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Maybe guff, but maybe not. . . . . . I remember the days when you needed a carnet when you travelled abroad with your gear. And the joy on some customs men's faces when you drove up to their post at Dover. They could wave you through, or just as easily make you unload the whole van onto the road and justify every piece of gear against the documentation. The one thing that is certainly not guff. . . . we may or may not be going back to the bad old days, but gigging in Europe will be a much more difficult process that it has been.

We don't all just stand at the back, y'know!

I was having a Hoover up this morning and took a quick pic of one end of my practice room 🙂

...with my first band of 40+ years ago. Started out as a WMC band playing an odd set of country, 50’s & 60’s songs as 16/17 year olds with an ‘older’ bandleader - I joined on bass having replied to an ad for a guitarist as he was retiring as he was too old (he was 30!!) but by the time I got to the audition he’d realised that was BS, but they didn’t have a bass player so did I fancy the job? We did that for while and then as a three piece after he left and we carried on playing clubs, though we had to have a driver for gigs as none of us was old enough to drive. Started writing our own stuff in a punky vein and built up a good following and full gig list on the south coast - I used to have a gig flyer that covered three months and had around sixty dates, which would probably kill me now. Then ‘stuff’ happened and I carried on with the drummer and later vocalist addition but lost touch with the guitarist for some time. Cut to a couple of months back when our old ‘manager’ (ok mate who drove the van and desk) got in touch and we had a meet up in a pub to chew over old times - usual “...and do you remember when...” conversation that band mates have 🙂 Old/ancient copies of songs were shared by Dropbox, keys agreed, and all agreed that maybe we wouldn’t play them quite that fast now, and today we met up in a studio to bash through what we could remember and record what happened. Also a chance to get the cone on my new BF OneTen, picked up yesterday and lovely & easily able to keep up with a Blackstar 20 rig. Despite not having played together as a three piece for 40 years it was still bloody tight. The recordings will be interesting to hear. Despite being ‘punks’ the eclectic range of influences was interesting, Bill Nelson/Bebop Deluxe, Wishbone Ash, XTC, Wilko Johnson, Hendrix/Trower, shades of Motörhead, and many more.

I bought this fabulous combo from a friend, when he got rid of some surplus studio equipment, and got it WAY too cheap. EBS Neo Gorm 212.

Well guys this bass is incredible. Everything I hoped for, expected from an ACG and more. I honestly can't really argue that I "need" any more basses now. Should I be happy or sad about that... Pic for attention... Eude

Q: How many BassChatters does It take to change a lightbulb? A: It takes: Four to say they'd be all over it if only it was a 5 string lightbulb ... Six to ask how much the lightbulb weighs Fourteen to say all you really need is a Precision lightbulb Nine to say they used to have a lightbulb just like that, but it was an original '63 and how they regretted selling it Three to say how great the service is at Bass Direct and how if they were in the market for a lightbulb, that's where they'd go Seven to wonder how the lightbulb would sound if it had different capacitors Eleven to say that the bulbs are less bright with flats but that's how they like it Fifteen to say they have not changed their lightbulbs in over a decade ... Oh, and one to actually change the bulb .... 🙂

Some solders, supplied in the form of bars, contains enough tin to emit a sound called a "tin cry". It is a faint noise that the alloy makes as it is stressed such as during a sharp bending action. Interesting that.

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Only ever had two problems with stuff bought from Thomann, a clip on tuner which arrived broken and more recently a pedal which just suddenly packed up. Today I received a replacement for the pedal, no quibbles, just like the last time, two emails and a replacement was shipped to me. Customer service? Yup, no complaints here.

One, five; one, five; one, five. Hmm, maybe that’s just country music Basschatters (paraphrasing an old joke).

Kamasi Washington’s bassist Miles Mosley can only be described as playing Uprighteous bass! Testify!

Generally speaking the main act at Thekla is on by 9pm, sometimes earlier. Support act normally around 1945. For a busy gig it's worth getting there earlyish if you want a good spot at the front as it's quite narrow and not ideal if you're at the back by the bar. Enjoy!

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKHSE/bulletins/211f52e

Thought I'd post back and say how happy I am so far with the BB800. Really looking forward to gigging with this little rig next month.

I’ve never ever put any credibility into those opinions/statements. ”mij Fenders are brilliant” - some are, I’ve played some Japanese fender dogs, and by the same token some amazing and terrible MIM ones. Same goes for USA built. we once got 8 new 2008 jazz basses in at once and 5 were great, 2 were underwhelming, and I sent one back - just horrific. I don’t believe that geography has a bearing on wether or not a bass is any good. That’s before you take into account what each individual player wants. but if it helps, I owned several Japanese BB’s and some Taiwanese ones at the same time. There was nothing between them, quality wise. I kept the 414, which is Indonesian. And “lesser”. Sits proudly with a jazz bass and Modulus which if I bought new now I’d have to spend £10,000 to replace between them. Think it’s cost me £150 in total.

It is a satisfying material to work with if you follow a few simple rules. Most of these are to do with it being a notch sensitive material. In other words it will easily start to crack wherever there is a sharp nick or inside corner to concentrate stresses within the material. As Maude says, careful choice of sawblade pitch in tpi (Teeth Per Inch) relative to the thickness of the material and rate of cut should produce good results even with a hacksaw. Sometimes however, trial and error is the way to go with more complex cuts. Be prepared to do the same piece over from scratch if it goes bang (usually just as you're finishing it in my humble experience).

There’s always room for one more bass. Always.

I had a 1963 Philips tungsten filament bulb - with it's original box! Had proper bayonet fitting, original price sticker (1/6d) and everything. It didn't work, so I foolishly threw it away. Just think what it would be worth now. 😥

I hadn't looked closely enough to see those as well!

I've got a wooden reel of about 200' of lead solder that my Grandad liberated from EMI Ruislip when he retired in 1961. Not bragging, just saying.

One to threaten a lawsuit if your lightbulb looks similar to mine.

Is the lightbulb any good for metal and how much will it cost to post it to Outer Mongolia please?

Found a pic of my first board, Feb 2015. Life was simpler then

I've always found them absolutely superb too. It's very rare these days to find a company that's an absolute pleasure to do business with.

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I had no idea how useful the ART DTi was until I owned one. I use it all the time now. It converts one connection to another (xlr, phono and jack) and any combination. It has two discrete channels, which is handy for stereo use or for using on two signal paths (or more since it can be used as a splitter), and its 1:1 gain. https://www.thomann.de/gb/art_dti.htm

There’s a CITES exemption on the way for rosewood in musical instruments, thankfully. However the requirement for carnets for goods taken to Europe is a real possibility, depending on what agreements we end up with.

All things being well, i’ll be there with Finn in tow, probably just for an hour or so, but he really wants to see all the Basses Si

The chrome ears on the Fafner are very sturdy indeed. Screw the amp into the rack case and that is all you need to do. No need to worry about the rear of amp. No need to buy anything else as you should get all the stuff you need with the rack case. Just have a screwdriver to hand and you are all set. My Fafner has been in a rack case for nearly ten years. No issues whatsoever apart from the fact that the little lightbulb needs replacing every few years.

Six to debate whether a knowledge of electrical theory would enhance one's ability to change the bulb.

Or we could just spend the next three and a half years arguing about what sort of light bulb we want ...

http://www.emismusic.co.uk/?LMCL=wh198E If you can get to Bristol, this guy is well regarded.

I too agree about all this MIA,MIJ stuff. I bet my P34 would play and sound exactly the same if it was made with the same hardware and treatment, but not in Japan.

The flat bit is meant to go to the side where the rebate is - at the front. In my case it didn’t matter; either way I fitted it there was enough clearance to install the front baffle. So I just did it how I felt. On my kit, which has been tweaked since, the pre-drilled holes for the handles were large; bigger than would accept a wood screw. So I used T-nuts because that’s all I could do, in that case. But it also makes an insanely secure handle, lol.

I don’t know what this is...”despite being made by one-eyed Indonesians...” very uncomfortable with reading that. I have Indonesian family members...they all have 2 eyes... maybe I’ve just got it wrong. as an aside, the 2004/2005 are Taiwanese.

Pretty much all my basses bar 1 are relic, fake or natural I’m not bothered as long as it plays beautifully. Totally get that it’s a marmite thing and absolutely no right answer. But they are cool in my eyes. This is my latest addition, cool AF 😍

I can fully understand this. I am becoming even clumsier in my old age. Not long ago I lost control of some small thing I was holding and made a little dent in my Ovation 6-string. I could have cried. The guitar is 25 years old .... I have only 1 bass, an acoustic Ibanez, and AFAIK it remains undinged. The inevitable awaits 😨

I love the worn look on my basses, but that is because I can point at most dings and say "that it where I clipped the doorframe in '92 when getting on the bus with it", or that is where the strap broke in 2004 and I caught it, but still did that". It tells our (mine and the instrument's)" story, especially around how clumsy I am. When I see old basses for sale covered in dings and scratches, I love to imagine what those stories might have been with their previous owners. I'd feel I'd been cheated if they were faked and added on. Of course, this is only my own opinion, no criticism of others intended.

I didn't know Max Wall could play bass.

That's the one.

No Rickenbackers!

Right from the beginnings of heavy metal the lyrics have been macho, vacuous and devoid of relevancy or social comment: Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses. Evil minds that plot destruction, sorcerer of death's construction. In the fields the bodies burning, as the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind, poisoning their brainwashed minds... Oh lord yeah! Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor Time will tell on their power minds Making war just for fun Treating people just like pawns in chess Wait 'till their judgement day comes, yeah! Now in darkness, world stops turning, ashes where the bodies burning. No more war pigs have the power, hand of god has struck the hour. Day of judgement, god is calling, on their knees the war pigs crawling. Begging mercy for their sins, Satan, laughing, spreads his wings... Oh lord, yeah!

Here’s part 2 , of Devon Bradshaws video if anyone is interested 🙂

I'd try and get to a music shop/s or a bass bash and play a few. I went on a research expedition a couple of months ago and ended up buying something that wasn't on my list and not what I thought I wanted or liked. I'm very happy with it.

All of the amps on the Stomp, for me at least, had the drive controls too far up and sounded too muddy on the presets and when the amp is selected into an empty block. There is a chap by the name of Jon Willis who has done a lot of work providing bass patches and settings for the Helix series within a couple of groups on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/669957523419623/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/145604946038429/ If use you Jon's settings in the images below - for which I take no credit and that are available via the first group above - the amps are much cleaner and it's possible to work from a more useful starting point. These 'clean' settings come into their own, I've found, at proper volume through an amp (via the FX return) and cab.