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Played in Dartford last night. The Orchard Theatre was closed down as a result of defective concrete that was found in the roof in September 2023, and our gig there soon afterwards was cancelled. However, due to amazing work done by Dartford Borough Council and Trafalgar Theatres, they managed to construct a brand new temporary theatre venue close by to The Orchard, which was built and opened for business in late November 2023 as The Orchard West, only 9 weeks later! Absolutely incredible feat, and shows what can be done when people work together. Businesses in the town were worried that they would struggle without the theatre bringing in people, and the council listened and reacted accordingly. It was ready for the Panto season! Anyway, we had around 800 people in ( holds just over a thousand) and it went really well. Great audience and the theatre crew were amazing. A long drive back though, dodging muppets on the M25 and M1 as well as long 50mph speed restrictions for no apparent reason meaning I got home just before 3am. Bit of lunch soon and then am driving up to Scarborough this afternoon for my favourite gig with our acoustic duo. Severe weather warnings in place so crossing everything.

This is my recently acquired ACG Border Revier SS4 (bought here from reggieboomboom). I wasn't going to write about it but I couldn't resist the headline... It's a really superb instrument. I'd never heard of ACG until I saw it advertised, but it reached me at a vulnerable moment. Last year I'd decided to get a small-bodied headless bass with the idea that it would be easy to take places and get out around the house, being so compact. So I picked up an Ibanez Axstar, which was unexpectedly excellent - really good ergonomics, big sound. But I was struggling with the narrow string spacing and skinny neck, and when I saw the ACG I thought 'what the heck...' The ACG is short scale; the neck is chunky but extremely playable. The back is slightly asymmetric, like many ACG necks, which makes a subtle but definite difference. Zero crown so totally flat frets. The fretboard is acrylic-impregnated American Sycamore, with a really lovely and unusual colour and figuring. The body shape gives great access all the way up (not that I spend much time up the dusty end). The body ergonomics are superb - it sits on the lap perfectly, hangs perfectly, feels completely comfortable under the right wrist. The finish is super-smooth. It's a chunky wee monkey - it feels very solid, heavy for its size, but being small, it's still actually quite light, if that makes sense... It has one of ACG's filter-based pre-amps, with a stacked volume / pickup selector then a tone control for each pickup. The tone controls are actually low pass filters, with (as I understand it) a touch of resonance on the frequencies a little lower than the filter level. The sound is superb - fat, punchy, and very versatile with loads of different sounds available. All in all it's an awesome bass, certainly the best quality bass I've ever owned and probably the best I've ever played. I'm also now really sold on small basses. Playing this one makes me wonder what all the extra timber is for on normal basses. Pics are from Reverb from a previous sale.

The year is 2001. 11-year-old me is at the local music shop to buy my very first fretless bass. There are two available. One is a Yamaha RBX270F, basically the fretless version of the RBX170 I started out on, 2 years earlier. The other one is an amber coloured Yamaha TRB 5IIF I instantly fall in love with. Even at my age I immediately feel: this is it. This is the one. I want this bass. But the TRB is over twice as expensive as the RBX and the RBX is also pretty cool (because it’s black, you know how it goes). So I got the RBX. No problem, I’m happy with my bass. Two years later I buy my first fretless Fender bass. The wish for a TRB was still there. I had a fretted one (also amber), I had a defretted version of the TRB I (the one with the slap cut), but never that one. The amber coloured, fretless one. Fast forward to late 2022. I visit Dutch bass player Phaedra Kwant for a second episode of my podcast Basgasten. We chat a bit after the recording, and happen to stumble upon the subject of the fretless TRB. She says “well, I have a fretless amber coloured TRB that I bought from that very shop around that time. And I still have it.” So she gets the bass and hands it to me. And I feel immediately: this is it. The one that got away. So I ask Phaedra to pleeeaaase think of me first should she ever sell it. And then it’s December 2023. I get a text message: “Hey man! How’s life? I’m seriously considering selling the fretless TRB. Are you still sentimentally interested?” And so, this morning, I went to Phaedra’s studio and take home the bass I wanted to take home almost 23 years ago. And it’s still as amazing as it was 23 years ago.

My band 'Shreds.' played ALOFT at 'The Haworth' in Hull last night... this was part of the Hull Punk Festival that is taking place this weekend. The venue room and stage were quite nice, but the drums were situated up on risers to the far left. We were informed ahead of time that amps and cabs would be supplied as part of the backline. I didn't know exactly what gear this would be, so I brought my usual Mesa Strategy 888 and ultimately plugged that into the Mark Bass 4x10" cab on stage (sounded good to me!). Our guitarist usually uses a JCM800, but decided to go with the backline amp which was a combo and seemed to have a single 12" speaker (if even that?). The cabs were mic-ed up and fed back to us as part of the monitor mix. However, the 'monitors' there were smaller than my home stereo speakers... and with the small on-stage guitar amp that was part of the backline I really could not hear guitar at all. While playing we asked the sound guy to turn up guitar in the monitors... he seemed to acknowledge this, but the volume never went up. I had to watch our guitarist and rely on some visual cues. When we finished, our guitarist muttered to me, "Well, it's definitely not a Marshall". We seemed to play well despite the impairment, and even sold two t-shirts and gained a number of additional followers on Facebook. All in all, it was a fun show.

Tonight: Oktagon (it's got a K in it) in Knowle - the posh end of Solihull (it makes Didsbury look like the bronx) with the rock band. The guitarists's missuses joint 40th with a friend. I was a bit dubious as it was a very posh bar in a very posh area, full of yummy mummies and I didn't think we'd be their cup of tea/glass of Prosecco, but the birthday girl has seen us loads of times, so she knew what she was in for. We started at 7 (!), the first set went down OK, the second set went down loads better and the place was rocking by the end. Hooray! Played the Jazz for a change -> small board -> Sansamp -> Markbass CMD121. There was wood-fired pizza for afters. Mmmm. Done by 930, home for 10. It was my first gig with the ACG custom earplugs in... bit weird at first, I felt a bit disconnected and like the band lacked a bit of ooomph. Got used to them after a bit, and found they helped with the BVs as I could hear myself through my headbone. A good night, all things considered.

Not last night but earlier today. Played the new Tyneside Americana and Blues Festival this afternoon with Ten Bob Blind, our female fronted Americana/Country band. The festival was organised over three days with three stages all within a local social club. The festival was really well attended with over 400 attending each day. Lucked out with the provided back line, an Eden World Traveller head and Markbass 2x10 supplied by the PA guy who was also a bass player so I had a lush sound both on stage and FOH. Hopefully this festival will become a regular on the national calendar 🤞

Fun gig, not a huge crowd. I was happy with my playing. We had a lot of cool grooves last night. Daryl

Well, this was a fun project!😁 I fancied a cheap 1x15" to go with my Markbass LMII and Ashdown ABM Mini 15 practice rig, so kept my eyes peeled. I came across what was once a Trace Elliot combo in a very sorry state, but it was only £20, and I do LOVE a project! I trimmed off the section where the amp used to be, flipped it on its side, plugged the old handle routs and speakon hole (installed by the previous owner), and sanded it all up. Painted with Tuff Cab, new corners and handles, painted the grille with satin black Hammerite, and created a new location for the speakon connector. Et Voila! Really pleased with how it's come out, probably cost me about £70 all in. 👌 Just waiting on replacement port rings now, which @SamIAm is kindly 3D printing for me. One original was missing and the other was cracked.

Picked up one of these odd Japanese basses today. Just couldn’t resist it😣. Not totally a barn find as it wasn’t for total peanuts but it was cheap. Cleaned it up restrung and fixed the action. Some marks on the body as you would expect from a 40 year old bass, neck is super clean and bizarrely it works, not even a crackle! Sounds great, lightweight and strangely cool to my eyes. Any info much appreciated. Needs new knobs and it looks like they should be black speed knobs. Bridge a wee bit discoloured and oxidised I think the saddles should be gold so maybe see about replacing but it works. Quite pleased!

Odd one for Glam band this afternoon. Not a gig but a photo shoot. Not something i'm used to but i'll give it a go and see what comes out of it. Dave

Just got in from a Spacewasters gig at Signature Brew in Haggerston, London, first gig with our new guitarist and the singer just doing stand up vox having now dropped guitar. Went really well, one of those gigs without sound check, just plug in and off you go. No errors, very receptive audience and home in time for an Uber kebab and Match of The Day (with Lineker muted of course).

This landed two weeks ago and due to a bout of ill health I'm just getting around to this post. My humble apologies bass brethren, I throw myself to the mercy of the court. p.s. It's a cracker. Rather than re-post Alan's pics please see the web page here: https://acguitars.co.uk/project/0500slg4-32/ I did manage one pic at ead towers though:

Finally got my mitts on a Sandberg Lionel today. This one to be precise. I have to say it was lovely. The neck was smooth and fast, felt like a cross between a P and a J to me. Wasn’t a fan of the active circuit but in passive mode I really enjoyed the tone. I have always been convinced I’d get a maple neck/maple board if I ever had the funds to buy one but the pau ferro board was gorgeous and I expect helped with the warm smooth tone. Certainly gave me some food for thought if I ever get to the point of being able to afford one…

Sorry to see this, but maybe confirms that you are making the right decision at this time. I hope you can still enjoy making music in some way though mate

Just measured, and it seems you are only 97 miles from Overwater HQ. "You're gonna fall lady, an' you're gonna fall hard, when the blues comes callin' with its callin' card." 😂

Why I like this forum - indeed it is my favourite of any of the forums I've ever used - is that we can debate stuff properly. And there's some great stuff above. I thought that the article that @PaulThePlug posted was informed and logical. But I'm not convinced about the article writer's conclusions that, essentially, 'simple shims are a terrible thing'. My take on the writer's conclusions: - Interestingly, the article writer dismisses the adverse tone impact of the simple shim. I don't. I actually think (and find) on a bolt-on, the firmness and completeness of the neck joint does impact the tone. Not a lot, but tangibly so. And you can see on the Wal photo how much area is not in contact at all! (the dark smudges are from the black paint of the body. I checked with the owner, by the way - it was bought from new and the neck has never been off before). But that impact is small and, to many of us, would not be noticeable - I agree with the article writer's, and @Downunderwonder 's view of the physics that says that - as timber does bend and form over time - there is a possibility of creating a set curve in the heel area. But I think that the aspect ratio is such that the force to do that would need to be quite high - and the two things more likely to happen first with that amount of tightening are: -the neck screw threads starting to fail - the shim starting to crush the neck pocket in that area and sink into the pocket floor. Interestingly, there is evidence of some slight sinkage of the shim into the Wal neck pocket, but still leaving a decent amount of effective shimming for the neck angle needs. There is no ski-slope. So my conclusions are slightly different to the article writer's. They are that: - An incorrect neck angle is BAD - A simple shim is OK - An accurate tapered shim is BETTER Two extras to keep the debate going: Interestingly, later Wals (or maybe upper end ones?) have a glued-on tapered shim - some partial length like this below, some full length. This is one I worked on a while back: The other is that - as many of you know, almost all of my builds, electric or bass, are through-necks. Ah, problem solved! Nope I have to create a fall-away in every one of my builds in the frets or fretboard from the neck body joint to the heel end. I have some thoughts why that is - and I think it's related Cue music: DUM DER UM DUM DERRRRRRRRRR

Lick My Love Pump ～ Nigel Tufnel

I used one belt that was already well used. I managed to pull pretty much all the carpet off with brute force, and then sorted a couple of patchy bits with a sharp decorators scraper. The sanding was too remove the old adhesive, which was rock hard but sanded off fine. Hardest bit of sanding was putting the radius on the sides where the amp had been, as those edges were square. I don't have a router so had to free-hand guesstimate a similar radius to the other sides. But it came out okay.

New pedal board to allow me to play my bass and my Novation Bass Station through the same rig. The Tone Hammer Pre is at the end for studio recordings or for when I go direct through the house but it's normally bypassed live and eq is done on the TH500 head.

Decided to pay Peach Guitars Colchester a visit ( appointment only ) to try out a couple of Fender Performer Series PBass Firstly a huge thankyou to Peach, amazing service and a lovely experience The bass is absolutely perfect and a nice step up from a Player Series and more choice of sounds which was my aim. Lovely build quality and will stay all stock as it’s that good

You asked! We delivered! As it happens, shortly after my post, a day or so I guess, the pot got stirred at BGM HQ. We have a new 'digital guy' on board and already things are starting to look so much better. Thumbnails are now a thing, new stings and music are being created and there's a whole bunch of new stuff on the way! I've also taken on the comments in a positive way and, although the two reviews that are on their way now were recorded before this chat, I've been taking a few "lessons" from some public speaking geniuses that I hope will improve my delivery and make my videos more engaging with a better pace. I will keep checking in BassChat, because I do give a sh*t and frankly, we've had a relationship here longer than any romantic one in my life. Jeez, you get less for murder, yahda yahda yahda! Oh and I still need you to share my reviews and posts, positively comment on my BGM videos, please and thank you!

Great service from Ashdown. I contacted them about getting replacement slider caps for my ABM600 & within a week Dave contacted me for my address& a few days later they arrived in the post, with no charge. cannot fault them.

Don’t want to bore people to death with this but I’m genuinely knocked out at what an excellent wee bass this is. I’m not much for tinkering with truss rods etc but got the action down really low and it plays and sounds really great. Cleaned up the saddles and got some speed knobs which look like the originals.

Strange clear bubbling appeared on the headstock one week after purchase, perhaps it didn’t take to rainy Dublin’s "soft days"? Fender UK (or whatever they were then) offered a replacement or £100 credit which, on a £375 purchase, seemed very generous to me... I wonder what became of Eugene and the other fine fellas who worked there, last time I was in Dub, the place was occupied by an artisan cheese shop This has been on the long finger since I sprayed the body back in 2022. It was to salvage a Fender Mexico fretless Jazz bass I bought new in Dublin back in 1998 for a job, played once and was consigned to the gig bag till 2022. I just found the weight and size of the Jazz body cumbersome but always liked the neck. Wasn’t a fan of the lurid metallic aubergine or whatever this colour is, either. But it was cheap and in stock and the session was a week away… The plan was to get a lightweight Precision body, repurpose the neck, bridge pickup, hardware then add a US Precison pickup and thus get a more useable instrument by recycling. The MIM body I'm sure will make a collector of lurid purple basses very happy. Body sourced was a 2 piece alder one from Guitarbuild in the UK that was on sale for a measly £95 delivered. I sealed it then sprayed it with 1K automotive clear that the mobile repairers use as its way less toxic that the 2K version. I cut it with Menzerna fine and then just hand polished with a microfibre cloth as I wanted a more subdued gloss than the mirror shines that are prevalent . Pickups are a Fender US P and Tonerider J: I was hoping to use the MIM bridge from the donor but it was larger than a stock US version for reasons only known to FMIC. The J bridge is more a tonal addition that I use subtly to bring forward the “singing” tonality on a fretless so not really bothered by its provenance. Lovely original 1998 lined fretless Jazz neck, did they use rosewood? Who knows? Who cares? Not me. Stock 250K CTS pots but a mini required for the tone control required due to tight clearance in the cavity. Capacitor is a Russian NOS 0.05 that I have large box of. Setup is Vol/Vol/Master Tone but I have a bass “warmth” control in the spares box ( 5 way rotary with multiple cap values not a “choke” like the Gibson Varitone) so might rewire this later this year with dual concentrics for each pickup and said “warmth” control . Right now it’s needed for an urgent job so “Less is better” as Dieter Rams tells us. Strings are 26 year-old ? gauge Fender flatwounds that it came with in 1998. Should be nicely broken in by now. Bridge/saddles are the original MIM items, polished with Solvol chrome polish. It works fine so keeping it. I hear a lot of stuff about high mass bridges etc, but when I listen to James Jamerson, he sounded ok with a stock Fender bridge so if it’ was good enough for him… Side jack with real Electrosocket/switchcraft components for reliability. My instruments daily go on paying jobs so any snap, crackle and pop is strictly reserved for the cereal bowl. Note remedial work required after brilliant idea of driiling a pilot hole for the Fortsner bit turned out to be not so brilliant. Easy fix though and who looks at the bottom of my bass on a session? 8.75 lbs is not a featherweight compared to my 6.3lb Limba Tele but a vast improvement over the MIM orginal's 13lbs. Action is a little high but will work on that later as I need to source the the 3/16" Allen key these MIMs use so just shimmed with 1 degree shim to get the action a bit lower but this appears much less critical on a fretless from what I can hear. Cosmetically it transports me straight back to my teens in the mid-70s when everything was natural wood. I like the look of wood so might make another fretted one if I can pick up a nice slim Squier CV Jazz neck at reasonable cost. This one would have just a control cavity cover like the Musicman/G&L/CLF control plates. If the G&L version doesn’t fit, it’s easy enough to cut down a stock black Precision pickguard. I rather think the large expanse of wood grain would be quite fetching. That said, it’s already being put to use on a track we’re getting ready for TikTok, cheesey UK garage anyone? So a pleasant afternoons work and a nice inexpensive way repurposing of a closet queen into working instrument and one that brings back happy memories of the the stripped 1970s Fenders I started my session career with, back in the err, 70s’…

Sorry, I'm a copper pervert. There's something I find very satisfying about a shiny, copper lined cavity. Mmm, shiny.

I've shielded a few basses with copper tape but always thought it was rather a crude way of doing things especially if you have to then have to stick insulating tape over the top. I've started using shielding paint, its so quick and easy to apply but only takes a few microns off the space in a crowded control cavity. You need two or three coats but it dries quickly. A meter will confirm it's conductivity and it does work. Just take it over the lip of the cavity to contact the control plate. 👍

That theatre is just a few minutes up the road from me. The land that the temporary theatre sat on was a huge patch of bare earth for years since an old coop was demolished. Quite a feat to get it up and running so quickly

Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis - Tom Waits

Lick My Decals Off, Baby - Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

Lucky with the hardened adhesive! Usual tale of woe is much carpet left intact with adhesive that only comes off with much sacrifice of sanding belts and aggravation.

Some things are possible but they're not practical To give you some idea of what's involved, here are some views of the PCB & connectors Effects loops are often post-EQ (but would be pre-EQ in a bass --> pedalboard --> amp type setup) To insert 2x post-EQ FX loops (1 for 'clean' channel, 1 for 'grit') in the Bass Butler, the most direct way would be to look near the Amp o/p path: both channels end with a Volume control (and may not need buffering at this point), and they are pre cab-sim The 'grit' Vol pot's three connections are top-right in this crop, and the 'clean' Vol pot's 3 connections are bottom-left (helpfully obscured by a capacitor!). Depending on how the control pot is designed into the circuit, you'll probably need to use the Max-level and wiper solder connection of each pot for the Loop Send & Return connections. In this case, for the 'grit' pot, the max-level would be the right-hand of the 3. For the 'clean' pot, the order is swapped L-to-R IF the pot is designed in with the wiper (middle) as output (a fairly common 'Volume Control' type config) that would be the track to break into for the Return connection (the Send connection just being soldered to the max connection of the pot). If the wiper track leads to a capacitor, then the cap can be removed to make the break (and an equivalent replacement soldered inline with the new Return wire), if not, that track will need to be cut (carefully and completely!) Otherwise, you would need to apply the steps in the previous para, swapping Send/Return references to the max and wiper connections of the pot How can you tell which applies? If you were into Electronics, you'd probably check signal levels on the 2 pots with a scope or other test equipment. No test equipment? ...try that earlier para first - if you can plug an FX into your new Loop and it works, stop work immediately, go down the pub and offer up prayers to St Kirchhoff! If it doesn't work, swap the Send & Return wires at the pot, go down the pub, etc. If it still doesn't work ...then you've learnt why some people design & maintain Tech, whilst others just buy and use it 😉 That was the easy bit Ok - 2 FX Send/Return Loops... you either need 4x mono jack sockets, or 2x stereo/TRS sockets. Orange have sized the case to fit fairly compactly round the PCB, leaving space for connectors on the rear side, below the board (from the User/Operational PoV). Looking at the existing connector space, an extra 4 mono jack sockets looks like a no-go - 2 extra TRS jacks? Your call When you've decided where you can fit the Jacks (and still make the mod not look like a Kluge), how easy it going to be to drill the case (after you've removed all the existing electronics - PCB+controls & connectors, to avoid contamination by swarf)? Do you have the necessary tools, or will you have to buy some in? If it doesn't work out - or sound - as you'd hoped, have you just decimated the resale value of the Bass Butler? TL; DR ? Enjoy using your Bass Butler (while you wait for v2 with the extra 2 FX Loops)

Mummy mummy mummy - ABBA

Long time since I've posted on here as I've had my hands full with a new job, new baby and a new puppy, but I was able to finally find a status neck. I made some sleeving out of carbon fibre tube to reduce the tuner hole diameter allowing me to fit some Gotoh GB707 tuners and get it strung to make sure everything aligns right. Made a carbon fibre neckplate and battery cover for the back so everything ties in. This is how it looks now, little bit more work left to do. Need to do a bit of resin work to sort the holes in the back of the headstock and want a thinner battery cover but I love how it looks.

My Girl - Madness

They have a well deserved reputation of being great basses.

This afternoon/evening. Played for a friend's birthday, our biggest stage with this particular band and only the second with laptop backing tracks. My first time running the laptop and one minor hiccup but overall it was a great performance. We are in a good place and really enjoying it 🙂

The year is 2001. 11-year-old me is at the local music shop to buy my very first fretless bass. There are two available. One is a Yamaha RBX270F, basically the fretless version of the RBX170 I started out on, 2 years earlier. The other one is an amber coloured Yamaha TRB 5IIF I instantly fall in love with. Even at my age I immediately feel: this is it. This is the one. I want this bass. But the TRB is over twice as expensive as the RBX and the RBX is also pretty cool (because it’s black, you know how it goes). So I got the RBX. No problem, I’m happy with my bass. Two years later I buy my first fretless Fender bass. The wish for a TRB was still there. I had a fretted one (also amber), I had a defretted version of the TRB I (the one with the slap cut), but never that one. The amber coloured, fretless one. Fast forward to late 2022. I visit Dutch bass player Phaedra Kwant for a second episode of my podcast Basgasten. We chat a bit after the recording, and happen to stumble upon the subject of the fretless TRB. She says “well, I have a fretless amber coloured TRB that I bought from that very shop around that time. And I still have it.” So she gets the bass and hands it to me. And I feel immediately: this is it. The one that got away. So I ask Phaedra to pleeeaaase think of me first should she ever sell it. And then it’s December 2023. I get a text message: “Hey man! How’s life? I’m seriously considering selling the fretless TRB. Are you still sentimentally interested?” And so, this morning, I went to Phaedra’s studio and take home the bass I wanted to take home almost 23 years ago. And it’s still as amazing as it was 23 years ago.

The quietest passive bass I own is the one where I shielded the pickup cavities and the control cavity with copper tape and connected all the shields together with the bridge earth and to the earth lug of the output jack. Not even a badly wired fluorescent light will affect it.