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Last night my blues band played the town's Art Centre. This may not sound a particularly big deal but for me it was one off the bucket list. The venue isn't big, but it has a good reputation and has had some very good artists and bands play there...the likes of John Martyn (obviously when he was alive), Andy Fairweather Low is there again soon. The first time I went so see a band was at this venue, I was in my teens and went to see a band called the Cult Maniax, ironically last night, my first time playing there, our guitarist was in the Cult Maniax. This was a ticket event, we didn't sell all tickets but the venue were very pleased with the turnout, I think we out sold a much better known blues band a few weeks ago. It was a great gig. When we finished the first song we received a massive cheer. I think this really spurred us on and gave us confidence to not just play the songs but to entertain as well...if you get my drift. Post gig I had people come up to me and say how good they thought it was, never had that before. This was the first time the band had played an established venue having to sell tickets (we usually play pubs) and we were all really chuffed with how it went.

I feel like I'm in a really obvious game within the Crystal Maze now, wearing an ill fitting jump suit, knowing full well that everybody at home behind the tele is shouting at me, "What a Richard!, just freaking listen and get it already you ****!".

I'm a big fan of WRs Heavy Weather but for me Percy Jones with Brand X top the fretless bill (I've got the 4 CD set Nuclear Burn so can't decipher which album is best!).

Brand snobbery and much competition I reckon . Used and owned a few Laney rigs over the years , never had a bad sound . A bass player local to me uses a Laney rig ( DPseries ) and sounds enormous Like the look of the newer Nexus , just think its so competive at the pricing and maybe they lack an endorsee or 2 . Must remember where I left / put / stored / my RB9 too …hmmm Gary

My setup is quite straightforward - a Fishman clone for upright and an Xotic Bass BB clone for bass guitar (P bass with flats). Zero regrets about selling all my bass amps and cabs. FWIW those were Genz Benz & Barefaced, then before that Gallien Krueger & Hartke.

put the guitar together today just a mock-up to make sure everything fitted and I was pleasantly surprized that it all fitted ok, the pups were a bit tight and I think I will need a little shim in the neck pocket or sand a bit of the bottom depends on how lazy I feel, I will take it apart tomorrow and try to get a coat of lacquer on it. got to put another hanger on the wall now.

It was! Good high-energy stuff and good audience. Really sorry I had to leave early, but you don't want to be on the last bus out of Stockport on a Saturday night 😞 Hoping to get my band to one of your Sunday afternoon open mics soon.

I always wanted to release an album that not only was it not recorded at A=440 but each individual track was off by a different amount. And then to mess with people's minds even more the tunings of the individual tracks would also be different depending on the format - CD, Vinyl, iTunes download, Amazon download, Spotify stream etc.

Whether you're a fan or not, check out June Lee's transcriptions of JC's stuff. Amazing works of scholarship & musicality.

Just for the anecdote... More years ago than I care to remember (even if I could ...), I was an active member of the organising team for our local summer festival (Les Trois Elephants; look it up..?). Ideas for a 'theme' were always in discussion over the winter hiatus; one suggestion I made seemed to strike a note with the others. I had contacts, from a previous job, with purveyors of second-hand pianos in the North of England. They had (and still have...) entire floors of a very large building, heaving with pianos of all sorts, many of which have no value as instruments (wooden frames, you see...), to be had for a song and a penny. My idea was to bring over to France a Tautliner full of pianos (about fifty or so...), build a pyramid as part of the festival decor, and, at a suitable moment, set it alight. Stuffed with adequate preparation (ping-pong balls stuck in the strings, rubber bands, a bit of pyrotechnics...), the blaze would 'play' itself; it was to be recorded, both from outside and from a couple of sacrificial mic's inside. The budget was accorded (modest enough; the truck cost more than the joannas...), and a few days before the festival, they were delivered. That's when it all went wrong. Seeing these pianos, half of the team, and more onlookers once they heard the news, decided that these 'instruments' were in too good a state, and would grace their homes. Once a distribution of the better looking furniture (for that's what they're classed as, really...) had taken place, there were so few pianos left, it was not worth piling 'em up..! The remaining pieces were scattered around the festival site as ornaments, but the Biggest Blaze of Pianos in the World did not take place. A shame, really, as I could otherwise have played you the resulting cacophony. I'd especially ordered (and paid extra for...) a player piano, which was to be the summit of the edifice, playing away by itself until things go too hot. Never mind; at least I tried. The festival was, despite not having this show-piece, a great success, and for several more years since, including this year.

Cracking build Andy, first class. Len must be chuffed.

Just finished the Proms show. Absolutely incredible, great pacing with amazing dynamics, harmonically and rhythmically complex whilst also being beautifully sparse in places. Normally i’d take unbridge at people saying he plays it safe.....far from it, as mentioned, the harmony and rhythms that weave their way through his songs and arrangements are definitely not ‘safe’.......that said, they are safe because he’s utterly in control, nothing is an accident, everything is constructed perfectly! Yet he still manages to create the magic that other artists only sometimes stumble on by being ‘on the edge’. If there were a couple of low-lights, it was Every Little Thing She Does and All Night Long, boring choices, but lots of amazing ideas within them to unpack and learn from! Yeah, amazing on the whole. Hideaway (song number 2) was a particular highlight! Wish I could have been there! Si

I think if you're wearing the dress and wig most people will know who you are supposed to be. If you get time you could draw on some sailor tattoos as well.

Two more jobs - soldering the wires and fitting the strap buttons. However, took the advantage of a little bit of cloud (not often in the UK we say THAT!) to take the arty-farty shots - taking photos in full sunlight is not an easy thing to do! Before those shots (and forgive the self-indulgence!), someone asked me why I've started scooping the back. Two reasons that can be seen in these two shots: It takes out a LOT of weight. Just look at how much wood has been removed - and this is a relatively thick body this time: It allows a superslim transition of the neck to the body. Again, this one has been made a little deeper (this one is 30mm at its minimum - my last build was 25mm where the body was basically the same thickness as the neck!) but still retains those pleasing lines at the transition. I've also left the transition relatively modest starting with a taper just past the 13th fret - I can always get the surform out if, after he's had a proper play with it, @Len_derby wants it slimmer further up Anyway, enough of the technicals - here are the fancy shots: As always, many thanks for sticking with yet another tortuous thread and for your kind words and encouragement - always HUGELY appreciated Andy

Every Laney bass amp I've played, in rehearsal rooms and at gigs, has sounded great. I do believe their lack of kudos, is merely due to brand snobbery. I've owned many top brand amps and cabs over the years and laney holds it's own with all of them.

I had the Nexus 1x15" and 4x10" cabs and absolutely loved them. They were very capable cabs but I just wanted and needed something smaller and lighter or I would still have them

The Nexus Tube head I recall was superb! Heavy, just like an SVT II or Mesa 400, but easily as lovely sounding! I also really liked the SL and SLS amplifiers and combos which have a pleasing tone and some clever features on board. 👍

I have the same guitar and no way is that normal action!

Met with Dan today to purchase his Sandberg bass. My first purchase off the forum and what a great experience it was too. Dan is an absolute gentleman and met me as arranged, on time and his Comms were great through the whole process. The bass is fantastic and I am one very satisfied customer. Thumbs up to a great seller! 😃

My bass

Looks ace, seriously chic. Me likey much.

We had a great gig at a little pub in Mold , North Wales , it seemed a bit quiet setting up , but was bouncing by the third number. Got called for 3 encores finishing at 12.15 it took ages to breakdown for all the dudes wanting a chat , very pleased with the performance and the staff were a bit gutted as we are not due back there until December 😂

Everyone knows helium changes timbre not pitch

Blimey - I'll have to put the Rascal Mervyn-Lyte you built for me on a diet!! Congrats on another beautiful creation.

It depends on the gig. Mostly I do have FOH support, and I use the powered speaker as a monitor. But some of the smaller gigs there isn't FOH and so I use it as a backline. I actually currently have three RCF speakers - two HD 10-A and one 732-A - as I am figuring out which options work best for me overall. For example, last night I used the 732-A as backline at a wedding, doubling with a six-piece band (drums, keys, two horns, vocals). (The QSC K10 on the pole was just for the vocals). The venue was this place - it's not a huge room, but the doors were open like in the photo and many people were outside.

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It's amazing how the addition of a sock can give everything clarity. Perhaps that what was missing from the performance in the opening post...?

When I'm learning a song that's a little bit out, tuning wise, I import it into logic, pitch shift it the appropriate amount to bring it into tune then bounce a copy of it I to my collection so it's always there for reference

What a great discussion my only insight would be that I get where Lennies composition entry style comes from , they have a style that is supposed to sound like they do 😎 Where as mine just end up sounding like they do

Just added the strap buttons and I'm relieved pleased to say that it balances upright and level. On the knee it's fine too. So, just got to swop that pesky blend pot when it arrives and do the final wipe over with micro-web and it's ready to pass across

That is amazing. So much detail work

I remember being quite unimpressed with that when it first came out (recording too dry?) but it has grown on me since and gets played quite often now.

It's enough to drive one potty!

Is it the MN type you wanted? (Centre both 100%)

A few years ago we were on holiday in Locarno, Switzerland and a stage was erected in the town square. As dusk fell the music started and I found myself at a free open air concert by Al Jarraeu!

I’ve tried it. Well now. It sounds really rather different to my 51P partscaster. Far more open, lots more snarl and much more in the mids. It’s not as spaced as a Precision - much less of that piano like quality and far more growl in the mids. Then there’s the hollow nature - it’s got some the air and hollow thump you get from a hollow body but still has plenty of sustain (centre block no doubt). Compared to my precisions it doesn’t sound like a Precision. But it’s not 100% Ric - it’s like a bag of Ric flavoured crisps - sort of Pricisionbacker if you like. However, it sits so well in the mix when I play along to stuff - far more presence and up front sound due to those highlighted mids. Interesting. Have tried flats and roundwounds - rounds seem to accentuate the Ric side more, flats the P side. I have an idea for sound samples so bear with me..

Glad the pickup came 🙂 And thought I'd better come and say hi ... after all, I've been bass player in a few bands too, have owned everything from a 63 Precision to a BC Rich Mockingbird bass, and build and repair nearly as many bass pickups as guitar ones. Plus my business partner's a bass player, and is always trying to get me to design and wind more bass stuff ... he'll be flipping his fingers in delight. 🙂

Well hello chaps, I thought I'd better say hello and explain Bridgehouse's pickup as I'm the person who designed and wound it :-) My business involves a hell of a lot of pickup rewinds (as well as building new pickups), and the most common bass pickup to need my ministrations is that 'certain classic California-made' bass we are discussing. It's always had me thinking that it's kinda an object lesson in how to break the mould in bass pickup design ... because it's actually built pretty much the opposite way to the way you'd expect to produce bass tones. It's thin bobbin and super fine wire combined with relatively low output is really poles apart from the tall bobbin, thicker wired P Bass and J Bass. There are plenty of guitar pickups that use the squat bobbin approach: the P90 and the Jazzmaster are two notable ones, and they instantly sound different to taller bobbin pickups like Strat ones. My instant thought was to replicate the tones Bridgehouse was looking for (without tons of extra EQ) a 51 P Bass bobbin was too tall and would accentuate too much treble over mids. So I fired up the laser cutter and produced a custom bobbin of exactly the same winding area as the ... um ... Californian bass, and sat it atop a ceramic magnet ... filling it to 14k with 44awg wire. As a finishing touch I added adjustable dome head steel poles. Now does it sound exactly like the original? I popped it briefly into my bass pickup test guitar (a P Bass partscaster with a dirty big central rout) and gave it a little go ... I ended up with a big smile. Not an exact ringer, but a lot closer than I've ever got with a Precision and no EQ. I'll leave it to Bridgehouse to do some sound samples ... but I'm pleased I proved a bit of a concept, at least to myself.

Its a great Bass Jeff and is my first 5 String that I have owned and played, the neck is very easy to play and its light weight , well balanced and sounds grand, its just that I managed to get some birthday money and have upgraded to a more expensive bass and I don have much space to store instruments at the moment, I'm sure it will go to a good home and good to good use.

Great post. For me "Masques" by Brand X is tops. Percy Jones playing is hugely expansive, influential and undoubtedly had a meaningful affect upon Mick Karns development. ... I wouldn't disagree with any of the other opinions offered thus far. Jaco was obviously a monster on "Heavy Weather" by Weather Report.

I guess most people are conditioned and shaped by sounds they feel comfortable hearing. Do I like this? No. Neither do I dislike it. However, it is interesting. And that’s more than most.

New Jamerson Analysed video - Darling Dear (1970) Jackson 5 https://youtu.be/5kg9_2teoA8

I've never understood this. Guitarists are even worse for it. The best bit of advice I ever had - set up, plug in, tune up, play a couple of notes to make sure it works, PUT IT DOWN!!

Actually, how about a 'Sausage Fest' pedal - one knob, to control the bias. No footswitch of course...it's an 'always on' kind of effect.

Jim Lea's playing a John Birch in that pic.

If you just want 2D any vector-based Illustration program will be fine. If you are already an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, then Illustrator will be included in your package. Otherwise have a look at Affinity Designer which is currently on offer for £33.99

...and here it is alongside my J&D ‘70s Jazz, which was an absolute steal and gets gigged regularly. I can’t say enough about how great this bass is, especially for just a shade over £100.