Leaderboard

I managed to steal a few moments for some playing this morning between meetings, and I'm very pleased. Size isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, not much bigger than 1/2 my pedalboard, so that worry has totally gone. Build quality, as with all Boss stuff I guess, is very solid and workmanlike. I only played around in manual mode so far, there's obviously a load of pre programmed stuff in there, but I wanted to see what this will be like in real life for me. The natural tone of the unit is lovely flat, I assume it's not doing much, if anything, but it sounds nice. The amp sims are good, a good range of options which all seem to be quite different. The myriad of effects all seem to be very useable, the range of some is limited a little compared to separates, by the limits of the physical controls, but there is plenty there and it's all useable. Everything I use for my regular tone is there, plus all the extras I use when nobody is looking, like Delays and Reverbs, the Slicer is well cool, and the Synths are really musical, and again, thanks to the limits to some of the settings, it's hard to find a Synth that's unusable, which in my experience is very easy with the likes of an EHX Microsynth. The regular Octaver is VERY OC-2-like, the Polyphonic has a similar vibe too, but tracks properly, which was cool as often the polyphonic ones sound a bit pants. The compressors all sounds different, which was a surprise, but lots to explore for someone that rarely gets on with compressors, unless it's in the studio with someone who knows how to operate an expensive one. The filters, autowah etcs, all very nice, and easier to set up than my MXR, plus there's 4 different core options, unlike the single one on that pedal. I was worried about the ability to stack drives, but as the core tone is so nice, I can achieve that by setting an amp sim to be overdriven and then use the drive section for more drive. Perfect. The different drives and distortions are cool too, will need a proper play to really dial those in. Of course, there is more you can do under the hood to make all the above more cleverer, but from just using the physical controls I can do everything I need and want to do. I'm impressed, very impressed. Does anyone want to buy some pedals?...

Of course it matters - a guitarist and a drummer are wrong and need corrected, tag team style with a keys player. Get your head in the game!

I was looking for something understated and unassuming for the 70s Glam band. Something that would allow me to dissolve into the background and not stand out too much. Think I’ve got it about right with this one….

Obligatory post. My first "new" amp for quite some time and total overkill for bedroom practice, but YOLO. Sounds great through the ACME cabs and plenty of tone options. More present in the mids, and feels better suited to these cabs than my Tecamp Puma 1000 which sounds too polite by comparison. These rarely come up used, as I've learned from past experience, so i didn't hang around this time. Thanks @Mama Huhu for a smooth, easy and honest deal. A bonus is that my better half hasn't even noticed 😁

A rare photo of me stepping up to the mic, good job there aint no sound 😱

Well, your resident grippy Scot is here to tell you that £1500 is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a bass - I've bought CARS for less FFS! The most I have ever spent on a bass is £1300, and I thought long and hard about it. FWIW it was my G&L wunkay and it was my post-lockdown treat to myself. Apart from that, I try to keep it below a grand. There's so much good stuff appearing around the £500 mark these days (and lower) that there's no need to spend more to get "quality" any more. The "high end" manufacturers know this, and they are running scared from the increase in quality at the "lower" end of the market. They can't make their stuff any better (because they were already "the best", right?) so all they can do to differentiate themselves is to jack the price up to create this artificial aura of superiority - tapping into this "I paid more so it must be better, right?" part of our psyche. It's all smoke and mirrors. The high end aren't innovating, they aren't improving, and eventually people will see through this transparent bluff. I already have, I think.

They are both quoting Jimi Hendrix, Third Stone From The Sun. https://youtu.be/Zts332Y-nyg?t=42

So after some hassle with the courier delivering to the address down the road that is one word different to mine (not the first time; I have complained) I have the Three10. The true test will be on a gig (I have two in a couple of weeks), but my initial impressions are good. The tone is what I expected: overall very warm, a little less upper mids than my Compact, a touch more bass, but just the right amount of the right kind of highs (IMHO). I've played around with the tweeter and not heard a massive difference with it on or off, but I play with flats and no wild effects, so frankly I'd rather have a mellow tweeter. The wheels and handles mean its not much more awkward to move than the Compact, though I did not enjoy carrying it the hundred or so metres back to my flat! Plus it matches my office.

Completely agree with that, especially if, like I did last year, you get a hosting band seat. Then you're really in at the deep end, but it's very liberating (once you've got over the 'I've never played/heard this before, how can I play it now?' thing)...

Surely G♯ A♯ B. Let's not encourage this mixing of sharps and flats. Although in Cm, I suppose that should really be A♭ B♭ C♭.

Hello everybody, i am new here but I just found something in my garage that might interest you all. A Peavey Zodiac BXP white with the De Scorpio neck and mirror pickguard. I bought it in the mid 2000s like this, i think it was an aborded project to build a white Zodiac DE. I never played it but now I do and it’s a good bass even with the BXP pickups, I might swap them for the Dimarzio Relentless PJ but for now a good clean as well as oiling the fretboard and a new strings. what do you think of my findings ? PS : Sorry if my English is bad it is not my birth language.

here's the full length with pickguards, dodgy control panel and quite nice knobs. I can see better pots wiring and capacitors on the horizon. None of this is difficult to solder up using decent CTS pots, and decent wires. A close up of the front. if this was a Hollywood film, you;d be able to reverse engineer my DNA just by looking at the reflections in the knobs Strap points in, pick guard screws aren't quite right. Will probably move to silver button heads as opposed to countersunk. Here's the back. This is a 60mm wide backbone rather than an 80mm backbone. Seems fine though and saves circa 300g. Things that still need to be done. I still can't get a decent glossy finish so all my guitars are still raw. Six months and no tangible progress. The pieces that make up the outside are not glued together yet. There is tiny movement between them. This needs to be done but I don't want to screw up before Saturday. Rewire the contol panel. probably not before Saturday though I might have a sneaky look on Amazon today for next day shipment on CTS pots. Reprint the pickguards as they aren't perfect. Probably change the pickups to my new Wilkinson ones and design a new pickguard. Thats thne nice thing about this bass, don;t like the pickups, try somnething different. Perhaps a telecaster deluxe design or a strat type design with three pickups. Not a massive problem to do.

Been taking these

Inspired by chat about current gear prices here and elsewhere, I thought I'd share this advert, which I recently stumbled across while digging through some newspaper archives for work-related research. This appeared in the 15 September 1963 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The fact that Leonards (a local department store) was putting these prices up-front in big writing suggests to me that they regarded these as competitive – they wouldn't have been simply stating RRP here. To put these figures in context, here are the CPI-inflation-adjusted conversions of those prices. They're surprisingly close to the current RRP for top-of-the-line (non-custom-shop) American-made Fenders, higher in most cases. BASSES Jazz Bass $279.50 = $2,854.61 (£2,271.66) Precision Bass $229.50 = $2,343.95 (£1,865.28) Plus another $59.50 ($607.69; £483.59) if you're a fancypants who wants a case. GUITARS Stratocaster $259.50 = $2,650.35 (£2,109.11) Jazzmaster $349.50 = $3,569.54 (£2,840.59) Jaguar $379.50 = $3,875.94 (£3,084.42) Cases from $49.50 ($505.56; £402.31) AMPS Piggyback Bassman $399.50 = $4,080.21 (£3,246.97) Princeton $99.50 = $1,016.22 (£808.69) I've had a look through contemporary used car listings from the same area, and while you couldn't get a nice car for these sorts of prices, you could get a car. Instead of a Jazz Bass you could have picked up a (ahem, stick-shift) 1955 Mercury Montclair, and instead of the misbegotten beast that is the Fender Jaguar (with case), you could be cruising around in the misbegotten beast that is the Ford Edsel. Ask yourself, what are the ladies going to go wild for – a Fender Jaguar or this fly whip?

Been away, doing stuff. Big life changes, got uninspired, left the instruments in a cupboard. And then i remembered i'm a frikin' bass player baby! Ging 5 strings a go, i blame Nightwish!

The Eagle has landed. It will come as no surprise to anyone that it is all good.

Here is my Electra for sale in the classified. I wouldn`t pay nearly £800 new but for £425 posted, yum yum!

Yep, it was played by Phil Spalding. In fact, Phil talks about that Bassline in the video below. He was a very funny character:

Less upper mid is a characteristic of their 10's vs their 12's. Having had a Two10 and three One10's, and now the two Super Compacts. I was a little naive when I bought the first SC. I thought it would be just a bigger version of their 10, but it was very different sonically, and at first I was a little disappointed to be honest. The SC's are more "hi-fi", they reproduce a lot more of what goes in, without colour. Once I got used to them, I found I could get what I wanted out of them, and they sound huge, but it did involve a change of amp! The Bergantino I was using just didn't sound how I wanted it to through the SC's, it was too pronounced in the upper mid, very hard to describe, but almost clanky. Bear in mid, I'm a vintage P Bass with flats and the tone rolled off kind of chap. Now this 3x10 is out, I'm rather excited at the prospect of having "that tone" back again, smooth, warm, old school. I've withdrawn the Berg from sale as I want to see how it sounds through the 3x10. The wait is going to kill me.... Rob

Jam nights are a brilliant way to develop your skills. Yes there's the odd hiccup, but it's more than made up for by times when you know you've really been able to lift a performance.

I played (and still play) a weekly blues jam , so if somebody was doing blues material and needed somebody at the last minute , I’d often get a call simply because I knew so many players. And over the years had been in a lot of varied lineups. These days I try and get a song list in advance and give everything a listen. Sometimes I just have to listen hard and trust the instincts. My odds are pretty good at nailing the groove , but there are times the inevitable is inevitable.

Never tried flats on my Longhorn, so am curious to know what they'll be like. The rounds have been on it a while now, and probably would be too dead for me on another bass but still sound fine on the Dano!

I've shared most/many of the experiences of the above @JPJ / @Phil Starr and in a very short 12 month period went from 'old school' backline projecting to FOH for guitar + bass + loud drummer (I've worn custom plugs for 20ish years... still lost a bit of hearing), to silent stage, IEM, PA carrying everything; in the process I've also ran bass/others through monitors +/- IEM +/- backline etc etc (as @Phil Starr suggested). Some/most of these have 'eventually' worked for me but my main two caveats have been that your IE have to isolate effectively (designs/shapes vary and make this tricky) and more importantly the person working the initial PA/mixer set up has to know what they are doing! I spent many frustrating months trying to get a sound through my IE that even resembled bass never mind MY bass tone. I dabbled with all sorts of pedals / DI's et al to no avail, eventually establishing that the mixing desk had some architecture that had (guitar) pre-sets integrated into the desk/interface input I was using. I was all but ready to say 'stuff it' and I remember reading all the threads and thinking many on BC were putting up with rubbish tone for the sake of the Emperor's new clothes... but it worked for me eventually! As it happens I am now happier that I do not have to go down any one route; I now regularly swap between ALL combinations depending on the situation - there is no right/wrong!

Another Satdy night, another bar...this one, however, was a bit upmarket/older clientele (a new venue to us), and when a 60th birthday Do walked in (about 15 ladies, there were balloons and sashes, that kinda vibe), a hasty rearrange of the set towards the Girly Dancy Songs led to a more engaged night than it could have been... Downside, tho, was something that hasn't happened for a bit: Singist/Geetard/BL got there first, and texted 'Lads, it's up two flights of stairs', which was followed by three immediate responses of 'Oh, f**k nooooo...' Still, as I say, that's the first one this year, so can't really complain, especially as I've tweaked me back (Physio booked Weds) and was able to honestly swerve much of the heavy lifting...thank the gods for Helix and inears...

Ey Up Mi Duck festival near Doncaster on Saturday night. We were last on and they went absolutely nuts for us, singing along so loud I could clearly hear them over the on-stage racket. This was the view while the previous band played at the other end of the tent. Sunday night at the Castle and Falcon in Birmingham supporting Theatre Of Hate. There weren't many in, and the response seemed a little lack-lustre, especially when compared to Saturday night, but we won some new fans and sold some merch so that'll do!

With In Isolation at the Black Bull in Gateshead on Saturday. This is great gig but the last two times it's been rather poorly attended, with this time probably due to to Eurovision and several other high-profile goth gigs up north. Despite that those that did turn up seemed to enjoy it and some were even dancing all the way through the set. Sold some CDs afterwards and had several people asking when the new songs are likely to be released. Special mention to the support band Machiner who were absolutely brilliant, and by far the most interesting and enjoyable new band I've seen for some time. Go and check them out on your streaming or download service of choice. There's a good chance that we'll be sharing the bill with them again in the future. The whole gig was video'd so hopefully I'll have some visuals to post later.

It’s rare to find one of these that isn’t signed by Sting 😄

https://www.sweetwiter.com/store/detail/Punchline--jhs-punchline-bass-station-pedal-sweetwiter-exclusive

A while back, it was the roller-rinks. Dance marathons were very popular, and well-attended. Circuses roamed the land, setting up, then moving on. Street drama troops busked between towns and cities. These things and more had their day, and Life moved on. There's always been live music, for troubadours and sponsored orchestras. There's no reason why rock'n'roll should get a free pass. The wheel turns.

We play Hot N Cold by Katie Perry in a 4 piece (so no keys). Last week drummer says he's never been happy with the feel (after 3 years), basically we miss the 16s sequencer. So we spend 10 mins working on it, he's back to 4s on the hh and I'm playing 8s as I always have. So he's happy with that. Thanks all for persevering to change it. This week, I say "remember how we played it last week? " " No?" " You 4s, me 8s" "no I don't remember that, it's been a busy week. Hmm, no I think I prefer it how we used to play it" 🤨

I heartily applaud the modern fashion for writing everything in C and making every deviation from the major scale an accidental.

As far as I know the bassline on 'I'm too Sexy' was played by the sadly recently deceased Phil Spalding, not Richard Fairbrass.

Don't faff about, just come, bring basses, amps cabs and be prepared for an ace day with great food and top company.

My 1993 Alembic Europa Bass with Koa wood ❤️🎸

My three a few years back.... ....an '82, '64, and '71 (albeit modified with Jazz PUP and fretless board). A great gang, but collectively worth over £10,000. I love the idea of vintage Fenders, but in terms of value it's nothing more than an antiques market, you can build instruments of equal quality for significantly less than £1000 if you're patient. The magic is in the player not the instrument, despite what the dealers tell you 👍 PS those two rigs were also lovely, the Ampeg way better than should have been the case at the price - and so easy to hear on stage - and the Boogie/Bag End just glorious at any price

After managing to track down another EBS Microbass (albeit a 2j from Graham from this very parish, (Thanks once again mate) I’ve upgraded my travel/flyboard for when I’m not using a transmitter pack, or on small club stages. The main band I play with operate a silent stage with no backline, so a decent preamp is a must. I really like the EBS tone, so having one for each board is luxury… It’s nice having the option now, especially when trying to travel as light as possible…

I am not convinced about this. Of course these drivers could be different but having “ conditioned” several drivers in the past, IMO It makes little difference.

Gigged Saturday night, in stark contrast to the previous week, this social club didn't appear particularly social.. Large L shaped room, they put us at the bottom of the L with the bar at the top, we had to squeeze into the corner as we couldn't block the door to the toilets or the fire exit at the opposite end. First set was ok, few people singing along and we did get the odd bit of applause but for the second set, what there was of the audience had dwindled, so the audience was down to 4-5 plus our wives/partners. Three quarters of the way through the second set the last person walked out so we packed up, still got paid so can't complain, but very difficult to put any energy or effort in at a gig like that.. Highlight of the night was Steve the 2nd guitarist pulled out of the car park and got immeadiatly stopped and breathalyzed by the plod! Thankfully all clear..

The gear

Drove back from seeing Phil Campbell then watching pub gig in Narberth over the weekend. Utterly knackered. Bluesfire played Cubanas in Barry, always good for us, as crowd into blues rock and guitar pyrotechnics. As I was getting ready to load (gig less than a mile away) had non-stop thunder for 5 minutes out over the channel. Managed to load as first rain came scattered big drops, but got in car and then it went biblical. Sat outside venue for 15 minutes until it stopped. Got in, to find guitarist's dad stuck in rain with pa , lights and puncture. Used venue pa and lights (as good as ours, better monitors, but vocals only). Meant a speedy knock down later. Numbers a bit low due to weather, so started 15 minutes late. Numbers picked up to be ok for venue but not as many as we expect. Familiar faces and some new ones. Alex got the crazies and did some mad solos, I played my '76 mij Maya fretless (really overdoing the slides and posing with frantic arpeggios) and Flea Jazz. Alex dropped me into a solo so I got the crazies too. On one song Alex called The Hunter. Paul started drumming Walk In My Shadow, and I started the Hunter as Alex came in with Sultans of Swing 🤣 somehow we all settled on Walk In My Shadow by the first change. Another song my high d started feeding back, in the playout solo so I had some fun with that. Felt like were were jyst having fun while people watched. Despite this, went down really well and we were bombarded with great feedback, especially for Alex. Several people promised to come and see my other, new, band on Saturday our first gig in Barry. Walked out on a high, promoter said he'll come to my gig on Saturday too. Nothing for us until July now, but got a good bucket on top of fee, so we were able to stash enough for rehearsal studion end of june and get extra each. Now radox bath...

We played at a charity football match at Concord Rangers, Canvey Island. We were kindly asked back after playing at the inaugural event last summer. As usual with these type of event, load in and setup was a bit chaotic with lots of people, and the schedule was rather loose, so we finished playing a lot later than expected. Started playing at 6.30 with 2x 1 hour sets, but we didn’t finish until gone 10pm as they held the charity auction during our break (by what I overheard, signed football memorabilia was changing hands for a lot of money which was great for the charity!) Luckily, a lot of people stayed on after the raffle and auction so we still had a good sized (rather drunk) audience till the end of the night. It also marked the temporary return of one of our regular singers, Jenny, as it was local for her and she's heavily involved with the family running the event. She was on great form and was like she hadn't been away. Shoebury Con Club next week.

Lot of photos here. But in terms of what I do and why (and always the disclaimer to not assume this is necessarily the best/only way): - First, I have to get all traces off of the old glue. I generally use a single edged razor blade used as a mini cabinet scraper: - As part of the process, I give the fretboard a healthy water spray for two reasons. Firstly, it reveals remaining glue. Secondly, it's wood - it moves by itself and in different conditions. When the fretboard was first fitted it will have been damp from the water-based wood glue. That moisture gradually reduces (it's one of the reasons that fret ends can feel sharp on a new bass after a year or so - the timber shrinks, exposing the sharp edges of the frets previously filed flush) and certainly does when a domestic iron has been used to remove it! Water spraying it damp right through gives it at least half a chance of returning to the shape and length when first fitted. - I then sand both surfaces. This is a cheap sandpaper holder I found in, I think, Homebase. It's great - and especially for my increasingly arthritic hands! : - Next. I use two-sided sticky tape to stick a protective clamping cawl, using some old mahogany offcut, to protect the back of the neck when clamping: - Positioning the forward/backward placing using the side-dot holes as the guide (see previous post), I use a bobbin clamp to position the fretboard side-to-side and then drill two positioning 1.5mm holes through the saddle base to the neck for a couple of panel pins to be used as locators: - and yes - as I said above, wood moves. And the whole fretboard has a bend in it. With the above panel pins in place, and a second bobbin clamp holding the fretboard in position at the 5th fret, look how much the natural bend in the board is out of line with the heel end! : - To correct this bend (it pushes back straight and flush fairly easily) I could just use bobbin clamps at the heel end too, but, for the sake of a teeny hole in the fretboard, I think a better solution is another panel pin locator: - I will be clamping using radius blocks so that I can clamp in the middle, using that protective strip of mahogany at the back, and still have the clamping forces being applied fully either side of the fretboard. So ready for masking off the trussrod slot and the sides of the neck, Titebond is applied to both surfaces: - and, finally, panel pins are pushed into place, the radius blocks positioned and the clamps fully tightened down. Once it is fully clamped, and the squeeze-out has been cleaned up a best as can be done, the three positioning panel pins can now be removed so they don't get glued in! : Later this afternoon, I will be able to take the clamps off and see if we have a satisfactory re-fitting