Leaderboard

Thanks for all the comments folks - really appreciated. I may possibly have had a speck of sentiment in my eye last night. Mrs B is gutted for me too and has said “we need to get you a new one, don’t we” Naturally I said, “yeah we do - a fretted 5 string so I can forget all about it”

I absolutely love this song - I did know about the Bruce Woolley version, and I quite like it. SHAMELESS PLUG: Did I ever tell you all about the time I did this? Yes, I probably did. But here it is anyway.

I can completely understand the feeling of wanting to give up with it - but often I find it's modifying/adjusting/fixing a bass which makes you feel closer to it in the end, and once sorted it will all be a distant memory. Try and forget about it for a week and come back to it fresh when you see Jon. At least he's agreed to have a look, it would be much worse if it was a custom from abroad and you face the endless 'dunno if I can sort that' sort of comment from so called repairers you might get in contact with (most of whom are qualified for no more than a re-string)

There really were some lovely basses at the Bash this year. He Mouse was stupidly good, as everyone has said but the one that most smacked my gob and made me fall a little bit in love (OK a big bit) was one of @cetera‘s Spectors. This finish to be precise. NB no photoshop involved, just a very slight change in camera angle... get a load of this if you missed it...

When did we start posting private correspondence in the Status column? Oh well, here goes... Derek. I don't need the adult diapers now until Friday. Thanks.

A beautiful monster.

He kept them on in bed?

At this point people usually suggest sitting down with the drummer and talking things through or having a 'band discussion' or helpfully reconfiguring your FOH so that the drummer gets 'his sound' and everyone's happy. Well, that never works, so wait until the next time you see him and then punch him in the nuts as hard as you can. No preamble, no 'Can we talk about your bass drum amp, Tarquin?' Just an overwhelming pre-emptive strike on his testicles. He'll probably leave the band on the spot, which is fine. If he doesn't leave, keep pulverising his gonads until he does then find another drummer and carry on.

Via this article from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/30/the-buggles-how-we-made-video-killed-the-radio-star You can either have the original. According to Geoff Downes: "Bruce [Woolley] tried to stop our version of Video and released his more straightforward version [as Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club] before ours, but it wasn’t a hit." Or the copy: Personally, kinda liking the Bruce Woolley version, though the Buggles one is still the winner. So: who knew the Bruce Woolley version even existed, and can we talk about Trevor Horn's bass playing...?

Either way, once Jon has looked at it I’ll be able to report back a full diagnostic. Unless I have done something monumentally stupid, in which case I will go strangely quiet.

Just for balance, I moved to London in July 1974. I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

This may come as a shock to some people, but not everyone lives in a large city. Some of us live in small villages with next to no public transport. My obese chelsea tractor might be out of place in a London street, but is quite handy when the rivers round here flood, which they do with some regularity - I live where the Windrush meets the Thames, and when we get heavy rain there is often a foot or two of water to drive through just to get to the end of the road. I have played gigs in marquees on fields thick with mud - 4 wheel drive can come in handy sometimes!

There isn't a bass on earth worth buying over 1500 quid. I really believe that. Music, soul, love, groove, is created by the fingers and the heart of the player. It's ace to have a lovely quality bass (or any instrument), something well made, that feels great, looks great and sounds great. But to me, you can achieve nirvana on an Ibanez, a Mexican P bass, Yamaha.... or a used Stingray, Lakland.... whatever, etc etc.... I just can't believe that in the hands of 90 percent of us, anything more than that is required. The chosen few, I guess, can afford a Fodera or similar... but honestly... why? Especially when Vinny can't come up with a better headstock.... There's WAY too much emphasis on expensive gear. Amps included. Treat yourself to a Peavey TNT 1x15 off eBay and kick some donkey..... Anyway... I expect I'll get shot down for that. Back to headstocks....

Here's the full, sordid tale...

And here's Trevor playing the tune live for the first time - 25 years after the single was released. He also introduces Bruce Woolley as "an original Buggle", he's in the band on stage.

They will probably have done a lot of work on designing and building a crossover so that the right frequencies are delivered to the correct drivers. If a "punter" puts 2 cabs together they will both be working with the whole signal so if there are mismatches in the drivers that might be apparent in the sound. With a good crossover the different drivers should fit together like a jigsaw, because they will be handling different frequencies. snap!

Just so that you all know, I am showing quite remarkable restraint in not making a comment here.

Also I hope the OP doesn't mind this turning into a thread about horrible headstocks............

I’m personally of the opinion that we're too reliant on cars. What London is doing is ultimately good, Birmingham are introducing charging in the near future too. I’d rather not breath air that’s polluted by car and lorry exhaust fumes. If you play in a band and absolutely need to drive to a gig to carry your equipment then car share, organise amongst yourselves so you’re travelling in the minimum number of vehicles. I’m no doubt going to get a lot of dislikes for this, but we simply can’t carry on as we are, gridlocked roads and pollution, it’s unsustainable.

I've seen a lot of drummers who want to put the kick drum through the PA, so it's not a surprise to see this. I think this is the drummer's equivalent of the guitarist who is massively loud but insisting that he needs to turn up because his cab is pointed at his ankles and he doesn't understand physics: the drummer can hear all of his other drums perfectly loudly because they are all facing his head, but the bass drum is projecting forwards, so he can't hear it as well and thinks it must therefore be far too quiet because he lacks the intellect and imagination to consider that people out front may be able to hear him perfectly well. The band I've just started playing with have a novel solution to this issue. The drummer has an acoustic kit with the exception of the bass drum which is a small electronic pad, which goes through the PA. This works brilliantly as he gets to hear it in the mix without deafening the rest of us with the actual bass drum volume out front.

Just checked and it failed. This is a good thing because it gives me another compelling justification not to go up to London when the Missus starts banging on about art galleries and Peter Jones in Sloane Square. Thank you, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London - you may have f**ked up tens of thousands of people but you have immeasurably enrichened my life.

Postmodern Jukebox put up a version the other day

my favourite version - it's the B-side on one of their singles...can't remember which

If only I had that excuse.... 😂

Ahem...... 'John Deacon' anyone?! 😂

Actually you can be more confident in a bass after a neck repair. If done properly (and I've no doubt it will be) the neck will be stronger than it was before the break. Take a bit of time out, decompress, then get it sorted. A bass that's had as much attention as this will be, in the end, fantastic and what's more, a very personal instrument.

Cheers Trev! It's a beauty indeed...... and I've had it upgraded with active EMG DC pickups and an EMG-BT 18v circuit.... I've created a monster! lol!

I was thrilled to finally see my fave bassist/singer Peter Cetera (ex-Chicago) last night at the Barbican in London! Front row centre seats AND I met him after! It doesn't get better than that....!!! 74 years old and still has his amazing tenor voice intact...... and he played a fantastic set list of classic Chicago and his solo hits. Textbook!!!

As a young lad I was transfixed by the effect he had on girls - that cheeky lopsided grin and big eyes. I just wanted to be like him. Which, given that I strongly resemble the cactus in my avatar, was always going to be a big ask. But he was the epitome of cool back then.

Of course, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks, he is by right afforded legendary status simply because of his excellent contribution to Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds.. (IMHO of course)

I think some manufacturers want you to keep buying more cabs of differing styles, mix them up with all sorts of phasing problems, at different points off axis, get frustrated read bass forums sell them and buy new ones - and then repeat every few years

It was built in 1959...I'm sure at the time the design was considered revolutionary I wouldn't put my hand in my pocket to get it but I quite like it..

The 50 is the stompox version, so fits into a pedal-board etc, and I think it has different cable length simulation settings, whereas the 20 is two little bugs and only simulates a 3 metre cable. I`ve been well chuffed with my WL-20, one of my better purchases.

Yep i love Luton pubs too

Well that's one name for it.

It’s not the only fix, but it’s the easiest. Other fixes would be milling an angle in the pocket or neck heel, recessing the bridge. Or a different (lower) bridge/saddles. So a shim is probably your best bet. Veneer works well for this. Ideally the saddles shouldn’t bottom out until the string are resting on the fret tops (just so you know what to aim for)

I have a scale book at home which includes the major modes, and the suggested use for the locrian mode is to improvise solos with it until you get sacked from the band.

Hi. Welcome to the forum. There are some very friendly people on here. I used to work for Kia Motors (UK)Ltd and visited Seoul, along with a few other places back in 2004. It was a fabulous place.

I assume you mean the wenge? and yeah i think im going to have to, and take some off the edges, and drill out some weight elsewhere too... in case you can't read that... thats 4lbs 7oz just for the wenge. by my best guess, if this all got stuck together and the hardware added on as it is now, this thing would come in around 15lbs, and thats too heavy even for a beast of a man like me. im just realizing now that ive basically got a collection of the heaviest wood i can find and then built a huge body shape with it. worst comes to the worst i'll rout some of the thickness off the wenge, but if i can help it id rather not. in other news, the inlays are coming along well. i had a pretty successful weekend: getting the lightning and those tiny fiddle ends of the clouds in SUUUUUUUCKED. but im pleased with it so far. i like the way the ziricote looks in the background as well, i'd been tempted to just go with a flat black ebony to help the inlays stand out, but the ziricote gives it a bit of depth. what do you guys think? also ive now got a headstock design im pretty happy with: I had originally planned to go with a fairly classic symmetrical headstock... sort of alembic esque. but i always loved the look of le fay bass headstocks: its obviously very similar, although widened out a bit to accommodate a long truss rod cover and some big schaller tuners, and reversed. for some reason i always thought the le fay ones looked like they were the wrong way round.

somebody asked on the facebook page about the envelope detection circuit and the response was..."The entire circuit is redesigned....it's still an optical filter like the Wonderlove but it has lower noise, the detector follows your playing in a more musical way, the build quality is better, and the expression pedal input has been redesigned to have a much smoother sweep."

The bassist in The Cockney Rejects uses one of these, he gets a great sound from it. I think a lot of people associate the Darkglass products with gain/metal sounds but having heard said CR bassists tone they`re capable of some quality tones as well as the gainy stuff.

You get what you pay for. i have a stageclix, its built like a tank and its never ever let me down, or picked up interference in about 7 years. It has its own rechargeable battery so you dont have to buy batteries. It was quite expensive. I had a samson, which used an aaa battery each gig, and it picks up some interference. I also recently bought a Line 6 G10 which has some great features, it turns off if not used, or if you unplug it. Play a note and it starts up. Its rechargeable but Its pretty flimsy. A friend has a line 6 and live he gets interference and it drops out. If you are using one live, Id rather have a cable than an unreliable radio.

No, just a couple of pub gigs so far, and a social club tonight. Probably won't be any videos until the Grateful Dudes play their halloween party in Leicester at the beginning of November. But basically, I just play the same stuff I've always played, but find I'm using it as a five string with the blues bands, not for the below open E notes, but for the ease of being able to play across the board at the 5th or 7th fret most of the time. When I'm playing at home, I am learning more Grateful Dead songs, and they tend to have more bass in the upper register, but I won't be playing with the band again until late October when we have a pre-party rehearsal. I'm not using the chordal and melodic potential of the six, as its not needed in the music I play (not that I would be able to play it anyway!), but rather just as an easier way of playing what I play already without the effort (and risk of missing on a dark stage) a lot of up and down the neck work.

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1379986110' post='2219224'] They're Stingrays made in a place where the labor is a tenth of the U.S. [/quote] Actually, the USA SUBs were made in the same facility in San Luis Obispo, USA as the regular Music Man instruments

Slab body, no contour. No biggy. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a genuine 2EQ Ray shortly after having one and, apart from cosmetics (textured body, painted rosewood neck) sound and build were on a par. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.