Leaderboard

Balances nicely on the strap. This is a slippy seat-belt-material type strap but, even with "look no hands", it stays exactly where you want it to suit your playing style: And we have sounds....and LEDs Humbucker: Single: 'P': So just the final setup, which I will do tomorrow. Time for a cup of tea

Had a viewing on my house on Saturday. Lovely chap with his wife. She is Italian and we all hit it off marvellously. She spots some of my guitars, oh he's a bass player. Me and him got chatting and I asked him about his playing. Jethro Tull, Take That, Gary Moore........ Only Jonanthan Noyce. What a terrific bloke and his Missus. He had a play on a couple of my basses and loved my '73 P bass and Ibanez MC940 fretless. Very small world as he has also played with a few of my mates including my keys player in my duo.

This weekend I had my first 'band practice' for a long time. We're spread out over the country (York, Banbury and Preston) so we normally meet at a studio for a long weekend and play/record fairly irregularly, and we don't do gigs - instead enjoying the recording/production side. We play asian inspired fusion, for some reason, which is massive fun. It was the first time I have used my Celinder and Stingray 'live' and also the first time I've tried my Blackstar U500 combo in a live setting for any decent length of time. I was super happy with the amp, so much so that I've ordered the extension cab. It suited each of my basses really well, choosing either the 'flat' or 'classic' voicing and finding the 'Linear' response most pleasing for that particular room. It also has 6L6 and 6550 which were very convincing and will warrant further experimentation. I was most pleased with the SB1 I have been playing mostly over the last couple of years. It was really chewy and clanky sounding, and the following day where we played into desk it just worked perfectly, especially with a new track we're working on where I roll the tone right off until the ending where it opens up and really bites. We had such a great weekend we've decided that Sheffield is fairly equidistant for us all, and will try to meet up much more often in the future. We had such a laugh meeting up and have a lot of humour in our music, too - a language we have been starved of over the last few months. If anyone has any recommendations for good practice room/studios in Sheffield I'd be all ears - we found the place which looks good value for a 6hr slot https://www.practicesheffield.com Cheers ped

At the heavier edge of what got lumped in with grunge, Tad were always great.

Any love here for The Chameleons? Another band that should've been bigger, at least on the same level as Echo and The Bunnymen.

I found Gang Of Four after being lent a mixtape with To Hell With Poverty on it, along with loads of obscure (to me then) post punk bands. This is so ahead of its time. 1979.

Can we change the thread to include bassists who don't understand music?

There's a place for both since they sound different and serve a different purpose.

Hoping this might take off and be of interest to BCers who are well into their post punk and alt-rock. By alt-rock I'm talking about stuff that''s not Classic Rock or metal and would include Grunge bands plus Pixies, Husker Du, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction, Weezer, QOTSA and all that kinda malarkey. So just put up any clips whether bass related or just music vids. To get the ball rolling, here's one of Sheffield's finest, the Comsat Angels...

its happened I was a bit underwhelmed at first. For about 10 seconds but that neck! It's the closest profile to my 73 P bass I've played Might need a trussrod tweak but acoustically it sounds huge. I've not plugged it in yet, maybe tomorrow but I'll get some pics up in the morning defo needs the black pickguard, it will remind me of my first Fender, a late 70s Musicmaster bass Stock flats seems good right now though, back to the 2nd half of Swiss v france (and my red wine)

I think the overwhelming majority of people have the capability of singing, the number who are genuinely 'tone deaf' is in fact very small. However.... whilst some people find it an easy thing to do, others need a mix of encouragement and tuition.

i'm getting very excited to finally get my hands on this bass, arrangements are being made and i'm counting down the hours! Matt

It's arrived!!!😁 but I'm at work🤣 Pictures later

I have seen both - people who will literally count to four before the song starts, rather than count in four beats. Drummers too, whose fills are great but which last 7 or 9 beats, or whose sense of speed varies hugely. But the question was "vocalists", so, I have worked in a church group that expected to start singing acapella, with no reference pitch, and then have the musicians join in. "You might not be starting on the right note - we won't know what key you are in!" I said. "But it is written there . . . " and she pointed to the chord chart. The music was in G, they rehearsed the week before in G. On the morning, they struggled with that key, but then spontaneously sung in C. At other times, they have sung songs in C sharp - pretty difficult for most musicians. It took me a week to think of a response that was polite and helpful. I explained different keys, and how everyone needed a reference pitch. "I don't understand about that. I just sing." I must say, when I started out, I had no real clue about music, and it was only the patience and generous nature of others that allowed me to build up my skills. I am grateful that others put up with my musical incompetence; I am less patient with the incompetence of others. And that is an attitude that I have been working to get rid of, for 20 years.

Perhaps not the most exciting bass parts but I really like the Jesus and Mary Chain. I dug them out for the first time since Sixth Form and they had some decent stuff. (& before I get it pointed out, I know the bass is sequenced on this)

Working from home the past god know how long has led me to discover and rediscover some cracking music. A band that I used to listed to a lot in the 90's but then I lost touch with was Fugazi, an American post hardcore band that mixed in a dub like vibe at times. This is one of my favourite tunes, I think it was originally released in around 1990 but still sounds great today, helped by the fact the band were doing their own thing so haven't dated like a lot of music does.

Personally I’ve had more grief with guitarists who don’t understand how music works, e.g.: - Assuming the first chord of a song is its key; - Coming in in the wrong place e.g. starting the lead part of Apache on beat 1 instead of beat 2; - Adding the sus4 to a D chord (easy move for the LH pinky) regardless of musical context; - Inappropriate use of the blues scale (and I do mean scale, played up then down); - Inability to stop playing in breakdowns (or indeed at all). I could go one but I think that’s depressing enough!

Wiring isn't soldered up yet but all the components are in place and hatches are on Still to finish: soldering (what little there is); strap buttons; setup Here's how it's looking:

I ordered some the other day, very tasty. Still got leftovers in the fridge!

I found another one on eBay. A quick trip to Edinburgh yesterday and its keeping the other one company at the studio. I only bought it as I thought it was better cosmetic condition than the first one but it’s more or less the same. This one is a little older according to the serial number.

http://Janes Addiction Just Because Live - YouTube

Conversation in my band a few years back; Singer; I can't reach the high notes in this. Me; We can change the key if you like. Singer; No need to do that. I'll just start a bit higher. Me; That would have to be an octave which is a lot higher. Singer; What's an octave? I'll just start a little bit higher Me; So, in the wrong key then. Singer; What?

And don't get me started on tambourines! People assume that they are easy to play, and will add to the overall sound. However, they often end up sounding like a drawer full of cutlery being dropped down the stairs. Latterly, we took to bolting it to the drum kit rack - the drummer never played it, but the clamp ensured that it could never escape, and fall into the hands of the wrong person.

lol, I work for myself, family engineering business. I needed to do the wages today, so I can't go home till that's done. I have to pay my staff, it's only fair and as they all work hard here. (bet you don't hear that very often lol) I'll get away about 4 today, I'm quite looking forward to it

At this point it was obvious nothing good was going to happen.

Agreed on the clean tones - it's something I try to cover in all my video gear reviews. I'll do the same with these if I can get hold of them.

Probably should have added one of the most important bands for me when I was a pre-teen / teen. I bet I am not the only one?

I've been on a nice Alice In Chains trip recently! What a great band and songs.

My personal favourites from the 80s who loosely fit this genre.

How do you know if it's a vocalist at the door? They never have the right key, and they never know when to come in.

Wasn't he Player of the Match yesterday?

I hate musical snobbery when combined with stupidity. In Sixth Form my guitarist gave a long lengthy rant about how nobody can ever cover the Beatles. At the end of it I said, "what do you know about the Beatles?" which was met with the sincerest of replies, "It's George Lennon and that!" Over 30 years later and I still haven't forgotten that line.

I re-checked my layout this afternoon and found a couple of silly mistakes (plus another after I took the photo). After that I had a bit of a solder session and finished populating both eyelet boards, as well as fitting most of the flying leads, except the connections to the ground bus, which will be made with the boards in place. It's always worth checking component values on a meter before installing them - I found a stray 1ohm resistor in my 220k bag!

Check out the sparkly matching shirts, and the guy on bass playing a RH Precision left handed , upside down.. Respect !

Rough cut of the top - starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere now!

Once upon a time, not long ago, in "bits box" in my cupboard I realised I had amassed a number of items that should really be put to good use. First thing I did was to sell / give away some on here whilst looking out for a donor bass that I could mess with. I've modded basses before but mainly bolt on bits / electronics etc and my idea was to go a step further with more permanent changes. 😧😮 A suitable donor bass was found and over a period of a couple of months I proceeded to: Strip the full body and neck Re-profile the body giving much better access to the 24 frets / fit a battery box Fill body & re-route for pickups, electronics Re-shape the headstock & fit a Warwick Just-a-Nut Re-profile the neck at the heel end to flow into the body better. Relocate and fit bolts and inserts for the body / neck joint. Fit a Babicz bridge which took the spacing from 16.5 to 19mm Install the Seymour Duncan NYC pickups and Mike Pope preamp I'd had in a box 😮 and fitted 2 micro switches which give each pickup the option of parallel / single / series routing. Re-paint the headstock and body in colour shift paint (purple / blue / red) and clear coat the neck. So I'm not sure what to call it it's not really a build compared to what others do on here (and as the build diaries area implies), its not a NBD, not a bitza per say as that implies bolting things together whereas I've taken a hatchet to mine 🙂 .....probably a "partial bitza". Anyway I've enjoyed tackling the processes, made a load of mistakes and learned lots. I'm also quite enjoying playing it. The bass paint finish isn't flawless and this is where I would spend a bit more time on should I do another. What seemed good enough during the build really showed up when the colour was added 😥 However I can't see anyone but me noticing anything wrong when it gets gigged down at the "Dog & Duck". Anyway here's some photos to have a gander at......I'm sure someone will be able to tell what the donor bass was........

Picked up a 2014 deluxe in the limited edition rootbeer finish. I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for these basses - they’re really very good! Going to try and source an H with rosewood fingerboard next. Specific I know but I want it sufficiently different from the one I have on all counts

I have a Nordy MM4.2 in my single coil P and I have a single/parallel/series installed. It’s louder than the coil coil QP.

Just to agree with everyone, a tone to die for. I also love Boz Burrells sound with Bad Company.

This was my rig at our first gig since lockdown a few weeks ago. Since then though a CTM300 has been added to the collection so I've included a couple of pictures of the amps and cabs I have to choose from (which could in theory all be combined into one big, slightly ridiculous super rig). The CTM300 will get its first outing at a biker get together on Thursday.