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BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam Rock covers gig tonight in a small bowling club in Polmont outside Falkirk. Sold Out tho and what a great wee night it turned out to be. They provided 2 trays of freshly made sandwiches from a shop supplier with water, soft drinks and crisps. Paid at half time too so that was nice and we've been re-booked for start of next year again. Great feedback and lots of dancing and people simply enjoying themselves. Varied age group as well which is always good seeing the different generations enjoy what we do. Sandberg VM4 running flat into Shure Wireless and then Ampeg SVT7 Pro almost flat EQ with just the bass boosted up to about 2 o'clock. Mesa SW210/115 cabs and my EBS Env filter for one song. Quite a quiet gig as we were well down on the amps and just using the smaller 12" QSC vocal PA. I find it difficult getting into a gig when its too quiet. I prefer a bit of volume to take my speakers into "working mode" where they sound a lot better. All in all a good night and well paid for such a small venue on a Fri night. Dave Not sure if this FB link will play. http://www.facebook.com/100008786168497/videos/693312746064498?idorvanity=1143195093294609

New venue (for me anyway) last night - the Harbour Lights in Peterhead. What a different experience compared to the usual "wait a mo while we move the pool table, then you can set up everything" - an actual stage, with a drum riser, house PA and a sound engineer. Guy did a good job too - sound on stage was excellent, lots of monitors and good levels all round achieved with minimal fuss or input from us. The gig itself wasn't super busy, but we had folk up dancing and it picked up in the second half. It's been years since we played in Peterhead (not since pre COVID days) but some of our old regulars came to see us which was really cool. With big PA support my amp had a leisurely time turned up about half way instead of the usual 3/4 ish. Really cool gig, I hope we get asked back to play here.

Good fun last minute dep with Imposter Syndrome last night. Booked for it Wednesday evening. Worked through the proposed set Thursday evening. Flew by the seat of my pants Friday. Got through relatively unscathed with plenty of eye contact and knowing nods. Crowd were happy so any fluffs passed them by😁 A load of songs that’ll be standards for others, but I don’t listen to as a matter of course or have ever really played (Ruby, Dakota, I Predict a Riot, etc.,) but survived. First gig with the new car and its voluminous boot which was nice. Took the small rig (two BF One10’s and Tonehammer 350 with a couple of spare amps) and they disappeared into the recesses with room to spare. The band all use IEM’s so ran a line to mine through the Behringer PM1 and mixed with Mixing Station on my iPad

We played the opening slot at the Charlbury Oktoberfest today - so, now I have a souvenir "glass" with the band's name on it. Unfortunately, the bassist of The Inflatables (also mentioned on the glass) isn't on this forum; apparently they've been playing since 1980 and he was one of the founders.

I don't drink. I hate drunks. (I know, so why play in pubs? ) Friendly or aggressive, makes not a lot of difference, can't stand any of them. Almost by definition there are more drunks at large on NYE than any other night of the year so, speaking personally, I'd need a rather big pay check to play. On a brighter note, my blues rock trio Toredown played our end of the month residency at the Shamrock in Ipswich last night I'd say it was the best night we've had there, totally awesome atmosphere. As guitarist Alan accurately summed up 'We rocked it to the rafters' A12 shut on the return leg with a detour through small roads, got in at 1:45am but still smiling. Next up in 3 weeks, Blues at Barleylands club on a Saturday afternoon. Not been before, should be interesting.

I Want Your Socks ～ George The Greek

Bandeoke in Bristol last night. Wet night, bar staff said they'd been dead for the week - didn't auger well. However we ended up fighting them off with the proverbial soiled stick. The owner is talking about increasing our residency from monthly to fortnightly. I count this as a success.

So I have these two bad boys to compare: On the left is what was a typical AliExpress "Chickenbacker", and on the right is a Rickenbacker 4003 from 2018. The Chickenbacker has been upgraded with Retrovibe pickups, treble mount and knobs. The cheeky Rickenbacker logo printed onto the truss rod cover has also been sanded off. I thought it interesting to compare the two basses, so here's some stats: Rickenbacker Chickenbacker Scale Length 33 1/4" 34" Nut Width 42mm 40mm String Width (nut) 34mm 33mm String Width (bridge) 52mm 55mm Frets 20 22 Body Depth 32mm 43mm Truss Rod Dual Single Ric O Sound Yes No The neck on the Chickenbacker feels chunkier, but not in an unpleasant way. It's just more like a Fender Precision or Musicman Stringray than the Rickenbacker. The bridges on both basses are terrible designs, and I notice that Rickenbacker have recently introduced a more practical design as well as a single truss rod on current production 4003 basses. The worst aspect of the Chickenbacker bridge is that there's no height adjustment for individual strings, and the bar that the saddles sit on is flat so it doesn't allow for the radius of the fretboard. I solved this by having the little metal pieces that sit under the E and G strings ground down. In terms of build quality, the Chickenbacker's only production flaw is a sightly uneven binding at one point on the neck. Meanwhile, the Rickenbacker suffers a common issue - the treble pickup is not straight. This is a common problem, which I assume is left unaddressed because as the bass leaves the factory it has the plastic cover over it, but it becomes an issue if you want to fit a plastic "treble bezel". Sound wise, they are very similar despite the difference in scale length and the treble pickup being closer to the bridge on the Chickenbacker. As for price - the Rickenbacker is around £3,200 to £3,800 if you can find one and this particular Chickenbacker was £320 shipped from China (plus £150 for the Retrovibe upgrades).

Playing bass for 44 years (I'm 60) and I played to my biggest crowd of approx 1200 people this year and to top that I'm involved in negotiations to play bass with a big name next year at an even bigger gig! You're never too old... unless you think you are!

From my experience the 71 Precision that I have came to me with a lot of rust on the hardware, probably been left in a damp enviroment. Anyway I had to make a neck adjustment and found that the truss ros was seized, took it to my luthier who had to remove the fretbaord to install a new rod, the old was was badly rusted so I ended up with a new board and frets which is fine as I got it for a fair price. Looking at this one I would be concerned with the condition of the neck as it appears that some of the finish near the heel looks like damp/mould penetration and not to mention the amount of dings especially as it was only played for a short numner of years. Normal patina is fine but the rust and pitting would put me off, I think a good inspection by someone on here who lives close by would help.

Greatest female vocalist of all time for me. And Teddy Pendergrass just in case you were going to ask.

Here comes the voice of reason. For assorted reasons, swapped out a fair few pickups in my time, irrespective of the maker/cost etc, the end result is that all of them sound more or less the same. All this nonsense about growl, vintage warmth/aggression can be dialled in from your amp/outboard gear. Any nuances from pickup to pickup will be lost in a full-band context anyway. Your listening audience don't give a toot about your pickup choice either! Go with the cheapest or the ones that suit your visual aesthetic. Even better, support small makers, like Josi Warman.

For that money you can have my 1961!

NBD! Just arrived yesterday... there appears to have been a large wave of new Rickenbackers in Matte Black finish that hit the UK recently... This is the first Ric that I've ever owned. A few observations: The fretboard is Caribbean Rosewood, and seems to have a light matte finish(?). The knobs are more 'vintage' style, at least on this 2023 one. The new-style bridge looks great to me, and really fit for purpose. The stock strap-locks are apparently made by Schaller for Ric, so my locking straps snapped right in! It's not very heavy, and to me the neck seems quite thin and slim. The store that I bought it from didn't bother with any kind of setup at all... there is no intonation set, and there is quite a lot of fret buzz at the moment (I'll fix that myself...). The case contained very minimal stuff... a single dual-purpose certificate / warranty paper, together with a plastic bag containing a polishing cloth and some keys (assorted hex + case). No manual! Stickers were removed on the first day. 2BA68974-2101-49B5-B9D2-4B75797BC66D.heic A7B35AB5-D5FF-4642-9BB8-373843478545.heic 25D8F5CE-8623-4944-9A8D-C64B47C838FA.heic 5720CF65-8D1B-447F-920E-EF43D894222F.heic FEAADC73-0D29-4427-B1E6-09BB6AC98887.heic 12E73001-E99E-4C3D-B97F-593F0C7253EA.heic 09D8A5C6-C39E-4E93-A99D-841DF4F45D77.heic 3B6918C4-943B-47CC-AB79-6BD45B7BD41A.heic DA961C3F-2C66-4B6B-A506-2AAA1B481A8D.heic B8748E01-C9AF-4395-B266-944EAFF4DF84.heic

IMO. She was just incredible. No vocal aids. Totaly live . This vid says it all. Just straight up vocal power and control she got from church.

That’s a nice original bass with some mojo. It needs a good clean but what restoration would be appropriate for an instrument like that? Should things like the rusty chrome covers be touched or just left alone?

We had it good in the 80/90’s, lower fences, non legal highs and less advanced capitalism 😂

I just picked up one of these boxes to give the Rick-o-Sound a go... I have two Strategy 888s... one into the 6x10" and the other into the 2x15"? 😂😂

Sounds a bit fancy that , would only lead to more GAS for me , as if it wasn't bad enough with all these gorgeous instruments appearing lately

No Feelings - Sex Pistols

The useless bloke is absolutely not useless, he's working hard to solve problems he's not causing himself and approaching things systematically. Those sound levels are scary if accurate. Female voices aren't usually as loud as male voices and few female singers in my experience have the confidence to pull the mic in closer and really belt it out. Quite apart from which the SM58 has a marked proximity effect which will make her voice sound unnatural as she is singing and instinct will make her push it away. The Laney is rather dull sounding in the crucial mid-range so she won't be getting the detail she needs to pitch and at the mic I suspect the band is more or less at the same level as her voice so turning her up amplifies the mud instead of lifting her out of it. I'm off to a gig in a couple of hours so I'll have a think and get back to you tomorrow. The proper solution for her is definitely in-ears and for the band to turn down but there are a few marginal gains to be had.

Well done, very impressed sir. Huge respect from me. Dave

Underpants — John Foxx

How good new year's gigs are depends very much on what sort of band you are playing. I can imaging that for a typical pub covers band with their typical audience turned up past 11, it has the possibility of being pretty horrendous. I've done one new year's gig. The line up was a goth band, The Terrortones, and Vince Ripper & The Rodent Show who do weird psychobilly-ish sci-fi/horror music complete with back projections some of which are in 3D for which they hand out those old-school red and green glasses. As you can imagine this is about as far from churning out standard covers to out of control drunks as you can get. The gig was absolutely fantastic even if some of more serious goths in the audience were a little taken aback by Mr Venom's antics. Given a similar opportunity I wouldn't hesitate to do NYE again.

Extra points for BLOCKBUSTARZ 🙂

Jesus Christ Pose - Soundgarden

Hi guys, what are you thinking on this , in need of cleaning and maybe some restoration as it’s been in storage for apparently 54 years 😧, what’s it worth and what would be the value once restored https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/david-duggleby-scarborough/catalogue-id-srda10703/lot-0e92cae3-582c-4775-9521-b06600ee80cd

Keep Your Hands to Yourself - The Georgia Satellites

Touch Me I'm Sick - Mudhoney

The thought of having to use a bass with a Fender active circuit makes my teeth itch.

I have to agree. Reverend Thundergun, one of the best-kept secrets in the bass world...passive, pure and potent!

I think that's where its landed Daryl altho there was some discussion that they pay half the fee up front before we would go back but i wouldn't be comfortable playing that venue now. Bad feeling with it. Dave

Decided to go for the safe bet rig for fridays gig. You can't really go wrong with an ABM.

One Way Street - Go West

Jesus Just Left Chicago - ZZ Top

Can't fault Overwater for their service. Chris May once even personally delivered a repaired bass to my house!

Tart The Jam

Buying the right aftermarket pickup for punk is a detailed and time-consuming process, if you wish to be authentic to the spirit of punk and truly seek to honour the forefathers of the genre. Much chin-stroking consideration lies in your path, as it did theirs.

No gigs until 10/7. 😒 Blue

Well I did this. Love it