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In my experience metal lyrics tend (though not always) to celebrate the protagonist's agency*. He is often about to do something; something possibly glorious, possibly evil, possibly involving a member of the opposite sex. On many occasions the metallist is in a state of open revolt the better to pursue his aim of enhancing his individuality. At other times the practitioner metallique invites like-minded people to join him in subsuming their individuality in a celebratory communal experience, possibly involving rituals of a bacchanalian or shamanistic or highly destructive nature. On rare occasions the metallista embraces melancholy but it doesn't usually last for long. Consider Mr John 'Ozzie' Osbourne's chef d'oeuvre Paranoid where he signs off with the encouragingly positive couplet: "I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late" Even in his own personal pit of despair Ozzie exhorts the rest of us to enjoy ourselves. I think we can all learn from that By contrast, the white boy pop idols de nos jours mostly stink the place up with their whiny, self-pitying lyrics and their self-abasing paeans to unobtainable young women who in some way excite in the performer a sense of inferiority and general helplessness. Consider Mr James Blunt's hit You're beautiful. Some thirty four years separates the song from Paranoid and what a difference. The final couplet cosily embraces futility and failure: 'But it's time to face the truth I will never be with you' You're beautiful is now fifteen years old yet in many ways it set a template for so many young, white, male singer-songwriters. Depressed? Check. A failure? Check. Unshaggable? Check. Perhaps this is how young men today go about the business of soliciting a mercy fück? Perhaps these neo-pubescent milksops think that gaining access to the mossy bower requires fervent demonstrations of 'sensitivity' and 'consideration'? Or perhaps these simpering lads are simply resigned to the fact that 'they' (by whom they actually mean 'you, the listener' because these pop stars are prolly getting laid left, right and centre whereas I expect ordinary, healthy young chaps are lucky to get a sniff of it, 'Dark days for a cöcksman, dark days indeed', as Mr David Coverdale observed) are doomed to go their graves with their cherries un-popped. Frankly, were I to be forced to listen to a specific genre of lyrics I would choose metal over white boy pop any day of the week including Sundays. Proper Metal is a gourmand's dish of raw, bloody steak liberally dowsed with alcohol, mind-altering substances and tiger spünk. White boy pop lyrics are - by comparison - a sad little Tesco Basics egg sandwich. On a more specific point, the sword and sorcery sub-genre is nothing new in popular culture and plays into the general rampancy of 'metal as it should be'. My old pal and wing man Johnny Tolkien was wont to remark: 'What I really like on a Saturday night is a good old-fashioned goblin'. * Not his booking agency, obvs. I mean his capacity to act with autonomy, possibly in the furtherance of achieving his personal goals

Me too. Quite so. It's all a question of attitude really. For argument's sake, let us put ourselves in the position of a young man of limited means and few prospects of advancement. * White boy pop instructs him to sit in a little puddle of depression and await his statutory püssy-whipping. * Metal invites him to Unleash The Thunder And Ride The Train To Insanity City Where All The Hot Chicks Are Who among us would not choose the latter course of action? Yet to do so nowadays is to invite obloquy from progressives everywhere. I say 'P'shaw'. I think this may all be an Anglo-Saxon thing; a casual scrutiny of the AC/DC music vid Live at River Plate shows tens of thousands of happy young Latin Americans of both sexes going crazy fücking apeshit, heaving back and forth like a tidal wave and clearly intent on some serious post-gig coitus. They haven't got a problem with the lyrics. You just wouldn't get that here which is a serious problem when you think about the birth rate and population replacement.

Take a listen to The Macc Lads, lyrical genius imo but after that any song sounds meaningful.

I found the music to 'If I Were a Carpenter' yesterday in a (looks round guiltily) Russ Shipton book. I'm inspired to gather some fellow musicians of similar stature to myself (6' 2"), use brown instruments and wear brown clothes to play the music of one of my favourite sixties bands. We'll call ourselves The Tall Faeces.

Yup, I heard they'd run out of dough.

I tried using switching jack plugs. But my bass is an old dog, and you can't teach an old dog Neutrix.

If you want subtle and sensitive lyrics, then Spinal Tap's your best bet.

I can predict with some confidence that if you turned the dial to Radio 1, or Kiss FM, or similar, you'd find lyrics full of different subjects but a comparable level of inanity. Pop music is similarly guilty of pulling randomly assorted cliches out of a hat and crowbarring them into a rhyming schema, but then I've often thought Halestorm were basically just Taylor Swift with louder guitars. And anyway, what is a good lyric? I've a few favourite writers myself, but some people would probably balk at my choices. (Though I imagine we could all agree that Black Sabbath turned out some bloody silly examples in their time...)

I’ve been gigging different variations of this cab for a while. The standout feature for me is that I can make out the pitch of every note I play even when I’m right in front of the cab. That’s always been a problem for me with compact cabs in pub-type venues. With the amp flat, the overall sound seems balanced top to bottom – just the right amount of bottom-end fatness and top-end detail, but without the emphasis on string noise you get from a lot of tweetered cabs. In fact, you can't tell it has a tweeter - it just sounds like bass guitar. Subjectively, I feel more relaxed when playing through this cab. I play in a fairly loud band with the kick drum through the PA but have never felt that I’ve pushed it close to its limits.

Recently traded this Grand Dark in. We’re getting along just fine 😉

Location was really good as it seems accessible to a good number - attendance of the event was excellent as was the venue itself. Weekends either side would be good in my opinion.

I thought it was a delightful venue in a lovely part of the world, as you say, just do it on 25th April or the 9th May.

You make sure that primer on the skirting is good and dry before you put the top coat on 😂. Another tip, put the port in the freezer before fitting. It will contract and go in the hole easily. Then, as it rises to room temp, it will expand to fit the hole tightly.

As of last week I own two fretlesses again: De Gier Origin fretless and my trusty 17 year old Fender MIM Standard fretless with Lollar pickups.

No, it wouldn’t. But if you did wire a bass like that with “pull for off” it could. Right until you closed the lid of your bass’s case! Click! Same with mini toggles, potentially. So many (pointless) over engineered solutions on here which rely as much on memory as just unplugging the darned thing. @NancyJohnson, do tell me that your OP was just trolling the lot of us!

If you booked it first then who has cancelled your booking and usurped it with theirs? Do you need us to come up there and sort it ahhhhhtttt?

?Do you have a link for the pick up replacements you mention,i didn't know that the original pups for the Yamaha BB424 could be acquired thanks for that,and thanks everyone who has took the time and trouble to reply,there's some really good advice here.And i have tak4en on board what has been said.I absolutely love the Bass sound on that Crusaders record and it brings back some warm memories for me from that era as i was 19 at the time good good days. Astonishingly enough for me it seems that the SR500 with its Bartolini mk1s with some foam under the strings at the bridge is a great improvement over and above the other two doing the same thing.I have now been practising the line for some two weeks and i am slowly getting there .I might at some point post up a Video of me hopefully having cracked the thing.Once again thanks everyone thats posted.

It's just the modern trend for combining things. Like the toilet brush / soap dish. I'm not convinced about that either TBH.

My first stab at the sequencers:

Those of you stressing about pops and crackles when unplugging an active bass, this is your friend...

@paul_5 I am sure Ronnie must have written Game of Thrones

Much to the chagrin of various singers in my bands over the years I’ve never had the remotest interest in lyrics... maybe that’s why I’m a bass player 🤔 Even lyrics others consider good just seem really cheesy to me. Although I’ve always found poetry laughable as an art form and I suppose lyrics aren’t really all that different. Mrs C says its cause I’m incapable of emphasising with the emotions of others 😐

I have just bought a Fender P from Jade. It arrived from France in perfect condition, well packaged and almost still in tune It can often be a concern buying from or trading with newish members, but given that English is not his first language, communications were good, positive and friendly, he is very easy to deal with, and I would have absolutely no hesitation buying from him again. Buy/deal with confidence.

I quite like Mike Muir’s mutterings.

The first day i got mine, I had a gig with @doomed and his band, I had my Four ten, he had the Barefaced 2 x 15 (correct me if i am wrong lad!) Pure girth wise on the low end there wasn't much in it!, like @Deedee says, they sound phenomenal in comparison to other branded cabs.

You should also post this in the "DIY Electronics & Studio Design" section of the SOS forums. However as has been said here already there is a difference between sound proofing and acoustic treatment. If you need to stop sounds getting out of the studio (as well as preventing unwanted external noises getting in) you need mass and isolation. This generally means building a room within the existing structure and physically isolating from the walls ceiling and floor as far as possible. You also need to seal all the air gaps but still have some way of ventilating the space. Generally it's a whole set of compromises. Start by telling us exactly what the studio is going to be used for. Recording? Rehearsing? Full bands with drum kits? Electronic sources only? How noisy is the outside environment around this studio building/space?

I'd suggest that the most inexpensive, and very effective, method is to have everyone, singer and drummer included, using headphones. It doesn't sound too 'rock'n'roll', maybe, but needs must etc. The physics of it are simple enough; sound is changing air pressures. If no air can leave the room (and none enter, so problem..!), that's a start. Next is the floor, wall and ceiling themselves vibrating, transmitting the air pressure changes inside to sound outside. To stop this, one needs to absorb the energy inside, and that means mass. An extreme would be to play inside a WWII bunker; that's the 'logic' one is looking at. It can be done fairly cheaply (all is relative, isn't it..?), but becomes very quickly industrial, with inner 'Russian doll' rooms of breeze blocks. Complete phonic isolation from the outside world is a Big Deal, so limits would have to be set on what's achievable with whatever budget is available. Headphones then become rather more attractive (to those paying, at least...) Hope this helps; Good Luck with the very worthy project.

New (build) bass day. So I finally finished my build, so its happy new bass day to me. I wanted a modern take on a 1954 Precision, a la Mike Lull's 54P...so I made one at less than half the price. Tried it out last night at rehearsal and that Lindy Fralin pup is dynamite. There's a thread in the build diaries forum if anyone's interested in reading more. The spec was: Allparts Replacement neck for Tele-Bass - sold maple - no finish Lindy Fralin '51 P Bass, Split Single Coil Stellertone, Tonestyler Bass Ten Hipshot Ultralite Y Tuners, Shiny Chrome, 1/2" / 13mm Hipshot B-Style Bridge, Aluminium, Chrome, 19mm spacing – FM2 American Deluxe String Thru Hipshot String Ferrules, Chrome Hipshot String Tree, Chrome Allparts Tele-Bass Control Cover, Chrome Allparts Tele Jack Plate, Chrome Allparts Neck Bushings, Chrome Fender Neck Screws, Chrome Schaller Classic Strap Locks, Chrome Sonik Domed Control Knobs, Chrome Tru-Oil

If you don't like those lyrics - (insert deity of choice) help you if you ever hear any modern RnB, gangsta rap, dance lyrics etc...

Rig for this years SE Bass Bash, usually live it would be minus the laptop...

Just testing this years SEBB rig...

Yellow Submarine anyone?

Indeed - the people who tend to poo poo subs fall into three categories. 1. People who have never tried them 2. People who have bought sub/s that are too small compared to the rest of their setup (they expect miracles from a budget 10" sub) 3. People who have bought ridiculously big subs without taking into account the effort and transport required to shift them For me, it's a bit like monitors. People always skimp on monitors... and then wonder why you can't put bass through them. Get your setup right... let your PA do what it's meant to do... and buy the right gear for the job. A PA can outgun a bass rig, keyboard amp... everything... and it will sound much better out front.

Why wouldn't one re-flow the joints with *some* regularity, this is just *maintenance*

The long and short of this is really that most pub/club audiences couldn't care less about where the backing music is coming from & there are plenty of people out there doing exactly what you describe. The handy thing about it for pubs is that (if needed) they can fit into tiny spaces and charge substantially less than a full band. Musicians / People in bands will always think that it's rubbish.

Me? I *love* a backing track, proves to those other buggers that it IS them that can't keep time

Get one of these and stop worrying:

Yes, moderate volume jazz. Piano and sax. Well within capabilities of cab. Set the amp flat and used controls on bass/hand position to manage tone. Killed it. Edit: of course the real test is with a drummer. Not yet for me though...

I could book another weekend, of course. If anyone objects to the weekends either side- let me know

I suggested a 28 piece bass orchestra to accompany the wedding. We could use my church halls in Shirley, Solihull, but while there is lots of space and it's not easy for a lot of people loading in and out at the same time, and the best parking for over 3 hours is a short walk away.

I really can’t imagine not playing bass or guitar.

In my opinion Fender basses are quite agricultural... in a good way. They are built in a simplistic, yet robust way. Remember, Fenders considered to be 'the best' ever made, are the oldest... often look like they've taken a real beating... but are still going strong! If this bass hasn't been obviously abused then I'm fairly confident that there wont be anything that a good set-up wont put right. The Highway One Fenders have a good reputation, and to the best of my knowledge sell in the UK for between £600 - £700 or so. Good luck.

I haven't been here since my gig on Friday night so this is a belated nast night's gig posting. My band played on the main stage at Birmingham Symphony Hall for a Jazz night. It was a last minute upgrade from the usual location of the Jazz club there which was one of the conference rooms. No complaints there. We did a Grover Washington Jr set which went down great.

I was thinking more of millinery. Or haberdashery. No one's going to go into a haberdasher's and say 'Good day to you, young man. I wish to purchase two hundred one-inch pins, a gross of doily edges and ... are you that Ped out of BassChat? Why, I oughta...'

No topping that!

Papa Was A Rolling Stone is the first one that springs to mind for me