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New to me, but a 2011 model. A ‘Ball Family Reserve’ instrument, limited production run. I’ve asked about the actual production numbers, but they are not known. Most Stingrays are 4H, so I’d imagine this is a pretty rare beast in this specification. There is a very subtle copper sparkle in the paint. Invisible in daylight, & just about visible under lights, but that’s where the ‘Black Sugar’ name comes from. Rare for me to want a painted body over exotic wood, but the gorgeous roasted maple neck ticks that box. It was the sound that made me want it anyway - as soon as I played it plugged in, I knew it was coming home with me!!

The bass is now finished I cannot wait to collect it. I would just like to say a big thank you to Chris and everyone involved in making me this bass. A special thank you to Martin who’s been amazing thanks mate. 👏👏

Somewhat delayed report of four gigs over the last 10 days. First was with the covers band Bandwidth (not my idea) at Blakeney Harbour Rooms beer festival. It wasn’t actually raining when we set up, so they had us playing outside under a gazebo in the beer garden. The venue hired a very good sound engineer with excellent kit, so my LFSys Monza and Blackstar U700 were more than I needed. I could have used a preamp direct into the desk and I am sure Mark would have made it sound fantastic. Unfortunately, the weather intervened. It was pretty cold (around 14C) when we started and about half way through our 2 hour set, it started to rain. We decided to play through without a break. Most of the tables were occupied when we started but by the end our audience had dwindled to about 6 stoic individuals huddled together. I later learnt that this group included the ex-British High Commissioner to Nigeria, the former Financial Times Nigeria Correspondent and the former President of the Nigeria/Britain Association. Blakeney is that kind of place where the great and good retire. Gig number two was at the Necton festival with Checkmate Kings blues band at the Necton Festival. It had been lashing down that Saturday but about an hour before were due to go on (early evening) it stopped a the Sun came out. The stage was a trailer but they had an amazing sound system with two very competent sound engineers. I had come prepared to make enough noise to be heard, which turned out to be completely unnecessary because of the amazing PA. I had my BF Two10, plus LFSys Monza stacked under a Blackstar U700, which can handle the 2.7 ohm load. We just had a one hour slot but the crowd had grown due to the sun and were appreciative. The backstage organisation was great as well, somehow turning the bands round in 15 minutes! The money was pretty generous by local standards as well. All in all an excellent gig. Gig three was playing in the “house band” for a blues jam organised as part of the Dereham Blues Festival. I brought along the LFSys Monza and a Mark Bass LM III. Another great combination and easily able to fill the pub with bass, without having to go much above 10 o’clock on the master. It was interesting to hear the rig from the audience side during the general jam, when the house band weren’t playing. It sounded great with a number of different basses: P bass, Mustang P/J and a Jazz. We had quite a few participants and plenty of punters. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and there was some excellent playing. One or two oddities but overall a great night. Shame about the cricket on the massive TV behind the band! That’s pubs for you! This brings me to gig four at the Dereham Blues Festival with Checkmate Kings. This is our third year playing at the festival and we were delighted to be given a prime slot: 9-11pm at the Kings Head on the Friday evening. The Kings Head has a massive beer garden and puts on a real ale tent plus catering during the festival. It is normally packed on the Friday of the festival but this year it lashed down. We asked the manager if we could play inside in their back room three times but they insisted on us playing outside on their fixed outside stage (it is covered). Consequently we ended up playing to about 10 people in the garden and another 20 or so in the pub (which had the garden doors open). Be careful what you wish for! On top of everything else, they have a decibel limit because of local residents complaining about noise: the complainants moved in recently, next to a pub that has been putting on live music since the 60s! We had to turn down a couple of times, so I doubt the folks in the pub could hear us that well. It turned into a paid rehearsal but the last gig for our current vocalist/guitarist. Not the greatest way to go out! No photo of that gig unsurprisingly.

OK folks, the nasty jibes and passive-aggressive (or just aggressive) snideness stop right now or the thread gets locked. There is no place here for that sort of childish nonsense. If you're going to debate, do it like grown-ups.

Give the mods a break, lads, FFS

Thanks for reading what Rich and I had to say and taking it on board, top chap. That about wraps this thread up I think, cheers all.

If you're going to be a member of this forum, do so in a nature that wastes as little of our time as possible. We're volunteers, and we do the best we can. Try doing the best you can, please?

Thank you for the lecture and for pointing out my minor failings, when I have a spare moment (believe it or not, this isn't actually my day job) I'll go through and "moderate it impartially". Oh, and cheers for the suggestion that it's deliberate inequality rather than genuine error. Much appreciated. However, you've missed one important point regarding the deleting of posts: IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN NECESSARY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Frank Blank & The Bandying Semantics. Hmmmm, anyone play fiddle?

I'll see your Keith and Tex and raise you Keith on his own:

Jazz festivals sound great! I might try one. I hate jazz.

Conversely I’ve got some gigs because I do! You’ve described my BVs exactly - a characterless voice that does seem to complement others.

It's like the tan someone gets if they fall asleep reading and the book finishes up covering their stomach.

Not currently gigging or planning to, but I'd have nae problem wearing my latest headgear purchase onstage. I mean - Tunnocks Caramel Wafers in hat form, go on ya wee scruffbag 👍

So I popped down to Bass Bros yesterday and came away with a 79 Fender P bass. It's a bit of a mutt, with a non-original scratchplate and a nice Lindy Fralin pickup. In addition, I've swapped out the bridge for an old Badass 2 and put on heavier gauge strings. As you can see, it has been stripped, but thankfully they did a much better job than I did when I stripped a 77 P bass years ago! It plays nicely, but I think that it could do with a touch more relief in the neck, which I hate doing myself on old Fenders so it might be going to a tech for a pro setup as soon as I get a chance. Not exactly one for the purists, but it has the feel and vibe of an old Fender, sounds great and as a bonus is reasonably light compared to my old 78 Precision.

Anyone else never heard of this band from the 70's? Can't imagine why they never gained a higher profile, some very talented ladies .... I'm looking forward to doing some more research although a google search might reveal some dubious results given the name!! Enjoy

It seems that everybody can get a gig at a jazz festival nowadays as long as they are a big name or they don’t play jazz. At least that seems to be the story for quite some time now in european jazz festivals. I was offered a ticket from a friend who was playing the Gent Jazz festival so i checked the program of the day and the main acts were some (what i heard on the embedded video) Adele type rip-offs. And basically the whole program seemed to have about 15% jazz or jazz related music. What’s going on? Is the word jazz so attractive that you can stick anything in the program and your sales are great? Opinions, experiences?

Pretty sure they did a slot on The Old Grey Whistle Test back in the day.

Oh they really do look awful. Can’t get my head around the paint job/finishing. It looks like someone started something and then changed their mind half way through. Hey, if it makes someone happy, then Spector have done their job, but if that turned up on my doorstep, it would go straight back. I hope they play/sound better than they look, which I’m positive they do.

Wonderful track and groovy dub is such a great mix

I Dye, You Dye - Gary Numan

Turn to Red - Killing Joke

Gotta love an Ampeg! Tried everything else and nothing touches it although Ashdown CTM300 is close, its perfect (for me)

Just get out there and sing. Do as much as you can, you'll get better at it. I lost a few good gigs because I don't sing!

Is that a tiny bass or a huge cat?

No, you don't need to add 6k8.

They did a pretty good version of Badge too

Go on, go on, go on.

Just effin lock this thread already. What a burlap sack full of bile it is. I think I said something about picking scabs.

The issue is the huge gap between what Korg advertises ("Each Euro CST instrument is meticulously crafted using premium materials, featuring a striking, highly figured Poplar Burl top, a resonant European Ash body, and a 3-piece North American Maple neck paired with an Ebony fingerboard) and what they actually ask retailers to sell:

tbf I can't remember the last time I put an Album on and listened to it, I usually listen though my phone which in on shuffle, didn't realise how up to date I was 😂

Our apple tree was very productive last year and we left windfalls at the end of the driveway in a cardboard box every day. The apples disappeared every day, the box didn’t. But if we left them in an old supermarket carrier bag, that went too.

Ohhh, thanks for that 🙂 Well, I don't think the Ted Hughes Award Committee's going to be troubled much, but it's a lot better. And at least it didn't, like Jon Bon Jovi did once, rhyme 'I wanna be just as close as' with 'The Holy Ghost is'...four times in one song... 😀

Ps really interesting thread, thank you all

Mmm. Tunnock's.

The amount of passion/effort that people put into justifying the pros and cons of tonewood is always guaranteed to bring a smile to my face, it's got to be one of the most debated/divisive topics ever 😂 For me personally it's snake oil selling. Wood by it's very definition is organic matter that can have different properties from piece to piece, even within the same tree. How people can quantify all of this to say this wood sounds better or gives more definition in the low end etc is beyond me. I don't care what wood a bass is using as long as it sounds good to my ears, that's the true litmus test regardless of what it's made of - I've played plywood bodied bitsa basses that sounded great and expensive basses that sounded crap. As soon as you rock up to a gig and you're faced with a low ceilings, reflective surfaces, an empty room 😁 it all goes out the window.

This is basically the end of discussion for any tonewood talk IMO. I have had a triggers broom bass for years that has had a cheap and nasty maple neck, which when I got some more cash was replaced with a nicer (Mighty Might I think) Rosewood neck and now has a Graphite neck. Each neck change to my ears made the bass sound a little different when played unplugged. As soon as it was plugged in and the amp cranked up then I really don’t think anyone would notice the difference. Add a guitar and forget it.

Oh no..! Now we have a debate on tone-grass starting..! ...

Are you new here? 😀

They travel long distances in US so you never know. They probably have one of these i bet. The Maple Road van Dave