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It's been a LONG time since we've gigged... pre-COVID in fact. Babies, job changes, personal circumstances etc. got in the way. But we've never been a band for the purpose of gigging, (as odd as that may sound) we do it because we like writing music and having our weekly practice! It's a great way to let off steam, be idiots for a few hours and have a laugh. Finally however, we decided enough is enough and we should probably do a gig! So we did. It was at Chinnerys in Southend. A reasonable crowd of +100 people and it was good fun! Fully utilised my wireless set up and took to the crowd a number of times! Reckon we've got the lust back for semi-regular gigging. Shame there's so few decent venues in Essex that put on shows for originals bands... Backing for those interested: Band Name: Art Of Rebellion (album 'The Fire Ignites' can be found on Spotify/iTunes etc.) Bass: ACG Salace E-Type 33" 6 String Bass Amp: Epifini UL901 with Bergantino 410 Effects: Line6 Helix Guitar 1: Fender USA Custom Strat and Musicman Pattruci 7 string Guitar Amp 1: Freidman JJ20 with Marshall Vertical 212 Guitar Effects 1: Some boss stuff Guitar 2: ACG/Reiver Custom 7 and Musicman Pattruci 6 Guitar Amp 2: Blackstar Series One with Custom 212 cab (2 Vintage 1970s Goodmans speakers) Guitar Effects 2: Line6 Helix Drums: Mapex 6 piece kit with Sabian AAX Cymbals and Evans skins.

Just one gig this week with The ELO Experience, at the Palace Theatre in Mansfield. Only just over an hour away for me, so almost a ‘local’ gig! Sold out crowd of 530 people, nice old theatre which we’ve not played for a few years. Had a few hiccups- drummer’s IEM’s not on for the intro so I had to guess where the opening chords came! Also had a brain freeze and missed one bit in Mr Blue Sky, which I’ve never done before. A (very) senior moment on the eve of my 66th birthday! Anyway, the rest went well, and as you can see our wonderful lighting guy Rob had some new toys to play with.

Last night's gig came in a couple of weeks ago and was a welcome party for the new landlady at a pub near Bury, Lancs. The place was absolutely heaving when I arrived a little before 8pm. I was a bit dropped on to see the rather tiny space that we had been left to set up in, but I've learned to count to ten, calm down and just get set up on a postage stamp-sized stage before now, so that's what we did. We had a great crowd - but only about a third of the crowd could see us, though everyone could hear us - and it was far too hot, with a rammed pub and punters a couple of feet away - but our set went down really well and we will be back (and we can set up at the other end of the room next time). https://www.facebook.com/reel/1453302941967728

My band 'Shreds.' played our first headliner show last night! We were at Cafe Indie in Scunthorpe. It was our first time playing Scunthorpe, and Cafe Indie was a really great venue. Nice large stage decked out with a lot of new gear and lighting. Apparently there were about 200 people that showed up! The person running sound did an excellent job, and was even super helpful about letting us put our recording rig in-line with their setup (we have 16 transformer-isolated XLR splitters, preamps, laptop and usually record our live sets). We arrived early and set everything up well in advance of the show start time. The other bands were keen to be recorded live, so I hit 'record' for each of those first three sets. When we got up on stage to play last, I tuned my bass and then focused on silently warming up during the precious few moments that I had. Our drummer looked over and indicated "let's go" and off we went. Unfortunately I forgot to hit 'record' for our set! Ha! Oh well... next time I'll be more careful!

First gig of the year for me with the Andy Wales Blues Band at the Flying Circus in Newark. Was looking forward to blowing the dust off. It’s a proper music pub where people come to listen which is ace. Played a right mix of choice covers and originals - proper sweaty loud gig, as it should be. Lots of very positive feedback and I expect we will be back soon.

Had our record release party Thursday night. Great night! Sold out show and sold out merch! Sound guy wasnt great and the lighting guy was more of a "turn off the" lighting guy which was fairly frustrating but all in all a great time.

We have an acoustic gig at The Zeigler Winery Saturday afternoon. An hour 1 way. It's a very nice room. Daryl

Heading out on tour in May and I can't wait! Anyone interested in the St Albans gig, sadly I will be depped as clashes with my holiday 🫤 Would be great to see any of you...!

If I were independently wealthy I'd pay for someone to the setting up/packing up even if we're the local pub.

Hello folks, Paul the Plug suggested that people might be interested to see the two basses I've built over the last few years. I'll start with my four-string fretted bass, as that is the one I documented in more detail. I wasn't a member here back when I made it, but I figure I could post this in installments, like a conventional build diary. Partly to keep things in style and also so I don't have to write a shitload of stuff at once. So, where to begin? I think this all starts with my very first bass, which was a 2002 OLP MM-2. For those who don't remember, these were decent-enough licensed Musicman copies (Sterling back when the "Sterling" was a specific model not a brand) with passive electrics, basswood bodies and maple necks. This picture isn't mine, but it looked exactly like this. At some point around 2004 me and my brother drilled out the body and stuck a Kent Armstrong jazz pickup in at the neck. Later we (well, mostly him if I'm honest) replaced the stock pickup with a Bartolini MMC and crammed a NTBT preamp in there. The picture below shows my brother's sophisticated workshop set up (note the bracelets, because it was 2004 and we were cool). You would be amazed how clean a rout he was able to make freehand with a black and decker + blunt chisel combo. It sounded awesome but it never played particularly well, and that only got worse as I made various ham-fisted attempts at fixing it (attempts that saw most of the frets get filed away). In 2007, I bought a Yamaha BB604 and sent my OLP off on a years-long odyssey that saw it get passed around my social circle. (it only got more stupid stickers over time) Fast forward to 2017, when, after having made two electric mandolins and a guitar, I started giving some thought to making myself a bass. I remembered that my old OLP had a good 300 quids' worth of high quality electrics in it, so I retrieved it from the friend of a friend who had it gathering dust in their attic, poor thing. On getting it back, however, I was surprised to find that it sounded even better than I remembered it sounding. And while I procrastinated on the design of my new bass, I decided to refret it with some stainless wire that I'd bought by mistake for another project and not used. I remembered this as just a stop-gap thing, but looking back through my photos I realize that this frankenstiened, almost 20-year-old OLP – with its blank headstock, tinfoil shielding and its finish marred by the residue of removed stickers – was actually my main bass for like three years. I played quite a few gigs with this thing. Eventually though, I settled on this design, and started buying the wood I needed. Tune in next time for the actual build process (I'd intended to at least start that here, but I got carried away).

Nothing hugely exciting, but something that I've always liked the look of and is in need of a little love. An american S D Curlee. Until it's in my hands I don't know how old but judging by the bridge it's a 76/77. All original apart a possibly painted body, which might be original, with Grover tuners and Dimarzio pickup, in a hard case for £150, I couldn't help it! As said earlier, @Velarian very kindly offered to collect it and package for a courier to help me out, which he did this morning and is hugely appreciated.

You're going to get the odd place that might seem a bit of a challenge at first. We tend not to knock venues back as we have 'a work ethic' of sorts and we are quite fond of getting paid. I think we're on 110 bookings so far this year. I don't think that any of them are at places where the setup is awkward. We had a great night, even under slightly cramped conditions, and our return will see us at the other end of the room, which will be ok.

Was comparing compressors and dialing in the big board sounds on the lttle board. I think i was really able to achieve very close approximations to all my sounds in a much smaller easier transportable footprint by integrating more digital and multi-effects The big board i use for recording. Little for gigs and rehearsal

Some time ago (back in 2023), I bought a Chinese fan-fret bass for the grand total of about £225 - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404181116674. This was shipped with the neck off to keep shipping prices down. I initially screwed the neck on, then decided to use inserts and bolts, and also to replace the preamp which was absolutely dreadful (pots did either nothing or something unexpected, with what appeared to be the volume control having a centre detente). I also decided that the neck could do with a shim. So I finally got round to finishing it a couple of days ago. The body is a rather unconvincing photoflame. The neck is slightly on the chunky side but comfortable and the frets are finished beautifully, not a sharp end to be found. I've been able to get it down to a good low action. The preamp is now an Artec SE3 as the original was a five-pot preamp - this necessitated a tiny bit of routing with a Dremel, as the pots sit in recesses which wouldn't accommodate the preamp circuit board so I had to bridge between to recesses. I left the original pickups in for the time being, they seem pretty good. It also has the original strings on which aren't so good, they're rather dull so I'm not sure how well the treble control works. Incidentally, the tuners have good and bad points. Strings go straight through the middle of the knob so there's none of the weak points associated with the claw type string holders, and none of the fiddliness of getting ball ends in and out of the tuners (especially the B string on a fiver). However, the intonation is by sliding the entire tuner back and forth, for which the string has to be removed, and the string height is adjusted by a screw in the middle of the brass bridge saddle. If the bridge saddles could be moved independently fore and aft and up and down, on a fixed base, the tuners would be far better. It will be getting an outing at an open mic later this week.

Aw no, that's a bummer! Yeah, unless anyone has any objection/reason why not then I'll reinstate you.

I've been using the same set up as this for a few years now, it's astonishing how it does what it does, small, light, loud and low. Bass, Ashdown, Barefaced and a few cables, for me it is perfect, enjoy your rehearsal 🙂

Yes, I’ve noticed the “mid-century” thing in the last year or so. I recently saw it applied to houses for sale. I think a lot of us on this forum fall into the category too. 😎

Love this thread, but also love to know: The name of your band Bass and back line Please humour me 😈

It's a good idea to use cable that is fat enough for the cable grip in the Speakon connector to hold it securely.

At the risk of incurring the righteous wrath of Basschatters everywhere, if you just want your bridge a bit higher and not to spend £00s one option is to get a piece of cork, a craft knife and cut a couple of square shims to go under the bridge feet. It moulds to the shape of the feet/top due to the pressure, and maybe you lose a little vibration but 1.if you’re amping from the bridge wing it will make very little difference 2.you’re playing bluegrass not orchestral stuff. After a luthier randomly butchered my bridge on what was then my only bass, I put some cork shims under the feet and used it for regular gigging and recording for about 5 years.

17 and 14, and it seems like about half an hour ago that the big hairy 17yo was a sweet little 9yo. Pause. Santa: 'What colour unicorn?'

Which absolute psychos wait to open a new present! I meet my courier at the door with scissors and a Stanley knife 🤣 ( in a non agressive way of course )

😎

Hi Andy, on the body I haven't grain-fllled so my goal is a low satin finish at most. I've used Osmo Polyx gloss, on the body and the neck. On the body I think it's gone ok, I'm a bit less convinced by the neck. But I haven't quite finished, so I'll do a full report once I have. The bridge & tailpiece are unfinished ebony. I've just done a quick test using Dartfords Spirit wood dye (which sounds pretty similar to the Fiebings you mentioned, both alcohol based dyes) using mostly black with the a little bit of brown added in. The ebony definitely has some brown in it. I think they match ok. Once it's dry tomorrow I'll do some light sanding, then put some Osmo on it and see what happens....

John, Guano nly dancing. DB

Alan Spenner really featured the characteristic sound of a Wal bass on those Roxy albums. I'd love to get a definitive answer on whether he used rounds or flats on that bass. It's very difficult to tell. Anyhow, it sounds great, and what a player he was. Died tragically young and I think if he had lived longer he would have got the widespread recognition and respect he deserved. A superb musician. I have to respectfully disagree that a Stingray can approach the tone of a Wal; I have long thought the two of being the antithesis of one another. The Stingray has got that baked-in zing and a hollowness in the mids that is it's calling card. I think what they do have in common is that both basses sound big and hefty. In their own respective ways they've got an inherently beefy tone.

SHHH, keep your voice down! Tell people I'm in a band? How gauche!

Just to keep @Bassman68 and @Stub Mandrel happy, here's one of mine snapped two minutes ago. Sorry for poor quality of photo, but some of these stickers will be older than some basschatters. Ubiquitous KML sticker at top left.

Eh, I just think I'm a bit too old for that now - plus if companies want me to be a walking advertising hoarding, I welcome their renumeration proposals...

I am always the slowest in any group I play in. Deploy amp/pedalboard from trolley. bass out of case, tune up, tweak amp; at the end having to pack it all away. Most just unpack their instrument, tune, play. I envy those who can unpack/pack quickly, but never feel ill towards them if they do not help me. Sam x

Each mistake is a lesson and each lesson makes you better. Just never give up

As I started playing in 1965, nothing is really vintage and seems quite new and I can't believe the prices that are being asked for 'vintage' instruments and amps.

I voted all options except >35". Because I've never played an extra long scale so I can't comment. I get great enjoyment from playing basses that feel different, so swapping scale length always feels good. That said, it took me a month to realise my long scale fiver had a 35" scale.

Think we've all had that brain freeze moment Pete. Hopefully no-one else noticed Dave

The harm can come plugging into the cab with a 1/4" lead and briefly shorting the amp across the tip and shaft, much the same as dragging your lead out of your instrument with the gain up puts one across the preamp. POP. Dead short plus solid state for too long is very bad business.

Tomorrow's gig

It's whatever the person composing the eBay listing says it is. Which is why it doesn't mean anything any more.

Thumb Fin in the way? It moves.

Stray will be playing at Love Live at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool late afternoon tomorrow. If you’re there, say hi!

Another good one at the Earl Haig yesterday. About 80 people in, which is good for the sunday slot. Quite a few came because it was us, which is great. Had plenty of dancing in the second set, which isn't bad for blues! Hopefully better pics to come!