Leaderboard

... or natural if the wood is good enough.

Swapped out my Bright Onions A/B switcher with a Providence Dual Bass Station, which meant a 12V power supply was needed. Added a GigRig Supanova to provide this, and tidied up the wiring underneath at the same time.

Left to right, BassMonkey LPB P neck, Limelight jazz neck, Limelight jazz neck...

Anyone who's ever been in a working band knows the band lead bag/box. It's a thing of utmost importance but over the years it collects a few casualties and weirdos along the way. It contains the living, the dead, the injured and the "just in case". Over a year ago I decided to sort the band lead bag out. I disposed of the dead, straightened the injured and nursed them back to health, carefully calculated the various lengths required and purposes, wrapped them neatly and filled the pockets with spares, fuses, connectors, a torch, generic spare strap etc etc. It was a thing of beauty. Then I filled another bag with the walking wounded, weirdo's and stuff that was worth keeping just in case. Guess which fookin bag I picked up and took to our first gig back after the apocalypse 😔 ?

I would never voluntarily listen to Footloose. I absolutely love playing Footloose live.

Am a RHCP fan, but will give this tour a miss. Ticket prices are nuts, particularly when going to these large venues, where IME the chances are I will end up watching the gig on a large screen. Prefer to see some up an coming act in a small venue, having a few beers with some friends. More affordable and more enjoyable IMO.

Or one that has a built-in compressor, tuner and an octaver - Complete Bastard.

I don't like working but the money I get in return stops the bank people complaining at me about not paying the mortgage (they were quite clear they expect all of that money back), so I put up with it and get on with it. Apply the same principal to being in a cover band and you'll be grand. It's how I handled it on the rare occasions I helped a mate out with his cover band when they lost members at short notice. Learning things you find unpleasant can open you up to new things you wouldn't normally encounter if you were just in your usual sonic area.

Fender Vintera and a Bitsa (‘83 Elite body and ‘96 US neck)

When I received it, it was in a sorry state. It was originally sunburst, but had been routed for a Jazz pickup which had been filled (badly) and resprayed (also badly) in not-quite-Fiesta Red. I got it cheap and set about turning it into the beast above. There's still a slight shadow of the Jazz routing that you can only see in certain light, but David did a smashing job of sorting it all out for me. The before:

Made a couple of changes for the better I think. Swapped out the TC Spark for the MXR Thump, WAY more functionality of course, and I do love the MXR bass range! The Thump is actually marginally smaller than the Spark too, which has allowed me to swap out my COG Knightfall 66 Mini for my custom COG Tarkin, which again, has a lot more functionality on it. Chain is: Bass -> MXR Thump -> COG Tarkin -> Boss TU3W -> MXR Envelope Filter -> Boss OC2 -> MXR Bass Chorus -> Noble Pre -> Amp Si

Yes. Good price. Neck dive, though, in part, caused me to sell mine. Also, the body shape makes the neck feel much longer - it sits much farther to the left than Fender style basses, and so your fretting hand has to reach much further. That gave me symptoms of carpal tunnel, and was the other death knell signalling the end of my relationship with that instrument. I had the same problems with both the 4 string and 5 string Thumbs. Such a shame, they felt, played, smelled, and sounded great otherwise.

Where have I been? I've only cottoned on to Precisions in the last few years in a proper way....and this bass....absolutely killing. https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-basses/precision-bass/classic-vibe-50s-precision-bass/0374500501.html I very rarely gush about instruments. I have owned many very fine and expensive ones, and still do. But I am telling you right now, in a way that is very rare for me, that this is an absolutely astounding instrument. Not 'for the money'. Just plain great. I could easily recommend everyone have one in their collection. Originally, I was looking at getting a Fender roasted maple neck for a project P bass, then realised I could basically just buy a new inexpensive bass and be content with project one 'as is' for now. Been tempted by the Harley Benton version of the 50s P bass for a while, but didn't want to do any fettling at all....so stumped up £339 on the Squier on the assumption that if I didn't like it, back it would go to Thomann. Was very inspired by this video and its super gnarly tone - linked below for your pleasure: Now all I can say is this bass - or at least this particular one - is killing. It sounds just like the video, which was my main criterion. The fit and finish is excellent. Two tone burst is well done, I like the vintage tint on the neck, the neck pocket is tight. It looks great. I will take the pickguard off and report whether there is routing under there or not, but reports from others are good on this. The hardware is good, not Hipshot, but good. The bridge is BBOT with threaded saddles - I like this and find it perfectly functional. It intonates well and the strings don't move side to side. The tuners are better than those that were on my cheapie SBMM Sub Ray4; they aren't so stiff and they work fine. Tone and volume pots feel and work fine and tone pot gives a fair bit of variability to the sound. I do have a niggle here - the edge mounted jack doesn't feel as 'tight' when I plug into it as it could. I may need to open it up and tweak that. The nut and fretwork is frankly unbelievable for this price. I was surprised. Proper bone nut, properly cut; I don't need to file it down at all. Narrow tall frets with no sharp ends and well seated. I can get a setup of my customary low relief (0.003" - 0.005" at 7th fret with capo at first fret and holding down strings at last fret) and 5/64" action on E string 12th fret going up to 4/64" at the G string 12th fret. No buzzing anywhere. This is good quality fretwork in my view - I won't need to consider a fret level. The neck is a modern C profile and is glossy. I have no issues with this finish. I have plenty of instruments with different finishes on the necks and find it easy enough to accommodate them all. Nut width 42.8mm and feels comfortable. It comes with 45 - 105 D'Addario nickel rounds. My favourite string brand and one of my preferred gauges. Sweet. It's a light instrument. I need to weigh it, but it feels just under the 9lb mark I think. I will report back. There is a slight tendency to neck heaviness on the knee, but not on the strap. It's about normal for what I see with most Fenders or Fender-style clones. Unlike the Ibanez Talman TMB105 I bought earlier in the year, I see no need to get lighter tuners. Sound. Everyone's hands vary, but I think this bass could cover any style. I played slap, pick lines, fingerstyle, jazz, funk and felt delighted with all of them. This pickup is really responsive to right hand dynamics in a way I haven't appreciated in a while and it has a beautifully gritty tone if you dig in just a little. I see no reason to change the stock pickup. The sound responds nicely to where you place your right hand; I think it by and large sounds best directly over the pickup, especially digging in. There is hum if you take your hands off the strings - it is a single coil - but when your hands are on the strings, I hear no hum. The tone knob is useful. I don't see any need to mess with the pots/electronics, apart from my previous comment about having a look at the tightness of the connection when I plug a cable in. It could well be the one I picked up is one of the better ones out there. But this particular instrument is an absolute peach. I can heartily recommend this instrument to anyone, which is relatively rare for me. It's not a good bass 'for the money', it's just plain good. Thanks for reading. Pete Nearly forgot...pics or it didn't happen...

40+ plus years a guitar player and resisted all that time playing the bass... always loved a good bass line though. Then I got an invite in 2019 to help out a local band who'd lost their bassist just before going into studio. Absolutely loved it. I'm a much better musician for the experience and we're still rehearsing and recording together.

Snagged this one as soon as I could! I saw it on Brian cooks russian circles board and couldn’t not give it a spin! clips to come once I’ve got to know it a bit

I can absolutely help with your question, lowdowner. I was fortunate enough to acquire Pino’s 79 stingray fretless sunburst backup bass, direct from Pino on commission via bass gallery a good few years ago. A magnificent bass in all respects. Sadly, it failed to endow me with any godlike chops or groove and unbelievably, when recently sold on, my ownership was not deemed sufficiently relevant to be mentioned in the gallery’s online description, only the former keeper’s.

Mine has a Lollar (single coil) pickup and it's great. Not a CV bass, more of a bitsa.

I stopped going to big shows because of companies like ticketmaster buying all the tickets before they go on sale and reselling them for several times the price. I just refuse to give in to them. I'd rather pay £20 - £30 for smaller shows and still see some awesome bands who often put on a better performance

Fair enough. I just can't listen to songs I've played over and over for five years that I used to really like. Now I either associate it with the memory of a bad gig or realise I've played it very, very wrong for too long!

I had an, admittedly, tongue in cheek row with the guitarist in my band about this. He flat out accused me of not liking most of the songs we play in our covers band. I told him he was wrong; I don't like ANY of the songs we play. I was only half joking as we seem to play a lot more mid tempo soft rock than we ever did and I'd prefer something a bit more hard edged. But the audience seems to like it so who am I to object? And I like the band and showing off on stage so it's not a bad life really. But if anyone knows of a shoegaze/ My Bloody Valentine covers band needing a bassist, I'll drop this lot like a shot.

@funkle Dave built it as 2 coils and yes , it's massive. I thought about the Duncan "Stinger" after seeing folk on TalkBass mention them. Thing was ; Duncan's Custom shop wouldn't do business with Europeans , nor Thais 😮 Never been impressed by Duncan pickups in the past so took that as an omen. Dave quoted an extremely attractive price and it was here in 4 days 👍

Rehearsing songs you don’t like is a PITA and not enjoyable. However, having ‘been there done that’, those songs are often quite fun to play live, as the audience usually love those songs. My own, personal, bête noire was Madonna’s Holiday, hated it, punters loved it and I channeled their enjoyment into my playing.

Hmm my opinion on this is a little bit different. There's always a price to pay to do the things you want to do. To play a few songs you don't like in order to get all the rewards of playing live for me is always worth it. It's a bit like I don't particularly like photo shoots / filming videos but I understand it's something I have to do in order to function as an originals band. So if I want to play good gigs, get decent festival slots etc I need to do the necessary evils.

I love this! When I play live it's the energy from the crowd that pushes the experience over the top and makes the set up / tear down and playing the same songs all the time worth it. As much as I enjoy playing and creating music with my friends it the live energy that keeps me coming back. Definitely missed it the last few years.

It’s all good, it’s a good pickup, and It was a good price. I knew it might not work out, and I did not mind. Part of the journey

For me it's always been looking at the set as a whole and whether on balance there is (a lot) more that I like/don't mind than ones I can't stand, and if the standard of playing in the band is high enough. There have been occasions when I've replied to a promising looking ad only to find the set list is pretty much all material I wouldn't want to play at all.

I didn't like to say anything as you had already committed, but I was afraid of that - I have had exactly the same thoughts about hum cancelling nordstrand pickups before. I have a bassculture.de 51 splitcoil and I don't think it suffers from that problem - it has plenty of character - but it is hum free. Not a lot of information out there about it! I assume it's a version of the standard split p pickup but with 4 pole pieces and packaged like the original.

I’m already in enough trouble with mine!

That Fletcher Munson curve is a right git sometimes. Always have to EQ at gig volume for it to work properly. When I'm using my Helix then I have 2 sets of patches - good for the house and good for a gig. They are really very different but they work in their intended places.

I have two more great Warwicks, a surprisingly good Harley Benton P bass and an 80sfretless Ibanez Roadster that fit that description… Honestly, even if I don’t want to, at least one of those has to go. I’m just waiting for the Yamaha to confirm it really will be that one that will rule them all. I’ve been authorised by the seller to use some of his pics here. So this 5 kg of japanese craftsmanship is what I am waiting for:

So many finishes I love... but for me, I keep coming back to WHITE - and it looks the best under stage lights (IMHO)

I’ve just ordered two more Uni Tune clip on tuners (expecting delivery in the next hour or so). At £20 a pop they’re great value and work a treat. I can’t see the point of paying more for the Poly Tune version for a bass.

Special request from the website. The James Jamerson part to 'My Girl' by The Temptations. The issue was that the player in question needed a chart in G rather in the original key of C. I have posted all three charts; C, G (5 string low B) and G (conventional 4 string). https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/my-girl-james-jamerson/

As much as people complain about so many amps using the same few power amp modules now, at least there's a much better chance of a tech being able to source the right ICEpower module a few years down the line compared to proprietary ones unique to one model.

With just one Zoom device you won't be able to independently process the "guitar" part (needs different EQ, heavier distortion, etc.), no parallel processing, even with the latest B6 model. But you can do that with 2 of them, and I've done just that with previous gen cheap ones (you can get a B1on/G1on used for 30€ or less these days). The cheapest I could get away with was <100€ (more like 70-80€ if you toroughly scan the used market) with any 2 of Zoom's MS-60B/50G/70CDR/B1on/Xon/G1on/Xon (firmware can be customized to have guitar FX on the bass model and viceversa) and any cheap ABY pedal (got mine for 20€ new). Explained in the video description. You can hear bass first, then guitar (made stereo with added stereo chorus), then both. Probably not suitable for a 2 piece like RB but for sure gets the job done, i.e., in a 3 piece, to cover some space when the guitar guys does a solo. I've set it up so I can do just octave or octave+harmony (usually a 5th up). I'd usually use the one with the most FX slot capacity for the guitar branch, as it usually needs more processing than my usual crunchy bass tone (usually just BassDRV + 160Comp). EDIT: when using only 1 amp I'd use an easy passive Y/attenuator I've made with a box I already had, 3 jacks and a pot. One input is wired directly to the output (the least loud), one goes thru' the pot (the loudest). Guitar goes mono when doing so. Sorta' ghetto, but does what's needed.

Off to buy a 2022 diary so I can put this date in it.

hehee yes, like new 😛 But still a very nice bass didn´t know that feature of the saddles, Interesting

A long lost H. P. Lovecraft novel?

I watched this and don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it and he's fantastic player and entertainer. But he's telling people he can cop these synth sounds with the MXR when he was in fact using a 3 leaf Proton????? He even says you need the MXR for the ow ow sound. Someone in the comments mentions the MXR doesn't do that and he admitted to using a Proton 🤷‍♂️ He has the original track mixed much louder than his bass sound, and if you listen, the tones arnt spot on (which they won't be,as it's not a synth) all the pedals in the video (with the exception of the MXR imo) are great for synth tones.

Nice amp = Happy WoT = Happier audience, even if it's only a 1% increase.

Those who know me on Basschat will know my obsession with Chameleon Flip Paint which has been going on for nigh on 20 years 🤣. Here’s a few of my basses.

My latest addition. 😀 Fender Custom Shop Sean Hurley Signature, Aged Charcoal Frost.