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Been thinking about a compact low wattage/valvey set up for home practice for a while. Two things happened over the last fortnight that turned it into a reality : Local dealer dropped the new price on the Ampeg PF20-T and then these two Ashdown cabs came up for sale 2nd hand just along the road from someone who it turns out is a friend of a friend. The cabs are RM110's but they've had Ashdown CL/AAA red grilles added which I think makes them look pretty classy. In fact it's pretty enough that I'm allowed to keep it in the dining room and don't have to relegate it to the spare room! Sounds-wise is really lovely and warm - especially with my flatwound loaded P with the tone nearly all the way off. Perfect output and volume for home practice as I can get the tone without waking the neighbourhood. I'm a happy bunny.

I think nowadays for weekend warriors such as me (and I guess many others here) gear only matters up to a point. As has already been said, years ago cheap basses were almost unplayable whereas nowadays there are plenty of budget brands that play and sound great. Same with amps/cabs. I think that provided you've met the basics i.e. it's loud enough for what you're doing and has at least the useful bells and whistles that you particularly need, there's not a lot in it. I remember playing through some old buzzing kit that sounded like you'd stacked a pile of duvets in front of the cab. Today there's a vast array of 'cheap' kit that does the job perfectly well. Let's admit it, the average crowd down the Dog & Duck on a Saturday night don't care whether you're playing through a £2k Aguilar rig or an old combo. I'm one of the worst for chopping and changing gear as I'm now in a position where I can, but does it make me sound or play any better? Not really. Throughout the 90's I played lots of gigs and the vast majority were played using an Encore P through a Peavey 160TNT combo. I did on occasion buy other kit such as a Mk1 Wal Custom (for £565 in 1993) but I didn't have it long as I was skint plus I was the first to admit that it was completely wasted on me. The Basschat marketplace does have a lot to answer for. In the past I didn't even have a spare bass! However I do like the fact that on here we have the opportunity to try a whole new range of different kit, then if we fancy something else we can move it on to the next guy/gal for the same price you paid for it. I've been in the fortunate position to try lots of kit that I would never have had the opportunity to try, many items that I lusted after years ago when I wasn't able to buy them. My wife has a theory that there is just a finite amount of kit floating around Basschat that we all keep moving around between each other! One thing I do know is that if I spent as much time practicing as I spend on BC, I'd be a hell of a better player than I am. But back to the OP. In my book if your kit is reliable, playable and loud enough for the job, it's good enough.

Went up to Exeter today to have a look at a few basses. Not really getting on with my MIM p bass and as I’m back in a band again I thought I’d have a look around, try a few and see what I like. I was expecting to be coming home with, if anything, an Ibanez SR as I had an SR600 in the last band and quite liked it. Anyway I tried a few out today - Rockbass NT Streamer MIM jazz Aerodyne Jazz ibanez SR500 Mustang PJ And this Ray 34 that was heavily discounted at Project Music. I’d never played a stingray type bass before but always been interested. Once I’d played it I kept coming back to it and nothing else seemed to have as good a combination of playability and tone for me. Pretty versatile tone wise too. Can’t believe the punch, definition and clarity. I absolutely love the neck on this. The notes seem to just flow out of my fingers! ! Very happy and can’t wait to try it out at band practice this week. cant stop playing bullet in the head!

I expressed the following sentiment in a thread about my Trace combo and thought it may be fun to start a new topic on the subject... "...All these decades spent chasing a 'sound' when in fact it's all in your head - how you sound live is largely down to how everyone else in your band sounds and how good they are at what they do. You can get chronic GAS, spend thousands on gear and attempt to get the 'best' bass tone in the world, but it's all for nothing if your drummer can't play in time, your singer's falling-down drunk, or your guitarist routinely deafens everyone in the room. If your drummer is really on it and they and the other members of the band know how to play quietly and tastefully and listen to each other, you've got half a chance - and what's more, it won't matter if you're playing a Harley Benton Jazz through a Behringer combo, you will sound great..." So what do you think? Is the fact that you (and your band) can actually play more important than your choice of bass and amp? Have you (like me) been largely wasting your time and a huge sum of cash on searching for 'that' bass sound, when the whole enterprise is really a fool's errand and a wild goose chase? Should you have been concentrating on your playing instead of trawling the internet for bass guitar porn and spending time on BassChat pontificating about strings and what's good for metal..?

I suppose I've been a of jack many trades throughout much of my life and had a go at this that and the other just to see if I could do it. Bass playing being something I had a go at and kept up. I've always enjoyed music whether playing, listening, reading about - Rock, Pop, Blues, Jazz, some Folk. And I wondered how you'd go about composing a song/tune. Now, a painting, a sketch, a print, any visual artwork I am at ease with when it comes to creating or criticising. But with music, and no proper tuition, I remain an enthusiastic amateur. Having actually got to the level of performing in a band is one of the best personal achievements in my life. If someone had said to me that from the age of 50+ you will take up bass playing, love it, join a band and perform and often get paid doing it I'd have said you have to be joking. Now to many BC'ers it may not seem such a big deal but to me it is and to those with a 'natural talent' or a musical brain I do envy you. So I wondered and pondered for some time - how do you start to compose music or a song? Do you start with words or music? Do you have to know how to read music proper? And worst of all, the best phrases have been used up by Chuck Berry and Roy Orbison and Lennon and McCartney. So what's left to sing about? Every time I thought I'd have a go I'd end up with a tune/song in my head that I all ready knew. I think Pete Seeger said 'all music is folk music'. It's for people and about people, our lives and our feelings. And what I got from those words was the idea to write a song about something personnel to me, keep it simple, it doesn't have to be anything grand. When Carl Perkins overheard a chance rebuke he wrote 'Blue Suede Shoes'. A memory I cherish is buying my daughter her first pair of proper shoes. She was maybe 6 months old or so. I remember it as if yesterday, and the delight on her face. They were red Jumping Jacks. So I wrote a song called NEW SHOES, a simple 3 chord bash. About this time there seemed to be a lot of bad news, in the papers, on TV, and then the terrible tragedy in Manchester occurred at the concert by Ariana Grande. So I rewrote the song with new lyrics. It's called GOOD NEWS and answers the question of children - what would you like for Xmas? My daughter showed the song to the music teacher at the junior school she works at and the choir sang it in their annual Xmas concert given at a local old folks home. A video was made but was lost when the school's computer went into meltdown. I'm hoping they use it again this year. I'll post it in this thread. See what you think of my effort!

Either a pattern on the tee shirt or that’s some serious man boob sweat 💦

I always find the hating on Bugera / Behringer utterly pointless. Is it a copy of another amp? Probably. Most of Behringers stuff is a copy of something else. Would I pay (in this example) £250 for the amp? Absofeckinglutely! Would I pay the best part of a grand for the amp it's based on? Not in a million years. I'm a weekend warrior not a professional musician. I simply don't have that much cash, or even the desire to spend that much cash on gear even if I had it. So are the companies who make the original amp losing out to the cheaper copy? Absolutely not. If the copy didn't exist then I still wouldn't be buying the original amp, and the people who want the original amp wouldn't buy the cheaper version. What Behringer do is supply decent quality gear at an unbelievable price for those of us who can't afford to spend thousands on top end brands. As well as supplying tons of gear to schools and academies who buy it for the same reason, and introduce whole new generations of people to playing music. Long live Behringer!

So, could I wait 36 hours? Could I b***ery Thing is, one of the remaining major co*k up potentials is fitting the machine screws. It has to be right because there's no wiggle room with machine screws. The inserts have to be absolutely in the right position and absolutely vertical. So rather than worry about it, it was better to just do it. First I dowelled the previous holes - they were originally drilled to 5mm and the machine screws are 4mm and they weren't quite in line with where the neck is now going to be: Then remeasured and drilled the holes for the stainless machined ferrules: Next, drilled the 4mm holes, using my mini press drill to keep it all vertical: Used the point of the wood drill to mark the exact centres on the assembled neck though the body, used some packers to make sure I was square to the mating face incorporating the neck angle, drilled a 6mm hole and fitted the machine screw inserts: Then moment of truth - would it all line up and would the machine screws fit (trust me, they usually don't!). Another 'knock me down with a feather' moment: And THAT means I can look to fit the fretboard very soon and start the neck and heel carve!

Picked up one of these babies today and it's absolutely sweet !

Yes, that would be Maruszczyk.

I sincerely hope that this is the last photo Bluejay posts showing HJ's dangly bits.

This is the way to do a tour if you have: A) A lot of money B) A huge amount of optimism So you pretend to be a band, pretend to have fans, and go on tour. Buy a lot of facebook likes for your page, some fake videos and a lot of youtube views and set up a fake management company, and you can play to empty venues across Europe. http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/11/09/l-a-band-threatin-faked-a-fanbase-to-land-a-european-tour-no-one-attended/

Quick update - it’s going to Jon on Monday. Fingers crossed. I will either love it to bits again or it will be in the classifieds for £50

We’re your jeans balanced or unbalanced afterwards and did they require phantom power?

I think I'll forbear on the '' on this occasion, thank you very much..!

Even if you don't do the 30 minute slot thing, still tell the auditionees that they have a time limit rather than make it open ended. Then if you don't like someone you can get rid of them without any awkwardness. Easier to say we can't carry on because we're out of time rather than we don't want to carry on because you're rubbish. If you do like them, just say the next person has cancelled and ask if they want to stay a bit longer.

Totally this. If you want an expensive bass or amp or whatever then go for it, similary if you're happy with a cheap gear then crack on. Whatever you do though don't think anyone but yourself will really care as long as you sound good. I have a £40 Aria P copy with a 1/4 pounder in it, I could use that bass for the first set and then use a matching coloured Fender Custom shop P for the second set and nobody would know or care. If some geek did notice I would probably get more praise for getting such a good sound from the cheap bass, it would be expected from the Fender. Buy for yourself, play for the audience.

I put Labella copper white nylon tapewounds on it last night and not only do they look brilliant they sound utterly amazing. I had to force myself to go to bed as I didn't want to put it down. I saw it on ebay locally for collection only at an amazing price (Gear4 music had it listed at £2266 !) and to be honest bought it with the intention of selling it on but fell in love with it. When I picked it up it was absolutely flawless and came in a quality Gator case rather than the gig bag Warwick sell it in - all case candy included. Probably my best bass purchase to date.

As long as it plays, looks and sounds how you want it to, no I don't think it really matters two hoots. Doesn't matter if it's a Stagg or a Fodera, a Behringer or an Aguilar.

Is he quitting because of the migraines. ? or has he simply had enough of gigging or playing ? If its only because of the migraine thing it might be worth loking into what's causing them and see if its possible to reduce them. Maybe that's been done and its simply a stress thing for him I find if i don't drink enough water or i have too much coffee in one day i start getting migraines. As long as i drink at least 1 litre of water a day i'm fine. I switched to decaf coffee as well. I occasionally get them triggered when driving in bright sunlight and maybe a direct reflection from something catches my eye and just triggers the vision impairment (i see distortions around the edges of my vision) In bright sunlight i wear sunglasses when driving. It seems worse in winter sunlight for some reason. I'm retired now as well so i have no work related stress which triggered them very regularly almost weekly. Now i have one maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Dave

Pickup cavities, control cavity, arm and belly carve done!! 1st coat of Danish oil on it! Now just waiting for neck screws, bridge, knobs and tuners......... I think it's starting to look really nice now if I do say so myself!! 😁

King Crimson (all 8 of them)! With the mighty Tony Levin on bass. Jolly good. Well done to everyone involved...

Bluetooth won't work for for monitoring for exactly the reason you've discovered. As far as I'm aware there is no way round the lag, it's just too slow to process sound.

Sorry to hear that, hope something new comes up your way, or even maybe another singer and guitarist? On the plus side, you live in Finland which I have always thought looks über cool instead of dreary old U.K.

OK, so here are some vids of last night's practice. You'll need headphones to be able to hear what the bass sounds like. The various songs were using a variety of settings on the bass so hopefully you'll hear a difference. Just TBA, these were mostly running through some new songs to start pulling them together so apologies that the performances aren't so polished. Also, we had some of our teenagers having a go on drums and keys so, again, give them the benefit of the doubt - it was the first time Emma, for instance, had ever sat behind a drum kit with a band!!!! Here's where I managed to switch the bass off at the start of the song... Same song with a pick and Emma on drums... First time running through this tune... Finally, noodling with the pick around the Owner of a Lonely Heart main riff and running through all the various settings...

No, no, NO !, you want at least a hundred watt ALL VALVE head amp and a big bugger-off bass cab for that floor shakin' radiator rattlin' curtain wafting sound. I have a bus stop outside my place and if the would be passengers ain't turning round to look, it needs turning UP ! Apples ?, really ?

At least you know where it is so you can keep track of it

Apparently not - and I didn’t know it was available until Alan said it was! I must admit the formula of a RetroB in P guise with a John East Preamp was just far too tempting.

We're going for a passing nod of respect to the Carl Thompson headstock vibe: - which means two slivers of wings that will sit under a headstock plate. I'll do something along the lines of the recent acoustic build of a thin strip of the walnut central stripe and the outer wood outside that (in that case maple and in this case mahogany). And the wings mahogany / walnut sandwich is gluing as I type

I do still have hair. I have never possessed an ugly green suit. Hmmm. Maybe there’s one in the classifieds..

I hope so, I’ve put a lot of time and effort in to it and I’d like to enjoy it problem free!

You could at least have tidied the ends away into your, erm, “Jack socket” 😁

Last night I turned up the pre to full on my Session 77 with a 9v active bass and there was no clipping. I will have a play with my Zoom MS 60B to find a happy amount of boost to add to my patches. I think with a higher input signal you will notice a significant volume increase with you PJB

Thanks for the advice thus far. I'm definitely checking them out before hand through e-mail conversations and asking for some sort of recording. I want to avoid a complete disaster. I'm also showing them some rehearsal videos of us along with sample set lists so they know what they are getting into..

Go on then 😉 just got it back again for the last time after a fret dress and setup, finally got the pickups wired and screwed in properly ( i missed a connecting wire DOH!) and here it is, the finished customized Pitbull RD kit.... the finish on the headstock is all that lets it down but I can live with that ...for now 😉

Or a medley of In Dulce Jubilo and Kevin Bloody Wilson's Oi Santa Claus You Cnut? That'll keep the punters on their toes... 🙂

Yes, this. It's what your audience hears, after all. We have to remember that non-musicians (and non-drummers) hear a band as one sound, much like the single sound of an orchestra and don't differentiate between instruments. OK, a singer is obvious as people tend to listen to the words, but everything else is a combined effect. So everything has to work and everyone has to be on the ball. Having said that, in my experience the one thing most likely to make punters think you're not a very good band is a drummer that can't play in time, can't properly do fills, plays too many fills, plays too loud or gets too drunk... or all of the above.

Another option: the Røde M2, which is a condenser mic in an SM58-style body with a locking mute switch, currently £68 on Amazon. I've never really got on with the SM58's weird frequency response for my vocals so I bought the M2 to use with the band last year - I've been pretty impressed with it in terms of sound and build quality. (Echoing comments above, I also have an XM8500 in my gig box for emergencies - and I keep the M2 in the nice padded box that came with the XM8500!) Edit: after today's gig, I can also confirm that the M2 works well as an instrument mic for a zheng (Chinese harp).

Emotional. You may remember I mentioned a few weeks ago that my friend and long-standing duo partner, who has been ill for some time, was taken into care the night before we were going to play our local om together for the first time in months. He has been allowed home, at least for now, and emailed me late this afternoon to say he wanted to come out and play "The Weight" tonight (one we've enjoyed playing together before) and would I join him? First time I've gigged my new Ibby 6 - a complete joy - I cut loose and used all six strings to put a bit of variation and sparkle into what can be quite a dull song, and his rhythm guitar and vocals were strong as always. Good harmonica and cajon sitting in with us too. Real synergy, strong groove. I don't think I've ever heard quite so heartfelt a roar of applause there as we got. We were mobbed afterwards by people saying how good it was. And we were - but it was mostly an expression of the love and respect that community has for him. There are many reasons why I so much value my relatively new ability to play bass, but the privilege of supporting him tonight is one I never expected. Proud and humble. The joy and healing in his face... priceless.

Saw it, loved it, & yes, not ashamed to admit that it brought a tear to my eyes on more than one occasion!

In which case, why does it have a Jack socket labeled 'Bass In'?

As far as Behringer parts being difficult to access, I've had to write off a far more expensive Markbass amp as parts are impossible to buy. I bought second hand, barely used it and any resale value has vanished once repair costs and postage to and from the only official engineer allowed to touch it are factored in. My Behringer 450 watt head is still going strong 15 odd years after I bought it and I have just sold my Behringer 4 X 10 due to weight issues. I would have sold my 1 X 15 too but instead I put the speaker in a Trace Cab which had a busted driver. Not the first time my ever reliable Behringer saved the day where more illustrious names have failed. Like everyone else here I can only speak from my personal experience. I refuse to base opinion on unlikely tales about unreliable speakers falling out of the cab at the first rehearsal, because they have the ring of urban myth. I have no hesitation gigging with Behringer gear whatever badge it wears or reputation it has acquired. The wattage numbers don't bother me at all. I know if it's loud enough by playing through it. I know if I like the sound through a similar process. I know it's reliable by the fact that my amp tech has never had the case open.

although that's what she said, but what she demonstrated was don't play different open strings without damping, which is correct.