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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.

Just snaffled this 48 y/o beauty. Weighs just over 7 pounds, which is fabulous for my back/shoulders. Just need to sell a couple of basses to pay for it now!

Maybe from the outside looking in. Happiest in my own company. Rarely happens so I generally spend my days being a bit spiky and miserable. It’s not so bad with my wife and kids, but people I don’t know, it’s like scraping sandpaper across my soul.

it's hard to stay real friends with band mates because band politics gets in the way, when you start off everybody's up for it and really pally, but the longer it goes on the more arguments happen, the Beatles, Jagger and Richards, extreme examples but you should get the idea

Great amp. I had one. Spend as much time as possible getting used to the controls. Its confusing to how all 4 main outputs work together. Also, use the software - the compressore on there is by far and away the best compressor I have used.

Did a quick pickup test video at lunch today for anyone wanting to hear it. Dry signal, bass straight in to my Apogee Jam in to Garage Band on a basic "Ampeg" amp setup with everything flat. First off I'm sorry you have to listen to the same riff over and over but that's the best way to hear the difference... if you can. I've kept the Treble and Bass flat on all, but hard panned the pickups so you can hear what they're doing, there's text on the vid so you know what's going on, at the end of the video there's what the bass sounds like acoustically picked up by the camera microphone, in the middle of it all of course there's a little bit of Space Cowboy. Honestly it really doesn't sound that bad, I'd like a bit more nasal bridge tone but the neck pickup sounds good.

Funny you should say that - but I was looking at the way the guitarist was strumming thinking that his style is pretty much a verbatim copy of John's.

Mind you, to be fair Mrs Overall has steadier hands than me.

Sold llian an iem system recently. Great chap to deal with. Everyting as it should be with no hassles at all. Thanks again llian. Cheers Dunc

We seem to have derailed this thread somewhat.

Agree with that, I have had that one. Give me a list of all your songs, then tell me which ones you want to audition. If I feel comfortable enough with those I will spend some time on the others too, but I have also (in this case joined a band) learned songs to be told 'oh we don't do that one any more' or 'we haven't started that one yet'

For a long time I used a PJB Briefcase on double bass. At 100w of hifi sound it won't work in a loud band, but i've successfully used it for both DB and EB in a full band setting with no PA support. Strategic positioning and tilting helped, as well as sympathetic volume setting from the rest of the band. I changed to a bigger PJB rig because too often I didn't have the chance to set up as I needed to to be heard. I miss the portability and form factor, so I bought a second hand Markbass minimark 602, which is louder and lighter than the PJB briefcase.

At least with your new effects box of tricks you won't be stomping around 😉

I find it fascinating and Nita is a great example of this. Is she just social media'ing what she does in her spare time for the good of her fans or creating second income streams that a touring musician needs? Let's face it Alice will retire soon, she still needs to eat and pay rent long after so creating awareness of her drives up demand for her services. Everywhere she tours with Alice Cooper she's giving guitar master classes in guitar shops and promoting her solo material, she's definitely putting the hours in but also keeping her name out there. I respect it, seems very clever, and of course it's all backed up by supreme talent, fair play to her, seems like the template for the working muso in the social media age.

Yep. Very tiny germs. The instrument's riddled with them. It would be more appropriate were the additional line on the back of the headstock to announce "Butchered in East Sussex...

I also play originals and we don’t get people on stage either, but to be honest that’s mostly because there are often more people in the band than the audience... 😐

If you're on Facebook you might like to watch this, It's the opening number from the Blackpool show. https://www.facebook.com/trevor.barry.376/videos/10156736515728601/

Make that 2 someones

Don't rush in, it's valid until Monday ends.

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

James just bought my powertrain... amazingly fast payment and great comms. Great BCer. Enjoy James 😃👍🏻