Leaderboard

I love this kind of thing! I've been using suitcases from charity shops for a while now. My favourite is styled like an oversized school satchel and holds a square pedal board perfectly. Into the flap/pocket on the front I slid some big airwrap packaging so my pedals are protected from bumps. My most recent purchase came from Lidl middle aisle. It's a four socket extension lead designed with Christmas light enthusiasts in mind. Instead of one block of four sockets these are daisy chained a metre or so apart. Now when rocking up at awkward pub venues with only one bloody socket instead of plugging in a 4 gang which everyone else must then try to get to, I can lay out my lidl lead and sockets can be found at easy to access intervals.

Old bass day? New old bass day? But either way I’ve now got an old friend back in my hands... back at the SE Bass Bash last month I was chatting to @cetera about my old Frankenjazz and he asked why I never brought it to the Bass Bashes? I explained that about 7 or 8 years ago I’d loaned it to a producer chum for a project and he loved it so much he kept asking to hold onto it for a bit longer. He really loved it and used it on a lot of projects. Months turned into years and I never had the heart to ask for it back. “But it’s YOUR bass, man!” Was Gary’s comment. Well from then on I kept hankering to get it back... more and more... so the other week I dropped him a line and on Monday we met up and swapped it back. I got the bass off eBay about 12 or more years ago from a web shop called Build-a-bass with the idea that it would be the basis for customising. It was back when you could get 2 dollars to the pound so it really was a steal! The story goes that Goerdt from Build-a-bass bought up a load of bankrupt/lawsuit stock from a small builder in Rhode Island (I think) who was building slightly too good Jazz bass copies back in the early 90s and has since been selling the fully loaded bodies and necks as parts. It all sounds a bit suss but, to be fair, the build quality is really good - including the quality of the ash body, the finish and the maple in the neck. Plus when I popped off the scratch plate the whole cavity was fully copper foil shielded and there was a “Sept 91” QA sticker... The neck isn’t as narrow as some Jazzes at the first fret with a bit more meat - which I really love. I like a “proper” Jazz neck, but I like this more! The plan was to change the tuners which were not the best quality, throw on a Badass II, swap the pickups and add a preamp. Of those I only put on some Hipshot tuners, added some Graphtech saddles and put in an Audere Jazz plate. The pickups sounded great and I never had the feeling I needed to change them. Keeping the BBOT bridge also retained the through body stringing. It’s great to have it back. It still feels and plays great and sounds fabulous to my ears. Can’t wait for an opportunity to properly put it through its paces...

While I wouldn't say weird, my Mrs gets her share of nuisance/selling calls. She had one a few months back that she put on speaker phone, Caller, "It's about your accident... blah blah," Mrs, "I haven't had an accident for 20yrs thanks." Caller, "Oh, what about any family members?" Me, "Yes. I had a nasty accident last night..." Caller, "You did Sir??, can I ask what happened, you could be entitled to compensation.." Me, "Well, I drank 15 pints of strongbow and sh*t my pants..." Cue scream of laughter from the phone speaker and she hung up... 🤔

The answer to the OP's question is yes, millions and millions of people do. Record sales of The Beatles, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bowie, Paul Simon, Squeeze, Kate Bush, Grandmaster Flash, Cole Porter, The Beautiful South, Elvis Costelloe, Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Amy Winehouse, Carole King, Randy Newman, Eminem, the great songwriters of musicals over the years such as Sondheim, Schuman & Schuman etc, etc.. Those brilliant storytelling songwriters - and so, so many others - is testimony to the fact that millions and millions of people listen to and care about the lyrics in songs. Protest songs, coming of age songs, redemption songs, love songs, comedic songs, songs of love and hate, allegorical songs, songs about drugs, songs about injustice, songs about togetherness, songs about the simple joy of being alive... Without the words, they would just be pieces of music - great music in many cases undoubtedly - but still, they'd just be music. But with the words, they become something else entirely. 'You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you will join us And the world will live as one.'

A whole new type of GAS. Not basses and amps and pedals - there's a whole forum of that stuff outside this thread. This is for all the other bits and pieces that make a musician's life easier or more enjoyable. I'll kick it off with this. I'm gigging a fair bit just now, and having the gear that I need distributed amongst a bunch of randomly-accumulated, anonymous bags and cases (all of them black) is making set-up and break-down more stressful than it should be. Solution? Revert to one of my favourite websites ... https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/ Ignore the rods, reels and bait sections, head straight for the bags and luggage. For every bass player in the UK there are a dozen guitarists; for every guitarist in the UK there are a dozen anglers. Their kit is produced in huge quantities (so it's cheap), it has to withstand weeks of being kicked about on muddy riverbanks (so it's waterproof and rugged), and anglers are every bit as vocal and obsessed as musicians (so it's reliable). Today I am happy to recommend the Guru Fusion 400 as an excellent way to carry (for example) two vocal mics, a voice processor pedal with power supply, and a headset mic. And be able to see the contents even when it's closed. https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/guru-fusion-400-bait-pro-case?_sgm_campaign=scn_849ee64608000&_sgm_source=KD16041407&_sgm_action=click [Ignore the Fusion 300 in this example.] Similarly, the Drennan Vis Case is ideal for holding (for example) everything one might need to connect a DB to a PA ... 10M instrument cable, HPF300 with power supply, patch leads, etc. Again, the ability to see at a glance what's inside is a huge bonus when setting up in a crowded pub. https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/drennan-vis-case No, I have no connection with Angling Direct, and no, I am not an angler. But before you buy your next piece of branded, over-priced musical baggery you could do worse than to check out what's available from a coarse fisherman ...

Seller doesnt want responsibility of shipping ? Buy it, or get over it and move on Too far to collect ? Get over it and move on

Me.

@ezbass or should that now be ezguitar? Just one thing to say to you:

Here you go; guess the bass 😂

Shops and Amazon are not private individuals. If you, as a private individual, don't want to ship something you are selling, you are quite within your rights. No ifs or buts. All the listings I have seen in which sellers offer to pack an item for the buyer to arrange collection of are those which specify collection only. You are not compelled to buy something from them.

I was wondering: how cool would it be to have a two way wireless system. All built into 1U-rack. That way your inear-monitoring and your bass-signal can run via only one belt pack, and you need only one unit to do it all... Mono send, stereo return. How hard can it be?

2 bass-related purchases this year: a Panda Future Impact pedal - it's now almost permanently on and freaking out my band-mates an ACG Recurve bought from BigWan- it's my main bass now, the Wal is just sitting on its stand sulking!

I've been running 8 pedals with it since 5.30 this evening. About an hour and a half ago the battery indicator began to suggest it was running low but it's still going and it's just past 10pm. Good enough for me. I don't tend to do many gigs longer than 4 1/2 hours! A wireless pedal board is a wonderful thing. Tidy and easily portable. I'm a convert.

I nominate Este from Haim

I have received (for the second time) an unsolicited phone call (with no caller ID) from a northern-sounding male who first asked if I was still performing on guitar, then went on to ask if I'd be interested in helping him with his project to film someone playing bass underwater - in Manchester. I assume he got my number from my website. Nothing about these calls made me think that being involved with this bloke could ever end well, so each time I said no thanks and closed the call. Just interested to see whether anyone else has had one of these!

I'll just leave this here.

Another new/old Sandberg Booster has had a facelift and it looks and sounds mint

I have a Donner Bass Guitar Headphone AMP Basement Pocket FX WAH Rechargeable Mini Guitar Practice Amplifier I got from Amazon, currently £13 if you are a prime member, good little silent practice thing, sounds pretty good as well. John

Appreciate that this is a bit of thread derail, although it's hopefully in the spirit of what we're sharing, but if any of you also posted on last year's thread, it would be really interesting to hear whether you kept your nominations from 12 month's ago? Given the churn in kit I've had over the past couple of years, I must admit I was really chuffed to read my OP from last year and see that my fav purchase then and the two runners up (all basses) have sailed through 2019 and look set to remain for a while yet. I guess there's hope for me yet Now if I had to decide whether my fav from this year matches my fav from last year, that's gonna be a really tricky one and I'll probably need to "do a @Merton" and sleep on it. Probably for about six months in my case 😁

+1

Of course 😉 PS is that what your disguise is for, so that no one works out it's you? Smart move.

PURPLE!!!!!

Thankfully I've never had a single issue with couriers, probably sold 50 + big items (not basses!) on here, eBay, Reverb and The Fretboard. Decent packaging is key, but I'm more usually selling rack effects, drum machines etc which are easier to protect. Guitars and basses are tricky as they are difficult to package unless you have a proper hardcase/flightcase (and even then I guess it can go wrong). However some of the items I've bought from eBay I can hardly believe they've turned up unscathed. People have some funny ideas what constitutes decent packaging I've read some bass courier horror stories on here though I would always try to collect a bass or guitar if possible.

But without a pic she is only words... 😁 (and I haven't forgotten about you either @Merton 😂)

You were lucky. We used to dream of owning a bike

It just cut through better using the supplied Ampeg 8x10 cab. It's also quite a bit lighter, is the full 2 octaves, and is possibly even easier to play. Mids aren't quite as lush but I was after more of a modern slap sound for the recording... And I will use the Wal again - shan't be leaving it to the woodworm! and the ACG is: Pickups: ACG FB Hardware: ACG/Hipshot bridge, Gotoh GB720 tuners, Dunlop Straplocks, Low Battery Indicator Pre-amp: ACG DFM 5K/AP

Buy once, buy right. IMO you need at least a 300w head for gigging, especially when starting out. The ashdowns will blow the tc bam out of the water in both volume and quality. You dont want to be buying then find it's really underpowered for your band. Without getting too boring its 300 solid state watts vs the reduced class d watts of the bam. There really wouldnt be any comparison. Any ashdown mag or abm combo would be perfect.

I use mainly Rolson toolbags for carrying my gear around. https://cpc.farnell.com/rolson-tools/68283/bag-tool-13pkt-18-long/dp/SG32779?mckv=sEFmCMEfE_dc|pcrid|224699680447|kword||match||plid||slid||product|SG32779|pgrid|49812616027|ptaid|pla-399482536964|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2b7uBRDsARIsAEE9XpFpNoIHHPdK7qb1hXwO0PqGIunb2WwfoPYHaBqXJy7oV65y2_Y_lqgaAtryEALw_wcB Their bright yellow colour makes them (1) easy to spot in a dark corner of a pub, and (2) easy to spot when someone tries to walk off with one. Plus of course they're incredibly hard-wearing.

My recentest acquisition... (Knackered bass bridge - getting a replacement.)

Worse for you. That stagecoach from Stenny takes a few hrs to get to the civilisation of Falkirk and tarmac roads that lead to South of the border. What will we do when the border checks are put in place and Hadrian's wall is re-instated

I was at Southend too, I echo the comments above, a marvellous, moving performance, IMO. I was stage right about six rows from front and the sound mix was one of the most perfect I can remember, the bass was just right here, Pete is a great player, his sound had punch and bite when neeeded but also a beautiful depth and warmth in the quieter songs. And you could actually hear the strings/wind section!!!! ( who were very well integrated into the songs I thought.) The Clare incident was hilarious, I love the way H interacts with the audience but I think he may have learned a lesson there. The sound tech bringing her a bag of crisps and a banana as she sat there drunkenly swaying was a nice touch.

And deep beneath the rolling waves In labyrinths of coral caves An echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand And everything is green and submarine

Glad to see my first Stomp is being put to such productive use - never in doubt it would find a better home in your hands than mine! Same likely to also be true for my second attempt at Stomp mastery which is now in the hands of @BlueMoon or at least BlueMoon Jr to be precise 😁. And for a pedal to beat a bass in your affections is going some! Seems to me that this very capable HX pedal is already stomping (yeah ok that's bad, but it's early, right?) its way to the front of the best purchase queue in 2019.

Same as @Chiliwailer, the Stomp has changed the game for me. A close second is my Sandberg Super Light. Travelling, loading in and out and playing is now far less of a chore. No bad purchases, though I'm really not a fan of the Dunlop Nickels I put on the Sandberg. They take the wooden spoon by default.

The only thing I can remember buying this year was a cute short-scale acoustic Stagg bass off our own @dodgnofski. It's great for leaving out for noodling and I've done a couple of acoustic gigs with it. Also, it can be transported out of sight in my wee hatchback. If you need a reason to buy a short scale - there you go!

Some days I like lyrics other days I don't Some days all I’ll eat is cheese Other days I won’t though lyrics don’t all have to rhyme I like it when they do I find the tale will flow quite well but I guess that is just me nonsense I say , it’s all nonsense, I do love good lyrics in a song.

Was it Fish calling, or maybe Walter Trout.

Two days and about $10 in supplies.... including the defret. before... after...

Was it the underwater bit that put you off or the having to play in Manchester? ( just joking btw! I’m a proud nearly Manc born and bred)

Me next to a tall Welshman (for scale purposes).

My Hohner Jack needs a baby sister....

They're an equal opportunities employer - they give jobs to guitarists and bassists.

Yep, Este Haim is the Queen of bass face. Not only are her gurns amazing, she does it continuously when playing.