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Odd one for us yesterday. The drummer is in another band, they had a gig at one of the venues that is hard to get in (a local beauty spot on a hill), but their singer couldn't be bothered, so he asked if we wanted to do it, but our singer was away. Rather than turn it down he decided that we would ask the singer of another band if she wanted to do a one off gig with us as she had recently quit her band, so she said ok. So we had 4 weeks for us to make a 45 track set list which consisted of all the songs that our setlists shared, so she had to learn 15-20 of ours, and we had to learn 10-15 of hers. and a couple of holidays in the middle. So we did it yesterday. Unfortunately the crowd was a bit smaller than usual as they had put an odd name up for the group (we would have got more with our own name), but it worked out pretty well, there were a few little mistakes as you can imagine, but there were no disasters and we got through it well. And more importantly it was fun!

Early evening set at Gosport Waterfront Festival on Sunday. The set we’d worked up to bang through to hit the time slot with minimal gaps worked well and finished bang on. No IEM’s and a quick line & level check meant relying on the stage monitors, but with a great sound and backstage team running everything efficiently it wasn’t too much of an issue. Considerably more space than usual and we tried to move around and not be rooted the the spot which went ok - I should probably have used my radio but haven’t for a while now so went with what I know and a lead which was fine. Though the joys of open air and I managed to inhale a fly at one point taking a gulp for BV’s 😳🤮 Genz Benz Streamliner and a BigBaby2 (which was followed onstage by a Big Twin that was sounding nice 👌). Having messed with the settings on the Darkglass in the ‘situation’ at soundcheck on Friday I stuck with what had worked then and I think it was ok out front. Reaction was good and a lot of positive comments followed on Facebook, though I really need to get back in the treadmill based on the photographic evidence!!🫣🤣 A couple of videos that have shown up on FB so far that may, or may not, work : Maniac Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting And so after a couple of days as a weekend warrior ’rock star’ in a couple of hours I have to get up and go back to the humdrum of the day job 😢

A week late but here are a couple of photos from August 10 and 11 when Simply Blu played our last festival of the season, great venue and the best sound system we have used this year. Some well known touring bands and supporting bands and some great music and workshops including one for bass players which I attended and picked up a few tips and licks. We played three sets over two days and our last one on Sunday morning included a last minute gospel medley that began with a walking boogie bass line solo while I sang the chorus of Will The Circle Be Unbroken. I started playing the song that way as joke in rehearsal but the rest of the band loved it so we did it that way for the first chorus and then settled into the usual rhythm for the rest of the medley and the crowd loved it. Not all bluegrass fans would be happy with this version but this festival features everything from ultra traditional bands to some "newgrass" sounds and was a great way to end our festival season. I used my trusty '70's Czech laminate with a Canadian made Schatten Design pickup into a Canadian Traynor SB112 combo with DI to the house system, sounded great. That amp is quite popular in North America for DB. 😊

Depped with the Lee Aaron Band at a pub in Bracknell on Friday night. First pub dep I've done in a little while but went very well. Pub itself was fine, though quite a few of the clientele were questionable (a few too many people asking for charlie).... but they seemed to enjoy it. Had a barrier to provide separation and keep them from falling onto our pedals etc.... Used my Spector Euro Classic and GK Legacy800 Head/Genz Benz NX2112 cab. Sounded awesome and cut through a v noisy rest of band with ease. 😎

Played the Monarch in Dunfermline last night with our new band, Temptation Waits. After the fallout/implosion of the last band, this one was put together in a fortnight so we could fulfil a support slot the previous band cancelled. We only had two rehearsals, but it went really well, thoroughly enjoyed it. Singer did amazing to pull it all together in such a short time and the new guitarist is great - not too loud, flexible, great tone and can actually play! We used the main acts backline and PA, they were fantastic help getting us all set up, couldn't have been better. And their sets were absolutely superb as well. Gear wise, I played my usual Squier 40th Anniversary through my HX Stomp.

After last week's Proper Music Pub outing, back down to reality Satdy night, in one of those 'Why do they even have a band on?' pubs...landlady was apparently new to the game, and wanted us on at 8, when we'd arrived at 7:30 for a previously-agreed 9:00 start (new mixer, a Soundcraft ui24, we'd given ourselves more setup time (normally an hour's plenty), despite the BL's assurance that he'd leart all about it and all would be fine, it wasn't - my inears were one side only, we'll get that sorted this week before the weekend's double-header), and then when we took a break at 9:45 she said 'I'd like you to play till half twelve'. She was politely and gently disabused of this notion (we're not Bluewine's band 🙂), nevertheless we went on about ten to eleven and finished after twelve...not that it mattered; another place with a sparse-ish clientele, average age about seventy, who went as far as polite applause. We finished the main set to the same polite applause and not a single shout for more. BL called two anyway, more to fill the time out than anything. It's draining, playing gigs like that. Gear was fine, apart from the one ear situation: never had an issue with the previous two digital desks I've used, the Soundcraft must have a different Aux Send setup, I believe there's a Mono switch in my Behringer P2 (never had to use it yet) which will sort, we're doing a 'technical rehearsal' (which I suggested last week) during the week. Next weekend's gigs will be with two different dep drummers, one of which is good, and the other...isn't. Friday's venue is a monthly residency-type thing in the grim place which was swarming with the Polis after that serious assault. Of course that's the one with the better drummer. Can't wait. Still, we got paid... Just remembered; big upside of the Soundcraft mixer is the mixes are all accessible via iPad/phone; I took my iPad and stand, so no hutching across a tight stage to get to the faders mid/between songs...it'll also do pre/post feeds to the Aux Send channel, so I can get my bass sound as is from the Stomp, rather than post-EQ for the mains, which is quite different...sounded really good in one ear, anyway...

I played at the Old Bush Blues Festival in Worcestershire on Friday, depping with Hooson Maguire playing rocky blues / soul stuff. Great little festival - sold out with 500 capacity, great crowd, well organised and really friendly. We stayed over for a coupe of nights and caught up with a few people we hadn't seen for a while. Great to play with my old mucka Paddy Maguire and the excellent Jenna Hooson-Maguire again. For those interested in such things, I was using a 78 P bass into a Caveman pre / Handbox R400 / Berg CN212. Apologies for the quality of the photos, taken on a phone by my missus, who may have had a couple of ciders / attempting to dance while taking them...!

Here’s the pedalboard that my church supplies us bass players with 😁👍🏻

Gig yesterday in the sweltering heat.. placed in the corner suntrap with no shade. Jez... that's one sweaty bassboy. I know you all care about me so for info...I kept hydrated. 😁

While most people here start threads for discussion, your first posts tend to feel like you want an argument. It might not be the case, but it is how they come across sometimes. You also tend to go back and edit them quite heavily. OK not a massive problem in the scheme of things, we all have good days and bad days, and like you said earlier you’re a very long-standing and well-liked member and have earned respect on both those bases. But as I also said earlier, if you don’t want arguments, perhaps don’t start your threads argumentatively? Anyway, back to Charles Berthoud 👍

Thanks for this. I’m looking for a pedal board style unit to shorten up setup times so I think I’m going to go with the GLXD16+

Heads up for anyone looking at a cheap way of getting into IEMs, Andertons have the Behringer P2 on offer at the moment: https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-powerplay-p2-personal-headphone-amplifier/

Yesterday afternoon outside pub gig. Acinonyx bass straight into the GR Bass Dual 1400 and 2x12 cab. Sounded very clean with a ton of punch.

Ah, you've heard my bass playing before 🤣😂

At the hop. Danny and the juniors

Gigs on Friday and Saturday (as a weekend warrior band with a rhythm section of two OAPs, we try and avoid this). My car had decided to play up so all the PA and my bass gear had to go into Mrs Zero's Nissan LEAF, which it did comfortably. Friday's gig went OK, last night was a bit more shaky. About two-thirds of the way through the first set, the bass suddenly started sounding horrible. Quick bass change in case there was a battery issue - the same. The band went into "Time of your life" to give me a little time to sort it. Putting the bass wired straight into the amp gave the same result, so I tried putting the bass through the PA (Behringer XR18, Alto 408 active speakers) but there seemed to be some issue with the channel routing and I couldn't get any sound from any channel other than the three vocal channels, so unplugged my mic and put the bass through that channel just in time to play under the solo of "Tennessee Whiskey", the first set closer. Tried some more fiddling in the interval but still couldn't work out what was wrong with the routing so left my mic off and the bass in there. Bass sounded fine even through the 8" Altos which I'd high-passed at either 60Hz or 80Hz (can't remember which). It did lead to one one amusing (for me) moment when a woman from the audience decided that she wanted to sing too, so came into our stage area and commandeered my mic. Singing her heart out to "Sweet Child o'Mine" to no avail. I told her before the next number (first encore) so she went to the second guitarist's mic instead, and her friend got her off the stage before we did the final number. Diagnosis about to start on the amp, and I shall work out what the issue is with the mixer.

We will need the internal dimensions of your boot for our calculations 😂

I’ve had fantastic experiences selling gear at the bass gallery before.

I'd suggest that the jack socket is faulty, and remains 'switched on', even with the jack plug removed. It would be easy enough to check, by measuring the current drawn from the battery with the plug in, and again with the plug out. Any run-of-the-mill guitar tech (or even electrician...) could do the test; if there is current drawn without the plug, get the jack socket changed. It's certainly not normal to have a 9v battery go flat so quickly. Even intensive use should last at least a month or so, but most likely much, much longer. Hope this helps.

Or maybe he's hopeful some old wrinkly rockers (myself included) would think it was the lovely lady herself.... Though most people would never have heard of her anyway

Unfortunately CDRs and CDRWs have a limited lifespan, and IME 20 years is really pushing it. The problem is that unlike a glass-mastered CDs, writable CDs use a laser-activated dye to encode the information. Over the years the dye tends to break down and eventually the discs will become unplayable. Also back in the day there were a lot of cheap dodgy CDRs in circulation whose lifespan is even shorter than normal. However even if these are a good quality brand like HHB, Sony or Imation your chances of reading the information off them becomes slimmer every year. Being able to read old CDRs also isn't helped if you are using a flimsy modern CD drive built into a laptop. It might be worth looking for a tray loading, robustly made device with a higher-powered laser and seeing if that gives you any better results. If you do get the disc to read, copy them immediately.

Back in the fold - my Pelham Blue Jack Casady

For those of you who are anti-Ric and don't like headless, I give you the Rickenberger!

Jam Night on Thursday. The host band set up the stage in a different orientation. I think it probably worked better. It's not really attracting a following yet - it's an out of town venue, so hardly surprising. The stage area is bigger so it does mean I'm less concerned about whacking the singer and can thus use my long scale basses rather than the headless shortscale - my G&L L2000 got a run out. We were asked by one of the other bands if we fancied doing a half gig with them. Probably neither band is at the stage where we can do a full gig yet. 10 - 12 songs so I think we should be able to manage that. The guitarist and I are keen on it, so I think there is a good chance we'll do it. This is us doing Price Tag. I'm not sure what happened with Vicky's voice with "Look to the Left" and "Look to the right". Hopefully we can sort that out at the next rehearsal as I think this could be a good gig starter for us. James' rap is good.

Just back from this afternoon's gig. Busy pub, loads of people in the garden. 2h30m including a 15 min break. Polite clapping after a few songs, more enthusiastic clapping and cheering after others. Some singing. Mostly lots of blank faces while we played though. Calls for an encore. We played 2 more tunes. I'll never understand audiences. Too hot to jump around. We got paid and will go back at some point.

Haven't tried some high-end and rare basses because you just don't see them hanging up when shopping here or there. I'd try these, but I'm afraid I would never buy either one.

No? what about this one? This is partly why I sold my Celinder - the 70s jazz sound from this bass is massive, I have never had such a good P and J sound in one bass and if you told me it would be on a mustang I'd have thought you were mental!

Not mine. I could never land on a definitive combination for long enough. But the structure of this looks lush.

Nice to see Will Wheaton keeping busy.

I'm very sceptical about that, maybe if the neck was made of plasticine...

The Track IV looks a lot nicer IMO, some of the prices are mental though.

It's a Westbury Track 2, they also made a double P version. Lovely, ain't they. I'm always tempted when they come up for sale

Surely all bass gear solves one of three key problems? 1. I haven't got one of those 2. I've only got one of those 3. My collection of those is unsatisfyingly small

It obviously depends on the circuit they are being used in. One of my basses starts distorting slightly at 8.0V and because of that i give myself some leeway at 9V. Mainly because i do forget to check the voltage on a regular basis. Batteries tend to last quite a long time on my basses tho. Minimum 1 yr. Possibly depends on how often i use that bass tho. I've also had issues with effects pedals that i occasionally use with batteries and when i check the battery its in the low 8V area. Rather than take a risk i just change them at 9V or below. Dave

The strings are great but fitting them to my newly acquired Dingwall (I did buy the multiscale set) was a challenge.. Bent bit of tin bridges I'm fine with, I really struggle with those that don't secure the ball end until the string has a fair bit of tension, couple that with the recessed tuners and large hands. Many expletives were said that I'm not proud of..

You need a pair of these.

40th birthday party at Starr Spoirt, Canvey Island last night. It’s a venue we’ve played a several time in the main bar, but we had the luxury of playing in the function suite with a generous stage and lightning this time. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself, I had so much space! Although this also meant carting all the gear up and down a couple of flights of stairs. We played well, but the audience was difficult to crack at first, but by the time we started our second set, they were all lubricated enough to get up and dance and sing. We got there a little earlier than usual at 4.30 as the party was due to start at 7pm and we wanted set up without rushing and find time to get something to eat and relax before playing at 8.30. Finished at 11 and home one 1am. I felt absolutely broken we I got home! Totally worth it, of course.

Daytime outdoor gig featuring five "goth" bands in a hot and sunny Stevenage. Now that's not a sentence you expect to be typing! Hurtsfall were part of the musical entertainment for The Peculiar Market at the "Event Island" in Stevenage. Not really sure what to expect when we agreed to play, but the whole afternoon was great, helped the sunny weather, even though it's not the natural environment for goths, and a decent turn out of people to watch the bands as well as a lot of totally bemused Saturday shoppers who just happen to be passing by. There were deckchairs and a sand pit, although a lot of the audience chose to watch from the relative shade of the grassy knoll... Once again playing the middle of the bill seemed to the optimum time for catching random shoppers who stopped to listen. Our cover of Enola Gay went down particularly well, and we completely sold out of "Lucid" CDs which means we'll have to think about another short-run CD single to fill in until the album is finished. Also completely sold out of L and XL T-shirts in all the designs. In fact merch for all the bands seemed to be doing very well. Afterwards all the bands - Glasshouse Museum, Byronic Sex & Exile, Hurtsfall, Jan Doyle Band and Chaos Bleak posed for a group photo: Back home before 7.00pm. No photos of Hurtsfall on stage have appeared yet. I'll post some up if they do.

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 picked up a big orange hollow body Gretsch , and some suggested I should check out the ThunderJet. It took a little time to track one down , but it exceeded my expectations. Beautiful thing. Not heavy. And a little Gibson LP DC Jr. Another beauty. Still listed on the website for some reason , but has been out of production for a while now. I hope they make more , I keep suggesting these to friends as a great little shortscale bass. They’re getting harder to find.