Leaderboard

I recently put together a few new boards. I know that themed or manufacturer-specific boards can split opinion but, as mentioned on a prior post, messing around with pedals is my main outlet and I've been itching to put these boards together for a while. EAE board - some of you have seen a few other manufacturer-specific boards I've put together but, with the exception of the Broughton board which covers all bases, this one is the most versatile (if only EAE made a flanger and a compressor...). 0xEAE Fuzz > Longsword > Halberd > Bard > Mother > Model FeT > Prismatic Wall > Sending > Hypersleep Heavy board - I've wanted to put this together for ages. It's not as versatile as some of the other boards I've put together but it's remarkably heavy and can be used in conjunction with a specific (smaller) modulation board. Dirtfixer (Wizard in the loop) > MBD2 > Bluebeard > > Chungus > MBD(3) > Iron Pig > Parabellum v2 > Life v3 > Oprichniki > Bass Mountain > Hellraiser > DA-120 Colourful board - this is a labour of love for me and contains some of my most cherished pedals (including the first present my partner ever bought me), some customs and a few one-offs from some of my favourite builders. PDR > POIROC2 > MAE Forever > SubT > DubT > FMeron > Zero Fret > Divaricator > Polytope > Ampigole > Malombra > Arcing Prisms > Chromatron > Delay Llama > Barbenloris > Melt > Mocking Blur > Count-to-5 > Nimbus SE

Bit of an unusual weekend for us, had a charity fundraiser at Hereford rugby club last night, which was early evening (7-9), and then today a 3-4 slot at a family festival at Pearl Lake Holiday Park, Shobdon, Herefordshire. Both really enjoyable, and nice to not be home late at night! The best thing was that the kids got to come and see us for a change! 😊

Another week, a different dep. This time at a holiday park with a funky band. Ampless again just my pedalboard into the TwoNotes Bass Revolt into the stage box and an aux feed to a Behringer P2 for my IEM’s. The band had their speakers but as it was a big club with different areas in the bar their Soundcraft was fed straight to the house system. Seemed to go ok though the crowd didn’t wake up until midway through the second set. Bizarre moment of the evening. After we had finished and the stage was pretty much clear, just a keyboard stand with one left on it. Punter walks up to one of the girls and says “Are you done?” … “Sorry?” … “Have you finished, are you taking song requests?” … we look around the empty stage “eeeeeeeeeer” 🤷‍♂️🤣

I helped my mate out for a wedding last night, their bassist had damaged his elbow amongst other things falling from a ladder.. 7-9, local and a buffet. Let the good times roll. 🙂 They use amps so a plesent departure from IEMs, I got to blow the socks off my SWR and V4.

Bit of an odd one for me last night, depping at a local club in a 3 piece band - and I was the guitarist! Big club in East Hull with the last resident band. Used their amp ( a variety of VoxAC30) which wasn’t great so wish I’d taken my Fender 65 Deluxe but never mind. Got there at 7pm, the room already full of punters. Couple of old friends on bass and drums, so great to see them. We basically played before and in between the bingo and the main act, a duo from Bradford doing soul stuff with backing tracks. Finished by 11.15, got paid & home around midnight so an okay evening for me. Made me realise how much I prefer playing bass though ( despite this being my 2nd guitar gig in 2 months! ). Whilst I enjoy playing a variety of places, I also couldn’t play social clubs regularly - started out doing them nearly 50 years ago and they’re still broadly the same if last night was an indication. Couldn’t be further apart from playing theatres which I’ve been used to for the last 15 years. Still, a gig’s a gig! 😄 (Photo added - am playing a 54 / 40th Anniversary Strat into some AC30 house amp.)

All finished and at home now 👍

Just back from standing in for a localish soul/funk band . Marquee gig in a very busy pub garden. Done another gig last night with the same guys and both went very well considering no rehearsal or anything. Last night used my GB Spitfire and today decided to give the distillate a spin. Great fun and I think I gave a good account of myself. 😊👌x

Local club that can be hit or miss, but easy load in and a lot of space. I have been going through the PA recently apart from outdoor gigs where I need a bit more power, but tonight I thought I would take my home setup in to see what it sounded like, that is a Warwick Gnome 10" cab and a BAM200. I was very impressed at just how loud it got, and how you couldn't put anything on the speaker without it falling off! So I cut back on the PA and put a lot through the bam/gnome. Had the advantage of being able to feel it through the stage. Anyway, unusually, a group of older ladies started dancing from song 1, and largely speaking, danced most of the set, which was nice, so by the end of the gig everyone was up. Makes it quite rewarding, and for us, a short gig at only 2 hours so home before midnight.

Last night we played at the Coach House in Paignton. We were offered this a couple of weeks ago, as the booked band couldn't make it. Sound check was easy as our last gig was here a month ago and the mixer settings hadn't changed. A good turnout for the bank holiday weekend, with a good group up dancing in the 2nd set. A couple of people who had not seen us before came up to chat and tell me how much they enjoyed the gig. Last time here I used my new Squire Precision, which was fun. This time I took my old StingRay. I asked our drummer how it compared to the Squire and he said the StingRay has just such a better sound in his opinion. Next gig isn't until October, so time for some practicing.

Somewhat different gig, because of the arrangings: there was one ambassador in place, and we needed IDs and everything felt pretty strict. But after the set up, sound check, and some jazz people went crazy! They sang practically all songs. We had to add more songs to the fourth set, as they just shouted for more. Sets: jazz standards, start me up, sing-a-long, and ring-and-shout! Because of the ambassador, we decided to break one rule: the last song was All you need is love. We have never, ever played Beatles live. Maybe the most complicated song for us was Peter Gabriel's Book of love. It is slow, very intimate, and was new for us. The owner of the place asked this, and we decided to make it happen. Equipment: - Vigier Passion II 4-string - IE Xero DL envelope, Phat Beam comp, Boss SY-1 synth - Glockenklang Soul - alusonic 2 x 12" - at the moment several totally dead fingers

Come on admit it who sold this bass describing it as well Relicked.

Played a west country cider festival today, home by 7pm which is unusual but great. Ashdown/Sandberg combination for this one - a beautiful combination

How can we get Stew to buy more pedal boards? That ought to do it.

My father Andy Brown was the bass player for this album. Still have the silver record at home!

Never go to Bass Bros in person...or something like this happens. They were amazing in their service and we did what feels a fair deal for all. A lot of other basses went to make room for this one and it's already worth it. I don't play enough to have a big stash no matter how varied they are, so wanted to get to a few I know I'll keep playing. I've wanted a burner since Hadrien's earlier days (although would love a sea foam one). Also always loved Matt Garrisons fodera with buckeye burl. They had a flame koa which also looked incredible but I wasn't feeling the neck as much. Talk of a pale moon ebony finish that was upstairs got me tempted but supposedly it had already gone. Seemingly it's on their site so still available and usually like a clean fretboard with no markers, but preferred this overall. Saw this in the flesh and just had to have it. Find it hard to properly try basses in shops as they are always setup far too high for my preference. Now it's setup like really (really) low, the neck and finish really is impressive on this thing. Kudos to Sleek Elite for keeping quality really high. 9.999 out of 10. The 0.001 is because I didn't have a 1/20 Allen key to do the setup and wish they'd included one

Two gigs this weekend. Friday night at the Yard of Ale in Peterborough. Great crowd from beginning to end. Fun, happy time. This afternoon in Spaldwick at the Greystones playind in support of Addinbrook Hospital. Outdoor gig with lots of families. Plenty of dancing as well. Myusual rig with this band… Spectracore fretless 5, trace head, and twin GB 12’s.

Played our first Fringe gig last night with the punk band. Well, it was in a Fringe venue although not an official show. But it does mean we can be economic with the actualité and casually say that 'when we played the Fringe...' Fake it 'til you make it and all that. The Stingray had its second outing and acquitted itself very well. The bass amp was an old Laney box - no idea of the model - but the Stingray sounded really good through it.

Picked up a new Graft 5 in the Frostbite finish today directly from Alan at ACG HQ. Absolutely loved it from the moment I pulled it out the very nice gig bag. Acoustically felt and played just right and plugged in I was taken aback at the wide spread of tones from a passive bass. Bridge pickup can honk with the best of them and it does the hollow two pickup slap tone supremely well too. Can't wait to start using it with the band! Also had a look at some Retro B Standards with coloured figured tops and East preamps. They were superb and something I will be investigating further. Picking up a used Krell 4 string turned me onto the brand. Glad it did 😍

Did an interesting beer festival gig today with my pop/punk band, our first gig since BC (Before Covid) and a completely new set of songs which our band leader had written in lockdown. Being a microbrewery in a small industrial unit, the acoustics were pretty crappy. Hard floors and walls, high ceiling, and the world’s smallest PA. Honestly I’ve seen home hi fi systems which are bigger. House bass amp was a 30W Ampeg Rocket combo, so naturally I took my Handbox WB100 and Barefaced Two10. Both guitarists had their 2x12s 😆🤦🏼‍♂️ Soundman looked a bit scared, bless him. Overall though, it sounded great. Seemed well balanced out front from the videos I’ve seen, albeit with a PA being pushed hard. We played well and then laughed when the next band announced a song “this is new, we’ve never played it live before so I hope it goes OK”. Er, that was our entire set 😄 So yeah, Youths is the name of the band, new music will be released soon. We need some more gigs as well 😁

Here's my Fender Jazz Bass, it's a 65 body with original pots, pickups, and bridge, pick guard is a new one, same spec as the original one. It has a 69 neck on it with original 69 tuners, the truss rod was knackered, so had to have a new two-way one installed by luthier Bryan Eastwood and his son from Bacup, near Manchester, its been stripped back to bare wood at some point. It sounds amazing and plays really nicely, one of the guys from Bass brothers in Leamington Spar had a quick go, when he picked another bass up from me, and said it played great, and the neck was exceptional.

Thought i'd add my latest iteration to here after i rebuilt it onto a Templeboard Duo 17. I've got an IO box underneath because the temple mods seem very expensive just do that and it never leaves my bedroom anyway. In - SY-1 - HX Stomp w AO in the loop - M80 just as a DI. I do have space for atleast a couple more pedals though so who knows what else will find it's way on.

I'm a massive fanboy obviously and have owned over the years: 2 GWB35s, GWB1 (twice), 3 different EHBs (6, 5 and shortscale 5), a heavily modded TMB35 (which I still have). Aside from the GWB which is fretless, never had a Prestige/Japanese fretted and always wanted one. I recently had a bit of a purge to get 2 basses I have wanted since I first saw them. Finally got an Ibanez Grooveline G105 I found being sold in Eire after repeated googling over the months/years. Even with family in Northern Ireland there was no way I could get it. After a few talks the owned agreed to have his son bring over to England so I could pick it up. An immaculate bass even with all the original case goodies and labels. Now I've set it up really low as I like I can tell it will get a lot of playing time. Which is saying something when you think what NBD 2 of 2 is... I know the look isn't for everyone but has best balance of any bass I've ever played and has a great super jazz bass sound. I really want a G106 but after a few messages from Benjamin Shepherd who informed me only 50 were made I'm not holding my hopes up. That said I'm extremely happy with the G105. Anyone else got one?

Does it have a Tele-style headstock with sharpie scrawlings on it 🤔

Spent half the day cable managing and swapping out a few plates for 3M tape.

I realise you've finished now (and it's looking good, I love a red Precision 😎), but for anyone else looking to do similar, calligraphy ink is a very good wood dye. Huge range of colours, cheap, and water based so, as @Manton Customssaid, an oil based finish won't affect it. Seeing @Andyjr1515 use inks led to me trying trying them and I'm glad I did. You can layer it up to a degree and put more on the edges to achieve a sunburst type fade, even blend different colours. The horns and along the centre laminate were put on slightly heavier. And here it is lacquered... And yes, that darker laminate bugs me that it wasn't put in the centre when being built, why? 😁

Anyone else see Scooby Doo 😆

All that Mojo! It must play like I can't believe it's not butter.

Is the pickup a digestive biscuit which was dunked just a little too long?

Wrong tuners, dodgy transfer on the headstock and truss rod access at the headstock by the looks of it? Dodgy neck so the rest is prob dodgy as well.

After a very tight vote in July we had a 4 way tie! And after a few machinations the honour was bestowed on Upside Downer for the pictorial inspiration to carry us through the heady Augustine days of summer, to our voting point He thus mused... "Been pottering along the Grand Union Canal on our narrowboat and, on our way to the pub in Shrewley one night, we passed this. Minstrels, tell us the story of this abode!" Without further ado , have a listen to the entries and vote for your favourite 3 1. @Jean-Luc Pickguard Here's my entry, "How The ✽✽✽✽ Did My Bike Get Up There?" This is the radio TikTok-friendly beeped version. 2 @Leonard Smalls I felt that the house had seen better days, perhaps had regrets, could have done things differently. So here's a sort of urban tribute to Bill Laswell, featuring a fellow Badass Weed... 3 @Dad3353 The theme is set in the title; what else could it be..? Yes, it's a Cycle of Pedal Points, in various forms. 4 Lurksalot. I saw the picture and thought of ET having gone home , his bike left on the wall and Hollywood then going home thus abandoning the place ... then I was looking for parallels in the football world ...or not ..😃 5 @xgsjx How did that bike get up there?.. 6 @MoonBassAlpha When I was working on my cover of Todd Rundgren's I Saw The Light, I read that he thought the lyrics were a bit trite and wasn't keen on the "Moon, June, Spoon" rhyming. Thus, I put these rhymes to work in the "verse" of this tune, It's all nonsense, of course, but I think the story fits the picture, but is the world ready for psychedelic madrigal-core yet? 7 @AndyTravis I like the idea that the pacey parts are the bike’s former life racing down hills and the angrier parts (namely drums) are the crazed destruction that let to the house and the bike being knackered together… 8 @upside downer It's about Feng Shui! Sort of! Sounds like a load of old twaddle! Yes! Both Fung Shui and the song! Stop using exclamation marks! OK! That’s your lot so choose your favourite 3 and place your votes voting will close at midnight on the 31st August good luck

Well, @skelf pulled it out of the bag and got me my new Custom Recurve before I have to go back to Mexico and even before my *redacted* birthday tomorrow. But it's clearly not a rush job. Arrived about half an hour ago and it's all I could have wished for! Gorgeous, crafted to the highest standards and after just 10 minutes noodling it already feels completely like home. The neck is absurdly playable, as anyone who has played an ACG will know. There's just something about them that feels intuitive and right and fast and confidence inspiring. And this one also happens to look incredible. Recurve 4, 33 inch scale, East pre and combination of PB and RFB pickups. Hybrid Turkish Walnut top, birch accent, alder body, mac ebony board, maple and wenge neck. Looking forward to getting it home and playing around with the sounds with my usual setup and not a shitty 15w practice amp that distorts if you even breathe on it.

BBC4 tonight. Possibly a repeat but a profile of Mayall entitled 40 years of the blues. edit. 21.50 tonight

I KNEW that the Baddass bridge was going to revolutionise not only my playing but my life. Yeah

Brass nut? Check. Schaller bridge? Check. EMGs? Check Welcome to 1980s bass mods! No instrument too good to devalue, no money too hard earned to waste (though the EMGs were ace)!

We have all been there.

This is my setup: Krivo magnetic pickup into a Fishman pre with HPF. DI signal without the HPF goes to the PA, amp out signal goes to the amp/MAS 45 cab, which sits on a X/keyboard stand at chest/shoulder height. A HPF is essential for defeating feedback in my opinion - I wouldn't gig without one.

It's not a Yamaha, I built that bass from scratch last year, the shape is based on a Yamaha BBN5 though, good eyes! 😊

Looks like a Squier VM Precision with a dodgy Fender decal (or the body and aftermarket neck at very least) The truss rod access looks off and the fact it has a cheaper looking 'Duncan Design' pickup makes it suss immediately to me. Pretty sure it's one of these... https://images.app.goo.gl/oXmHr9NsPrZghDfL8

I'm fed up of being treated like a sex object. Watch the fingers, not the face! 😁 Seriously though, it's not something I'd consider doing. Take me as you find me, or leave me there. I don't even have a tattoo and stopped wearing an earring 30 years ago Good luck!

Yep, the instant giveaway is the truss rod access on the headstock. Also the shape of the headstock is a bit off, even for 1970's Fender, and that decal was probably made by someone that's seen a picture of a fake Precision bass once on the internet and tried to replicate it. Hard avoid.

Thanks for the nice comments! I don't go on Basschat nearly as much as I should - mostly when I'm buying or selling basses! I bought that bass in spring 1975 as a late '60s P-bass body (had been resprayed black, which I stripped and varnished) already with a Tele bass neck (maybe 1968, can't remember, and it's in storage so I can't check). Immediately I added an EB3 mini humbucker at the bridge but as the pole piece spacing was narrower I had to use Mustang bass saddles pulled together with a piece of thick wire. I used it like this with Colosseum II (Gary Moore, Don Airey etc, 1975-6), mostly using both pickups, and National Health (1976-7), generally just the J pickups, but I think in 1977 I changed the EB3 pickup for two J pickups wired as a humbucker. The P-bass pickup was still as standard then but I don't have any pics that show it in this configuration. I removed all the frets in 1977 (Jaco! See photo below from rehearsals for the Bruford album Feels Good To Me, standing in for Jeff Berlin who was the actual bassist in the band) and sometimes had to borrow other necks or basses for particular songs, sessions or gigs. I had it refretted in late 1977 or early 1978. Soon after joining Whitesnake in early 1978 I needed to change from the mid-heavy tone of the EB3 or J bridge humbucker to a more full sound, so I started using the P pickup (at this time and in Colosseum II I was using flat wounds for more definition - the treble of round wounds was swamped by guitars, cymbals etc. Later with Whitesnake I changed to La Bella Quarterwounds then La Bella Hard Rockin' Steel) but wasn't very satisfied by the tonal difference between the two halves of the pickup. I discovered there was a type of replacement P pickup (Mighty Mite, I think) which had a single polepiece under each string, like Sandbergs today, so the coil size wasn't as wide as in regular P pickups, so I could shave the ends of the bobbins and put two coils side by side, similar to the two coils in a Di Marzio J pickup. I made a cover (as seen in the photo above) with two pickups (4 coils) underneath, and wired it so I could try the various combinations. Until halfway through 1978, it was my only bass, and to make changes to my gear required me to make modifications to that one, as I couldn't afford to buy new instruments. I discovered that I preferred the sound of the coils wired in 'reverse P' configuration, which wasn't a thing then, though Yamaha started doing basses like that soon after. So that's how the bass was when that photo was taken. I used it on the Whitesnake Snakebite EP and Trouble LP, through a miked-up Peavey cab and no DI. After that I moved to Kramer then Aria, plus a borrowed Alembic for some albums. Later, with Black Sabbath in 1995 I reinstated a normal Precision pickup (Bartolini) for some touring, and I used the bass for periods during my 12 years in We Will Rock You in the West End. I shaved down the back of the Tele bass neck during the 70s as I found it too chunky, but went too far and exposed the truss rod! So that neck was retired in the 90s and I've had a couple of different P bass necks on there since then. By the way, there's a version on the net of that photo up above that has my hair sticking up on top and looking very odd, which is a digital mistake I guess, so I'm glad you used the better version! Cheers, Neil

I bought this Peavey TKO from Tiger Music in Brighton in 1990 or 1991. In 1999 I sold it to a friend to help pay for my new Ashdown gear. He used it in a Church and when he left, gifted it to them. Long story short, I played in that Church this morning and there was my old Peavey, still going strong after 34 years. Needed my Sansamp in front of it to tame a bit of boom but what a great bit of kit - it was emotional 😭

I had a little noodle on this today when dropping off a bass, the pics don't do it justice. It's a stellar bass, sounds great and a lovely weight. A definite keeper!

I'd love the five-string version.

And back to the 80s again Tears For Fears - Mad World | Curt Smith

This possibly going to make me sound like a complete hack but I suspect I'd only be instantly 100% accurate in test conditions on the bottom two strings. A "two strings up, two frets up" shape in my head unlocks the top two strings. I run scales and arpeggios incessantly though when idly noodling in front of the TV so when I'm playing I'm pretty on it in terms of hitting particular notes in terms of their relationship to the root - but it might take me a moment the actually tell you their name... I don't anticipate ever having to sight read anything so this is a useful compromise for me. Danny Thompson tells the tale of John Martyn having no idea of the names of the chords he played, recognising them only by shape. I suspect he was exaggerating a little but there's probably a good lesson in there about working on the things that enhance your musicality rather than getting lost in dogma. (Which is not an anti-theory sentiment btw: I find music theory fascinating and useful - just saying that it's sensible to choose your battles depending on your requirements)

A couple of photos by Kevin Stevens from last night's gig:

No, Richard Madeley was busy as lead singer of The Fall