Leaderboard

Spotted this Retrovibe on FB marketplace and even better, it turned out to be for sale by a BC'er I'd dealt with before. Its a short scale with the stinger pre amp and obviously jazz pickups. I put Labella Mustang flats on it ( as its through body stringing) and its just a dream to play. The quality for the money is phenomenal and I'm seriously tempted to get another and string it piccolo.David has even agreed to do me an edstraker123 truss rod cover. Definitely one of my better buys.

Not so much a gig tonight but more a set the gear up and sound check for tomorrow nights gig for the drummers 65th party in his mates house. Its a large 8 bedroom sleeps 22 house with function room, swimming pool, sauna and games room. He lets the drummer use it for "special parties" and the owner has a large outdoor BBQ and Pizza oven. Tonight after setting up we had home made pizza's which were amazing. Both the Glam and Punk bands playing tomorrow night so the stage area was a bit busy. Got the punk sound check done and dusted and as soon as the singer arrived from Glam band we did the sound check and ran thru 3-4 songs. Its funny how quickly a band that gigs regularly together can adjust their own sounds and volumes to suit an unusual gig very quickly. After the first verse the balance and tones were sorted but we did 4 songs anyways. Only doing an hour set each band tomorrow night so that will be good fun. Tonight had a small audience as people are staying from Fri to Sun so maybe around 20 folks in including the house owner and his wife. Used the Godin Crafter classic bass tonight for both bands into my Handbox WB-100 and Mesa 210/115 cabs. I had forgotten how good that HB amp sounded. Warm, deep and clear sounding too. The Godin boosting the depth with its amazing solid deep pick ups. Was considering selling the HB and tonight was going to be its last gig before i advertised it but now i'm not so sure. The tone was spectacular. The Godin having very hot passive pick ups too meant i could push the HB amp easily into valve distortion giving it a really nice edge when hitting the strings hard during the punk songs. Think i might just keep the HB as it sounds wonderful matched with the Godin bass. Will update you all Sun on the actual gig tomorrow night. Dave

A couple of photos from Wednesday's gig: Getting ready for tonight's gig supporting Ghost Dance in London now.

Just a little update now that I’m using a spectracomp. Also managed to get a small cheapo tuner on there which actually works brilliantly, tracks my detuned Mustang perfectly! Also put a little gooseneck LED lamp on there because the rest of the band have them and I was jealous. Mind you, they’re all using Neural Cortex things and they call my pedalboard “the pedal museum” Signal flow is: Mutron (running at 24v) Distortion (dry output to tuner) Fuzz Bassballs Spectracomp Warm Audio DI HPF (at 18v) Powered by a CIOKS DC5

Deadlight Dance played The Beehive in Swindon on Thursday. A personal one for me as it is where I met my wife, whom I was previously as school with and hadn't seen for 22yrs. We were supporting a Texan songwriter called Tommy Hale and had a half hour set, mainly two mandocellos. Being hyer critical, I thought the volume was just slightly too loud, and not the greatest sound. We used it as an opportunity to test acoustic versions of 3 new songs we had written and played an originals heavy set of dark acoustic music. Incredibly we sold a couple of CDs. The downside was we're both having car trouble so I had to pick the other guy up (he's 45 minutes away and in the wrong direction. We have a similar problem tomorrow at the moment but what goes around comes around... and to double the cliches, the show must go on! We didn't get any pictures of the show but I took this quick snap before we went in.

After many years of recommending the Fender Rumble amps, based upon both the specs but very importantly having heard them in use I’ve finally got one myself. Needed due to back issues, at around 13kg it’s the same weight as one of my Ashdown cabs so in terms of carting stuff about I lose having to carry the my RM500 (only 3kg or so) but also lose having to lean over to plug in speaker leads etc. Additionally as the controls are on the top I’m assuming this makes adjustments when on stage easier. I can put the power lead in my Mono M80 as well so practically it’s winning already, less gear/no of items to carry. Sound - well only been able to use it at home volumes but it’s very easy to get the sound I want. The Drive is very good, with careful setting rather than being full on drive it can really add thickness to the sound which to me is a real benefit, the combo being a 210 being able to thicken the sound up is a real bonus. Overall I’m very pleased with it, some of our gigs will require me to provide a full bass rig, in fact our next one does, so this amp is going to make my life easier. I’d have put up with it irrespective as needs must but it really does sound great so I’m feeling rather chuffed.

Getting ready to go on. Sitting in with Stevie, Daniel, and the wranglers at the lattice house in Kings Lynn. 24 fret jazz bass with my trace rig.

I don't think I agree. And this is quite important. Most cabs with two speakon connectors are wired to run the cabs in parallel, not series. I would bet money the Ashdown cab is wired this way. Connecting another cab to the Ashdown cab would present a total load to the amp of 2 ohms, not 8 ohms. Rob

Saw this and thought of you... 😉

I like the feel and vibe of vintage instruments, not just basses, but guitars and even drums too. I don't think mine have been passed around, and I do know I'm just the 3rd owner of my '73 Jazz, the previous owner being Nick (Old Horse Murphy, RIP) of this parish. My '73 P bass has a feel and tone I just haven't found in any other P bass I've tried. At a gig two weeks ago, four bands playing, all bass players through the same rig, we were first on and therefore last to soundcheck. I set the EQ flat and adjusted the volume down slightly, and the engineer looked up from his desk and spoke through the monitors "what a wonderful sounding bass". It made me smile. Rob

A few years back I landed a Hamer FBIV, photo of which is below. I wanted it all black, so that Christmas my good lady got me a replacement bridge/machines; ain't she lovely (the bass, that is): The one thing I detested was the jack output was a Stratocaster style one, so I kind of got round that by doing an Alex Lifeson and flipping it upsidedown. I mean, it worked, but still didn't like it: I searched eBay once in a while for a flat plate - there's not many out there and they're generally in the US or Japan, so at my wife's suggestion, I put a post up on our village FB page asking if anyone locally could make me one. Up stepped teenage hobbyist, who'd been doing small work for a local model railway group, et viola! Beautiful work. Happy bunny.

It changes fairly regularly but currently it’s: Polytune Jad Freer Capo input Capo pre loop send > Thumpinator Lusithand Alma Comp Boss OC5 Moose Sledgehammer EAE Halberd EAE Dagger HX One HX One send > EAE Model feT < Capo pre return Capo post send > < HX One return HX One output < Capo post return Capo output Couldn’t think of a better way to articulate it, certainly not any more concise. This means that I can have a clean DI and a DI from the end of the chain. I can also add fx either after drives but before the preamps or after preamps and before the DI.

Ok. @Kateplaysbass Use only one output from the amp which will match the total load of the cab(s). If you're just using one cab (LB212), then it's obvious, connect it to the 4 ohm output. If you're using two cabs, both of which are 4 ohms, then the total load will now be 2 ohms, so connect the first cab to that output, and the second cab to the first cab. I really think that the one LB212 would be enough for most situations though, it's worth trying. Rob

Good point and can be the case; my personal experience with vintage basses and guitars is different on the whole. I worked in vintage guitar shops in London over a span of many years. There were the odd vintage dogs, but not actually that many in ratio to those I played/sold. Like any bass, there will be some that do the rounds (like a SB Lull P Bass that was on here a few times that I took a chance on and quickly sold on!). The vast majority were just average I.e. no ‘better’ than any other good instrument, though perhaps with a feel or mystic that draws us in. Like Clive Brown once said to me ‘People wrongly think the old ones are better, like they are made with magic pixie dust!’ The others, and fewer amount, were really outstanding, perhaps being a combo of years of use, great wood, and tons of mojo. Just from my personal experience I really don’t think it’s just the dogs that are doing the rounds, more that people work out a vintage bass isn’t as special as they thought, or that the bass is different to what they had imagined or expected when buying with their eyes or dreams. That said, I totally get why people love the vintage vibe nonetheless. My AVRI with a Fralin pup is just as good a player and tone as the very good and near mint ‘66 P Bass I sold when my wife needed a new car. That was my last, of many, vintage basses over the years- it just wasn’t worth the extra £s for me when we needed it back. I saw that bass passed round 3 times within 2 years but it was a great bass. If I was wealthy I’d like another early Fender bass purely for the fun of it, but that’d be my only reason given the more than good enough quality of my AVRI and CS Fender basses. YMMV 😊

Erm. TC Nether - Having owned multiple OC-2’s I started looking for another. Damn they’re expensive for what they are…gone are the days of a £55 Taiwanese OC-2. Anyhow - this does the same job…within reason. Really like it actually. The Zero Fret - Dod Bi-Fet pre clone with built in Fuzz (2 stages of fuzz)… Honestly, the mightiest bass fuzz I’ve heard; does well for warm fluffy drive as a pre…also works beautifully for guitar. Hopefully @walshy forgets that I have it… Korg Pitchblack - Decent tuner came up cheaply and completes the board. Missing is the Dunlop volume pedal - it’s massive and won’t go on the board so I forgot to photograph it. Cheap PSU, no mad big draw on any of the pedals so this will do for £35.

Here's the first attempt. I borrowed a cymbal stand and used the top clamp to secure a rope strop attached to the bass. Lots of padding on the stand to protect the bass, but also to cant the bottom of the bass away from me a little, so I could see the frets and strings. Whole thing feels pretty secure. A bit of tinkering with stand height, strop length, padding thickness meant I was quickly able to achieve a playing position very close to what I was used to with a normal strap. Interestingly, I seemed to settle on a position with the bass a little further to my right, with the upper strap pin on a line between my left ear and my adam's apple. This meant my left arm and hand were closer to my body. I hadn't planned that - it just naturaaly happened after playing a few songs. Certainly feels different from playing with a strap, but initial impressions are pretty favourable. I played 10 songs without too many bum notes and felt appreciably less tired afterwards. Longer term, I might consider a black stand and black strop and wear a black shirt to disguise the whole thing - we'll see.

Not expecting big numbers with this follow up, but for the minority of people interested in the hours of outtake visuals (or in this case audio), we did this talk through audio video about what those songs meant to us.

Pentangle is my band of choice this week...

😎

I was expressing joy at Basschatters helping out a fellow Basschatter with a problem, the forum doing it's thing.

Do share your signal chain when you’ve finished. And I agree with working from home. Often find myself distracted since my board is just beside my work Pc lol

Keep yourself agile and adaptive… Know your main gigging set on both 4 & 5 string instruments. (Properly now…making use of the B string and the positions it affords you). Have two identical cases and be blissfully unaware of what your tool is for the night, until sound check. Keep a tally of which band members actually notice. (NB This activity could be extended to 6 or 8 strings; indeed you could keep a bass with a purposely snapped string…)

Also I think sometimes it can be as simple as people spend a lot of money on one and it turns out that it’s just not the bass for them , because it’s been sold a few times doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with it, I’ve seen many good basses here passed on 5 or 6 times. I’ve done it myself, I spent over 2K on a beautiful custom Sandberg and didn’t really gel with it and sold it at a big loss , at least with most of the vintage ones you shouldn’t lose any money if it doesn’t work out

Bandeoke in Bristol again last night. The guitarist is getting married today and Wednesday was his stag. It was easily detectable that the band doesn't usually go out on the night before Bandeoke. We crawled over the finish line

A three-band bill of folk (State of Undress), blues (my own Otis Jay Blues Band) and Americana (World Gone Wrong) at New Milton’s Forest Arts Centre. Capacity audience of 125, which is gratifying. Sound technician Alice did a brilliant job considering the variety of instruments involved. A super fun evening, and though we had a few duff intros - new drummer’s first gig - no one seemed to mind. Photos show me having foolishly raced to the top of the theatre with Sandberg in hand, and descending rather more gingerly… Love to take this package to other venues - suggestions gratefully received.

Mid week gig at The Chapel in Nottingham supporting Empathy Test and Black Nail Cabaret. Flag Promotions always know how to put together a great gig line-up and look after the bands, even when pre-gig ticket sales looked like being a bit slow. In the end it wasn't a bad turnout for a school night and most of the audience were in early to see us. Not the best gig that we've played, there were a couple of technical issues the most perplexing of which was the complete change in sound on stage from the sound check to the gig, despite being first on and last to sound check. We had no fold back at all for half of the first song and it took another two before the stage mix was close to what we have had during the sound check. This has happened more than once at this venue and beginning to wonder if there is some kind of user error the part of the PA engineer there. Anyway the audience didn't seem to notice that anything was amiss, and we got plenty of positive comments afterwards. We're in London at the New Cross Inn supporting Ghost Dance on Saturday, and then WGW...

Stepped in for a couple of gigs in Bognor last Friday/saturday. Set list sent couple of days before, pretty straightforward stuff really but they didn’t tell me they played hotel California and tainted love in different keys which obviously threw me for first couple of bars , but hey ho! We got there. Both venues very quiet but job done and band was asked back and everyone happy. 😊

I've got this. Bought it for my now-defunct prog band, where fretless would've been nice in parts of a couple of songs. Sadly hasn't been out of its case in several years! It's a 1985 Gordy Blueshift, and was a one-off, as far as I could find out.

Only 5 strings for me. For what reason would a 4- stringer be better?

I run a vintage valve head into a modern speaker cab on occasion, in a very similar way to what you'll be doing. You just need a good quality mono 1/4" jack to speakon cable. I have these and they do the job. I always carry spares of everything, but that's just me. If you've got it, disaster never happens, when you don't, it does. https://www.designacable.com/van-damme-2x1-5mm-speakon-to-mono-jack-passive-speaker-lead-1.html Rob

For most of the students music lessons are just wasted time. Anyway I was very lucky to have a great music teacher in our school who was very good musician himself. He noticed about 10 talents among us and got us playing together, at the begining under his supervision. Many of us became later pro musicians.

Version excursion! Original: Aswad, Love Fire Aswad, Dub Fire Dennis Brown, Promise Land Damian Marley & Nas, Land of Promise

Thankfully the VS212 (and I presume the LB212) was super efficient.

Loads - but you have to love Cherry Red. It compliments the deep colour of the mahogany rather than tries fighting with it: This was done with red calligraphy ink and finished with Tru-oil

Well, this is a great idea, but the answer is clearly none. They might just about notice by the first break if you'd actually failed to show up at all......... 🙁

Not in my day. Most teachers were interested in cultivating ability which just entrenched the differences. But that was how education worked in the 70s, it was all rooted in streaming.

Thanks, I thought the Elf looked great but I ended up picking up out a 2nd hand GK MB200 cheap, which is probably huge in comparison to the elf 😀

Got my production unit this morning:

There’s a ten position tone switch you can get that has various caps in it- that might work ? varitone? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163390758215

It’s right to be firm on this subject; give ‘em an inch and all that. If offloading gear gave you license to purchase more it wouldn’t be long before someone suggests a kind of carbon offsetting scheme where you team up with a fellow bass chatter who’s shifting kit but not replacing it so you can use their credit! 😉

Top carving continues. I've hummed and ha'd long and hard about final thicknesses. Ken parker thins his tops to between 2 and 3mm, he mentions D'Aquisto tops were 2.5mm to 4mm thick. Obviously those were guitars but the string tension is actually very similar. The arch is a bit flatter on mine and the wood is certainly cheaper...so plugging all those variables into the scientific calculator, my finger in the air came back with the following: 4mm around the bridge, 3.5mm around that thinning to 3.2mm at the periphery. I don't know if you can read any of these numbers, but here we are, getting close:

Here's a brief catch-up on Mustang Sally's gigs since our Jan-Feb rest period. First off we were asked to play a Sunday afternoon gig (3pm) mid-March at a pub in Shaftesbury that had recently changed hands. Rain stopped us setting up outside as originally requested (thank gawd - it was ruddy cold too!) so we played in the bar to a maximum 'crowd' of about 25 people. I can't imagine why the new landlord thought it would work, but we got a paid rehearsal and a few compliments from the punters out of it. Next up we played the Mere social club, a tiny venue with the acoustics of a concrete prison-block shower room. More punters this time but I didn't enjoy it, had great difficulty trying to hear what I was playing; the miked bass drum was interacting and clashing with my bass in the PA mix, in the end I disconnected the line-out from my amp and played old-skool direct to the room - better but still not happy with it. Most recently played at the Marnhull British Legion - fabulous acoustics (real wood floor) perfect mix, good crowd, and as compiler of the set list I 'accidently' forgot to include Sweet Home Albania - result! Not exactly Glasto-level gigging, but they all count on my admission scorecard to Bass-Heaven in the afterlife, where I hope to be hitting the frets alongside Bruce, McVie, Nilorius and all the other bass legends...

Shiny shiny, shiny frets of nickel....

I have several, from someone's YoB, just not from mine.