Leaderboard

MODs please delete.

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? No, but played a mid-section of a song sitting down. 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Yes, lead guitar & lead vocals 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? No, but have played gigs with many of my favourite bands 04 Any fan ever had a tattoo of your band's logo? Yes, and song lyrics 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Yes, plenty of times (always found it rather embarrassing if truth be told) 06 Ever cried on stage? No 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Yes 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? No 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? No 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? No 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? Abuse mainly , but also ladies underwear (thrown by ladies I should add, had to be a pi55take) 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? No but have crashed on way back 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? Not exactly, but a slight disagreement helped me to finalise a decision I knew was coming 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? Yes 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? Yes, Jesus Jones and Carter & The Unstoppable Sex Machine spring to mind 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? No 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? No 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? No, but I have injured a member of the audience (who was spitting at me) 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Not often 😁

I’m still just trying to get my head around the converse concept of “rational GAS”!

I have recently found myself looking at all sorts of small electrical bass amps (my Acoustic Image kit is perfect so it is only electrical bass amps that I am looking at). For literally a decade or more, I stopped practicing electric through an amp and played into a PC through headphones. I had a Roland Cube guitar amp I could plug into if I needed to but rarely did. Anyway, I recently bought a Phil Jones Bass double four bg-75 combo thing just for home practice and I am kicking myself for not getting something decent years ago. I have been playing gigs on electric through the AI Clarus and Ten2ex with a PJB extension cab and it sounds great but I am now Gassing for every little bass combo in the world. The entire Markbass catalogue and especially the Jeff Berlin combo. Two of those, I reckon. The entire PJB range. GK, Ashdon, TC Electronic. I could buy it all. I just want to sound gorgeous. And all of this is happening while I have absolutely no gigs 😀

well only 4 weeks ago I received my lovely D roc,I am so impressed with it I decided to sell my Rickenbacker & buy myself a Dingwall Combustion,which has just arrived at work. Fortunately it is very quiet so I've had time to have a little play & adjust the setup. My D roc came setup perfectly but I had to tweak this a fair bit to make it play nicely. One odd thing though,there are no batteries in the battery compartment ! Is this normal ? Every active bass I have bought in the past came with batteries installed.

I'm trying to stay away from eBay.... Just going to have a quick look to see what amps are available... I hate you all

I’ve found it good for transcribing this morning, once I got the volume of the bass and YouTube balanced , you can hear every note clearly to play over the top of , I also plugged my old Tascam BT1 into it which also runs on battery , so I can play over CD’s 🙂

My bunch. Couldn't squeeze the K5 in though.

I've just stumbled across this - an amazing version of Air's "La Femme d'Argent" that I'd never seen before. Maybe I'll dust off my copy of "Moon Safari" and find my good headphones....

I tidied up the response and once I work out what half of them are I will most likely acquire them. If it has 5 strings is that a broken lead guitar? Seven strings or more is obviously a harp. Lots of speakers in a single box must be a Phil Jones and I am not (nor ever will be) old enough to appreciate/understand centrifugal jazz......

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Yes, just one it was an acoustic gig 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Yes , drums 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? KInd of, Ive played in the band for Derrick Morgan and Stranger Cole, my band have also suppoerted Lee "Scratch" Perry who's definately one of my musical heroes if that counts 04 Any fan ever had a tatoo of your band's logo? Not that i know of 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? Yes 06 Ever cried on stage? No 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Not for more than 1 song 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? No, not the whole band anyway 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? Yes 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? Yes 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? No 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? No 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? No 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? Yes 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? No, at least from my point of view 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? No 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? no 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? No 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Yes, and that its too loud, sometimes at the same gig

Free gig case was a fender one!

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Several times. 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Is double bass counted... well vocals. 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? Yes, certain local vocalist, that had been doing his stuff for ages. He was incredible as always. 04 Any fan ever had a tatoo of your band's logo? No, no! 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? To the receipt... 06 Ever cried on stage? I would say that sometimes the music takes me along and the feelings change a lot. 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? I think so. 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? Yes. Jazz. 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? No. 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? Yes, three. 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? A bassist that stands always in the furthest corner? Come on, no chance. 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? Last November a young West End boy hit my 30 year old Alfa Romeo 33. I am still fixing it. 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? No. 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? Do not remember. 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? Can't say so. 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? Once, it was terrible. The fever tried to kill me. 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes, once. 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? Don't think so. 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? There have been few pretty close situations, but luckily no. 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Many times. I have been thinking that it is enough, if I hear my playing. FEW EXTRAS: String broken: several times, but no more. Bass broken: Once the wiring was defect, but managed to fix it before the gig. PA broken/forgotten: once/once. There have been two times, when some lady has, well you know... this equals once in 15 years. I am still hopeful!

Off topic a bit but when the hall in our company building was redone. all the existing lighting controls were scrapped. They used massive Variacs capable of 2000W as the dimmers and they were all scrapped. Well, a few were repurposed. I have one and I added an AC socket to it, a power cable and an output AC voltmeter. It sits in the workshop and is used as needed.

You're right thebpick up position is an important element. Strings through is only on pre EB to around 1980 and on the more recent Classic range. In all cases (except the Special - introduced 2018) the bridge is a thick piece of steel with two holding down bolts going deep into the body - the Specials have the same shaped bridge but in aluminium to reduce weight and omit the deep holding down bolts. They all have significant area attached to the body

Kinda disagree about it being rubbish.... if set up right, you can get some nice ‘short-scale’ tone from these. I have one that I’m now parting with (not a reason for my reply)and I enjoyed it when the playability part of it was sorted. Just thought that I’d defend them a bit.... My belief is anything (within reason😉) can be sorted with a bit of thought and TLC. Don’t shoot me😇

I don't think anyone is policing it, but the danger is that since the PO changed their policy to no batteries, if (and that's a big IF) the package is found to have any, particularly if its an international package, you may well find it won't arrive where it's supposed to. So basically, it's not worth the risk. If this Dingwall hasn't been out of the box since leaving the factory, that may well be why it doesn't have a battery.

Fairport Convention’s big annual summer festival. Every August bank holiday weekend..

Nice. You could go full minimalist and get rid of the tuner though with the MicroBass 3 😁 Love mine... two instrument channels with EQ and drive; DI output; separate line output for a powered speaker, or use the MicroBass's headphone amp if I'm on in-ears; independent "more bass" volume control. If on in-ears, I can route in a monitor mix from the desk.

I've picked this bass up for the first time in a few months (been playing the geetar recently) and instantly remembered why I loved it so much. Naturally I had to come back and look through the build thread again. Still made up with it.

Latest pedal board update...

As with many bands we are doing a few "lockdown" tunes.

No... saw them at Wembley. My mates missus worked for their label. Had front row seats for free. Saw them again at Isle of Wight festival in 09’. Good band live. Not so keen on their new stuff. They all lived near me at one point but saw them live again at Isle of Wight festival. I didn’t want to but boy were they good! Seeing 25k people bouncing up and down in unison to firestarter on Keith’s command is a very good memory. RIP Keith. They were pretty good live in the early days. We have a winner. Never liked them everything sounds the same.

And we have a winner... would have loved to have seen the classic blues rock line up of The Snake with Marsden, Moody and Murray. Once they went 80s hair metal with Vai, Sykes, Vandenberg et all they held absolutely no appeal. In 81 when I’d seen Lizzy and Elkie and had tickets booked for Gillan (with Janick Gers rather than Bernie Tormé sadly) both pocket money and Dad’s taxi service (the only Cornish venue was 20 odd miles away from Truro in St Austell) were too stretched to fit in another gig.

That’s probably better, if I type Cake it makes me hungry 😋

Yeah Dave, I just thought I’d try it and the bass sounds clearer through the SC 🙂

Cheers, Al. The song was recorded just before the restrictions came in. The drums were done at the drummer's house, the bass in my house (Handbox R-400 DI > cheap little Focusrite > Adobe Audition), and we sent the files to the guitarist. He just has a protools set up in a small room in his house, which is where we also did all the vocals, violin & accordion. I don't think he has any clever outboard stuff, just a few nice mics and a good ear. The video was necessitated by the restrictions - I put it together from mobile phone selfie vids, as you've probably guessed. In't technology marvellous?

Loved Capercaillie for years. Only seen them once, though. Reading Hexagon. Surprise, surprise, they were fabulous. Karen Matheson... what a voice!

Apologies for the lack of updates on the restoration. I actually finished it last year and sold it on. The tolex wasn’t a great job as it puckered in a couple of places. It looked a lot better than it was but not my best restoration.

I find that with songs new to me, the best way to get them into my thick skull is to write a part out first, whether I’ll need it or not at a later date. There’s something about writing out even a simple chord chart that helps it stick in my mind, almost to the point of me remembering the page layout and what goes where as I’m playing it. I’ve subsequently got parts for most things I’ve played over the last 40 odd years! Always think that if my band ever needed an emergency dep then at least he/she may have a fighting chance if they could follow the stuff I’ve written too, certainly better than busking anyway.

Great name for a thrash metal band. 😆

01 Ever played a gig sitting down? Yes, ever since I've been in an acoustic duo all the gigs have been sitting down. 02 Ever gigged on a different instrument? Yes, lots, on drums in my teens and early twenties. 03 Ever shared a stage with a musical hero of yours? Only as a tech. But my old thrash band once supported Dub War, Benji wore one of our Beanie hats, I was chuffed. 04 Any fan ever had a tattoo of your band's logo? Heh, not to my knowledge. 05 Ever signed an autograph in a dressing room? No, but outside a venue in Iowa a band I was working for were signing autographs and I was asked to sign several posters and shirts, I did explain that I was just a tech but it didn't matter, an English accent seemed to be enough. 06 Ever cried on stage? Only with laughter. 07 Ever worn a hat on stage? Yes, never (I don't think) done a gig without one. BTW I own 40+ hats. 08 Ever gigged with a band you hadn't met before the gig? No. 09 Ever been in a relationship with a fellow band member? Yes. 10 Ever played in different bands on the same day? No. 11 Ever had anything thrown at you while playing? Yes, a joint, and, bizarrely, a copy of a drumming magazine. 12 Ever crashed on the way to the gig? No. 13 Ever left a band over the choice of set list? No. 14 Ever slept in the venue despite it not being a hotel? No. 15 Ever been supported by a band clearly better than you? Hmmm, difficult one, certainly more technically proficient bands but we were never bettered in the swagger dept IMHO. 16 Ever played a gig suffering from some debilitating medical condition? No, but I have thrown up due to excessive drinking twice whilst on stage. Once all over my snare which was hectic during the next roll. 17 Ever been in a band where the guitarist was your favourite bandmate? Yes, every one, as it happens. 18 Ever played in the grounds of a stately home? No. 19 Ever injured yourself on stage? No. 20 Ever been told that your bass isn't loud enough? Yes, by an excellent guitarist.

This may work.

I keep getting notified over this post, so here's my current collection spending the lockdown with me

Here's a clip of humble attempt from a couple of months back, playing it with Mr. Nail and Christopher Fairbank (Y'know, him off Guardians of the Galaxy). I got away with it, but having Guy's video to refer to beforehand would have saved me a lot of heartache. ha ha.

https://www.kennysmusic.co.uk/yamaha-sessioncake-sc-01-mixing-headphone-amp-for-guitar-bass Great deal if you’re stuck at home and want a quiet noodle!

Certainly can, however I’ve had a few beers so probably better to try it tomorrow 🤣

Thompson - Glasto, then several times since. Tull and Rush both at the NEC - Broadsword and Signals. 🙂

Very nice! If you can forgive me for a nit-pick, I think he hits the A more often than the C# on the verse 🙂

Aren't they all yes/no questions? no, yes, no, yes, no, no, yes, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Evening, Well another frankenbuild for me. Always fancied a sneaky hidden pick up so..... Regular jazz body (unsure make and Wood- but standard Fender dimensions). Seymour Duncan AJJ-1 pick ups all wired standard vol/vol/tone. I am adding a Bassculture humbucker bar under the pickguard close to the neck. I want to experiment with some more deep sub type tones alongside the standard Jazz affair. I plan on simply wiring the bucker with a push/pull volume pot so it’s series/parallel. I’ll then send that straight to the output jack. Obviously drill a hole in the pick guard. Used a Noll one for this before, trying a CTS this time. Red Splodge is approximate knob placement (May change) and blue is sort of where the wires are going out into the original cavity rout and in. The output wire will be back out the long horizontal. Doing this to keep pick up wire length for any other fun if I don’t like. Awating pot and the plate so did this to pass the time and I wish I had a router - a Firsch Forstner bit and a dremel is fine, but takes ages! I’ll borrow a neck from another bass. when it’s wired if I like the sound I’ll get a black kickass bridge and ideally a Status jazz neck. I could use from another build for proof of concept. Bridge pick up output is 3.2, neck 4.2 and bucker 5.2 - so I hope it all matches. Nothing as adept as some of the other chaps here and their building skills but hopefully a fun mod, which suits what I hope to achieve sonically

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