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Swapped out 2x210s for a 410 via @Stofferson today.... Gt150 sounding righteous through it! Roll on rehearsal on Wednesday! ✌️

Two nights at the Capitol Centre in North Bay Ontario again this year where I play bass in a band in a musical that was done like an old time radio drama in a building that housed the first radio station in the city. The show is about the Dionne Quintuplets who were born nearby and is a slightly longer version of the production that ran last year. This year I even had a minor speaking part in front of the curtain just before the show started, I gave a short history of the theatre and explained how radio dramas were done, lots of fun. Not a full house but a good crowd and the show went of with only a few hitches and the band was just about perfect. Unlike last year I also have a couple of solos under dialogue or as song intros and last night I nailed them, looking forward to tonight's show. My Shen SB100 sounded fantastic through the house system, excellent technicians and very good equipment. 😊

Dear lord!, enjoy sir! Was fun chatting gear in Sainsbury's car park. Not as impressive but still beefy!

Decent gig playing the Horn in St Albans as we do four times a year. Bit of a smaller crowd this time but very energetic and up for it. I forgot my iPad stand so had to prop it on the floor and go from memory which was very liberating. Forgot to put in my ear plugs for the second half and have the headache to prove it this morning!

On the off chance that anyone reading this is wondering what SNSSBDTW is supposed to mean, it stands for second new short scale bass day this week. I was enjoying playing my new Squier Mustang bass (bought new on Tuesday) so much that I decided to buy another Mustang yesterday. Back to Oxford PMT and left 30 minutes later with a Fender Player Mustang with P/J pick ups and a lovely natural finish. I haven't set it up yet, but hopefully will be rehearsing with my band tomorrow. I failed to post a picture of Tuesday's acquisition, but to make up for it, here is the one I bought yesterday:

Two days at Epsom Derby, this wonderful set up didn’t miss a beat, unlike the plonker playing the bass 😀

There's also a shell pink one

@Bill Fitzmaurice & @Downunderwonder Electrician here. In the UK, every circuit would be protected by a device ensuring automatic disconnection of supply, at the fuseboard. This will be either a fuse, a miniature circuit breaker, an RCBO or an AFDD. The reason we have fuses in plugs is due to a quirk of history. The Germans bombed the crapp out of us in world war 2 and after it finished a lot of rebuilding was done. Electricity for the masses was a relatively new thing anyway, here in north London, we didn't get a power station until the 1920s and initially, I assume, it would have been the more affluent and the middle classes that got an electricity supply. The usual 20A circuit Bill mentions was, back then a 15A fused 'radial' circuit, using 2.5mm csa copper cable (actually the imperial equivalent of about 2.5mm). Radial circuits are: fuse>socket>socket>socket etc, the 'radial' or round name comes from the cable having the line or live conductor going out to each socket and then a neutral coming back, but both conductors, along with an earthing conductor, are enclosed in the same cable. To save money after the war the 'ring final circuit' was invented (fuse>socket>socket>socket>fuse). This used the same sized cable but then looped back into the fusebox, so there are two cables coming from the fuse, the combined surface area would be about 5mm, which was enough to take 30amps. It became a cheap way of doubling or tripling the capacity for very little extra copper. The trouble with ring final circuits is that there are some inherent safety issues. One such issue, the fact that there could be, potentially 30 amps (or 32amps with modern circuits) passing through sockets connected to leads and appliances that would be fried by 30/32 amps (single sockets in the UK are rated at 13A. Double sockets are also rated at 13A but, anecdotally, can take up to 18-19A before they are put under serious strain). Consequently, plugs are fused. Standard domestic plugs have a 13A fuse at most, though, 3A, 5A, 7A and 10A are common fuses that might also get used. As @BigRedX correctly points out above, the fuse is there to protect the cable, so if a kettle lead can only take 10A, it should have a 10A fuse at most, not 13A. Only three countries in the world have 'Ring final Circuits'. The UK, Ireland and one country in the Middle East. They save money at the expense of safety.

I like this decade best because I can listen to anything easily.

We played at a 40th wedding anniversary last night, conveniently held in the local hall where we rehearse. First half was a bit subdued as there had been a bereavement in the family who were celebrating, (they had asked us to keep the set up-beat regardless) and they had a short 'celebration of life' during our break. The second set was like playing to a different audience - dancing, singing and general running about from the kids (and our singer, who is very good at running around). We must have played the longest version of 'Hey Jude' ever as everyone wanted to sing along at the end. One of those gigs that, in the Great Scheme of Things wouldn't have registered, but was immensely fun to play. P Bass into front of house, with a feed to my little TCE BAM 200 and Warwick 1x12 cab for the drummer, while I was using in ears from the desk.

I got my Caveman Audio BP1 delivered yesterday, a very basic bass preamp, developed by Steen Skrydstrup in Denmark. Read the tech here: - Hi-Z Cable Input - Transformer-balanced gold-plated Neutrik XLR Wireless Input (on one model) - Transformer-balanced gold-plated Neutrik XLR DI - Transformer-balanced gold-plated Amp Out jack - Adjustable Gain and Level - Switchable audio loop - Transformer-balanced Tuner Output - 9VDC output (50 mA) for powering your tuner - Unique RFI protection and Silent Switching - 10 Year Warranty - Road-ready, zinc-plated steel enclosures Easy to use, two pots: gain and level, two stomp buttons for Mute and activate the Effects loop. I tried it in my home studio yesterday and has just one word to say: Wow! What goes in comes out, just better and more of it. This one will never leave... Well, to say more than Wow, it is truly a remarkable piece of gear. Studio grade at your feet. Harshness disappears, everything is more or less "soft and wooly" but with a clarity over the whole tonal spectrum. My plan is to use this preamp with just a compressor and a tuner, for a high end all analog signal chain. Next week I get the pedalboard delivered, a PedalTrain Metro 20. If I should complain about one thing, it is the 9 Volt outlet to power the tuner. It could have been "beefier" than 50 mA so it could power the compressor too, but that's no big deal. I chose the PB1 over the PB1 Compact, since I wanted a unit with REAL power and not the wall wart. I will add a power supply under the Metro too for any effects pedal to use in the loop. Maybe an envelope too... I got the BP1, my cat got the bubble wrap; both are happy...

On behalf of @King Tut - an excellent show by the Verity Bromham Band in Wimborne. Classic rock with a side order of humour, good fun and recommended!

Played the Mustang for a full two hour rehearsal this afternoon with no significant problems. Sat outside a local pub for a post-rehearsal debrief and a couple I know booked us for an autumn beer festival gig as they walked past.

I'd narrow it right down to around 68 - 73. I love music either side of that but for me, everything was at its peak around that time - song writing, recording, production, performance. The absolute peak of modern popular music for me.

Naming instruments? C'mon man Grow up! They are just pieces of wood with strings. In fact I was talking to my bass Gladys about how ridiculous it all is just the other day when I was putting her to bed.

why is it a univeral thing that people who want £15000 for an instrument can't actually take an in focus photo?

That's where my Peter Glaze Signature bass came from - free with my Crackerjack pencil.

If You Love Somebody Septum Free Sting

It wasn't easy, the stage and gear question was 1,5 hour later than is should end and we had to play without soundcheck. I was so could that night, i saw my breath all the time, but all ended up normal.

I’m in an occasional country band which also includes my guitarist mate who forms our acoustic duo. He’s one of those amazing musicians who can use any kit and somehow still make it sound great. Recently he’s started using (and collecting) older Peavey combos, including some of the 70’s / 80’s models which had solid state preamps and valve power stages. They sound amazing, and are what are annoyingly now called a ‘good pedal platform’ - in other words a proper design with a quality clean sound. Our local tech guy loves them too, and reckons they will outlast him! For my (very) occasional guitar dalliances I’ve always preferred an amp that will give me the sound in my head with minimal pedal usage. After parting company with my vintage Marshall 18 watt combo, I now have a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb RI, which is far too good for me. Ace reverb and vibrato means only need to use a boost or overdrive and that’s it, job done.

Hi Smanth. this looks like two questions to me. How do I get a good sound out of a battery powered amp? How do I make best use of the amp sims on my pedal board? Getting the sound out of your pedal board through your Boss Dual Cube is going to be quite compromised. It won't be as flat as a PA speaker but it is hard to think of something commercially available that is battery powered that will. Power is an issue with just 12V to play with a conventional amplifier will only really give 5W, it is possible to bridge the amps (basically using two amps in a push/pull arrangement) to get 20W and there are amps out there that will give you 4x20W commonly used in car stereos. Beyond this you can use switch mode/digital electronics to turn 12V into a higher voltage to give more power. The cheapest way to do this is a car amplifier module as David has suggested. It was what he had in his combo at the SW Bass Bash. It did sound good. Using amp sims means using a flat response speaker to get the best out of them. Typically the sim just mimics the frequency response of the original system so adding a few db of variation from a non flat amp just undoes some of the good work. However don't let the search for perfection be the enemy of the good. Using a non flat bass amp with a sim might mean it doesn't sound exactly like an A****g but if it sounds amazing who cares You talked about the Bass Chat designs Two of them look good and would be great driven by your pedals and David's car amp. The House Jam combo https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/455858-house-jam-micro-cab/ which I designed with the 6" speaker is what I use for portable work with a Warwick Gnome, It's the size but not the shape of a large hand bag. The response is flat from 80Hz-8,000Hz which covers most of a bass guitar but with a bit of bass missing as you'd expect from a tiny speaker. This is it, recorded on a phone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_J8r5QAu3g The other build option would be the 10" lockdown build that Stevie designed. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/445743-basschat-easy-build-lockdown-cab-project/ It's a lot bigger but still an easy one handed carry. The response is a lot flatter than many so called FRFR bass speakers and it's the speaker I use most of all. Both of these would work really well with a 100W car audio amp running off a 12V battery Hope that helps

Very nice! Even better that the pickup has been changed. The stock one in the VS4 passive is not very P bass like. It has too much bass and treble and doesn’t have a lot of the traditional mid range poke that a P should have. It’s the only fault of my Lionel too. But plans are underway.

Taking the Custom Shop out for its first spin tonight. Can't wait.

So I decided to divest myself of some gear I had lying around that I wasn't using. This (surprisingly for me) included my 75 P Bass. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, in fact it was gorgeous. The problem was every time I picked it up I just felt really underwhelmed with it. I changed the strings from rounds to flats and back again but it really wasn't doing it for me sadly. Anyway, long story short, I took it in to see Will at Bass Bros with a few other bits, left with a good wedge of money and made the mistake of turning my head to glance around the shop and my gaze happened to rest on this Masterpiece VS4. After a few plays on it and a lot of (not much really) humming and hawing I decided to buy it. It plays like a dream and feels like an old friend. The ageing is borderline vandalism but for me it works. The pickup was replaced with a Dimarzio (original included) and it just does that P Bass thing in spades. It's light too at around 8lb 4oz and I can't put it down. It matches my other Sandberg too which is nice. I wasn't meant to leave with another bass but these things happen I guess....

Played at Newcastle City Hall last night with my regular rig - GK1001RB into GK Neo410. Got my spare bass out for an airing too - no name P-bass with a Japanese Fender pickup. Sounds just like it should, but need my Precision Lyte for 2 hour gigs.

First of 3 gigs this week for us. Again, one of my favourites last night - Newcastle City Hall, or as it’s now known 02 City Hall. Wonderful venue with great staff, and special for me as have been to many great gigs there in the last few decades. ( One of the crew showed me some of the tickets they’ve had framed, see below. ) We had around 800 people in, and from the massive welcome as we walked onstage they were in good voice. Something about the people in the north which always makes for a memorable gig. We were a touch rusty after a 5 week break but no big c*ck ups, and a great house PA meant the sound was ace. ( band pic at soundcheck ). We have two sold out gigs tonight and tomorrow in Bridlington and York, so hopefully the good northern vibes will continue.

Cheers fella! Thanks for your support!

Pearl white Sterling Ray35HH with roasted neck. Sunburst 5H with (darker) roasted neck

Certainly easy enough to shim it whenever or if ever it becomes an issue. Are you "squeezing" the out of tune notes out of tune ?. I've had this on a guitar with extra skinny strings..

I recall reading somewhere that 6'3" Mike Rutherford's main driving factor behind developing a full-bodied Steinberger bass was one of his then-young children telling him that he looked really stupid playing a cricket bat Steiny.

Probably '76 to '86 for me, and born in '73 so not my teenage years. Just so much great stuff going on. British Punk, second wave of Ska, Mod and Northern Soul revival and the way they all had crossovers. The NY Punk scene centring around CBGB's. The emerging electronic music. New Wave, New Romantics, Post Punk. The beginning of Hip Hop and Rap. NWOBHM, early Thrash, Hair and Glam Metal. Good old early 80's pop music. Styles were changing so fast. Between mid seventies and mid eighties there were huge musical changes. Most mid eighties songs couldn't have even been dreamt of in the mid seventies.

Would I lie on you - Charles and eddie

I gigged my CAR Jazz and it’s a lovely sounding bass It’s close enough to a PBass tone but with added clarity which was my aim Heavier than both my PBass guitars but after a 3hr gig I didn’t notice it. Highly recommend and a good gigging bass

That is certainly a great point in that music has never been so accessible. Plus if it wasn't for YouTube, I wouldn't have discovered half so many bands.

The trouble with painting chrome is that as it's so hard it's difficult to get a good key. It usually ends up chipping and looking worse. Maybe look at vinyl wrap, or indeed any kind of sticky vinyl type tape. Warm the corners to shrink into place. That may well wear over time and possible mark/split over the screws or pole pieces but you can easily replace every once in a while if needed easier/neater than repainting/touching up.

In case anyone is wondering how I sneaked this one past my wife - I took her to the shop with me and she said I should buy it. She's a good one!