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Played at the Ipswich Regent Theatre last night with The ELO Experience, my penultimate gig with the band. Bit of a nightmare journey of around 200 miles each way - one of our vans broke down on the A1 en route to Ipswich. Clutch master cylinder was to blame, so RAC summoned to trailer the van back home whilst a replacement LWB hire van was found in nearby Grantham. This resulted in us being nearly 2 hours late arriving at the venue, so a mad set up and sound check with little time to eat etc. The Regent is a big Grade 2 listed theatre built in the late 1920’s. With a capacity of around 1500, we had it just over half full. Was a slow start but they warmed up into the second set - maybe took us a while to settle into it after the rush to get there. Used my GK800RB into the Neo 410 cabinet - last time with this cab for me as I sold it after the gig! It’s been a great cab, never missed a beat. (For my final gig with the band this Saturday I’ll be using my trusty Loud 4x10.) For once a drive home with no diversions, but still got in around 2.30am. Must admit I won’t be sorry to see the back of these long gigs - driving over 400 miles in total and two long sets is getting a bit much for me. Easier drive to Birmingham tomorrow though, so looking forward to it.

Thursday night wedding just outside of Malvern and the second time we’ve played at the venue, which was also on a Thursday. Both times we’ve been there the crowd have been crazy, I always think it’s going to be a tough sell but they go nuts. Some deps onboard for this one but they all did a fab job and we used the hk elements rig which I like to reinforce with an actual amp onstage as the PA hasn’t got the biggest bottom.

Just got it home and tweaked the bridge. Action is low , might raise it a hair , it has an older set of rounds on it , I may leave them on , I have Thomastik flats on the yellow one. These are a good looking pair!

Let me get this straight - you already have the Sterling? Then the only thing that matters is if you like it. I don't concern myself with the opinions of others about a bass I have in my hands. I own basses that I know some people can't stand. So what? If you like it, you're not wrong.

Recorded a bit of my 66 Mustang today. Backing track is my band, used Moises to remove the bass and put mine over. Backing track is only a demo so not 100% full quality but it gives you some idea. Love the sound of this bass, it just sits and pokes out when needed. Blue Horizon snippet.mp3

Yep, it's very loud and there's an amazing weight to the sound. Best digital power section I've used (and I've used a lot!). There's so much going on I'm a loss to know where to start right now, but I'll try and review in a few days. The cab calibration is amazing. The effects sound lush and are endlessly tweakable using the software. Low and High pass filters. Preset shapes. Vintage and Modern tones. I bought the footswitch as well, which will be a game changer for live use. I was giggling like a kid at Christmas when I started playing!

If you're in the market for a VI, there is rumoured to be a 🤩 silver sparkle ✨ one on the way later this year

Update. Have now completed two rehearslas and two gigs with the stand. Very pleased with it, and can't really see me going back to shoulder strap anytime soon. The MK1 model was cobbled together from a silver cymbals stand I borrowed from our drummer. This worked well. I've now replaced it with an all-black new cymbals stand from Gear4music so I could wear black trousers to help disguise the stand on stage. Key points: - It's easy to find a good hanging position for the bass because of all the adjustments available with a cymbals stand. Fairly quickly I found a position that was very close to what I was used to with a shoulder strap. - Slight downside is the upright tube of the stand coming between me and the bass. This is less of a problem with MK 2 stand which is slimmer than MK1. Soon get used to it. - I'm finding I'm naturally adopting a slightly revised playing position without setting out to do so. Bass is a little higher, and I've moved it to my right (I'm right handed) thus bringing my left hand a bit closer in to my body. This is simply a mater of taking half a pace to my left as I stand behind the stand. - Initial concerns that a silver stand might look a bit odd on stage haven't materialised. See photos. MK2 black stand may not have been needed. - Initial concerns that I would end up with two stands on stage (including music stand) haven't materialised so far. I did consider clamping a boom onto the bass stand to carry my notes, but that would take up just as much room on stage, I reckon. - Initia conerns that I'd be rooted to the same spot on stage by the bass stand haven't been a problem. I'm pretty static anyway, and I can move away from the stand at various points in songs when I'm not playing for a few bars. So, all-in-all, a success. No weight at all on my neck and shoulder has been a huge relief. Total outlay for MK2 stand is £40.

Hello! I blooming love these basses. I’ve had a few Korean 90’s ones - PJ and JJ and they were great! I snagged this Mats one in a Gardiner Houlgate auction a couple of years ago. £220. Swapped out the pups (which didn’t work) to an EMG 18v set. Sounds mega.

We are all so astonishingly shallow. One hint of glitter and our tails are wagging like small dogs waiting to run after a ball. I love it.

It appeared last week on kijiji for a market price , a blue reissue Samurai , the Yamaha SBV500. I have a yellow one , and spent some years looking for it. It’s one of the few long scale basses I regularly play , I think of it as being like a Jazz bass on steroids , but much funkier. And today got a call from some friends that work at our local L&M , the big music retailer in Canada. The blue Samurai had appeared at the store , they were going to move it for a really good price , and was I interested … Now I have a yellow one that I love , but I could not turn down the deal. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. And I’m flattered that they called me before they put it out! Sold!

Jings, this sounds great!

Last year I built this bass out of a MIM body and a '79 neck, and it was very nice. Too nice. It actually went together with such little stress that I didn't really bond with it. Plus, the blue wasn't really working for me. I'd been itching to pull it apart and try a different body with the neck, but this time I was going to pick something rough so the project lasted more than a couple of hours. I then found this body on eBay. I liked the fact that it was a single piece of mahogany, wasn't too heavy, and had a nice grain. It also looked to be in rough shape and had a pretty substantial flaw in the form of body filler making up a significant part of the neck heel. Plus it was only £75 - perfect. Once I received it I wasn't sure what to think. The routing wasn't great in areas, and the body filler looked way worse in person than online - let's just say £75 didn't feel that cheap anymore. Still, I decided to persevere because I'm all about type 2 fun. Looking closely at the grain, it looked to be filled with... something. I assumed it was a mix of paint and paint stripper after someone abandoned an attempt to strip it, so I opted to start off with applying more paint stripper to see what happened. I didn't take any pictures of this bit, but what it did was remove the left over stripper packed into the grain, revealing lots of black paint still sitting in the grooves below. My guess is this body was originally intended to be a natural finish, but was damaged during routing so repairing with filler and painting the body was the only way to salvage it. Someone later down the line then decided to strip the body, saw the body filler and must have jumped ship on the project. So, what to do? Given the paint looked so comfortably embedded in the grain, I decided the only way forward was to start sanding... ...and look at what was sitting underneath! Lovely, fresh mahogany. At this point I started to get optimistic that this might actually be worth doing. I started sanding with 150 grit, then moved to 180 grit, then decided that was enough (it was not). I also decided at this point that things were going so well that hiding the body filler would be easy (it was not). Once I decided I was done with sanding, I started thinking about how this bass should look. I felt it would be nice to honour the '79 neck and go for a 70s look, so the body had to be appropriately brown. I also wanted it to smell good, so danish oil was the obvious choice. Here's how the body looked after a couple of coats of oil. It looks alright in this picture, but what I couldn't get a decent shot of was a weird shimmering effect I kept noticing whenever light moved across the body. It would go away if I brushed the surface in one direction, but came back if I rubbed it the other way. I eventually worked out that I'd torn out some of the softer grain during sanding, causing a small amount of fuzz which, once oiled, made the body look like brown velvet. Very 70s, but not the right kind of 70s. My wife suggested lightly brushing the surface with a high grit sandpaper to take the fuzz off. I'm glad I married her because this worked like a charm - I chose 600 grit and sanded as gently as I could. This sorted the issue completely, so I went on to add another few coats of oil (5 in total). Here's what it looked like once done. I stopped at this point because I didn't want the body to be too shiny - this felt like a nice balance between an intentional finish and natural wood. The few bits of black paint still stuck in the grain gave it a nice patina too. Now came the issue of how to hide the body filler around the heel. At this point, the total seconds of thought I'd applied to figuring this out was still in single digits, and in hindsight I probably should have added to that total before starting work on it. I had vague notions of painting the filler to match the wood grain, but Googling this made it look very hard to get right. However, poking around on Amazon revealed a technology that was new to me: furniture touch up pens. These are basically felt tip pens in various shades of brown, designed to hide small marks on wooden furniture. I decided this large piece of body filler was nothing more than a small mark, so I bought some. Before I started with the pens, I used some 80 grit sandpaper to score the filler and give it some 'grain'. I then used pens in various combinations of 'oak', 'maple', 'mahogany', and 'walnut' to try and get somewhere close to the oiled mahogany. This is how it came out. It's not that close, but it's better than the white filler that was there before. Am I happy with it? Not really, but I coloured in a bass with felt tips like a toddler so I'm not sure I should be happy with it. It would be somewhat easy to reverse with nail polish remover, so if I suddenly get an idea that's actually good I can always try again. Now came the time to put this brown boy together, but as I offered various parts up to the body it became obvious I was going to have to drill a lot of new holes. First up was the bridge. I opted for a 1980s Schaller 3D largely because I already had it in my parts drawer, but I also love how these bridges look and function. What I don't love is the fact they don't use a Fender screw pattern (though I'm pretty sure they totally could with some tweaks), so some drilling followed. Next up was the scratchplate - this had been on a few Fenders in its life so I knew it was correct, but not one hole lined up. Much drilling followed. I then lifted the pickups and wiring out of the original blue body I had (why did I take that bass apart again?), and got it all into this one. This took some sanding in the cavity to get everything to sit flush, but more annoyingly the pickup screwholes were misaligned. Yet more drilling followed. I then went to fit the strap buttons, and noticed the lower one was about an inch off of centre. My drill was out of battery by now, so I just put the strap button in the hole that was already there. I guess it's extra character or something, but it does look a bit odd. The final touch was a thumb rest in the late-70s position. I already had a standard black one ready to go, but then out of nowhere a random eBay scroll revealed something I'd been hunting for for years (genuinely - years and years): the brass thumb rest from a 1980s P Bass Special. It was also priced very reasonably, so after losing my mind to the point of dropping my phone, I bought it. And bugger me is it heavy. So now I had a choice of thumb rests. Should I go for the subtle, light weight, sensible option? Or should I add needless extra weight in the form of a piece of bling that doesn't even match a single piece of fitted hardware? Obviously I went for the stupid option; It looks like a gold tooth, and goes well with the felt tip finish. After a quick set up, I'm calling this one done. I really like how this bass came out, and it was enough of a ballache that I actually feel attached to it now. Here it is with my '86 MIJ and '77, looking cool 😎

First impressions, it feels quite dinky after being used to old one! Seems about as tall and wide but length is quite a bit smaller. Metering is so much more useful than the crappy old jewel light, makes seeing what's happening so much easier. Plus will be fun to see the lights bouncing around on stage! 😆 Sound wise I'm not hearing (nor was I expecting) much difference but that's only after a quick play on my desk, will gig it this weekend and see how it behaves.

I don't like most singlecuts. They just look ugly to me. However, I can pick one bass that I HATE the look of, the Parker Fly bass. The original Parker fly guitars I think looked brilliant, so original. The Bass version just looks like a whopping great a r s e. Horrible horrible. It looks like one of the guitars got depressed and sat comfort eating for a couple of years.

After a three way joint win in March and a further tie break question, here we are with the inspirational photo for the April challenge from @upside downer He reflects .... "Took this last year when we went to Frameless, an immersive art experience, where paintings by the old masters gradually come together, enveloping you before falling away, only for another to take its place." So on with the show and I would suggest 2 votes this month 1 @AndyTravis There’s a hole in the sky… 2 @Jean-Luc Pickguard When we look at a painting we see a frozen moment where time does not pass. This song reflects on the relentless march of time and how certain things, like aging, are inevitable. No matter how much we may want to slow or freeze time, it pushes forwards, pulling us along with it Time, It Is What It Is audio link.mp3 3 Lurksalot It is of course ...the big picture 4 @Leonard Smalls A new Future Impact patch wot I made inspired this Mutant Disco Ditty... 5 @upside downer Saunter through Cézanne's Avenue at Chantilly to a twinkling soundtrack of swirly, insistent guitar chords, subtle keys and unobtrusive beats. okey dokey there are 5 to choose from so go for your fave 2 voting will end at midnight on Tuesday 30th April Good Luck all

Yes kids are you out of your tiny minds? He helped me cross the road.

Yep, spotted this about 2 seconds after I posted the images! All sorted now... It's not at all, the E string wasn't in the saddle correctly - all fixed now. It's a great bass for the cash - would be hard pressed to find something this good for £350 new.

Only had a short play with my B2 but yeah, it’s noisy and does seem to need the ZNR, although maybe i just need to gain stage a bit better. This was also quite loud on good headphones which would reproduce the noise quite well. I’m not sure I’d need it through an amp. Can’t try that out for 2 weeks. I did find the BDDI sounds a bit more solid compared to the B1-four’s version, but that might just be down to a few things. I’ll definitely just use the BDDI for now, maybe in two slots. One for normal and one with a bit more drive. That way the tone won’t change much.

Yep i use wireless and its a fantastic bit of kit. I started with the Smooth Hound one but started getting occasional interference and opted to upgrade to the Shure. Expensive but in the year i've owned it i've had absolutely no issue with it at all. Mine is the pedal version with built in tuner and that sits on my pedal board and cable from the board goes round edge of stage to my amp. Dave

Trying to keep cables from underfoot at a small venue is a challenge. I'm considering using a wireless rig just to keep from tripping on my patch chord.....

Looks great but please pop the E string back into the bridge saddle, that extra wide gap is making my OCD hurt. 😅

A bit late reporting, The Rock Formation played The Prince Albert in Milton Keynes on Saturday. Seemed to go down well.

he thinks everything is good!

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!

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.

I bought one. Arrived today. It's amazing.

The absolute worst thing about those conversion jobs is when one comes up for sale somewhere and the hordes of Fender fanbois pile in to whinge about the modification that was done to some cheap throwaway bass when it was ten years old and well past what could laughably be referred to as its best.

As they went to all that trouble they could have at least made it a good octave. Maybe it was a Friday...

What A Waste - Ian Dury and The Blockheads

Funnily enough, I'm loving mine! It looks far more interesting than yer Fenders, and I find it doesn't dig in at all, though I strap it on good and high... Great sound too from the EMGs.

Im waiting patiently for the courier to deliver mine. If its as good as the CB that'll do for me with the added metering 👌

That was after the first set and jumping around for an hour. The venue has 4 sockets. It looked better than that when we started.

This probably isn't going to help. I owned a Sire v3 and a SUB at the same time. Though different I felt that they were also very similar and "stood on each others feet" in many ways - tonally and playability. I can understand why you are unsure which you prefer. Play them both and let time help you decide.

Damn 🤣🤣🤣 Funnily enough I was just speaking to my brother about this very video the other day (as well as another one where he has another extremely ostentatious Warwick custom, a seven string Corvette IIRC). It's an excruciating watch really, to the point where I almost feel bad for the guy. You can see he just wants to hold the bass and bask in it's implied credibility and the nervousness in him is entirely apparent as it becomes clear he's going to be asked to play it on camera. The interviewer almost seems sheepishly reluctant to ask him to play it and the results are... woeful. I suppose it's a bit like turning up to a track day in a Le Mans car only to find your skills are Miata Cup level (if that). Given that his two basses are probably commissions both well in excess of £12,000 (at a guess), I was interested in seeing who the guy is as he's not a name you see discussed in bass circles. I note his online biography mentions a host of other, more-lucrative pursuits before stating that he is a musician, which may explain that. Outside of Alembic, I can think of a custom shop more expensive than Warwick. Maybe Fodera, but their builds are maybe less 'jewel-like' these days.

Yep I found my “mojo” again for playing in a band New people and better songs Great fun buying gear and discovering some great amps !

As much as I'm a fan of Steve Harris & Geddy Lee and would love to master loads of their basslines. If there was one I'd like to be able to play as a party piece, that would go down well with, I think, most people, it would be, The One That I Want from Grease.