Leaderboard

Winter Gardens in Blackpool for a corporate do. Lots of fun and a big sound system to play with.

Very, very cold. Played The Neon in Newport, which hosted the South Wales Country Music Festival. It’s was absolutely Baltic in the entire venue - no idea what was going on with the heating! Unsurprisingly a lot of people didn’t stick around but by the time we went on at around 10 there were a few dozen hardy souls still revved up for some country rock. It was my first gig with Katy Hurt, and despite the cold it was an absolute blast. Used my Zoot Funkmeister, a tiny bit of compression into my Trace TE-1200 and two Barefaced Two10 cabs and the tone was absolutely bang on. Shame about the cold but we all had fun It was hell of a long day though - we left early doors to get to Newport to rehearse first; and that presented its own challenge with a not-100%-soundproofed studio and a metal band playing full blast next door 😅 Finally left Newport around 12.30am this morning and was home by 3. Freezing fog on the M4 was… fun. All in all though, the overriding memory will be the 75 minute set and the fun we had despite the cold. https://www.katyhurt.com

Here’s a cool pic which has been posted on Facebook:

Played a private party. Singer created some novel song arrangements. Did more bvs than usual, discovered I can play merry Christmas everybody and sing it, (at the same time) which is s major personal achievement!

Back at our favourite venue the coach house in Paignton. Penultimate song in the first set was Enter Sandman and to our surprise 2 old ladies got up to dance. Later I found out they were 78 & 82 and had come from the social club down the road as the band hadn't shown up. I quickly grabbed my phone force photosduring the middle section were i played open E. They were up dancing again later too.

Last gig of the year for punk covers band last night. After 4" snow in morning and the prospect of snow on way home after midnight i wasn't looking forward to the drive across country to Dumfries. Turned out roads were clear except for my own village road and another 2" snow on my driveway when i got home. Gig started of quiet with more people watching the footie than us. I could see the large screen in the other room where i was standing and oddly enough there was no reaction either way from the punters in the pub when a goal was had which surprised me in a Scottish pub. 😁 Was a bit busy playing to really watch the game tho so missed all the good bits. Anyways back to the gig. Started off with approx 20 people in the bar where we were set up but it grew once the footie stopped and we had another great wee night in Dumfries. Just took one of my Mesa cabs the SW115 and what a tone i was getting from it. Depth but quite clanky top end and that was with the horn OFF. Using the Handbox WB-100 and my new Keeley compressor with the Sandberg MarloweDK which took me a few songs to get the compressor set just right where it was just clipping the top end volumes. Dave

Good one last night. Marking a year with the band, going back to our "home" venue, also the place I first played with the band on 10th December last year. First half had a few issues... Effects board lost power mid song, so pulled the cable from the board and went direct bass to amp. After the song it turned out plugging my effects power extension into a different socket fired it back up. Then we had an issues with the electronic drums, we had the same in soundcheck but this was really persistent and seemed like it was coming from my bass amp. I was losing volume, or maybe it seemed like that because of the noise coming from a loose connection on the drum kit, and it messed me up for a few songs. I've had issues with the battery pack in the back of my bass coming slightly loose and losing volume so I swapped basses, went direct to amp, tried loads of stuff but just ended up creating more issues. Sorted it all out at half time, second half went without a hitch, all gear worked fine, decent gig with a proper crowd enjoying the festivities. I've been really working on my harmonies and backing vox and feel it's improving a lot. I'm also playing the songs a lot more naturally now rather than desperately trying to remember structures or tricky parts.

Nice gig last night in one of our fave venues, the Esplanade Club by Watchet harbour on the West Somerset coast. As well as the easy load-in with parking outside the front door, we had the pleasure (?!) of watching a crucial football game before we 'kicked off'. When we arrived, in addition to the big projector screen there were lots of big tellies dotted around the place and I said "We're stuck for choice here, which one are we gonna watch?", "None of them!" was the quick response from our guitarist's girlfriend. Which explains why she had a much better night than the rest of us - enough said. Sadly, the knock-on effect from Harry failing to notice his loose boot-lace before taking the second penalty was that we didn't get the usual big Esplanade crowd. Presumably those who were planning to watch the game at home and come out for a few celebratory bevvies afterwards were instead hanging by the neck from some handy tree or lamp-post by the time we started at 9.30. We did get a few French tourists in though (only kidding 😊). But I digress. There was still a decent turnout of appreciative punters and we were at the top of our game - unlike.... (never mind). As always, my evening was rescued by the gig money, and somewhat unexpectedly by a new piece of kit that I was gigging for the first time. Not a new bass or amp (the things I get most excited about) but a new speaker cab from a new manufacturer - who happens to be a Basschat member!! The new brand is LFSys and the designer/builder is our Stevie, already known to many from the self-build cab project on here. I've followed the DIY project with interest including demo's at our S-W Bass Bash over the last few years but what Stevie has done with this production version is amazing. Sod the football! A killer new cab is much more important.

Played the local Crown Court Xmas bash last night with the Hulla Band - the singer works there. Medium sized room with a good crowd. We started early, while the football was still on, and played beneath the big screen. It being a Welsh audience, there was not too much disappointment at the outcome but we did pause for both England penalties. Lots of dancing and singing along and the right mix of Xmas songs and our standard set list. As you can see from the photo, I went in my pyjama top. 😃 (I had a waistcoat ready but with the 'on-off' start as we debated whether to start before the football finished, I suddenly found myself playing the opening riffs with nothing to tame the shirt!)

Here you go, sorry it's not that good but gives you an idea of what it might sound like with someone skilled playing it!

Damn thing sounds straight up awesome. A VERY different sound to my old streamliner- I thought they'd be quite similar but this seems much more responsive and more mid punchy? I like it.

Hi all, I'm pretty new here, and new basses do not come around too often for me, so I'm excited to share this - a new Made in Japan Hard Puncher TPB97. But first - what a lovely, respectful community you have here; I've thoroughly enjoyed stumbling upon this website, and the couple of dealings I've had with people on the marketplace have been first class. I love Ps, and have only gigged on two basses prior to this - a second-hand Godin PJ that lasted me 15 years before age-induced niggles made it worth upgrading, and an American Fender pro ii precision, which I owned for a year, but never really gelled with (and a number of little quality control issues were enough to put me off - although that's a story for another day). Since summer, I've been getting around the country, visiting shops, and generally playing as many Ps as I could get my hands on. It's been great fun, making a day of it with friends on a number of occasions. This Tokai was one of the first I played, and for me, none of the subsequent Ps I played felt or sounded as right to me. It also has a feel of sturdiness and quality to it, that many of the basses I played did not. The fit and finish are genuinely first class, and it has a hand-wound pickup apparently, which has a really resonant, piano-like vibe. It cost just north of a grand, so not exactly cheap, but it is lovely. Apparently, Tokai do a factory setup, and then export models get a second set-up at the closest distribution centre to the shop, so it has a nice action out of the case. It was very hard to find anything at all about newer Tokai basses online, or on English speaking forums, so hopefully this will be useful to someone who is curious about their quality. I also played some of the cheaper new Made in China Tokais, which were not nearly as nice. I've had it for a week, and I'm not gigging until NYE now, but can't wait! All in all, just a very well made P Bass, but for those who like some specs: U-shaped neck, but it measures 22mm at the first fret, so not too chunky. It suits me just right. 42mm nut. Rosewood fretboard. It comes with Gotoh hardware, GHS boomers on it, and has a compound radius (7.25 - 10). The only downside so far is that the tweed case it comes with looks lovely, but there is a bit of play in the sides, and I wonder how sturdy it will be long term.

So... some of you fine folk may remember how some 2 months ago I went on a rampage to sell my stingrays - simply too much money on gear when I had to recover from windows we replaced at home, and a bathroom renovation...! ... Resolved to sell the 'rays with pain in my heart, replaced by American Original series Fenders, P and J - how great are these basses? I was thoroughly impressed and managed to cash in a grand to ease things on the bank account. Being back in this forum (9 months hiatus to stop selling and buying!) I let my hair off and replaced my rig without much investment... Ashdown ABM 600 head and a mighty Barefaced Six10 - from an Eich T900 and a Big Baby 2. Fast forward the bathroom is done, the windows are paid and I had sold a couple watches so I had more than I needed and then I saw this Ray Special... In the Cruz Teal that only came out on the first series and that I so dearly love...! Out of what I wanted to spend, but received an offer on eBay and then I started to consider... I messaged the owner and he was happy to let it go at the last offer minus fees, pretty much the same price as you see on the regular MM Stingrays these days so I had to pull the trigger. Some crazy 6-7 hours to remind me why I hate driving to Manchester and 320 miles later I got home, set him up, waxed the neck, hydrated the board... et voila... Very, very ambivalent collection right here, Jesus even if it's only been a couple months I missed the stingray tone! Don't get me wrong, the passive Fenders are just brilliant and plan to keep using it... but there you go, a story that started sour selling my most beloved basses managed to come back even better than it started - to happy endings! Ander.

Great work, great visuals and yes the Adamson vibe is great too🙂 We also made a video recently and as (hopefully) you've started a trend I'll share it here... The band is a tongue in cheek country rock trio, the song is about cousin Billy Bob and his fancy new girlfriend. We recorded it in the studio at the shop where I used to work, no idea what system he used but it's essentially the three of us playing live to a click, vocals and guitar solo added after. The video was filmed and edited by my partners son who's a pro editor and up and coming comedy writer/performer. He was a perfect fit for the project, he completely got what we were about. We had to cancel the first days shooting (COVID) but that gave us more time to hone the script and sets etc. We had perfect weather for November in Dorset. The bass used in the video was alo used on the song , it's a semi hollow precision built by myself.

We were supposed to be playing a gig tonight but the roads north of Aberdeen are really bad, RTCs on both sides of the main dual carriageway heading out of the city. For safety's sake, considering 3 out of the 4 of us live in the frozen wastes north of Aberdeen, we decided to cancel the gig. The venue were understanding, which is a bonus. Stay safe out there, everyone.

Finally got round to doing a video of this bass, apologies for sloppy playing etc but I really wanted to show some of the sounds!

Desert Plains ～ Judas Priest

This was my rig of choice for a recent gig and one of the few gigs I've done this year that hasn't involved an Ashdown ABM. It was more a nostalgia trip to use this Trace Elliot as I was intending to sell all my Trace Elliot kit at the time and have now done that. The AH200 GP12 is quite a special bass amp and in my experience always punched way above its weight and had that sound.

This is what I am set for live lately…! And long May it last! ABM 600 Evo IV 20th anniversary and BF Six10

There's a few simple tricks to try to see where the problem lies that you may already know... With the amp switched on and the lead plugged in, but not the bass, touching the tip of the lead jack plug should produce a buzz from the amp (assuming the volume is turned up a little...). This eliminated both amp and lead; if there's no buzz, leave the bass alone. With the lead plugged into the bass, and the amp switched on, (and a little volume...), open the control cavity. With a screwdriver blade, touch the lugs of the volume pot. The earthed end will remain silent, but there would normally be a buzz from the other two lugs, if the pot is set to max. If there no buzz at all, check the wiring between the pot and the jack socket. If you can identify the wire from the pick-up to the circuit, touching a screwdriver blade to each p/u connection should provoke a buzz. If there's nothing, check the control wiring. If there is a buzz, the p/u may be faulty. There's the simple, non-tech way of seeing where to look. If you're a solderer, it's also easy enough to undo the p/u wires and take them straight to the output jack; just make a note of where they were before changing anything. Good luck with the hunt; keep us posted as to progress, please..?

Mods - I should say I have already posted this in the 'Share Your Music' sub-sub board of the Recording sub-board, where unfortunately no-one much goes or seems interested - so if this post qualifies as spam, please delete the earlier one! This represents my first go at a 'proper' music vid - I've done lyric videos and slideshow-y montages before, but this is the first time I've used green screen, recorded performance & outdoor footage/still images & tried to make something coherent out of it. Disclaimer - the drone footage isn't mine (free-to use stock from the excellent pexels.com site) so any occasional illusion of professionalism would be that of the talented videographers whose work it is, not me! Video was recorded using my little Canon SX720 compact on its HD setting, all the bits & pieces were bunged together with Shotcut, which (as someone whose previous video editing experience was limited to Windows Movie Maker) was easy to get started with & pretty intuitive to work with, and let me do pretty much anything my limited imagination came up with. Anyway - I think I'm pleased with the result, given the obstacles of poor equipment, dubious aesthetic sensibilities and general ineptitude I have tried to overcome. It was fun & stressful in equal measure and I'm not even too horrified at my own ugly mug gurning away while I pretend to play bass! A bit about the song. This is a bit of a musical departure for us, and despite playing/programming the instruments on the song I consider myself a distant second-fiddle as far as writing it is concerned. Basically my partner-in-crimes against music sang it to me, & said "can you make the guitars sound like Stuart Adamson?" Doing so was an absolute pleasure as Stuart was a huge influence when I was learning guitar & starting to write songs back in the early 80s. For that reason the Yamaha SG and the Strat in the video are what I used in the song - however the bass you hear is an Ibanez RS924 Roadster, not the silly thing I'm waving around on screen! I also used a Riverhead Unicorn headless (with flats) for the chordal intro. Song was recorded using Reaper & mainly Reaper plugins, guitar sounds courtesy of ToneLib GFX, bass through a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro, & drums are the MT Power Drumkit plugin. Hope you like it!

Says it all for me. 👍 Dave

Ok, I squirted some Deoxit in, gave the knob a few turns (quiet at the back) and it appears to have done the trick. I did check before doing it that the noise was there, and it has now gone.

Thank you for your patronising and condescending post, as charming and adorable as it is. By way of response here's a little extra background information, although the reasonable part of my brain is telling me just to ignore you. More on that later. I've been playing bass and gigging for some 40 odd years, maybe 10 years or so before owning the Trace rig, which I bought new in the early 90's. Now while I don't consider myself an expert on anything bass related I have picked up a few things over the years, including the basics of how to use an EQ as well as what constitutes a workable, usable tone when playing with other musicians. Obviously I wouldn't have been so clued up on bass tone at the point of buying the rig and have vague recollections of being caught up in the hype at the time as it was the rig to been seen with. I have played through many different amps over the years from cheap and cheerful starter amps through to high end gear, and have been able to get a usable sound from just about all of them. Notice I say a usable sound, that's because I'm not trying to get 'my sound' because what sounds good when I'm noodling away at home doesn't necessarily translate to what sounds good and/or works in the mix with a band. I consider myself a 'live' bass player and have played hundreds and hundreds of gigs over the years with many different musicians. So I EQ in a sound that works with whatever is going on around me. But most amps have a baked in sound and some of them take more time to dial in than others. And one or two haven't been able to give me what I needed no matter what, and one of those happens to be the Trace Elliot SMX I owned and gigged for some 10 years as well as the other SMX rig that I mentioned. During the years of ownership - believe it or not - it did actually cross my mind to try tweaking the EQ and various other controls to try and get some other sounds out of it, and I did exactly that on countless occasions. Yup, I really did, I even tried switching the mid scoop button in and out 👍. But no matter what I did with the various EQ options, pre-shape buttons, tilt control, pre-amp voicings etc it just had this constant baked in sound that sounded weak and gutless to me, there was no noticeable weight/heft in the lows, at least none that projected through the pair of Trace 1153 cabs that I was using, there was an ever-present mid scoop that even a sad face graphic EQ curve could seem to fully alleviate at least not in any meaningful way to my ears, and there was an ever present fatiguing spike in the upper mids/treble that I could never fully attenuate either. There is of course the possibility that my amp was faulty in some way, or maybe it was Friday afternoon special put together when the Trace guys got back from the pub? Are there any any known faults with the SMX series that match what I was describing it'd be helpful to know that, why not share that information if you have it? But I grew to hate the amp with a passion and if could have afforded to replace it sooner than I did then I gladly would have done. Since then I have played through a Trace combo, not sure of the model number but it was the simpler 7 band EQ model, and that had all the punch and weight that TE are renowned for, it was indeed a great sounding amp - but it was also the polar opposite to what I could get from the SMX during the years that I owned it. So I'm not anti TE, just anti the SMX series simply because the 2 different ones that I have played over the years sounded gutless, more like a guitar amp than a bass amp. That's just my experience and yours in obviously different, and that's great. But why not share your experience instead of assuming that I don't know my arse from my elbow? Surely that's the point of a forum like this? Or maybe seek some clarification on the assumptions you immediately made - including the one that I had no idea what I was doing? That would have been more helpful and maybe even have helped to make yourself look less of an arrogant tool who posts ill considered knee-jerk responses? You are, of course, entitled to your opinion - just as I am entitled to mine. And yes, maybe if I'd have added an emoji or 2 to my original comment it would have made it clear that the comment was intended tongue-in-cheek, even though it's still my opinion that the SMX remains the biggest turd of an amp I have ever played through. It looked great, and I liked the dual band compressor, but that was it, IMO/IME. Congratulations, you have the dubious honour of becoming the first person in my 14 years on Basschat to be added to my ignore list.

Often I'll hear a jazz bass, particularly on their own or when featured on a review, and really like that sound. But whenever I play a jazz bass in front of an amp myself, I just feel like I'm missing something - it always just sounds like it's missing the oomph, so I've always gravitated towards Ps.

Iron Fist - Motörhead

For £150 it's a real bargain. Sounds good, eay to use and well built, although It does have the slight volume pot crackle but only when sound is coming through, if you aren't playing and turn the dial it's fine. I certainly prefer it to the GK Legacy, which I sold after a short period of constant fiddling. Thanks for the heads up @stewblack

I show it at the end of the video. It’s the next test for the video after this - I’ll fit it next and see how it affects the sound. Some of the YouTube comments on the video speculate on the impact of that, but we shall see how it plays out.

Im a lightweight compared to some of you folks with only 12 basses, 2 guitars, a keyboard and a mandolinn, but the psychology is simple - playing, admiring and owning them brings me pleasure.

They are nice and I enjoy playing them which encourages me to play more which is good for me in many ways. Fundamentally they bring me pleasure.

Quite a drive to a barn in Somerset last night, rather nippy as you can imagine, and challenging acoustically too, but all in all a decent enough night, glad we decided not to play tonight tbh. 5B83290C-8D92-4C92-A451-870616F3DF9B.MOV

Holy Trinity all in one bass...

Guilty as charged but in my defence I don't drink, smoke or take drugs. No kids or partner so all my disposable income is mine to do as I please. I'd rather have things I want than cash earning very little interest in the bank.

Last night's gig was a local fundraiser. Inoffensive background straight-ahead jazz required, so we prepared a set list full of ballads &c. and invited a vocalist to join us for them, thinking our clarinetist could play the heads of any instrumentals, take various solos etc. The usual pianist was unavailable so we had a dep. guitarist. He sounded like a proper jazz guitarist but was inexperienced (2nd time playing in public) so was only willing to take solos on two tunes. A mere 15 minutes before starting we got a message from the clarinetist that he hadn't felt well during the day and thought that he wasn't up to it. But, by padding things out with bass solos and the vocalist playing a baritone horn (almost left behind as she thought it wouldn't be needed) for heads/solos we managed to get away with it. The audience were pleased, so it must have been a success.

I know that my problem with multiple purchases of music gear is just that - a problem. I have always sought to fill the hole in my life with outside 'stuff', with quick fixes. Addiction and unhappiness have driven much of my existence and despite repeated attempts to find a more enriching solution, I fall back into old habits. It goes something like this. I'm miserable, triggered, angered, hungry, lonely - whatever - so I blow money I ought to be saving or using wisely on whatever is my obsession right now. Instant buzz mainly because it's a rash act. Excitement throughout the wait for the arrival of the latest superfluous purchase. Excitement when it arrives. Anticipation of its first proper use. Put it to one side and look for the next fix.

Out of covers I can’t see any issue with coil wire. im looking at ordering Fender Original Vintage Precision Bass Pickups. £85 here in uk and come mounted on moulding so just needs two wires attached. think I will have a look at rewiring the old pickup somewhere. I’ll let you know how it goes when they arrive…..

In short - i have spoken with @Osiris at length over the years on all bass related issues - and we differ on approaches and sounds but have a commonality on our themes. He knows his onions theoretically and practically, nothing said is a cack handed glib comment without substance, the fact @Baloney Balderdash he wrote a reply detailing this shows this. Now I know I always ‘sound’ good no matter what I do cos my gear is ace, BUT, I play like crap - that’s all my fault.

Still using my LMB3 and its the only compressor/limiter I've used since I sold my old MXR M143 limiter. The M143 was the best pedal comp/limiter i've ever used and haven't found anything to match it. The LMB3 does a good job though and the thing about both pedals is I think they did colour the tone slightly and enabled me to have 'my' sound. Done the spectracomp thing as well as a few other things and none were particularly bad at what they did, I just prefer what the LMB3 does. Been on my board for about eight years now and was used when I bought it back then. No issues with reliability either.

Stinkfist - Tool

Smells like teen spirit - Nirvana

Output jack oxidisation? Try plugging in and unplugging a few times see if clears anything.

Nope, its only £70 saved if you were planning to get one anyway, otherwise it is £150 lost He's cost us all thousands now I would imagine. But then so have I. Maybe we need a GAS Enabler cost thread to keep a tally. Or maybe, we don't!

What's He Building In There? - Tom Waits