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Well, I thought they were good mates but then the buggers gave me an early birthday present at rehearsal last night!

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I don’t even know what we’re playing till I hear the first bar.

People I know.

I was thinking that too. Someone should start a Glenn Hughes thread and we can all pile into that one.

If they're not tanked up I do indulge some people. Like the bar staff where the girl is explaining to the others what a Fretless is because her dad plays, so I handed the bass over the bar for them to look at, that really shocked them in to behaving and not trying to make innuendo out of "smooth tones" etc. But if they're hammered and "my mate is better than you" they get my Northern accent. You won't like when I speak Northern.

Supported The Exploited on Saturday night in Belfast. Absolutely fantastic night, they were totally on fire! Big brawl broke out at one point which was a shame and the PA packed in briefly but otherwise amazing stuff. Felt like I was 15 again when Wattie signed my original copy of Punk’s Not Dead!

OR "Can I have a go on your girlfriend?"

I read all of this and thank my lucky stars I’m in an originals band. The only people we get on stage are the ones who’ve been thrown there by the rest of the audience.

Black Friday deal saw me parting with my credit card for a new one. BUT omfg. Lovely brown hard case, holding a bass that was so covered in dust, a fingerboard that was so dry it was pink. Pink dust everywhere that looked like the paint had not adhered to the corners or crevices and a loose jack socket. spoke to the dealer, who said it had come direct from Gibson, and the security label was intact when it arrived so I believe them . secured a further discount on the price, dusted it off, oiled the fingerboard, tightened up the socket, and its wonderful to play . Im surprised ( despite hearing lots of nasty comments about Gibson) that they allowed this sort of lack of final inspection lack of quality.

1/ One of my customers is just learning to play guitar, he's in his mid 50s. His guitar tutor asked what his aim was and the chap said he just wanted to play one gig. The guitar tutor replied that he'd need a better guitar. The guitar in question is an Epiphone Les Paul copy. It's in good condition and very playable. My customer asked me what I thought, I said I thought his tutor was talking out of his rear exhaust pipe. 2/ The music teacher at my son's school told my son that bass players don't play with plectrums, so he should only use fingers when he was playing the bass at school. My son told me this so I suggested next time he 'plays' bass at school and the subject of plectrums comes up he just says Bobby Vega or Carol Kaye. I then told my son, who is learning to play guitar, that anyone who wants to be a well rounded player should try to get to grips with all techniques on their instrument. Being deadly serious, I don't think people, who regard themselves as Music Teachers, and make such nonsense statements should be teaching at all. They're doing a disservice to those they are supposed to be teaching. It may seem minor, however, such narrow minded ridiculousness...well, it boils my waste water!!!

Thanks, it was 3 hrs of of stuff I knew stuff I'd vaguely heard of and stuff I'd never heard of, Intense and a load of fun. Loads to look up and learn at least the root notes of. Lovely bunch of people, it'll definitely become one of my regular evenings.

I got my ABM head a couple of years ago in a trade on a whim (it's the chrome fronted rack mount version - I guess I'm a bit of a magpie). I'd had an Ashdown head about 15 years ago that developed a fault which the store I bought it from failed to get sorted so I just gave up on it. If I'd have know at the time about the level of customer service that I'd have got by taking it directly to Ashdown if have saved myself a lot of money going through other amps over the years. Anyway, my current ABM head was a revelation - powerful, punchy and I don't know about anyone else's but mine is 100% wool free. I recently got myself some Ashdown cabs to go with the head and a little Five Fifteen AAA head as a backup and honestly can't see myself using any other make of amp in future.

Nah. Mutual online appreciation of each other’s awkwardness is enough socialising for this week.

128 presets dude. People pay £375 for a Darkglass pedal that does dirty or clean. Let that sink in. A 128 channel preamp. It's not new technology, but it makes other things that claim to be "versatile" look like they should have a sign showing where the coal goes.

I've been playing bass for about 45 years (minus a few breaks here and there along the way) and have never used any effects pedals. My Ashdown amps have sub-octave and compression built in, but I never use them. I'm not against effects, but view it is just more stuff to buy, store, plug in, etc. which I don't have a need for. No band I have played has ever asked me to use effects to change the sound of my bass, so I must be on the right track.

And I found some pics of how the bass arrived with me, the only thing removed was the cloth bag that the bass arrived in... they must really trust their couriers!

Just watched that: Glenn is astonishing; "Sit down, Bruce: the bassist's got this..." 😁

Hi @james_027 Like many people here, my older Yamaha BB seems fine with a one piece neck, 4 bolt neck join and top loading bbot bridge! I'd not really be concerned about the structural side of things (as you say, that's what you get on most of the multi-thousand dollar Fender custom shop basses) but it's more a question of whether the laminated neck, and through body stringing give a "better" sound to your ears. The biggest difference (for me) would be the pickups. The 2 series have ceramic magnets while the 4 have alnico5 magnets. Received wisdom would imply that the 4 series pickups are a bit more subtle and vintage voiced. As always, it's a bit more complicated than that. One player's "vintage mojo" is another players "weak and characterless", one players "brash and unsubtle" is another's "punchy and agressive" etc. Bear in mind that, unlike previous BBs, these new ones feature standard-sized pickups so upgrades will be possible further down the line if you feel there's something missing. Needless to say that Yamaha make great sounding pickups anyway! I guess this isn't helping. It's 5am and I can't sleep so I thought I'd put some thoughts out there. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice and a great deal on either is what might sway it for me. I particularly like the yellow natural 2 series look but the teal 4 series is pretty saucy too. I daresay some of the Big Beasts of the BB thread will be along with far more informed guidance soon enough.

She plays incredibly well, I’m for sure selling my Geddy Lee, maybe even my MIM Pbass... I have to hunt down my stash of capacitors for the tone fix, and I’m seriously considering replacing one of the volume pots with a blend knob. I did find my thicker Kydex for the pickguard, but I don’t think I need it. The next project is starting with 2 sets of Pbass pickups....

I’ve joined the club 🤦🏻‍♂️ What have I done.....

I love their configurator!

The singer in one local band is a powerlifter and ex-doorman. On more than one occasion, a tanked-up stage invader has been launched back over the monitors... great to see, and greeted with a roar of approval by other punters. Life in Penzance!

Its a bit like kids playing guitar in music shops on Saturday morning. If you don't own a guitar, then that prospect is filled with excitement and wonder. If you do own a guitar (and amp etc), then you can sit down and play it at any time at home, right? So the mystique is gone. Therefore, anyone who asks to play something at a gig, almost by definition, can't.

Hi everyone! I can't believe i haven't joined before ... I've been more of a passing viewer of other peoples posts and reviews so far. Anyway, I'm a keen bass player, i don't get out and play as much as I'd like these days but I've been playing for 30 odd years, played in various bands over the years ... some serious, others less so ..... and now play in a jazz funk band in Bristol called Wasabi and do a few deps for other local bands. Basses - 5 strings - Warwick fretless & Spector fretted, and a 4 string Squier precision which i fitted with Aguilar electronics Amp - Genz Benz streamliner 900 Cabs - Barefaced Super Compact (up for sale soon) Pedals - quite new to the whole pedal board thing, but have a few interesting pedals that i use on specific songs .. 3leaf audio proton filter, EHX bass mono synth, plus the more usual octaver, distortion, chorus. I hope to have a nose around, meet some people and maybe buy and sell a few things

I had a PF500 that was great, really nice recorded sound from the onboard DI as well as sounding great live. I believe the earlier issues with these are long gone now.

I have the PF50T. I got it for a bit of fun but it’s working really well with my Barefaced Midget as a gigging setup in my country band. It seems to work better with the Midget than with my Super Twin - punchier I’d say. I’ve never owned or tried the PF500 but I had the SVT3-Pro for a while and the PF50T is much more enjoyable to play through. It gets a bit ‘furry’ when pushed but never sounds strained. I have a One 10 on order so I’m looking forward to hearing how the PF50T pairs with it. If you’re gigging you’ll need something to carry it around in as there are no handles on it! @Cat Burrito put me onto a suitable carry bag.

Nowadays I always go to a chap who has started up recently - given up a job in the city to follow his passion and life-long hobby. Leighton Jennings, in Western Road, Leigh. He builds guitars and amps so can confidently tackle pretty much anything, He also restores Dansette record players! I've been really pleased with his work - currently he is marrying a mis-matched neck and body for me. https://www.leightonsguitarshop.com/

I've currently got both the PF500 and the PF50t heads, the later being especially great. I prefer Orange these days as a personal choice but I had a lot of fun for years with them. The 4x10 cab was especially great but I also used to own a 2x10 and 1x15 Portaflex cabs. Not quite SVT but certainly 100% Ampeg and I usually got favourable comments on my tone. I moved to Orange as it suited the bands I was in better but the Ampeg stuff was perfect for my old bands. Always reliable too.

Well we don’t socialise outside of the band but we gig so much that would be difficult anyway. We spend so much time together gigging/touring that it would be rotten to spend it with people you don’t class as mates, so mates they be.

Mates. Unless I'm earning as much as Mick Jagger, I don't want to waste time on negativity.

They're Trace Elliot watts, they're made different.😃

I wonder it there's someone out there who's the kind of twit twoo'd bid on this...

It Bites - Calling All The Heroes

I think that you have to remember that each situation is different, just as each band is different. You have to be adaptable and to make yourself the best fit for the band, assuming that you actually want the gig. As mentioned above, you are more likely to get a gig through having good networking skills and (vitally) having a good solid reputation. I haven't done an audition as such for 25 years or more (in fact I point blank refuse to audition for local bands), all the gigs I have got have been through personal recommendations or knowing the band. We have just recently replaced a drummer in a covers band. As soon as we knew the old guy was leaving, we just discussed on messenger who we thought could do the gig and might be interested. We then made a list of three guys (in order) to contact. Fortunately, the first guy could do it so we asked him to join the band (no auditions or trials, etc). If he couldn't have done it, we would have rung the next guy on the shortlist. Only if none of them were available would we have started putting out feelers and started getting recommendations from people we knew.

It's a beautiful pedal, lovely LCD lights which you can leave on, leave off or have come on when pedal is active. Beautiful finish to the casing. Solid metal body. Pleasing knobs in the way they turn easily but have a little resisitance. Sounds awesome. Tracks well. No audible POP when turned on. Modulation an interesting add on, but not for everyone I guess. Rubber feet supplied but not attached. I've been through a number of octave/pitch shifting pedals but this is the one for me. Does the job without fuss. I love my Valeton for its O2 synthy sound but wanted something clean as possible without breaking the bank. This is it.

Owl ong before the real pics are up?

This is true, and I'd considered it, and thought it was unlikely for Barefaced. Alex said he decided quite late on to do it, and that if he'd known in advance he'd have at least hinted. Most places do have something on the run on to try and drum up more business. I have certainly ended up with a good deal anyway.

their girth

Careful maybe, but the idea of not trying for an opportunity that you don't have the experience for is very negative. My whole work career involved applying for jobs that I didn't have the experience for but knew I could do once I had a chance, I don't see why a band should be any different. Not kidding myself that I would get the gig in any top level band, and I am too old now, but I know full well I can play the bass as least as well as many people I have seen, so if I had the opportunity, and availability, why the hell would I not audition?

Frantic by Metallica. It is great for about 1.5 seconds until the first snare hit.

Is it too soon for this to be considered a 'timeless' classic one hit wonder?