Leaderboard

Well, not today exactly, it arrived Saturday, but close enough. It's a new to me Ibanez EHB1005SMS. Short/medium scale (30-32") fan fretted 5-string bass. Found in the B-stock section at Andertons for a decent price (£699 inc official gigbag and shipping) I've been thinking about one of these for several months now. It's not my usual thing at all, but I've been curious about fan frets, and this one ticks a lot of other boxes as well. I'm a 4 string player at heart. I played a 5-string exclusively for many years (and had a 6-string for a little while), but I realised I played it as a 4-string with a few extra low notes on an extended thumb rest. However, my band's repertoire has been edging into genres that need lower tunings. I've been making do with the pitch-shift on my Helix that works rather well, but I can't be bothered to set it up at home to practice (and I've been through somewhat of a journey finding a small practice device that handles pitch-shifting - so far settled on the Katana:Go). I've been curious about fanned frets for some time now, but being vertically challenged, and with a limited budget, I didn't fancy going up to 35" of the regular Ibanez EHB series, or 37" of the Dingwalls (although I'd love to try one). I've been having so much fun with my diminutive Jackson Minion that I thought I'd give this 30-32" model a go. This should also prove useful in tight spaces so I don't end up clumping Dave, one of my guitarists, around the head! I'm also very conscious about weight and balance. This is a little under 8 lbs (I haven't actually weighed it myself, but it feels very light). And I could tell immediately when I first saw this design that would balance very well and give easy access to each end of the neck. I quite like that the back of the upper bout is slanted, so it brings the bottom of the bass forwards a little - like a built-in beer gut. All in all, the entire design appears to be well thought out - function over form. Thoughts so far. Handles and feels great. Feels perfect on a strap and doesn't change position when seated (and still balances when seated). The fan frets are easier to adapt to than I thought. The extra string however... Needless to say I haven't played a 5 string in a while! Still, I guess it's easier than the mental gymnastics of switching to BEAD tuning on the Helix. The strings are dead. I know it's B-stock (meaning it could be a customer return), but I think it still has the original strings on. New set delivered to work today to install later this week (if I can work out how!) The preamp appears quite powerful (although difficult to tell with dead strings). I'm not a big fan of active basses (I can't be doing with swapping batteries - and I've broken a couple of battery clips on past basses and pedals), but at least this one has a full passive mode, where the treble pot becomes a passive tone. I've yet to determine if the passive mode works without a battery. If it does, I'll be very happy. Still, once I've changed strings, I'm hoping this will be able to achieve "that" modern 5 string tone. It didn't come with the straplocks that the bass originally ships with, only the strap buttons. Not a problem for me as I don't use straplocks anymore - I have a strap permanently attached to each bass with rubber washers. However, these straplock buttons don;t work as well with rubber washers, so I've ordered a new set of larger buttons Those who know me will know I don't like skinny or thin necks. This was a gamble, but it appears to have paid off. It's comfortable wide and doesn't feel like it's going to snap. Fret markers. This is my main, and only gripe TBH. The roasted maple neck and fretboard is lovely and all, as are the abalone markers, but I just can't see them. The side dots are luminlay (or something similar), but again they disappear into the wood colour under normal light, and charging them up with a UV lamp only lasts a few minutes. I've spoken (emailed) fretlook.com from whom I bought block inlay decals for my G&L. They've said they should be able to design a set of similar block inlay decals to fit this fretboard. That should make things much easier. Obligatory "fresh out the wrapper" pic below.

Not a bad gig. We sounded really good. Engaged and respectful size crowd and food and drink comped. It was the heat that got to me. I had to play the last few songs sitting down. I felt really faint. One of the patrons was hauled away in an ambulance. Guys, I'm 70. 2 gig weekends are becoming a challenge. Daryl

If his record of actually delivering objects to a destination is anything to go by, he is more likely to be throwing lame excuses.

Another week, another dead pub. Not sure how many more of these I can take. Flat singing (not me) and spending too much time messing on with the mixer (me), no energy from the crowd which we are all definitely reflecting. Humbug! Setup (it did get a little busier!) Stage Video

First gig for a little while on Saturday, at the Postcard Inn in the bustling metropolis of Holmfirth (Last of the Summer Wine territory for those of you of a certain age). We'd played here before a couple of years ago before my time and they were keen to have us back, so I enjoyed a lovely drive through the countryside and tested my car's clutch on some of the hills. Holmfirth actually was pretty bustling and trying to find a parking space in the large public car park behind the pub was a challenge, but I lucked out and got one relatively close, as opposed to our singist who had to park halfway to Denby Dale from the way he described it!. The pub has a downstairs bar as well where there was a function happening, and our guitarist and I got very confused when we walked in to see that a band had already set up before the bar staff sorted us out. This was the first time I'd used my Siredowsky on a gig and it sounded mint through the ABM and Two10S in soundcheck, and I got positive feedback after the gig as well. The only issue I had is that somehow the level on my drive pedal seems to have been turned down, meaning I sounded really weedy on a couple of songs until I got a chance to turn up the amp volume to compensate, so I need to get that sorted before next time. As for the gig itself, things were going pretty well until technical issues crept in (not mine this time, thank goodness!). Just past halfway in our first set when our keyboardist's synth decided it wanted to have a moment and he had to reset it, but unfortunately restored an old backup of his presets without knowing it so he had a bit of a flap at songs being missing. He figured out what he had done at halftime, but we had to swap in the first four songs of our second set to close out the first. This threw us all off a bit more than it should have. Club Foot (second set opener) went well, but our drummist made a complete hash of the breakdown in A Town Called Malice and it took us a few bars to get back on an even keel. That threw me off and I started the next song in the wrong key. Our guitarist's wah pedal was causing her issues as well, getting stuck on and her tone was interestingly weird in a few places because of it. Fortunately the second set went a lot smoother after our singist had had a gripe at all of us about our cockups (we were all too mature to mention him going for a wander during the breakdown of Sit Down and forgetting to start singing again for several bars though), but it's clear our keyboardist needs to do something about his synth as the pitch shifter is also temperamental. He doesn't have a case for it or anything, or a backup, so if it craps out then we're buggered as there aren't many of our songs that we can style out with no synth. Having had a major failure myself I have spares for everything except the cab, and in the unlikely event that fails then I'll be DI-ing through the PA, and our singist has a backup mic in case his wireless one fails. Our guitarist uses a Boss Katana combo, and if that ever craps out on her then we'd be similarly scuppered as most of her tones are based on presets and patches rather than effects pedals. I think a conversation about contingency measures needs to be had at our next rehearsal. Obligatory "tonight's office" pic below. No band pics yet but there were a few people taking photos and videos so hopefully more might be forthcoming. No planned gig now until the end of November (!) but hopefully we might get one or two sorted before that.

Played a metalfest last night. Great gig, pretty busy and we seemed to go down pretty well. One of the warmest stages I’ve ever been on! We got a new drummer and he did very well. Few cock ups but no issues! Our IEMs had a weird issue (I’ve posted in the IEM bible thread), guitarist could hear everything but drummer, singer and I couldn’t hear right and i was getting weird interference. Crackling etc. need to figure that out. Sound was Quad Cortex direct with my Status Chris Wolstenholme (v1). Muchos compliments after! Venue used smoke so photos were… difficult!

Sunday jam in the old dive.

Firstly apologies. I always forget to take a money shot before a gig. Last night was an odd one. The Rebbels played an old coaching inn in Blandford Forum, The Greyhound. It is in the open air, under a huge umbrella. We usually mange a nice warm evening but last night was cloudy and a little chilly, however the crowd was good and we played well. I was using my usual rig of a Bugera Veyron into my LFSys Monza. Now the Monza has never disappointed but this was the first outing in the open. I had the volume up much higher than usual as expected but the Monza took it all in its stride. I was shocked at such a huge bass sound from a single 10. I can understand the "need" for a stack, and one day I will try another Monza but really I don't need one. Of course there was a problem. Firstly I used a cable from the pedal board to the amp that I had not made. Big mistake, The signal kept cutting out when I stood on that cable. I also must have moved the control on my M2 bass in transit. Switched to passive and all was well.

Pub gig last night with blues band The Alligators. Venue was The Queens in Bridlington old town. Strange layout with a high stage somehow reminiscent of an old galleon! Lively sounding room so was pleased my Fender Rumble 500 combo coped with it okay. Used my Precision Lyte, which did the job rather well. One of those gigs where there was a constantly changing audience, probably due to a few other boozers nearby with other entertainment going on, so got used to seeing new faces all night. Only my 3rd gig with the band ( and just the 2nd time on bass! ) but it went pretty well - I didn’t drop any huge clangers and managed to style out the rest ( I think! ). Will need to be digging out some ear protection from now on though, am just not used to pub band levels. Next gig is this Friday, also in Bridlington town at The Stirling Castle. Apologies for the rather ordinary photos, it was better than it looked, honest!

Nice gig at a fairly local gastro pub type place last night. Hopefully our recent drummer issues are now behind us; the dep brought in that did the last couple of gigs with us (after the drummer for the last 9 years left with no notice) sadly hit some personal issues which left us drummerless with only 4 days to the next gig. Fortunately the dep that was due to come on board in November stepped in and smashed it out of the park. I’m hoping he’ll come on board permanently as he’s a great communicator on stage.

Update. You may or may not know that I had a Monaco, the 12" version for a while and as I am getting a bit older and mor feeble and traded it for the lighter 10" Monza. The smaller size also makes it easier to load the car when I have the full PA loaded. I knew that I would sacrifice a small amount but as I never pushed them too hard. I did not worry. Yesterday we played The Greyhound in Blandford, Dorset. It was an open air gig and we usually play there twice each summer. However this was the first time I used the Monza there. I knew I would have to turn up the volume and I expected to have to tweak the low end a bit. I started to play and turned up and this lovely sound come out with plenty of usable low end came out. I had the feeling that it would have taken much more without breaking a sweat. I use it with my Bugera Veyron, and amp that gets seriously loud. However I am sure that the Monza would handle everything I could through at it. I am not on commission although I do get a nice cup of coffee when I drop in to LFSys World HQ in Casterbridge. Suffice to say that the Monza is a Hardy cabinet and it will not let you down.

Nothing wrong with a P bass...

Is that a midge's smidgen?

Is a gnat's whatsit bigger or smaller than a smidgen?

After weeks of no progress, I've managed to get it to this stage today: It's playable but the nut needs cutting properly (which may be a job for a professional) and the neck needs shimming slightly, as the pocket is a little deeper than the neck is intended to be set, but that's okay. The pickups are VERY powerful and will need to be set down further into the body come set-up time, but it sounds pretty good, with a wide range of sounds, all of which sound good so far. The only things I'm not happy with are the body's shape (not much I can do about that) and the quality of the finish (could do something about that if it wasn't a cheap bitsa); the obvious solution is to find a better body, which I may well do further down the line. Cheers, JRK

Is it this month's Heft?

My first gig in two years last night was a dep job for rockabilly outfit 'The Rhythm Burners', whose DB player had broken his thumb. The 'sold out' event was brilliant, with a really good vibe to it. Some lovely comments on my playing/sound were greatly appreciated, as were the attentions of some rather pretty females 😊. I don't play DB, so it was '76 Jazz, RM800 evo2, Markbass 210 pure into desk. Oh, the van (drummers) ran out of diesel five miles from home 🙄. The joys of being back on the road 😄.

Just played an hour and half acoustic set in the courtyard of the Star Inn, Harbottle, Northumberland. Great setting, and an attentive and appreciative crowd, many of whom will now be enjoying the acoustic night in the bar. The weather gods were good to us too and whilst the sun went into hiding shortly after we started, the rain that was threatening never made an appearance. Plenty of guests joining us, and at one stage we had a twelve string acoustic, a cellist, and a cajon’ist on ‘stage’. I love these stripped down acoustic gigs, oh and so does the landlady who has booked us back in November (this time in the bar). Today’s rig was my NS NXT, the TC Impulse with the 3Sigma German bass (mic 6) running into the EBS Stanley Clarke, then out to the desk and the TC 250 208 combo (for personal monitoring) via the SushiBox with bass in mind Finally valve DI. I think I am becoming addicted to double bass, and I can see the real thing making an appearance in my arsenal in the not too distant future.

Last night was awesome! Tiny but rammed music pub, the Bush in upper Cwmbran. Some of our Bluesfire fans came but mostly locals, also two guys I know from the band playing there next week. We overfilled the space! We just really clicked, hardly missed a beat, really relaxed. Reaction was great, even got dancing in the tiny space. Lots of 'best band/gig' I've seen here, almost everyone came up to say how they enjoyed it. They were generouswith the 'magic hat' too. Al's guitar always gets praise but this time it was mostly people saying how good we were as a band. Felt like we levelled up last night. You can see how much of a squeeze it was...

So Aerosmith have officially announced they are retiring from touring as Steven Tyler’s throat problems are more serious than thought and he’s unlikely to fully recover. Such a bummer. An absolutely awesome band, one of my favourite lead singers ever alongside Freddie and Bon, but entirely understandable. I’d hate to see a band limping on despite being below par (as sadly so many older performers persist in doing). I don’t imagine for a second young Steven Tyler imagined he’d still be performing in his 70s anyway, so he’s had a hell of a run. The only time I got to see them was at Download in 2010 when they blew me away. Absolute legends.

The main problem is AI knows nothing about the individual item being sold, it’s condition, how it has been used, if it’s been serviced or cared for, if it was bought new etc etc. It can add generic information or hyperbole but that’s not what a buyer wants to hear. AI is not a substitute for common sense.

I had always just assumed he was inept when it came to running a business/building instruments. turns out there are more areas where he's lacking Jonny

Haha, just sent mine back again. Had a rehearsal yesterday and just took my BDI-21. This worked well and demonstrated I dont need a multi FX. As the original idea in getting the B2-four was to get a BDDI on the cheap (and more options of course), It seems like I already had the cheapest option. Think I'll pick up another MS-60+ though as I really did like a few of the presets for playing at home.

Here’s me from late last year playing a one off 80s set at a charity thing…

A very nice selection. We’re also awarding points here for old school red stripe Trace cab 👌

It's not actually as bad as it sounds. 😆

Used napkin? We used to dream of a used napkin, all we had had were a couple of broken leafs and twigs from t'tree that we glued together with our own spit and blood, and that was if we were lucky. Most of time, we'd just have to stand there and hit our heads with rocks to make us forget the rain.

We played the Major Goolsby stage at WI State Fair yesterday. 3:45-6:45. Good crowd with a lot of dancing. I was able to play the whole gig standing up. 91° so we all stayed hydrated. Lots of rules and regulations to get to the stage. You guys know I like some of the finer extras at gigs. We were told we'd have an air condition trailer with a stocked refrigerator. No band pics. However here are a few pics I took. Yes the trailer was luxurious. Lol Daryl

I posted about this week’s gig earlier but didn’t have a picture at the time. Purely because I was so into my Blackstar head going through a beat up Fender Bassman 2x15, I was pleased to see this picture online.

Great night tonight at the Vulcan Restoration Trust beer and music festival. We headlined night 1, and had a solid set despite the sound on stage being a bit iffy (I could only hear myself and the drummist for most of the set). The hangar was one of the more unique stages I’ve played on, with a pretty iconic piece of furniture out front!!!

The other thing I will add is that any band is better than the sum of its parts. Average musicians can make great bands.

It's hard to explain my feelings about Aerosmith . I had a few of their earlier albums , but never kept them . I have however got the Permanent Vacation and Pump albums , which I purchased at the time . I think they're great . Very '...80s which I like . I saw them on the Pump tour at Hammy Odeon which I was lucky to see at the time , as they were used to playing arenas and apparently the stage set was stripped down. It was a great gig ! I find their catalogue very patchy after that , and imho they're mostly going to be known for I don't wanna miss a thing and walk this way . Dream on may be rightly remembered also . With Aerosmith , they always seem slick and professional on tv , videos etc . They were a mess for many periods also , as with a lot of rock bands . There have been many stories over Steve Tyler's erratic behaviour over the last few years , and tbh I thought that he was too old for that stuff . I think he was a great , slick frontman . Did Aerosmith take some of their influences from the faces / mott the hoople etc ? They treated Rush very badly among other support bands I'd imagine at the time . Fair play for Geddy reminding Joe Perry when he was supporting them . I agree with others , and think it's best call it a day now .

It's great fun and you'll see a different side of being a musician and a bass player. I've done a few pit jobs including playing two Gilbert and Sullivan operettas' double bass part on electric bass as there wasn't a db player available. As long as you get the music in advance so you can work out what all those squiggles mean in your own time...

Cheers, I've asked Jason to drop me as many updates that he wants me to share as possible. Which in turn I'll drop here.

Scooby Dobie Doo?

Just to close the loop here, I received the amp back on 25th July (a week after I kicked up a fuss with Markbass and they finally shipped the parts to Real Electronics), and it works great! Glad to have it back, it's a really great amp. 😊👌

Got 3 amps at the minute - a Demeter VTBP - 201 pre with a QSC PLX 1202 power amp (Christ, how nerdy does that sound?) which is about as good as it gets imho, a Purple Chili Phat Bass 750 - weighs nowt and looks and sounds great and a lovely old GK 400RBii. The latter is an absolute classic and about as robust and reliable an amp as I've ever come across. Looks classy as hell, too. Cab wise, a Barefaced 610 - amazing - which is the one that goes out most, a Purple Chili 212 - light as and sounds great - which lives in a rehearsal room for now with its head and a shortly-to-be-refurbed-and-sold-on Aguilar GS412 which, though a fab cab, is just too heavy for me to be dealing with these days. I'm on the lookout for a BF 210 for small gigs ( and to use with the 610 on occasion) and possibly a little digital head, though in truth the GK is small and light enough to serve anywhere. I like the idea of gear that weighs nothing but haven't found a tiny digital amp that delivers for me. I've used Mark Bass, Eich, Orange and TC and none of 'em seemed to have much in the way of depth and character. I've heard others using all that stuff and sounding just fine, though, so it's probably me...

Do it! It's great fun, your reading and musical knowledge will improve, you'll meet other musicians (who will all have new jokes and good stories about other shows they've done), you'll have a laugh, you'll play stuff you'd never usually play, you'll (hopefully?) earn a few quid, it's another string to your bow, you'll learn the joy of playing in 6 flats... Do it!

Had my GR AT cube 800 and AT cube 112 for three months now, got to be the best out there, sound engineer at last festival gig couldn't believe the weight and quality of the sound. Expensive, yes, but you won't need anything else.