Leaderboard

I asked for advice on buying this guitar and amp on another thread, and appreciate all the advice given. Well, I bought it....my first bass. A squire P bass and a Fender Rumble 25. Stripped it all down last night and cleaned & polished the frets and fretboard, body, chrome hardware. It was a bit too black and white for my liking, so put a matt black vinyl wrap on the pickguard. Put it all back together, and a new set of strings. Well pleased with how it came out. Plays really well, now to try and learn how to play the thing. Couple of before and after pics (hopefully).

Last week once again I was one of a few adults who fill out the cello and bass sections of my teacher's youth orchestra and it was a wonderful concert in the cathedral in North Bay Ontario. An entertaining mix from Bach to fiddle tunes and a couple of solo pieces as well and the crowd of about 350 loved it. The last number was a version of "Boil the cabbage down", an old fiddle tune, and for this piece about 9 of the youngest members were added and played like pros...from memory! In the second photo you will see a couple of the youngest musicians, they are 72 years younger than I am. 🙄 Loads of fun and I'm looking forward the next concert, probably in about 6 months, this one was a definite high point of the year for me and had some challenging music, I always learn a lot from these concerts.😊 Next up are a couple of jazz gigs, a theatre show next week and three bluegrass festivals in the summer.

Another nice local one for Glam Fever at the Milestone in Sheffield last night. It was definitely on the warm side and the fans were run to overdrive….wig wearing is definitely a challenge. An enthusiastic crowd and we had a good sound on and off stage for a change so I could go for the harmonies better than normal. Pleased with how we played - zero defects which was nice and sets us up nicely for a steady run of gigs over the next couple of months. Quick getaway was a bonus as I had two people picking up the mustangs I had for sale first thing. Down to the Lionel and Fallout basses for most gigs now - fortunately I love both of em.

Last night a very local pub, local enough to not be able to get through a whole track on the way to it. Nice load in, I had bought a 20kg wheeled dolly from toolstation, you plonk the PA on it and wheel it in, fantastic, wonder why i never got one before. Easy setup, but then things went down. I wan't happy with the bass sound, it sounded lifeless through the PA. Everyone else was complaining at other things on sound, although luckily I can field some of those questions. but all the way through people were complaining. And it was very hot, unpleasantly so. After half time I just turned up the volume of people who I could turn the volume up of, reiterated my point to one woman complaining that the vocalist sounded unclear that yes, he was unclear and there was nothing I could do about that as that is what he sounds like, and got one with it. By then I had got peace with my bass sound, my new IEMs were rather nice, I had the backbeat which also helped a bit and although there wasn't much audience, they seemed generally happy to be there. Managed to stop a few songs earlier as there was pretty well noone there and obviously home early. But the last few songs I enjoyed, the new songs we introduced for this week worked well, and unlike last week, my voice seems to have got over the whooping cough or whatever it was. And we get paid, onward and upward!

First time for us in the Bridgeness Club in Boness with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam band last night. Another sold out gig for us which is always nice. Early load in at 4pm doors opened at 6pm. Started at 8:15pm finished at 11:30pm with a 30min break in the middle. Easy load in as emergency sxit was next to stage and cars were parked on roadside next to it so that was good. Long narrow club house with a large dance floor that we had dancers most songs 1st set and full for most of the 2nd set. Asked back for next year, feedback was great. Odd one as another Glam band that i used to be in was in the Boness Town Hall but that obviously didn't affect our ticket sales. Easy drive home with little or no traffic on the country roads. Used my Sandberg VM4 into Handbox WB-100 and Mesa 210/115 cabs. Sound wise i could clearly hear the low end but not the top end. Had to boost the top end a bit more than normal. Guitarist at half time told me he had same issue and noticed the bass top end was getting lost in first half. Singer had issues with his IEM and ended up taking them out. All in all tho the sound out front was excellent according to my wife who attends all my gigs. Lots of vids being taken but no pics as yet. Dave

Nice gig for The InSect at Aces & Eights in North London last night. Combination of low glossy ceiling, lights and long exposure produced this cool pic

Just got back from first hig at my local. Was booked last weekend to replace a cancellation, finish at 11 in time for the fight. Third gig with Bendricks Rock and polar opposite of the second one. We now have our new permanent lead guitarist. Numbers were good, the upstairs room was pretty much rammed. The vocalist and I had hammered Facebook and it seemed to pay off woth numbers. Lots of friends and also some fans of Bluesfire who played nearby last week. We all brought loads of gear just in case so we had lights everywhere, even three lasers (count 'em) and the new pickup. Although we knew we were rough,no-one noticed. First half was just cheers, bit second half lots of dancing. Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting was an inspired choice. Second encore was sympathy for the devil and went on forever... rest of the pub was full for the boxing, but most of our audience weren't interested. We are definitely a Barry (or nearby) band and this was our first 'home' fig so hopefully we've started to establish a good reputation. Some photos sent to me by a friend.

Good night in Bognor despite the town being in virtual lockdown due to trouble there during the afternoon and early evening. Thankfully whatever it was seemed to be over by the time we got to load in but the atmosphere was a little tense and started and ended with the main door locked and entry only through the fire exit that could be monitored. Thankfully despite all that we had a good night with lots of dancing and the most singing along in ages. We were on a strict 11 curfew with punters warned that the bar would be shutting bang on 11 and that they would need to drink up and be gone quick sharp. Finished the second set and did “I love rock and roll” for the first time as a quick encore. Finished at 10:59 😁 Lots of compliments at the end of the night which is always nice 😊 IEM’s worked well tonight with one glitch when one of the guitars suddenly drowned out everything and my iPad had gone to sleep so I couldn’t do anything about it. Turned out to be something to do with the XLR from his Kemper and thankfully not repeated.

I have a little bag where I carry backups: some tools, strings, a strap, cables, batteries, adaptors, a little BAM200 amplifier... a wide range of stuff. I've just replaced it with a slightly larger one. Last night at soundcheck I realise I don't have my usual strap in the case. I had removed it to clean the bass a bit, and forgot to put it back. No biggie, I have a backup! Don't I feel smug? No strap. I didn't put a backup one in the new bag... Guy from the venue finds one. It's flimsy and has seen better days but I'm not complaining. 20 seconds into the first song of our 1st set... strap breaks. Managed to catch the bass, but I had to do the gig sitting down. You know what? It was a little weird but so comfy! I may forget my strap more often

TODAY! Shirley Beer & Cider festival with the Cantina Band! Firrst band on, a one hour set at 3PM, Backline provided, sound engineer and everything - unusual for us. Backline was slightly less good than was mentioned in the contract, but it'd be a bit churlish to complain, right? Halfway through the setlist, we realised we still had about 40 minutes left to play so we had to chuck a few old faithfuls in. We played pretty well, Crowd seemed to enjoy it (from afar), it was all going great guns until the power went... it came back on eventually, minus monitors, so we did what we could for the last few songs. Played the Steling -> small board -> Hartke 410 (I was promised an Ampeg, dammit!) Pay wasn't great so they made it up with beer tokens, enjoyed a pint of Mavis Bumblethorpes (?) Perry (5.4% ABV) on stage, then once we'd finshed, I had a pint of Giddy Goat cider (6.8%), followed by a pint of Merrithorpe's blackout stout (8.75% ABV), then it was back to the cider for a pint of the Spazwhistle (?) 'Guvnor' (10.7% ABV), then I think I had a couple of pints of the Arthur Baslingtons 'Deep, dark pit of depression' (15.8% ABV), followed by a pint of Fotheringay's Self-loathing IPA (21.8% ABV), then it was back to the Cider bar for a couple of pints of Fighty McBastards 'Punchdrunk' Perry (27.9% ABV) which was delicious, before trying the Scrambleton's 'Regret' chocolate stout (39.875% ABV), then I decided to play it safe with a nice, refreshing pint of Samuel Bobbington's 'What in the name of God?'' (19.8456% ABV) before I really went for it with four pints of Asquith's 'Kidney Killer' (57.7% ABV). I was a teensy bit tipsy by this point, so decided to play it safe and stuck to the easy drinking, super quafffable Hampton's 'This is a terrible idea' Porter (157.8% ABV) for the final six pints. Apparently, I walked the 3.8 miles home.

Hi All, a brief story of good service from Thomann. After much hemming and hawing, I finally pulled the trigger and bought an Origin Effects Cali76 Comp. Bass Compressor back in early April. Then, in mid May (37 days later and clearly outside the 30 day return period) I saw that the Origin Effects Cali76 V2 Bass Compressor had been released, with some significant improvements but the same price. I wrote to Thomann and said “I know you guys aren’t obliged to, but given the unfortunate timing, would you consider exchanging the units for me?” An hour later, I had the returns document and they gave me a credit note allowing me to purchase the new unit. Result! I am well pleased with their customer service.

Nice one playing at Kings Lynn Cocktail festival. A surprisingly sedate crowd*, I can’t imagine they’d hit the cocktails very hard. However we played well and they seemed to like us. * unlike these lovely ladies photographed outside the venue about 7:30pm, who seemed to having a fine Saturday night out.

And after drinking with @neepheid on Friday, that's where I went wrong as well

It's about time that I 'fessed up to this, by admitting that it was I that gave the erroneous advice about posting in an inconspicuous way a request for valuation (in the manner of 'What do Squiers fetch, these days..?' or similar...). I was wrong, mea culpa, and all the more stupid as I had been a Mod, for quite a long time, and should have thought better of it. It was I, too, that 'reported' the original post, as it was in flagrant breach of the 'valuation' rule. I explained the rule, and its reasoning, in my reply to the OP, but the advice I gave, although in good faith, was wrong, and has led to all this rumpus. Apologies to all; I could plead old age and senility, but I should have thought it through a lot longer. Sorry.

I will not play Status Quo. There's a line and that crosses it.

1974 jetglo 4000 in action last night (it's first run with me) with goth band The InSect

There was no firm reschedule date for my op so I decided go to Berlin after all. After five years of FI collaboration, Andras and I finally met in person for the first time.

A few photos from the day.

That skirt is so short, she could sit on a quid coin and tell you whether it was heads or tails.

Get yourself an 18" gym fan. They work a treat. We have 3 of them, drummer, myself and our female singer using them. Guitarist and male singer don't like them, it blows their hair about You can either position at each end of the stage and just creates an overall air flow across the full stage or position for individual needs. I personally need one because of that wig i have, its long and very thick.............no pun there, honest !!! Dave

Well that's me back up the road in Aberdeen. First things first, thanks so much to @rwillett for organising this bash, I think it was a great success and I hope it carries on. Thanks also to Rob's family for helping behind the scenes, for feeding us pizza and delicious cakes/treats. Great to meet old friends and make some new ones. Highlights for me were reacquainting myself with my first ever bass (the Epiphone EB-3), giving a BackBeat a go, playing a bass that cost twice what my car cost me, and checking out Rob's 3D printed instruments. I took some pics, all of gear I think, I'll get 'em up shortly All the best to you, and here's to a very successful bash! Slàinte mhath!

I guess that like anything it's about how close they want you to get to the original. Some classic rock is fairly straight forward, some is more complicated but can be simplified and some has to be played as recorded as the bass forms an important part of the song. I was asked to learn 'Fool For Your Loving' exactly as on the record for an audition and once I sat down to listen to the bass parts, I found there were more notes than I thought! 😃 But I could have got away with playing less had they not insisted on complete accuracy. I assume you have the set list so you could categorise the songs into 'Easy to learn', 'Easy version of tricky bass line' and 'Iconic bassline that needs to be played'. Ultimately the band will set you right on what they want. Personally, I don't like the phrase 'get away with' so I'd be learning the basslines as they are or versions I can learn quickly that are sympathetic to the song. Go for it and good luck. 😃

Really interested to try one. It’s exactly the sort of thing I excitedly buy and never use 😅

Honestly I think my favourite thing about this is the tuner on the side and the fact you can use it and activate it without getting your phone out.

My daughter asked me to say "Thanks for the generous donations to Craven Wildlife Rescue". You kindly donated £51 and Thebe is very happy. The money will go on rescuing owls and hedgehogs. Owls apparently are quite expensive to feed 😊 Booths don't sell dead mice and other stuff like that. Peter Can you sort this out please?

On Tuesday May 28th my band SHREDS. hit the Star & Garter in Manchester with 80's hardcore legends NEGATIVE APPROACH... if you're nearby and like punk / hardcore, you won't want to miss this show! Let me know if you plan to be there! If you aren't nearby and want to catch another show, you can find other dates on Bandcamp and Songkick (https://shredshc.bandcamp.com/)

Vinyl wrap is 100% reversible.

Tonight's board

Put together a quick montage and demo of my little board. Covers all my musical needs. Can go from clean to dirty to filthy to synthy. Apologies for my sloppy playing :’(

Keyboard player is where they all should be, hidden behind the pillar playing with his organ.

So that will include everything that comes under the banner of 'blues'... well for me personally!

I think @Dad3353 nailed it. Our 80s band has quite a few songs with nihilistic and/or depressing lyrics - Town Called Malice, Suedehead, Love Will Tear Us Apart, In Between Days, Another Girl Another Planet and so on - and the punters seem to love 'em.

Jimmy Jimmy - The Undertones

But with Nirvana you don't have to listen to that horrible Mancunian whine.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7JxIT-Mqf0/?igsh=MWQ0YXU0N3ZjY3pyYg== Looks like they're bringing them back!

Mother In Law — Ernie K Doe

Pic splurge alert. Incoming!

I have a 100-watt Nobsound, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274444339477, which I use to drive an active stool or a platform with drums. I think the Eich could be an uprated version of this although the price hike is a bit alarming. The 19-volt power supply is 60% the size of the amp so it's all a bit messy. I've modified mine so the speaker outlet is now a jack rather than terminal posts however the input is still a phono. I have yet to try it with a bass through a decent speaker.

I don’t have any squires myself but I set one up for my nephew, yours looks really good and the fender rumble is a great amp, well done, I think you’ve got a good setup there

A Rickenbacker bass from any era makes me think "Iconic look, Inconsistent everything else". That said, we may have trend here. I'm no Ric expert but I've played more than a few, and my favorite, by far, is this 1992 4003 that belongs to a keyboard player I've been with on and off for thirty years. This bass was in my possession for a decade but he won't sell it. Maybe 1992 was a good year at Ric. Maybe.

I've been criticised on there for "talking down prices". Lots of collectors. One reason the price is so high is that the prices keep going up. It's a tragedy as so few good bass players can afford one, let alone dare take them out for a play. My fretless custom is out every week, it gets bashed a bit, I don't care; I'm not going to sell it ever. Great basses, but not THAT great. And the vaunted Rush and Tool connections are bogus as neither Mr Lee nor Mr Chancellor sound like they're playing one ( all effects and Geddy's weird low action light string setup). Flea, yes, BSSM has MK2 Wal all over it.