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Damn, saw this on FB. So sad. I met Colin at the 2012 SE Bash, my first. I was sitting in a corner of the Auditorium, with my then newly acquired fretless Rockbass Corvette 5 which I wanted to test with someone's proper cab because its output sounded very weak on my practice amp. Only I didn't know many people in the room, so I was just standing there wondering what to do. Colin saw me, asked if I was OK, then immediately offered to plug my bass in his rig. He actually also played the bass for me (upside down), just to make sure it wasn't my then rather beginner-like playing that made it sound so weedy. (It wasn't.) We became FB friends the following day, and followed each other on there, and saw each other at a couple of other bashes. Then his health deteriorated, his mum died, but Kim remained by his side to the end. My thoughts go out to her especially. Love you Colin.

Ok, to many these will be just another two copy basses. To me (having played them) they are just so much better. SVL Guitars are the work of Simon Law, guitar tech for Matt Schofield, Robben Ford and Pete Townsend. In fact he is with the Who recording at the moment (and, with these, I got a set of Pino |Palladino's strings). Hugely resonant and nice and light. They feature 5% overwound Lindy Fralin Vintage pickups, lightweight reverse tuners and Gotoh bridges. Absolutely awesomer work and they will be my constant companions from now on.

I've had a fantastic opportunity and landed the bass slot with Del Bromham's Blues Devils/Stray. I had my first gig last night at the Legends of Rock Festival at Great Yarmouth where we were playing in the V Arena at 7.15. We were joined for a couple of numbers by an old band member - Pete Dyer who also travelled and stayed with us. I've had such a blast this weekend being looked after by the band and roadies and being regaled with stories from Del and Pete about the band's past - dodgy management, Charlie Kray, The Mafia and the Teamsters, just so much stuff! The set itself went really well, loads of energy, decent sound and a great reception despite a couple of techie issues, and I finally got to play through an SVT and fridge! To say I'm over the moon is an understatement and this is only the beginning. By far the best weekend of my musical career so far. Happy Tut!

Cheers! We're quite optimistic. Whilst not expecting miracles, we can see a bit more scope for mobility because Jack's been doing his physio therapy for the last few weeks. As he was a national weight lifting competitor in his time, he is no stranger to reps and regular training sessions so it's going well. In addition, he is to be assessed at the falls clinic later in the week. We hope to understand what triggers his falls from this and make improvements to his treatment. Also we have had a kind offer of help already. I'm darned if I'm going to let the opportunity to attend slip by. Jack enjoyed it a lot last year too so he's got a goal to pull him through.

Last nights gig was at a Punk Weekender in Butlins, Minehead. We were on the Introducing Stage, where 4 bands who’ve not played the event before play, and the audience choose their fave, that band then go on to play the main stage next year with the big boys. Our set went really well, the place was pretty packed and the crowd were great, given the nature of our music it’s noisy but we could hear them singing along which was great. Plenty of them wearing our t-shirts too. Riotous applause at the end of the set, and we sold a great deal of merch. On the way back home we got the call telling us we’d won.

One for each bass, coloured to match, width appropriate to weight, and all slightly different lengths to suit the ergonomics of each instrument.

Certainly is, I can't put it down ☺️ it plays and sounds better than I ever imagined...😎

I really hope that this doesn’t come across as being in bad taste as I really don’t mean it that way. If it’s insensitive, then, Mods, please remove it and I apologise In the thread commemorating barneyg42’s passing there is a very touching tribute from Leese. In it, Colin is described is someone who lived up to the definition of a musician as “A musician is someone who loads £5k worth of gear into a £500 car and drives 50 miles for a £5 gig“. I don’t think that’s a bad definition at all and one that neatly sums it up for me.

Love Me Tender by Elvis. I have the music notation tattooed around my arm. Funny story but I was sat on a plane coming back from NYC once and there was a queue down the aisle for the loo. This old lady in the queue was just staring at my tattoos and although normally pretty placid, it got to the point I was about to say something. She then piped up with "Love Me Tender". She'd been reading the notation to work out what the song was!

Oh I'm so sorry to hear this. I was lucky enough to meet Colin at some SE bass bashes and also went to see his band a couple of times. He was a tremendous player with a big personality on stage. He was such a friendly and funny guy. The kind of bloke who leaves you with a big smile on your face. I'm heartbroken for his family and his fiancée, they must be devastated. Enjoy the great gig in the sky, Colin. xx

Colin was always very entertained by this, and in particular the way bassists would do business with their gear, meeting up by the roadside to exchange instruments and cash and do swaps, so that wasn't the only time he did that. He thought all that sort of stuff, all the wheeling and dealing, was brilliant. One night he left home with a Jaydee, got in the car, drove to somewhere random on the A30, met a bloke a in a layby, and came home with a Status instead (at least I think it was a Status, although anno domini is dulling the memory slightly). He was also a fantastic rock bassist who, through genuine modesty, had absolutely no idea how good he was. When I met him about a thousand years ago, he was playing in a 4-piece rock covers band in Exeter called Goliath and they were really well-respected on the local scene; their gigs were always packed and his personality, both on and off stage, had a *lot* to do with that. If talent was anything to go by he would have been a lot more successful in the business than he was. But it wasn't about that for him - he always loved being a weekend warrior. He was the embodiment of that meme: "A musician is someone who loads £5k worth of gear into a £500 car and drives 50 miles for a £5 gig". To him, gigging was about the local scene - pubs, bike rallies, great crowds and great times - but most importantly his mates. The absolute flood of tributes that have poured in since yesterday, not only from his bandmates past and present but from people he met and made happy in the course of his playing is testament to exactly who he was in that respect, and it's been heartwarming to see all the lovely things people have said, although I can't believe we're all talking about him in the past tense. He was the life and soul, the salt of the earth, a gentle giant who everyone loved, and I loved him dearly too. Below is my favourite picture of him, taken at a Goliath gig in 1993 at Vines in Exeter. We tie-dyed those leggings with bleach in the washing up bowl and the t-shirt had a giant duck on it, which sums up his approach to stage gear quite nicely Throughout his last illness he was determined to get well enough to resume playing. He was also due to get married to his long-term partner, Kim, who he adored. I'm beyond sad for him that he never made it out of hospital to do either, and I shall miss him more than words can say.

Whilst trawling the internet for a nice used Precision my eye was caught by this stunner and I knew instantly I had to have it. The seller was half an hour away from me so I picked it up a few days ago. Do I need another J type bass? Not really, but you know how it is... I knew nothing of RMI basses and a bit of Googling hasn't thrown up much information, other than the fact that these are designed in the UK by Mark Ramsay and built in South Korea (possible the Samick factory). The build quality is excellent. I did find online a vague spec though, which informs me that the hardware is all Wilkinson, so no complaints there. Electrics wise the active circuitry is engaged by the pull/push master volume, plus there's a pickup pan, and three band EQ. There is also a kill switch. The body is basswood, neck is maple with a 38mm J type nut width and shallow C profile, with an Ebanol fingerboard. The best thing about this bass though is the pickups, which are amazing. They are G&B Tonemasters which I believe sometimes appear in Cort and Ibanez basses too, and they're so good I want to buy another set to put into my bitsa Jazz. They've got big output, great clarity across all frequencies and strong continuity across all the strings. They're almost too powerful but with a bit of EQ adjustment they can be bought under control. They give me the modern Jazz Bass tone I've always craved, and there's also (to my ears at least) a Stingray type springiness. For a modern sounding J this bass is ideal, and works very well in my rock covers band. Looks awesome too, 190 quid well spent.

Just picked this up...... immaculate for a ‘93. Neck from Aug, body from Oct ‘93. Plays like butter and sounds like a PJ on steroids. Now am I doing the tone mod .... did it on the last one I had.

For me, the most convincing argument in favour of using a FRFR speaker (either active or passive) is that it makes it much easier to be sure that you're sending the right signal to the PA soundman. If your speaker has a pretty flat response, like (hopefully!) the PA system, then you can just tap off a DI signal to send to the PA, and know that that tone, amplified through the PA, should pretty much match the sound coming out of your on-stage gear. If not (ie your bass speaker is significantly coloured, like most speakers used for bass rigs), then you will previously have adjusted your amp EQ etc to sound good through your rig's speaker, compensating for its idiosyncracies. So how are you going to get the right signal to the PA? If you take a DI signal before your speaker, then it won't include whatever colouration your speaker is bringing to the party. If, for example, you have a tweeter-free cab and are using any overdrive/distortion effects, this is likely to sound dreadful when DI'd into the PA. So perhaps you'll mike the cab? Even if the soundman is willing (and they're often not keen...) he will need to take account of the huge bass boost caused by the proximity effect of the mic jammed up against your cab. Is the soundman on top of this? And, oh, does your bass cab have a tweeter? Perhaps even a separate mid-range driver?! Mike them up separately, you say? Good luck with that! A disadvantage of the FRFR approach is that a speaker that can produce high quality, clean, full range sound at volume levels equivalent to a traditional bass rig is a probably a much more expensive item than a decent traditional bass speaker. For this reason, amongst others, I have always stuck to the traditional route of using a normal kinda bass rig, sending a DI signal off to the PA, crossing my fingers and hoping/trusting that the soundman is sufficiently on top of the task to make something useful out of it! If you've applied a bit of sense to it this approach usually works out ok - after all, it's what pretty much everybody always did until recently...

Had two gigs at the weekend with the Stones trib band that I regularly dep with. They've recently had a line up change, including adding a second guitarist. Saturday was his first outing with the band and the drummer (a good friend of mine) was also a dep, playing with them for the first time. We hadn't managed a rehearsal all together. So Saturday was a bit ropey tbh, and although the punters seemed to enjoy it, I shall draw a veil over the details of the evening. Suffice to say it wasn't my finest hour. Sunday was completely different! Same line-up, what a fantastic gig!! Everything just seemed to come together to make it a really stonking performance. The venue was a bar, very local to me, who often put on music including occasional Sunday afternoons. The place was completely rammed, everyone there had come for the sole purpose of seeing the band (and having a few drinks of course). The place was laid out so all seats were facing us, no screens playing football or any of that nonsense. Sound guy was a bloke well known to us, a performer himself and really excellent. Lovely support act, who stayed to listen to us right to the end. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a gig more. I felt like we were all playing out of our skins. I had several friends and acquaintances in, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking out at the audience, every one of them seemed to be tapping their feet or singing along (no room for dancing, it was that packed!). The atmosphere was fantastic, everyone was friendly and having a good time (mostly over 40's of course, just like the band!) When we finished we couldn't move for people wanting to come up and shake us by the hand and buy us drinks. What was particularly pleasing was the number of women who came up to me and said how great it was to see a woman playing in a rock band and kicking a*se, especially in the same week as International Women's Day. I always reply 'You can do it too, it's never too late to learn - just go for it!' I would love to play with that line up again, we all really gelled. But with me and the drummer both being deps it's unlikely to happen all that often. Nevertheless a fantastic gig and I still feel high about it 24 hours later.

Haha. I'm glad you didn't like it because I still have it and still love it, over three years later. I added a Super Midget but rarely need them both. But it does show that we all have different tastes and requirements from our gear. Frank.

Shirley you can't be serious? None of those headstocks are matching - they are all different colours shapes and sizes!!! 😉

Silvia, that anecdote reminds me of one time when I was chatting to Colin at a SE bash. I was looking at his headless bass and I asked him how you tune it. He said 'A lot of people ask me that. It's easy, all you have to do is rotate these little twiddly things down here'. Then he suddenly looked a bit concerned and said 'Don't think I'm patronising you and calling them 'twiddly things' because you wouldn't understand the correct term. I don't actually know what they're called myself!!' 😁 It made me smile. Such a lovely guy.

And slower....

It's so sad... I made a spreadsheet... now angsting about adding the banjo ukelele which hasn't got a strap...

People are discussing it, that's what places like this are for.

I kind of think of my FRFR set up as ‘separates’ in a sense, the QSC K12.2 as an FRFR ‘cab’ and the preamp as the eq section of a ‘head’. In over thirty years of playing I never found a combo or seperates on which I could dial a tone I really liked, it is entirely possible this is down to my lack of technical knowledge but still, within half an hour of getting the QSC and Fishman preamp set up I had a tone I was completely happy with. It’s so versatile, I can use it as backline or as a monitor live, in fact I haven’t yet found a situation where it was problematic from playing with a noisy five-piece punk band through to my usual acoustic duo. In the end, as with anything, it’s just personal preference. I was always seeking to get the least ‘interfered with’ sound as possible from any amplification, I want the particular sound of the basses I’ve chosen just louder and my FRFR setup gives me that. An FRFR setup is not for everyone and endless technical discussions, as interesting and informative as they are, aren’t (imho) the final reason we settle on an amplification set up, it’s a set of far less tangible factors alongside practical considerations. For me FRFR is flexible and uncoloured and that’s why I like it. As much as I bang on about it I realise it isn’t for everyone, it’s just an option in the raft of possible options that I’m not sure everyone considers.

Episode 3 is out now!! You can listen via your normal Podcast app or on the site here!

Some people make the world a better place just by being in it. Although i didn't know him, it's clear that Colin was one of them. Condolences to his family and friends. May he find his dream rig waiting for him wherever he's gone. RIP Colin

The worms may be cheap, but do you know what goes into the training?

It was actually filmed as they recorded a live radio session. I found the whole session last night:

For the very occasional gig I do where there is no PA support for the bass the additional grunt of the 745 means I can be heard out front. Also because my sound come from the Helix, I don't want a "traditional" bass amp and speaker mucking up the audio with their particular baked in sound. Plus if I do get a PA engineer who is trying to give me the standard rumbly bass sound I can march then up onto the stage stand then in front of my speaker and and tell them that I want to bass to sound like what they can hear on stage but louder. Since I switched to the Helix and FRFR both the bands I play with have had a much better on stage and FoH sound. The wedge shaped cab means I can position it in such a way that everyone on stage who needs to be able to hear me from my cab can, and I have a lot more options for on-stage placement. One of the bands that I play with uses back run from a computer. This is housed in a flight case that goes on a smile keyboard stand at the side of the stage. My FRFR goes underneath the stand which means that the amount of room I require on stage for my gear is halved.

Good stuff. I'm glad you like it Stu. I'm massively impressed with mine. I honestly don't know why anyone would spend more money on a class D than it costs to buy one of these. (Other than brand snobbery) They're absolutely superb!

Thanks everyone. Shortly after making this topic I got a promo email with big discounts on wireless systems. I've reached a bit further in to my pocket and got a Line 6 G75 on the way. My guitarist, who recently bought a G30 full price, is feeling a bit left out, bless him. I've got to the point with gear where I want to buy once and (stop laughing at the back) never again. Here's hoping!

Right, enough is enough (is enough). He's been a megastar of basschat for long enough. Look here (below). Showing off, enyoying himself, AND taking his hand off the neck! Time to shoot the mutha down... 😬

I re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD with the cheapest D'Addario rounds with no problem, not even at the nut, and she sounds good. I'd have been a bit nervous of doing anything irreversible to a rather special bass, but didn't need to. 4 always feels like something's missing, but I'd rather let go of my G-string than my bottom end 😉 Sometimes the Jazz just looks and feels right for a particular gig - and she's too gorgeous not to gig now and then 🙂

@Skinnyman Mr sensible .. not like some of us idiots then 🤓

This is exactly why I use an FRFR setup, it is the tone of the instrument that I want as simply and colourlessly amplified as possible. I play a Rob Allen Mouse with LaBella flats and a Godin A4, both of which have very distinctive acoustic tones that I want to reproduce with as little ‘interference’ (apologies for my lack of tech terms) as possible.

Or you wanted to use the Helix for a certain delicious cab tone and wanted to have that tone via FOH and your rig...

On the plus side, Paul, a Motorhead reunion concert should hold no terror for you...

I heard it all upto about 10,700 hz. Bats everywhere will be on the floor sniggering

None. I sit down on stage, in front of my music stand.

I have more guitar straps than the average High Street music store. Does that help at all?

I have one strap for every guitar or bass that use regularly, each one adjusted for length so that each bass hangs at the correct height (not always the same height depending on how I play it). Most are black, but I have a red one for the Burns Barracuda.

Yep, that walnut finish is starting to look like my Rascal Mervyn-Lyte. You won't be disappointed fleabag - people regularly come up for a chat about mine at gigs.

The mud or shrillness of an older transmitter is down to the compander which compresses and expands the audio pre and post radio transmission. Not so good in some units - and pretty much the decent analogue systems, even now, come with the higher price tags. Ill be surprised if a digital system “adds” treble. It’s more likely to reveal treble that would typically be lost through cable capacitance when a traditional cable is in play.

I was making a pickguard for one of my basses recently so thought I'd take a few pics along the way in case anyone else might want to have a go at making one. I'll be using a router, but if you don't have access to one it's easy enough to make a guard without one and the steps would be similar. I'm making this one for one of my own builds which is a Walnut bodied 50's Precision style bass, this is the first 50's style one I've done but intend to do more, so I'm going to be using a template for repeatability. I first draw my pickguard on the body, I'm using a chalk pen here which cleans off very easily and can also write on a finished bass. You could also use a chinagraph pencil or anything else which fits the bill. Ignore the inner lines here, that's for the chambering which I've yet to cut. Next I lay a piece of clear Acetate on top of the body and using a DVD/CD pen I trace onto the Acetate from the line beneath. You could skip step one and draw directly onto the Acetate, but I prefer to draw onto the body first so I can see it clearly and don't have to worry about creases or positioning too much. Then I cut the Acetate out and transfer that onto a piece of 1/2" ply wood. This will be my template for the router to follow, if you don't have a router, I'd still advise to use a template but you could use much thinner Ply, or even thick card. Then the ply is cutout, if you've only got hand tools - a coping saw, file and sanding block would be all you need. You can see I changed my design slightly where that black line is towards the top. I've also drilled all the mounting holes so I can use these to index the template. The neck pocket the area around the control plate are rough at this stage, we'll take care of them next. Here's the router (with wide base attached for stability) and a bottom bearing guided bit. I attach the template using a couple of the mounting holes, then use the router on the basses neck pocket walls to cut the template flush to the pocket. Now I rough cut the pickguard, I used a bandsaw with a fine blade, but you could use a jigsaw, scroll saw, or a coping saw if you're using hand tools. Then the template is attached to the rough cut pickguard using double sided tape (you could also use the mounting screws) and cut using the router and the two bits here. One is a bearing guided flush cutting bit, the other is the bevel cutter which cuts a very neat bevel onto the pickguard. If you were using handtools you would use a file and scraper to get both the correct shape and the bevel. I actually follow up a with scraper if there's any little bits which need taking care of, but usually it's pretty good straight from the router. Then I polish the edge with 0000 steel wool. Next I countersink the mounting holes. I use the drill press and set a depth stop, so that every countersunk hole is the same depth. The finished pickguard! The bass body now finished and with its chambers cut And the finished article! Hope this has been of some help, or at least mildly interesting!

IME unless your band is massively loud on stage and you have FoH support for the bass pretty much any FRFR is going to be fine. I've never needed to run my RCF745 and anything like full tilt. With the angled cab, the speaker is pointing at my ears rather than my knees which does more for audibility than the power available from the built-in amp.

Ongoing neglect is the key I think. Best way is to give it varying degrees of low-key abuse from the outset. No need to drop it down the stairs or anything; bunging it into a carrier bag with all your pedals and cables for a few years ought to do it. And whatever you do, never, ever put it into a protective case or gig bag. Kiss of death! Short sleeves and lots of sweat would be good too. Just remember not to wipe it down after a gig is all.

So the Ashdown head is now fixed. 😃 I took it to a local repairer and was expecting to leave it with him but I was invited in and he actually fixed it there and then whilst I watched! It turned out to be a bad joint on the amp's speakon socket which was re-soldered and the adjacent jack sockets all cleaned. So one gig under my belt since, everything appears to be working again. That just leaves the Trace head to sort out now but I think I'll start another post on that one. Thanks again for your comments everyone!

He's a chancer, selling Dekos for massively inflated prices.