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I've definitely been quieter on the gig front recently because we are concentrating on finishing our album, but yesterday we were out at my local pub in Aldbourne for a very nice outdoors gig. All acoustic, all gothic and it saw me playing bass, mandolin, mandocello, tenor banjo, bodhran and even singing some lead lines. We found out the day before the Aldbourne Brass band were doing a concert as we finished so a decision was made to start earlier. A decent turn out and as our set continued, a very elderly audience started showing up for the Brass band. They positioned their deckchairs facing away from us whilst we played to a packed beer garden. I was then approached afterwards about playing some local festivals. Apparently he loved us but all the Brass band fans had been complaining that we played "miserable music". I might use that on some promo! Generally we were well received and played well. Nick had been struggling with his voice but thankfully he did a brilliant job. We did a fair few new songs and they all went down brilliantly. I must say that I do find 2 hours playing as a duo to be very hard work. I'm shattered today!

Last two shows of our debut 'Bootleg Rock Show feat. Leather & Lace' Tour this past weekend.... and what gigs they were! Portsmouth New Theatre Royal and Shrewsbury Theatre Severn's Walker Theatre..... both 3/4 full and amazing audience responses so a wonderful way to finish out the tour. I managed to take 15 of my Spectors (& one Hamer) out on this tour for different shows....It was lovely to get to play so many of them out live and I received many compliments from discerning audience members (as well as delight from our regular touring soundman). 😎 Audience and venue reactions mean that we will do another short run towards the end of this year and then another proper tour next year as well as hopefully a visit to Holland & Belgium too! Very proud of my bandmates and our crew....whodathunk after playing for 40 years I'd still be out there and having more fun/doing better gigs than ever? Don't Stop Believing indeed....

Emergency Exit punk gig in The Cave in Paisley last night 6-9pm. Great wee gig with a very enthusiastic audience including a rather young looking girl who danced almost every song. Not sure if this link from Facebook will work. Dave http://www.facebook.com/jackie.mills.9889/videos/218513660945121/

First gig for the new band, Dirty Roses (rock covers). It was also one guitarist's first gig. Not perfect, but we got plenty of compliments and the audience stayed to the end. First real outing for the GR Bass AT800 Cube combo. It was also the first outing for the singer/guitarist's Les Paul that he won in a competition a couple of months ago, and for my Ibanez EHB1265MS/Aguilar. Had some problems with the power supply on my pedalboard so had to just go wired. The only real pink torpedo-up was the encore - our last number in the set is Sweet Child O' Mine, which we play downtuned a semitone. The other guitarist does that on his Variax by simply turning a knob. However, he forgot to turn it back for the encore, Angels, so as soon as I came in there was a horrible discordant clash, unlike the horrible discordant clashes I normally do. He quickly realised and sorted it out, and it didn't stop everybody singing along.

Under The Castle festival near Bolsover. We were the "headline" for Friday night but that just meant we were on at 10:30pm and everyone was too drunk, tired and cold. Apparently this festival was SOLD OUT but I reckon we played to 100ish people. Still, worth doing and I had fun. The highlight was a fan who's been coming to see us for years. He grabbed me early on, way before our set, and insisted on introducing me to his friends. He was ranting on about how he first saw us playing tiny little gigs and now we're "massive". Very amusing as I looked around the festival counting the number of punters

Rig for my two gigs this weekend. It'll upset the OCD folk.

I'll post this, but dunno why. This is pretty much what I've used at every gig for the last eight years 😄

To once again reiterate a point that has been made many times before, paypal Friends and Family is the same as stuffing some tenners in an envelope and posting it to someone. If someone is your friend or your family, or equivalent and you are sure of the address they are using, then fine, use it if you trust them 100% or you don't care about the money, but otherwise don't. And if someone insists on you using it, run a mile. Also thanks to the members that flagged these posts up as dodgy.

Something like this..? A bit more detail would be best. Radius of curved corners..? Diameter of screw holes..? Colour required, and how many..? Urgent or not so much..? Douglas

Hi Richard, I'm in Somerset and have this Fender Rumble 100 2x10, it's covered in that fluffy stuff which is a bit tatty, but it all works fine. If you can arrange and pay for a courier to pick it up it's yours.

I forgot to mention that Mrs Zero informed me that one young lady had been jiggling along to us so enthusiastically that she jiggled out of the top of her dress. Mrs Zero was also rather surprised that I'd missed it. Must stop looking at the fretboard so much. Sorry, there is no photographic evidence.

Weird gig at The Gunner's Club in Sunderland. Turns out it's not just a name and they take the 'gunners' bit very seriously. This was not the place for a stray acab joke, that's for sure. The pictures were all taken during either set up or soundcheck, it absolutely filled up as soon as we started the first song and everyone came upstairs from the bar below. All in all a good gig, and when the free pint was drunk the next one was £2.90, ahhhhhh social clubs.

Played a couple of gigs with my brother in law at the Leith Jazz & Blues Festival in Edinburgh yesterday. I've played on and off with him since the 90s but only a couple of times in last couple of years. His usual guys weren't available so he asked me and a drummer he knew from about 40 years ago to do the gigs. For a thrown together band we did okay, the crowd had fun and the manager of the second bar we played in, who'd obviously made a mint in bar takings from his bursting at the seams bar, offered us twice the agreed fee at the end of the gig (my brother in law refused due to some reason I couldn't understand).

York Grand Opera House last night. Another of my favourite gigs! Beautiful day in this great city, with Pride festival making it extra busy. Combined with the Derby and the Cup final, plenty of folk enjoying the sun and the beer along the riverside area near the theatre. The gig went really well, another capacity crowd well up for a good night. Our sound guy Paul did well with the old fashioned theatre’s acoustics and the band played great (although I had to take over the lead vocals on ‘Roll over Beethoven’ to give our singer Andy a break). Home by 11.30pm too, result! All in all a great weekend of gigs, and a lot of happy punters.

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. 😊

love them! i justbordered a 9m in blue. i really wanted in white but it was sold out. got this fella https://www.thomann.de/ie/kirlin_premium_coil_cable_9m_blue.htm

This is the Basschat thread with Recommended Amp Techs. I don't know how current it is but it might be worth posting a query there.

Great little theatre in Wimborne, with the added benefit that the average age of the audience when we played there in February made the band feel young (and we're no spring chickens)! Good to see @King Tut playing bass in a band with my old housemate's dad...!

Welcome aboard, Richard. At £10 you should be able to get your money back just by selling the control knobs. In terms of paying someone to get it working, a beat-up combo can easily become a money pit. Don't go down that road unless you have someone you trust who will give you an honest assessment before you get started.

Me with bass: Me with small dog:

I used my Elf with BF Two10 on Friday and Saturday just gone. The amp was on from around 10am til 6pm each day, albeit only used for sound check and 5 sets within each of those times. It was in direct sunlight most of the time and didn’t break a sweat. Marvellous. Gain and Vol both around 50%, which sat perfectly in the mix, I’d set the gain a little lower than usual to make sure I wasn’t pushing the preamp into its overdriven section when I got carried away 🤓

Yes that makes sense if you have space for the preamp and battery in your Squier. I'd expect the build quality on these is in a similar league. The 4 knob VTC on the control option, that I fitted isn't solderless though that must be an older model you're looking at. Having been a long time Fender P and Jazz fan I love Sadowsky basses for the reasons you mention, plus the light weight controls and neck feel I suspect the introduction of the ME series is a cunning plan as a gateway drug to the Metroline and NYC models !

Pipped at the no: 1 slot by Robbie Williams that Xmas …… story….Gordon called for the band to appear with him, we had our live equipment, we set up, played through the song and did a first ‘run’. The producer lady thanked us and said ‘that was great, it’s in the can’! Aside she mentioned she loved having live music played on the show……..meanwhile a Spice girl was having repeated attempts to get her song sorted out, backing tapes not being the problem, it was the dancers not getting their steps right 🤣🤣🤣

I'm in a no hit wonder band, if that helps?

Brightness Falls ～ Fripp/Sylvian

I must have posted this before, but the surroundings looked so nice, here it is again. Ampeg PF350 & Barefaced Two10. Job done. Gig with a new drummist and a stand-in guitarist. Kept us all on our toes, I tell thee.

Dear diary, today I received the nicest compliment from a FoH: "We kept you on mute in the front because it was loud enough from the stage". Not a tiny bit angry, rather delighted. AWESOME! 🤘Meanwhile, the guitarist: "Turn up the volume." 🤣 Huge kudos to Quilter! I had bought an EBS Reidmar 752 especially for this purpose, which can safely deliver 2 ohms. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the most important speaker cable: Speakon to jack. The Reidmar has no combo jack, only Speakon. (A real shame if you ask me!) The Ampegs again only have a jack. This drives me crazy... Anyway, I got the little Quilter BB800 out of the car, rumored to be capable of 2 ohms, contrary to official claims. The result: it delivered! ❤️🤘

My band 'Shreds.' had our show at The Fulford Arms on Sunday of last week (sorry, I've been busy and didn't manage to post this until now!). My family also came to York and listened to the show, but before the soundcheck we went around the city and made a short family trip out of it. The venue in York was really great, one of the best we've played so far. Ample parking right out back, great 'backstage' rooms upstairs for the bands complete with a stocked fridge and we were told to help ourselves. The sound guy was super easygoing and helpful. We record all of our shows live and sometimes this can cause complications (some sound guys consider this a very unwelcome intrusion/disruption and huff and puff about it). I bring some mics, my laptop running Reaper, and a 4U rack with 24 digital preamp channels and a transformer-isolated XLR splitter. We record guitar and bass using DI only, and then I re-amp and mix everything when I get back home. The Fulford Arms sound guy helped patch things into my splitter and didn't complain about it. This was only our 6th show,. but probably the best performance yet. The last few shows we've been saying the same thing... "best show yet!". As a band, we learn so much by listening to our show recordings... I give the drummer isolated tracks and he studies them. Sometimes ad-lib comments or lyrics by our vocalist sound great, and we can deliberately insert them into the next show. As a bassist, I hear every mistake and try to fix it the next time around.

We finished off our Northern trilogy with gigs in Bridlington and York. The Bridlington gig was at The Spa theatre, a full house and a glorious day. Fairly local gig for me, so home by midnight, with a full moon lighting the way.

We played the Alice's Wicked Tea Party festival last night. There's scant information about this online, but it's an independent event held in a big field located equidistant between Corfe Castle and Wareham in Dorset. The site has two barns about 20m apart, each with a full stage set up; while one stage is busy, the other is setting up. The barns are both draped in camo and parachute silks. Line checks only and finger's crossed. We had an incredible sound guy, who said he were the best band of the weekend (so far...). Fantastic PA system in both barns. 45 minute set, I'd say 175-200 people in for us. Very appreciative and responsive. Took my Lull and Darkglass kit. Post-DI. Tone was nice and gnarly. My wife was out front and she said we were a firm 8/10. (I've dragged her along to enough gigs and if we were sh*t, she wouldn't hesitate in saying so.) Two hour drive home. Nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.

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!

@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.

If I didn't use my expensive basses at gigs there would be no point in having them.

No. For me the whole point of practicing is so that I can play the songs at a gig. Therefore I use the bass I'm going to be playing on stage. Otherwise IMO it's not practicing, it's just noodling. Edit: in the days when I only had two quite different 5-string basses - one which my main bass and one which was a spare in case I broke a string at a gig, I would try and do a rehearsal every month where I only played the spare bass, just to make sure I play all the songs properly on it, and I hadn't written a bass line that was only playable on my main bass.

Because it's actually quicker, cheaper and easier to print it. You have to get appropriate plastic sheet, cut it neatly, cut holes in that are in the exact place to the right diameter, taper them for a counter sunk screw and then make two of them. I designed all of that in F360 in 10 mins and it'll take 90 mins to print even at a high resolution. If @TheGreek wants another one or two, or three or 99, I just print them off. It's the future I can do a nice tapered finish so the inside of the ring is perhaps 2.2mm tapering down to 1.8mm at the outside. Thats another two mins of design. Rob

I've only had 1 bass that needed the neck off / loosened to adjust the rod. So I sold it. Such a terrible design. If I ever own another and it is a keeper then I'll be routing out a channel in the body under the scratchplate so the neck doesn't have to be loosened.

I like this pic of me with my Zoot Funkmeister P5/32 from Buckle and Boots 😊

For solid state amps the cabinet impedance must be equal or greater to the minimum impedance marked on the amplifier's speaker output sockets. For valve amps with multiple speaker outputs marked with different impedance values the cabinet MUST be of the same impedance as the output it is connected to.

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