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I get this message when I log on: Well, I don't want that to happen. I don't want this website to share any information about my use of this site with your partners. But I'm only offered a button called "Got it!", so I can't deny permission. I'm not sure this is legal in the UK?

Thin Lizzy - Live & Dangerous. Easily better than any of the studio output that contributed songs to the live album.

As mentioned in the site update notice above, I am trialling a partnership with new third party advertiser called Ezoic. This is because BC needs the income and the last couple of years have been pretty bad for the digital marketing industry overall. I've really struggled to get sponsors on board by myself who are interested in display ads. Most of the larger names in the music industry I've spoken to, like Andertons and Reverb, expect us to join affiilate schemes which operate in a way (as a sales channel) that is different to how BC functions best (as a marketing platform). It's like Nike going to Youtube and offering them a commission based on the sales Youtube generates for them. The rate of return on affiliate advertising for us is pretty poor because that's not what we do. So this is a back stop while I wait for things to pick up within the industry or a better way of doing things emerges. Woody the other admin and I have also spent the last four months working through technical issues with Ezoic around cookie management on GC and today was supposed to be the start of a four week trial on BC. Apart from this hiccup, Ezoic have been pretty good to work with, very proactive and sensitive to my concerns about causing disruption and alarm. So to have something unexpected happen like this pop up is pretty disappointing given things were running so smoothly on GC. Now the important bit: The main objective of the advertising trial is to test if we can get more income in by increasing the advertising only to lurkers. That is, people viewing the site who are not signed in. We've gone to quite some lengths, including commissioning a new plug in from Invision, to avoid any increase in exposure to ads for members. We are also removing all exposure to ads for those members who are kind enough to support the site. The only way Ezoic can differentiate between members and supporting members is through cookies. So the plug in we commissioned puts a cookie in your browser cache that tells Ezoic what grade of membership you have. That should tell Ezoic whether to show ads in a browser window or not. Adblock should still work but it shouldn't be necessary if you are signed in. If you are blocking cookies, I can't predict what you will see - I hope the feedback you provide will help us minimise alarm and concerns. If you have any questions about what Ezoic does, feel free to ask them below and I'll either pass them on and report back, or if they're technically complex, I'll invite Ezoic to come on here and answer them directly. Finally: Just a reminder that this is a trial. That means initial testing for four weeks from today. From the first moment I started having discussions with them, I emphasised very strongly the need to establish a good fit with the community and to not cause alarm or concerns. If Ezoic is indeed a good fit and can provide the income needed to support the site then we'd like to keep them on board. If they cause more problems than they solve then...well, the search for an alternative source of income might have to continue.

It appears that you no longer have the right to opt out of cookies under UK law. This changed last year 2022 as part of the Government drive to liberalise the internet. This liberalisation appears to only benefit people who collect data on you. It doesn’t help you. The exception to this is when websites collect information from children. I cannot recall what information is requested on signing up. However since the ICO does absolutely nothing to enforce cookie compliance under UK law, the law is mostly disregarded. It appears that in the UK the inability to opt out is legal. However in the EU, users must explicitly opt in to cookies. The exact opposite of the UK. This means the cookie is illegal for EU users as it gives no ability to use this site without denying non essential cookies. The EU and local states do take personal information and cookies seriously so any complaint might be looked at. I might try and look at the site from a European based VPN and see what it looks like. I’ll also look at what extensions are available to clear and kill cookies. Poisoning the well is the other option. think of it as yet another Brexit dividend. Rob

Got this a week ago and played nothing else since. What a bass!!

Hope it’s okay to share this - no idea if it’s of any interest to anyone here, but I thought it might be worth sharing anyway. The reason I filmed this - and the reason I’m posting this here (mainly for the topic in the first half of the video), is because I think it’s an interesting discussion about using many effects with bass This is just my two cents and thoughts on that, and a few other things. (Thought it was better to just post the video rather than write it out). Feel free to remove if it’s against the rules!

@Kiwi - This new policy is clearly going to alienate a good number of very loyal members. The fact that the cookie notification pop-up is extremely unclear as to how to reject said cookies does bring into discussion the morality of the company you've partnered with. If the pop-up was a typical one where you can simply click 'reject' then I'd have no issues, as I assume few people would. The way this has been set up comes across as dishonest and makes people feel like they are having their privacy violated which is not the Basschat way. I appreciate you're in the unenviable position of balancing this website in all the ways it need balancing, but this isnt going to do the site any favours when some of the most long serving members are going to pack it in because there's no clear and honest way to reject cookies.

I'm out until it stops.

I don't trust anything that will not give me the option to opt out. I don't trust anything that tracks me to "help" me get more targeted content. I value this forum but I will have to consider my ongoing use if there is no option at all to opt out of this.

With every sympathy for what you've said @Kiwi, I am a supporting member and would like to continue to do so as the site is quite important to me. However, I shall make this the last year in which I contribute if this goes on beyond the trial. Sorry, but as a paying member, I do not want to see any third party stuff. I have been tolerant because @ped mentioned that BC was looking to make this possible for paying subscribers. I run a script blocker which prevents Ezoic (and others) from running scripts on my machine. The fact that this is happening despite blocking their script has upset me somewhat. I don't believe that a cookie is the ONLY way to identify paying and non-paying subscribers after sign-in.

That’s jazz!😂

A load of bass players bring a selection of kit, set up in a couple of rooms, chat and discuss, try out other folk's kit, sit down for a presentation or two from a pro, eat cake, drink tea, maybe buy something from the table-top sale, make friends.

I went ampless for my last gig. Space was small and I wanted to check out my "new" EBS Microbass ii pedal. Long story short, I'd prefer my ABM behind me any day of the week, given sufficient space and set up time. You just can't beat the depth of sound and yes, the "heft", an actual amp gives you. Just because you can do something with newer tech doesn't mean it's always better.

About 5 pages ago I mentioned I had a noisy value drive on my new ABM. Thought I would provide an update for anyone who encounters a similar issue. Given I bought it interstate and the Aussie distributor is near me, they looked after me. Wasn't just a value replacement fix. They had to send off for parts from Ashdown, but it still had issues so ended up getting a new Amp. You guys often mention how helpful Ashdown is in the UK, had a similar experience here in Oz with their distributor.

The Police, Action Fraud etc. clearly aren't interested as he's savvy enough to make the frauds small enough not to be worth investigating, and his excuses loaded with just enough credibility to be believable. He also relies on his victims not bothering to expend effort over fairly small amounts. I doubt Suella Braverman's new approach to policing will improve matters, either. He made the mistake of attempting to scam me around 18 months ago, turned nasty (as he does), and I decided then that the easiest way to get back at him was twofold: Just follow him and jump on any misdemeanours using means that will jeopardise his "business", such as the above (he has already been reported to the Fraud line at Companies House and also the Investigations and Enforcement Department of the Insolvency Service), and "The Death Of A Thousand Paper Cuts". This is a technique which is far more enjoyable, allows you to indulge the limits of your creativity, causes him extreme annoyance over a long and sustained period of time, costs next to nothing and is limited only by your imagination.* [* I would like to share more just for sh1ts and giggles, but it would probably be best if I didn't. Let's just say I've successfully made his life a little less comfortable in many, many untraceable ways.]

We're playing an acoustic gig back at The Harley Motor Restaurant this Saturday, 9/2 5:00-8:00. Between Maple Road and our acoustic offering it's been a busy and fun Summer Blue

say no more

@Dad3353 is dead on - this feels very dishonest and scam-ish. Companies that specifically design complex and unobvious processes to effect the outcome they want are not companies I'd expect Basschat to affiliate themselves with. @Kiwi - You have to agree that the massively overly complex way to actually truly 'opt out' of their cookie gathering process is not morally acceptable. Again, if the pop-up (like 80% of cookie pop-ups) simply gave the 'reject all' option, then no one would have any issue. This particular cookie pop-up isn't acceptable and I expect is legally grey as companies have a duty to not purposefully and obviously skirt data gathering permissions.

…and there’s a raffle but mostly it’s a lot of fun chatting about basses, gigging, gear, and trying stuff you might not otherwise get a chance to try. The only downside to a bass bash (or being a member on BC) is the inherent risk of serious GAS 🤣 I went years happy with one bass and one amp…now don’t ask 🤪😳🫣🤣

Yes, but there's also a 'Vendor List' button, which brings up the long, long list of their clients, very many of which have a 'Legitimate Interest' box ticked by default. This 'Legitimate Interest' is a sort of 'Get Out of Jail Free' card for taking info for whatever purpose they deem legitimate; I unchecked them all, which took quite a long time. Several hundred, not '8 or 9'; they're just the visible ones to make one think it's all been covered. It has not; there' a lot of sneaky, hidden stuff that one has to be really motivated to not consent to. It's at the grey borderline of scammy as a method of operating, and I'll have none of it, just because it's so cleverly designed to make it very, very difficult to opt out. It's these methods I object more to than the use of any commercial info I might be giving away. As it happens, my statistics are so 'far out' that they are more 'noise' for any analysis, but it's for the principle of openness and transparency that wrankles. This company has as much contempt from me as I can spare, and severely taints any others using it.

i also strongly agree, never needed them before why now, i dont want you to share ANY of my information no matter how much "it helps." please put the opt out option back up.

Better get all those errant apostrophe's out while the rozzer is off duty then!

Supporting Member here and for feedback, I won't support the site if I can't reject all cookies. I will just stop using it.

Ezoic is what is now used to help BassChat raise money through "intelligent" ad placement for those who don't know. And for the mods, better take a look at Hi-fi Critic, a paper magazine with absolutely no ad at all, which is self paid by the subscriptions. This could also become a reality here with the amount of members, just ask for a fee to have a totally ad free website for subscribers only and it will work for sure. German website www.bassic.de has absolutely no ad for the members when signed in.

Jump up and down, whilst shouting, “RESULT!”

Don't forget the raffle!

Relatively new to my bass journey! So don't feel what I can bring will add much.... I am happy to bring along my Ibanez SR600e, pedal board and headphones - for people who might want to try stuff out in the comfort of just their own ears

Thank you both! Sounds amazing, putting it in the diary now!

...and it costs a tenner.

In a slight deviation from the topic title, nice support for us with Henry Cluney, ex-guitarist of Stiff Little Fingers, hence xSLF. Anyone near Hereford/Gloucester?

I’ve nearly finished - I’ve just added a fantastic Warm Audio passive DI under the board. It was reduced at Gear4music but then I found it for £70 ish at scan.co.uk which is a really good deal.

Fixed Most of the gear available to try would not be available in most shops. Don't think of this as a positive - it just means that your GAS will be for more exotic gear.

This just arrived form Pau, France 🇫🇷 today. 2016 NT5 complete with fretboard protector. 😂 I'm charging it up now... then will give it a go and afterwards change the strings. Previous owner says it has a 135 low-B... that seems like a piece of rope to me!

I'm no tech-head. Today, my time on Basschat has been plagued by unwanted adverts which are impacting on my ability to use the site - sometimes I have unwanted adverts for kak obscuring the actual site. Appalling. Hope to be able to dump Google Generated Garbage as soon as possible. Not even a slightly happy bunny. 😡

Do I get a share of your advertising money for this?

... brilliant stuff. Here's another...

BTW the tenner is just cover the cost of the hall hire, anything over that goes to charity.

Well it’s a Streamer 5 string with an ebony board, everything else can be changed 😄💵

First time I’ve noticed this model, looks good, sounds good on the videos too. Bit pricey though @£1499 Sandberg Florence

OK for a trial period. I shall not log into BC for four weeks; if there is still any sign of this stuff after that period, I'll renounce BC until it goes away. I'm not a paranoid 'they're following me' freak, but this is totally over the limit. If the site needs more money, I'll gladly consider any other means of contributing (modestly...); this kind of 'partnership' is not acceptable to me. I'll be deleting all unwanted cookies when I exit here (I do this regularly anyway...). Thanks for all the hard work and tough decisions involved in keeping BC afloat; back in four week's time. Meanwhile... Have a splendid day. Douglas PS : I'll log in just for the BC Compo Challenge Certificate this evening; next month's Challenge is, however, compromised. 'Sigh...'

As a general rule, I reject all requests for cookie acceptance. 99% of website have an option to decline cookies or to manage them at least. I've not come across a site that simply crudely says 'got it'. There should be an option to reject. If there isn't, personally for me this is a bit of a deal breaker. As a near 20 year member of the various iterations of Basschat, I'd hate to have to abandon ship, but unless I have the option to manage cookies to my preference, then I'll be left with not much option but to leave the site and with it my membership. I expect others will probably do similar, so in an attempt to draw an income to the site you might inadvertently loose a good few paying members... I get you need to balance the books, but not at the cost of selling our data please. I'd be happier paying more towards membership.

Not as bad as I gig I once did with The Meteors who turned up with just a guitar and expected to borrow everything else (including a double bass and all the drum "breakables") from the 3 support bands. They weren't travelling particularly "light" is they also brought a van-load of T-shirts to sell!

That's sleekit. Can't stand that kind of slimy, slopey shouldered, responsibility offloading bollox.

The finances of any given website or forum will generally be so opaque as to be quite impenetrable to the Users, and Basschat is no different to that. All of which said, it's hard to understand how such a thriving and successful Forum, with so many subscribing Members and a busy (and paid for) Marketplace can be running short of money.

My warnings in English I’m also not getting it each time I use Basschat. Given I support Basschat as a subscriber I don’t like that. I would have hoped my payment would have avoided this sort of tracking for us all. Dead easy for next year, I won’t support the site financially. Actions have consequences. Rob

The Police don’t solve any crime, so it’s probably quite hard to get caught - and if you do, you can just try again when you’re released with less punishment than if you dare to drive your taxed and insured vehicle you’ve bought with taxed income, and filled with taxed fuel, past a ‘safety’ camera on a road you’re taxed for - a road which has been 30mph since you were born which is now 20mph based on nothing. Good eh!