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I have just complete a tremendous experience, ordered a bass for my 50th and it arrived early thanks to Alan. From start to finish Alan has been great. The bass on the other hand is fantastic. Full specs here: https://www.acguitars.co.uk/project/0328urecurve5/

Call me crazy, but I just met a chap in Buxton and did an eBay trade deal. Traded my PDN Musicman Starry Night Stingray for a Euro 5 LX. Couldn’t be happier!!!!

... but almost as good - I've just re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD. I'll have to play the strings in a bit, of course, but first impressions are excellent. The strings (basic D'Addario medium gauge rounds that I've been carrying around as spares) fit the bridge and nut nicely, the tension and action were fine without any tweaking, and the B string (which is supposed to be E) is better than the one on my Jazz V (which is supposed to be B). This is going to force me to use the B string in my main basslines rather than just for throwing in passing notes under them. I do tend to drift towards the higher end of the range, although I know that means my sound can get a bit lost in the mix - this should keep me away from that. It also gives me a new sound - and a new toy! - for a lot less trouble and money than buying a new bass! 🙂 Happy cat.

A completely unplanned ambush which left me with a fit of the giggles and slightly spoiled the rock'n'roll sneer that this song needs.

Plan is, try and remain cost neutral. If I want something, then I need to sell something to raise the funds. Thats 2019, still got a week of 2018 to shop in first and I’m going out in style. 😂

Merry Xmas Basschatters! Thought I'd share a quick arrangement of "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio, taken from the incredible "A Charlie Brown Christmas" album. Always loved Guaraldi's contrast of sweet melodies against unusual harmonies so thought I'd have a go at transcribing a piece finally! Have a great Xmas when it comes, all!

I thought I was going to be able to contain myself about this build, but the more pictures Chris sends me the more excited I am getting I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing! I cant recommend Alpher highly enough, anyone looking for a world class instrument should really give them a shout!

Otoh I stepped up at the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival last year and found myself playing with Matt Long from Catfish - possibly the best young blues/rock guitar player in the UK atm - and Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins, definitely two of the best female singers (both in the loud unsubtle mould - hurricanes if you get anywhere near them on stage). Utterly intimidating (I've told the story in full on another thread) but Matt supported me brilliantly and I got through ok (on the cr@ppy recording on my phone I sound better than I thought I was at the time). Playing with better (in this case off-the-planet better) musicians is imho the best way to raise your game, if you get the chance. And that is now one of my all-time most cherished memories and motivations. If the chance comes again I'll be able to play better. Promise to myself.

I used to go to open nights when I lived in Chelmsford in the late 90's. I had some fun nights there, getting up to play on a few numbers. Then one night, Guthrie Govan turned up and joined in. I hid in the bog for half an hour until he went away.

It just has very serious look that says “I am capable of knocking down buildings”.

He was in Curved Air for a bit so he's alright by me.

It's that orange that I thought they must have used Tango to stain it, I was thinking of leaving it near the window so the sun gets on it and it might lighten up a bit but then I realised I lived in Wales so not much sun so the UV lamp idea sounds like a good idea 😀

It's an illness, it sneaks up on you when you're not looking and causes you to make irrational decisions. It doesn't discriminate, it cares not of wealth, colour, sex, race or age. Be careful folks, it hides around every corner and pounces when your guard is down. I was totally happy with all my gear, even started working out what to sell in order to downsize to what I really need, and this time I really am going to sell stuff. Then in a 24 hour period I'd seen, pondered and spent the most I've ever spent on a bass, without even holding it. As I said be careful out there folks, beware of the classifieds, FB selling pages, instrument shops, even mates of mates who 'have this bass for sale', it's too late for me but if this cautionary tale helps just one person then it's been worth it. Stay wary! 😁

They have the suffix "M" if they have the magnetic pickups, so that would be (but isn't) a CR5M.

Best bass purchase: my NS Design CR5 upright bass - Love it!!!! Worst bass purchase: Dunlop Super Bright bass strings. Dear goodness! At first they're all top and zingy, but without a solid bass fundamental to the tone. Then, as they bed in, they start to settle down. And then one day, overnight, the sound goes from zingy to sounding like someone is kicking a cardboard box down the street. Bloody awful strings!! (in my humble opinion)

In all fairness, you only have to play one note at a time so that's easy, right?

10 o'clock yesterday morning and I was just up and pottering around the flat when I received a phone call.. could I dep with a Rolling Stones trib band, performing that very afternoon? Load in time, 1pm!! I madly said yes. I depped with this band for a few gigs over the summer and really enjoyed it and I got to know the songs really well. However, I hadn't played any of them since the end of August and I didn't really feel 'match fit'. Still, it seems they were desperate. There had been some sort of falling out the night before, leading to the departure of both bass player and drummer. The gig was a 'Rock n Roll Circus' event, featuring a John Lennon trib, a Who trib and the Stones trib 'headlining'. I had in fact intended to go along to watch with a few friends, so I had to let them know I'd be going on ahead and actually playing!! The Who drummer agreed to be both Keith Moon and Charlie Watts for the night 🙂 It was a smashing afternoon. There was an MC all dressed up like a ring master and a very good magician doing conjouring tricks with balls (steady, discreet!) which all added to the rock on roll circus atmosphere. However, I felt very nervous as I was completely unrehearsed and was just hoping that it would all come flooding back. As we were last on, my nerves just grew throughout the afternoon. When I got up to play I decided not to do anything flashy, just concentrate on trying to remember it all, and to stay at the back and not to try to move around much. A pretty good Bill Wyman impression then, haha! 🙂 Afterwards everyone was very complimentary, especially the 'John Lennon' who I know slightly but who hadn't see me play rock n roll before. So I took that as the biggest compliment, as he made a point of coming up to speak to me. However I felt I had only just got through by the skin of my teeth and delivered quite an array of bum notes! Saw some vids of it on line today though, and I didn't sound as bad as I thought, so that was a relief. Looks like I'll be doing another one on Friday!! I'll be better prepared this time though 🙂 I love my life 🙂 🙂

Yes it does, I love the preamp

Absolutely stunning. Bet it sounds glorious too

On that like a tramp on chips.

You did put a battery in didn't you?

Like the hofner you have Cat

Agreed! I've always found Genesis bass lines confusing though, probably cos I can never be quite sure if they are bass guitar, bass pedals or Tony Bank's left hand!

Actually, in truth the song that gets called the most often is, you know, that one, you must know it, it goes dum-dum-dum-di-dum, no wait a minute that's the keyboard bit, but anyway it's really famous, I thought everyone knew it.

Ha! Thanks for that. I thought I read "Ural" in double quotes on that plate. (Just spotting a few random words because I can read Greek - I read no Russian at all, I'm afraid.)

I’ve had one prior, a few years back and loved it, although the colour wasn’t really me, (deep red) it actually dulled the flame on the top which was a shame, you couldn’t really see the figuring. But not with this one! Plus as a bonus the Mrs says “natural wood coloured basses suit you more because you’re a wood nut” Good enough excuse for me!

I am a bass playing drummer. Playing bass improved my drumming no end, I now leave more space for the bassist and realise we are more of a unit than two distinct entities. It also helped my bass playing for the same reasons.

So it isn't only me who believes bassplayers are the only people with proper cable management? If I had a dollar for every time MY extra cable had to serve as a guitar cable because one of our guitarists forgot or broke their flimsy sh*tty cable... I would be able to buy them some decent cables.

I can't belive the SA manta hasn't been mentioned here yet! Check our Adams other vids for more of the same!

It’s that thing where we think the more expensive thing is better. Even when it’s probably just different

So in an effort to sit firmly on the fence of Killing Rock N Roll (see several other threads), alongside my DI/In-ears setup, I sometimes have need of backline for the Rawk band I play in. I'd been using my Walkabout into my Barefaced Super Twin to very satisfactory results, but a while back I picked up a Compact, just to get all modular for smaller gigs and a slightly (15lbs or so) lighter load. I'm sure you can guess what happened next, on an idle afternoon while everyone else was out... Soooo, it's got the best thing about a proper stack, in that it's much, much nearer my ears, but sweet guinea pig of Winnipeg, what a noiiiiiiiise...ok, I've not gigged it yet, but I nearly dismantled the back half of the house with it. I used to have an SVT/810, and I'd put this up against one for sheer thunder. The WA will be putting out a fair bit more than 300w into the 2.67 ohm load (and it was loud enough anyway), but those cabs get every db out of every watt... And the whole thing weighs 80lb or so. 😀

I only tend to contribute if I think it will be of use to someone, which this may well do, so.... Best: Fender Bassman 100T. It's bulky and heavy but I don't care; it's great. The EQ and blend etc takes some getting used to but I do rather like it. The 25W and silent modes are most useful and it's going through a Barefaced Two10, which is a good match I think. Worst: Olympic Shift Line Mk3 preamp. It sounds excellent in the videos, I just couldn't get it to come alive as a lone pedal without something else driving it. Maybe I was expecting too much of it going straight to a PA, but I found the GK Plex for me is a better piece of kit - far more versatile and a digital fuzz tone when the gain is set high.

Ditto !

Good morning , here's a one off. Fretted and fretless pair

It involved Cash in a Dash (local cash converters type place).- half a mile from my house....FFS....total Moriarty!!! Learning.... - insure your stuff (don’t forget you need to ‘activate’ your free MU insurance if you have it) - don’t leave it in the car....erk - phone the police straight away if owt gets nicked - the crime number is super important in getting your stuff back - try the “they can’t be that stupid” really obvious places early xxxxx

I assumed they messed up the pickup cutout so did that to hide it?

I was going to say "westcountry"? Glastonbury's over two hours north from me. Eden is westcountry. (Tongue in cheek disclaimer for the argumentative types) I don't know why anyone gets upset over these Glastonbury bookings, it's a mainstream pop festival and Kylie is a mainstream pop star whose been churning out hits for three decades. I'd have thought that qualified her for 'Legend' status in the eyes of the average Glastonbury goer. I'd be fairly content to have had her longevity and success, as would many more on here I'd imagine. Never mind keep knocking her.

This will be awful. If I lived closer I would come along, film you cringing and make a fortune on youtube.

No doubt there will be plenty of Pedaltrain recommendations made shortly but be sure to also check out the new Rockboard by Warwick range. They have nice little design feature tweaks from the PT range which really work.