Leaderboard

Played what was probably the gig of a lifetime last night - at my daughter's wedding. They held their reception in a field, with camping for those who wanted to, a leave main marquee (which is where we played) and assorted games and things to do - like a small private festival, with only one band. We played two hours of mostly blues-based material as a three piece, with my good friend Al Stroud on guitar and vocals, his son Luke on drums and me on bass. Just about everyone there was dancing themselves silly, from the friends of my daughter & her husband to elderly relatives and toddlers of the next generation. No problems despite intermittent heavy rain, generator was absolutely solid. My son-in-law's father passed away a few years ago and we played a favourite song of his (Hey Joe) in his memory - hardly a dry eye in the house (tent!). One thing I had never expected to see was my ex-wife (mother of my daughters) dancing with my current wife. Very strange! Breakfast at the pub we've stayed in for the last couple of nights, then an hour's drive through the rain back home. I'll be playing at a local blues jam with Al this afternoon if it's not rained off (again).

I'm using them now, and not found any reason not to recommend them. Price is reasonable when they're on sale. I don't know what they're like for slap because I've no intention of ever finding out

Here’s my latest board.

Hi All I know this should be posted in "Guitarchat" but, in spite of the recent upgrade, my virus checker still throws the most severe warnings it possesses when I try to log in to it. So apologies to those who aren't fussed at following a guitar build thread, but I'll do a summary progress thread for those who might also delve from time to time into the dark side. And for all...this is REALLY one I can't be sure of success. So those who like watching car crash movies in (very) slow motion, I'm sure there'll be much to see along the way It's a build I've been discussing with J for months. It's a Trini Lopez deluxe semi - but with a difference. The trini lopez deluxe that Gibson used to do was a florentine-horned and firebird headstocked variant of the ES335 semi acoustic. Here's an example: And it's MASSIVE. To scale, this is the size compared with a Les Paul: J isn't after a clone. He wants this kind of shape but is happy for me to experiment with the construction method (the original 335's are hollow-bodied with a solid through block to tame the feedback) Oh...but he does want the top to be in ebony. Let alone the weight, I wasn't sure you could GET ebony wide enough. And you can't, quite - because this is an exceptionally wide guitar. But...hmmm...if I have an exposed multi-laminate neck (think Aria basses)...hmmm...this might work... And yes - that is indeed some actual ebony, complete with an interesting sandy stripe. Because I said 'yes' and bought it. Now just got to work out how to make it!

Just for fun - cover of PIL's Death Disco by the Top Of The Pop album people I guess this is the most post-punk song they ever did......

The basic construction (although I'm designing this a bit on the hoof, so it might change) is going to be a full length and visible multi-laminate neck and then an ebony-topped semi-acoustic wing stuck on either side. The back and sides will be walnut, dished and bent as in an acoustic and topped by the ebony. What I haven't decided yet is whether the open-box construction would be strong enough to resist any warp tendencies that might come from the ebony - which will be by far the most significant strength element in each wing. So what is inside might change. But, whatever, a mould is going to be needed. Yes - I could make one, but buying one from radiusdish uk is a lot easier! This is a 335 mould and so I will need to cut a block to be able to form the florentines. It'll be something like this: The back walnut panels will be positioned again either side of the visible through-neck: And, at last, a piece of mahogany offcut that's been clogging up my bits box has found a use!

Not to derail, but regarding Daryl Jones: I saw Sting on his Dream of the Blue Turtles tour in early/mid 80s at Brum NEC. Sting played guitar and had Daryl Jones on bass, along with a selection of other fine musicians. One of the best/most enjoyable gigs I’ve seen, and Daryl Jones was superb… With regards to Charlie Watts. He’s actually one of my favourite drummers. I also actually think he’s a fundamental part of their sound (in terms of the Stones’ groove and swagger - especially on record) due to his playing relationship with Keef. In a weird way I regard Charlie and Keef as the Stones’ rhythm section rather than the bass and drums… I’ll get me ya-ya’s out of here..!

@ezbass I forgot I had one of those, i bent the arms in a bit and it sits perfect, top man ☝️, thanks guys

And there's the thing right there. The weight of a bass isn't an issue right up until it becomes THE issue. Balance, wide strap, playing stance, core exerises, pilates, yoga all help mitigate the effect of wearing a heavy bass but once you have a back problem the first question you ask is 'Can you please accuratley weigh this bass?'

Been a long time… So, I’ve just done my first gigs for 17 months over the weekend; a couple of deps for a Led Zeppelin tribute band, due to their normal bass player having an arm injury. I had two weeks to learn 19 songs and got the chance to channel my inner JPJ. The first gig I shared with a keys player (so I was offstage while they did Stairway, Kashmir, No Quarter, etc) and the second was just me apart from a short acoustic set. Some thoughts on gigging again post pandemic: · Crowds are going to be a bit hit and miss for a bit – the first gig drew a good audience but a far lower turnout from last time they played there (apparently the venue said it has been like that since they’ve started putting on bands again) while the second gig sold out · Audiences are really pleased to see live music again (perhaps a little too pleased at the second gig with people wanting to congratulate, shake hands, hug you after the gig – a couple of people started off giving you a fist bump that turned into a hug) · I’d forgotten about motorway roulette – i.e. driving home at 1:00am to find that the motorway suddenly has miles of cones / lane closures / closed exits that weren’t there on the drive to the gig earlier

About time Daryl was offered membership now, after nearly 30 years!

I got this remix yesterday. It is so much better with the wall of sound removed. You can hear so much more that was buried under Spectors production. Nice to hear the great Klaus Voorman drop a clanger at 2.01 which went unnoticed till I picked it up. 😊 So much more clarity in this remix, albeit a bit pricey for casual fans.

Here you go!!! Boss LS-2 Line Selector Polytune Mini 2 Tuner EBS MultiComp Compressor EHX Bass Micro Synth Boss OC-2 Octaver EHX Bass Big Muff Nano Boss CE-2B Chorus Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI

Finally got to mount my pedal setup on my new Harley Benton SpaceShip 80 pedal board (the white goo is hot glue used to fix the knob settings on some of the pedals) : Which makes the entire signal chain for my "amp-less" setup look like this : (*pedals listed in [ red/bold/underline text ] are "always on" effects*) 4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .090 - .072 - .054 - .040 D'Addario XL nickle plated steel core roundwound strings, tuned in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->> TC Electronic SpectraComp (always on 3 band parallel compression, adding extra punch, snap and bite, but without really affecting my playing dynamics) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, really primarily used to enhance harmonic content, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz (Boss FZ-2/Univox Super Fuzz clone, octave fuzz, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, in Turbo RAT, LED diode clipping, mode, quite raunchy, fuzz-esque, high gain distortion, always used mixed with the Metal Zone distortion in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser (EHX Small Stone clone, used in the high feedback and deep sweep mode, always used boosted by the Hotone Trem in front of it, and almost always used mixed with flanger in parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Hotone Trem (Tremolo with rate and depth at 0, always used to boost the Behringer phaser placed behind it and make it a bit brighter, since it's a few dB above unity gain when engaged and got a tone control) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (lower gain overdrive with a somewhat grindy character, always used either stacked into the Metal Zone in front of it, and then mixed with the Rat distortion in parallel effects [Loop A], or as a dirty slight "clean" boost mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (distortion, used with a relatively low gain setting, always used with the Orange Juice behind it stacked into it, and always used mixed with the Rat distortion in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> Monarch MFL-22 (flanger, most often used mixed with phaser in parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 55/45 ratio) }=>> Behringer UT100 Ultra Tremolo (almost always used staked into Valeton chorus in front of it) ->> Valeton Aquaflow Vintage Chorus (Boss CE-1 clone, almost always used with the Behringer tremolo staked into it) ->> Artec SE-EQ8 (always on 8 band graphic equalizer, settings as follows: [Freq=100Hz LoShlv Boost=+1dB ; Freq=170Hz Q=wide Boost=+1dB ; Freq=280Hz Q=narrow Boost=+3dB ; Freq=500Hz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=800Hz Q=narrow Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1.4kHzHz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=2.3kHz Q=wide Boost=+3dB ; Freq=5kHz HiShlv +/- 0dB]) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Always on subtle plate reverb, and additionally used for 4 other reverb patches, which respectively are as follows: Plate Reverb->HD Hall Reverb->Tape Delay, more prominent reverb :-: '63 Spring Reverb->Analog Delay (set to a slapback type delay), lush splashy spring reverb :-: '63 Spring Reverb->Tape Delay (set to a slapback type delay), brighter sounding lush splashy spring reverb :-: Plate Reverb->HD Hall Reverb->Tape Delay, extremely thick lush reverb, used as a reverb pad effect with volume swells) ->> NUX Tape Core Deluxe (Roland Space Echo tape delay emulation) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (Always on "160 Comp" (emulating a DBX 160A compressor), set to a quite subtle compression -> always on 2 x 2 band parametric EQ : [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=250Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=400Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB] -> always on faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=12kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], and additionally used for a lush Church reverb that can be switched on/off, which is often used combined with the other reverb effects of the G1Xon) ->> Joyo American Sound (always on clean preamp (gain set to ever so slightly break up when digging in the hardest), a Tech 21 Blonde clone, analog emulation of a Fender type amp, with a wide curve around the center frequency of 400Hz boosted about +3dB, and an about +3dB pre gain stage boost to a wide curve around the center frequency of 800Hz) ->> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, used primarily as a tube preamp stage) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF fixed @40Hz) // ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging // ->> Home practice // ->> Home recordings // : // ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging ->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) // ->> Home practice ->> Behringer Eurorack UB1202 (mixer) ->> Sennheiser HD 380 Pro (headphones) // ->> Home recordings ->> M-Audio Fast Track (sound interface) ->> Reaper (DAW) //

My two compact PBs, main board and 'psycho synth' smaller board. Both powered by HB IsoPro PSUs (a 5 and a 12) with a Thumpinator hpf also sitting under the larger board. Currently just using one of the Zoom B1-4s for gigging, which provides me with tuner, BK7 dirt, chorus, tape echo and Z-Synth in one very handy 'micro board' which can easily slip into my gig bag.

Nah they weren't punk as such. They had two or three handful of punkish singles but were really at the start of the new wave thing along with Dury, Costello, XTC etc

Electrician here. RCDs are good, however you do need to check to see whether the consumer unit already has one for that particular socket circuit, whether as an RCD protecting that circuit’s MCB or an RCBO, which is a combination of an RCD and an MCB. Two RCDs in a circuit are a problem, you can get nuisance tripping. those little socket testers are good, I use one for work. They show up faults but you can’t rely on them to tell you the nature of the fault. If you get the two green lights, all is good. Anything else I.e. a red light somewhere then it’s call an electrician time. Surge protection is fine, however, it will rarely be needed/used. Faults from the sub station that would trigger an over voltage are rare and over current is covered by the consumer unit.

Where’s the punk? I can only see a Boomtown Rats song..?

In house Pyros, awesome

Anyone who is required to show they are double vaccinated, but doesn't own a smartphone or doesn't want to install the app or whatever can get their NHS vaccine certificate here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-pass/get-your-covid-pass-letter/ This is also valid for international travel, the little card one gets after being injected is not regarded as proof. Or get this in addition to the app and keep it in your gig bag! - removed text to keep this politics free -

To answer my own question 😂 I contacted GR Bass directly and they got back to me like greased lightning - yes, it can run at 2.67ohms, as can their other amps. In case anyone is interested.

Better, one word : firewood.

Daryl always in the right place at the right time! His mate Vince Wilburn was Miles Davies Nephew and recommended him for the miles gig. Daryl is a hell of a player though "You're under arrest" was constantly on my turntable as a youngster. I think He and Steve Jordan will really drive that band.

I recorded/made this today and it turned into a memorial song for my best friend who we lost to Cancer a few years ago. It's my first time sharing something on here and I'm terrified LOL

Ammonia has the same aging effect on wood without using steel wool. 😉

The best way to get more volume is to add speaker area. Impedance is often misunderstood as “I have to get full power from the amp” but a single cab in 4ohm vs identical but 8ohms is not going to be adding as much volume as two identical 8 ohm cabs. I’d almost be inclined to get two 8 ohm cabs and then you know, if you need it, a third identical 8ohm cab gets you even louder. That’s my current plan in fact… a third One10 for when two isn’t enough* *based on recent performance, two is overkill for most of my needs but three just looks bigger and therefore must be better 😄

Wow 😳 I knew you had one of these - when did the other turn up?? As I’ve said before, if you ever think of selling one……(now you have two of them 😏) This is my lightest bass - I don’t know the exact weight but it’s near as damn it 8 lbs. I agree re heavier basses - as long as they balance they’re fine with me (although I don’t have a bad back - just advancing years)!!

Bobby Womack was a good friend of Ronnie Wood, and appeared on Ron’s second solo album ‘Now Look’ in the mid 70’s. Seem to remember some of the Stones appearing on one of Bobby’s albums too - Ronnie, Keith and maybe Charlie? Can’t recall any more Stones involvements with the Womack dynasty, but happy to be wrong.

The 350W would be shared 2/3 to the 4 ohm and 1/3 to the 8ohm. Depends how loud you are, and how sensitive the cabs are, as to whether the 350W is enough or not. Wattage doesn’t tell you anything about volume in and of itself.

The cone doesn't stop moving, but it moves a lot less at the tuning frequency. This excursion chart shows a fifteen in a ported cab with 45 Hz tuning at 200 watts input. At 1 watt input excursion at 45 Hz is a mere 0.07mm, so while not immobile it can appear that way compared to above and below that.

I tried to weigh my '81 Ash precsion once but it broke the scales

Over the Basschat years, BB5, I think myself and yourself have posted up 'Spiral' more times than the Crusaders have played it live... I love the way 'Pops' attacks the notes and gets stuck in during the solo, all while holding the groove down. Top, top playing from the man.

...and they say reminiscing isn't what it was.

Sounds like a great day/night. Congratulations to the happy couple.

Good to know. That puts their PureAmp800 firmly in my sights…

I plugged one in at the Princess Charlotte in Leicester once back in the early 90s and it blew the power out in the entire building. By the time it was fixed, the crowd had gone and we had 20 mins left! I ran the sound there a few times, and one of the power amps used to shoot a foot long flame out the front when you powered it up. Those were the days 😂

An RCD at the switchboard/fuseboard will not require an earth to operate correctly, but many plugtop RCDs require an earth before they will switch on. David

I’m trying to work out why it has wheels. Stomp on a pedal and you’ll be chasing it along the floor.

You see , this is just people getting stupid . As already replied - no mention about the staff . Harks back to the 'ol PAT test insistence , whilst plugging into their sh*tty in house wiring . I've been double jabbed , but don't have a smart phone , nor the little card they gave me , and then promptly lost . How would I be able to prove I've been double jabbed? In my day job , I went in a few weeks ago to fix someone's broadband . Most customers couldn't care less about all of this , but this guy went all funny about me putting on a mask - not an issue , as it's his house after all . But then he refused to put one on himself - same with his wife and kids . Give some people a tiny bit of power , and it'll go to their heads . To insist on the band being double jabbed , but then make no mention about the staff , or the guests , is just mental - in my opinion .

I aim for 3.6kg these days. 8lbs.