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Seven piece swing/Dixie "little big band" last night with a good crowd, not quite a full room but about 50 fans who were very appreciative. As usual two swing sets and then I switch to tenor banjo and a sax player takes over the bass parts on Bari and we do a set of trad/Dixieland. I had a few lapses of concentration but overall the band was really cooking and the crowd loved it, we have a loyal following and even had some new folks there as well. We must have done something right because someone in the audience left a $200 tip for the band, first time that has happened. Good playing, good crowd and extra money= good gig.😄 Photo was during set up, as usual I used the Boss WL-20 wireless for my bass and went straight into our Bose PA, easy to set up, no amp to lug and excellent sound and the Bose acts as monitor for the whole band.👍

Day 6 - O2 institute, Birmingham Despite the initial dissapointment of finding out crowd-surfing wasn't allowed, we nontheless soldiered on with the gig. During soundcheck, we experimented with an alternative line up, consisting of the drummer and me at the front of the stage, but for some reason, it wasn't thought to be the ideal setup, although we did manage to capture a few seconds of footage. There's a rest day tomorrow, before heading across to Hull on Thursday and then down to Cardiff and the Southern dates. VID-20221101-WA0016.mp4

Wow, not many gigs in October. We had a cool Halloween gig but we were cancelled due to double booking. There was also a change of venue ownership. We should talk about that. Acoustic gig this weekend were back at The Motor. She's Right I'm Left Saturday November 5th, 5:30-8:30 The Harley Motor Restaurant& Bar Milwaukee WI Blue

I've further expanded on my scam baiting! Initial contact for them always starts off 'Is this item available' (stock FB automated message), then you get a question asking about condition and price. That is the big clue it is a scam as the price is in the advert but they aren't ar5ed about the price, just in snaring you into paying the insurance. However, I decided today (because I got one re. a Squier) to be creative. After their message asking about condition and price I replied 'The bass is only good for chopping up for sticks despite me saying it was excellent and the price is £620'... now that price is double what it is advertised for but it'll sort out straight away if it is a scam. Sure enough the reply is 'OK great I will buy.' They then send the usual 'I am at work I will send XYZ courier to collect and pay cash'. I reply 'Yes no problem but the price needs to increase a little to cover my trouble it is now £1240, the address is 10 Downing Street'. Messages continue and I supply the name of our present Prime Minister (who knows?) and the full address of his residence but with each message I'm doubling the price. Before I knew it they had an email address for Rishi and I was getting £9,920 for my Squier... I believe the price achieved may have set a new precedent for a Squier! I shall try and beat this price with my next victim.

Come On Eileen ～ DMR

Updated board with the Corona chorus gifted by the estimable @Merton. I have space, a power cable and a patch lead left for one more, which may end up being an inexpensive octaver. If I get any pedals for Chrimbo I will have to buy a bigger board and better power solution. What a nuisance that would be... 🤣

Have you seen what he wears?

That is an abomination which I can't now unsee.

I've been using this "big rig" for a while now and it'a still proving to be a source of amazement. The bassrig pedal is used for DI into the PA system, with the amp just providing a bit of personal monitoring. It can quite easily keep up with our drummer, as he's not a particularly loud player. The front 3 in the band are on IEM's, so the stage wedges are just there for us two at the back, meaning we can keep acoustic noise on stage relatively low. I was considering getting another one10, just in case I needed a little more displacement, but at the moment, I don't think I really need one.

If that was the last bass on earth, I would play harmonica instead. Properly hideous.

Incesticide. Nirvana. (It’s all relative)

Quark, Strangeness and Charm - Hawkwind

Excellent! Last gig I did they put a 'bucket' round (OK a beer glass...) that nearly doubled our fee.

As some have said, I bought most of Dave/OBBM's stock when he retired and have been making cables for folks on here ever since. Happy to quote for you. I will soon have a website running, but in the meantime just DM me.

more dub than reggae, but I recently bought this and it's really heavy and good

The new one from Clinton Fearon, he just gets better and better, so good

interestingly enough, I got in touch with Laney to ask about the Digbeth Pre, since I have one, and they told me the output level is +10 dBV. unless I'm missing something obvious, that seems quite a bit to me. (I also sent a second email asking to confirm it's +10 and not -10 dBV, they confirmed it's +10).

I have a weird reaction to certain specific colour combinations on basses and guitars, in that they actually make me feel slightly nauseous. Tortoiseshell scratch plates on red basses are the worst offenders, but that Mono Neon sig is definitely setting it off.

Hi all, Promising update from Tom on Facebook today. For those without ‘the book’: “TL:DR - a small batch of T-16 Octaves have been added to the webstore with more to be added ASAP, some other things are changing at Cog too ------ Hello all, First up I want to let you know there are some T-16s available at www.cogeffects.co.uk/shop Second, I just want to confirm that Cog Effects is still a thing, I'm making pedals and plan to do so for the foreseeable, but I need to make some changes to make it sustainable both financially and for my own health. It's no secret that I haven't added stock to the website for some time. The main reason for this is an absolute slump in my own mental health in recent years due to a combination of factors both in and out of my control that I either hadn't or couldn't effectively deal with and, to be brutally honest, this spiralled and I almost completely shut down. This has affected my personal life, physical and mental wellbeing, relationships, and of course Cog Effects. Over recent months, and with the support of people I am grateful to have in my life, I've begun to get to grips with many of these issues so I can start moving forward again. This will have some practical changes for Cog, which I will begin to outline below. The largest issue I have faced with Cog is having too many metaphorical balls in the air, which has been detrimental both to the level of service I have been able to offer and to my own wellbeing, and the changes I plan to make will be to help limit this. 1. The product range will be more streamlined. This will mean some pedals are retired, either temporarily or permanently. When new pedals are added this may then result in older ones being retired, again either temporarily or permanently. 2. New pedals will be less focused on earlier Cog designs, and more on aspects of effects that particularly interest me - primarily octave effects, modulation and signal routing. 3. Standard pedals will be simpler and more stripped back in appearance. 4. Pedals will be available to purchase only when they are in stock and ready to post. 5. I will have dedicated times set aside when I will handle correspondence, and plan to limit contact just to email (as opposed to social media messages as well) so I can stay on top of it better. You can get me on [email protected] My aim with Cog Effects is to keep it simple, and to build products that I personally find interesting or inspiring for as long as enough other people also find them appealing enough to keep this financially viable. I have no aspirations for major outsourcing or sitting in an office while other people do the work or anything like that, and while I understand that such a choice will no doubt limit what I am able to offer/achieve in the future I'm also aware that because of how my brain works these changes will allow me to keep on top of things more easily. Finally, mental health is some proper serious stinky poo. We all need to look out for those around us and step up for each other when things go sideways. Asking for help is not always easy, even when there are people who we know would want to help. Every single one of us has the ability to be a light in the darkness for someone else, reaching out can make a difference. Tom x“

Now safely with its owner, v happy with it too as well.

Shepherd's Bush Empire! Brilliant evening, met some family down there and an imaginary internet friend, who I'd only ever spoken to as a part of Lee Sklar's clubhouse. We're playing pretty well (although I did manage to find an online review which said we were terrible in Aberdeen. Hey ho) and we seem to be getting better each time. Tonightbreally seemed to gell well and I even managed to do a bit of "Dad" dancing, much to the amusement of the drummer! The Barefaces one 10 with the TC head is proving to be astonishingly good, I had to turn it down on stage, as it was too loud! 🤣 Fortunately, it's only really there for a bit of extra monitoring, as most of the "sound" is generated via the bassrig pedal.

I always act really keen, go along with it and encourage them to come Over quickly. shortly after they’ve gotten them selves all excited because they think they’ve got a live one, I then send them a picture of some large cable Ties, a roll of gaffa tape, a ball Pien hammer and tell Them I’ll be waiting in the garage for you, come right in…… they never do show up? Cant think why? 😂😂😂

Black Uhuru night tonight

Bottom row updated! Now for the top!

It's a Family Affair - Sly & the Family Stone

It wasn't really negative or positive - was just pointing out the latency, being on 2.4ghz (so more prone to interference) and it being mono. Of course, the big positive is there is no compander so the quality of the audio is far superior. Stereo is amazing compared to mono. As you pan instruments across the soundscape, you get a much bigger feeling of space and "air". It's easier to pick up separate instruments, and especially makes room for vocals to sit more prominently in the mix. I guess the best was of explaining it is to listen to your favourite song in stereo... then in mono. It's one of those things, once you have stereo, you'll never want to go back to mono. It's just betterer. Whatever is happening out FoH, you don't care. Your monitor mix is your monitor mix. Place instruments at any volume at any position in the stereo mix. Get super crazy and get a tracking system so you can walk around the stage and have the mix change so it reflects your position on the stage..... ok, maybe that's a budget stretch too far! But you get my drift.

New bottles ahoy! Beavis has had a pair of JJ KT77 valves in for the last few years and they've been absolutely fine but I fancied a change. This morning, a box from Hotrox in Nottingham safely arrived containing two, slightly bigger bottle JJ 6CA7s. I've only had them running for ten minutes but they sound solid so I'll take the amp to rehearsal next time and see how it goes. Apparently, they're somewhere between an EL34, a 6L6 and a 6550 so hopefully, they'll do that saturated squashy thing very nicely. 😃

Proof that just because you have a great deal of talent for working with wood don't necessarily mean that your design skills are up to scratch as well. IME the best luthiers are nearly always ones who initially trained in some other creative arts.

Whilst I appreciate the help that the other band members give, I invariably spend a half hour the day after a gig recoiling/repacking the audio and power cable cases!

Pat Benatar..... "Hit me with your best shot". Sounds like "Hit me with your pet shark". We play it in our theatre show and I may, or may not, have sung it like that on occasion

The George III is great, especially their festival "Georgefest"! The landlord has put loads into making it as easy as possible for bands to get in and play with the stage setup and PA. Always a good night in there!

Interesting character. Colour-wise it looks like an inverted Flea bass.

The last cable I had made for me was a totally bulletproof one by OBBM. These days I make all my own leads & patch cables -- I really enjoy soldering and find it therapeutic, maybe** I'm weird -- but I'll be following this thread with interest for recommendations. ** yes, I know, there's no 'maybe' about it

Day 5 - The Leadmill, Sheffield Quite rushed for soundcheck and an earlier start of 19.30, as opposed to the usual 20.00. There were a couple of moments of feedback from the system, as it did seem to be a difficult room. Aside from that, another great audience and we seemed to go down pretty well. The drive home was pretty awful, lots and lots of rain, then fog and some monumental puddles on the road. Wasn't fun!

Just back from playing in Scarborough with my acoustic duo. It’s a cafe / restaurant on the harbour side called The Lookout, only small but with a very appreciative audience. We play it on average about once a month or so, and it’s my favourite venue. Small PA engineered by the organiser who happens to be a tidy bassist too, so I just rock up with a bass and combo. Tonight I went back to using my old Washburn AB20 - for the last few months I’ve been playing my little Ibanez - and I really enjoyed getting back to a 34” scale bass. Just use a Fender Rumble as a monitor so it’s an easy load in /out. Tried just going ampless but due to the position of the PA cabs it’s not quite enough for me to hear myself clearly so I don’t mind. Next gig there is end of November, and we’ve been promised regular nights into 2023 as well so happy days. (Just added a pic of the view from the cafe balcony)

My current 3. 1975 Rickenbacker 4001, a 1969 Fender Precision and a 1980 Musicman Sabre.

Doesn't look like the guy who did Graceland.....😉