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I love gigging - I live for it. Did my first one in 1968, local village hall, age 14. Since then (54 years!) I've toured the clubs and festivals of Europe and USA, done the working mens clubs all over the UK, done pit work, accompanied singer songwriters, and toured with some world class musos. I'm currently playing in an originals band, and taking deps every now and then. I'll be 70 soon, but still get the same buzz when the band's in the pocket. I've had no formal lessons, don't read dots, know very little theory, but have good ears (what's left of them) so in a way I've been blagging it all this time. Most terrifying gig was a festival in the French alps doing a western swing set with Tommy Allsup, with no rehearsal, no charts, had to busk pretty much the whole set with him calling the changes out the corner of his mouth. Got away with it though.

Recently set up by Basschat member Stevie, LFSys is a new name in a market that’s already pretty much saturated. So what can Stevie bring to the already crowded party? The first part of the answer is ‘loads of experience’, given that he’s been the driver (excuse the pun) behind the long-running and successful Basschat self-build cab project. But there’s more to Stevie than being handy at DIY, as you can read for yourselves in the ‘ABOUT ME’ section of his https://www.lfsys.co.uk website. The second part of the answer to ‘what’s new?’ is the bit that really motivated Stevie. As a bass player, he was unhappy with the sound quality of what he was hearing while standing in front of his rig at gigs. He wanted to improve not only the audience’s listening experience but also his own. Having already done so much cab design and build, following some additional development work that took the self-build design to a higher level, Stevie found himself just one step away from becoming a manufacturer. A big step maybe but – spurred on by the number of people who had seen the self-build cabs and said they’d pay him to build them one – he decided to take the next step into small-batch production. The LFSys bass-cab was defined a couple of key decisions. Uncompromising sound quality was top of the list with other considerations such as lightweight construction following on behind. Stevie opted for the ‘FRFR’ approach and set about creating a couple of cabs capable of delivering full range and flat response. The reasoning was that, if you make cabs that faithfully reproduce what’s being put into them, you’re giving bass players a kind of sonic ‘backdrop’. This lets us overlay the ‘sounds in our heads’ without first having to overcome any cab-induced ‘colouration’ that gets in the way of what our imagination, fingers, picks, pedals, modellers and amps generate. The next key aspect is mastery of the cross-over technology that is all-important in the performance of multi-speaker cabinets and a pre-requisite of achieving the ‘flat response’ half of FRFR. There aren’t many who really know what they’re doing in this highly-specialised field but Stevie is one of them. That’s all very well, but what does it mean to us? To be honest, it didn’t mean that much to me at first. I believed my existing cabs were doing the business and wasn’t considering replacing them. Until I heard Stevie and Phil Starr’s ‘blind’ cab shoot-out at the S-W Bass Bash, where one of Stevie’s Silverstone cabs was pitted against some of the best of the rest. When asked which sounded best, nearly all of us (me included) opted for Stevie’s cab. However, Phil finished the session by stressing the limitation of the shoot-out: the musical test piece was an electronically-generated, bass-heavy demo recording chosen only because finding a skilled bass-player capable of doing a professional, multi-genre demo had proved to be a step too far in the time available. Being a bit of an ‘old school’ rock-‘n’-roll luddite myself, I drew some comfort from Phil’s warning. My hunch was that Stevie’s bass-cab recipe wouldn’t translate into my preferred ‘classic’ tones but rather into something a bit too bright, clinical and soul-less. Plus, I’d never got on with the HF-enabled cabs I’d tried in the past. Nevertheless, as a fully-GASsed-up member of the Basschat fraternity, I resolved to try both the already available Silverstone cab and the soon-to-be-released Monaco for myself at the earliest opportunity. Fast-forward to our living-room a couple of months later. I’ve got a Silverstone and a Monaco side by side on the floor with my Mesa TT-800 straddling across the top of both. First I try the Silverstone that came top in the bash shoot-out. I haven’t changed the amp controls from my normal gig setting and I’m instantly preferring it to my existing brand of cab! A few minutes later, I find out that the more expensive Monaco sounds even better, a result that is later replicated in Silverstone owner Phil’s much larger sitting-room. But STILL I cling on to my scepticism: how will it perform under real live gig conditions?! To cut a long story short, it’s the end of our next gig and my band-mates are coming over to slap me on the back. They don’t know (or care) what the new box is or what it does, just that it works. So I tell them. It makes the bass sound much more clearly defined and articulate than before so it cuts through the mix and enhances the whole sound of the band – even on stage. Before I’m even half-way through my short explanation, they’ve turned their backs on me and are packing their kit up. It’s worth adding that, courtesy of my wireless system, I nipped into the front of the audience at the beginning of the first set for a quick check that all was well – which it was. The only tweaks I made to my amp were to back-off the bass and treble a touch (to 1 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively) on both channels, use the DEEP boost a bit more often and the BRIGHT hardly at all. With the LFSys Monaco, I now have killer-sounding, 600W (AES)-rated, 8ohm cab that handles the reduced power from my 800W (into 4ohms) amp with headroom to spare while still being PLENTY loud enough to cope with any of our indoor gig venues AND compete with my decibel-junky band-mates. More importantly, it feels like the music we make has kind of more room to breathe. Last but not least, this single-cab solution to my needs comes in at only fifty quid more (and a couple of kilos heavier) than ONE of the matched pair of 12” single-driver cabs I’ve been gigging with. What’s not to like? 😊 PIC'S TO FOLLOW

I'm done for the year so...

Exactly, My family had just moved from Southern Spain back to the States. I told my team mates I had played with the Spanish All Stars. There was no Spanish All Stars.😀 Blue

Tried to put it in my nose, but it's too big.

Slappa de baysszS

Take a walk in my shoes - I'm in Aberdeen - there's next to no cool gear up here locally so if I see something tasty that's collection only I'll ask. If you don't ask, you don't get. No need to get your nose out of joint - I can read, why do you think I'm messaging to ask if you'll reconsider? I'm not some flecking illiterate chancer, I'll have you know!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmHMQoes9un/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link "Super 3rd on a Super Twin. If you have a Super Twin but you’d like a 1x12XN cab for smaller gigs or a 3x12XN stack for big/outdoor gigs then the new Super 3rd is the answer. It’s basically our awesome Super Compact reshaped for stacking on a Super Twin. Also available with a tweeter (and crossover and full HF control). 600W, 8 ohms, 97dB for the Super 3rd. This full stack is 1800W, 2.7 ohm, 101.5dB (max SPL ~134dB - stand well back and wear hearing protection!) Oh and they’re really light in weight despite the heavyweight tone, remarkably compact and as beautifully finished as everything we make!"

When I memorise a long piece of music, by the time it's all gone in I've really lost track of what the notes are, it's all just muscle memory. The mind is a strange and wonderful thing.

We do probably 80 weddings a year. We'll learn as many tunes as they want as long as we have time and the client is happy to pay the £100 per song that we charge for learning requests.

It’s alright @scrumpymike, I’ve got your back and will do the link thing

Since turning to 5ers I've adopted the Floating Thumb technique - on 4 strings too.

I grabbed this as it was only 20 min away from me and looked like a fun project for a few days. Needed a full stripdown, clean and setup and strings, but i've got it singing now. Interestingly I found this exact bass was in the US a couple of years ago, I've messaged the previous owner to try and find out how it got here but they haven't logged into talkbass for a while. The tuners were unusable when I got it (no movement then massive jumps), but they were just overtightened, I stripped them down and reattached, they're fine now. Is it heavy ? Yes, but not quite Peavey T-40 territory. It's a solid instrument and the single pickup with 2 band EQ gets a very close Musicman vibe, albeit a little different due to a lack of humbucker. Very usable though, I'll try and stick a demo up.

Fake it 'til you make it 😉

My standard method of dealing with people looking for money off due to completely insignificant or imaginary problems is to offer them a full refund if they return the item and no alternatives. I'll be very polite and apologetic, but I won't enter into any dialogue with them over discounts or partial refunds; they are obviously not 100% happy so they should return the item and get their money back. In every case I have never heard anything more from the buyer.

I have no idea if this is the best place to post this... This year I did possibly the worst internet trade deal I've done, on another forum with a guy who sat on my money for a long time and couldn't decide what he was going to do, or if he knew how the postal system worked... anyway by the end it turned out ok and I got a pedalboard that he had managed to thread a screw holding a Cioks DC7 on. I removed the screw - with a little scratching of the DC7 The DC7 is a wonderful unit, with lots of power options, could power my HX stomp, and a power hungry valve preamp I had build with ease. But... a fault, it didn't turn on if it was cold. Which was odd. And a bit odd, getting your gig bag out of the car, into the venue and then hugging your power supply to heat it up.... So I had a half broken second-hand power supply, the guy who purchased it originally not replying to me (and being an idiot when he did) and no hope. Sad times. I asked Cioks, explained the situation and the response was "that doesn't sound right, send it back to us In Poland and we will repair it". Which they did. That in my book is phenomenal service - taking care of a product, even to secondhand users and so quickly and efficiently. So recommended. Here's a stock image for those of you who are visual readers!

So having been stuck at home during Covid, me and the Mrs got hooked on “Bargain Hunt” and it’s now on permanent “record”. What’s this got to do with basses I hear you ask?! Well has anyone else noticed the well executed and quite funky sometimes, bass riffs during the programme? I could swear whoever writes it is a bassist! Does anyone know who’s involved?!!! from a sad BH addict! (Well it’s cheaper than GAS!)

Just took receipt of this from Bass Bros. Growing up on late 80s / early 90s rock my first bass was a Squier HM bass, pointy headstock PJ pickups. I’ve got other “quality” basses: American Standard J and P, a selection of Thunderbirds, Spector, Rickenbackers and as much as I love them, this just feels and sounds right!! Great bass, love it.

Thumb mutes the E string, except when I'm playing it, gently resting on the body of the bass, alongside the pickup. The two smaller fingers apparently mute the A and D strings when required, though I never told them to, and they go to pieces if I try watching them, it's all a mystery to me. I presume this is thanks to the same bit of my unconscious that moves my right foot up and down on the sustain pedal when I'm playing the piano.

Here’s mine - a 2013 MIJ Mustang. I swapped the dark tort plate for a plain white one. It’s the first and only short scale I’ve owned. Initially I got it due to a shoulder injury, but it’s got a sound and attitude all of its own which made it a keeper. With flats it has a smooth, almost acoustic bass sound. With rounds it’s got a midrange snarl and punch. I still love my long scale basses (especially for drop D tuning etc) but my Mustang adds a very usable, quite distinct flavour of its own which is well worth having.

I just ordered a guitar for child no2. An Ibanez GRX120SP (catchy name). She loves her little Ibanez Micro and this has the same neck profile and only 1mm wider at the nut. I'm sure she'll like the metallic blue colour as well.

I must have big hands or flexible fingers or summat. For 57 years, I've anchored my Thumb to the Pickup, and easily reach all the Strings. I've never bothered with the 'floating thumb' thing.

Thorsday Child - Bowie

This is by no means universally applicable, but I have come across several collectors who are not great players (to put it politely). The ones I have encountered are successful in their careers, so have plenty of cash to splash. They appear to imagine that owning fine vintage instruments will somehow enable them to play as well as their musical heroes. I played in a band briefly with a couple of guys - one an architect and one a lawyer - who were afflicted in this manner. They had plenty of fabulous instruments and were both nice guys and good company. They were also seriously hopeless. Socially, it was very enjoyable - we played at some very nice parties thrown by similarly wealthy pals of theirs - but musically, it was painful. I tried in vain to tell myself to just enjoy the company and the craic, but I had to walk in the end.

Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Vertebrae U2

If you've got two consecutive open strings descending then the left hand has to mute the higher one - in this case the D gets muted at the exact split second that you pluck the open A. This is a hard thing to get used to at first but it's hugely important. In general, the right hand takes care of all the strings below the one you're playing, the left hand mutes anything above the string being played.

You should sell it to me... it'll look great next to my black one!

I bought various bass guitars and a double bass because as a lefty, good stuff doesn't come up often so.....you know how that goes. I have gigged most of them. At one point I was up to 8 I think. I have now pretty much decided that I'm done with gigging, my last recording project is complete (and I'm due to go for a get together to her the finished product this weekend) which I used three different basses on and I don't think there will be another one any time soon. I'm selling (and have sold four so far) everything except my go-to Hot Rod Precision, my Roland Cube 30, LM3 and Barefaced Compact (just in case....lol). This part of my life is pretty much done: It's been a great 12-15 years but things change, and I'm moving on to other things so my small "collection" is surplus to requirements. BTW I've had no luck selling on here, but everything I've sold has gone for the same if not more on a popular auction site. YMMV.

Even if you put it back to passive it’s still a bargain

Ah @Ralf1e, yes, I will be doing Hipshot detuner on the P bass to do Drop D if necessary (there's always the odd tune) and the Stingray on D Standard along with a detuner to get to Drop C - that should make me not want a 5er, at least for longer (was also considering BEAD, we'll see, there's this band I'm listening to a lot that does Drop C and may well want to stay there). @police squad yes, same! 80% of the basses in the last 2 years have been either stingrays or precisions, so this jazz is a nice great addition - somehow never managed to have a P and a Ray at the same time either, guess I've been too black or white, all P's or all Rays...! @lidl e have never tried a Rickenbacker and they're popping up more often than ever, but the missus and I agreed that I should stick to 'just' 3 hangers on the wall considering all the other bits I've got at the moment (including a potential baby and a motorcycle, ha!)... Ah, a nice jetglo would look grand on stage though aye? Not so sure about the neck width and tales I've heard about playability though...! Always have interpreted the Ric as a power jazz... but then again I'd define the Ray as a power jazz with the P thickness so I'll just say (or want to believe) I'm covered! Best, Ander.

It is now at my home. As I half expected it has a problem being the electrics are dead. He had no idea what he had. I suspect the hidden battery for the EMG circuit is dead. Maybe a cheap jack socket was put it when that was done. It will be dealt with but not tonight. I just cooked beer battered fish and chips which goes well with real ale so they say. My lovely wife is dishing them u as we speak 😉

eBay will refund you the sales cost or allow you to re-list with no charge if you show evidence of the buyer doing what they've done. I've had that before and they waived the fee I incurred.

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.

Rather a long time since I've done any work on this (or indeed done much at all; serious bout of depression following the impact of the fire and some other life affecting stuff, but it's clearing). I stumbled across another audio unit called Proteus so will be referring to this as BOME until a better moniker comes along. I've done some playing over the past couple of weeks and I think I have closed out on the tech stack for the BOME prototype. Hardware Raspberry Pi 4b - I have one that I salvaged from the fire and whilst they are in short supply at present, this should hopefully change in the next few months. It is a cheap unit and well documented; it also supports the software stack I have selected. HiFiBerry DAC+ADC Pro - This is a good quality, reasonably priced, Pi add on board to allow stereo (or two mono) audio input and outputs (Again something I was able to salvage from the fire). It is supported by the software stack I intend to use. Touch Sensitive Display - This will allow for configuring BOME without needing a computer to do so (Tho BOME will also be configurable using a web browser) Rotary Encoder/Switches - Used to supplement the touch display when configuring BOME as well as tweaking pedal settings on the go. Footswitches - To allow handsfree control of BOME whilst playing; select defined pedalboard layouts, activate/bypass 'pedals', load setting snapshots, activate tuner, etc Expression Pedal In - Allow connection of a 1/4 Jack TRS expression pedal to control pedal effects. Pi Pico - A low cost microcontroller that will be used to interface between the Pi and the various input controls; It will offload some of the load from the Pi as well as providing some capabilites the Pi does not have (such as ADC for the expression pedal) USB Host Port - Allow the connection of a USB MIDI Device to control any plugins. USB Device Port - Allow connection to a computer to allow BOME to act as an audio capture/playback device. Software Elk audio OS - This lies at the heart of BOME. It is based on linux (so allowing the use of linux capabilities and development tools) with some added goodness: ElkOS has a realtime element that interfaces with the HiFiBerry Audio card that has an extremely low latency, this means that the likelihood of experiencing audio artifacts like jitter or dropout is significantly reduced Elk Sushi is basically a DAW and allows for the use of both LV2 and VST3 (linux based) plugins. Sushi hands over all responsibility for the user interface to BOME, allowing for both touch panel and remote web control. BOME-APP - Bespoke code running on the Pi that ties everything together and provides the logic and user interface for BOME. BOME-IO - Bespoke micro-controller code running on the Pico to make the various switches and controls available to BOME-APP. With my 3D printer still being out of service (The fire melted most of the plastic elements and I've yet to replace them) I resorted to a heath robinson approach using cardboard and duct tape to construct a prototype enclosure. Currently 250mm wide (constrained by the spacing required for the footswitches) 140mm deep (Driven by the 5 inch touch sensitive display) and 60mm high, not counting the knobs. I may lose one of the footswitches to allow me to reduce the width to 195mm, but I'm going to run with this setup for the time being. Thus far I have been able to assemble the Pi, HifiBerry and some audio in/out; install the Elk software; configure a pedalboard with both a MIDI synth VST3 plugin and a guitar f/x chain using LV2 plugins for a compressor, chorus and room reverb; with a bass guitar plugged in and a midi usb keyboard attached I've been able to play both synth and the bass, driving a bass combo cab ... and it sounds pretty good! I've been able to use an app called Open Stage Controller running on my laptop to send OSC commands (A bit like MIDI but much richer) to change pedal plugins settings over a WiFi to the BOME unit. Next to start on the BOME-APP, to allow web based management of pedalboards (A set of effect plugins connected together), pedals (An individual plugin that provides a single pedal type of effect such as compression/overdrive/chorus/reverb/etc), connections between them (Virtual equivalent of patch cables). In parallel to this I need to start looking at how to achieve as many of the same capabilities using the onboard display and controls, Elk does not provide any display libraries so I need to figure out how to incorporate them to drive the touch screen as well as accepting input from the rotary and foot controls. S'manth x