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Will probably look a bit like this:

IEM route may help you - especially if custom moulded - but you’ll need to think your setup and how you’ll route everything into your ears such that you can get a good mix of the band along side yourself. I may also recommend you getting a digital octave pitch shifter so that you get a copy of what you are playing with an octave up so your bass is audible in a more friendly frequency spectrum in your ears. Mix the octave up with your source signal in your ears only not out front. That will give you the intelligibility in your playing to hear what’s going on. Petes suggestion of ZS10s is a good one, also UE6s are a great custom IEM for us bass players. I do think isolation is key for you though - the more you can cut out and the lower volume you can play at, the less impact and pain associated with your tinnitus you will have. If you are looking over ear, EX29 is also a good choice - Paul Gilbert’s preferred headphone. Additionally, as you mention them, the bass response and crucially the headroom on The ACS dual drivers are pretty poor - they may be actually adding to the distortion - they run out of headroom quickly and distortion sets in. Additionally - are you sure that the balanced armatures aren’t damaged? Feel free to msg me or head over to the IEM thread if you need some pointers on how to make all this work.

I find 99% of singlecut basses absolutely foul to look at - would not be seen dead playing such a thing - even if it was a £15000 Fedora. Really don't know why theses vile, bulbous, lumpy things, with their extra 2kg of unnecessary wood, seem so popular with people who spend huge money on luthier-built basses. Likewise basses with more than 5 strings - which funnily enough seem to go hand -in-hand with a massive exotic-wood body-plank shaped like Snoopy's head. You just know someone's going to pick it up and start endlessly noodling out anaemic, bloopy-sounding, atonal "solos" don't you?

A crudely drawn pair of breasts.

OK - although there is one variation I'm putting in, explained below, its as finished as makes no difference. It's now got a set of heavy gauge NYXL's (James' request) which, so far, hasn't snapped the neck! They are pretty mighty, though at 55-110. They even added 2oz to my weight check with my set-up medium string set!! But, wow, they sound good. I've recorded a tiny bit just to show the bridge, middle, neck on the blender and played through my mini PA (don't have a bass rig, I'm afraid) which I will post shortly. In the meantime, here are a few finished shots with the arty farty black background. Forgive the self-indulgence, folks : The variation I'm toying with is a request by James to see what a matching control cover rather than a contrasting one would look like. In both cases - because they are made from the few offcuts of the top or back timbers that are big enough, I'm not able to choose matching grains. This is what a control cover from an Ash offcut looks like: It's a pity the offcut wasn't big enough even to have it the other way round but it wasn't In real life, the contrasting one actually looks better because it is clearly matched to the top wood but it's no problem either way - I'll send both and James can fit whichever he prefers. They have magnetic catches so it only takes around 2 seconds to swop them. With the (literally) heavy-gauge strings, it's final playing weight is an ounce over 6 3/4 lbs. A few ounces heavier than @Len_derby 's Jazz p/up version, but still not bad for a long-scale PJ I'll see if the sound clip has come out anything like OK and, if so, will post shortly As always, many thanks for the very encouraging feedback along the way Andy

From the back catalogue: Hey Dude Arnold Payne 20th Nervous Breakdown Barman Voodoo Style Sharp Dressed Nan Viva Las Palmas Hit me with your walking stick WonderBall Armenian Rhapsody ...

One thing I do know... you gots to love a quality come-back. First class.

Ok, so I had my custom bass made and although I still don't actually have it - I already have the pictures, so sharing time! The wooden parts are Japanese but everything was hand finished in Poland. It features: - 3 piece alder body - maple neck with black blocks and binding - nitrocellulose finish - Gotoh tuners, vintage style bridge - DiMarzio pickups - CTS Pots It was relic'ed slightly as you can see but this bass is brand new.

I thought I’d chime in with my BB now it’s been restored to its former goldy-ness with a replacement set of tuning machines... I acquired this BB about a year ago. It came with non-original Gotoh tuners in silver which clashed a little with the other gold hardware, so when a gold set of schallers appeared here on BC I could resist! I also previously installed a BB2024 p’up for a bit more thunderous low end! Love this bass!

I just couldn`t deal with that, OCD Rules & Regs, chapter 5, paragraph 12 state mahoosive overhang on amps/cabs shall not be permitted.

Tough but somebody has to do it 🙂 I used to be embarrassed when women rushed up to me and told me I was wonderful (especially if I'd played badly), but I've become more comfortable with being a "role model" (especially now that I play better). If I'd seen a band with a female bass player when I first wanted to play, it might just have tipped me over the doubts and discouragement then, rather than waiting through 45 years of sorrow and lost time before starting. To get back on topic, these days I make a point of letting people know, hoping it will break down the stereotype at least a bit. Yes the resulting conversations can be annoying, but it's worth that if it makes them re-think.

Another pickguard.

Back on topic... I do not suffer from bass prejudice! I'll play anything. Once, in IKEA, there was a P bass copy adorning a wall in one of their rooms. It was knackered and had 3 strings. They'd screwed it to the wall to prevent people stealing/playing with it. Undeterred, I plucked a string. BOOM! The stud wall it was screwed to acted like a huge soundboard. And because it was screwed to it, the energy transfer was very good! I tuned it to itself, loosely in EAD, and played it (fretting it from the front) until they asked me to leave because of the racket. Moral of this story; Play everything you can get your mitts on. You might get a pleasant surprise! It's easy for me; tone & ergonomics > aesthetics. Others' mileage may vary, of course!

I won't argue as I only have an European diploma in business management (I must be some kind of moron has I only got the highest distinction with 91%) among others, but if you can read, which is something I doubt, as I explained my analysis a few times in this thread, here is something interesting : https://bklyner.com/industry-city-maker-spotlight-fodera-guitars/ So they have 20 employees, making around 300 instruments a year with an annual estimated revenue of $10.700.000 USD. I'll let you do the maths as I'm too stupid to do it, but in a communist approach (as they seem to be philanthropic people) each of the employee would earn around $12.000 USD per month all taxes, running costs, expenses and investments deducted.

All I ever wanted when I started playing bass in the early 80s was a big TE rig. A 15, a 4 X 10, and a glowing green lit head to reach up and plug into. The ultimate set up it seemed to me. When I finally acquired my first Trace many years later it was a small 130w combo. It sounded every bit as good as I hoped it would and lasted me for years, but it wasn't the huge rig I'd fantasised and lusted for. Fast forward to the present. My dream set up appears regularly in the for sale section here and on eBay and guess what? Now I can afford it I can't bloody lift it.

It's all subjective but.... 1970s soul,funk and disco was a golden age for bass. Some might find some of it a bit cheesy but the general standard of musicianship (not just bass) on a lot of those tracks was just sky high.

Hi all, long time lurker, but now I’m all out in the poem, as it were

I'd never plagiarise anyone else's work. Keith Richards on Led Zep: "There's something a little hollow about it, you know?"

My guess - Lord Lucan & Shergar. You know I'm right!

Not if you play bass. Chances are nobody would have noticed you...

I sometimes dep in a band where during the band intros the bandleader will introduce a musician as the musical liason officer and suggest that anyone who plays an instrument or perhaps has a child who plays comes and chats to them about their experiences during the break!

Being in a covers band, most of the music we play is rarely my cup of tea. But the upside is that playing it gets us much more gigs, bigger audiences and money. The buzz comes from pleasing the audience and enjoying the atmosphere. It's a lot of fun! I'd love to also get the buzz from playing my taste in music but the two rarely cross over. Cover bands are a different world which needs a different approach. I'd say learn the songs, give it your all and see where it goes. You might enjoy it in a way you didn't expect. Like others have said, don't go for a jam, that'll not go down well. Good luck!

Perk of the job fuck wank bastard piss

Assemble a 20 piece band and see if you can drink the pub dry on freebies in the first half hour

Is this like "Youth-Hostelling with Chris Eubank"? 😂 (copyright Alan Partridge)

As witnessed at the Winter Sprinter event at the Lexington’s on 09/01/19, and played by Flowers and Firestations. It didn’t collapse during the performance. Show us your Jenga stacks!

Heft was used THREE TIMES during the Jerry Corbyn interview on the Andrew Marr Sunday morning programme. Surely it'll be Ampeg on BBC Breakfast next and HPF on Good Morning Britain. Can't wait for the benefits of using a compressor for bass on Question Time!

Keith Richards at least 10 years older than her and looks even better

I’m still in if pedals and amps are exempt. 😂

Down there for dancin’

This is the luckiest you’ll be.

I'll second this. Back in the day, didn't the drummer for Chicago play wearing old-school 'cans'?

The Ark of the Covenant ?

I think it’s important to keep your hand in. Live music is live music as far as I’m concerned. It’s about entertaining the audience, sometimes having to win them over, but most importantly having a great time while doing it. I play in a covers band at the moment that has a function/pub mix of tunes. 70% of it ain’t really my thing but I have a great time and rapport with the band when we play so to me it doesn’t matter. It is whatever you make of it. Some may just play with a stale face cos it’s not their thing and just be happy to get money at the end of it, if that’s you then fair enough, but I will always make the most of the live music moment and have fun whatever. Rich

Worth remembering that Fender is an absolute behemoth in the guitar world. Apart from Fender branded instruments they also own Gretsch, Jackson and Charvel and countless others. FMIC accounts for a huge chunk of all of the guitar/bass advertising market. The bottom line is that magazines like BGM simply cannot afford to p!ss them off.

Yep, it verily screams “70s”, great looking bass.

Unlike the 'philanthropists' running FMIC, who charge far less (for their factory built mass production) but I'd wager their senior investors do!! However for those who wish to argue your average Ford Fiesta is better than a Ferrari have no fear - you now have semi official supporters..... I received my copy of BGM yesterday and in it the US Original Fender series are reviewed - they got ten/ten for build and sound - fair enough but in the same issue a Fodera got 8/10 for build quality for no stated reason - in fact they couldn't fault it except for the cost - but as they mark value for money anyway it seems a bit odd. In a previous issue they marked down the build quality on the new Stingray 5 on the basis they thought it was too heavy (9.4 lbs). That's lighter than all the Fenders (4 string) they just gave 10/10. My conclusion - their reviews are inconsistent at best, nonsense at worst or worse still, biased. My order for BG magazine is definitely being cancelled - the jury's out on BGM but I've become seriously irritated and have started questioning buying it!! Maybe Silvia Bluejay can talk some sense into the Editor!!

I like the way the burl falls around the electrics and where it does not the finish on top of the knobs take over - that's genius Andy.

Me too. That was the ultimate status symbol for a bass player back in the 1980s and when I finaly got one, it was like I'd made it. The weight was immaterial, knowing what I'd have on stage both looks and soundwise.

I don't think "upgraded" means what he thinks it means...

Sorry about the hearing loss. I can sympathise. Have you thought about trying an Eich Bassboard to augment the IEMs. It certainly helps with the low end. Although your hearing has deteriorated your other senses should be intact and I find that being able to feel the notes up through the feet is extremely helpful.

Completely unlike pretty much all of the above: 07/04/2015. Age 60. GMR Bassforce 5. Solo bass/vocal at my local om - "Feelin' Good" - as someone said, "a damn nerve!" but I was utterly terrified anyway, so go for it. Visibly and audibly utterly terrified, but met with a huge wave of support - the regulars had been trying to talk me into it for months. Still a defining moment in my life. 20/03/18 - first band gig, a little family and friends thing in the Band on the Wall café at the end of a blues workshop. That has grown into 31/01/19 - first paid gig for the Plastic Mojo Blues Band 🙂

..and we have sound....

Love her meself, looking forward to it.

Of course folks could just be trying to make conversation with somebody they know plays music and they're trying to choose a topic with some common ground. In those situations I try to smile and join in the conversation. I'm thinking of calling this approach 'politeness'....I've got a feeling it might be quite useful Not sure about the name yet tho.

Yep, for some reason we had karaoke at work just before Xmas, and everyone was trying to get me up singing. I play bass in a skinhead punk band, my "singing" is really not for karaoke at TV volumes in the workplace. They said, well can`t you do a Bon Jovi song then, as if for some reason skinhead punk and Bon Jovi are similar. So I showed them a clip of the type of music I listen to and play. That stopped `em.

Wow. I adore Weymouth. I'm in