back of my head about 'Cash _________' and wondered if I'd been a little naieve in my trust. So to put my mind at ease I contacted Paul (Everson) who told me he had sold the bass through the great British bass lounge. I then contacted Drew who was running the lounge and asked them both if any Everson basses had been reported stolen. They both did some digging and came back with a resounding no. Drew had a record of a sale to a lad called 'Justin' who lived near Bradford (I'm in Macclesfield). So back to present day. After advertising said bass on Facebook and BC I received a message from a lad called Justin who explained to me that this was his bass and that he'd had it stolen in early 2016. I immediately phoned him and we discussed at length what to do. Now the dilemma. Justin hadn't been insured and had lost the bass along with a whole heap of equipment. He had been scouring the Facebook sites to try and recover the bass for the last 2 years. I had essentially swapped a 900 quid Shuker with it. The lad who had bought the bass oringally had moved the Shuker on. We were all victims of crime and it was a difficult puzzle to unravel. Justin had contacted Yorkshire police for advice and they had said it was a civil matter. Anyway the final result is that we met the following week and Justin got his bass back. It was a great end to a saga and needless to say Justin was chuffed! Just a big shout out to Paul Everson and Drew for caring enough about this story to help me with my clumsy detective work and a big shout out to Matthew who contacted me on behalf of (current) BBL. The photo below is of Justin (on the left) recieving his beloved bass back! Moral of the story. Cash ___________ are a store I like even less now and Bass players are awesome folk. Andy

Problem fixed! The new driver arrived today. It's now fitted and all is sounding pretty good. Lee chucked in some Ashdown freebies too. I can sit in the freezing North with my Ashdown hat on, drinking a hot cup of tea from my Ashdown cup and rest it upon my Ashdown coasters! All in all, I'm very pleased with the outcome. A big thanks to eude and Lee for sorting it.

So - this happened yesterday, these were the sellers pics but you get the idea! Most folks on here know how good these are and I've wanted one for a while now. Judging by the serial it appears to be a 2013 build, and the fit and finish really are fantastic. Showed up locally on the Facebook marketplace and I was quick! Should put the GAS for a Pino signature to rest (for a while anyway!). I plan to put some TI Flats on it, give it a setup and that's about it really, possibly some flat top knobs but it's great as it is. May consider upgrading the loom to a Kiogon job in the future. Doesn't seem to need it but, you know....

So I bought a Mark Bass set up comprising a head and two cabs. Then, a while later, GAS got the better of me and I couldn't say no to a couple of Barefaced cabs. As Patrick O' Brian would say I was with child to try them out and promptly did so on the evening of the day upon which I'd wrested possession of them from @Happy Jack in the car park at Newbury services. They gave an incredibly detailed account of the instruments I put through them, but I did spend much of the rehearsal fiddling with the controls of the Little Mark Tube to achieve a sound I liked. No problem I thought, new gear takes time to learn. Every set up has its foibles. Last night I gazed along the mountain of amps and cabs I've accumulated over the years, and in a fit of quite astonishing laziness decided I could only be arsed to take the smallest of the BF cabs and a couple of cables and one bass. Once the folly of not taking any amplification had fully dawned on me I trotted back into the house and on nothing more than a whim I grabbed my ageing Behringer BX4500H. This cheap and cheerful head has been with me for yonks usually coming along for the ride as a back up where it has served me honourably. In fact on more than one occasion it has stepped bravely to the fore when far more illustriously named amplifiers have croaked in mid gig. Imagine my utter astonishment when the diminutive Barefaced Midget in combination with this ugly ducking of the bass amp world proceeded to produce the most astoundingly beautiful bass sound with which I have ever been associated. My singer looked up wide eyed from her seat to comment how the bottom end of the sound had passed through her chest in such a way as to make her draw breath, the clarity and smoothness of the upper frequencies had my aged yet nimble fingers dancing up the fretboard and the mid tones boxed their way cleverly through the other instruments there present as they seamlessly and fluently held together the whole in a way I'd not previously experienced. And loud. Boy oh boy. The master pot was barely off the floor and yet I filled the room with a sonic feast both voluble and delicious. The tone knobs were set to neutral, just the shape control engaged and the bass boost button depressed. I was playing a Stingray, the infamously zingy, tingy, teeth on a metal fork quality of which I have tamed by the application of some flatwound strings. It was truly bass heaven. I look froward to trying other combinations of amp and cab before flooding our for sale section with unwanted goodies but honestly I shall be extremely surprised were any of them to match up to what I heard last night. Just goes to show, don't write off a 'cheap' brand from a position of prejudice, and don't assume amp 'A' will be amazing with cabs 'B' or 'C' without trying them first.

I played on one of these years ago and quite liked it, back when it was £400. Mooching round Thomman the other day for something else I noticed they had some at £154! I thought maybe it was one of those pricing things, like when I got my two TC RS112 speakers for less than £200, so I bought one, and had to wait for a month, but sure enough, today it turned up - A 4 valve fender 2 x 10 12W amp with reverb: Three controls, volume, tone, reverb, on a guitar it sounds great, and it sounds good on a bass too in the house, so it is my new 'playing around the house' amp that I can also play the guitar through. The style is a bit marmite, but the sound is really good. Added to that, I had the original intention of modding it, although at the moment it seems to sound pretty good without it.

Had a mare. Saturday was my birthday, and after several double rum and cokes I found myself in the local boozer listening to a covers band blasting Cocaine by Clapton. Inspired by the guitarists neat playing of what turned out to be the Clapton Custom Shop strat, I ordered a strat copy from Alan George on Facebook - the highest spec one he had. He gave me a tidy discount too due to my drunken ramblings and it being my birthday. So now I have a bank statement that's not very pretty (more due to buying booze than anything else) and a guitar that historically I can't get good sounds from. What I may do, seeing as I enjoyed the Clapton strat, is put in the noiseless pickups and midboost TBX stuff, see if I can coax any good noises that way.

I now look upon Squiers with the zeal of the converted. Lovely looking bass!

If you use your common sense and choose your separates in the cold light of day you can't really go wrong. It's like you have just happened upon that discovery for yourself with outstanding results. I am happy for you. I used to think that you'd get the best sound out of a Hi Fi system by buying all of the kit from the same brand. Sony had planted the notion in me when I was young. Their glossy marketing was attractive. I went to a Sony outlet. A pushy sales rep tried to sign me up for a three year finance agreement for a separates system with a patented method for linking the units! When I did the ready reckoning on his figures I found that I would've paid half again on top of the all inclusive purchase price. I had a quiet word with myself and politely told the sales rep that I would let him know. I didn't. After that, I decided that I'd build a fully capable system from separates. Most of it was second hand. The only matching I did was to see if outputs and inputs were roughly the same between connected units of equipment. No two units were from the same brand. I always built my own speaker cabs back then using new drivers and crossovers, from Oxford Street electronics shops in home built enclosures. Between that and modifying near suitable units I always had a sound system that was the envy of my house mates because I got it for beer money. In some minor respects Sony had the edge but that wasn't noticed by my peers. They had signed up with the Sony rep you see. I rarely buy new. I am just the same with my rigs. Sure, I briefly envy the new kit on the block with its matching enclosures and it's advanced features and its popular image but I am a tightwad as dictated by genes from both parents and it doesn't make my sound, such as it is, suffer one little bit. If I was earning from my playing I am sure that I'd have another quiet little word with myself though.

You don't happen to also be a member of Nigerian royalty, by any chance?

There is something to be said about what Jack has written. In fact, so much so, that I plan to research and promote a service looking into management companies and the work they do. If you are interested and keen to get on in the music industry please send £100 to [email protected]

Picked up one of these last week and absolutely love it. It's incredible.

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No - just rise above it. People are people, some have manners, some don't, some have communication skills, some don't. Most of us love saying 'Yes' but hate saying 'No'. If we can avoid saying 'No' by walking away quietly, then that's what many will do. There's no point taking it seriously, even less in taking it personally. Just move on.

Put your experience in his feedback thread. At least then others will know what to expect, and will possibly feel less aggrieved if they receive similar treatment.

The last post I held down was IT Manager in an aluminium foundry, for thirteen years. All of the workshop areas required the wearing of safety shoes, of a specific model with metatarsal protection, and safety glasses. Several areas required ear protection, due to the noise levels to be found there, either permanent or punctual, as measured by competent authorities. No-one was allowed into any of these areas without these equipments, anyone flouting these rules would be escorted away; repeats would be a disciplinary matter, up to and including dismissal. These were not simply 'house rules', they are part and parcel of the French H & S regulations, and apply everywhere in France. I'd be very surprised if there were not similar measures in place in UK workplaces. I see no reason to exempt artists from these precautions.

I agree. I think it is a sign of the times, courtesy has a low priority with some people in this rush-rush world.

Or it could have been a bizarre ironing accident.

Vintage white custom plate. Ohhh. Made by Jack's custom instruments in Manchester.

As promised. Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to get it right! I think it sounds killer and doing these demos always teaches me something new about gear I own! T

Nice score.

Oh good grief, why did you have to go and say that? I’ve already justified having two P basses by needing one with flats, one with rounds - I hadn’t considered tapes before!

It does help to spread the cost when your build takes time to do. However then when a bit looks tidy and you've done a good job of it, the budget starts creeping up too . Sub-300 is still pretty "budget" for a self build. Well done

Fellow basschatters, is ignorance bliss when it comes to private PM's between members? Allow me to clarify; another member recently offered up a bass for sale on this forum and invited trades for 5 & 6 string basses. On a complete whim ( you know how it is) I fancied a flutter, so PM'ed said member. After a day or so he replied in a very succinct way, and requested that I provide pictures of my suggested trade. I took some, and posted them back to him in a reply...and heard nothing again. A few weeks later his bass sold, which is completely fair enough. After a day or so I obviously deduced that it was a "thanks but no thanks" scenario anyway - and that is absolutely the right of the seller - but I would have at least liked a polite response to that affect just out of common courtesy. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not getting out of my pram about it, and am not struggling to sleep at night - but this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me on this forum. Is it just me and my naive expectation of respectfully interacting privately with other members with good manners...or is ignorance in this context bliss? Peace, out...

I never had a budget in mind but was minded to do it on a budget. Then I thought about and really wanted that Thunderbird sound, so a set of genuine pick ups was acquired, from then it seemed stupid to put cheap stuff on. I think I am around £230 at the moment and will be £260-280 when finished but that will be with genuine pickups, KiOgon custom loom, hipshot ultralights, decent heavyweight bridge so a decent spec. I barely drink, don’t smoke etc etc so see it as my hobby expenditure and have really loved doing it.

I wish I could get my old Sei fretless Jazz back. I sold it back in 2012, cash was not abundant at the time and it was a case of "last in, first out". It was a stunner, and sounded amazing. Weighed practically nothing too. Although, of course, I could always commission Martin to make me another one.

awesome Dude! Thats so great and uplifting to hear. So happy to have helped you in any way

You can believe what you like. You can ask any studio engineer I've worked with about my ears and before you ask, yes, I've been told by most musicians I've met that I can play quite well actually, if not as well as I could before injuries started catching up with me. You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that more expensive woods and electronics automatically make a better musical instrument. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. How many basses have you played? I've played thousands. Literally thousands, and hundreds of high-end basses. I've owned several custom built basses by Sei and Alembic and have owned Wals, Jaydees, early Warwicks, Statuses (Statii?), Spectors, all sorts of things. Of course none of that makes me the last word in bass knowledge and I wouldn't claim to be, but it certainly helps my perspective. And in my experience, a good musical instrument can come in at any price point - as can a bad one. It's also worth considering that what you consider a good musical instrument might not be what someone else considers a good musical instrument. And please let's not infer that anyone who doesn't think that high-end is always better is likely in some way inferior or incompetent as a musician, because we all know that's a load of hogwash.

Interesting amp. Never got any traction in the states. Looks like something out of the Jetsons of the 60's. You can play bass through it?

"As soon as we hear that an artist has been asked to put their hand in their own pocket by a management company, big alarm bells start to ring." Pretty much this. I appreciate that being a musician doesn't guarantee business or finance skills, but neither does it exclude basic common sense. Giving significant sums of money to someone you've never met is simply not a smart move. Ever.

My Thunderbirds because a fellow can pull excellent poses with them. My Trace gear because it's been there for 25 years now and I'm not sure I could operate anything else.

A lot of us would have sold our grandmothers for something the quality of a Squier when we started out.

Yeah I saw this and was tempted too! Glad it’s gone to a loving home. One would think that having a P would quell my P GAS but since my current P is strung with Nylon Tapes, I now want a second one strung with flats! It never ends

Gah! My favourite P bass finish. I really regret not buying one when I had the chance.

It's just general ignorance. I always reply to private messages as a matter of courtesy.

I've gone the other way and now specialise in miniature 17" scale basses. Your previous observation about the inverse relationship between one's instrument scale and manhood may well be correct after all.

I mostly enjoy that fact that all my basses, amps, and cabs were built either by personal friends or by myself. And the fact that most of those pieces are one-offs is all the better.

Saw the current incarnation of Dr Feelgood last year - none of the original members - first time I'd seen them, so can't compare, but it was a very good gig. Also saw Fairport Convention on their 50th anniversary tour last year. Nothing can replace Swarbrick, but again an excellent gig - with Peggy on a 5-string fan-fret Ibanez, the only time I've seen anyone gigging a fan-fret! He is awesomely versatile - one song he'll be holding down a simple classic bassline, the next he'll be playing the melody, with fiddle and mandolin shimmering over the top.

You're welcome! G.

Good evening, OH , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Site rules..? See my signature... (Very...) Nice video.

Well, obviously you'd not be skinning a cat that can read. Until it needs glasses...then you'd just need to make sure it kept its eyes peeled.

Yeah she's here, also picked up a Blackstar Beam from someone on here - getting some lovely sounds and having fun learning some of my favourite songs. Going to look into online tuition courses or a rough order of what to learn and google how to do those things. So far having a great time with it.