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Great thread and I rarely if ever read every post of any thread. This last audition whilst not hellish was I have to admit bloody nerve wracking . The practise room is a little annex off the BL open plan kitchen. Everything's setup, tiny muffled kit, keys, couple of amps all crammed into this very small space and I'm starting to think...blimey this is cosy. We sit down and are literally rubbing shoulders with each other, not an inch of room between us. BL asks me what I want to do and I say well lets go from the top of No 1 set list. ( their a 60's tribute outfit, and they do three sets of twenty each!) First tune is the Beatles "I'm A Looser" with that fab two part opening harmony. I haven't played for quite a while and was almost knocked off my stool by the power and tightness of that opening vocal.....christ these guys are good I think. Then the BL wife who's on keys starts warbling and the whole thing goes stratospheric. Not bad for a bunch of 70 yr olds. I'm 58.... To be sat in the middle of a four part harmony reaching for the sky in a room you couldn't swing a mouse in left me feeling emotionally drained....quite an experience. I've subsequently learned they've been doing this for 40 yrs and the front guy had a No1 record in South Africa.....no reason to doubt it really. Our first gig is this weekend ( a mini festival apparently)...can't wait if a little apprehensive. They give the bass loads of frequency space, its all very jangly and trebly as would be expected, so no room at all for any mistakes.....yikes!

Hey all, I wanted to share my experience I had with my CTM 100, just in case anyone out there had been pondering this. A few months ago I bought a second hand CTM 100. Went and tested it at the guys house, thought it was lovely, and ended up buying it. Turns out I was a bit dumb, and I didn't really test it as properly as I should have, because when I got it home and played with it a bit more, I found that the EQ controls were not as useful as I'd originally thought. Mainly that the bass control did practically nothing. The sweep on the knob seemed to show it coming on, but nothing beyond that. It was almost like it could be an on/off switch. I couldn't dial out any bass in my tone on my next gig, so I sounded way too subby, and there wasn't a whole lot I felt I could do about dialling in a useful sound. At least not very easily. So I took it to a local amp tech, who agreed the EQ was pretty useless. He called Ashdown and asked them if there was a fault with the amp. They replied saying that's just how they are. I thought if that's the case, then this amp clearly isn't for me, so I did put it for sale on Basschat for a short time. But when I was failing to sell it on, I still couldn't really understand why the amp was like this. So I decided to contact Ashdown myself, with a little video showing me using the EQ of my amp, making sure that this was how they're meant to be. I got an email back from Dave Green at Ashdown, saying yes that is how they are, and that the bass control only has a boost of 3db, next to nothing. But he also said that there is an alternative solution that he thought I might prefer. Dave send me over (free of charge) a new set of replacement EQ pots to put in the amp. The new values of which were - (Bass - A220K) (Mids - A22K) (Treble - A220K). A change from what was in mine originally - (Bass - B470K) (Mids - B100K) (Treble - A1M) The point of this probably unnecessarily long post, is that I now love my CTM! I had these new pots fitted, and now it's infinitely more useful and versatile. Sounds great with everything set at noon, but for those awkward awful sounding rooms we end up gigging in from time to time, I now have confidence that I can easily make the EQ adjustments to compensate. Even the Mids and Treble control have a wider sweep now so have become much more useful too. The EQ to me has become like a normal usable EQ on any other amp I've used. Do no other CTM users have an issue with the EQ on theirs? Because I was baffled that I couldn't find anyone with the same issue when I researched it. I'm also a bit confused as to why Ashdown don't make them like this as standard, but I'm no amp expert. All I know is my Ashdown suits me a lot better now, and I now rumble trousers with big fat valve tone for days. Thanks Dave Green!

Use it. That's what it was designed/built for. It's not an ornament.

What is this "upper register" of which you speak?

Nope. Everything I buy is to be gigged, as often as possible.

Just to confirm, user banned. It’s a Nigerian user who has done this a few times before so I’m talking to @charic about banning Nigerian IP. Thanks!

Hi All, Arrived yesterday a new ACG TKO from Alan. It is one of two he has made and it is absolutely stunning, the photo's only get you 90% there. The texture within the wood itself really adds something. It comprises: Black Limba body and top. 3 piece Maple with carbon Rosewood neck, 30.5" scale. Hipshot Type B in chrome.Hipshot string tree, Gotoh GB7 tuners, Dunlop straplocks, Newtone strings. ACG PB pickup with Alnico magnets. Weighs around 7.5lbs (not put it on the scales yet). It has what I would call a true PB sound but with more tonal variation available. Can't wait to try it out at band practice on Tuesday.

Dropped the Mrs at the gym and thought I'd pop into the LGS which is only a couple of minutes round the corner. Just browsing - mostly at guitars when I came across the Mockingbird MK3 below. It looked stunning so I tried it and loved it. It's a bit neck divey as you would imagine , but sustains forever and has an awesome array of tones. I wouldn't have ever imagined buying a BC Rich but it wasn't what I expected at all. The shop had set it up perfectly too. I now feel compelled to put gold strings on it (it's an obsession) It was marked up at £500 so a quick google found it for £386 in Thomann and the LGS (Sound Affects) matched the price. A good days work !

My Vigiers... all Series III, build 1994-2004, neck-thru, all original, 3 Passion, 1 Arpège... I REALLY love to play these basses...

And I'd say it's not about me at all. There might be a few personal references I use for examples or to justify a position. But the thread is clearly not about me. The CD promotion was off topic, a mere side note. Blue

Hardly, Christine. If you can knock up basses like you're doing, i'd say you have a bit of mileage left.

Also forgot to mention the Fender Precision Special - MIM, PJ pickups and narrow jazz width neck. Current/ recent models are active but the first ones if you can find one were passive. Again, s/h your best bet, around the £400 mark.

Maybe one day Blue will leave his current band and we won't see these threads every 2 months and he'll be a regular poster in Jack's "auditions in hell" thread instead.

http://glguitars.com/product/sb-2-2/ Very under rated basses.

First thing that comes to mind is a Marcus Miller P7. P body, jazz neck, PJ pickups, plus active preamp. Easily found for under £500 new. Not sure about weight as I've not owned one, but should be fairly light (especially the alder models). Not sure about Squires/Fenders specifically, I'm sure others will though

The current “main” Bass > Temple Audio pedalboard side input > Keeley Compressor Pro > Helix Hx > side output > Mesa amps The Hx also acts as the control centre for the other pedsls, loop 1 “Synths” has the Future Impact and COG T65 in the chain and loop 2 “Dirt and Grit” has the Bearfoot BBO and the Darkglass Duality. I find the B7K emulation to be very close to the original so I no longer have one on the board.

Sadowsky + Aguilar DB751/SL410 Best I ever had.

My mate had a band which has now disbanded I think which had a great name for a bunch of codgers getting together to play: 'Old Country Union' That name always tickled me.

Thanks I will give them a listen If you are not familiar with Peter hook the below... Monaco -what do you want from me Joy division - Love will tear us apart New order - Sunrise

Google too much hassle?

bartelby - I ended up emailing the vendor of the Gotohs I'm interested in he said that 3L+2R was correct - so the eBay one looks like it's wrong. T-Bay - think I'll probably go for the Gotohs, the ones currently on the Hudson are... OK, not great on tuning stability for an otherwise very nice bass, and considering the price I got for, putting £50 into it for tuners isn't so bad. I put Gotohs on a Bass Collection SB100 a while back and was very pleased with the result... so probably worth the investment.

How's the DI out in your amp? Does it have the switch for mic/line? If you could send it in "line" and in "pre" then you could cut all the lows you want in the EQ without affecting the signal to the sub. There are a few amps in wich the "send" output is post-EQ so you would be cutting lows before sending to the sub. This is how i would be doing if i wanted a similar result from my Genz Benz head. I don't know your amp so you should check these things first.

Thats my attitude also, but to be fair I'd think twice taking an origional 65 jazz or something similar down to the dog n duck. If I was a full time pro touring session player in theatres etc then I would!

Blue, We get it. You play in a bar band and make a bit of money at it. We're very happy for you. We all play music for a variety of reasons - financial, for personal satisfaction, to get away from the family for a few hours, etc, etc. They're all equally valid and even "flakes" are perfectly entitled to play music if they want.

Ooh look darling, how about a side table for drinks? No, she said.

I once took my 3 Gus G3 Basses and and Gus G1 Guitar to a gig. Total value along with the bass rig I was using at the time, somewhere around £25k...

That's one heck of a list for a pub band, in my opinion. If looking for a full-time job, or career, maybe I'd agree with a lot of the points, but for 'week-end warrior' bands, for folks with a 'real' job for the mortgage, I'd suggest it's royal overkill. Is it fun..? Do you get on with the band members..? Is the gigging frequency compatible with other stuff going on..? That's about it, I'd say, for a great many of us. For a more serious gigging musician, I'd say that depping brings about the best opportunities, with the bonus of knowing exactly what the band does from having played with 'em on gigs, if a permanent offer comes up, as well as the contacts it offers. No real need to go about it like an accountant, I say. Just my tuppence-worth.

Band Name Woes isn`t a bad idea................

Mods, Why do we bother with 'Off Topic', 'Bass Guitars', 'Effects' & 'Theory & Technique' when people routinely hose their womble-butter at 'General Discussion'. Seriously, are we not monitoring and moving anymore? We need strict discipline in this area. Stabbin's too good for them. Please draw blood. Arch Bishop Desmond 22 PS How the flip does one swear on this counting forum!?

Sell the Jazz. The P and the Warwick are earning for you. So, the Jazz is the weakest link

'If you meet a flake in the morning, you met a flake; if everyone you meet's a flake, you're the flake'. after Dep US Marshall Raylan Givens

A bit like me Andy, old and worn out

That's no surprise to me - the only time I've seen a chisel that worn before was in the days that my father used to use his long-suffering Draper 1/2" to straighten up brickwork prior to plastering...

I think it's the only way!

I thought that there was pretty conclusive evidence that a CD or uncompressed (file size wise rather than acoustically) digital format matches or exceeds vinyl in terms of reproduction fidelity. Compression in an acoustic sense is more a case of current (annoying) production practices rather than the medium used, and, as has already been mentioned, the RIAA standard for vinyl recordings includes compression and decompression of the bass anyway. Some people might prefer the sound of vinyl over CD etc, and it may indeed sound 'warmer' (I quite like vinyl myself), and this is perfectly valid, but to claim that it is a more accurate reproduction seems unfounded. The other thing with vinyl is that it inherently degrades every item you play it. It might sound wonderful the first time, by the 100th time it won't sound the same. Personally I am more interestinged in listening to the music rather than the quality of reproduction.

I haven't tried that one but it's probably OK. I'll have look when I get home and see if I have any 3M left, you're welcome to have it if there's some left. I originally bought it for fixing some roof lining in a car but not sure it survived the great cull of 2017 when moving house. Will PM you if I find it!!!

No problem. http://www.acguitars.co.uk

It's only a 'hack' convention, to give some rigour to a session. One could just as easily 'trade eights' or more if it was agreed beforehand; there's nothing 'sacred' about it at all. Or, as in the case above with Mr Rich, the solo spot lasts until the band leader gives the signal to come back in..! For ensembles that are meeting up, maybe half-jamming, standards, a 'trade four' notion is the oil that greases the musical engine, though.

When I hum the chorus of that song, I find that it gradually turns into "When You're Gone" by Bryan Adams and Mel C. So there's that. S.P.

Yep, it never takes long for HMV to put 2 for £10 deals on new albums after they've been released. The dance /electronica section in my local branch is a bit miniscule so i don't go there much but for rock n' pop they still offer reasonable VFM on CDs. Price of LPs is a bit bonkers though. I get most of my stuff on Amazon from sellers like Magpie sometimes for as little as 1 penny + pp!

I have semi-retired my old basses. That's mainly to try and stop them getting too beaten up (don't get me wrong, they have plenty of real mojo). I will use them now and again on single gigs. On the other hand, I have Japanese reissue basses for when I'm touring.

I don't think there's such thing as too good to be used. It's made for a purpose ultimately. Now, there's different gear that I would take to different gigs. But, I've got a brand new (well it was in October when I got it) Aguilar rig, and I've got an Alpher in the process of being built at the moment. That'll be my touring setup, both are pieces of incredible gear so they'll be used to their true purpose. However, I probably wouldn't take them down to a local pub gig. I'd take my Jazz Elite or the P for gigs like that.

Marillion. I've seen them twice at M'cr Academy in the last 18 months, utterly riveting, I've never felt an audience vibe so intense. Almost 40 years on, fresh new material but true to the best of the genre. The closest any of us will get now to what Pink Floyd must have been like live in their prime. I'm a pretty hardcore blues fan but I'd actually rather play bass in a prog band.

Who's TC Elliot? Has he a daughter called Tracey (Trace for short)? Understand he's from Essex. Re. the original topic, what a surprise that Roger Daltrey says rock "peaked" with one of his albums. No axe to grind there, eh?

This^^^^^ the artwork and pics are all part of the music experience to me. I can picture the covers of all of my favourite albums, probably 99% of all the ones I,own in fact. I also like the fact it can’t be deleted or lost in an ‘upgrade’.

Love the B sides.