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A podcast is very useful in the kitchen garden on those occasions when one proudly surveys one's burgeoning crop of peas and / or legumes only to discover that one of the pods has prematurely split open. Nil desperandum! Simply mix four tbsps of baking powder with 3 tsps of dilute 50:50 PVA glue / water and gently form the resulting mixture around the split pod to hold it together. Allow to dry. When the pod has reached optimum fruition gently open the cast with a modelling chisel, remove the contents and Hey! Presto! you're ready to cook. Podcast. A cast for a pod.

Surely, playing with dynamics is sometimes a BIG THING and sometimes a little thing?

My personal take on the format is thus: A few, perhaps 4, different members each episode, who engage in conversation. Perhaps about some popular threads, or their story getting into bass, their gear etc. It obviously evolves from those basic points as it’s a conversation. I feel that format, perhaps over one hour, would be infinitely more interesting than just one person talking for x amount of time without answer. Si

Yes indeed missed by many a band. One huge problem is with certain musicians who are under the mysterious spell of thinking that things only sound good when REALLY loud. "My valve amp sounds better cranked" and "I can't get the tone out of my kit if I play lightly" I have heard oh so often. Thing is, I agree that certain equipment does indeed sound awesome loud, but are totally overkill for 90% of gigs. That Marshall 100W and 4x12 cabinet doesn't start to do that beautiful compression characteristic until the valves are working hard and the speaker cones are near their limits. By that point, the volume is tinnitus incurring. So, for the most part, that kit is the wrong kit for the job at the Dog and Duck on a Friday night.

Been a fair few years since either I or my ex's could even vaguely consider ourselves sufficiently attractive to warrant even contemplating the possibility...

Sometimes good things come from bad auditions. I've been trying to find a band desperate enough to want me, and had some ...interesting... experiences. Audition 1: answered an ad on JMB for a blues group. I tell them how long I've been playing - not all that long - as I want to be honest up front. I do a bit of recruiting in the day job, and know how narked I get when confronted with bovine manure. Better to be straight with them from the off. Anyway, he replies, telling me that there's a drummer lined up, plus someone on blues harp and maybe keys too. Could I learn a couple of songs and pop round for a twang? Rightio. I turn up at the BL's house and am treated to half an hour's talking about his guitar collection before we get down to business. He's provided an amp - an ancient Vox gee-tar amp that didn't look much younger than me. Hm. I'd have brought the Eden if I'd known. But I crank the low end and off we go. He's hunched over his chord chart and doesn't look up. With no drummer to lock in with, some eye contact might have been helpful. He then chases me out of the house before his wife gets back. Hmmmm. Then about a week later, I get a 'thanks but no thanks' email. Meh. Think I dodged a bullet there. Audition 2: answered an ad on JMB for a rock covers band. Again, I'm up front about my level of experience. I get their set list - wow! Fabulous! - and learn half a dozen songs, as requested. Then the audition's brought forward a week. Great. But I rock up at the appointed time - to a studio this time - to find that the BL was struggling with one of the songs I'd learnt and had to teach the singer one of the others. Oh dear. But the rest sounded good, although at the end of the evening, they said they thought it was beyond me to learn everything on the list before their next gig. They were quite decent about it though, so fair enough. Audition 3: answered an ad on JMB for another rock covers band. As before, I make it clear how much I do and don't know. I learn the requested songs and turn up to a slightly less-than-ideal studio - bare wooden floor, no sound insulation and a PA that didn't look much more powerful than my home stereo. As I'm getting set up, a guitarist walks in; he's being auditioned too. He sets up his backline - a lovely Marshall valve amp. Then the BL arrives and sets up his backline. Then off we go. The PA just about copes, but after the first song, the BL says to me, 'it needs much more bass'. Well, I was standing in front of the amp and I could hear it OK, which meant he certainly could from the other side of the room. But no sweat, up went the volume to just under half and we launched into the next song. Jesus. My amp was making the room shake. I went to turn it down and the BL said ‘no, leave it, it’s just right’. The guitarist turned up his amp as it was being drowned by mine. Not wanting to be left out, the BL did the same and we went into song number three. This time, the weedy studio PA was completely overwhelmed; all I could do was lock in with the drummer and hope for the best. Then things started to go south when the BL started playing something a bit different before stopping to tell us that we needed to follow him. By now the volume was up well past 11 and the only way to follow him was by lip-reading. The next song fell apart when he missed out an eight-bar sequence from the intro. By now, the negative vibes were starting to creep in. At the end of the evening, the BL thanked us for coming and said ‘we’ll have a chat and we'll let you know’ in a sarky voice. So much for that, then. The guitarist and I compared notes outside and we both reckoned we wouldn’t hear from them again. We swapped numbers though, and decided we’d look at doing something together if it didn’t go anywhere. After a week of radio silence, I pinged the guitarist a text and as expected, he hadn’t heard anything either. He then asked me if I was still up for getting together, as he had another guitarist and a singer who were interested. Oh, was I ever. So a few days later, the three of us (the singer couldn’t make it) assembled in a very nice studio in Cranfield. What a difference! No attitude, a lot of fun and some great songs to play. The Stooges, Black Sabbath, the Undertones, Tears For Fears, the Cult… all good stuff. Plus some originals that the guitarist had written that needed basslines added. I had a whale of a time, and when we decided to make a go of it at the end of the evening, I was on cloud nine. So I did join a band from a terrible audition. Just not the one I originally went for!

I have no problem with the set or knowing the songs, they haven’t changed the set I picked 18 months ago. I just know that they’re still ridiculously underehearsed (saw a recent video) and it’s not the regular singer...so it’ll be a shambles. I left for a reason. It’s like going back to an ex for a quickie, on paper sounds fun but you know you’ll feel dirty and it’ll ultimately be unfulfilling and regrettable.

It would really be quite amusing if any profanties were overdubbed with the same swear filter as here

Personally I think audio only is the way forward, Libsyn distributes podcasts to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Deezer and the like, and most podcasts are consumed on commutes or at work. I think the point with podcasts is as @ped says; So in my eyes adding the extra layer of production time and effort that video would mean is totally unnecessary. Agreed, I think it's the conversational component that makes podcasts engaging as a passive listener. See this is what I'm taking about, we have a wealth of knowledgeable people I'd love to listen too discussing everything from Luthiery, technique, theory, recording, composition, industry news, gear reviews and stuff. Sonicstate (a Synth/Pro-Audio web site/youtube channel) have a podcast I'm a fan of called "Sonic Talk"; https://sonicstate.com/sonictalk they stream it as a video too but I've explained my stance on that above, I just listen to it on my podcast app on my phone at work. Personally I love it and a Bass centric version of this is pretty much what I'm imagining.

According to J R Hartley*; Start small with something modest like, for example, Anglesey. Wales is for the more experienced fly guy. *May contain traces of advertising

I'd happily come and talk about making basses I'm not wild on the sound of my own voice... but I LOOOOVE my own opinions

Right, I had this feeling that I was being held back by something and realised it was the colouring. I would go and sand a bit then go and sand a bit more. I have all the bits, the only things I need to drill were the holes for the neck screws and the jack socket. Basically, I was procrastinating, and I had a bit of a colouring anxiety. So I decided, I wanted it red, I have the red and everything else, so if I just do it then it will be done. So I did it (well, I drilled one of the screw holes for the neck then realised I couldn't find my 13mm drill for the collet after doing a 14mm one and it being a bit loose). So I pained it red, with a small paintbrush. It drank up the red like it was going out of fashion. I will go over it again tomorrow, but it has taken the red fine, the line on the back that was worrying me, well, yes, you can see it but no it isn't bothering me. Some bits are redder than others, some a bit lighter. You can see the grain and all the imperfections in the wood, and turns out, I love it. It has an imperfection that I like, I can see the bits where I left a little mark, that I remember doing, I see the bits where the wood is different, where i have been watching it as I was working on it. I don't think it is going to win any awards, but It feels really 'personal'. It will be better once I oil it after the colour is done, but I am pretty happy with this. And in putting the neck on to take pictures, I can carry it round with the neck without dropping it - I guess the pocket is tight enough! Yes - I know I need to repaint the garden table!

Pleased to say Iris came home after 6 weeks in hospital and 5 operations (the first of which at 2 days old was a gruelling 9 1/2 hours). She’s doing great and it’s lovely to have her home.

I come from an orchestral background originally and playing with dynamics (as written of course) is a BIG THING. It's not especially difficult to play most instruments softly or loudly and things in between. However, to most 'rock' bands I have played in this is a complete mystery. There is one volume and it is loud. Why is this so difficult to understand? Even some quite rocky songs have some subtlety but not once the average pub band has got hold of it. That quiet middle eight is just as thrashed through as the chorus. Even otherwise excellent musicians seem to struggle with this. Is it me?

morning all, after years and years of looking for that fantastic smooth, warm, well rounded rich bass tone ............ ive found it was a pointless task...... the actual best tone for me is exactly the opposite to what i was looking for - its a rough, edgy, overdriven valve sound .......... which only becomes that rich warm bass sound i was looking for when in the mix of the rest of the band. has anyone else ever come round to this conclusion? Its amazing how that overdrive just blends in when in with the rest of the band, and how it fills any space without being obtrusive, really helping the sound of the band. i only came to it when i started listening to isolated bass tracks of my bass heroes (and the bass sounded terrible), then i copied it and played to backing tracks and it sounded glorious! then i put it in our band live and it had the same effect. so for me, its ampeg svt, or svt emulators (via my markbass evo), or similar all the way from now on. ive been playing 20 years and ive only just worked it out!

The theories for an "overdriven" sound put forward here chime rather well with an often-used recording studio trick. You record a clean and well rounded sound to capture the fullness of the bass. You then duplicate this on a new track to which you then add drive, distortion, grit, whatever you want to call it. At the same time you high-pass the track so you are left with a really gnarly, unpleasant sound with actually, not much bass in it. This then gets blended in with the original track, just below actually hearing it. It's amazing how this can make the bass sit better in the mix. I would imagine that is what is being experienced when hearing that sort of sound in a live situation.

Thanks again peeps, I havent been able to get on the net over the weekend and see where we are at but the fund is now up to £555, once again its very much appreciated. Legends the lot of you Basically I would of got nothing back at all if it wasnt for you guys/girls and Funkshui's absolute legendary fairness in suggesting we split the loss appropriately between us.

This sums up my situation, except I bought my first bass at 46. First gig at 50. Now 60. It was like a small bit of me that had been missing all my life was finally in place

The reasons Fender's management don't attract the same degree of 'vitriol' as Henry J: * Fender's - or more accurately FMIC's - financial woes were caused by decisions made far above their level by the company's owners - basically a cabal of hedge funds. The worst and most impactful deal was one with Guitar Center which was itself owned by - surprise! the same companies that owned FMIC at the time. The deal made a lot of money for the greedy finance boys but strapped FMIC into a difficult long term position. Henry's mistakes were all his own. * Fender's QC problems were of an order of magnitude less than Gibson's and they fixed it. Gibson just keeps making the same stupid mistakes over and over. Moreover, Gibson cods things up on a much bigger canvas. Bit of fret sprout or a hint of orange peel, well, that could happen to anyone. But sending out a $10,000 CS Kossoff replica with the pencil marks for the incomplete relicing clearly visible under the top clear coat then quibbling it about with the buyer while the whole sorry fiasco gets coverage on Les Paul forums? Or the LPJ I bought where the only bit of the wiring harness that had been soldered was the tone cap? The other wires had just been twisted on and left. Now multiply that sort of thing up a thousand times a year for 15 years... * There's nothing much wrong with Fender's range that a bit of judicious pruning wouldn't sort out. And while Fender might put out slightly questionable, wack-job range extensions like the Pawn Shop series or the Parallel Universe series they're not quite so violently puke-inducing as - say - the Lawn Dart V or the Zoot Suit SG. * One gets the sense that FMIC understand their buyers much better than Gibson and have their finger on the pulse of the market. That said, putting Bono on the board and flogging earphones is a bit Henry-esque. * Gibson went out and bought a bunch of music related brands. They closed down some / many of those that musos liked. IIRC, they made a massive hash of TE. Fender - by contrast - eschewed shonky transistor radios and - for example did a deals with Gretsch which has done much to popularise a pretty much moribund specialist brand. * When it comes to CEO's: Gibson has Henry who pushes himself up the front without ever seeming to know much about guitars. Moreover, he's privately made it clear for years that Gibson's 'heritage' doesn't interest him yet publicly asserted that Gibson guitars are the 'heritage' brand that supports the others. Go figure. By contrast, Andy Mooney at FMIC is an experienced marketer who loves guitars - seems he commissioned a bespoke CS job years before he even considered joining FMIC. In a rare interview here (FMIC have never been big on corporate showboating) Mooney explains his approach while digressing upon stuff like the power of a Strat and two Marshall Majors (tip of the hat to Blackmore, obvs). And he's a Scot, btw. Credit also to those who back Mooney, including Justin Norvell (Sen VP Fender Products) who made his name doing a stellar job with the Squier brand, elevating it from cheapie derivative status to a sort of Area 51 testing ground for wild ideas. * Perhaps the most important take out is this: Henry took over when Norlin had utterly debased the brand. At the time he was - to use the cliche - a breath of fresh air. And for half his tenure everything was fine. Kudos to him. But about 15 years ago things started to go iffy and the pace of decline has accelerated rapidly: basically, he's ended up back where he started. A company on the brink, dissatisfied customers and a product over which hang too many question marks. If I disparage Henry it's not because I hate Gibson; it's because he's gone crazy, demotivated his team, stiffed his suppliers, dissed his retailers and patronised his customers while selling them sub-standard, overpriced guitars. Should I give him a gold medal and a pat on the back? No, the main reason I excoriate Mr Juszkiewicz is because I love Gibson guitars and have ever since the first LP I played in 1979 even if it was - with hindsight - a bit of a dog (dome top, big headstock, laminate neck). I love the old faithfuls like the SG, the Firebird, the Explorer, the eb0; I love the idea of quality, entry level instruments like the LPJ and the original MM's; I drool over '57 Gold Tops. Gawd help me, I even kinda love the mutts like the Corvus and the Sonex. So when Henry puts that at risk he's going to get a pasting from me and - unsurprisingly - scores of thousands of other people who've never even heard of BassChat. As for FMIC - I'd love it if they took Gibson over but it's never going to happen. Where have you gone, Ted McCarty? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you...

As a representative of yoofs, I’m really interested in this and will be a keen listener if it goes ahead.

If I'm honest - there's an ampeg svt3 and 8x10 cab at our practice room. I plugged in once before the rest of the band arrived, as I've always wanted to try one. I gave it 2 minutes before I decided it must have been thrashed to death or broken. Awful fuzzy sound, no real punch or warmth. Really disappointed. Sounded like an old gorilla amp. So I used my own amp instead. Then a few weeks ago for whatever reason, I couldn't bring my amp so I had to use it. I had a little eq and drive play around and it was still sounding pretty poor if I'm honest. Way too much drive not to get in the way of what the rest of the band were playing. Imagine a nice standalone bass tone then whack a thin sounding guitar distortion pedal on full over the top and that's what I was getting. Then, the band turn up, and as soon as the drums are playing ..... Wham!! The bloomin thing comes alive! Punchy, tight, warm ..... and errrrrr where has the awful overdrive gone? I don't know. I know it's still there, but I can't hear it. I reckon it turns into magic bass dust and just makes the whole rhythm section that little bit better. I don't know why I'm surprised, every rock band for 40 years has had those svts or similar on stage, but for some reason I thought I knew better. I didn't.

Countryman. Best value and you won’t want or need to upgrade.

I played guitar for many years but was never very good at it. I stumbled on bass aged 39 and found that I was much better as a bass player. I never looked back and consider myself a bass player who also plays a bit of guitar. Learn the bare basics and join a band for accelerated success.

Diaries of GAS addiction, or 'How I ended up with more guitars than friends'?

As a yoof myself, I'd much prefer an audio only podcast, something to listen to while getting uni work done, without a video to distract from said work. I think overall this is a really exciting idea 😀

A few things that every podcast/youtube producer should be aware of: 1. Use a script. And if the format is that of an informal discussion have someone who is in charge of the direction the discussion should be taking, and can get things back on track when it veers too far off topic. They should at least have a set of notes of all the main points that need to be covered during the podcast. And if it is just discussion, have guests who are reasonably eloquent. It doesn't matter how knowledgable you are on your subject if you can't convey that knowledge in a way that is interesting for others to listen to. 2. Edit. Get rid of all of those ums and errs and awkward silences, and make sure the podcast moves along at an entertaining and informative rate. Lose the mumbling and rambling, and keep it snappy and to the point. 3. Get some decent mics for everyone so that they can be heard properly. Learn how to EQ for the spoken voice and consider recording each contributor to their own channel on a multi-track recorder so that each can be individually processed to make them as legible as possible without affecting the others. 4. If there is going to be video make sure that the people and their surroundings look presentable. Anything that distracts from the main content of the podcast/video is diluting the message or subject. 5. Keep all the non-talky bits as short as possible unless they are an essential/integral part of the podcast. Intro music/titles? No more than 10 seconds max, 5 seconds would be better. If you can't say what you need in under 10 seconds you are saying too much. Especially stuff that is going to be repeated in every podcast. If you must have loads of credits etc. put them at the end. People will skip over them, but if it's all at the beginning listeners may not even bother listening.

In answer to the original question, I always strived to get in someone better after a member decided to move on and the band did improve with each iteration, well, until I left. Their new bass player kind of sucks.

Just for example: A podcast with Chowny, Alan from ACG and Andyjr1515 all talking about their bass making experiences. Three completely different parts of the bass market but all very interesting. As for appealing to the "yoof", the recent poll showed that I am in the younger side of the forum and I listen to podcasts quite a lot but currently don't have a go-to bass podcast so would be great to have one! Obviously these things take time to organise and develop but no harm in giving it a bash.

Slightly off topic, but I recently dinged my new bass on a wall. Guess that's why it's a Dingwall.

Ah that explains where I've being going wrong. I thought it was about fly fishing for whales.

I like this idea, you could interview members, showcase their music, talk about the most interesting basses in the For Sale section, pick out the month’s most popular ‘off topic’ thread (like that one about the disposable butt-wipes for example) and chat about it. Doesn’t have to be too serious.

No its Sapele and white polycarbonate (I saw it and thought it why not?!?!) I didn't remake the neck I just made a new small length and recut the scarf joint.........

My position exactly. Also why I like quite feral originals too; if they are already quite damaged, who cares about a few extra dings apart from th neck. The worst dent on a pristine bass is the first, so why have that to look forward to?

That will cause low frequency cancellations. Put one cab on the floor, aimed at the drummer, for him to hear. Put the other on top of it aimed at you for you to hear.

Advertisement: Bass Player Needed Looking for a fun band? We rehearse on Tuesdays (except when we don't because of unexpected spousal emergencies, short-term amnesia or just because). We play the same two songs in different arrangements every time, the extent of the variations depending on whether the guitarist has taken his meds or not. The drummer can't keep time and hits his kit like an angry butcher hacking out pork chops. The keyboards occupy precisely the space where the bass would normally be so you'll have to play everything up beyond the 15th fret. The singer has his own music stand and a jokey hat bearing the embroidered motto: 'I'm The Star'. We might have another guitarist joining but no one's really sure because he's the drummer's mate and we haven't heard from the drummer for six months. We've been rehearsing for four years and have a charity gig possibly booked for July 2027 which will be great exposure. We don't play for money, just for sh!ts and giggles and artistic self-expression, so no bread-heads, ha ha! If you're interested, give us a call but only if you own a van, a PA, a lighting rig, have website building skills and are sufficiently incompetent that we can slag you off behind your back then fire you by email two weeks after you've joined. Ciao!

Whatever feels the most comfortable is the way to go. The first time i picked up a guitar ( at school ) i naturally went right handed, not knowing why. But it was a natural choice. Thats what you should follow, your natural choice Forget any others reasons

I think he auditioned for a tribute band and didn’t get the gig, and then ended up IN Jamiroquai, if my memory serves me correctly! Back on topic, I play bass for ‘The Rocket Man’ a tribute to Elton John, and also ‘And Finally...Phil Collins’ which is pretty self explanatory 🙂

I think it would be very advantageous to have running in parallel to BC, even sharing content, so I can get my bass fix more passively. It is very easy for me to sit and listen to a podcast while driving Excel or writing a paper, whereas I feel guilty if at work I spend more than a few minutes here and there on the forum. But, I love to dig in to the forum for more details, which are also google-able/searchable, when I have more time. I would definitely listen to a weekly summary of the compressor thread for example, maybe with some clips. Or, the Top 3 NBD/NAD/NCD threads. Or rig rundowns, again with clips. If something takes my fancy, I dive in to the BC forum to check it out, in addition to my standard visits.

6000 grit? Is that not just paper? 😮

I had this model from Bass Direct for a very short time (couldn't afford it & had to give it back)- just a great instrument. Bit me baaaaaad with the Maryszczk GAS!

Not bad at all. I bet it dives like crazy though.

Ok I'll have to suss something out 🤔

Everything gets gigged at some point, the joys of children removed all hope of having 'extra' gear 🙂 Although, I do occasionally question the basses I take depending on the 'safety' of the venue.

Depends on what and where. My 1966 EB2 is too fragile and valuable to gig anyplace I might have the chance. I don't gig my drop-dead-gorgeous GMR single-cut in Manchester because I'd be asking to be hit on the head walking back through the city centre to the train station, and I don't gig her at my local om because it would just look like showing off - it would feel like turning up wearing a silk evening gown. An interesting way of thinking about what my ambition is as a bass player, is to get to the standard where I can play venues where I would actually feel safe gigging either of them.