Leaderboard

We had a good gig at a multi band event last Saturday. Well attended. We played from 4:00-5:30. Blue

After not getting a great deal of interest in my Custom P Bass body with EMG Jazz pickups, I decided to go down another route and see if I could source a Status Graphite neck for it. Considering how difficult it is to get hold of these necks I was lucky enough to be able to find one that was within reasonable (ish) driving distance and I so picked it up tonight. It's an absolutely spotless Jazz width neck pre-fitted with Schaller tuners that dropped right in to the body and although I've not really set it up properly yet the bass plays beautifully and gives me the opportunity for Jazz Bass sounds without the Jazz body which I struggle with ergonomically. I think the whole thing looks ace too and weighs in at 9lbs 3oz.

Having sold my baby stingray, and my Electra VS I'm sat here waiting for my Sandberg California II VS4 Lionel to be delivered by ParcelForce Here are a couple of pictures from the ad.

Last minute gig last night at a local music bar. My band would have liked a couple more rehearsals before we gigged but the drummer got a call from the booker asking if we'd do the gig and we 'seized the day'. The songs we knew well, sounded great and the crowd loved them, most of the ones we weren't 100% up to speed on were pretty good. Only a couple of total disasters but we'll work on them at our next rehearsal. That was my first gig for over 2 years.......here's to many more.

Hi. Here is my new (oldish) Pbass that I bought from gas station guitars. Love the colour and it’s pretty light so that’s good too. Good points: - colour is great, looks better in real life than the pictures. - sounds cracking. Just like a Pbass! - - neck fits my muckle hands better than the Jazz I sold to find this. Not so good points: - Had to give it a good clean as it was covered in a fine film of aged dust/grime/dirt - Input jack was intermittent on first plug in. Have removed the pickguard and cleaned up the jack and pots with contact cleaner. Much better now. Also adjusted the contact of the inout jack. - strings are covered in the same grime and have been loaded in to the tuners with only half to one turn, new strings incoming. - relief was a tad much so have adjusted that, good to know the truss rod works though. - saddles are flippin high so action is way more than I like. I’ll drop those later once I get ten minutes. all in all, happy with the bass. More care could have been taken with prep before shipping. It’s in ace condition, although they were a pleasure to deal with in terms of money and communication. The photos show that colour has faded a bit with time, as it’s more vibrant under the picknguard. if anyone knows anything about the pots, body wood and neck stamp please do share.

Yes, Dave, I don't think we book anymore 4 hour bar gigs anymore. Those long hour gigs are no longer realistic for me at age 68. And lucky me, I no longer have to drive to gigs. They pick me up in the van. Two acoustic gigs this weekend. We're opening for a national touring Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band at The Holy Hill Art Farm tonight, 1 hour. Saturday we play the Harley Motor Bar & Restaurant at The Harley Museum Complex Saturday, 5:30-8:00. Blue

Transcriptions/videos etc have been a bit thin on the ground over the past year or so because... I've been doing a lot of Zoom teaching and most of my students want to improve their reading, but find that they struggle with the rhythmic aspect of things. I started writing exercises for students to help them overcome specific stumbling blocks and once I started, I found it difficult to stop. The result is not one, but TWO books dedicated to demystifying the rhythmic aspect of notation; I used the Louis Bellson book when I was learning to read, but found that it didn't really explain anything - I wanted to break everything down so that even the most novice reader could start to make progress and hopefully put TAB in the bin forever. Rhythm Reading Bootcamp Volume 1 covers the basics of rhythm reading and has more than 40 exercises to help develop your skills: • Basic notation symbols • Whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes • Rests • How to alter basic note and rest values • Tied notes Volume 2 breaks down 16th-note rhythms in a structured, logical way, allowing you to master complex syncopation with ease. The book covers the following elements along with more than 80 exercises to test your rhythm reading skills: • How to subdivide 16th-note phrases • 16th, dotted eighth, and double dotted quarter notes • 16th-note and dotted eighth-note rests • How to alter basic note and rest values • Tied 16th-note rhythms I also made a whole lot of free videos to accompany the books, so those who feel nauseous at the thought of paying for their music education are still catered to: Season 1: Rhythmic Fundamentals Season 2: The 16th-note Language

@nekomatic yep I can solder. I love the woodwork, but crossovers hurt my brain 😁 This is the current state of my project

I've got 3, and my girlfriend 1... This is her PB-20 SBK. I had to replace the tuners because when I changed the strings (it's her bass, but I'm her 'tech' ) one of the tuners' gears just got all chewed up. This particular alloy of iron and cheese was not very good. Also changed the original tort pickguard to a single ply black, and put DR Red Neon string on it. The strings are much brighter in person but they're so hard to photograph! The cat hates the sound of the bass, but she's intrigued by it at the same time... Great neck, very low action, and I like the sound of that pickup... it just sounds like a Precision should, with a really nice low mid growl to it.

Always the best choice with a new group - if you wait until you are perfect, who knows when you would agree to that.

Upsized my little HB 50M board to a Warwick Rockboard 3.2, powered by an HB Iso Pro 12 which comfortably slots underneath: Signal chains Main: Boss WL-20 (wireless) --> Thumpinator (hpf) --> Boss OC5 --> Boss SY200 (+exp. pedal) --> Octava (drive/fuzz) --> HG 4K (drive) --> Zoom B1-4 (multifx) --> 3Leaf Proton Mk4 --> VTDI --> 1/4" out / DI out; Side 1: Beat buddy --> aux in of Zoom B1-4 (=> drums unaffected by most of the fx including the B1-4's own fx); Side 2: VTDI parallel out (clean by-pass) --> Boss RC5.

One gig worth several rehearsals, now you know what to work on.

I had a chat with the singer about where I stood and I think she is worried I'll walk out and so she has promised to back me up with pushing the guitarist on certain things, like being willing to travel more than a short distance to a venue to be filmed or gig, as long as I stop nagging him at the rehearsals. She also suggested setting a date to film a rehearsal at a larger venue we sometimes use, which will push the guitarist to be ready. I'll see how things go, we are auditioning a new drummer tomorrow; if he is a good fit I'll continue, for the time being. I know the guitarist won't change though, so part of me realises this won't work in the long term.

My duo played a couple of sets to an initially dead pub, followed by one of the liveliest crowds I have had in a while, locally. It never ceases to amaze me how there is a demand for 80s post punk / goth performed on folk instruments (now with added drum machine / synth). I'm pictured here on the 8 string mandocello.

I could never own a Sandberg, beacuse I would always be fighting the urge to peel off the dots*. *Which appear to have missed the fretboard by a comfortable margin. Today's QC eh?

Thanks - and it's arrived. It is a thing of beauty. I took a punt on it, but initial impressions are excellent. The neck is a narrower jazz style than a P IMHO but that works for me.

Ritchie Blackmore was probably the reason I wanted a cream Stratocaster. I ended up with... a Richie Sambora Stratocaster No, it wasn't a matter of getting the wrong Ri(t)chie, but the Sambora one had a humbucker at the bridge and a Floyd Rose, both of which I really like. So yeah, my first Stratocaster was a Richie Sambora signature (that I still have, 26 years later), purely because it was the right colour and it had the right pickup/bridge combination. I still tried to play more like Ritchie than Richie and managed to get close to neither

In the pre-digital days the mastering and cutting were pretty much one and the same since vinyl was the only serious delivery medium. The only time you would perhaps need to use some mastering techniques prior to cutting would be if you were making a compilation LP with the tracks coming from disparates sources, although I used to have several such albums from the late 70 and early 80s where the only attempt to homogenise the tracks appeared to be making sure that they all peaked at the same level. This is why cutting engineers like Porky and Bilbo (almost all my albums from the 70 were either "Porky Prime Cuts" or "Bilbo Boppers") were so respected and in demand. Incidentally regarding the messages on the runout groove, the first record any of my music appear on is a "Porky Prime Cut" even though none of our band attended the cutting session. However I believe The Instant Automatons who were also on the record and essentially our record label were there.

So many great amps for sale right now, and I'd like to get my mitts on many of them. Funds wouldn't quite stretch to them all but two came my way this week. The Behringer BX4500H I've owned since my kids were little. They have their own kids now and the amp is beginning to get a bit battered and bits are dropping off. Time to retire it then. Imagine my joy when I was offered one, delivered to my door, in perfect condition. In my experience and opinion it's probably the best kept secret of the bass amp world. It sounds absolutely phenomenal. I also scored a Bugera BTH3600, known less formally as The Nuke. I wanted one of these when they first came out and simply couldn't resist this opportunity. I remember all the wailing a gnashing of teeth at the Bugera and Behringer brands all those years ago, and I'm so glad I ignored it. I now own three of each of their amps and I can't wait to gig The Nuke...once I work out what all the nobs and buttons do!

🎵 Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for free. LOOK OUT! 🎵 Yeah that worked. 😂

Long Shot Kick The Bucket - The Pioneers

If you were being judgemental, how many basses would you consider as too few?

Cpoy and paste of this. Unbelievably good value. Actually I fib, I swapped the white pickguard for a black one.

Kinky Afro - Happy Mondays (RIP Paul Ryder)

Early Christmas present. The wife will be relieved she doesn't have to rack her brains to think of a present for you.

This was actually one of the first bits of feedback I gave him back in the day. I think it's a good move.

If your amp is 2 ohm capable a BF Super Compact. That gives the option of running 1x12, 2x12 or 3x12 depending on the gig.

The fundamental question about the Joe Dart Signature model MK2 is what will this bass do for you that a Fender (or other brand of your choosing) Jazz Bass won't? The answer is ... nothing. Joe Dart, Jack Stratton et al will be wetting themselves laughing at plebs on internet forums agonizing over the minute differences between this EBMM offering and any old other Jazz Bass. Joe is a terrific player who can get a tune out of any old bass, and does. That's the joke. He couldn't give a monkeys.

I haven't heard about Porky for ages, then we have this thread and I listedneted t olast nights MArc Riley show on 6music and he was talking about Porky. Marc has had roles as a musician, A/R and label owner and spoke very highly of Porky, especially the run out grooves. The Fall had particularly good run out groove comment IIRC. He also mentioned that Porky was responsible for cutting Hey Jude to 7".... apparently the longest song on 7" at that time (don't know about since).

Tango till they’re sore. Tom Waits

Just grabbed the Ibanez EHB1505-PLF they had at £767, PMT's usual price was already a couple of hundred less than everywhere else as well - they're normally up at around £1.3k. The discounts on the Ashdown pedals are sub half price: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/ashdown-type-23-dynamic-filter https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/ashdown-studio-compressor

Wednesday Week - The Undertones

The Japanese Fender are my favourite and I have always preferred them over the US ones.

Looking For The Heart Of Saturday Night Tom Waits

A very nice freebie library from 'Fluffy Audio', although, you will need the full version of Kontakt: Khim | FluffyAudio There are six other nice freebies at the bottom of this link as well: FluffyAudio Free Libraries

Obviously its a safety thing. If no one working there's no risk of injury. Job done. Dave

I remember those days well. Our criteria for hotels was anything more than a 3hr drive home, though often what would have been 2hrs ended up well over the 3hrs due to motorway closures. And yes, at that time of night very seldom see anyone working so you do tend to wonder why a whole 15 or so miles is coned off down to one lane when vehicles could be driving along those lanes.

Maybe have a heart to heart. Try and understand why the reluctance to travel? Why can't he learn the songs beforehand. If it's truly laziness/ arrogance then there's your answer but if it's lack of confidence, issues at home, there may be other ways to resolve it.

I've had a few Japanese Fenders over the years..............never seen a bad one. Consistently good.

hardest part must be deciding which songs to play.

That would be a walk in the park for you guys doing a 1.5hr set instead of 3-4hr gigs. Dave

Too many people enquiring about Harley Bentons?

I can't comment on that exact model, but I've had a couple of MIJ reissues and they're great basses. If you know you like a J then (personally) I'd be happy making that trip knowing that I was going to turn up and play a really nice bass. Do you know if it's a US model?

I think the body looks great as is but I think I’m a bit biased as this is one of my favourite basses I’ve built …….👍🏻

+1 for forScore! Use it in my acoustic duo, probably 1000’s of songs easily accessed.

forScore works well. You can organise your charts into set lists etc.

Wow: it’s like something Iain M Banks dreamed up for The Culture.