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Here’s a thing. My Eldest Daughter turned 11 yesterday. I joined Basschat in the early hours of 1st August 2009, as I couldn’t sleep and was absolutely having a rabbit in headlights Moment at the prospect of being a dad. So...what does 11 years look like... I was annoyed yesterday - due to politics, it was the first time I’ve not had a photograph of her on her birthday taken by me. Ella’s 2nd Birthday was the first one I did solo; the band I was in threw her a party for that one 🤣 Shame I haven’t got photographs of 11 years worth of bass sales and purchases on basschat. I don’t think the servers could handle the upload. Anyhow...happy 11th Basschativersary to me.

Picked up a steal yesterday. Ashdown RM 220. Wanted something smaller that would fit on my BF two10 neatly. Does a fantastic job and can easily dial in the same tone as my ABM. Nice small packaging, still solid state not class D so has a good weight to it. Kicks out a storm though, great head.

Here are a couple of mine, if we are on a CAR theme. Any excuse...... love the 66 btw.

Struggling now - need to take this to pieces to finish it off but having too much fun playing it!!

Body is already contoured, but thanks for the tip. I did the belly cut and the arm contour using a belt sander, finished off with scrapers. Fine tuning the neck angle. Finding the bridge position. This pic also reveals the "special feature": 2 pickup locations. I plan to make a second pickguard later for the second position. Most of the parts I had already waiting there, so it was just a matter of getting the neck and "integrating" everything. At this point, I could finally get some idea of the sound, acoustically at least. It's LOUD, like a proper P bass-kind of loud. So output will not be a problem The sound is also very piercing and seems to have all kinds of frequencies represented. So, it will be just a matter of EQ-ing to get what you want. Oh, about the finishing. At this stage, it already has 2 layers of wax on it. I went for wax since I really liked the look & feel of it on some test pieces. It's also a super easy way to finish. I still plan to take it apart once more, lightly sand and rub one final coat to get rid of some marks. Maybe one testament for the finish: everybody who comes to the shop wants to touch and feel the wood going like "ooh! aah" The only issue really is the weight. This is not your bass to haul around in a gigbag. It's not been on the scale yet, and I'm afraid to put in on our small kitchen scale I have been entertaining the idea of finding a lighter block of wood, tweak a few things and make an even better body with all the experience I got from this one. Let's see....

Here’s mine. I’ve had a fair few but I’ve paired it down to one. Objectively speaking, it’s probably not as good as the modern Fenders, but, just look at it! It’s a 66 with the lollipop tuners. All original bar the jack socket which had to be replaced.

As mentioned in another thread of mine, I'm attempting to get back into bass after years in the doldrums. Back in the day I rose up from nothing to being the best bass player in my bedroom. Sadly after year of decline I now see myself as the worst bass player in my bedroom. Basically I went from 5 string to 4 string and somewhere down the line I drifted away, basically playing various other instruments but not really bass. I have been galvanised this year by the fact that oldest son and oldest daughter play bass occasionally and I have 'seen the light' a bit again. So yeah, the plan is to make my own bass for the fun of it, and go back to 5 strings, where I was definitely more comfortable. Shape. Well I was going to be boring and go for a jazz bass shape as I rather like them, but then I was rather taken by the shape of Hadrien Feraud's signature Mayones bass, so I have based it upon that. Being a graphic designer I tend to draw up my own precise and detailed plans. So here's the bass plan: er .... the precision pickup will be the right way up! Ebony fretboard, Plastic MoP type block inlays, J-retro 01 (cos I have one spare) and ...... it's gonna have a pretty weird hand painted finish that probably no one will like but me! Anyway, it has been underway in serious since the lockdown thing started. Not that I've had any more time as I'm a key worker. I should add that although this is my first attempt at making a bass, I have previously made 5 electric guitars all of which I am very pleased with. I have already discovered that it is quite a bit different making a bass, and certainly more expensive! That is all for now.

First post my new Matamp GT200 with matching 4x10

Of the vintage Fender’s I’ve owned, these were my favourite 3. A ‘64 Jazz (refin), ‘64 P, and a heavily nodded, and awesome, ‘71 Musicmaster. All were sold years back as I needed a deposit to buy a flat, out went a load of other vintage gear too. @Davo-London has the P, it’s in very good hands. I’ve been lucky to have some other great old Fenders before and since, but these 3 were a special combo.

A couple from the 70s... The Jazz is from ‘73. I bought it in the early 80s from the original owner. I was a factory apprentice and worked with the guy (he’d just bought himself a Music Man). I’d played the Jazz a few times and loved it but couldn’t afford it. The guy just said take it and give me what you can afford each Thursday (pay day). A wonderful gesture which took me years to pay off - he let me off with a fair bit of it in the end! And the first thing I did... took it to a local luthier and had EMGs fitted!! I’ve since sourced a set of ‘73 p/ups for the bass but I think the p/ups are Seymour Duncans in the pic. The bass has been everywhere with me, and will be the last to go... The Precision is from ‘71. Lovely sound, and sporting an A-width Jazz-width neck.

Job centre? 😂. Hmmm dammit I went down as far as Swadlincote this weekend picking something up myself. Unfortunately nothing on the cards but if you do struggle I'm happy for an hour's trek down the M1 for a basschatter

I love to dig out these photos

Maple Road has been out gigging since March. However we have not played any traditional bar/ pub gigs. We have been playing private parties and events with budgets. We have not had to discount our services yet. We have 3 gigs next weekend, however we have nothing on the books for fall. Blue

My late 1962 Jazz (refin)... It’s the nicest bass I’ve ever had the good fortune to play. The plant is an essential accessory..!

Got to gig last night at an outside event at a social club. Great atmosphere, about 90 people turned up all on separate tables, felt amazing to be gigging agin, got rebooked for a bike rally there at the end of the month. Enjoy the guitarist bum notes fluffery toward the end..I did!

That’s great! I’ve been fortunate to meet some really nice people in life, especially in music. In the early days there were a few people who really took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity. In the first band I was in I was really out of my depth. They were fabulous musicians and I was a bit younger and nowhere near as good, really struggling to keep up. The easy thing would have been to have gotten someone better (locally they were a decent draw and could have had their pick of players) but they gave me a go, taking me under their wing and mentoring me. Sometimes all you need is someone to believe in you, isn’t it. The guy who sold me the bass was a fabulous player - he’d played in a semi-professional capacity, backing all kinds of acts from Frank Carson to Englebert Humperdink on the cabaret circuit! - and was really encouraging. Never turn down a gig, he’d say, and of course he was right! He could see I was really keen on music/bass (to say the least) and just decided to help me along the way. The bass is special to me, and I’ve an agreement with my wife that (in the hopefully significantly distant future!) when I shuffle off, as long as she doesn’t need the money, the bass should be sold and the money donated to a charity for mentoring underprivileged kids who want to play music but may need a bit of a leg up... As I say, hopefully that’s a long way off yet!!!

My two keepers. Black and Maple 1973 and Mocha/Walnut 1978.

Al - I think you have some kind of misunderstanding regarding these products and comparison between the two. First of all, on the TT-800 each channel has its own eq because the eq circuits are VERY different nad in the case of the Boogie channel, is fundamental to the voicing and texture of that channel. A single eq, no matter how many bands, is a non-starter for us in a 2 channel, channel switching amp. On the WD-800, which is a single channel amp, there is a 2 band Baxandall bass-treble eq, a passive mid that is also part of the amp's inherent voicing, and also 3 bands of semi-parametric mid that is foot switchable. This is our take on eq that's appropriate to these products. Regarding rear panel features, I don't see things that both the TT-800 and WD-800 include, things like level, ground lift on the DI(s), nor a tuner out, full size aux input jack, USB(A) power port. The parts that we use are a little bit larger in order to capitalize on mechanical robustness. Making this layout smaller is a non-starter regarding player-friendliness. I don't follow your comparison on size. The WD-800 and TT--800 are the same size, a little larger than the Darkglass amp you mentioned. IF you wish to compare based on size, then either the D-800 or D-800+ would be about the same (or smaller). Your assumption about the differences between the TT and WD make it clear that you haven't played either. They are entirely different amps, different tone profiles, different texture profiles, different feature sets and are designed to appeal to different players. The number of tubes is relatively independent to this, the signal path for the Boogie channel uses 1 tube and the signal path for the Subway channel uses 1/2 of a tube, one tube is common to both channels. It's HOW the tubes are used that matter, no different than every other aspect of a design. May I suggest that you try the amps before making performance comparisons?

Collected today from Jon Shuker ....😁

I've been playing lots of Clash tunes recently... had fun with Rock the Casbah, Stay Free, and White Man in Hammersmith Palais. Paul Simonon mightn't have been the best technical player in the world, but his feel was great, and he was perfect for the Clash (not to mention he looked cool as fcuk on stage!).

as usual, it's me (and drummer) who set up PA (as well as transporting it and storing it plus guitarists amp and 412 cab), so I'm always the last to set up my gear with minutes to spare before sound check (this has been an ongoing issue for 10 years now). If there's any time left after before we start I have to set up at least 3 cameras, switch them on, focus them, check gain levels etc so there's no time to get a camera on me as well, plus I edit all the videos, get all the gigs (well 90%), edit the FB page pretty much myself, etc etc..you get the picture...

Any fans of Incubus here?

Damn! You mean I should have read his post before replying? Well that's just not the Basschat way ...

In the TT one of the additional tubes is in the Subway channel which is 'new and improved' over the standard subway amps. The size of the WD800 likely harks back to the design of the original Walkabout - keeping a recognisable form factor which loads of players loved and found to be very intuitive. I think both these new heads look great. I also believe that the TT will be all the better for having dedicated eq for each channel as there is always a compromise on shared eq amps which have additional drive capabilities be they guitar or bass. A killer clean tone can become a little bass heavy when drive is added or need more mids, need less top end etc etc. Having two independent eq's potentially removes any such niggles. The Walkabout was always designed to sound like a big tube amp in a small package and I'm sure the WD delivers just as the original Walkabout did - the demo's seem to suggest it does! The price drop will obviously encourage more folks to consider one of these now they're more competitive but they still appear to have a really solid set of features which players want and christ knows they moaned about on various forums for years I cant imagine either of these amps would be bulky to carry in a should bag and it's certainly not heavy at 3.2kg considering what some peoples pedal boards clock in at! I know it's fickle but out of all the class D amps on the market right now the Boogie WD and TT appeal to me a little more than the competition. I really like the feature set and the overall form factor/design. In saying that I gigged a Walkabout for a few years way back and it's a cracking little amp and I fell in love with Boogie amps in general as a teenager (a local music shop stocked Boogie amps way back in the 90's and they were so cool!). I can only speak for myself but I think the Mesa drive sounds might have more wide spread appeal than the Microtubes amp circuits. I've yet to hear what the AO amp can do drive wise but I am familiar with the pedal and I know there are some good gain sounds - my interest would be in the lower gain application.

Here's my '66P. I have dozens of pics of the various bits that would probably bore folks on here to tears but happy to share with the OP if of interest.

That’s a great resource, as is this book:

I've completed the wiring - this is passive with volume and tone, a series-single-parallel switch and a off-dim-bright switch for the side dots on the fretboard. It's not quite finished yet - I still have to dress the frets and spray a final coat of lacquer on the neck but I wanted to assemble everything to make sure the string height etc would be okay and no more sanding was required. Couldn't resist putting a set pf strings on and giving it a go - I'm really liking the Bart pickup from my first impressions. So here's the headed mini basses:

Hey gang! After a laborious lockdown edit, the DVD's out on Thursday. I've seen it, and it's fab. Hopefully I'll have a clip or two to share soon...

Hi! Found the Forum while looking for information on Yamaha BB series basses, read lots of discussions, decided to join. First started playing bass at 14, joined my first real band at 22. Left the band and sold my bass after the first European tour. Played guitar and did songwriting for the next 15 years, with no success whatsoever. Joined a band as bass player again in 2008 or so, then in a couple years got bored and sold my bass again. Next I got deeply into analog synthesis, collected lots of broken old synths and learned how to repair them. Played keyboards (and samplers, and fx) with some bands, still do. For a long time, Fender Bass VI was my dream instrument. A former bandmate had three of them, after years of begging she agreed to sell me one. ’95 MIJ with better trem, handwound PU’s, StayTrem bridge and so on. Love it! A couple years ago saw an old, badly treated Yamaha BB300, just had to rescue it. It did not make me a bass player again, but another BB, a BB1200S I found this May, did. Formed a new band with an old bandmate, been writing new material the whole summer. Before lockdown I worked as sound technician at a club, also did some festivals. None of it now, been out of work since march. Which means lots of time for my own projects! Sorry for my English. Writing on IPad, autocorrect keeps trying to translate everything to Finglish.

I'm lucky to have access to a big plotter at work - well, I was lucky, the b****y thing has died! Still it was working long enough to print my plans at full size. Needless to say, it is a very accurate plotter. First job was to make body and neck templates out of MDF I should add at this stage that I am not one of these people with an amazing workspace and fancy tools. These pictures show one of my two work areas, this is a small corner of table in our tiny utility room, and perched on here is where I do most things that aren't messy. I do the messy stuff either in the garage (horrible place with a leaky roof), or out in the back yard if it is dry/light. My only other work bench is a rickety thing with uneven legs.

Did a dep gig with a 40's/50's band at a retirement village in Surrey on Saturday afternoon. First gig since lockdown. It should have been a dead easy gig, but when i arrived I found out only the guitarist and sax player were from the band's regular line up and myself, the drummer and the girl singer were all deps! Still, it all went OK and the elderly punters loved it. 😊 The girl singer took this pic.

The frets were de-tanged at either end, ensuring that none of the tang metal was proud of the un-bound fretboard. As usual, I fitted the frets with a teeny thread of titebond, hammered in and then clamped with the 12" radius block: The frets force the fretboard into a mild curve and so, to sand down the fret ends to the exact overhang, I first clamped it to a straight edge beam, with the fret ends clear for sanding: Then I could turn the whole assembly round 90 degrees and sand all of the fret-ends straight and accurately along my long sanding beam: This made it quite easy to get the fret overhang even along the whole length and accurate to 10th of a millimetre. I repeated for the other side and then rounded all of the fret ends. So now, if my calcs are correct, I should have the target width of fret, and the binding less than 0.5mm deeper than the overhang - which they are and which it is : So now I just need to plane the top of the binding so that the bottom feature line is flush with the bottom of the fretboard. And then glue the bindings on each side: So tomorrow, I should have: - a silky smooth set of fret ends - a teeny binding overhang to round off - a trio of feature lines to set it off against the maple neck Fingers crossed!

A bass player after my own heart. I have moved from ABY to an adjustable crossover. The options have really opened up for me.

Yep, Ashdown+Barefaced=Magic Even with me playing bass.

Great rig!

They are a great pedal, and extremely good value.

I don’t play bass much at home, tend to play more 6 string then bass when rehearsing with my band. That said, on occasions where I am having a bit of a noodle I like something that gets me working across the strings. Midnight Train to Georgia is a particular fave, just genius from Bob Babbitt.

I could listen to Imelda May forever!

I'm a Helix FRFR user, and I've stopped taking my FRFR cab (RCF745) to the bigger gigs where I know that the on-stage monitoring will be more than adequate. Even at the smaller gigs these days it's only used as a personal monitor.

This was way better than I thought it would be. It sounded like a band - in fact, it sounded more like Yes than the last version of Yes I saw...

MIke Rutherford's bass part for the tune 'Evidence Of Autumn'. It was recorded around the time of the 'Duke' cd and was released as the B-side of the single 'Misunderstanding'. I am not sure why this never appeared on the album as I think it is one of the best songs Genesis ever recorded (and I say that as a massive Genesis fan). Link is to the website. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/evidence-of-autumn-genesis/

Ah yes ... white, the new black.

Lemon is better than Orange. 🤠

They are a little bigger because of the feature set... there was no practical way to make them smaller given the controls and especially the rear panel features.

Went to an almost deserted PMT in Nottingham today, looking for a strap for my HB kit-build 'Deathburger'. First one I spotted was a big, baby-blue leather one but it was £49 with some pointless (for me) rapid adjustment feature. The chap spent some time looking for a vegan one (he obviously hadn't noticed I was wearing a leather jacket, but perhaps he sensed my veggieness?) The most appropriate was a vintage looking cheapie. After looking at (but not touching) several basses - I like the Gretsch short-scale ones - then I spotted another rack of straps, with this Ernie Ball one, a touch pricey but spot on IMHO with a slightly vintage feel to suit the bass (I gave it a 50s P-bass headstock). I think it's the best match of any strap and bass that I've seen 🥰😍😘

Repentless by Slayer. Technically, moshing is dancing ...