Leaderboard

If I was in that position, no way would I give in to the temptation to come in late, play out of time, play in the wrong key or add overdriven fills full of split notes at inappropriate places. Certainly not.

I love this record... Its a great record on its own. His bass playing and singing are just fabulous. Paul must have listened to James Jamerson for the way he played those lines maybe.?

Hey! I finally finished the cab on Thursday and used it on a gig yesterday! I'm happy with the sound, just have to figure out a good position for it so I hear myself In a good way. I had it on a pno chair yesterday and the was fine but at times I heard too much highs because the horn is higher up in the cab. I was thinking to maybe add a mount for a speaker stand and put it up higher so I get a full sound from behind even with a loud drummer, especially when there is a PA and it's mostly for my stage sound. But maybe it's smarter to put it on the floor and tilt it so it faces upwards to have more low and I guess especially when there's no pa it might sound better for the audience 🤔. The option of the v1 of the cab combined with v3 is really appealing also. that definitely would sound awesome, just a lot to carry😅 I used it with an acoustic image top and blended microphone and pickup. That works pretty well for double bass, a Fullrange cab with an uncolored top. 👌🏽 I have to experiment more but I was pretty happy with the sound and got good feedback also from the audience! The grill I got is a bit thin so it needed more support and I think I'll actually buy some pieces of wood to make a nice frame for it. For more I just had to improvise and I also added some screws to make it solid before the gig.

Band members without their own gear or without transport.

I have a cautionary tale about not ignoring alarm bells. I was at a loose end and auditioned with a band playing 80s rock/pop covers. Drummer was ex-pro and totally on it. Guitar player had a great touch. Keys was ostensibly the band leader but not very effective at either keys or leading. Male and female vox, both could sing and were young and attractive. It was clear there was chemistry between the singers, who were both married elsewhere with kids so I thought - this is all going to get messy when these two get together, so I declined. Fast forward a few months, they were still advertising and i was still at a loose end so I got back in touch. The drummer and I had kind of hit it off at the earlier audition so that was that. Spent 6 months getting material polished, spent a fortune on a demo, then 2 gigs into it the singers left their respective partners/families and, erm, it all got messy. Is there such a thing as having hindsight about foresight? 😁

I'll PM in a minute but just want to first say that this thread is slowly becoming a, "Where can I buy or get a faker built?" thread. Now I have no problem with that but I don't want to risk putting anyone on the wrong side of RIC, be that this site for indirectly promoting the sale, or the luthier that is building these copies. In future, anyone wanting info on anything Rickenbacker copy related would be well advised to join the 'Rickenfakers' facebook group. There are two main builders (that I'm aware of) on there that will build to order. Whether they build a substantial amount or only a couple a year I don't know, or how willing they are to build for strangers. So far RIC seems to be leaving them alone but I wouldn't be surprised if that changed if too many start getting built. Pop on there and all will be revealed. 👍 P.S. The discussion of fakers on Basschat is fine, to be encouraged in my opinion, but promoting sales is not. 🙂

I have one of those. It slices hard boiled eggs nicely.

I move the following motion: That any band follower or random 'friend' who sits in on rehearsals be henceforth referred to as a 'Carl', this irrespective of their gender. Example: 'There this Carl who keeps turning up every week. She's quite cute but between every f*cking song she asks us if she can get us some tea from the machine and frankly it's a bit off-putting'.

Don't forget his bass equipment of choice..... Carls Berg - probably the best cab in the world. .....its been a long day.

This is why most fans point at the drummer

A drummer with two fans pointed at him.

Hello, If anyone's interested in the next chapter of this, I went to Bass Direct today and tried a few different heads to go with the Super Compact. Narrowed it down to three - Markbass Casa, Genzler Mag. 800 and the Markbass Little Mark Vintage. I came home with the Little Mark Vintage! Also this Strandberg was a laugh, great bass, but not for me! Jack

Carl don’t surf...

Band member spouses/partners/mates at auditions. Nothing good ever comes of these things. Mega no-no.

Ohh crap I better go count mine... brb..

I met a Carol once at Xmas..........good singer. Does that count ?

The whole band sound like a bunch of Carls to me. Fixed.

When I first joined BC I owned a Godin A4 and both a fretted and fretless Fender Modern Player Jazz basses. Since being a BC member I have tried out many, many beautiful basses, bought a few and sold a few. I have discussed some detailed technical details along with the aesthetic nuances of various basses. I have met many lovely people and have enjoyed being part of a community. Now I own two unique beautiful ACG basses neither of which I play very much at all. I do all of my writing on my Rob Allen and when I write something on the Mouse that I want to transfer on to a fretted bass I find myself wishing I had a bog standard Fender. Again, before BC, BBC if you like, I had a rule, no instruments over 1k, simply because I didn’t want to be precious about them, they are, after all, tools of work. Yet here I am with two basses I don’t play enough to really justify their cost, as beautiful as they both undoubtedly are I increasingly find myself scouring the BC for sale section and the Bass Direct site looking at Fender Precisions and Jazz basses. Does anyone else find themselves with basses the like but don’t play? Does anyone else have the recurring thought that if they spent as much time practicing as they do gassing on BC they’d be Pino Pastorious?

Had unsolicited contact from a band asking if I’d be interested in joining them. They sent me a website link, and all looked promising:- Image (interesting) Harmonies (nice) Songs (good story telling) Gigs (not too often but a good level when they do) But.....the guitar has chorus on, every song, all the time. I hated chorus in the 80’s, still do! It’s silly, but insurmountable for me. So it’s a NO from Slappie. What has prevented you from saying yes to a gig, which may seem a daft reason to others?

We played a short gig at a school for charity. We were luck enough to be able to set up in the hall on on Thursday, set levels and and simply turn up to play on Friday. It wasn't a particularly big space but I'd decided to go with a backline as well as DI and used my old Ashdown Mi10 rather than my Markbass 102. It sounded great from where I was standing at least. As everything was working fine on Thursday I didn't bother taking my spare bass. Whoops. As I plugged in five minutes before we were due to start the jack socket disappeared into the hole and I was left bassless. While I frantically tried to remove the pickguard to fix it the drummer turned up with a borrowed bass from the school's music department. An Encore PB copy. Currently availabe new for about £100. The fingerboard was a bit narrow but it sounded OK and the levels weren't massively different from my own Squier CV Precision (available new at around £340) which I use in preference to my American Special PB (no longer available new but around £900 new). The Mi10 was around £200 while the Markbass is about double that. So the important lessons are 1.take a spare bass 2. Inext time you buy something start with trying the cheap stuff.

Work in progress on the headstock: When this is done I'm going to find a decent camera to take pictures of it with. I can only apologise for the photo-butcher that is my phone. I mean really, since when was walnut grey?!

Here we go: It's sparkly and got feeshes on it. It's also eco - it's hand made and uses recycled car seat belt as backing. It's pretty!

Well an update to the above, although I loved the Ernie Ball Super Slinkies that came on it I had a thought in the back of my mind to try Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats. Chose the same gauge, 45 - 100 and have to say I’m really pleased with them. I’m getting the high end of rounds but without the added harmonic content that comes with rounds, plus they tame that sizzle you get on a ‘Ray. This bass is doing just what I wanted which is to tame my punk orientated style, I’m already noticing a, dare I say it, more measured sound (and this isn’t only to do with my new compressor. Who’d have thought it, confirmed Precision/rounds player like me using a flats-strung Stingray with a compressor. This must be equivalent to man learning to stand on two feet.

Jama-wool padding? Or just swap it for one of these (only £43 to you...)

Having seen many people invest a fortune in the 'right tools' just for many of them to never be used again, my advice is that, aside from the obvious basics, see what needs to be done THEN identify a cost effective solution and build your collection of tools as you need them.

I'm scared!

Seven Facts From The Fascinating World Of Carls * Carl is derived from the Old English noun ceorl (a man, freeman, peasant) and encompasses more than one social rank. At least one shonky web site suggests that ceorl means 'bonded man' which is the exact opposite of a free man and therefore complete bollocks and pretty much what you'd expect from something called babynamefinder.com * Carl can be viewed as a shortened form of the name Charles. Alternatively, Charles can be seen as a lengthened form of the name Carl. Two kings of England and ten kings of France have borne the name Charles as well as sundry other European monarchic riff-raff including various Charles's who were kings of Hungary, Naples, Sardinia, and Wüttemberg, shïtholes like that, basically * A house carl (Old Norse: húskarl, Old English: huscarl) was a non-servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe. The rank was applicable irrespective of the size of the household so a house carl could be a member of the household troops or bodyguard of a Danish or early English king or noble, and therefore something of a big noise around town. * The Germanic form of Carl (Karl) translates as meaning 'strong man', a possible linguistic link to the meaning of the OId English ceorl / huskarl where strength might be a pre-requisite for a household bodyguard, on the basis that the last thing you want between you and your ravening enemies is a mimsying cream-puff quoting romantic verse and dangling a floral pomander from his belt rather than a big f*cking knife. * Other European Carls include Carlos, Carlo, Karl. The name of the Spanish chef in TV's Crossroads was Carlos Raphael (sic). Feminine forms of Carl include Carla and the diminutive Carlita, generally associated with pouting Latina chickies in high heels and halter tops whereas the Russian Karla brings to mind baldy, woke thesp Sir Patrick Stewart in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy rather than a high cheek-boned icy Muscovite beauty with a useful line to people who can supply cut-price consumer electronics and Glock pistols * Carlism is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – on the Spanish throne and therefore of no interest to anyone outside the Iberian peninsula. * Famous musical Carls include drummer Carl Palmer, rock 'n' roll pioneer Carl Perkins, singer Carl Wayne out of Brum Beat band The Move and composer Carl Orff best known for his piece Carmina Burana which is very famous but gets on some peoples' tïts the way it bangs on relentlessly like a f*cking steamroller with a wonky wheel.

Bass GAS replaced by accommodation GAS, just transferred. It’ll be back to normal soon 🙂

If you want a handy little tool for measuring string height, pickup height etc, one of these would come in handy , and for general light sanding and nibbing down or smoothing, these pads are great, https://www.screwfix.com/p/norton-expert-contour-sanding-pads-fine-medium-pack-of-2/9971D?tc=AA6&ds_kid=92700022649300980&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1243321&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr-mtisnC5wIVF-DtCh1BsQ7HEAQYAiABEgJb6fD_BwE

That would grind my gears too! I can think of some deal-breakers that didn't seem daft to me, but might be inconsequential to others: Band member who is obviously a passenger. Rehearsals conducted at ear-crushing volumes. Expectation that all kit would live in band van (in farmyard lock-up) between gigs.

carl /kɑːl/ noun ARCHAIC a peasant or man of low birth. Great. I've never been prouder to be called Carl. Thanks a lot, Caaaarl 😒

I have now got the speaker wired up, thanks to those who offered advice on how to do that, it's not one of my confident areas, much appreciated. I thought I would do it while I was waiting for the grille cloth which I had ordered, to arrive from USA, however while I was out watching the man cub playing football, this morning, this arrived, left in the porch. Very pleased with this, looks great and no import duty to pay! Best get on with it!

You can’t have too many p basses!

Isn’t your story also a case of checking your gear regularly? I’m guessing the jack socket is held on by a nut and washer that had come loose, or fallen off?

Look no further.... 🙂 https://www.pinegroveleather.com/ https://www.pinegroveleather.com/double-padded-straps/bs64-superwide-bass-guitar-strap-brown Super quality, hand made in Hebden Bridge, God's County, UK Any questions, call Rod Boyes Pinegrove Leather www.pinegroveleather.com 07973 154888

I'm resurrecting the Groove Of The Week Series, starting off with a look at a straightforward groove and a challenging lick from MonoNeon: Full analysis/notation here: Groove Of The Week #51: Ghost Note - 'Swagism'

So pi§§ed off when that one started. Totally stole our thunder 🤨

He was probably a Karl, and as such, different from a Carl.

Just because he eats peoples hands doesn't make him weird. Oh hang on, I might be mixing up realities here...

It helps if you think of fast passages as just slow passages speeded up. 😎