Leaderboard

I am currently changing my basses to this configuration, whoever did that is a pioneer, a revolutionary pioneer.* * Yes, I am off my mash on ecstasy pipes btw as will be detailed in my forthcoming book of rock n roll ephemera, All Aboard The 86b: The Story of The Chigwell to Hackney Bus Route 1945-1973.

Got my beautiful new 2009 USA 5 string P from Bass Bros last week, just got round to setting it up with Labella Flats, it’s absolutely gorgeous! bonus dog content! TBF it’s her sun spot chair!

Strange one on Friday evening: doing a favour for the committee of the Village Hall where two of the band live. We provided music for their pub night. Trouble was it had to be at a volume that would allow people to chat over a drink. Fortunately the drummer in this band uses an electronic kit, so we can turn the drums down! Still it is really weird playing at such a low volume, we couldn’t get any energy into the first set. Also a very small stage, so I had to stand right up against the BF One10 I used, with a Warwick Gnome running with the master hardly on at all. Everything DI into the hall’s tiny Yamaha Stage Pass PA (8” speakers I think). I couldn’t get close enough to my monitor because of where the lead guitarist had to stand, so I couldn’t hear myself, or the rhythm guitarist most of the evening. Fortunately, for the second set the dancing faction among the punters got their way and we were able to turn up a bit. Our energy levels went up and they repaid us by dancing for most of the set. Women of a certain age are great in an audience: they just want to have some fun and they don’t give a toss what anybody thinks of their dancing😀. We were doing this for free but it turned out that somebody had passed round a bucket (not to throw up into) and people had been pretty generous with their donations. It easily covered fuel costs and a couple of drinks each for the four of us. After the gig, the rhythm guitarist/vocalist, who is suffering with tinnitus, said it was really great playing at that stage volume and we should do it all the time 😱! We are now considering a wireless IEM system. Any advice/experience gratefully received.

Rare Sunday afternoon gig yesterday marked a return to gigging for us lot after a 4 week lay off. City centre pub in Huddersfield, hideous to get to (all the sat navs were defeated with aplomb) and the loading bay was a 20 minute only stay so had to go hunting for near non-existent parking. Once set up the clientele consisted of an old man (with flat cap) and a whippet so the auspices were not good. Nevermind, professional as ever we ventured into the changing room (read - unused kitchen) and got into character. 15 minutes later we emerged into a packed house full of eager punters. 2 great sets ensued. Just goes to show you can never tell.....

Unashamed duo shot. Recorded with the NG last week, sounded IMMENSE.

First gig of 2023 and it was at Ipswich Social Club Played for nearly 3 hrs with many new songs in the set and a good sound Three bookings secured for 2024 so they obviously liked us Ashdown CTM100 head performed amazingly well, great valve tone with 80% of set played using a pick and the rest fingers Very happy with the rig 🤟

Just planning the restring for my 4-string Thumbs: I think that's quite pleasing.

Redonizm were back on The Rock a.k.a. Canvey Island on Saturday night. This time at a new venue for us, a Starr Sports, a sports/pool bar on the seafront. Keen readers may recall our last visit to Canvey ended in a 20 person brawl as we finished our last song. Well this visit was complicated by a murder of a patron of that same venue the night before, and the town centre was cordoned off all day (I believe the cordon is still in place now. I was concerned that we might be playing to an empty bar considering the circumstances, but was quite relieved to see a busy venue, full of people. The gig went well. Plenty of people enjoyed themselves, singing and dancing for most of the evening. I people dance then I’m a happy man. Only issue was a room resonance centred around low G (about 100hz). I was able to notch it out for my personal frfr speaker via my helix (seriously, the global eq in this device is worth the admission price) but there was still the odd boom and rumble from other instruments less able to notch it out, but I don’t think it impacted the audiences enjoyment one iota. Added a couple of tunes since last gig, “Torn” and “Baggy Trousers”. The latter was a particular highlight with our male vocalist playing the sax lines on a kazoo!

You mean, that’s not the correct way? *sidles from room to spend rest of evening restringing basses*

When Jack Casady suggested to Gibson that they reissue the Les Paul Signature Bass, they sent him to Epiphone who went to Peerless in Korea to make the basses for them. Then they took production to China so Peerless brought out their own version. So here we have a Peerless Bassmaster Player, which apart from the headstock and tuners is pretty much identical to the Epi. Really nicely built and sounds great, currently strung with rounds, should I try a set of flats which the seller sent me. Rounds / Flats???

Work in progress EVO-X4 Headless Bass Preamp installed… next step connecting & soldering…

Finally after months of researching, collecting, and planning i finally wired up my board and i couldnt be happier. Thanks everyone for all the tips and ideas. I've always been big into effects, but never had put them all on a pedalboard like this. Also, everything fits neatly into it's case with the pocket on top holding the two expression pedals. Chain is: Polytune 3-> lusithand compresor-> switchblade pro Loop a : pigtronix mothership 2 -> mxr bass octave deluxe -> boss PS2 (for octave up) -> moose electronics custom dual channel od/dist ( the sunhammer)->ripply fall Loop b: dod fx25->future impact-> boss dd3 Midibeam 4connect underneath to run the expression pedal for the FI and the two button footswitch there in the middle. I have a countryman DI strapped underneath as well. Expression pedals for future impact and pigtronix. Everything outputs into a boss RC-20 Thanks to the BC members who sold me kit for this and a special thanks to whoever it is that used the embossed labeller for the power supply. I think thats a great idea.

Madness. I've owned a fair few Fenders (and Squiers) and as much as I love them, I've always struggled to understand how a simple, passive mass produced instrument that is basically a result of cookie-cutter production techniques can be so expensive, especially when you compare their US models to something like a Shuker, ACG, etc, where you can have a custom built bass for not much more dosh than what Fender charge for their top end instruments.

So had a little sort out dropped a few pedals and added a few back in have a second blooper on the way from damnation. This setup runs the sub all the time, out of my stage bug and I’ve set it up to have the main out from my origin bass rig but the gt1000 runs another amp sim line out aswell for extra options

If only they had thought to put a pickup guard on it to hide the shoddy alignment... ... it probably would have ended up like this:

My first ever warwick has arrived. To give a short brief - ive always been a flats/p bass type player but always been in love with the tone Leigh Foxx got live with Blondie playing a spector ns-2. I was lucky enough to pick up a Spector Euro some time back but couldnt bond with the neck. I love that sleek curved glossy black body tho so when this came up well within budget i jumped at it. Definitely needs gold hardware but loving the feel and sound of it! My warwick cherry is popped 👍

Fender have finally managed slacking behind sufficiently to undertake Gibson in the race to the bottom of the big corporate business low quality racing lane. Now if they could only crack the code of how to design their headstocks to snap off at one wrong look they would truly become untouchable. Absolute minimum quality for absolute maximum prices here we come! Every capitalist's wet dream. Hell's the limit for how low we can go from here!

Played at the wonderful Harrogate Royal hall last night. Capacity crowd of around 950 in a beautiful room, probably the most impressive theatre we regularly do. Had a good soundcheck but once the show started there were some sound issues for us onstage, which our new engineer did a great job of battling with and eventually winning! This may explain my rather serious face in the pic below - the booming was around a 'C', and you've guessed it, plenty of the stuff we do is in that key! The other picture shows a guy who came to our Sheffield gig the week before - he's a professional Ringo act from Detroit called Michael, and he's seen here chatting with our guitarist Jan after the show.

Lobster savages this - hope Fender listen

I always ever used my Ampeg svp pro preamp into the fx return of any other amp when we gigged with shared kit. other bassists were happy I didn’t change their settings, I was happy I didn’t have to.

Last night I ran the Le Bass preamp in to the Orange effects return and it sounded so much better than running it in to the front end of the Orange. Maybe what I really need is just a power amp rather than a bass amp

Definitely a matter of taste and they do need learning more than an old fashioned rig. I don't think a warning is needed against something that isn't claimed. It's clearly not an amplifier. If anything most people think of the modellers as a multi-fx and that is wrong too. And it will sound like an amp and cab that is mic'd up. With many bands moving to In Ear Monitors the people on stage are only hearing a mic'd up sound anyway. I don't think it is any more difficult than using other kit that was designed this century. PC plug-ins / DAW / Tablet controlled PA systems etc. But it still needs a bit of time I swapped to Helix very soon after launch - so about 6 years ago. I use it for almost everything live guitar and bass, sometimes live vocals. The only gig I don't use it for is my jazz big band because we don't have a PA at all. 20+ trumpets, trombones, saxophones, clarinets, etc etc + drums and an electric piano is very loud without needing a PA. I take a head and cab for that. But everything else is helix - it's also my recording interface and my day-to-day sound card. I don't even own a guitar amp anymore and in the past I was the guy that always bought a JCM800 or a Mesa Dual Rec even for a 50 person Tuesday night gig! I think it's amazing but that doesn't mean it's the right thing for everyone. The main bits of advice I can give for people struggling with it are: 1: Design your sounds at full gig volume. The stuff that sounds great in the house will sound like crap at gig volume mixed with other instruments. Have a rehearsal specifically for getting that right. 2: The HPF and LPF controls are often where the magic is found. They remove the flub and the fizz. 3: Professional FOH engineers who work in a lot in a location will keep records, or if the kit is modern enough, save their basic settings for a specific venue as a starting point. All the new generation modellers have more than enough memory slots to save venue specific patches. When you take a Marshall from the 250 person pub gig into a 1000 person hall you don't use the same settings so you can't expect that from any modeller either. But unlike the Marshall, if you play at that venue a lot, you can save a template for that venue to make soundcheck far easier next time. I love standing in front of a big amp with a big cab. It's a great feeling. But some amazing cabs that retail at £1000 or more can be bought for peanuts on ebay because the world has moved on. Everything goes in the PA, IEM keep the stage volume down, and the FOH guy can make a far better mix when he hasn't got to deal with mic spill and unwanted feedback. It might not be as rock n roll as it used to be, but the audience get a far better sound than ever before. Our hearing might last a bit longer too.

They will price themselves out of things - we're not made of money and we're becoming ever more aware of that fact.

Everything got rather put on one side for a while but I've removed the screws, filled the holes, and I've just been sanding everything down and rounding the corners over somewhat. I have just bought a palm router (for anyone who's looking for one, the highly recommended Makita is available from Alan Wadkins for £60 plus postage - https://www.alanwadkinstoolstore.co.uk/power-tools-c17/routers-c22/makita-rt0700cx4-router-trimmer-110v-or-240v-p24171) but I want to practice with it before destroying any painstakingly constructed object so the rest of the rounding will also be by hand. A bit of sanding of filler required round the battens on the back too.

Better pic showing the colour now I have the plastic off the pickguard. Also added a Hipshot that I had lying around.

Before you go crazy trying to get the backing paper off copper or Ali tape, hold tape between finger and thumb with a corner sticking out then flick corner back and forward with finger nail. The backing at the corner will soon release. It is all in the fingers, slap will not work. And aluminium does not solder, so don't try. Never had a conductivity problem with overlapped tape. And avoid that black conductive paint, you see it on some guitars, presumably it is cheaper and quicker than tape but if you get it on the body it's hard to remove.

Small pub gig for The White Line at The Bluebell in Jesmond. It was a little weird for me, they've only really just started putting bands on so it was the first time I've ever played there but it was a student hangout for 3 years straight. I feel like I know every millimeter of the place. Gig was solid, we played well and were asked back but I felt a little bit of apathy from the crowd to be honest, plenty of people singing along and such but just really sitting in their seats and not really getting involved. Thanks much to the three drunk ladies who at least danced for the encore. "Could have been a jukebox", the occasional curse of the pub band. At this point a rig shot seems redundant but it seems to be expected. The only thing that's changed in the past 3 years or so is that my venerable Samsung SMT800 stopped charging properly after the last gig, so this gig was the first with my brand new Amazon Fire HD10 to control the mixer and it performed flawlessly. Bass was my 2007 EBMM Ray 4, Shure GLXD, HX Stomp. Vocals were a sore throat, Prodipe TT1 Pro, K&M 25600. Foldback was a QSC K12.2 with a lot of vocals and a small amount of bass, high passed at the same 120Hz we do our tops at. Post gig pizza was pepperoni from On The Go Pizza. Is that enough? Can I go now?

If you ever find yourself in conversation with anyone from this self-elected priesthood, turn and run 🏃

Why get a lower end Harley Benton at a 100£ that's boringly absolutely perfect, when you can get this unique abstract piece of art with a genuine Fender logo on for just 12 times its price, that's right just 1200£ of thrilling imperfection!

I have not played Sadowsky Japan, but have an opportunity last week to have new German MetroLine Sadowsky series in my studio, so I made an comparison to Fender Performer PJ. Here it is.

Played the Flying Horse, Rochdale last night. Good place to play but the parking & load in is harder than usual because the square it's on is closed for refurb. So park and lug round the corner it is. Singer had messaged about sore throat/general illness earlier in the day so didn't know what to expect, but she loaded up on sudafed and powered through. I put my Ibanez sms1005 through an Ashdown RM 500 and TKS 212. This has been a pretty consistent rig for a while and I'm really happy with it. Standard February gig, a bit quiet at the start, but full of appreciative dancers and singers by the end. Had to catch a falling speaker hit by a drunken dancer during Rio, then put the bass down to re-set it and administer a mild telling off to the gent in question. Rest of the band carried on and we barely missed a beat as I joined back in. This is the last year for this band, so I also had the bittersweet task of turning down some folk wanting to book us. As band years are like dog years, our 12 yr run with the same line up has been pretty good. Got a tiny bit of phone footage from the singer's dad. too. Good job, as I completely forgot to take any pics. VID-20230205-WA0000.mp4

Maybe they bought the bass on a whim but felt slightly disappointed with it once it arrives. So they changed stuff in the hope that it will somehow feel better - new pickguard, strings etc... but still not bond with it so move it on at a huge loss. I've never once done this myself, of course. Well, maybe once. OK, lots of times.

Just be sure that the shielding material is bonded to signal ground at the output jack, otherwise it can make things worse.

Year of the Cat - Al Stewart

You guys are like a couple of dectectives - the pic I put up was of the bass before I changed the pickups - this is what it looks like now!

@SamPlaysBass There's always the option of getting another identical 4x10 instead of the 2x10. Personally I would look at that because you get the 8x10 but in a modular format which would be easier to move and use.

Charlie’s Enormous Mouth - Frank Zappa