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I'll be the first to admit, I haven't always had the best experiences in Andertons. Even as a seasoned player of many decades, I've often felt patronised when shopping in there. However, they did a really good job for me last week, so credit where it's due. At the start of the week, I bought a Sire P8 five string as a little treat to myself. Bass arrived on Wednesday and it was great, and I mean really great, apart from the fact that the active EQ circuit was intermittent and the A string saddle screws were missing. How the latter issue made it through final QC I have no idea! Anyway, straight on email to them and they said sorry, no problem, we will sort it. I said I could bring the bass back on Friday as I had a gig in Guildford that night, to which they said would I like a refund or to exchange it. I opted for the latter. I arrive on Friday afternoon and they have no less than five Sire five string Ps ready and waiting for me, ranging from the passive P5, two P7s and two P8s. They were all great, but a natural ash P8 was the stand out bass for me, so it was just a straight swap in the end. So, Andertons, well done. Faultless customer service. No ifs or buts, no patronising questions. Thank you.

Last two shows of 2023 happened for Deadlight Dance (admittedly we probably don't look like we get many Xmas bookings on paper). We played The Swan in Wantage on Friday; an electric show with me on bass. The next night we played The Beehive in Swindon; an acoustic show with me on mandocello and mandolin. A mix of originals and a few covers by our influences - Bauhaus, The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, The Cult. Friday saw us gate crash an office Xmas party which saw the dancefloor rammed to our take on Bela Lugosi's Dead (not bad for Oxfordshire in 2023 - and 34yrs this week since Nick and I first played that live at our first ever gig!) and Saturday we were praised for our witty onstage banter - I think we're more Carry On Screaming than The Shining!

Last Sunday jam until January. We had a bunch of old friends dropping by and sitting in. The new Gretsch is proving to be popular.

We're all happy to moan when we receive bad service so it's only right that we give positive feedback when companies get it right. 👍👍 Thumbs up to you sir.

Decent one at the Crumpled Horn in Upminster for us on Saturday. It’s a little cramped for bands, but dropping he backline this year gave us a little more space compared to when we played there last Christmas. Due to the space restrictions, we set up sensibly, in sections rather than bringing everything in all at once, which helped us set up in record time. So we had the luixry of 45mins spare to relax before we started playing. We played well and our super sub Sophie once again dial a great job standing in for Jenny on co-lead vocals. Good crowd from the start who were up for a party and dancing (although there was one bloke who was calling out for mustang sally even before we started. Got the usual “one more song” requests, but we had to stop eventually as we had to pack up and get home before it got to silly o’clock. Next stop, back at the Cow and Telescope in Southend on the 23rd for our last gig of the year.

Two gigs last weekend, first a birthday party in a local pub we haven’t played for years (we haven’t done a pub gig for years!) then a early start for an hour in the centre of town entertaining the local shoppers. First gig was for a fitness/ dance class- they knew how to party and had a fully choreographed routine to Proud Mary which certainly freshened up proceedings. Had a enquiry for a wedding at the end as well, if they can cancel their current band. Sound guy insisted one sub would be more than adequate for both gigs and he proved 100% correct, no amp required. Did find the drummer had modified my in-ear lubricant much to everyone’s amusement.

Depped on bass last night with Dire Streets at Bingley Little Theatre. A longer-than expected journey and sound-check meant there was little time for secondary activities such as eating, but the gig went very well and all the tech worked. As usual though it took me half a set of actual performance to get used to the sonic environment of IEMs.

I might have to hand in my basschat membership card at this rate, as once again no bass was played. After a sudden decision 4 hours before the performanceI I played the bass lines on piano accordion. We did some rock'n'roll classics, T-Rex, etc. It's the closest I've ever got to a genuine Marshall stack... and wasn't plugged in to it

P is a bitsa I assembled from parts in 90s. LaBella LTFs and USA Epic Custom pickup. Fat as a fat thing. Aria Pro is modded with Hipshot Ultralites, 3 band eq (was passive) and an awesome B string. Upright is 1989 German solid top with Duece bridge and Zac Victor piezo. I bought this new. Genz Benz Streamliner 600 amp. The absolute best head I have ever played. All knobs except master at 12 o'clock and suits any room. Ashdown Studio 15 cab converted from combo to just speaker cab, fitted with Eminence Deltalite neo 15".

An EPIC night out at Portsmouth Guildhall last night! His interviewer was none other than his bandmate Alex Lifeson (😲😲).... AND I got to actually meet Geddy beforehand, have a pic with him and get my book signed too! Just wonderful.... 💜🎶😎👍

2nd of our Xmas gigs last night at Methil Ex-Services Club with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band. Another Sold Out gig for us with 170 people in. Looked like a few ladies party nights in plus people down from Dundee to see us too so that was all good fun. All went really well and thoroughly enjoyed it. Have to say its the first time i've ever seen anyone (singer) having to explain how to open a Xmas cracker. I think it was more down to the fact the young lady was well oiled. Xmas songs worked really well and some folks that have seen us a few times said we should leave them in the set thru the year. Feedback was that everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves with a few encores and requests to "just keep playing" 1.5hrs drive each way so not horrendous but gusting sidewinds made it a very focused drive home. Invited back during summer again. No vids or pics yet other than singer's pic of stage after soundcheck. 2 more Xmas gigs next weekend and then a Hogmanay gig to finish. Dave

We just finished our year with two gigs on Thursday and then Saturday night at Bedford Street in Leamington Spa, I played the Squier P for the full 6 hours across the two days and you'll hear no complaints from me at all, it's an excellent sounding bass and such a joy to play. The place was rammed with hardly a place to move and thankfully everyone was in the mood to dance and sing. We've been booked for a further 6 shows in Jan and Feb! Some serious bass face in this photo for you to enjoy!

Well. studio booked for January. i haven’t given up. even though i nearly did

And funnily enough I have just had a follow up email from them checking all is okay.

This is Basschat. Outrageous thread title.

I don't think they open every single box they send out and plug in test things - I'm sure they'd argue that's the job of the factory, and I'd tend to agree. It is unfortunate to receive a faulty item, but that's the risk you take when buying at distance, and how simply/quickly/efficiently it's dealt with is the yardstick I use to determine whether a company's doing good or not, rather than blaming them for something which should never have left the factory.

Nice one. I'd like to also report a good experience with Andertons recently. I ordered one of those Soloking basses and the courier tracking went cold and started saying scary stuff like "DISCREPANCY SCAN". I contacted Andertons and they got back to me within the hour and helped me out by telling me some info we don't see, that it was showing for them as "Misrouted", which helped a lot. The following day they got in touch off their own bat to tell me that DHL had confirmed to them that the bass would be out for delivery that day which shows that they were actively keeping an eye on the situation. That was good of them. Bass arrived ok, just took a scenic route via Edinburgh so it looks like a case of "oops, I put that parcel on the wrong truck/van". So, yes, happy with their customer service, very attentive and proactive. Two thumbs fresh.

Last gig of the year for Fine Lines, playing at our local little Theatre, which also doubles as our rehearsal room and tracking studio. We decided to include "Fairytale of New York" which was only suggested after the last rehearsal, so we had to learn our parts individually. We're an originals band, not a covers one, so we didn't have it in our pocket already. It became quickly evident during soundcheck that some people probably hadn't put in quite as much as they should have done and underestimated how deceptively tricky it is (at least for us!) When we came to play it in anger, as the encore, we had a couple of false starts, but managed to style it out by all blaming the keys player 🤣 Once it got going, it went pretty well and the audience seemed to like it. We added two new numbers, which will be on the next album. They both went ok, despite me having some sort of mental breakdown during the introduction to one of them. I was playing the right notes, even in the right order, but I had a moment where I thought everyone else was playing the other song. I went ampless for this one, as I had enough time to get a monitor mix I was happy, so the trio of Origin pedals, plus the Shure wireless took care of DI duty. I used wireless IEMs for this one, again because I had the time to set it up, so now we're down to just drums and keys using wedges and I'm working on the keys player. Anyway, here's a photo.

A rather last-minute gig for Dirty Roses - the original booking for last night got cancelled as the agency and the pub had both booked a band in, and the pub's booking took precedence. Then on Tuesday we got asked to play at the Old Horse in Lie Sester, and so as not to let our three Christmas songs go to waste, we said yes. A bit of a trek for the guitarists, a bit less so for me and the drummer. Turned out to be a very friendly place, including the outlaw bikers at the back of the room, and larger than we'd expected. Our area was bijou but fitted us nicely (good job there's just the four of us). Not only did we have the bar staff dancing, there was a group of line dancers having their Christmas party and they gave it large for various songs (including, bizarrely, "Should I stay or should I go"). We're hoping to get back in there next year.

Another great ska night at my local social club. Everyone else's turn to do the long drive normally I'm the one with the 2 hour round trip. Utterly lovely sound from the SpectorGenzBarefaced trio of doom, as ever. My send/return stomp has developed a fault, so there's a little job for some point before NYE.

Last gig of the year (and surprise definitely last gig featuring our now former singer) with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Decent crowd, busy with Xmas parties and whatnot so quite a few new faces. Lots of folk up for dancing and had some good fun with them, lots of nods, winks, air guitarring, general nonsense. It petered out a bit towards the end as the parties moved on but the regulars stayed and we had fun with them too! Also Gordon the "guitarist" was in attendance to show us up as usual! Great gig, a much more fitting sendoff for our singer (as the previous gig was a bit on the quiet side). But that's definitely it now - we've been having a rotten time finding a replacement but we've got someone hopefully coming for an audition on Tuesday so fingers crossed! Gear revamp too, which went really well. Pedal reshuffle - I've finally grown up and am using a compressor now, an old Yamaha one that I forgot I had and I have replaced my OD with a Joyo Monomyth which gives me EQ, OD and DI in one box. I'm really enjoying the compressor - this isn't revelatory when written down, but my fingers are still in disbelief at the joy of not having to pluck so damn hard to achieve the same net result. Also with its level control I basically have a master volume at my feet, controls some of my more lively basses before it even gets to the amp. Bass was sounding phat and authorative last night, chunky and tight but not obtrusive or obnoxious. I'm sold. Basses used last night - G&L Tribute LB-100 and Reverend Triad.

What a stupid name! I should clarify - I find the name very amusing because I am the last person who enjoys a bass solo, so to play anything that has "Soloking" on the headstock is ridiculously off the mark! Points for the cheeky, Gibson-esque logo though. Right, now that's out of the way, what have we got? Something which has been heavily inspired by the Fender Roscoe Beck IV - in terms of body shape, pickguard shape and electronics. It's not a full blown rip of it though - the pickups are different, the headstock is different, 21 frets instead of 22, less switching options (no push/pull mids thing and the mini toggles are two way, not three, no detuner). Enough waffle, pics please. So, what to make of all that then? Well I've spent a bit of time with it, but only in headphones and at low practice volumes. There's a lot to like here, especially for £250. If you hadn't told me the price I would have guessed at least £400. There are little touches that I would not expect to find at that price point - Roasted maple neck Sculpted neck heel Better than expected hardware quality - tuners feel good and tune up surprisingly quickly, bridge is decent Strung with D'addario XL strings Pots turn nice and the taper for the volume control is actually useful (tone is a bit all or nothing, but I'm not bothered about that - rarely use the thing) Fit and finish are really good, lovely metallic black with a cream three ply pickguard goes very well together, fretwork is decent with no sharp ends, satin finish on the back of the neck (gloss haters rejoice - I'm not bothered but I know some people are). Soundwise, it's pretty punchy, if a little on the "generic" side - it sounds like... a bass. There's nothing wrong with that, it's very functional and even pleasing, but it doesn't really carve out a voice of its own. You've heard these tones before. The series/single switching makes a useful difference to the tone, single is quite sweet and airy, series beefs up the lows and mids in a satisfying way. I'm not a big fan of bridge pickups as I might have mentioned, but the bridge pickup in series definitely has some useful bark about it and less of that annoying honk that they can exhibit. I'll reserve final judgement on the sound side until I get it in a room with a band. All in all, I'm very impressed. To my eyes at least, this is a damn fine looking instrument, feels great to play, punches way above its weight in terms of VFM. It's so cliché to say it's a steal at £250 but I am left with the slightly naughty frisson of having gotten away with something I shouldn't have. Right, enough of my waffling. Hope you like the pics, and I would definitely recommend this bass to anyone. It would make a fantastic instrument for anyone but in particular would be a stunning intro to bass for a beginner and at £250 it's well within beginner budgets IMO.

I had the classic ‘how’d you get that under your chin?’ from a punter one night in Belfast. I, a bit too forcefully, replied ‘the same way I’m going to get it up your a.s.s. - with a bit of effort’. There was a bit of a stunned silence from the band and bar staff. A few minutes later said punter finishes his pint, puts his coat on and as he’s walking out the door shouts ‘I’m away to get the Vaseline’ 😜

all is well…

An amplifier will be able to provide a certain voltage and a certain current. As a general rule, the power at 4 ohms (or lower) will be limited by the available current and at 8 ohms, the power is limited by the voltage available. For example, 500W into 4R (R is the correct abbreviations for ohms) is, 500/4=125. That is the current squared, so the current is just over 11 amps. At 8R, 250/8=so the current is 5.6 to get the voltage, 8Rx5.6Amps=45V approx. So the power supply is capable of a voltage of approx 45V and 11 amps. That is basically a 495watt power supply. All good. If am amp is 500 watts into 4R and say 300 watts in to 8R, then the power supply can only supply 11 amps. If the power supply has a voltage supply of say 49V, then we achieve the 300 watts into 8R. The amplifier is current limited at 4R, in that the power supply cannot supply any more current. Now, the actual voltages will change depending on the topology of the amps, so please do not criticise the maths. A good old class A/B amp will usually run on symmetrical rails, so will be powered by approx +49V and -49V. Some class D amps using BTL or PBTL topology will work on a single voltage rail, but the same principle applies. The power supply will be a determining factor in the overall power output of the amplifier at different impedances.

1974 - best eBay purchase I’ve ever made. Seller had zero feedback and lived in Germany so everyone else stayed away. For once my naïveté worked in my favour.

I'd tend to agree. If buying from a smaller business (guitar or otherwise) where you might be buying from their open stock then you would hope QC issues would be checked. Buying from warehouse stock you then rely on the manufacturer vs the retailer to do the QC checks. We are absolutely spoilt by the choice and ease of buying we have - but it is always good to get good customer service if things go a bit sideways. Biggest thing is communication, which Andertons seem to have done well this week - next week could be different 😅

Replacement from guitarguitar arrived at the weekend. This one is spot on. The neck and pickup on these really are great. I quite fancy getting one in vintage white now!

https://whamageddon.com/

Great band. Sadly how the brothers ended up hating each other.

The Yeastie's one gig of the year at the work's do when down a storm. New guitarist and singer were amazing. Upgrade in cables and digital mixer ironed out previous sound issues. People up and dancing and wanting more. So chuffed it went well.

Back at the Earl Haig last night with Bluesfire. Front bar for the first time. Got there at 7:15 and it was already busy, thought there must be a band in the concert room... no! Probably just the xmas effect 🤣 Packed in a lot of stuff with lights etc. Sound was great but we had a couple of tech issues... nearly did an instrumental of Susie Q but the mic got sorted half way through. These put me a bit off kilter, and guitarist was tired so I felt we were not up to the standard of our last couple of gigs. But audience was happy, lots of people telling us how much they enjoyed it. Young Alex's other band have just had their layest single on heavy rotation by the BBC (The Rogues) so big things ahead for him, we hope. Icing on the cake, woke up to see this amazing pic by Barry Morris who feeds my rock star delusions.

Final gig of the year for my blues/rock trio Toredown with our monthly residency at The Shamrock in Ipswich. I wasn't feeling great yesterday, at the onset of a major head cold. Went to bed after lunch for a nap and slept for 3 hrs. Left late, got there 30 mins before kick off. That was actually quite nice as everything was set up and the traffic was lighter. Started off playing to a handful of punters, most of whom decided that our brand of music wasn't their thing and cleared off, leaving maybe a dozen souls. Things steadily improved until the place was packed and buzzing for our second set. Adenaline, caffeine and decongestants must have kicked in as I felt OK and, for the first time in a while, didn't play a single note out of place. The other guys were on the money, too - as a band we were pretty much mistake-free all night. We usually stick a slow tune in half way through the second set. Sometimes it works, sometimes it kills the mood. Last night we decided on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and Alan played his socks off to the massive appreciation of the crowd which was hugely gratifying. Ended up playing 2 encores, punters wanted more but 2.5hrs was enough - certainly I was flagging by then. Got packed down really quickly, virtually empty road on the way home with no closures, home by 1am. We continue our residency there into 2024, with 10 gigs booked, plus one or two gigs elsewhere in diary, but it will be interesting to see what else pops up. My head cold has certainly 'blossomed' today so I'm probably going back to bed soon.

Or more accurately, what they're about to do next year... https://sire-usa.com/pages/2024-models Z series - looks like a mashup of a Stingray and a Lakland 44/55-0x to me F series - single cut, Fodera shaped objects? G series - semi hollow confections some extra Vs (Jazz-a-likes) and a full scale U series.

Not normally one to show off a new acquisition, but I thought this was unusual enough to make an exception. About ten years ago I owned an Aria semi-acoustic bass that seems to defy all my Googling to find out much about it. It was apparently a "Tab 66" model according to the receipt I still have, but unfortunately it was stolen from the storage locker I had at a rehearsal studio in Walthamstow. I looked into claiming it on my insurance, but factoring in the excess and potential hit I'd take on my renewal I didn't bother. Cut to this year, and I decided I need another semi-acoustic because ... well, they look as cool as f*ck and the other one I own is very fragile. Since I needed it to be my main bass, I ideally wanted a standard 34" scale and that seems to be a bit of a rarity with semi-acoustics. I eventually got the options down to an Epiphone Jack Casady or another Aria, the Tab Classic. As an incurable goth, it had to be in a black finish, so that was the Jack Casady out of the equation. So this is my new bass: The black model seemed to be permanently out of stock in the UK, so I took a chance on buying it online from a German outfit whose name starts with a "Z". It was shipped super quick, although the post Brexit import tax kerfuffle slowed it down a bit when it reached the UK. Still worked out cheaper then buying the red model from anywhere in the UK that had them in stock. As I've come to expect from buying online, the setup on arrival was completely unplayable. The neck was like a banana, action 10mm at the twelfth fret, and bridge jacked up to the point the bolts where about to pop out of their sockets. A nerve wracking session of truss rod tweaks and bridge adjustments later, and it now plays beautifully. It has the rich, woody sound I associate with a semi-acoustic and is perfectly balanced when played standing with no neck dive. The label inside the body only mentions Japan, but I assume it's actually a Chinese made instrument. The body and neck is Maple, while the fretboard is a laminate made by Knoll that feels like Rosewood. The quality is outstanding, the only thing I can fault it on is slightly sharp fret ends which a couple of strokes with a safe edge file sorted out and were probably down to shrinkage in the wood rather than a quality control issue.

Many years ago I assembled this koa bodied warmoth gecko 6 string fretless, sadly it had to go when times were difficult. Would love to have it back if possible, anyone on here got it?

The arbiter of taste has spoken! This video is invalid!

We do stop the cavalry and "Merry Christmas Everyone" (the shakin stevens one). Not sure really how stop the cavalry is a christmas song but there you go. This year, I got fed up with dragging a keyboard around, now I have put everything on my floor pedals, so I brought a sampler for the cavalry charge intro and bells, worked really well. Would love to play the wizzard one, absolutely hate the slade one! I suppose that the other modern standard would be the mariah carey version.

We did The Darkness "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" for a while, but it's a bit of a left field choice and fun though it is to play it wasn't hitting the required spot like a bit of Slade or Shaky.

I'm sure a lot of people haven't. Also, they did say in the video that they'd only just encountered these basses for the first time. I usually scoff at these sort of claims (seriously sceptical about these so-called "reaction" videos) but I think that true this time. Personally, I prefer if they do a bit of research on the product and tell us authorative stuff about it rather than chin stroking maybes, but hey if I'm not happy then I can always make my own video about it. I'm not going to make my own video.

My stripped down pedalboard for a very claustrophobic gig at the weekend.

I always leave a smidge, and I mean a smidge, above the board.

And there's nothing wrong with that - in the same way that some players prefer a zero fret to be a smidge higher than the other frets. But, from a physics point of view, it is not actually necessary. On these things I always find it helpful to think 'what if I extended the scale from the nut end and added a -1 fret position?' In that event, my playing finger one fret up from the nut - ie, at the 0 fret position - will be holding the string down to the board...exactly as it is at the 1st fret and beyond. The nut groove flush with the board is doing the same thing. But, actually, there is a sound practical reason for opting for cutting the nut/spacer a smidge higher - and that is that the one thing that is VERY bad news is if there is a groove left at the edge of the fretboard from an over-enthusiastic 'one last sweep of the nut file!'.

The stuff of nightmares since I saw this today…

I can't - can I borrow a couple of yours?

Just arrived back home from our final gig of the year from "The globe" in Glossop. Great gig. Sold out, great audience. Main band were on top form as well. Fantastic way to end the year. Right now it's nearly 3am and I'm flipping knackered. Have a good Christmas everyone and a happy new year. Bring on 2024.

Nothin wrong with a Cowboy hat imo