Leaderboard

The lead singer in my band really puts me in my place and constantly tells me I'm in the wrong. Mind you. It's probably my own fault for marrying her.

Nice return gig to Camelon Labour Club in Falkirk tonight. Sold Out twice now. Dancing all night from the first song. Audience were so much into what we were doing. Just a great feeling and privilege to play for them. Great night. Using my Sandberg VM4 into my Ampeg SVT7 Pro and Mesa 210/115 cabs. Dave

About 3 years back, I fancied a Sting Ray, but didn't want to pay what they go for. I looked around and read reviews and the G&L Kiloton came up as a possible poor man's Ray. So I went out and bought the Tribute/Indonesian version (which uses the same pickup/wiring as the US versions and was favourably reviewed). The shop where I bought it only had a little combo to try it with, so I attributed the fact that it sounded like a J bass with only the bridge pickup working to that. When I got it home and tried it through proper gear, it was the same. Middly, nasal and no great weight to the sound. So it went in the cupboard to be forgotten about until recently. I dug it out and thought I might as well sell it as it wasn't being used, but I worried that it would be unlikely to have much appeal with the feeble sound. I wondered whether there might have been a broken wire or one of the pots wasn't working right. So I found a wiring diagram online, took it apart and guess what. The pickup selector switch was incorrectly wired. It must have been done wrong at the factory because I bought it brand new. Don't they test things before shipping them? Apparently not. Broke out the soldering iron and switched a couple of wires on the selector switch over and blimey. It rattles the windows. Very pleasing.

12 months ago I became really ill. We started the band from scratch and we're pretty good over the 6 years /4-6 gigs a month. The last year has been a nightmare for me being in an out of hospital and the band folding, the guitarist got fed up along with one of the vocalists. I'm in a much better place now and would love to get back on stage again, after playing gigs for over 45 years l can't get my head around messing around at home. I'm also single, retired and live alone so miss the interaction very much. Need to get back on the bike in more ways than one. My issues were sciatica and alcohol abuse, sciatica cleared up and not a drop consumed since. Feel great and raring to go. I'll probably drop by the depression thread at some point and explain a little more 🙃

I did a rehearse

Played a support slot for Dr Feelgood at the Adrian Flux Waterfront, Norwich. It is a long way for us to travel - especially me - and not a particularly good payer but the promoter, Stephen 'Foz' Foster, asked us especially and, as he puts a lot of gigs our way, we couldn't say no. I believe it has been a music venue for a while but there has been some recent redevelopment of some old buildings along the river there, a fancy new footbridge over the river to a sparkling new cinema and eateries complex. Anyhoo. It is a very good venue. Downstairs is the big hall that will hold 700: we were in the studio upstairs that will hold 200. In the event, 150 tickets were sold so the place felt full. Dedicated parking, through a few chicanes and double doors, gear in the lift to the room. Nice stage. The Feelgood boys had long set up and gone, leaving us about 2 sq ft each in which to set up. As it turned out that was fine. Set up and sound checked in about 30 mins, which was good. Sound man was great, knew exactly what he was doing. Drummer and I headed off over the water for a Nandos, got back about 10 mins before kickoff. We were given a great introduction from Foz and off we went. Absolutely brilliant, everyone was with us from the first bar. A room full of people who had come to hear some good old fashioned RnB and thgat's what they got from us as a prelude to the Feelgoods. Really enjoyable and we went down really well - went over time to play an encore. Sold some CDs, too, and hopefully picked up some new followers. My SG continues to impress. Because of the long drive home we left just a few songs into the Dr Feelgood set. I had driven up to the guitarist's place in Ipswich and he drove us to Norwich. On the return leg he took a wrong turn and added 20 mins getting lost. Then, for final leg of me driving from Ipswich to home, A12 was shut, adding another 20 mins. Over 3 hrs in total 😒 So, travelling wasn't good. not much money. Would I do it again? You bet Obligatory pic, courtesy of Foz.

the last time I stuck a pic on here it was my first ever pedalboard… similar but changed PB -> C4 -> Omnicomp -> irn Bru barbershop clone -> Aeon Lab series/mood L4 preamp -> bass boost chorus -> shallow water clone -> colourbox got at least one more build on the go so it’s not a final layout, which the odd placement of the c4 switcher makes clear! New: the L4 preamp- this thing is fun, two channels and then a limiter. If I had to describe it’s more like switching between a couple of amp models on a hx stomp than most drive/preamps I’ve tried, there is a complexity to the sound that is quite nice. Drive sounds just feel good too, will see how it does in a mix tomorrow. off the board: Vong filter pedal - not sure I need it. JohnK mini XO - crossover drive/distortion thing, similar to a greedtone overdrive - but with crossover to preserve lows below xo point… sounds great …for types of music I don’t play!! Frog F2B - gremlins and noise I need to sort out. Should have built the particle accelerator instead. Need to fix and work out if it was the valve that was microphonic or my wiring!! thoughts I Should have taken a punt on the anadime bass chorus that was up for sale a month or so ago to try against the bass boost chorus and sell the one I didn’t like - grass greener syndrome I think. shallow water growing on me. It’s subtle but good.

Please do. It's genuinely been a life saver for some of us. It always helps to know that you're not alone and other people are in the same boat. I've found through this forum that the support of strangers can be a really powerful thing.

Mains tester plug.

The fundamental of the E is 41 Hz, but we don't hear just fundamentals, we also hear harmonics. They actually are most of what we hear, so electric bass cabs generally start rolling off their response around 60Hz. One reason why bass can be overpowering through large PA systems is the subs go a lot lower than bass cabs, so it takes a well trained hand in the FOH to get it right. Good engineers know enough to high pass the bass channel at 60Hz or higher. The best engineers tend to be bass players themselves.

Jerry Barnes getting a bit overslaptastic for me , but good stuff nevertheless.

I've been in a couple of bands where the dynamic changes and instead of us all being The Band, the singer somehow believes we have become His Band and starts treating the rest of us like minions. That's the time to go. Yet most other times, absolutely no issues at all. Clearly it is nothing to do with ability, just a state of mind. Case in point - I was in a band with a guy who is a genuinely fantastic singer and front man, the best I have ever had the pleasure of playing with, and he is the nicest fellow - team player, got time to help technophobes like me, helps with load in/out etc. @hiram.k.hackenbacker is in bands with him and would say the same I am sure. Funny old world.

A sturdy plastic transparent crate. I never turn up to a gig without two of everything. I can see everything is in there (and replace if not). It looks professional and is easy to store and I can put my wallet, keys, and phone it it.

Right now - the Isley Brothers

Right…10am rehearsal, off I go 🫣

Span is the key. My benchmark is to not have more than an 8 inch/20cm un-braced span.

My two Stingrays. On the right a 1977 which I actually sold 40 years ago in a fit of pique, not long after my then wife-to-be had paid a local jeweller to engrave my name onto the battery plate. Aside from my own regret she has never quite forgiven me for selling it so we’ve been looking for this guitar ever since! Well, we found it in late August this year, battery plate still intact, and I bought it back. On the left is an Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray Classic that I bought in 2014 as the colour and appointments reminded me a lot of my original bass. So now I have them both. 🙂

I made an executive decision... We are going firey orange with a hint of gold pearl. Looks like Fender's Torino Red in the picture but it's definitely orange!

Thanks all, I ended up going with the Hofner. It just felt right when I tried it out this afternoon.

...cue story about Charlie not being Mick's "drummer"...

https://www.daddario.com/products/accessories/care-maintenance-tools/restring-tools/pro-winder-bass/

Sue Ryder, Unicef, Cats Protection etc. I always hit the charity shops when looking for something like this. I recently got a Samsonite holdall for leads etc for £5.

Thanks! Hope someone on here may be interested as it’s a lovely band of decent people to work with. I’m actually going down the ‘semi-retirement’ route, continuing playing in my acoustic duo with my best mate doing local (ish) gigs, as well as (hopefully) the odd dep or two. Will be strange not having a regular ‘electric’ gig, first time in decades!

You'll be more than welcome to have a bash on one of my basses there. (No, it's not a double-entendre!)

I have a few instances of lead singer syndrome . Probabky the one which stood out most ; 4 of us form a new band from scratch through an ad . None of us knew the other etc I had to up my game from basic hobbyist to regular gigging semi pro ( amateur ?) . Drummer was the easiest and most straightforward to ger on with . Guitarist was the band leader ,who often gave me a hard time . Fair enough , I was lacking confidence and faced up to everything while improving albeit very slowly .. However, the singer who was half Irish and half American and quite well off , was full of 'all the talk, but not the walk' . He used to be full of a multitude of ideas , PowerPoint presentations and trying to organise everything with military precision. He even had a fender guitar which he kept under his bed , as ' jimi Hendrix was the best player ever' . I had my Les Dawson moments , but he just could not play it and we all felt sorry for him. He was a lovely bloke , but didn't seem to understand the reality of real life, and why I used to get up at 5am to work . Yes really. He was Harvard educated . He had all these ideas, but he kept saying ," sorry can't make it as I have to go over to Belfast urgently " / Sorry got to shoot off to Boston " . We were all getting frustrated , but wanted to keep pushing for the first eventual gig to see what's what . When we actually did the first gig at the Grey Horse in Kingston , the drummer arrived late and started moaning to the sound guy about the PA . I smoothed that over somehow . Me and the guitarist despite him wondering if I'd be any good , were level headed. The singer on the other hand , was so out of sync with everything and was very nervous rushing everything like Peter o 'Sullivan. Sweating and sometimes stammering , he was shall we say ..poor 😮‍💨🙂 The guitarist said I held it all together . When we had our next rehearsal , singer told us he had to go away again . Drummer quit by email. Singer sent an email to us calling guitarist so many unrepeatable names . In the end , the drummer had faith in me and we restructured a better band ..with better singers 🙂 I managed to up my game very soon after me and the drummer gelled 😬

Take your 2 favourites and then make a final decision after your sound check. The one you don’t play can then be your back up.

What matches your outfit?

I recently bought an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup. Passive and comes with all the wiring, all you do is connect the earth with a crimp thing that comes with it. Sounds great in the house but yet to crank it through a loud amp. I realise that it`s not an active pre but I have owned a couple of active P basses in the past and ended up playing them in passive mode as I though it sounded better.

I Can't Stop Talking ～ NoMeansNo

Run Four the Hills - Iron Maiden

Nah, we're in the lower football leagues compared to the astrophotographers. In the US, there are people with $100,000 setups. The latest harmonic mounts (that's a thing), large 8" refractors or 30" reflectors. The cost of the refractors goes up approximately as the cube of the increase in the radius. High end dedicated cooled cameras, computer driven everything. The one thing that the AP people don't prize particularly is vintage stuff. An original 62 bass is highly sought after, a 62 telescope not so much. Some vintage telescopes are sought after, but not to the degree and to the premium that people can charge here for an old bass. And the mounts can cost a lot more than the scopes. A hell of a lot more.... Anyway, back on topic. Just looked at printing the lower left, Even at 30% draft quality, nine hours I may look at splitting this down into an inside and outside .... Decisions, decisions, decisions.... Thanks Rob

Two versions of I Don't Wanna Talk About It (and no, neither are Rod Stewart). First up, the original by Crazy Horse, then a personal favourite, the version by Everything But The Girl.

A nice problem to have I guess.. We have a 1/2 hour slot tonight at a local charity gig, and I'm really struggling to choose a bass to play. *I'll be plugging direct into the PA. *We've keys, drums and the guitarist uses a Strat *There's a mix of 70's rock and slower stuff *Choices are: MIA Precision / MIA Jazz / Ric 4003 / Vintage Hofner 500/1. I like them all in equal measure. I do wonder if a Fender might be better as I'll be coming through the PA? Cheers. It's maybe a silly question, but I'd like to get the sound just right.

Bedsitter - Soft Cell

I have an unopened Laney 10w practice amp that I'll bring.

I use the Ear Peace ones that come in a little red metal tube. They are soft and have changeable inserts for different levels of protection. They’re great. https://www.earpeace.co.uk/products/earplugs

A lot of things go better when you 'slow down', especially sports. If you slow down, you tend to relax, if you're relaxed, there is less tension, which in turn allows you move faster. The same is surely true for playing any instrument.

P bass works for everything. If in doubt, it’s the only choice. I never really believed that statement, until I saw Brand New Heavies live a few years ago. Andrew Levy was struggling to punch through the mix with various super jazz type basses. He glanced across to his tech mid song and said something. Tech comes out with his MIJ P bass….. BOOM……. there’s the sound. He stuck with it for the rest of the gig, much to the delight of the dancing crowd. Honestly….. a lot of people noticed the difference. The Precision bass really is an amazing instrument.

There it is!

Hi, I wrote Fuzzfaced. My sources are many books, personal experience with Fender guitars and, above all, contacts with some Fender former insider and vintage collectors. Reagarding this topic, you'll find always the same list of Japanese serial numbers because all sites cut and copy old list. I checked a lot of instruments and I updated these lists. I personally own a 1992 Japanese Stratrocaster dated with K serial number.

I think all would do well. Personally I would take the precision based on sound characteristics.

The guy that had it for the biggest part of the 40 years played almost 1000 gigs with it and there are some scars as you would expect. But as you say he clearly took good care of the instrument. 👍

In my previous band we referred to it as ‘LSD’, lead singer disease. We got through quite a few singers during my stint, and the pattern was remarkably similar - they started fine ,then gradually became more assertive ( regarding lots of stuff like song choices / rehearsals etc) and then when they felt they weren’t getting enough attention or changing the band enough to suit themselves, resorted to spitting their dummies out before finally resigning. To be fair, they did take a lot of stick which seems a common thing in such scenarios. I think in order to have the bottle to stand at the front and represent the band, you do need a large amount of self belief and this can soon be eroded by some p*ss taking musicians. I’ve also found that in most cases lead singers who also play an instrument are mostly easier to get on with, both musically as well as socially. (Maybe also as a bass player who sings backing vocals I’ve realised how hard it is to do their job?)

My fingers, in association with my ears.