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As part of my real job in events, I'm constantly working out ways to minimise kit, without compromising on quality. Ie same kit, but better packaged and less trips and space taken up in van. So, today, I've been chuffed to bits for my new custom flight case from the brilliantly helpful guys at swan flight cases. I needed a case to fit: 1.bass guitar. 2.amp (quilted 800). 3.helix stomp. 4.cables. I sent swan all the dimensions and I'm chuffed to bits with the results. I didn't have my bass or helix with me, but here's a photo of the bass case with the amp and a few cables in. So I now have everything I need (bar cab) in one case - bass, cables, speakon, amp, and in the helix everything I'd every need - di, tuner, amp modeled, volume, recording, and every type of pedal going. All in a lightweight package. Well worth doing if you have similar kit.

Well that's it. We may as well all give up, lads and ladies. Bloke on Radio 2 has just announced that the Spice Girls are the best British band of all time. We can't compete with that.

Proof that the reinstatement of capital punishment should be a priority.

Well after spectacularly failing my gear abstinence challenge (well I managed 5 months), I went strong and wrong: Serek Midwestern - Amazingly fun shortscale, seriously, one of the most fun basses I’ve ever played, sounds amazing, incredibly comfortable, and top-level build quality : Elrick Expat Evolution 5 - Yes it’s one of the ‘cheaper’ standard models, but it really is boutique, incredible 5 string with all the quality US spec appointments, but without the frills, super solid bass: It’s been a mildly tough start to the year personally, and so I thought I’d treat myself. I’ve wanted builds from both brands for a while, and so with my Lakland basses, I’ve now completed my ‘Chicago Triumvirate’ (Lakland, Serek and Elrick are all built....granted the Expats are Czech built, but finished etc in the Windy City). Si

Well, its here and good god!!! Just a quick noodle through the Barefaced 610 and it is MIGHTY!!! No need to go into mega details as its been covered in this thread better than I will be able to explain but if you get a chance, try it! Buy it! The tone and sound/heft is mega. I was expecting something decent but blimey its good, I mean really good. Simple to use and my word! Looks like it may get a run out with the Fu's this weekend at Cleethorpes Fake Fest to see how it performs at 'louder' 😂 And I mean for the price......

Around 8 mins has some basic demo of the preamp, and variation between the pickups, which will hopefully be useful for @crabman and others! I will do a full-fat talk-free tone demo once I’m back in the UK!

Bought a couple of cabs a while back and the seller threw in an Ashdown head. I mean, seriously this was a reasonable deal for the cabs alone so the head was almost a freebie. I never had any intention of owning this amp, I have trace Elliot for that kind of thing but still, now it's mine why not give it a whirl. Last night we rehearsed at Real World and the sound was a step up from the usual dives I work in. Seriously good. I popped the amp (an ABM500H if you're wondering) atop a Barefaced cab (15" no horn) and after 10 minutes fiddling got a good sound. It had a kind of Trace vibe I thought but a character all of it's own. there's an octaver built in (just like on the Behringer BX4500H I used to use) but that just muddied up my tone so I left it alone. I was playing a bit of soul and wanted a relatively straightforward, authentic sound, but wouldn't have minded a nice valve grumble like my Ampeg gives me. So I wound up this little nob with 'Input Mix' written above it. It goes from 'clean' to 'grind' and by golly it sounded splendid. Of all the tube like facsimiles I've tried this honestly came closest to giving me that gorgeous thickening, that sumptuous fattening, that satisfying all enveloping hug of a valve amp. I may struggle to sell this 'bonus' amp after all. Oh, did I mention it was really loud? Because it was. And at 8 ohms too. Can I join the Ashdown lovers club please?

It is SQUIER Jesus Christ !!!!! how many more times ????

Call it pau ferro Customs Will have no idea

I broke my board down to raise some funds a few months back.... But who am I kidding... Its back Newest addition is the Enzo.

To be fair, until we've experienced *all* time it's hard to prove otherwise. Let's discuss over a gargleblaster or 3 at Milliways

Apparently the sound problems they encountered at their first few gigs last week, were traced to them leaving the microphones on in between, the between song banter.

Are you Zoe Ball? Your profile pic looks like her 😲

in the U.K. now!

This is especially funny given your username!

One step ahead of you all - the prototype is underway.....

He was kind of correct about the direction, once you get below ~200hz you perceive sound with your skeleton rather than your ears.

Blatant self-plug but our band "The Achievers" have been chosen as a finalist in the UK BLUES CHALLENGE Whoop, etc! It's essentially an audition - with an emphasis on originality. Whoever does the right set on the night will go on to represent the UK in the European Blues Challenge (Netherlands 🇳🇱) and International Blues Challenge (Memphis, Tennessee 🇺🇸). We're excited. And encouraged! Gig is at the Bluefunk Club, Poynton (Stockport) Cheshire, on the 14th Sept. 2019. EDIT: Typo in title changed. Oops!

I was once in a department store and a guy came up to me saying he recognised me from a gig that was around 15 years prior. He went on to say how much he enjoyed it, and listed off several of the songs we did. It did feel good.

Haha, well hopefully not, its hopefully kind of the opposite - reduced trips to and from car loading up and packing down, so everything should be with me all the time. Either in house, in car, in venue, then car, then house. No leaving doors open doing a few trips etc or stuff getting mixed up on stage or in a pack down.

Oh well aren't you just a little ray of sunshine. 😉

Love ABM amps so much and, other than a dabble with an Orange TB for a year or so, they’re what I’ve gone for as a first choice for donkeys. Yeah, the sub-octave and compressors on them are a bit crap, but the grind you can dial in and general EQ and thump is great.

There’s a nice 424 for sale on Basschat. 😂😂

Sir, the scrap you got yourself into (with me) was of your own doing so let's be accurate here if you are going to claim something that's not true,. It is categorically impossible for your 150 watt (RMS) Trace amp to deliver 400 watt (RMS) under transient conditions, there simply isn't the supply voltage present to make this happen no matter what. I also pulled my product data for that amp and it supported my statement and the math I presented. Perhaps you forgot the part where I had worked for the parent company of Trace and was familiar with the amp? Now, you choose to change the argument or the scenario and consider power at "square wave clipping". (note that I have mentioned many times on that other forum that an amp (any amp) can deliver almost twice it's rated undistorted power when driven deep into clipping because that's an often unrecognized cause of damage of speakers due to overpowering). This is not "transient" power, or "headroom", or anything even remotely useful except to save face. Is is a great amp? Sure it is, no problem with that. Will it deliver 400 watts RMS even under transient conditions, no way.

Honestly I'd avoid that like gonorrhoea.

Nice but your headstock must look like a shovel.

Just my two-penneth, but the offer to split the saving having told EBaythesale is cancelled - amounts to criminal theft - worth getting a Record for? ---- Not in my book, squire........ 😎

I still remember Victoria Beckham on TFI Friday back in the 90s, without a hint of irony, describing herself as a singer songwriter. Nobody in the audience laughed.

Fab! Look forward to it! (Just need to get day pass for good behaviour from SWMBO. I guess I'll have to be good for a bit ). Look forward to meeting both @Jack_Stroud_Bass & @Raymondo & any other BC peeps who can make it!

Guitarists are always the tricksy bunch but they are getting there slowly... especially now tech is helping them along (modellers and the like)... but usually when it's too late and their ears are trashed. This whole "it's not rock n roll" is dated and irresponsible. Even Slash has embraced inears... not getting what he was needing from inears, he worked alongside JH to get the Lolas perfected. If he can make the move, then everybody can. Ah well, their loss. It's one thing killing your own ears... but killing others. Pah. Pricks.

My Japanese 75 RI. Rosewood, blocks and bound, black with matching headstock, 'Tis the prettiest Jazz I ever did see.

That's near me - I shall try to be there! Well-done!

I've started the first sealing coats of tru-oil. Nowadays, I do a basic slurry-and-buff whatever the final finish. I find it an excellent grain-fill and preparatory surface. Having said that, this may well have the full silky slurry-and-buff treatment in any case as a final finish to preserve the feel of real wood - I'll see what Mick's preference is. The finish will smooth out, but this will basically be the final colour there or thereabouts: There's some nice figuring on the back. Again, the dark lines at the top of the main bout and across the upper horn aren't joins - they're natural stains in the grain itself.

Unfortunately i don't own and jazzes now. But here are my previous ones.

Why would you stop it? Attach sandpaper to your buttons, shirt and trousers and watch the value of your bass rocket. You’re welcome! 👍🏻🥳

Welcome! And please feel free to peruse the many fine items I have listed in the marketplace (Rodders, get the suitcase out the van!).......

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Dursol Shine - marvellous stuff. It's like a sort of creamy paste in a fetching shade of pink. Put a tiny dab on a clean cloth and polish away. Done in seconds. Tip: get two post-it notes and butt the sticky edges up either side of the fret. Replace with clean post-it notes every so often as you work up the neck. Much less faff than a full masking tape job, though less durable so no good for wire wool or fret-dressing.

It’s almost finished! We’ve been having fun with the switching of the pickup, the original 5-way rotary switch turned out to be a bad idea so we’ve gone to two toggle switches. I can’t remember what they actually do so will let you know once I have the bass... Today Phil has basically finished her in terms of doing an initial stringing to let everything settle and acclimatise. In about a week he’ll give it the final intonation, truss rod and action tweaks. So we’re nearly there. And to celebrate...:

Set the action to what fits your hands. There is no right action across the board as dictated in a manual, it's what is right for your playing style and your hands. Set it to what feels best for you. I find it hard to believe people give their instrument to a stranger, who has never heard them play, to configure and then accept what they get back without personalising it in some way. It's easy to do once you think about what tweaks to each adjustable part does to the instrument as a whole. It's as personal as setting a driving position in your car, you've got to go with what feels most comfortable to you. I don't measure anything but I know that I set my action lower than most. It suits me that way. My general setup is like this: Start with the neck. I like the neck quite straight so it's a big deal to set the tension on the truss rod correctly. Neck relief is good when I can see a tiny bit of a gap between the bottom of the string and the top of 8th and 9th frets, when holding the string down at the first and last fret. I need to be able to push the string down at the 8th fret like that and it has enough space to perceive it move down to the fret - but it's a tiny gap, the width of a piece of paper. I really like the neck straight. A slightly bowed neck just feels messy from the 5th fret on and crappy higher up the neck. Nut action is very important to me. I like the action at the first fret to be as if there was a zero fret, or the action at the second fret when you hold the string down on the first fret. I hate a high nut, it serves no purpose other than to make playing harder. Depending on how the nut is installed, I either file down the string slots or, preferably, take the nut out and sand down the base of the nut. This is something you do slowly and check frequently. The only way to undo is to replace the nut so do a little and then check a lot. It is, however, something you only ever need to do once. Once the neck is set, move to the bridge. I like to hear a bit of fret grit when I play hard so I set the action of each string accordingly. I generally set the action slightly higher on the bass side than I do the treble side, I don't strictly follow the radius of the neck. It's done by feel. I don't like the notes to choke, they need to ring clear and true when I play gently, but a bit of grind when I dig in is a sound I love, so I take a bit of time to do this. Again, it's how I like it set up, not what the manual says. Then I set the intonation, adjusting as required, then revisit the bridge action again to make sure everything is in order. After that, pickup height. I start with the bridge pickup (if there is one) and set that to a height where it doesn't get in my way when playing and isn't so high that it's not being pushed up against the screws by whatever springs or foam are underneath. I do like the pickup to be reasonably close, though. There's a bit of funk to be had by the string really violating the magnetic field which is nice to my ears, so I usually have the bridge pickup close enough to the strings to get this, not so close that the magnetic pull is affecting the string's vibration. I then set the height of the neck pickup so that, if I switch from bridge to neck and back, there is no perceivable volume drop. The bridge pickup is a naturally thinner sound and the vibration pattern of the string isn't as great as over the neck pickup, so the neck pickup is almost always further away from the string than the bridge pickup. An even volume balance across the strings is important too, so the pickups might be slightly closer to the strings on the treble side than the bass side. It's important not to adjust pickups visually, you've got to go with what sounds best, not what looks right when holding a ruler. Most people don't factor in pickup height into a setup but, to me, it's as important a step as any other. Then I play for a while and see how it all feels and sounds. If a string is hitting a pickup, the pickups get set lower. If the action is too low, it goes up, too high and it goes down. It's all down to how it plays and sounds to me. It's not to everyone's taste but we all come in different shapes and sizes and one size does not fit all. You don't play the bass exactly the same way as anyone else so why would I be set up the same as everyone else's? The best it is, once you get it right, if you use the same strings the only thing you'll ever need to set again is the truss rod as the neck moves, usually in Autumn and Spring. It is easy. You just have to think about one tweak at a time and what that means to the rest of the instrument.

If I'm out at the local market mainly Aldi, occasionally a local will say, " Don't you play guitar with Maple Road?" My favorite story took place in 1971. My band won first place in the annual High School "Band In". Winning was a big deal, we went on to a State competition and the prize was $500.00. That was a lot of cash for a bunch of 16 year olds in 1972. A week after the competition I was in. New York City at famous Manny's Music and some guy came up to me and recognizes me at congratulated me on the win. I thought I was Star for the rest of the day. Blue

My buddy Tim on drums, he's great!