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a ha hahahahaha!

Nice to see Diego Maradona keeping himself busy on BVs!

Getting the drummer to play quieter is like cutting the lawn with a tumble dryer.

From my humble observations and what I hear from people, venues don’t want space taken up with a full band and large speakers/amps, and they don’t want the deafening volume that a large amount of amateur bands seem to want to play at. Sadly in nice bars/clubs a full band is a bit too much for a lot of punters, but they can tolerate a quiet innofensive acoustic duo who just play ‘background noise’. There is a nice bar in the nearest town to me and they have live music a few nights a week. An acquaintance goes there fairly often with work colleagues etc as the food and drink is good, and overheard him say as soon as the local blues/rock/cover band of choice fire up for the night they all get out as soon as possible. I think a lot of the time people just don’t want to hear another band playing the same old dross or murdering modern pop tunes in their local. I’m guilty, I play in a covers band and despite being pretty good (IMO) I would probably avoid a bar with us or anyone else playing 😂

Here's the antidote ...

Thought I'd share this experience in case someone else has the same problem - it might save you some hassle/cash. A while back my MXR M87 died. The level meter was still functioning but there was absolutely no sound coming from the pedal output. I did all the usual quick fixes (contact cleaner on jacks, replaced footswitch etc) but to no avail. After a bit of digging I discovered that the output op-amp in this pedal (TLC2262 in case you were wondering) has a maximum voltage of 16V. Obviously this would normally be OK in a pedal that runs at 9V, except that MXRs "Constant Headroom Technology" feature is essentially a charge pump circuit that doubles the pedal's internal voltage to 18V. It shouldn't take a genius to work out what therefore ensues if, like me, you're unlucky. I replaced the TLC2262 with an AD822 (which has a supply voltage of 18V) and my pedal now lives and breathes again. I believe MXR will fix pedals under warranty for a flat fee of £75, whereas replacing the blown chip cost me less than a tenner and a few minutes fiddling with a soldering iron (the TLC2262 and AD822 chips are both surface mount - soldering these can be tricky unless you're experienced in doing so). It appears that mine is not an isolated issue as a quick Google uncovers many such failures, so I figured I'd pass this info on in case any other BC members' M87s suffer the same fate. Please use or disregard this information as you see fit!

I hadn't heard of Hot Rods so I googled it to see what they were... Found a thread on a drummers discussion board answering an identical question about being too loud for smaller venues, and one of them honestly suggests that to be quieter on stage the offending drummer should mic up his kit because that way they can turn the volume down through the PA

Absolutely this! Our shedbuilder invested in one about 3 months ago - same issues, he's naturally loud so the volumes creep up for everyone blah blah....... We thought we'd only use it on certain gigs where we are scaring the landlord but we've found that our whole sound is miles better with it and now use it almost all the time. As well as limiting the overall drum volume its tightened the whole sound up and i can slot the bass in a lot easier with the kick (which we put thru the pa/sub). Nobody's suffering from cymbal ears any more either. We can get a great controlled beefy sound at lower volumes. Its also a great topic of conversation with the crowd - especially when we tell them we fill it with water in the second set :-) And we're looking for some stick on Garfields to stick on the inside where he cant each them whilst he's playing.

The recommended approach is to position a piece of cord or edge of a cloth under the edge of the knob, (or the remaining insert), then pull the string/cloth upwards. Don't punch yourself in the face when it goes!

I told you at the time that joining a band with John Hall would be a disaster!

...was his solo a spoof..?

Soooooooooo been about 4 years since I bought a new bass. Wasn't out shopping (way it always goes), came across this little beauty in a friends guitar shop. The bass is a 2008 American Fender Precision 60s AVRI and frankly it's just incredible, sounds amazing. Turns out the bass was given away by the band Paramore during the promotion of the Riot album, the girl who won it didn't play so it's sat on a stand in her bedroom ever since. They definitely did more to it after this video, but it's structurally sound and sounds amazing. Now it was definitely a touring bass as I know Jeremy Davis uses some pretty low and odd tunings and this came strung with some very heavy strings, closest I could get to something that worked when trialing it was BEAD, so it wasn't just a freebie from Fender they immediately gave away. Anyway there it is, currently wearing some D'addario Half Rounds (as who has the time to wait for your rounds to go dead anymore), waiting for me to get the right session gig to use it Will it stay, who knows, but so far I'm pretty happy with it and I'm rocking a lot of Chuck Rainey lines on it currently

Brendon purchased a pocket operator from me, quick sale, money sent, deal done, can only recommend Brendon.

Wow, what a question 😊 The sound I have always wanted in the early days was that clunky P-bass tone. Not twangy like punk but also not thumpy like Motown, somewhere in the middle so a nice rounded bottom end but with some of those lovely P-bass tones cutting through. I pretty much got it when I bought my '78 P-bass but in most cases I have never managed it and for the majority of my playing I have used Jazz basses which have always suited my playing and have been easier to great a great tone from. I'm currently playing an AVRI 75 Jazz through a LM3 and 2x NY112 cabs and the tone is lovely. Mellow, rounded with a nice mix of mids to give a bit of growl. Is it the sound I want, well not really, it sounds lovely but safe. I play in a 50's/60's rock n roll band and I am determined to get my Precision sounding great through my rig but I tend to always fall back on the safe but great sounding Jazz bass. Maybe one day 😊

Very much hoping someone bites - I have one of these in 99.9% new condition & with original case - I quite like the idea it's worth £400+ ! BTW it's a Roadster, not a Studio.

Gibson Thunderbird, bridge pickup full on, neck at 3-5 depending on venue, then Spectracomp on standard patch at 9 o’clock, into 1000w terrorbass amp, bass 9 o’clock, mids all way on, treble 12 o’clock (gets twiddled for different venues if needed), low on gain. Then soul food for added grit if needed and a TC chorus. The AX7s are being swapped for AT7s to tone down the TB a little. It gives the low punchy sound I want with being ‘twangy’. Usually works well but was muddy at the gig on Friday but that was in a quadrangle under a marquee roof with serious issues of sound bouncing back off the wall opposite (we played across the narrow sides of a rectangle if that makes sense). The worst bit was that the onstage sound was the best I have ever had, just not as great out front, Sod’s law. The bass player in the other band didn’t suffer as badly but they were a much gentler band than us, we are fairly heavy and full on.

Hi guys, @Al Krow has decided to make a dedicated thread for us to upload recordings showcasing our synthy sounds. It is located here:

It's important to try and listen to your sound in the context of the rest of the band, which is hard to do effectively at high volume rehearsals. I like to play along to studio recordings with different combinations of basses and preamp pedals into headphones to figure out what works best. The last couple of bands I've been in have had a very thick distorted guitar tone (e.g. Les Paul into a cranked Orange tube head). Here I've found it best to use a scooped tone to provide a pillow of low end to underpin the sound, but with a bit of crispy gain up top to add clarity and fill out that upper midrange where the guitarist and vocalist don't often tread. I used a BB1025X with both pickups on which is naturally scooped and growly anyway, into a Darkglass B3K, although the Tech21 DP-3X is my weapon of choice for this tone now. If I'm playing at the jam night down my local, totally different ball game. Often more then one guitar, but usually thinner sounding, and often a higher pitched female vocalist. To slot in here I stay out of the upper mids, go easy on the deep low end and fill out the lower mids with a P-Bass or my Sandberg Basic (a bit like a Stingray), both of which are wearing TI flats. Either straight into the amp or via a low gain drive pedal of a totally different flavour to the other setup. Full range OD with no clean blend is the order of the day here, something that produces a guttural roar from below rather than grind from up top when you dig in, e.g. SFT, BB Preamp, Beta, Agro.

Yes - I would also happily take the dust for a bit of that space I would like to take a photo of mine, but I can't move away far enough from the walls to focus the camera Looking forward to seeing the builds progress

What a fabulous use of space! I really must tidy up my garage. My first build was pretty much done on a workmate, while a perfectly good and stable workbench sat covered in cr*p. You've put me to shame Looking forward to the builds

Very jealous of your workshop!!

Lindisfarne were much more radical than people realise ...

Oh man, this is good... I know there are many who sing the praises of tks on here, but I'm over the moon. All the cliched words apply - punchy, articulate, clarity, reactive, rich, sweet... I have read that these 1x12s can be a bit lacking in bass, but at loud home volumes with rounds on a jazz and flats on a P, it sounds mega full. Flipping loud too - I'm running a Eden 260 through it, and it packs a real wallop. Rear ported, metal grilled front, recessed cable inputs, immaculately finished, very nice, thick soft case. Many happy hours to be had with this - heartily recommended...

Yes - I laughed a lot - ultimately figuring that there was a very plausible yet inexcusable reason why the vocals sounded like they did; at one point I felt sorry for Norm - until he went for it.

Of course the bass is the first to go. The reason for acoustic duos is the money, either the landlord can't afford a full band or the venue is so small it can't support a full band (small space, low income from punters). Drummers can take adavantage of it with cajon if the singer also plays guitar. For a bass player it's harder but not impossible, we just need to learn to use our bass as an harmonic instrument and take the place of the guitar/keys. Here's an example of a band in Portugal that can get away with just a bass and a voice: I don't need to say that this guy is one of the best bass players in Portugal

I tend to judge them on their ability to know when not to play. ha ha.

Keyboard player set fire to me during the gig, City of London Poly, early 80's. Not entirely an act of musical criticism although I suspect that since we were both vying for the lower register at the time some degree of unconscious intent was involved. Lessons learned: (1) never let the stylist use a whole can of Elnett to get your hair in place, even if you are the bassist in a hair band, and (2) don't let the keyboard player flick cigarettes across the stage in your general direction when trying to act cool.

I was in the Green Man in Derby many years ago when the band stopped due to a fight (not that uncommon in there at the time). The bouncers waded in and threw out the two offenders, when the melee had settled we realised that the two chucked out were the lead guitarist and the vocalist. Still no idea what happened but it was proper full on fists everywhere fight. They were playing and in the middle of a song when it all kicked off so I presume one made a comment that set the other off or something like that.

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My Yamaha BB604 that cost me £200 secondhand absolutely wiped the floor with the £2.5k Lull PJ4 I had at the time. Ridiculous, but sadly true. And it was better set up. Sold the Lull last year. Still got the Yamaha.

Another - with a wall - this one taken in Athens

@GisserD there was a Sandberg Appreciation Society all along!

BOURNEMOUTH Mid 80s and our soul/Motown band is expanding, we are looking for a keyboard player. Get a call from bloke in his 40s who tells us of his talented daughter. Our guitarist took call and explained all the relevant stuff. Dad assures him that she can blow through this material - no problem! Family turns up at guitarist’s house with keyboard, stand, armfuls of music scores. Pretty 17 year old sets up behind singer but no amp - keyboard has built in speakers we are told so all will be good. We show her set list and she counters with one of her own including “tie a yellow ribbon” and “viva España”. Smirks are beginning to appear on faces of various personnel but no one seems to have the heart to say anything. Guitarist is just about to when girl cranks up her built-in drum machine and launches into “España” in a hideously tuneless voice. Some band members attempt to tag along musically and both girl plus both parents are grinning enthusiastically as she blazes on oblivious to the suppressed laughter emanating from behind. Trumpet player is overtaken with mirth and just manages to get outside the door before he explodes into laughter. We find him 10 minutes later weeping uncontrollably by the stairs! When song ended it was a difficult moment for all but our ever diplomatic guitarist explained we were perhaps doing the wrong material for her talents. The family seemed very satisfied with the explanation and left the house beaming from ear to ear! To this day I feel guilty for the poor girl but in reality there was little that could be done. We went on to hire the fabulous “Mr Amazed”, but that as they say, is a story for another day.

About fifteen years ago, I spotted an ad in our local rag: "Experienced lead guitarist and singer (been playing guitar for 15 years in all styles) looking for others to jam with and maybe form a band". TBH I was a bit scared to call the guy (let's call him Dave), seeing as he was clearly far more experienced than me (I hadn't been in a band since school, but then Jimmie quit and Jodie got married....). Still, he sounded ok on the phone, so I arranged to go round to his place the next evening for a jam. When I turned up, the door was answered by a tall freaky guy, who just stared at me. Eventually Dave appeared behind him and said "it's ok John, he's here to see me". We went downstairs to the living room, and started messing about with a few songs. It turned out that far from being an experienced LG, Dave could just about manage a minor pentatonic scale if he looked at his fingers, whilst his singing was really best left in the shower. Also, there was something about him that I couldn't quite square - he was certainly too shy to ever be a frontman, and he sometimes seemed to be in another world entirely, and then struggled to finish his sentences. John, meanwhile, took up position in one of the armchairs, and stared at me continuously. Eventually John got up to go to the loo, and I decided to make my excuses and leave. Dave said, oh, don't mind him - he's got schizophrenia, so it means he's not good with new people. It's just this house is owned by the council for the six of us to live in. We have a care worker during the day, but in the evenings he only comes round if we press the alarm button.......

Eh? was a joke with the (I should’ve explained myself)

Brendan (not Brendon...😬) bought a Hohner bass from me. he paid up and was patient while the local post office did their utmost to look like a useless bunch of morons... thanks mate, enjoy that bass.

Kev, what I was saying was to have patches not digital distortion. Can you imagine how flexible that would be? My Sansamp PSA1.1 is all analogue signal chain with the only part of it being digital is the bit that reads the position of the knobs and stores the midi data. Best of both worlds and that's what I was trying to get across. Don't get me wrong, I've played most of the darkglass catalogue. It's great stuff, but because of its inability to recall anything it's limited as to its effectiveness. However, just salivate for a minute over the thought of a B7k ultra or alpha omega with patches. Wouldn't that kill? Wouldn't that be worth £500? As it is, I just feel it's 10% overpriced. Only my view though. It doesn't matter, as you say people will buy it at any price. Darkglass have done well creating a premium product, but I just think its too expensive. Comparisons made may or may not be fair, but it doesn't make the fundamental point being made any less valid that maybe, the stuff is a bit pricey.

Starting to look expensive? Just "starting" to? 😋 I wait with baited breath for what slightly tweaked pedal darkglass break the £400 barrier with. The problem I have with stuff like this is they're mainly a one setting pedal or on and off if you prefer. For the price they're getting into now, if it doesn't have midi presets I consider it to be robbery. Consider. The strymon timeline. Arguably the best delay pedal on the market. Full midi implementation and costs less than the Darkglass stuff. Just saying. They are getting very expensive for what they are. I agree about the Helix actually. When my trusty Digitech 2120 dies, it's what I'll be getting.

And here it is 14 years later, sans pickup cover

I've already expressed at length how I think there are great basses, and I am a fan. Had I the cash right now, I'd be snappping off your hand for one of your cut price Cuntour S's. However I now cannot unsee that the headstock reminds me of Mr Greedy:

Just about my only preparation for the gig is make sure I drink at least one bottle of water just before going on stage, and make sure I have a pre-gig urination - at 50+ one needs to make sure their bladder behaves.