Leaderboard

Boom. Mesh stapled onto frame. One thing I have noticed.... A really nasty resonance from the plastic horn when I'm giving it some Welly. 14th fret on G string. If I put fingers on the horn (oo er) then it stops. I'll try some more sealing tape behind it. Piping to go and a retaining method for the grille and I'm done! Music through these cabs sounds LUSH. Wish I hadn't chopped up the other pre cut panels I had in the garage to make a couple of 1 x 10's ☹️ I'm thinking a pole mount could be a good move! I'll shut up now 😂

So… 800 w&d today this morning with a further light coating of tru-oil and getting close to completion. A few minor dust bunnies, swirls and minor irritations so on Monday I plan to wire wool down with 0000 wire wool and then apply a couple more light coats for a final finish. I will then decide as to whether to apply the poly finish or not. As it stands, im leaning more towards not to bother, and possibly look at a finishing wax or something for a bit of extra protection, will decide once it’s finished and the tru oil has had at least a week to cure. I’m really chuffed as to how it has come out so far… thanks again to @Andyjr1515 for all his good advice! the home straight beckons!!

We had a really enjoyable gig at The Cavern in Raynes Park last night playing as ‘Del Bromham and Friends. It was a more intimate venue than we normally play, and it made a change to only have the keys, vocals and kick drum going through the PA - but it was really nice - hearing the guitar and bass as the musicians have voiced them! We only played a handful of numbers by Stray, concentrating on Del’s solo stuff. We played a few we’d never played before including ‘Around The World in 80 Days’ (Del reckons even Stray had never done this one live), ‘Morning Dew’ and ‘I Am’ from the new album. We also played ‘Can’t Find My Way Home’ which I’d never played before and ‘White Feather’ which we’d only played once at The Stables PC (pre covid!). WE had a great crowd and to top it all there was a fab chippy next door! Big thank you to our drummist for the long derrière drive there and back, Noel, the Guvnor for his welcome and enthusiasm, and everyone who turned up for keeping music live!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/remembering-ronnie-james-dio-decent-man-rock/ No idea about some of this stuff, amazing He was for the downtrodden’: remembering Ronnie James Dio, the most decent man in rock Dio had a voice that could blow mics, yet he preferred reading and cooking to heavy metal excess. Now a poignant documentary tells his story ByIan Winwood30 September 2022 • 11:37am Ronnie James Dio at home in Los Angeles, 1987 CREDIT: Getty Prior to the start of the British premiere of the documentary film Dio: Dreamers Never Die, on a Monday night in September, bowls of tissues were placed on the bar of the Curzon cinema in Soho. Bound in black vinyl, each parcel was adorned with a photographic image of the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio, whose life the film celebrates. Confused, I asked one of the event’s organisers to explain. “Oh,” I was told, “it’s so people can have a good cry at the end.” Directed by Don Argott and Demian Fenton, the film is certainly a poignant creation, not least when the apparently indefatigable 68-year old was at last silenced by stomach cancer in 2010. His death came 52 years after the release of Conquest, by Ronnie and the Red Caps, the single with which the teenager born Ronald James Padavona made his recording debut. Forget about Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer – Dio was a contemporary of Jerry Lee Lewis. As one of Dreamers Never Dies many talking heads notes, “He was singing before the Beatles. How is that possible?” He was singing before the advent of heavy metal, too. In the lobby of the Curzon, the genre’s creator, Tony Iommi, with whom Ronnie James Dio appeared as a member of Black Sabbath and, towards the end of his life, Heaven & Hell, is on hand to reminisce about times that were not always smooth. Despite critical and commercial success, Sabbath’s second incarnation broke apart as a result of Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler being cranked out of their craniums on cocaine. Not their singer, though. Asked to nominate a special memory, the guitarist’s answer speaks to the sense of wholesomeness that pervades Dreamers Never Die. “When we were doing Heaven & Hell [the Black Sabbath LP from 1980], we stayed at Barry Gibb’s house [in Miami] for about… I don’t know how many months,” he tells me. “Ronnie used to cook a lot, so I have this image of him standing at the oven with his shorts on making his pasta for everyone. Meatballs and God knows what else.” Ronnie James Dio first met Tony Iommi at the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the famous and infamous rock-biz hangout on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Invited to join Black Sabbath following the sacking of Ozzy Osbourne (not to mention his own departure from Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow) the singer had his doubts about whether the fit was right. “I don’t know if I love this music,” he told his wife Wendy. “We have $800 left in the bank,” she replied. “Believe me, you love this music.” Seated at a table in the cinema’s subterranean bar, 44-years later Wendy Dio is Dreamers Never Die’s executive producer. Her husband’s manager from 1982, she retains the no-nonsense air of one who was required to make her mark in an era when the transatlantic music industry was ruled by American men easily affronted by the prospect of doing business with a platinum-blonde thirtysomething from Epping. Certainly, a cheeky question about what it was she fancied about Ronnie James Dio phases her not at all. “I was invited to go to a party up in the Hollywood Hills at Ritchie’s House,” she says. (Ritchie is, of course, Ritchie Blackmore.) “Ronnie was following me around and Ritchie said to me, ‘He likes you’. Too short for me. That’s what I said, ‘Too short for me’. But we talked and we chatted and at six in the morning we went for breakfast at Denny’s… and then we went for a drive to Malibu. After that I saw him for a couple of weeks, during which time I think I fell in love with his brain.” Pleasingly, Dreamers Never Die portrays its subject as an intelligent and serious man. In a film packed with fascinating details – the now ubiquitous “devil horns” hand sign popularised by Dio was handed down from his grandmother, for example – the revelation that “life began when I saw my first book” is a welcome inclusion. Dio's commercial peak, after all, coincided with a period in time in which it was acceptable to believe, and to say out loud, that people who made and listened to heavy metal were stupid. 'He was singing before The Beatles': Ronnie James Dio in the 1950s CREDIT: Courtesy of Wendy Dio More than this, though, the film is a portrait of an unstoppable force. Never mind being a dreamer, the man was a doer, too. After launching his own band, Dio, in 1982, he and Wendy re-mortgaged their home in order to fund the recording of his debut album, Holy Diver, and its subsequent world tour. When the LP racked up more than two million sales, creative single-mindedness joined forces with autonomous financial muscle. Agitations for a more equitable share of the profits from wunderkind Vivian Campbell led to the guitarist getting the sack. “It was Ronnie’s band,” Wendy Dio explains with a steeliness that could intimidate even Sharon Osbourne. By time I first saw Dio, on the Sacred Heart Tour in 1986, this determination to plough his own furrow had (to my 15-year old eyes at least) rendered the whole thing stale. Sitting in the bleachers at the Birmingham NEC, the sight of a 43-year old man doing battle with a fiberglass dragon for what seemed like three or four months left me bored and dismissive. Driven to distraction by a set sagging with flabby solo spots for drums, guitar and keyboards, I guess I knew that I was only passing through on my journey to an untameable new variant spearheaded by Metallica and Slayer. At once, and forever, "heavy metal" became, simply, "metal". It got worse. By the time Nirvana upended the tables in 1991, it looked as if the game might be up for Ronnie James Dio. In what for me is Dreamers Never Die’s most devastating moment, the American DJ Eddie Trunk recalls one of the programmers at the east coast radio station WDHA handing him a box filled with CDs he was no longer allowed to play on the air. Alongside fraudulent rubbish from the likes of Poison and Warrant, this musical revolution had made victims of honourable artists whose only crime was to appear at once out of step with the earthquake weather. “Dio was in the box,” Trunk says. Ronnie with his wife Wendy CREDIT: Courtesy of Wendy Dio It’s even possible that I bear my share of culpability for this. Age 22, as a writer for a long-forgotten rock magazine, Ronnie James Dio became the first artist to appear in a feature I’d created in which notable music-makers were asked a series of deliberately provocative questions purposely designed to impugn their relevance. Come the day itself, however, I was so deep into second thoughts that I considered praying that he wouldn’t show up. Certainly, I was keenly aware that a man who had been in the game for more twice as long as I’d been alive was well within his rights to knock me out cold. Instead, he remains one of the kindest and most decent people I’ve ever interviewed. It seems obvious now that I was missing a point. Because while I’m not sure if I quite endorse an opinion expressed in Dreamers Never Die that Dio “was a messenger for people who lived ordinary lives”, I am willing to consider the notion that his deeply passionate but entirely sexless performances gave true outsiders a sense of genuine inclusion. Speaking to his widow, I made the point that while her late husband was mocked for his lack of height – and likely still would be were he alive today – it would (rightly) be considered bad form to make mention of, let alone poke fun at, the physical form of the noticeably heavyset man who had just left her table. A strange distinction, no? Ronnie James Dio in 1970 CREDIT: Getty “But that guy is exactly Ronnie’s fan,” she answered. “That is Ronnie’s fan. And those are people he cared about, because other people don’t care about them… He was for the downtrodden. That was his whole life, making somebody feel good themselves.” In other words, forget what you might have heard about the death of musical tribes. When all else is gone, metal will remain. What’s more, I can easily imagine that it always will. Certainly, Ronnie James Dio stuck it out. With a voice that was the equal of Joe Cocker or John Fogerty, the singer’s appearance in the Jack Black and Kyle Gass comedy film Tenacious D In The Pick Of Destiny, from 2006, revivified a career that had been in retreat for more than a decade. When it came to recording a song for the soundtrack album, after blowing out three high-end microphones, the singer produced a mic he’d brought from home that just happened to be the only piece of equipment on the market capable of preventing his vocal takes from driving the studio’s needles into the red. Best of all is the footage in Dreamers Never Die from the final tours with Heaven & Hell. Once more reunited with Iommi, Butler and drummer Vinny Appice, in his final month on the road Ronnie James Dio was at last returned to the kinds of venues – the Greek Theatre in LA, Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver – ideally suited to broadcasting his stunning voice to the people in the nosebleeds. After so much decline, everything seemed perfect. And maybe it would have been had the singer not been bent double in pain before and after each and every performance. “Towards the end, he used to come to me and say that he had these pains in his stomach,” says Tony Iommi, himself a cancer survivor. “He’d asked me for some Tums, so I’d give him some Tums. But I told him that he ought to get that checked out. But of course it was too late by the time he did.”

I was once told not to use my Orange amp again and to buy an Ampeg SVT classic because "that's the industry standard". As far as I know they're still looking for a replacement bassist.

Not a top spec BB but I got a BBN5 for a "cheapish" bass to use for college, as you can imagine it was beaten around and trashed, I think at one point we tried to "relic" it by dragging it behind a car! It then sat on a stand for about 8 years unused. Finally decided to do something with it so completely stripped it back to bare wood, resprayed in lake placid blue with satin top coat and defretted it! Still needs some adjustment and maybe even a PU swap but its actually being used on occasion now!

I bought this 1987 Warwick Streamer Stage 1 off @dyerseve a few months back. It was originally fretted but the previous owner before Chris had it made into a fretless bass , it had a neck repair and an upper horn repair. I was initially going to strip it right back to bare wood but the extremely hard paint made it very difficult, I left the neck in its original blue colour but resprayed the rest of it black, you can just abut see the transition below the headstock and between both horns. I got my friend who is a guitar builder and a geat luthier to do the fret job for me, turned out very well. He put me onto a local tatoo artish who also does lorry cab artwork so I asked him if he could do the flame theme for me. As you can see it turned out beautifully and Im really pleased with the result. I finished it off myself with clear gloss lacquer and a finial polish. The headstock had a veneer installed with epoxy to give it that extra strength and a Warwick logo put on by my Luthier I dithered over buying this but @warwickhunt gave me the push to go for it, really please now that I did and it was a delight of a project and a great bass thanks to Chris and John.. Those pickups are hot .... Let me know what you think...

Mrs Wrinkley is on the road to recovery and I’ve organised a sitter, so I will be there for at least part of the day, certainly until early afternoon, hopefully that leaves enough time for the Scrumpets to ensure adequate stocks of crumble are on hand. I may not have enough time to pick up a cab beforehand, mine is over at a friends, so if anyone has a spare I could use on the day , I would be grateful, I’m also on the lookout for a compact 1x10, should anyone have something for sale, can’t afford “Barefaced” prices tho’, needs to be cheap and cheerful. Will PM Frank with a list.

Even the BBC would struggle to make that bass tone go away

Most of my basses always sit ready at hand in a rack, but for the last few years I've owned more basses than my rack fits. Currently my Status S2 Classic 5-string lives in a Mono gigbag because it's the one that gets out the door most, but it also means it sees less use at home. The real forgotten favourite has to be my Ellio Martina Forza 5-string though. It's more or less an active Jazz Bass, built by the guy that also builds the elusive and unobtainable Bassmute, and it's fantastic. It used to be my absolute number one, but it fell out of grace with my band after I first brought my Warwick Streamer LX5 and they all said in unison: "This is the one!" Here's a pic from 2014, which was probably the last time I used it live

My BB605 in action. Man, I love this bass.

Foal For Your Loving ～ Whitesnake

How about The Sidewinder?

I've used some scrap ply to make a grille frame. I'll stretch some fly screen mesh over it. More pics soon

Knobs on order, straplock ferrules on order, battery sorted, neck still clamped...well, may as well start the final flattening and buffing of the nitro. The flattening is with progressive grades of wet and dry emery and micro-mesh from 800 grit up to 6000 used wet: After that, it's a rigorous workout of Meguiers Ultimate Compound applied with a bobbly (like a facecloth) micro fibre and polished off with a clean lint-free cloth. It's not perfect, and it's not finished, but there are fewer areas for me to have to be judicious with when it comes to camera angles

Just discovered a method of emergency gas proofing. Found myself watching a video demo of a bass synth pedal (available here) and realising the danger I was in I switched to a video demonstrating a synth pedal which I already own ! Seeing all the possibilities available to me my gas valve closed and I found myself wanting to go play with the toys I actually have in my collection. It was miraculous. Doubt it will last mind you .

I won't name names, but I bought it second hand from a chap who ordered two and only needed one. It made my eyes water at a secondhand price, let alone the list price! Yep it's light and yep is loud, but the bass chat design is far more pleasing.

A new transcription for a customer, kindly shared by him for the whole bass community! Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin Great bass part! https://www.tomreadbass.co.uk/_files/ugd/238d8f_3c97a6e9e8bc44328166c872ca377403.pdf 1093 more FREE accurate bass charts in standard notation (not tab!) here: http://tomreadbass.co.uk No registration, log-on or payment required, and no limit to the number of charts you can download.

I think it's a valuable use of your time. And being all one colour allows you to coordinate with the singer's cravat.

I was once told that my bass was causing feedback through the PA (which I wasn't going through). The guy on the desk was an amateur (he was actually an orthopedic surgeon not a sound engineer who had bought a very expensive PA and desk he had no idea how to operate) ) and his wife was the singer, I told him he was wrong but he insisted he was right. So to avoid making him look like an idiot in front of everyone, I didn't argue, I just turned my bass down to zero volume. He didn't even notice that there was no bass in the on stage mix at all. I mimed through the whole gig and made a decision that he would never be let near a desk again, while I was in the band.

Update: Since I last posted on this thread, the drummer fell in love with the lead singer, was rejected and left the band. We got a new drummer quickly but it wasn't the same without my mate the drummer. The second band I joined has progressed well, we are nearly ready to gig and all 4 of us are on the same page. It just helped me put my first band into perspective. Yesterday, I spoke to the guitarist and singer about knocking it on the head and no one complained, though the guitarist did suggest he leave and we carry on with a new guitarist! I feel quite sad as I have put a lot of effort into this over the last couple of years but, on a positive note, I have learnt how to play with others, have gained skill, confidence and have learnt about 60 songs in the process. Time to move on. Thanks for all the advice!

Planning to come along. Two Washburn 500s and a step-fronted SWR Workingman 12 with a three digit serial number. And maybe the Boulder Creek 5 string in my avatar.

Don’t get me started………

The thing about Class D amps is that they are very efficient and consume almost the same, whether barely on or running at full power. However, the higher the amp is rated, the more heat is generated, and a 600 watt amp would not be feasible in the volume of the Gnome.

Why do you think I've scraped that paint off under the bridge

Great news on all counts

I've used this supplier for a couple of projects and been happy with the service and the quality of the products. http://www.speakergrills.co.uk One point worth mentioning is that it will probably be cheaper to get Mark to powder-coat the grill than to paint it yourself. Priming, undercoating and top-coating a surface that is 60% fresh air means that you spray a lot of paint onto the backing news-sheet or whatever. David

It was at a festival in Italy. A local guy was showing his collection of Pre-CBS Fenders. He had every single model of every single guitar from every year. Some were mint, some were very battered. A lot of them were red. I remember he had Strats, Tele's, Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Precision and Jazz basses. The oldest bass was number 2, very similar to a Tele. All the guitars were playable. If you asked, he'd wheel over a Fender Twin, plug you in and wander off while you noodled. I played the bass, a couple of strats, a very old and battered Jazzmaster and a couple of Jags. I have a photo of it all on a hard drive somewhere - I think it was about 2016 or 2017, somewhere round then.

Two very nice Jazz´ ( and a P)

Yes - managed to track down a bit of packing foam sliver of blue polymer-matrix designed to act as a frequency-neutral sonic substrate to the battery power source. And it doesn't pop the magnet-held hatch off either! Everything stays in place just as it ought to - think Harmony Hair Spray without the hair..., er, or the spray

I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher - The Notsensibles

The music industry/world is littered with such happenings. Every bass player needs a DFA switch on their bass and a 'boutique' DI box (with a straight bypass through it). I did a gig and the in-house engineer seemed to have the hump with me from the off and he was unhappy with everything I had brought and played through. He was complaining that my cab was causing masses of bottom end boom in the room... I politely pointed out that at the time I was simply going from bass to HIS DI and my amp was still on stand by; any issues were down to him/his PA. Oh I felt smug but I swear he didn't even put me through the PA during the gig.

We're an easy target. I remember getting blamed for some weird feedback at one gig, turned out to be the hearing aid loop.

Wearing grey jeans and a grey polo today. I feel like John Major

Alternative title: "Crap Taste in Hats, Great Taste in Bassists".

I feel for you. Head case MD won't admit any fault. Not much you can do in that situation except plug away and hope he gets his kaka together. It might pay to get another simple DI pedal like a Sansamp as backup that you can sub in.

Another heads Up!!!! Plugin Alliance is giving up a voucher for $20, you can get a free plugin with it. You can get the Gallien-Krueger 800R or any other Ampeg bass amp which are going for $19.99. Use the voucher BOOM-20-OFF https://www.plugin-alliance.com

You turn the brute off at the end of the evening and load it into the truck to go home. Musicians have been doing this for decades.