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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.

And (if my Russian is at all reliable, which it may not be, because I studied it for only six months in 1969) the bass guitar was built in the Sverdlovsk factory of the Ural Musical Instrument company.

Damn! I just knew that I'd paid over the odds for this ...

Haha! Maybe, because "Santa Baby" got the best reception and the most people up dancing!

Black Lace. They just started taking themselves too seriously after Agadoo.

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.

Wharfdale is far from an obscure brand. Although granted they're not really known for producing guitar and bass amps. But having looked into these a bit more it would appear they they are actually Albion amps / cabs probably rebadged or built under licence by Wharfdale. The guy who actually designed them, Steve Grindrod (I think that must be his stripper name) is an absolute legend in amp building terms, having designed and build pretty much everything that came out of the Marshall factory for 20 years from 1980 then everything from the Vox relaunch including all their Valvetronic range, before going it alone with Albion. So forget the name badge, those cabs come with a surprising amount of pedigree. Here's an interesting article about Steve. He's had quite an illustrious career. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.guitarplayer.com/.amp/gear/meet-your-maker-amp-designer-steve-grindrod

Thought I might as well update this here. We did one rehearsal (without the singer) and it went quite well. Got a decent sound. Vibraslap on the go and everything. Currently half time at the gig and it's going ok so far. We've still got a totally unrehearsed "Santa Baby" to come though so it's all to play for! Surprised how good the congas sound for the songs we're doing, which we're playing quite laid back. Although I can't hear them too well from behind the PA.

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 🙂 🙂

That's a great band name regardless of anything ...

Wel Jel bro!....that looks awesome, and I have no doubt it sounds the same1

Daylight shot:

I usually attend blues jams where it's pretty easy. Well, it is except when a/ the lead mumbles "its in *** ee". You're not sure if they said G, B, D or E and by the time you work it out you're getting sour looks, or perhaps the most pretentious putdown I ever had: "I thought you were playing the Myxolydian all the way through" . Or b/ (remember you're at a blues jam) "Do you know X... it's easy? D, B, C, E, F#, then A, C and back to G [or whatever] .... etc. etc. You'll soon pick it up, off we go then."

Tango? What have you put on it? You could take it down to the tanning shop and put it on a sunbed for an hour to help age it, more seriously a UV lamp at a couple of feet distance could work wonders on colour

Evidence audio Monorail Solderless system that has never let me down! I can make a new cable in minutes! Love em!

I love it but with a few caveats. So much tweaking with a huge range of very useable bass synth sounds but it desperately needs some software so you can see (remember!) your settings (although I may have to take the plunge and get midi designer). The tracking is heavily dependent on which preset I use but yes, the octave is vary handy. Some regrets about selling you the FI but realistically, for my needs, the Enzo is 90% there. I'm hopefully Meris will update it and possibly even develop some Mac-based software but even as it is, it's one of my favourite buys of 2018 (along with a GFI Specular Tempus and a just acquired Lightning Boy NuVision preamp).

I suppose there's logic in that but it's making an issue of a problem that doesn't really exist, at least no more so than any electrical problem can occur at any time with any equipment. Most stand alone stomp boxes have an external PSU with the same cable hookup. I could just as easily say I wouldn't have a pedal with a built in PSU because if the supply fails then the whole thing his to be repaired rather than just buying another cheap PSU. I get what you're saying, but in reality it's not really a problem. For the record though, the M13 does have a cable retainer. I've had mine for over 5 years with no issues whatsoever. Unlike many cheap plastic feeling multi FX units these things are built like tanks. I did recently build myself a homebrew pedal board just to keep things tidy, but prior to that I've always used it straight on the floor.

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

Of course, if a load of drunk Puerto Ricans and Cubans walk into the pub, they will love it...

Excuse the amount of pics, but a past to present.