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I've just been enjoying read all these interviews: 2020 interview 2016 interview 1992 interview 1983 interview and thought some people who aren't sufficiently Maiden-enthusiastic to read them might be interested in these details.... Basses etc (Recent) I wanted to ask a bit about your West Ham bass; it’s one of your older guitars, isn’t it? It’s had a few re-sprays, yeah. It started off, actually, when I very first got it, it was white, and then I had it sprayed black. Then I had it sprayed the blue sparkly thing, which was sort of, a bit of a throwback to Thin Lizzy, really, I suppose; I had that look with the mirrored scratch plate, and then I had it sprayed with the West Ham colours. So it wasn’t the chequered bass? No, I’ve got two chequered basses; it’s not that one, I’ve still got those. No, the West Ham version that I’ve got now, that was done by the Fender custom shop, so they did it really properly. I applied officially to West Ham to ask and get permission, just because it was the right thing to do, and they said; “yeah, no problem”. (1992) The first Fender I picked up was a Jazz, and then I realized that wasn't what I wanted, so I changed to a Precision, and I've used Precisions ever since. I just found the Precisions were best for me, and I still use them now. I really like the bottom end, the roundness on the bottom end of a Precision. I can get a real lot of top, and real lows, the midrange, everything, and all really solid. Anyway, in the meantime I tried out loads of different basses. I had a Rickenbacker for a while, I had a Gibson Thunderbird. You tend to try different guitars like that because of people you like. The Gibson Thunderbird was used by Entwistle, Martin Turner, Pete Way, and they're all totally different bass players, all had totally different sounds, and I thought I'd try one out because I really liked their playing and their sounds. But when I got one I hated it. It was horrible, it just didn't work for me at all. I don't put my name to anything I don't use—it's pointless. I'm not a guitar collector, I don't want loads of guitars for nothing just because I know I can get them. There's no point if I'm not going to use them. No point putting my name to something in an ad, and I don't use it, and then someone goes out to buy one because he thinks I use them. It's what I did years ago, the Gibson Thunderbird; the Rickenbacker because of Chris Squire. The Custom Shop just did a couple of jobs for me. I had a Fender before, had it sprayed black-and-white check, really liked that, so I got Fender to do me one, and they did a brilliant job. I might do that for the signature, though of course my blue one is the one I've used most. I use the blue Precision mainly, and then depending on whether the strings go, the sound starts to go—it really depends on the temperature at the gig and stuff—and I might have to change the guitar halfway through the set. Sometimes if it's colder I can get almost to the end of the set, and there's been cases where I've used it for the whole set. I use the blue one first, the black-and-white-check one for backup. Originally, the blue one was white, and I had it sprayed black, used it in the early pub gigs and stuff, and then had it sprayed blue, and it's been like that ever since. On this new album [Fear Of The Dark] I used about five different Precisions that I've got, for different songs, because they've all got different qualities to them. Some are a bit more middle-y, some more bottom-y. They do vary. Why do you think that happens? Is it the wood, the pickups, what? The pickups are pretty much standard. Seymour Duncan does those, he tries to make them the same as the pickups in the blue one. We thought about getting a graphic to tweak so that they all sounded pretty much the same, to even the sound out, so that if I changed guitars live it wouldn't be too much of a difference in sound. But although they're all Precisions, they all sound different. Not vastly, but enough. I think a lot of it's down to the wood, yes, the density of the wood. The blue one in particular is so heavy and dense. The Custom Shop took all the measurements and weighed it and everything and built me another one, and it does feel the same, but it still doesn't sound the same. I'm not one of these people who thinks, Oh, old guitars are best. If the guitar's well made and everything, I don't care if it was made last week. That one does sound the best out of all of them, though. If I lost that I'd be well whizzed off. (1983) I play a Fender Precision Bass from around ’72. It’s been five different colors; at the moment it’s blue. I use it on tour and in the studio. It has the original Fender pickup and pretty low action. I’ve also got three other Precisions. My 1959, which I bought recently, feels so good. It feels pretty much as good as my ’72. I also have three Ibanez basses, but I don’t really use them. I used one of them on “Run To The Hills”. It’s got sort of a grunting sound, and it’s good for playing really fast because the notes come out clean. I use a DBX 164 Compressor, two Hiwatt Model 109 preamps, two Alectron preamps, six RSD power amps, and eight Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Electro-Voice speakers, which have the best sound. I like getting a lot of bullocks and a tight, driving bottom end without much rumpling. It’s got a lot of treble, as well. (Recent) Tech 21 made this gadget [Steve Harris Signature SH1 preamp/DI] for me, since I can’t take my gear everywhere. It’s an amazing piece of gear. I can’t believe it. I don’t normally say things like that, but I truly believe in it. I couldn’t believe it myself when I heard it. It reproduced my E-V [Electro-Voice] speaker sound. When I toured in Canada in November with Coney Hatch, Andy Curran’s Ampeg rig is as far removed from my sound as possible, and I played the Tech 21 through it and it came out so close to my sound, I was amazed. I was like, “This can’t be real”. At first I thought maybe it was a one-off, but they were able to reproduce [my sound on a consistent basis] — so, basically, we decided to market it. I don’t mind putting my name on something that I use, and I knew I was definitely going to be using this. I’ve even been using it as a DI, as well, when Maiden tours. It’s been an absolute godsend, because it means that we’re able to tour in other parts of the world where E-V speaker cabs are not easy to rent — in some far-flung places of the earth where it’s difficult to transport any gear, I can use the Tech 21 unit. Strings (1992) Yeah. I originally used roundwounds, and if I played a quiet section it screeched so much as I moved my fingers along the strings, moving up barre chords or whatever, that I ended up using the flatwounds, for that reason. Plus you don't churn your fingers up so much. They were interested in me endorsing them, so I said yeah, I'd love to, if it works. (Recent) You use flatwound strings, and yet you’re known for a bright, trebly sound. It’s a bit of a contradiction. It is. The unfortunate part is that I have to change strings every gig. It’s because I sweat so much onstage that they just go dead. That might happen with roundwounds as well, but having said that, the flatwounds also stop all the screeching when you’re playing quieter, slower stuff. And that’s one of the reasons I stopped playing roundwounds—the screeching, and also chopping your fingers up a bit. I love the flatwounds. It’s not for everyone, I suppose. They’re such a heavy gauge that they tend to bow the neck unless you have a really solid neck, like I have. Technique (1992) Do you use the first two fingers of your right hand? And what about nails? Those two, yeah. When I'm recording, I tend to keep the nails longish, to get that treble attack on it. But I can't do that live because they just break off. You just naturally hit the thing harder. There's no point, so I tend to trim them right down. Otherwise I'd just split them and it makes things worse. Do you get much damage to the fingers themselves? Yeah, the first couple of weeks I get blisters. Then they burst. They're really, really sore for a few days, then they go really hard, and that's it. They stay like that for the rest of the tour. The only bugbear is that when you play somewhere really, really hot and get really sweaty, your hands go soft, and that completely changes your sound. Your fingers tend to sort of sink into the strings, almost. And there's nothing you can do about that, it's the temperature of the place. That's why I prefer to play in places that are a little bit colder. Also, that maintains your treble output, and the attack is more even, the fingers stay hard and solid. Very big difference: It's like someone put a muffler over your speakers. So, you just have to add more top-end to try and compensate, but there's not a lot you can do. With the blisters, have you tried putting stuff on to harden them? Yeah [dismissively], tried that. Doesn't work. I tried that Nu Skin stuff, when I've had a blister that's come open, when you're through to the skin underneath, that's really sore. But once you get out playing, get the adrenaline going, you tend to be alright anyway. It hurts a bit, but sometimes the pain—you just grit your teeth and get on with it. Weird. Do you use all four fingers on the left hand? Oh yeah, all four. Obviously I bridge a lot between the first and the last finger, and I do play a lot of bass chords, as I said. I tend to get quite hard skin on the little finger just on the outside edge, because I'm barre-ing a lot. Song writing (1983) I know 90% of what I want, and I’ll work out the melody lines and riffs, build it up layer by layer. I’ve written most of my songs on my own, the melody lines and lyrics. I know what crotchet and a quaver is but that’s about it. I don’t know what scales are. (Recent) When you’re listed as the sole writer on a song, clearly the music and the lyrics are yours, but are you also writing the vocal melodies and guitar harmonies? Yeah. I do the vocal melodies and all that stuff. Sometimes when I’m writing I might take a melody that I think is a part for a guitar and change it to be a vocal melody, or it might be both. An early song, like “Phantom of the Opera,” started off as a riff, and then I put the vocal to it, but I just do it by feel — whatever feels right. How do convey those ideas to others? Do you play an idea on bass or sing it to them? I work it all out. I play bass chords as well, but I’ll usually whistle or hum the melody for the vocal, write the words out, and then I’ll show Bruce what it’s to be sung like.

I had one of these back in the day and really enjoyed playing it. Foolishly though, I decided it wasn't particularly practical so moved it on. Fast-forward at least a decade and a bit, when this one came up for sale. It's a 2003 model (which I think is the first production year) in a lovely Lava Pearl, the same colour of the one I had before. It's a lot more orange in the flesh which I really like. It is virtually spotless and even the ubiquitous tip chip being less than 1mm long. It weighs in at sub-9lbs and I love it. Not sure if it's a forever bass but I'm planning on having it around for a while yet. I appreciate they're very marmite but I'm getting increasingly old and grumpy now, I don't really care. I intend to play it and enjoy it as part of my ever-dwindling bass collection that has somehow gone from three basses up to six...oops

Don't do it! You might end up with a subscription to Scott's Bass Lessons. 😱

Started new job at Bass Gear Magazine October — Product Video Reviewer and Columnist 10/26/2021 The Bass Gear Low Down #45 "We are so thrilled to welcome long-time friend Dan Veall to the Bass Gear Magazine team. Dan will be joining us on a regular basis...." - Tom Bowlus https://www.facebook.com/dan.veall/posts/2886319634965407?notif_id=1635330337347733&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

I don't know what planet you're on @acidbass or if you're mistaking ACG for another builder, but I can without hesitation say that your above comment is factually incorrect. I have owned, and still own, basses made by some of the most revered luthiers on the planet and ACG are right at the VERY top. So much so that I have 3 ACG basses, 1 ACG guitar and another ACG bass currently being built. Alan's work is absolutely exceptional with flawless wood working skills. Shuker made excellent instruments too, I've owned 2 Shukers, but I did end up selling them as for me ACG are a better fit. @bassmansam, it's really a personal choice, I can say ACGs are most definitely not 'amateur made' instruments, they are outstanding basses and exceptional pieces of skilled woodwork. See the below picture for evidence of this.

Tonight’s rehearsal reminded me of how important it is, originals wise anyhow. We record everything with a zoom h4n - and I’m the lucky bugger who transfers it all to the WhatsApp group - I don’t mind this, I do it with a few beers and as I use GarageBand it’s all a matter of Bluetooth and review. The laughs we have - Jesus, honestly. We have a great time, we learn our parts and play them, but then develop the tunes in the room. But from my point of view, it’s a time away from being “just” dad and “Mr Travis” at work. I adore my one night a week - a bit sad really, but it’s me being me. And listening through it all - I have a sense of pride the band is developing. Anyhow…rehearsal really works for our band, I know other settings/bands don’t work that way - but I’ve done the “here are the chord sheets, transpose it to B flat” gigs and I really don’t want to do them again. I use it as a social thing. 4 hours - 3.5 of which is playing music.

They are not all £3k if that helps at all. Cheers Alan

I sold all my dogging gear on eBay. I had loads of watchers. (I'll get my coat)

It was easy. Factors are : * Shipping has gone up 250-450% and lead times are SLOOOOOOOW * Prices in India have gone up * It insulates us more from currency fluctuations * It allows us to control stock better * We are also making careful changes to the range to be more efficient in production without a cost in quality. The cost is effort. Expect some improvements to the SWB. Announcements to follow but sneak peak. It'll be : * Lighter (chambering in the body) * Design tweaks * New Deluxe Edition Thanks EVERYBODY for your positivity. We're excited and nervous in equal measure!

@owen will often pop up in threads to say "there is no one [bass] just the chase" - and I think there's some truth in that... but playing lots of things does help you work out what you like... and I like P basses.... my first proper bass a japanese '57ri... then a Squier series JV '57ri ... then a gap and a Yamaha BB1200 (sounds nothing like a precision) and then bought Gareth's green G&L L1000, a kind of super precision that taught me how much I loved bolt on basses. Fast forward a few years and my main bass is a sadowsky jazz that oddly has a lot of mid punch and not much Jazz bass scoop... and the L1000 and my old Warwick isn't being played so last spring I sold them both and set out looking for a precision.... Firstly, it's taken a while and I want to say thank you to everyone who's ear and expertise I borrowed... @warwickhunt, @Hooch, @boroman, @AndyTravis, @marleaux62, @walshy, @gareth, @owen and whoever else I've pestered with opinions of a billion different basses... There's a man in the UK who when I started playing was making basses that looked like old ones, I wanted one of his creations for at least 15 years... except he doesn't do custom orders at all now and builds what he wants... I had an idea, he liked it and started building it. A year later I got asked if I would like to buy what he had built.... It looks pretty cool I think!

Yeah. It started life as a whole Lexus.

Managed to find a 2nd hand mex road worn in fiesta red and gold. Absolutely lovely thing. What a great sound! Much wider, flatter neck, but the sustain is unreal. Lovely growl to it too. If I could find one in sunburst too, I'd have that.

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Even though the main bass has had the West Ham colours for about 30 years, he'll always be associated with it being sparkly blue and the mirrored plate in my mind.

I'd like to see a black-and-white checked signature bass 🙂

He will be crucial in assembling them as well as setting them up! All in our new Bristol workshops.

Finally put a fretted P together to go with my fretless PJ G&B Ash body (very light) Unknown neck but bleedin’ lovely 42.5mm nut (same as fretless) Schaller machineheads Custom matt black scratchplate Nice vintage bridge CTS pots/orange drop cap Pup is a Wilkinson but I’m changing that for either a Di marzio or a Tonerider to match the fretless. Fretless has an Ash body Unknown neck (ignore Jazz decal, it’s a 43 mm nut) tonerider PJ pups series parallel pull on volume Lovely players, nice low action for my light touch. Here’s the 2 siblings.

I've just realised something about that photo.... ....that's Blue Steel.... 😳

Now it's wedged in my cranium for the rest of the day. Thanks very much!🤪

You may say Al and I are dreamers But we're not the only ones I hope someday you'll join us And the world will talk about Yamaha BB basses for 308 pages as one...

It's all incremental cost but for little benefit. The reason why the 215 and 535 sound so different is the move from the dynamic drivers to the balanced armatures in the 535. This immediately gives the 535 higher definitions in the high which will immediately make you think "wow, these reveal a lot more detail in the highs - and everything sounds a lot more crisp and airy and spacious in the details" - that's the balanced armatures for you. The point is, having all this quality is great when listening to prerecorded music - but live gigging isn't prerecorded music. Unless you've put everything you do live through a "faux mastering stage" with shed load of compressors and limiters, you aren't comparing like with like. And the reality is, you don't want to put your liver performance through a shed load of compressors or limiters when you play - as it will impact the dynamics of you playing. If there is any compression and the like going on, that's best left to what's coming our of front of house. Next we talk about headroom. The Shures are still a single driver in the lows (edit: oops - see following posts - I forgot it was a single case dual woofer design for mid/bass). This means that if you drive the drivers hard, it can lead to distortion - which is the worst thing to have in your ears. And here's the thing, even if you don't hear the distortion distinctively, if there is distortion going on, it will tire your ears very quickly. The whole point is that you want to deliver the lows with enough room to hear the bass as it should be heard (without distortion) - but keeping your ears fresh. This is why headroom is king. The more headroom, the less chance of distortion, the less chance of ear fatigue - and the better the reproduction of frequencies - especially in the low end. So how do you get better low end response and headroom? Either add more drivers (which is why I tend to recommend a quad balanced armature as a minimum for bass players (treble, mid, bass x2 drivers)) or change the driver type. Dynamic drivers give up the clarity of balanced armatures - but have greater headroom and a single unit can handle bass better than a single balanced armature. So in the case of the UE6 (which is a hybrid triple - dynamic drivers in the bass and mid and a single balanced armature for the treble) - you have a set of drivers that give you that low end extension and headroom but by including the balanced armature in the treble, you retain that treble response where all the sense of air, space and clarity comes from. The UE6 is unique in this respect - I'm yet to come across another unit which is similar in performance for that price point. It's also why whenever I'm at the bass and drum shows, people listen to them and invariably end up buying them. (I'd say 9/10 sales at these shows are UE6s - the other sale tends to be somebody that wants to go full in and buy towards the top of the range). If you listen to the UE6 next to a quad and compare the price difference, it's kinda hard to justify not going with the UE6 as it's a good 4 to 5 hundred quid cheaper. As I say, you can tell the UE6 is warmer in the lows, due to the dynamic drivers - but a lot of people prefer that and also, most people wouldn't be able to hear that unless they directly a/b them with balanced armatures. Interestingly enough, there are a few higher end pieces by manufacturers that market the inclusion of dynamic drivers as a selling point (especially JH Audio) as it would seem that there are people out there that appreciate the smoother/warmer mids (yes, it's all hifi nonsense speak)- and they enjoying hiking the price tag for the privilege. In reality, there's no better or worse driver, they just have different characteristics - which I've referred to. The important thing is, is that if you have a IEM with multiple drivers (which of course you are going to have), then they need to have drivers that can deliver the frequency range for which they are responsible - and work cohesively with the other drivers (whether they be dynamic or balanced armatures, or hybrid) that they are partnered with, properly crossed over and phase aligned, to actually work properly and sound great. There's lots of IEM manufacturers out there - but there's a big difference between those manufacturers who are actually building them where the crossover network is correctly designed, tubes appropriately damped and where the units are all phase aligned - and those that are just banging drivers into housings. In regard to a custom - yes the price is higher - but a lot of that cost is the case. The comfort of a custom can't be beaten - because the housing is a perfect match for your ear. Once that housing is built, the components of those inears are all hand soldered and using a scope, tuned to be perfect to your ear. This is a world apart from a universal where drivers are put in a prebuilt, usually tubeless housing. So yeah, due to the hands on nature of the builds of IEMs, it's not truly a like for like comparison - custom vs off the shelf. This all factors into the costs I guess. Also worth noting, that in off the shelf offerings, the balanced armatures are usually off the shelf offerings from Knowles or Sonion. You get what you get. For a lot of custom brands, they use the same. For the top end custom brands, they can have their own balanced armature made to spec. Infamously, JH were the first to have a quad balanced armature in a single housing - to get rid of any phase issues of combining balanced armatures. They could do this because they are large enough to absorb the cost of doing this. Large CIEM companies can engineer themselves out of corners that other smaller CIEM companies just can't afford to do... and they have to work with what they can get off the shelf. So what does this mean in reality? Well, I've just given one example... but also, consider your frequency response - something is not quite right and I can't get it sounding like I want it to. Simple, I'll have something manufactured for me to fix it - and I can do that because I'm going to put in an order for thousands. If you crack open Shure, KZ, AKG etc etc IEMs, you'll notice they'll tend to be Knowles balanced armatures... and off the shelf ones at that. It's all about box shifting and profit margins. When you consider what you can get for 40 odd quid in a KZ and a Shure when the components are pretty much comparable, you'll see that with some of the bigger named manufacturers, you are paying a lot for the name. Granted the tunings may be better in some of the more notable names... but then again, there is only so much you can do with a chambered, tubeless design that has to fit in everybody's (or most people's) ears. A lot of people are put off IEMs because "they've tried it and it's rubbish". I hear it all the time. When I press them on the issue - I'll guess that they have either used 215s or whatever came with their phone - and they've wired it up in some hooky way to their amp. This is all nonsense and "not trying" IEMs. I say to people, they have to try it properly. 215s despite what people think - are not decent, not great, not amazing or whatever you may want to call them. They are trash as an IEM for live use. They are not even a good gateway drug to IEMs. The KZs dump all over them. My first customer were ACS T1s (800 quid triple drivers). They were absolute trash too. No headroom and they sounded nasty (imho). It's only because I couldn't believe that people would put up with something like that I started delving further into IEMs as I refused to believe that people raving over IEMs were hearing the same as I was through my experience. I'll still stand by my recommendation. ZS10s to check the concept with a view to move to UE6s. PS I'm not a UE fanboy or anything like that, I don't get kickbacks from anybody - I don't actually have any UEs at the moment - but obviously having had access to the whole range of JH, 64 and UE, I have got familiar with the certain pieces that really resonate well with me. I'm just trying to act in people's best interest and not have people waste money like I have. The UE6 is actually my second favourite IEM, next to the A12t - however, the price ranges are astronomically different. I would however, be over the moon with a UE6 - they sound that good. And for the money, they are quite the extraordinary offering and sit in their own arena as there's literally nothing comparable to challenge them.

Its completely meaningless. In fact, anything that happens in the first 6 days 23 hrs 59 mins of an eBay auction is meaningless. The serious buyers either use sniping software or are active in the dying seconds of the auction. As with any auction, it is the price the SECOND highest bidder is willing to pay, which determines the eventual sale price of something. In all my years selling on eBay, someone who has contacted me before the auction has NEVER gone on to buy/win an item, so bear that in mind with the time & effort you put in to replying to messages.......

Acid Jazz Bass... As for a finish... Gonna have a go at a Swirly Hydro Dip with these... Neon Yellow, Neon Green, Neon Orange, Neon Pink!

OK I can't resist. Eight screws later. The internal anatomy of a Gnome.

won't the intonation be all wrong? Ah, I see he's moved the neck back, for people with short arms, makes a change from fat fingers I suppose

I can't believe Ebay haven't taken the lead from TradeMe on the last second thing. On TM if a bid comes in with less than 2 minutes to close another 2 minutes is added, and added, and added... You are getting the 2nd best price most of the time. There is no advantage to sniping the following 2 minute extensions. 2 minutes is just about long enough for an outbid person to get the email ping and log back into TB for another dab. So I often snipe the original closing in case they might be a bit slow to react. Most people aren't quite as disciplined as Ped.

I had some Warwick straplocks which have a central plunger that locks. However they were on a preloved bass and I nearly lost it as it had not locked properly. A little silicon grease on the plunger sorted it. Moral of the story: 'Always grease your plunger'.

I've sold hundred of guitars and basses on eBay and at least 95% of the time the majority of the bids come in during the last 5 minutes. Of course this leaves the 5% of bidders like @TheGreek, but the absolute majority of bids come in during the last few minutes. To add a caveat, all my auctions start at £1 with no reserve, so these are the kind of auctions where the action happens in the dying moments!

I’ve never heard that before, I think the track in the background is this

Yeah, or the striped ones 🙂

One of my Shukers I bought secondhand on the looks alone (OK, the price made it a pretty much compulsory purchase, too), and although it's got the best neck of anything I've ever played (with the possible exception of an early Warwick Fortress), a neck which I've had Jon subsequently use as a template for three others, it never quite found its place gigging - I'd play it a lot at home unplugged, but then reach for others to put in the gig bag. I've changed the pickup (twice) and the EQ, and been through several sets of different strings, but amplified, it wasn't quite me. There's good reason for this, as it has a single MM pickup (now a Nordy Bigman), and I've had three or four Stingrays, and sold them all on; that pickup/placement just didn't work for me. Recently, tho, because the music I'm playing in a particular band has changed, it's come into its own, and I use it a lot. I think I've grown into the bass, rather than the other way round... 🙂

Being 'merely adequate' has nothing to do with not having regular rehearsals. Like I said in an earlier post, the bands that I play with who are the busiest have never had a rehearsal for as long as I've been with them. It's not like they are playing pubs either- it's nearly all decent venues or theatres. It also becomes difficult to rehearse a band when it's members are spread around the country, so a quick run through of any new stuff at soundcheck and it's ready to go. If you have good players in the band, it doesn't take much to get things right.

I'd drop them an email to check first!

It's my dream amp, and it's at home !

Absolutely. People prattle on about MIA being 'better' than MIM etc, but their QC is so loose it can vary radically from one instrument to another. So much so that any blanket statements about superior MIA quality is simply utter rubbish. But all is not lost. When I bought my Geddy Lee I went to a shop and tried all 3 that they had in stock - two were a bit meh, but one was perfection in finish, set up (the store set them all up themelves) and tone, and thats the one I went home with. If you're willing to go and try a few you can overcome the variable QC problem by finding a good example and ignoring the mediocre ones, whereas buy online and you get what you're given,

I've been a bit busy in the studio this week... anyway, Saturday night we played The Boulevard in Wigan. Ace venue, great sound, strangely early start, but plenty in by the time we went on. Nick's new bass rig is still making me grin. I'm sure we're tighter

It’s already been bid on, and I don’t *need* it. If it was silly cheap - I’d jump. Thank you though guys - much appreciated. The bb1600 sounded ace last night and something arriving by end of the week which was a bit unforeseen 🤦🏻‍♂️😂

Yup, I use EZD2 on a practically daily basis. Nearly all of my gear reviews with drums on use EZD2! It's brilliant.

These Bongo basses really are superb instruments, I cannot say enough good things about them. I've got a 4HH and I would never part with it. What I like so much about the sound of these basses is that they have a unique personality that is unapologetically modern and identifiably Bongo Bass . One of the few newer basses on the market that is not trying to refer to the past or present itself as a retro pastiche. It's a sound that really cuts through the mix, that's for sure. As others have said, great playability too. These are just about my favourite modern hifi tone active basses, and I am including boutique instruments that cost far more than a Bongo, even at EBMM's eye- watering new prices. I just wish I had bought a 4H while they still made them. 😟 Anyhow, I hope you get a lot of pleasure from playing this beast. Just don't be surprised if you have to dial back your usual amp settings!🙂

There's so many variables here. How many gigs you play, how good are the players, can you read, what's the material. To the OP, if you felt the need to rehearse lots and the others didn't, then you were in the wrong band and you did the right thing. I hope you find some like-minded people to hook up with a get a nice tight well rehearsed band together! 😁

BBC4 this Friday at 11.45pm. On Bass - Tina Weymouth. I’m pretty sure it’s been on before, but for those who want to see it again or haven’t seen it, check it out.

I got this from a guy in Stoke iirc:

I really enjoy rehearsal. Group of like minded people in a room playing music. What's not to like? My band mates are good people, we get on well, take the fosters, jam around some punk riffs to warm up and have fun with it. You can learn the parts. individually at home but you need to practice together to get used to each others playing and get your sound working together and get things wrong without an audience.

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Why do they think big name professionals go into rehearsals for weeks on end before a tour? The mind boggles! They plainly want to do jam nights under the guise of being in a band. You’ve walked away, a sensible move IMO, you are not wrong in your thinking process.

Also no. Here’s how it works for me… Everyone practises their stuff at home until they absolutely nail it. Then we get together rehearse until the band nails it. Then we gig. Does that always happen? No… but you can always hope. I joined a band just before covid and spent 18 months “nailing it”. Now the band seems to have morphed into some sort of social club.