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Thing is (up until this) she might have got home, to work etc and told people that she had the best night ever and that the band were amazing. Just because people aren’t jumping about and waving their arms in the air doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying the show. It’s not the audiences responsibility to perform for the artists.

So following the euphoria of last week's festival appearance, lase night was very much a back to business affair. Getting hot and sweaty to 40 people upstairs at The Pipeline in Brighton. Succinct review from promoter Andy Cavendish (who said he has '500 bands in my Rolodex'). We actually ran out of songs and played our opener again! Spector EuroX/Darkglass AO900 through house Ampeg cab.

I have owned quite a few Jazz basses over the years but have moved over to short scale basses, in the last couple of years. I remember seeing these Japanese made, Junior Collection Jazz Basses and wanting one but I never saw one close enough to go and check it out. Then I saw one in a relatively local store, so went to play it this morning. This short scale Jazzer looks really nice, with it's vintage white (or cream to ordinary folk) body and tort scratchplate. There is nothing flash here and the body has a satin finish. But that all works rather well and happily, when you play it, it is a very nice experience too. It a very comfortable bass, with a good balance. The pickups are decent and sound as you'd expect. They are not the best JB pickups I have heard but they are clear and pretty full, for single-coils. I managed to get all the tones I wanted, with some amp eq-ing and pickup volume balance adjustment. The tone control is very useful too and really helps shaping your desired sound. Overall then, a very well made bass, with no frills, loads of playability and some very useful tones. All for not a lot of cash and made in Japan. Very happy with this.

This Is what I brought home yesterday. Spent several hours cleaning it up, almost ready now. May I present my 1981 factory fretless Yamaha BB2000.

We played the Load of Hay in Watford again last night. We were outside in the beer garden this time, as the weather was glorious. Unfortunately, I had come down with a chest infection the night before and have just started a course of antibiotics. Consequently, I gave up on the backing vocals but I was able to stand and play. The beer garden is quite small but we had an appreciative crowd of about 25; got asked for a few encores and several people complimented us afterwards, which is always nice. Our set up last night

I’m pretty much the same, if the criteria to see bands was leaping about and waving arms in the air then I’d be barred from every venue in the country.

It’s that sense of entitlement that gets me. There’s every chance that target of the tirade is on the spectrum and doesn’t react as you’d expect. It’s plain that these people have never played to ‘staff & walls’ in empty pubs and clubs. So what if one person doesn’t react the way you expect, what about the rest of crowd? If the whole crowd was less than enthusiastic, then they’re not the problem. I despair!

Ah, relatable! my first ‘big bass’ was a Stingray Special 5 in Cruz teal. It got it for my 30th and as the Specials just came out. Loved it to bits, colour was discontinued the next year. Stupidly sold it cause I needed the money, but some dozens of basses later I started looking for it/another one endlessly. Tough task. I managed to track down the bass which is now with someone of this parish - he teased with maybe selling it back to me, I appealed to his kindness and sentimental value but it did not happen as the owner still loved it. I contacted everyone including the BIMM as I have a friend studying there and they had a unit in Cruz Teal too - they wouldn’t sell it to me either. Nonetheless after a year searching I ended up finding a 5HH Cruz teal (2 pickups instead of one) and jumped to buy it from the US and import it into the UK. N Stuff Music had it brand new even if it had been 2-3 years out of production, talk about luck????? even bringing it into the UK with customs etc cost me about £2.4K, same as when they were first introduced here (now crazily priced at 3.2k+…!). Enjoyed it, recorded with it, loved it, but some personal loss last October dragged me to think ‘what’s the point’ and sold it to this forum too. I asked dibs first if the new owner of my second ever 5 Cruz Teal was to ever let it go, and sometime this February I got the call. I’m in a better frame of mind now, I’ve future proofed myself selling other basses and gear to stay low in budget and not need to ever sell it again and even with a new car and private health care etc I am not selling it. Happy ending eh? especially after searching literally all over the world for this:

Hey gang! I'll start by saying I've often been a bass brand snob, but life has taught me there's more than gear that I need money for, and recently I've gone around selling lots of stuff and downsizing. For context, it's been rare to see me buy a bass of less than £1k so this is a nice turn of events - and boy I've been missing out...! Recently I came across a Fender Precision MIM in Lake Placid Blue for £450 that I modded for just some bits and trades and now I have a very very very killer/competent bass with the EMG GZR P for about £520 net... After the cull and sorting money for some projects, wife invited me to 'keep the change and buy yourself something nice' - of course, it was gonna be a bass... I've just ordered it this morning so I'm hoping that forum will help me whilst I spend the week looking out the window - the reward? Pictures and a review of the Sire V5R in Mild Green (2nd Gen). It's in budget and didn't want to wait around or drive to collect etc, £399 free shipped via Thomann. I'm a sucker for pastel colours and even if I already have this on my Stingray, I was more interested in this combo rather than Natural/Sunburst. Having a Stingray and a Precision it made sense to get a Jazz for my 3rd wall hanger, and I'm set to myth bust that 'Sire is as good as MIA Fender / Better than MIM Fender' that I've been hearing for so long . Not expecting a miracle, just something to compliment the tones and playability of the Precision on stage whilst the Stingray covers all the recording ground and nice/safe gigs. I've not seen a lot about this particular bass, but rosewood fingerboard with blocks & bound, alongside passive electronics and roasted neck... Yep, way to go. Again, rosewood is the only board of interest I didn't have as the precision is maple and the stingray is ebony... ...I just wanted to invite folk to share their comments on this bass, positives? negatives? Picture for interest:

This afternoon's gig was at the Ramsden Village Fete. The brief, apparently, was: Start 30 minutes before the end and keep playing until the beer tent has been drained dry. The covered stage area had little protection against sun coming from the sides so it was uncomfortably hot. But, not for long! This is England, and so some wind and heavy rain was along soon enough to fix that problem. Luckily the amps escaped but the drummer and his kit got very wet. The audience seemed to be enjoying the set and they wouldn't have fancied leaving anyway in such weather, and we had fun and got paid.

Pretty good gig for us last night playing in a new pub for the first time. We kind of expected it to be a very quiet affair as it was not advertised (the pub apologised), hot and most were outside but we did have a handful of people listening. Second set was amazing though as everyone came in and just headed down to watch us and were up singing and dancing and the being a typical pub audience 😂 Got to play two encores and the landlady loved it and booked us right away for a date next year. Best for me however was someone coming up to me and asking if I'm a Pino Palladino fan which I replied "I am" which he replied, "I thought so as I could hear it in your playing and some of the lines you were playing" 😎

Neigh, neigh and thrice neigh. 😉

Literally his post is about trying to get into a band

In my last band we - well the lead singer - had an amazing amount of contacts established as much through chatting to people at other bands gigs as chatting to them after our gigs. We were easy to work with, professional in approach and never let anyone down so the contact list grew favourably as a result. If we’d been the same band but prima donnas, always late & cancelling would we have done so much, I doubt it.

Totally this. I’m always told I’m a grumpy looking git, but rarely am in reality. Also have a whole bunch of health conditions which limit what I can and can’t do physically (at gigs and generally in life). Saw Melvins twice last weekend and probably looked similar to the poor lass that got castigated here, but saw two of the best gigs I have in many a year. Proper rubbish way to use your platform.

Always two, there are. No more. No less. A Master and an *apprentice. Mark *backup

I’ve struggled using compressors in the past - I’ve never been able to get them working properly for me, and the most recent one I had was unusable due to the noise floor. However, a recent gig showed that I really need one - we were through the house PA but hadn’t really had the chance to sound check, and when I popped a note in a funk tune it nearly blew everyone’s eardrums. So I resolved to dive back in, and get my hands on one of the ‘high end’ analogue pedals rather than a cheaper digital example. I had my eyes peeled for either a Keeley or a Cali76. I’d been uhmming and ahhing about a couple of the Calis on the classifieds (the size was putting me off as I’d need a whole new pedalboard) when a Keeley Bassist popped up. I snapped it up, and the seller was even good enough to post it next day (unprompted by me!) so I could try it out at my gig the following evening. The gig involved me playing active 5 string, active fretless and amplified double bass, and the Keeley was a revelation. It just tamed my wayward playing and helped any volume issues on the DB too, with no noise issues whatsoever. I am converted!

This evening a covered outdoor... and landlord promises no rain 🙄 .... but will there be a riot when they switch the champions league final off?

I didn't realise it was the audience's job to give the band a good time, I'd somehow got it into my head that it was the other way around. Evidently I've been doing it wrong all these years.

One of the few bands that have something to say that is worth listening to.

Got to be the psychedelic given the band name, I’d keep the rest of the bass standard tho.

Yep we did the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.. Sadly we could not keep the suits, they have apparently gone to a museum somewhere.

Rub it in why dontcha! 😂

Bands should realise that they are the hired help and that the person paying for the ticket is the customer. Doing a few wedding gigs would help solidify that scenario for them.

This question always goes tribal in the end.

My bandmates are all half my age. They make me feel old. Lol 😆 Blue

Just an update. Looks like we’ve raised £215 for Basstardz. I have send him £9.46 and should receive £132.43 soon from Gofundme to sent to him then the rest in 2-4 working days so he’ll have all the dosh next week. Thanks to all who were able to donate or share you truly are awesome people. Ive selected close as I expect it’s all us on here donating and all those who will have by now so I can get the money sooner for him.

So usually I run a pedal board before my amp. I have tuner - comp - oct - drive - phaser - OE super vintage - ABM 600. However as an experiment last night I decided to run clean straight into the amp and now seriously wonder why I have a £1000 worth of pedals when it sounds amazing just on its own! 😢😂

https://maraoliveira.pixieset.com/unsaid/?pid=8969909123&id=7&h=MTUwMTc3OTEwNA

Comfort straps Used with straplocks (now removed) which seems to disagree with the surface shiny layer of leather. Left these looking tatty at the ends particularly inside, but they still function fine. Foam in good shape and really not had that much use. Just sat in the cupboard for a couple of years. 1 Bass Long 1 Bass Extra Long Will post both together (Cheaply) in UK but just when I'm next passing a post office.

The Psycho for sure 👍 In fact I'd get the whole bass painted like it..

I started with modest ambitions. I just wanted to play with others. Responded to adverts in local shops, online, in rehearsal studios. Also went to see a lot of local bands and gradually got to know one or two people in them. Found a couple of guys who were at the same level as me (mucking around for fun). That helped me get my chops. Then found a band in a local rehearsal room that needed bass. Played with them for quite a while - worked really hard learning the songs they wanted to do. But they started doing original stuff - not my bag. Then, through a friend of a friend (always tell your friends what you want in case they know someone who might know someone), landed the bass spot in a regularly gigging band. I went about it the way (being self-employed) I'd developed my business (and took it that seriously) - knowing what I wanted (being able to answer BigRedX's questions above), taking baby steps to get there, building my network and being in places where bands (customers) gathered, until I found one that had what I wanted and which wanted me. Then worked really hard to get up to speed with their setlist and started taking on some of the responsibility for getting gigs, etc. It took me 2-3 years of pretty assiduous application. But by the time I got there I was ready.

Nah, I think its possible to differentiate between bands which say something contentious; and bands which display some overly inflated entitlement/superiority and look down on their audience. We can avoid bland quite easily without the unpleasantness displayed by eg Royal Blood and Sleaford Mods.

We always have 2 basses on stage, with 2 amps/cabs and 2 sets of FX. If we only had one of everything what would our 2nd bass player use?

Hey horse, you WILL drink this water I have led you to.

Another one to add to the list of 'artists' that I didn't like that turned out to also be morons. Morrissey and Bobby Gillespie are high up on that list.

This. Mine was a super pretty bass, but just felt like it had been put together on the cheap, and was very quiet. I regret selling it for personal reasons (it was a present to myself for not dying from covid) but as a working instrument, it wasn’t as good as it looked sadly.

C'mon @Ricky 4000 must be near your neck of the woods?

Exactement!

Just rounding out the journey - here's the Noble on my board. It's early days but I have to say I'm really happy I ordered one. The IEM sound is the best I've ever had and, running into the FX return on my AG700, my amp sound is awesome (to my ears anyway) through my Barefaced cab/s! Bring on the festivals!! Have a good summer all 🙂

I take one for each song. So if the set has 20 songs, I take one bass.

Two. A main one and a spare, unless I need a 3rd (fretless).