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We played the Woodland Stage at Bearded Theory on Friday. I'd read a load of horror stories online about the weather and mud. Apparently they were towing people on to the site! Anyway, we got there at 1:30 for our set at 4pm. I'd forgotten my boots so was stuck hanging around back stage in my converse, trying to avoid getting stuck in the mud before our set. I got to set up my kit to the side of the stage so the changeover was only about 5 minutes. The sound was fantastic, as you'd expect at a proper festival like this. The field in front of us was packed, and it sounded like every one of them was singing along. Only a 30 minute set which makes it super easy on the drums as I don't have to hold back at all. Ace gig

In Isolation played The Arches in Coventry with Chaos Bleak on Saturday. I played there a about 10 years ago in my Terrortone days, but the venue has improved massively since then although it's still just as difficult to find. Both bands played to a small but very enthusiastic, and relatively young (for a "goth" gig) audience. Obligatory photos: Next gig for me is with Hurtsfall in Morecambe on the 8th June opening day two of BLAQKHOLESUN Next In Isolation gig is supporting The Rose Of Avalanche in Leicester on 28th July.

Gig at a nice local pub for us at the weekend. A new venue that’s only just started up live music so wasnt sure what to expect. Lousy stage area so using the short scale Lionel was a bonus. Audience was initially a bit subdued but we eventually brought them around and had a cracking night. Vox still having issues with his Shure wireless set up (losing contact between set up and start of set…) which meant he had to do his audience participation shenanigans with a long lead….

A pedalboard is never finished... But I am happy with what I use right now. First time programing MIDI. With no idea of what I was doing and watching youtube videos. Now, it activates the tuner, FS4 and FS5. It was what I wanted it to do, so 100% success. However, I'd like it to scroll preset up and down and also activate or deactivate a block. I am not sure if this can be done, but so far, so good. I don't have a proper MIDI cable so I used what I had xD. There is a project that I play in with very limited room on stage. In that project, I won't be needing the DI nor the MIDI pedal, so the idea is that I can remove it from the pedalboard easily. Since the pedalboard is a D'addario XPND, removing those two pedals it gets really small.

Filled the last gap on my board with the EBS. Decided to keep the Aftershock (it's got a great noise gate in it) and the Phaser so this is where it's at forever and ever and ever!! The star of the show is definitely the Starlifter and Compressor combination - awesome pedals. Getting some great sounds out of this board...

A bit of a strange one for us on Saturday, playing at a local festival that's always very well attended and has been going since 2006. I played there years ago with a previous band and we went down well, despite dodgy old PA's that were cobbled together from various ancient components etc etc. Fast forward to Saturday and things were.... different. The gig was indoors, the PA and engineer as well as the lighting were superb and the audience was sparse. Okay, we assumed it wouldn't be heaving at 5:30 on a Saturday but it was a bit of a shame that there weren't the crowd we'd been told to expect. We went down very well with the people that did see us so that was great, despite playing immediately after some young 'uns (the drummer was 14!) who played covers of mostly 1990's grunge songs and played them like they'd invented that sound - bejaysus they were good, and following them was a tall order! We played pretty well, and the bass sound was immense. I don't mean it was big, I mean it was like Kyuss in 1993. The amp was the provided Ampeg head and 4x10 (I think, but it could have been a 2x15) and combined with my new Cali76 the tones were amazing, even if I say so myself. Our singer, bless him, reckons he let us down but he wasn't feeling especially well and was really nervous as a result, convincing himself that he wouldn't be any good. I thought he was grand - maybe not quite up to his usual high standards but still better than the majority of cover band singers I've heard. All in all it could have been worse, and we broke our duck with our new drummer, so that in itself was good to do. Onwards to the next gig on this coming Saturday, which is a fund-raiser for boobies. Cheers, JRK

We strive to be balanced and fair in how we manage Basschat. Most of the time we get it right, very occasionally we don't. I think the ruling that we don't allow valuation threads is always going to appear contentious to a very small amount of users but this is offset by the fact that a small amount of the membership pay for running ads on a site that is run by volunteers & the valuation threads were being used as a sale opportunity by too many members in the past. We know this was not always the case but that's why the rule was put in. Most people accept it. Of course, we're not all the same. As per Kev's post, the "warning" literally opens with the line "this is not a warning as such" and carries no penalty points. It is never a reflection on someone's contribution to the wider BC community, just a response to that one post. I think we'd all agree that many people are generally just curious about value so it's why the message is worded in the way shared by Kev. We do what we can to promote the rules and the vast majority of all your posts / threads don't need any moderating. Most moderators put the rules in our signatures (sadly like many moderators, I spend more time on here moderating than I do posting). When you sign up, you agree to the rules (a long time ago for many of you!) and when you go on Marketplace the rules are there to be seen. We fully accept that BC rules are not always at the forefront of people's minds and that often small breaches are not intentional. We let this thread (& the previous one) run for a while. I think sufficient time has run on it for people to both comment and reply.

Yes it is. Now sit down, shut up and do what you're told. 😁

Is it just me or is this Deja vu of a thread from last week? Considering all the benefits available on basschat, it baffles me that anyone would have an issue with paying.

Hi Matt, I am concerned that you say the warning gave no advice? The below text was included in the informal warning you have acknowledged:- Hi there! Don't panic - this isn't a 'warning' as such - just a note to say that on Basschat we don't allow 'what's it worth' type posts in the open forum, because sometimes people use them to post items for sale without placing an advert. Subscribing members have access to a special valuation forum in the classifieds section, which is the best place to ask something like this. If you're still struggling to value your item, have a look on here by searching for your item in the marketplace forum, perhaps someone has sold one before. Another idea is to check eBay for 'completed' and 'sold' items. If you still can't find out, ask yourself what's it worth to you? You can list it with a rough (and realistic) price, then ask for offers in that range. We are working on a 'value your kit' service but in the meantime if you are really struggling for a price please feel free to email any details, including a picture or two if possible to [email protected] and we'll do the legwork for you. Did you not see this? As this would be an issue that the Admin team need to pick up as a bug.

It's because flipping breaks the social bond we have here as members and transgresses a moral code. As members here, we have a relationship to one another. While we may not physically be close, we consider forum members to be friends and as such we enter transactions with this perspective. Businesses buy cheap and sell high. Friends will (by and large) offer you a fair price and not seek to profit from your relationship. People who buy and sell for a profit are acting against this moral code. It's even more egregious when it happens on a forum (someone buys cheap on BC and advertisers for a higher price). As an example of how this relationship can impact you, I bought a bass here for £1300. I held it for a year and then called a London shop for a trade in price. The cash offer I received was £2300. The seller here (trusted member, good guy) had sold to me cheaply. (this was during COVID when prices for all US imports and bespoke basses went through the roof). I could have just pocketed the money. Instead we had a chat and agreed to split the difference. In the end, we both got £500 more than we had expected and all felt good about the world.

My Mod band will be in Dundee this coming weekend.

Oh boy, hold my beer. In 2009 I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass. Nice, right? Except I couldn't leave it alone. My first mod was to replace the pickups with EMG-HB actives. In the beginning it was simple passive tone controls and I put some abalone topped knobs on it because I was feeling fancy (got no clear photos of that though). Then I shoehorned in an EMG-BQC 3 band EQ and changed the knobs to be black John East ones. Then, I addressed the thing which was bugging me all along - the lack of selector switch in the usual Les Paul place. I found out that all the channelling and routing is there, they just don't bother drilling and fitting the switch on the basses. So I sorted that. Then I sold it. Then I regretted it. Then I tracked it down and bought it back. On its travels, it acquired Schaller straplocks, can't take the credit for that mod. Eventually, I got a bit bored of the EMG sound. Then Squier came out with their devastatingly lovely black and gold 40th anniversary models and I got to thinking how good this bass would look if given the black and gold treatment. So it got gutted, and the following fitted instead: Wilkinson WJB750 gold tuners DiMarzio X2N-B (DP125) pickups in black bobbins with gold rails Babicz three point replacement bridge in gold (ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FIND A GOLD THREE POINTER FOR LOVE NOR MONEY - I TRIED) New pots (including two push/push knobs for series/parallel on the tone knobs) Gold bell knobs Gold knob pointers Gold jack socket, gold three way switch with black tip, black pickup rings And for the final finishing touch, I had a custom "poker chip" made which reads DO / DO NOT, which mirrors general Star Wars related geekery and an inherent dislike of bridge pickups. All mods done by me, except for the final rewire which I bodged and handed it over to a tech to salvage because my confidence took a hit and I couldn't face re-rewiring. I am delighted with how this bass looks and sounds. It is done now. End of shaggy dog story.

Hi All, I stumbled across this on YouTube. Regardless of people's opinions on slap bass, I just really enjoyed the warmth and genuine enthusiasm with which he addresses the players, especially the young lad who's only been playing for a few years.

Sheer Heart Attic - Queen

Next Hurtsfall gig is opening day 2 of BLAQKHOLESUN 2024 at The Alhambra in Morecambe. We'll be on at 16.20 on Saturday 8th June but the whole weekend looks brilliant:

Back at Spen Victoria Cricket & Bowls Club for our delayed gig from February. The car managed to get me there and back again with no trouble other than the boot switch not working meaning I had to get everything in and out of it via the back seat. Our setup started after the Leeds match, so the mood in the clubhouse was a bit despondent and probably a fair few had gone home, but fortunately the place filled up and was pretty rammed by the time we were underway. We weren't perfect and all of us made a few mistakes, but we were all pretty much on it besides that, and the show had some good flow, apart from when our singist decided to pay tribute to half the Western world before our last song, but our two new songs went down well and the show was a success. I got compliments on my tone afterwards, and a guy I recognised as a fellow bassist have me a thumbs up and a big grin before he left midway through our second set. Same setup this time as last, with the Squier P in use as the Siredowsky (as it shall be henceforth known) is still guts out on my kitchen table waiting for my mate with the soldering iron to get over a bout of food poisoning and return to finish connecting it all up. No gig in the diary now until August, but our singist handed out one of our business cards so we might get another one lined up, which would be nice.

SATURDAY! Two gigs in one day, both with Azura - 4 piece rock 'n' roll/indie/80s stuff. The drive to North Wales took us four hours (should have been less than two) due to a crash on the A53876 (?). The gig was an open day at a caravan park in Towyn (ultra glamorous and sexy, as you can imagine) outside under a gazebo to a load of people who literally could not have cared less. We played pretty well, considering the total lack of any response. The highlight was the stilt walkers and fire dancers who had a boogie along to our set. Thanks, ladies! Then pack down, back in the van, back to the midlands for a quick car swap and off to a pub in Halesowen where we got to do it all again to a slightly more appreciative audience... a few folk seemed to be enjoying it, including the woman who repeatedly told the singer (mid song) that we HAD to do some Kings of Leon, despite being told three times that we were going to. A couple of mates of the band were there and said it sounded grerat out front, a few dancers up by the end and we had a laugh so... yeah. Highlights were the drummer thrashing away at the back like he was on the pyramid stage and finding a still edible slice of Friday's pizza in my bag as we were packing up. I went fully wireless for the first time, Lekato wireless XLR for the IEMs and subzero bug for the Bass... they both played nicely together, so that was a win. Looking forward to the sort of gig where I can go for a wander on to the dance floor. Played the StingRay -> Small board -> Amp board (thumpinator and VTDI) -> MB 802. Back about half midnight for a bottle of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew spiced christmas cider (6.2% ABV (approx)) Not the best gigs I've ever done, but it was more fun than not doing it and it's free money, right?

Monthly Bandeoke in Warminster last night. Dep guitarist was a tiny bit enthusiastic for my tastes but played well which is all that matters. I used this lot That's Jordan. He's a drummer. He deserves pity rather than censure.

Wedding gig on lead guitar for a friend of the singer. It was one of those gigs where it feels like an invisible force is making you sound and play better. Mind you I had a head start with a Custom Shop Strat and a self-pimped Tele Deluxe into a Matchless Lightning Reverb. I don’t normally use that Strat for such a rocky set but I mainly played through a couple of low gain drives and the thing just sang. Pic shows stage before we started.

Bought @Stealth ‘s Barefaced Big Twin and no surprise I’m bloody loving it! What a truly great tone. Running it with a Tecamp Puma 900 and it is sweet as! Lovely vibes with my pimped Chinese Tesco Express.

For the neck joint I will have a single screw holding the heel against the body, then the fret board extension will act a long horizontal tenon, held by a single bolt through the body. Sounds complicated, but isn't. It worked really well on the last build, it's completely stable and seems to be plenty strong enough. I rout the mortise for the fretboard extension/tenon in one go. A simple MDF jig with a locating strip of wood that slots into the truss rod channel. This makes sure everything lines up, and makes clamping a lot easier. I've already drilled the hole for the wood screw through the heel and into the neck block. Again, the screw helps with keep everything aligned while I rout. Here's the jig: Routing: Once the tongue/fretboard extension has been glue and sanded flat, it looks like this: The fretboard then goes on top. I haven't glued it at this point, still a few jobs to do first......

A wonderful and most unexpected tribute to the memory of our dear and much missed youngest son, Victor. Brian and Gerrie Davies

I previously asked for people’s options on an another thread about Squier Broncos as I was looking for a cheap backup bass to my Vintera Mustang. I was all but ready to order a Bronco and then this little beauty popped up on Bass Bros… for £55 more than a Bronco less shipping. I did something unlike myself and just pulled the trigger almost immediately on the basis that even if it’s not amazing, it’s a backup and will almost always live in its case in the van. I ordered the bass on Tuesday and it was delivered in an incredibly padded box on Friday morning. I gigged it straight away on Friday and Saturday night and I’ve got to say, I’m blown away by this little thing. The finish in particular is beautiful and it’s so easy to play. Possibly the best set up I’ve ever had on a bass, not a single clank or fret buzz, but with a lovely low action. It’s a wider neck than my mustang which took a minute to get used to but otherwise, It was so easy to play out of the box. I think it will likely continue to be my backup as I still think I prefer the Mustang. Strangely, although the Gretsch is a smaller overall length because of the smaller body, It feels bigger than the Mustang and Im finding the Mustang sits more comfortably when playing standing. Again, I find the tone is so nice but, for whatever reason (likely because I’ve been dialling in the Mustang for so long) I find the Mustang just cuts through ever so slightly better with our Amp-less setup. But, I’ll definitely get it out of the van more than I had initially planned! oh, and bonus, my 4 year old had an absolute blast playing with the mountain of bubble wrap whilst I inspected and noodled for 10 mins! Anyway, one happy chappy. These are well worth a punt if a 2nd hand one comes up! Alex

I'm getting married in the morning - trad...

Real fast and loose with that phrase "forever and ever".

and the award for 'best stage gear' goes to...

Well done on finding a practical use for a keys player!

It's not a democracy though.

Another day at the seaside for Mustang Sally, one of the very few gigs we do that's within walking distance for me, on the seafront at West Bay. It's the annual Pirates' Day event so lots of plastic cutlasses, funny hats and shouts of 'Avast behind!' (not I hope aimed at any of the punters' a*ses...) Weather was iffy, bright sun mixed with sharp showers. There were two stages (curtainsider trailers) so plenty of room width-wise but no depth, especially unfortunate as the open side faced south-west; guess where the weather was coming from? We're still having trouble taming the Bose PA, but then having to set up and get it sorted for FOH and foldback in an hour was always going to be a challenge. The outdoor venue made it even more so - no natural reverb/feedback from France (70 miles straight ahead) rather than the concrete warehouse walls where we played in two weeks ago! Musically it was good - no blunders, fast follow-on between numbers, radio-link for bass (Nux) makes its handover to our Gitrist easy when my sax set comes up in the middle. I put the setlist together specifically avoiding the new under-rehearsed numbers that fell apart at the last gig, so the punters danced and sang along but we had to chop our single 90-minute set by five at the end as the rain finally came down - nice to have the curtain-side slid along to keep us dry as we packed up! There's trouble brewing between the original band members who really want to go back to a classic three-box PA with knobs to twiddle and a ten minute set-up versus the more avant-garde who think it's worth persevering with iPad mixing, wifi links and quality speakers. Which side am I on? I couldn't possibly say!

Back at the basement at Exchange in Bristol, we (Hora) organised this gig with our guitarist's friend's band, Tüsk. We were a bit worried about tickets sales. This is our 6th gig, Tüsk haven't played in Bristol before, but we actually managed to almost fill the 50 capacity venue! Very pleased with that. Plus we sold a couple of t-shirts. I managed to snap my high C string on the first song so I was out of tune for the first couple of songs until I got a chance to retune 😅 I took along my Zilla cab because the stage is so tiny, and it delivered the thunder in spades, as it always does. Much better than their house cab, a beat up Ashdown 410. Love that thing. Signal chain was Combustion, GX-100, ABM-600, Zilla 212. VID_198270127_083805_925.mp4

This weekend saw me venturing up to Lincoln for the Call of the Wild Festival. I was delighted when I saw the backline because after 20yrs of flitting between Ampeg and Orange, I have recently moved over to Blackstar. I realised that although this was our third gig with the new drummer Andy, it was actually our first rehearsal together. The rehearsal was great which is normally kiss of death. The weather wasn't on our side and with no pride whatsoever, I can confirm that I own absolutely no practical clothes whatsoever. I stopped at a shop and bought an umbrella (colour coordinated with my shoes and car, as you do). The rain came before we went on but we had a fair crowd and it really brightened up quickly during the set. I haven't really used the Thunderbird too much since my Americana days. I like to mix it up and avoid rock style basses for rock groups etc. However, it is a beautiful and lightweight bass that has been with me for nearly 10 years now. I was feeling it, so went with that. Thanks to Jackie Middleton, Mark Ellis and, um, Andy the drummer for these three images.

Great British Tribute Festival at Newcastle Upon Tyne with the Elton John tribute. Proper trek from the midlands but a really good gig. Still currently on the road getting home, waiting for my McDonald’s coffee to arrive…

Stumbled across this, it did make me smile

I tend to stick with silver and red-silver-blue sequinned converse Dave, I just haven’t got the head for heights these days.

Loving the boots there Mart. Very nice indeed. Have to admit i have the same top. He has good taste Dave

😎

Most of my basses have been "creatively damaged" in some way. This is the main offender. It started off as a purple Indonesian Squier PJ, which I stripped and repainted pillar box red. I swapped out the neck for a left-handed Mexi Jazz model and added some stick on blocks, which looked much less silver in the picture on eBay listing... The BBOT bridge was replaced by a lovely Schaller 3D and I added a three way toggle switch. I changed the pups to Entwistle's because they're ace. I think the tuners are Gotoh's, from the eighties. I came across this "end of line" neck plate on eBay, I have no idea why someone would think this was a viable product, but i had to have it:

I was more freaked out that 2009 was 15 years ago!

I once got an Epiphone Jack Casady bass dropped off at the gig by my keys player and I plugged it straight in and used it for the whole gig. No point hanging around is there.

Fair play this is bang on and really positive and helpful.

Friday night at The Blue Bell Stoney Stanton in Leicestershire, just up the road from Stoney Cove for all you in the diving fraternity. It's a great little pub and Jade, the landlady is a bone fide Country fan. Went down a storm with the added bonus of my daughter and S-I-L attending as they were up from that London for the w/end. Lots of boogie from the audience and despite our drummer having a gammy leg, we played a blinder. My usual goto gigrig of Mike Lull P4 through the Handbox R400 and matching 1x12. On to Newark next Saturday

So tonights gig, because I couldn't get the sound I wanted on the last gig and had a not great gig because of it, I thought I might as well take the ME90B with me. I also have new strings and cleaned the frets. Because obviously I only got the 90b on friday and haven't had much time with it, just a play around last night, I didn't want to go to crazy, but noticed that in preset mode, P1 is a straight(ish) sound with a bit of an amp model, P2 is an overdriven valve amp with dirt and P4 is a wah thing, so I figured I could use those basic tones to get most of what I needed. The keyboard player is MIA tonight, so back to the 4 of us. So for most straight songs I used P1, for something with a lot of dirt I used P2, and for things that were just a bit rocky, I used P2, turned preset mode off and turned of the drive section, for a mid drive level. For funky music I used 4, and found that if you engaged the pedal you got to change the frequency of the filter of the wah and that was huge fun. For Whole Lotta Love, I could go for P2, start without the drive, add the drive in the middle and turn the echo section on, adjusting the delay until it was right (that I managed to do in the song gap - I could have used tap tempo but forgot). for Who Knew, back to P1, then off preset and mod on with a chorus, and just turned the dials up, putting the time to the end it is like a CE1 chorus like I had so it sounded familiar. The only think I missed out on what 'are you going my way' when I normally have an octave, but didn't know we were playing that until it started, and I hadn't selected it (forgot I could set the pedal to octave, until half way through the song). I had a great gig, really enjoyed it, and honestly the sound in my IEMs was so great, sounded just like the bass going through a series of different amps and pedals. It didn't sound even slightly digital and at no point did I not know how to get something I wanted. Love this pedal.

Any shop has to put their percentage on. Otherwise, there is no point in running the shop. I have dealt with BB a couple of times. Once, something went wrong which was neither their fault nor mine and Wil's customer service was outstanding - absolutely above and beyond.