Leaderboard

Ah the swings and roundabouts in my head…honestly… In July 2021, Epiphone announced Pelham Blue Jack Casady basses. I missed my old Jack Casady terribly, I sold it when I was broke following the birth of Oldest Daughter. It was a gold Peerless made one I bought when I worked in a guitar shop - I played that thing until my hands couldn’t play anymore, festivals, gigs, somewhere in my memory also says a TV show…anyhow. Here’s me playing the gold one - think this was in The Raymond Review/Soho Review bar… So I got a blue one - and it was lovely, just as i remembered them to be. I got a Babicz bridge on it and changed the knobs to Gibson Amber top Hats - just looked better than the light gold speed knobs it came with. At that time I was in a funk/rock band and played lots of slappy tight stuff - the Casady just sat watching on, and eventually I sold it. As things have a habit of doing - everything changed, I planned to knock it all on the head And stop playing all together. Then a chance exchange of messages turned into a band and it’s going really well - I have myself a lovely Gibson Ripper, and I’d love a second one - but they are inordinately expensive… Ive tried all sorts as a backup - the best being a Shergold Marathon - now with our very own @Maude Anyhow fate stepped in - and my blue Casady reappeared! The Ibanez case, amber knobs and Babicz all telling. I messaged @Grooverjr Turns out @MM Stingray 62 had replaced the machineheads with Grover’s (as now used by Gibson) which is definitely a worthwhile upgrade - smoother and more reassuring. So, it’s home… Couldn’t be more chuffed. Does everything I need - rehearsal tomorrow and gigs 30th/31st… And, it’s blue…

Fun night in Bognor at the Hothampton Arms. Great venue with punters up for a good time which always helps. Lots of singing and dancing, but man alive it was hot and airless on stage, thought I was going over at one point. Powered up ready for sound check and the bass was sounding choked and distorted. Tinkered with settings on the Darkglass. Swapped to the Streamliner that I always have set up as a spare (not needed it to date) but no change. Bypassed the pedalboard and all was fine so it was something there but time was getting on so just went for it straight in and without IEM’s which wasn’t great but got us ready and I could check everything on the board again - turned out the compressor control on the SkarBassOne had turned right up. Putting it back to 12 o’clock sorted the problem but I carried on with the Streamliner, which I haven’t fired up for a while. Still sounds great. I love the SkarBassOne pedal, but my one critique would be that pointer on the controls is a notch on an aluminium knob that is impossible to see on stage, or maybe it’s my eyesight as I don’t have that issue with the Origin DCXBass. Part of the second set was a run through live of our set for Gosport Waterfront Festival tomorrow afternoon and seemed to run ok. Another run out for the three new songs which all seem to work well. Still need to sort the harmony lines for all three of us for the middle of the solo in Hold The Line but it still works as a slightly heavier cover minus keyboards running similar to the Who On Earth version. The sets are running well now as well. Keeping chat between songs to a minimum and banging through is great for keeping the atmosphere up, but a nightmare for taking on fluids. The first set had minimal gaps to get to the water. Second set at least had a couple of songs where I don’t come in straightaway and could neck a pint of water. Had a good chat with another member here beforehand but forgot to get his name/handle 🤦‍♂️

I suspect you are talking about La Gioconda cafe, which was frequented by Elton/Reg, David Bowie and a plethora of other names. A friend of mine, Peter Watts, recently published a book about the history of Denmark Street, and I provided all the modern photographs in the book. Obviously, I’m a little biased, but it’s an excellent read 😊 http://www.paradiseroad.co.uk/denmark-street-londons-street-of-sound Edit: Might be worth plugging my own photoblog about Denmark Street in which I was trying to collect stories from the people working on Denmark Street before all the change happening along Charing Cross Road really took hold. https://streetofsound.uk I rather ran out of people who were willing to talk to me on the record, but it was fun while it lasted and was the reason I took many of the photos that Peter later used in his book.

A final update. I found a little bit of time this morning to complete the setup on the Warwick. In the end I had to spend quite a bit of the little bit of time I had filing 1mm off the bottom of the bridge saddle, and cleaning an amalgamation of tru-oil from the baseplate of the just’a’nut. Restrung, added a bit of relief to the neck (I had it flat when the strings were sitting higher) and boom, she plays like butter (not that I’ve ever tried to play butter). To say I’m very happy with the end result is an understatement and I think the conversion has changed this bass from a case queen to a daily noodler 😎.

I seem to have a few bass heads at the moment, not "loads", but a few, and I've just bought another today. The idea is that it's a transition, from one set of amps to the other and that the older ones will be sold. It's similar with basses, there are 5, not a huge number by some standards here, but I probably only need three of them. Then, this week I got into conversation with our drummer after seeing a room in his house with a LOT of kit in it. It put my thoughts on how much gear we might have into perspective. He has 23 snare drums! 23! There are 6 full kits of various kinds, lots of extra toms etc, and over 100 cymbals. Non of this stuff is low end either, it's ALL top quality gear. He's currently having a kit custom made in JAPAN! Anyway, if you think you might have too much kit, think about our drummer, and you'll be alright for a bit. Rob

This bass went into places 😎 https://helsinkifestival.fi/en/event/basso-2/ Picture from soundcheck: Performance:

Yes, Chris and I had this conversation. It’s based around the Czech Ease bass I own. I bought it as a lightweight and easy to carry bass for gigs when the metal one was too heavy. Now the metal one has been replaced with a wood one, I now longer need two. Solves a problem I don’t have. So that’ll be up for the cull after my holiday as it’s currently used as a cat bed.

I guess that was a hangover from Jamaican dub, where as we know all kinds of sounds got chucked into a mix. On another day, it could've been bedsprings or a swanee whistle 😉

I'm loving seeing people discover the old GK heads. Particularly when they already own great stuff like Bergantino, TecAmp etc.... There really is nothing quite like the 400RB/800RBs 💜😎🎶

I was not the only one with a self made instrument. There was also this monstrosity. I did not manage to catch up with the owner, so I'm not sure what those extra 2 strings are tuned to, we we're suspecting a low B and E. Crazy. (left handed)

Pickup arrived! Custom order from Bareknuckle with aged grey bobbins! All in the details!

A really positive rehearsal with the new band. I think this is our 5th/6th one now. Weirdly, we didn't play very much stuff. However, we got the desk settings sorted for our IEMs, and what we did play sounded great through headphones. We also spent quite a bit of time discussing the direction/theme of the set. Up to now we've been playing a bit of everything, but it's becoming clear what we like to play and what fits us as a group. We went through the existing songs and culled the ones that didn't fit the direction, then decided on some new ones to learn for next time. And...... we might just have a name! Not saying anything yet as we're still doing due diligence online and getting the social media handles set up, but it's looking good! Feeling excited about it, you never know whether a new band is going to fly or not, but hopefully this one is looking good.

I forgot to do a NAD, but after @ossyrocks was waxing lyrical to me about these old GKs at the NW Bash, I found this baby on facebook marketplace and snapped it up. It's pretty beaten up, but it does sound great.

I used to think bows were unimportant ... then I tried a £1000 one instead of the basic wood one I'd had for 30 years, revelation. So then got to thinking about my cello bow which I'd had for 45 years. I got a shop to send me 6 bows around the £1000 mark ... all better, all different. I decided to buy a carbon arcus T4 which out performed the wooden bows at that price. But back in the shop I asked to try the £1300 T5; not just incrementally better but definitely better so I bought that .. I didn't dare try the £1600 T6. Now I'm wondering about trading my £1000 bass bow in for a better one. They really do make a difference. And they need to be suited to your bass. A dark bass might need a brighter bow etc etc ...and down the rabbit hole we go. What makes a "good" one is what feels best in your hand and makes the sound you want. And that may change as your playing develops. Beware of fancy woods and precious metals, they put gold trimmings on good expensive bows as a signifier that it's one of their best; but putting gold on a bow doesn't improve it, just ups the price. Rules of thumb: glass fibre bows are rubbish. Cheap carbon bow's a bit better, basic "Brazil wood" bows better still, then fancy carbon bows eg from coda and arcus will match or beat any wood bow at the same price. Then bespoke hand crafted Pernambuco bows from a reputable bow maker ... You're talking £3000+ now. Also bragging rights antique bows from tourte, tubbs, hills, sartory etc ..you're paying for rarity as well as quality then. £10k anyone, £50k? I have right now a gold mounted hand made Pernambuco cello bow that was my dads, valued at around £3k ... it's horrible with my cello.

Not from the last couple of gigs, but a few weeks ago we played a fundraiser for my boy's school- great party, organiser had got hold of a decent stage and we had a lovely old time! Raised a good amount, too. A little clip of our We Are Family/Alright Now fun- but not much bass playing... VID-20240714-WA0014.mp4 And here's a little clip of a Prince tune. VID-20240714-WA0010.mp4

My wife has gone away for three nights with my step daughter today. I had a meander back from dropping her off in Manchester, having lunch with my daughter and my grand daughter in Ramsbottom, and then called in for a brew with some old friends from school. However, that leaves me alone in the house for three nights, so inevitably this happens. All the gear comes out, and I've been trying everything against everything else,. Remarkably, there is no contest, for me, and the tone in my head, the Gallien-Kruegar 400RB is the best sounding amp I own, by a country mile. This has been an interesting experiment. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at amps, the one that works for you, just might be the cheapest. Of this pile, the Elf is a more than adequate backup/spare, and sounds great at 4 ohms through the BF 3x10. I have a GK 400RB-III coming this week, to compare to the 400RB-II, but I think that's it, I'm done. No need to buy other amps. Looks like I have a few to list in the classifieds now. All of them are great amps in their own right, and would be superb on any gig too, but I need to thin this pile down a bit. Rob Edit: Those are all the settings I was using whilst comparing the amps.

added this beauty onto the board!!

I was just chatting with Lawrie @Burns-bass and he mentioned selling some gear because it solves a problem he no longer has, and it consolidated a lot of my recent thinking around gear generally, that is far from getting rid of gear on that basis, I was often buying gear that solved a problem I don't have (most notably the Chadwick folding bass that while absolutely beautiful in design and engineering terms was an absolute PITA at gigs generally, leading me to decide that the best bet was simply to sell it and take better care at gigs of my non-foldable DBs). But as with life generally, I suspect a lot of the gear we have is bought either explicitly or sometimes subcobscioulsy to solve similarly non-existent problems (by which I mean that we make choices based on a set of parameters that while current on web forums really do not solve any problems for us as an individual. Good examples for me Chadwick folding bass: as I've said, beautifully designed and engineered, but..... East P-Retro: again beautifully designed and engineered but having had three of them (!), I've always found Precisions just work better passive Enfield Fusion/EBMM Reflex: both beautiful instruments and technologically wonderfully advanced, but while the idea of a 'take one and only one bass to every session/gig'/huge tonal palette appealed, the Fusion stayed in Precision mode 90% of the time, and the Reflex never really got off the ground Badass bridges: I even bought one this week, what am I like. A difference yes, does it solve a problem, rarely if ever, but for some reason there's a part of my brain that drives me to try one on any Fender bass that's passed the 3-months at Beedster Towers test....... My therapist has put it on the list for our next session Neck LEDs: No more in tune on a fretless that without them, but annoyed the guitarist immensely 'If you want to be in tune that badly that you have to walk on stage with traffick lights stuck to your neck, perhaps try playing a fretted bass' Micro/lightweight heads: My biggest challenge with heads that fit into the pocket of a bass gig bag is my tendency to forget about them/lose them. Ironically the only time a head went down on stage and I needed the backup I'd taken the wrong (double) gig bag to the gig. i take two 19" heads to gigs now, because I have no problem with either size or weight. Expensive DB strings: Don't get me started.......... Interested to hear what gear falls into the 'solves a problem I don't have/never did have' category for the BC crowd?

Hi guys I posted a new 'announcement' in the basses for sale forum today to urge people to include a note in their sales pics with their username. Please try to add this in your new and existing listings, even if you're a trusted member (as nearly everyone on here is) just to normalise the practice for anyone who has just joined. It's just another way to ensure listings can be verified as genuine and it will prevent people using cloned pictures from other sites. Cheers ped

I’ve been on the look out for a Jazz bass as a 2nd guitar to my P bass. Different sounds, necks, feels, styles etc. I’d read some good things about the new Fender Player II basses, but I wasn’t that taken with any of the colour schemes - paint, pick guard combinations. I saw the Hialeah Yellow though and that it could look great with a tort pick guard. The bass arrived yesterday, unboxed it, played it and thought it felt great. The neck is really really nice on the guitar. But, I wasn’t taken with the yellow, white combination. Even the kids and wife started asking, not in a nice way, what colour it was. I boxed it up, spoke to the dealer and arranged to exchange it. Then, the tort pickguard arrived a day early. I unpacked it for the second time and placed the pick guard on on. I think I’ve come full circle again 😂 IMO it looks much better with a Tort pick guard. Individual, more retro, it seems to make the Hialeah yellow, imo, come to life a bit more, where the white pick guard made it feel a bit drab!!?? Anyway - colour schemes are very individual, you like what you like. Thought I’d share.

Kala U-Bass with Pahoehoe Dreads:

Go for it. AFAICS, they were well-made and less of a risk to buy than the Squier Affinity or even the more expensive Squier Vintage Modified from the same era. Only the Squier Classic Vibe was as secure a buy as the RBX, but the CV was a lot more expensive. I tested all of these against each other between 2011 and 2014, and to me the RBX and the CV came out on top.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)

😎

I did 15 years with my rock/ metal covers band that I started alongside the drummer. I've had extensive experience managing musicians, and ran a large church worship team (75+) for 15 years, so I had no illusions that it might be a walk in the park. He always used to say that it was his band, and we would guide the band together, as a partnership. Songs were chosen on a veto basis - meaning that we would all have a veto as to certain songs that we weren't prepared to deal with. His were anything Kiss, Motley Crue, Rainbow amoung others. For my part I find most more recent bands bland and uninteresting. The drummist was very good at loading other people's weapons for them to fire (there were plenty of little hushed conversations at shows where I was setting up lights, PA, monitors etc..) For the final 5 years, I had been doing all the booking, promotion, and keeping PA and lights functional - And the previous 10 had been a partnership between me and drummer. We had an issue with a younger singist who was outstanding, but very young and naiive, and had clearly been 'receiving guidance' from said drummist. He told me that it didn't feel like his band anymore. He told me that it had been brewing for a while when she arrived at a show announcing that it would be her last. The guitarist we had at the time is very much a go with the flow kind of person, and said very little. In the end, I find the drummist had set up a band using former members of the band under a different name with a different bassist. This all happened mid '23 and to date they have had several guitarists come and go, and played one show which was received as being underwhelming. On the other hand, I have been running a tribute act which is now receiving rave reviews and larger and larger bookings, alongside the originals band which is due to return to Europe again later this year for more shows, and picking up work from all over my area. Needless to say the band I've been recounting all of this about is no more, and will not return. Lessons learned etc, etc, etc,

I've played in various hobby bands for about the last 20 years. (To stay on topic, we amicably share out all the band-functioning duties between the four of us). To echo the comments others have made, I think the problem comes when you start getting in deps it unsettles the equilibrium - in our case doing a particular gig was a bigger imperative than preserving the nucleus of the band. I've only done that once, when we had to draft in a lead guitarist for a prestige gig 'cos ours had important family stuff to attend to that day. While the ringer played fine, all the band chemistry was lost. I realised that being a 'band of brothers' was just as important, if not more important, than fulfilling gigs and have argued against having deps since. So as a result we have cancelled a few, but retain our group ethos and (perhaps strengthened by not having outsiders come in) we have maintained a harmonious, open, trustworthy and supportive unit.

Yes or buy one from me 🤩

Notch filter is a band-reject filter: it cuts frequencies around the cutoff. It’s the opposite of a bandpass filter which only passes frequencies in a band around the cutoff. A phaser is a notch filter. Phase 45 is a single notch. Phase 90 is two notches offset, which gives 4 distinct frequency regions, hence called a 4-stage phaser. So MuTron notch is an envelope-controlled 2-stage phaser in effect.

When I was around 18 I ’needed’ similar basses to what big names used - I was not a big name When I was at uni I ‘needed’ a ‘pro’ level instrument - I was no pro Now that I’m just a hobby bassist I finally have what I need to learn what I want; Sire V5 5 string, mex Fender P bass with flats, and a nice fretless 4 string. When I get a bit more cash I may buy to solves a problems I don’t have (other than the cure GAS) but for now I’m covered.

I enjoyed the video and was surprised when I saw the banner at the front of the stage. My grandfather Bartlett was from Yeovil and came to Canada in the early 1900's and I expect I am related to the Bartlett of the construction company on the banner. An uncle of mine did a lot work on our family history and met a number of Bartletts from Devon and I heard about some of them when I was in Yeovil a few years ago. Sorry to derail the main topic but it was interesting to see my family name on the banner. My son who doesn't have any children will be the last of my grandfather's side of the family in Canada to be surnamed Bartlett.

I have a Forte too , the first version with the compressor instead of the drive. I’ve found it to be a simple transparent power brick. A great hifi sounding amp. But I’ve been running a tube preamp in front of it , a little boutique rig called Monique , made by Jule. I use the effect return input on the back so Monique is the tone stack , and the Forte now sounds like a big warm tube amp. For gigs I use Berg cabs but for rehearsals I can easily get back with a little BareFaced One10. I’ve heard so many great reports about the Elf that I’d probably snag one if I saw a reasonable deal.

Wednesday. People have been away so this was the first rehearsal in about 5 weeks. We were all worried about being a bit rusty, but as we went along confidence came back and it was bl00dy good fun! 😁

Elton John was the office boy at Mills Music in Denmark Street. He replaced my old boss who had been promoted (and later went on to set up Safari Records - Toyah, The Boys, Johnny Clegg).

It's so easy to do! Pedals seem to creep into my life- even though gigging life almost never calls for more than a very occasional octaver/envelope filter for the stubby stuff, there are eqs, preamps, Chinese knock-offs and fuzzes hidden away in the practice room.

Just a piece of paper will do? Im happy to shove a mug shot of me with the item… coincidentally…this item is for sale…

I don't know how to photoshop and I'll wager many on this site can't do it either with the degree of skill required to fool most observers. If this deters just 1 scammer in 10 it's still a step forward to greater security on the site. As @ped says, if anyone has better suggestions maybe put them forward rather than just carp?

Would you buy a bass from this man..? All of ten minutes, edited by a certified ignoramus dummy.

Perhaps you've been doing it wrong all these years; you've been changing the strings on your basses, and should have been changing the basses on the strings?

What's the best post-it note for metal? Yes! Got it in first! 😜

Surely 11 year old flats are considered so new they’re still under warranty?

So she’s finished, sort of. Tonight I’ve put the Hipshot Ultralites on that I’ve been hoarding ready to do the next time I restrung her. I’ve put the old strings on for now as I love them (La Bella Low Tension flats) and oh boy does she growl. She needs a good setup and probably about 1mm taken off the bottom of the bridge saddle, and I may need to tweak the plastic just-a-nut because I probably need to loose about 0.5mm here too to get the action to where I like it on my fretless’s. Good news is I haven’t turned her into a pile of firewood 😎

I guess everyone is keen on hearing it as well, eh? I been having this thing lately where I keep all my basses in different tunings with different string gauges. This one ended up in C standard with 115-55 strings. It sounds like it was made for low tunings, YAYY METAL!! \m/