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Not going to be often that my crew get invited to play a wedding at the Shard - so definitely one for us to remember. Logistically it was one of the most tricky we've had to negotiate: moving kit from the loading bay, which we needed to pre-book slots for the two cars, then going off to park in a nearby car park while a member of staff plus one bandmate moved all the kit from lift 1 to lift 2 and then from lift 2 to outside the wedding reception room on the 34th floor. Then doing all that in reverse at the end of the night! The view was worth it though 😊

For my birthday my brother got me a set of six excellent enamel badges in the shape of basses. All executed accurately: Ricken*****r Precision Jazz Yamaha BB Musicman Thunderbird The individual boxes are little flight cases! "Geepins"

Last week, I played my first ever show on bass guitar with my new band Wooed. Background: I’ve been ‘playing’ bass for a few years (just mucking around playing my favourite bass riffs when I get the odd minute) but only started to take it seriously when Covid kicked off. In 2022, a couple of long-term friends expressed an interest in forming a band, and we all love the same music (rock/punk-‘adjacent’) so booked the local rehearsal room and muddled our way through some of our favourite covers. It’s only in the last 6/7 months that we’ve managed to write some originals. I like to think we’re a mix of Brutus and The War on Drugs – that’s the sound we’re aiming for, anyway. We were the first band on a lineup of some great up-and-coming punk/hardcore bands (Out of Love, Tripsun, Buds) at a venue called The Vaults in Portsmouth. They’ve all either toured with bands I love (Scowl, Angel Dust, Static Dress) or are playing some pretty big festivals in the coming year (Buds are playing 2000 Trees for example, and they were on straight after us). So felt pretty chuffed that our little band, with only a 4-track demo to our name, was able to open the show. The show was also free entry, so we knew there would be a decent crowd. Definitely feel very privileged in that respect, as a lot of bands’ first shows are played to a crowd of 5 people, so the whole band and I were bang up for it. That being said, it was still my very first time playing bass in front of a crowd (same with the drummer), so I was nervous as anything. We had rehearsed the set quite a few times over so wasn’t too worried about the playing itself, but more about how we sounded in front of others and whether we’d sound as tight as we do in the rehearsal room. We’re also not quite as fast-paced or as frenetic as the other three bands on the bill, so the chances of us going down well were mixed. None of the other bands wanted to soundcheck so we arrived at the venue and had to set up the drums/amps etc for our soundcheck. The backline was provided but there was an issue with the bass head, so had to DI straight to the PA. Not a great start as I’d have liked to have felt the air from the bass amp, but these things happen. Soundcheck sounded good, so we basically launched straight into the set. I was standing right next to the drums – the stage was very small so couldn’t move – so popped in the ear protectors and away we went. Straight away, I could barely hear anything through the monitors. I just assumed it was the ear protectors dampening the sound a bit, and our first song is our heaviest, so maybe I was lost in the mix a bit. Second song starts…nope it’s definitely the monitor. This carries on for the rest of the set, but didn’t hear any complaints from the crowd and no-one told me if I was quiet, so it must have sounded good out front. I should have asked for more bass in the monitor, regardless of how uncool it sounds on the mic - definite learning opportunity for me, there. We also only had 20 minutes, so we had to rocket through our 4 tracks. I think we came in about 22-23 minutes, as we have some tuning time between the 2nd and 3rd songs. The tuning was a good minute or two, and unfortunately this made some slightly uncomfortable dead time, so I wish I had a) spoke on the mic for a bit just to engage the crowd, or b) at least smashed on the reverb + delay and created some ambience for that moment. Another big learning opportunity that only presents itself when you actually play the show, so I’m kind of grateful that it happened, as I know what to do for next time. Another small thing is that I was insanely sweaty from the word go 😰 so I’m definitely packing a towel for those moments in between tracks. That being said, I enjoyed the show and we had a lot of compliments afterwards, so we’ve already reached out to a few more promoters. Really buzzing to have been on such an awesome show, and more importantly to have ripped off the first show ‘bandaid’.

Odd one yesterday. Not sure what it was exactly possibly three of us tired from the previous nights travels to see Barock Project & Tiger Moth Tails @ Trading Boundaries (both great but I digress). Early evening gig (16:30-19:00) at a venue that has had some difficulties in recent months with management changes & the regulars falling out with one of the interim managers, but hopefully that is starting to be behind them now. For our part a lot of silly mistakes, cues missed wrong songs started, but it ended up a good early evening gig despite it all. Sound wise (and I suppose don't trust sound quality of punters phone videos!) I was told "don't get any louder after the break as it's right on the verge". Sound from a punter video in front of me was OK. The bass sounded nice but was getting marginal for level against guitars & vox - my excuse being I have IEM's so have to trust the sound guy & others to let me know. Then again from a different punter the other side of the bar everything sounded a bit indistinct, and I am trusting that that was down to a phone's mic shutting everything down. Band Christmas dinner this week then one more before the vocalist disappears to sunnier climes over the holidays.

THIS WEDNESDAY Thanksgiving Eve Maple Road Rockfield Music & Media Rockfield WI We start at 7:00 BYOB Don’t forget to bring your favorite beverage! Daryl

Do you know, if you misread that as banana, it conjours up a whole different scenario...

I collected the head last night and it's a big unit, much bigger than I envisioned. It's a wide version of the ABM EVO III 500 head, but the seller told me that the sleeve had been damaged so he contacted Ashdown who said they no longer made replacements for this particular model, so it's housed in an ABM EVO IV 900 sleeve instead, hence the sizeable gap at the bottom. It doesn't bother me, certainly not for £170; it all works fine and sounds good and is in excellent nick. ABM EVO II 300 C110 for scale:

Jaco only needed 18kW

Mine made an appearance at the Bass Bash; I've still got to spend some quality time with the programmable gadgetry on there, though.

Warmoth PJ body Fender American neck and tuners Fender highmass bridge EMGx PJ set Dunlop straplox

I did a related boo-boo once, when I'd just gone to uni. I was deep in my Goth phase (well, I still am, a bit...) and was walking through the town centre one night when I walked slap bang into someone I hadn't seen because I was wearing my sunglasses. Hastily I apologised, but got no response. I apologised again and removed my sunglasses, only to find out that I was apologising to a lamp-post.

Sorry, I'm a folk musician so all I can do is sing a song about how great the old boiler was.

One huge advantage over a bass. By law, this one comes with a full-set up

Forgot to mention…..driving back down the M1 from last Saturdays gig I was increasingly aware that my night vision was rubbish. I thought to myself, well the hearing is on the way out so why would I be surprised about the eyesight. It was only when I took a close look in the rear view mirror that I noticed I’d still got my ‘gigging sunglasses’ on. My normal specs were in the gig gear in the boot so had to suffer the affliction for the remainder of the motorway bit. Definitely losing it….

This is superb - great song with a sublime bassline. It sounds like a late '70s Jazz to me - have been chasing this tone for a while.

The Smiths, Simply Red. Mind you, I couldn't stand them in the first place.

Gary Glitter Lost Prophets Bay City Rollers

Mine too Dave, loved the cartoons in it, The Three Musketeers and The Arabian Nights Size of an elephant

It has just arrived. It was easy to fit and the adjustments aren't as fiddly as I expected. I've put on a set of Ernie Ball 40-95 cobalt flats so I need to set the truss rod before adjusting the bridge, but my initial impression is good, and I don't think the bridge looks out of place.

Yep, been there. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing though! Definitely an argument for taking a second instrument with you to minimise downtime (yes, this site is just full of enablers - enabling one to be a lot poorer for certain) or an opportunity to work on your audience engagement. That's always a good opportunity to introduce the band members, or talk about what song is coming up. Well done on getting out there and having fun, more power to you!

And in some crazy moment of synchronicity, this popped up...

What does it weigh?

The reason there are no truly digital amps where our needs are concerned is a speaker can't make use of a digital signal. Many amps have some type of A/D conversion of the input signal, which is amplified by pulse wave modulation that requires low pass filtering before the speaker can make use of it. That makes them quasi-digital. AFAIK PWM amps were called Class D because when invented in the 1950s it was the next available letter in the alphabet.

I spent 4 hrs today with another bassist who has also recently started down the road of Kemper Profiling and between us we profiled, tested and compared a variety of permutations. I came to the conclusion that yes I probably don't care much for these sims/IRs/profiles et al. and it pretty much renders my original question as pointless! LOL

Its in triplicate so that everyone in the band gets a copy Dave

Most parts are original, the only parts changed are: 1. Body 2. Neck 3. Bridge 4. Tuners 5. Electrics 6. Pickups 7. Knobs Strings are original and may need upgrading. Rob

There is, but the term is very loosely applied to amps that aren't fully digital, like Class D. Maybe they're TC watts. 😄

Maybe if enough of us gang up on GuitarGuitar, we can persuade them to start importing that SQOE headless. Apropos of nothing, is it pronounced 'Squee'? It is now. SQUEEEEEEE!!!

Tears Of A Clown — Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

Have you tried PMing Blue instead of having passive/aggressive jibes in a completely unrelated thread? Might be worth a shot, if it bothers you that much.

I think I`ll be first in to recommend the Fender Rumble combos - the 100 watt version is only 9.97 kg so I`d check these out, they`re not too expensive (£300ish), sound great and I`m sure your back will be forever thanking you.

My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small

Uptown top ranking Althea and donna

Ok this is where we are. I am pretty happy with the blackened yew. Looking forward to applying some finish to see the grain pop. This is one coat of stain. I will probably do another.

It says the power supply is 32v 5A. That's 160 watts. I very much doubt that it operates at close to 200% efficiency. 🤥

I see the copper piping to get rid of any unwanted noise - nice touch. And the white will fade to a lovely cream after a few years. Maybe swap out the white control cover for tort?

Sandberg California TM 4

Looks like a great and effective way to get rid of your GAS. I bet it's a pain to lug to gigs though, and at 46dB you'd need at least a couple!

...that's right, a gas boiler. To think of the basses I could have bought instead, but I guess warmth is OK. Luckily I had some savings so we could have the old system replaced entirely, which was on its last legs. It would be good if some of you could say some nice things about it

Aww that's a shame - we have the same issue with one of the rehearsal venues we use: the owner is both flabbergasted at how light & good a Barefaced cab compared to the "fridges" he has on site and simultaneously not being prepared to allow anyone to put bass through the PA - only just about tolerates keys! Hope you manage to bring your drummer round eventually - as you say lots of us are going through the PA these days often without backline support.

Brothelly Love ～ Olivia Newton John