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Great sold out home town gig at the Capitol theatre in Horsham tonight ( ok last night now🤣) with the Phil Collins tribute. My set up really inspires my confidence, my trusty Wal, Tecamp puma 900 and and the fabulous LFsys monza cab, an amazing little monitor. Thought we may be a bit rusty as it’s been a while since the last one but pleased to say everyone was’on it ‘ an the audience were amazing! We collect money for a homeless charity by selling t shirts etc. we don’t put a price on things, we just ask people to give what they feel is manageable for them and tonight we collected over a £1000 for the bridge house trust, based in Tunbridge wells. Peoples generosity is very humbling sometimes x

Friday night at the magnificent Trillians Rock Bar in Newcastle with Sons of Nirvana. Packed out and a great night was had by all. What a rig this is, the Hiwatt is outstanding and through the Barefaced 610 its mighty! Gibson basses rule too 💙

Nice function for Pop Rock Riot last night, playing in The Exchange in North Shields. Knowing it was a good-looking venue I borrowed some camera stuff from work and I've now got 431GB of footage to go through for our next showreel. Joy! 🫣 The setup: The filming: (not as fuzzy as it looks, these are screen captures of the video payback not proper exported stills but it's Sunday and I'm lazy)

Much posher pub (well, we were in South Manchester, dahlink) last night, although another where the band seem to be pretty much surplus to requirements (seating/tables all over, no-one standing - it's clearly a big food pub during the day/early evening), and applauding might be seen as a bit passe...half a dozen ladies got up to dance in the second set, tho, and we got a woman whose 60th was being held there (sparkly dress, big sash, balloons, etc) jump on a mic...and blew us away with one of the best voices I've heard in a while. I surrendered my mic to her, and she did a couple of numbers (Good Times and Proud Mary), which made a very pleasant change from the usual Give Us A Go pish heads...oh, and she knew when to stop, too, voluntarily putting the mic back and buggering off while she was ahead...again, making a pleasant change. Oh, and one Karen type walked up to me mid song demanding something or other - I pointed at my inears (the fact that we were mid-song had apparently eluded her, too) and shrugged several times, she just persisted in that Talking Louder And Louder To Foreigners Means They'll Suddenly Understand You way. She then strode into the band space (always disconcerting when that happens, no?) and walked up behind(!) the singer to repeat her request/demands...for Oasis. Luv, we're in Timperley, it's not like we weren't going to play any...in fact we'd already done one in the first set before she arrived. We should've charged her £50...no, £75...actually it's now £125... Normal hours for once, home for oneish. Cheapo light Sonic P, Stomp, inears. Bliss.

And a video of me on my walkabout... 20241012 Wilsons Walkabout.mp4

Well that was superb! Clutching at Straws, charity fundraiser in Thurlby’s (very nice) village hall. 18:00 arrival, easy get in, good sound, dancing, happy organisers! We played well… the usual Dimension USA V into GK and Barefaced. Some nice synth sounds from me eg Does Your Mother Know.

We had a really good gig. The pub has been taken over by a young couple who are keeping the live music going, so that's always good news. Lovely people too. It's always a bit of a strange place for me, it seems to lack that buzz. Lots of people we knew turned out to see us though, which is always an honour. We never get many decent photos of our drummer, so here's a screen grab of a video that I took while he was soloing in Moby Dick (and the guitarist and I were having a sit down)...

I am bloody buzzing still after last night's gig - what a difference compared to Friday night's debacle. Played with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Where to start? There were people there for a start, a decent crowd and they were up for a good night out. Loads of dancers, some decent singalongs, hearty chants of "ANGUS!" during the intro to "Whole Lotta Rosie", you could say this gig had it all. Even the ar$ehole who got thrown out by the bouncer couldn't dampen my spirits. He was a total weapons grade idiot - came up to the singer and grabbed the mic to shout out to his mates - I mean it's never funny but OK, do it once, have your fun then p!ss off, but he got drunker and drunker and ended up doing it three times. The third time, I stepped in and rapped his knuckles to try and get his hand off the mic, then as he relinquished his grip and stepped back he stepped on one of the guitarists pedals, to which the guitarist obviously objected, to which the guy started to square up to the guitarist, but by that time the bouncer was there and got him out of there. Of course, the knobber fought against his removal and ended up brawling with the bouncer, knocking over an older lady in the process. We had to stop the music while she was checked over. Being wireless, I went over and enquired as to her wellbeing. I heard she ended up with a lump on her head, they got some ice on it but apparently she said she'd rather just have more alcohol. What a trooper! Anyhoo, doofus ejected from the pub, we continued the gig, and it went great right up to the end. I got up to no good being wireless and went for a walkabout round the whole pub Fantastic night, despite someone's worst efforts to spoil it, and it's like Friday night never happened. Now for a well deserved weekend off next week, then another Fri/Sat the weekend after. Rock 'n' roll! It was Sire night on the gear front - played my D5 then my Z7 into the usual Markbass tone cubes.

We played a lovely little venue in Leeds last night. Crank Studios - it’s kind of a music school with a venue/bar. The whole venture is great - set up by a pair of musicians, they do music lessons and dance classes, and even a ‘rock school’ where a cohort of kids between 6-16 get out into bands and after twelve weeks they do a gig. I think that’s amazing and if I lived nearer I’d love to support that. We played as part of a ‘showcase’ to help promote the new venue and only had 30 mins, and a 7 piece band in a small area - but we had fun and the sound was OK. I bought my full rig but ended up only using the 2x10 because I felt a bit silly having the 15 as well. I wish I did though just to raise the 2x10 because it was pointing at my ankles but it sounded good out front. I don’t think I played particularly well, partly because I couldn’t hear myself that well, but nobody noticed and we had some great feedback after our brief set. Next gig is in 2 weeks at ‘platform 1’ in Bedlington, looks like a good venue and we are headlining so we can do our full set. Pics of sound check - we had an audience of about 30, place was pretty full, which was nice. So a small but fun and relatively local gig. Mustang sounded spot on again. Got home quite early and had three Crunch Corner yogs.

A pretty good night last night. Drummer back from hols but one guitarist down however the other guitarist and I have worked for years as me him, drummer and a vocalist so really not a problem. Using a different sound guy, who works with our usual guy, and the usual PA but despite him having checked all the connections during the week nothing he did would connect his iPad to the mixer, I had forgotten my iPad, but the connection from my phone was intermittent so in the end he brought his XAir in and re plugged everything from the usual one and we managed a quick last minute soundcheck but without my IEM connected, so I had to tweak that on the fly in the set. Still non weight bearing on my ankle and using the iWalk to stand - let’s gloss over the fact that earlier in the day walking through the village I got overconfident, stubbed the ‘toe’ and with nothing to grab onto and unable to do the ‘skip, yes I meant to do that’ thing when you catch your foot, and went down in a heap (I’ve not admitted that to wifey as I’d never hear the end of it). It’s fine for gigging, though does mean I can’t really move about and the opposite foot has gone to sleep by the end of each set. First set went pretty well. A few flubs from everyone, particularly the drummer who dropped a couple of beats but we caught it and I doubt anyone in the audience noticed. Crowd were ok and singing along so that was good. Second set everything gelled much better, the sound felt better and the punters got into it and were singing and dancing so it ended as a stormer. Landlady well pleased and stuck a load in the diary for next year.

Thanks @scrumpymike for another excellent bash. Sorry I had to dash off early. I forgot to take any pictures too. Lots of lovely basses. @knicknack's Limelight with the rosewood board was lovely. Never thought I'd like flats, but the ones on there were amazing. @spyder's Serek Midwestern 5 was a terrific little bass. But thanks to @JapanAxe, I now need a D-Roc 5. Not want. NEED.

Just looked at Bass Direct website and there's an ad for some new La Bella super polished strings. Errr is it just my mind but does the description with asterisk look, ahem, fruity? If they had put a bigger gap between the O and D it would have helped....

Just got in from a great gig at Moor Brewery in Bristol. I've had to run home after our set because my daughter has chickenpox so there is no guarantee that I'll get much sleep tonight. Strange but cool venue. It's literally in the warehouse. There are tanks brewing things next to where you play. The sound guy also just wanted the amps to do the work in the room, so we got to turn up LOUD 😬 But, it was the most engaged crowd of the night (so far). Lots of people headbanging, which is great. A mate said lots of people were pointing at my Dingwall too. I think we're really honing in on our live sound now after 8 or so gigs. Love, love, love the Digbeth too. It was an 8Ohm cab, so I was putting half power into it, but I still filled the space at about 6/7 on the volume controls. Didn't manage to get a pic of the stage, but I was playing my Combustion into my pedalboard, then Digbeth head and another band's Matamp 610. We've curated a night there for December, and I'm really looking forward to it now!

Played a 60th Birthday Party at the Shooters Arms in Burnley last night. Rammed. Debuted my new (to me) 69 Precision Bass. Sounded perfect in some of the Jam / Clash numbers we play 👍

I don't want groupies. Af my age I need roadies...

Had a great day, nice to catch up with people and talk to a load of new people. Played too many basses, want too many other things now! But we are so hardcore that even the announcements needed a huge PA support!

Even Mrs Scrumpy got in on the bass action, after falling in love with @chyc's lovely old doghouse.

I get groupies to snap the toppings into the main section and evenly stir them into the yog

That reminds me - one of the few high points from Friday night was a table of lads in the second half chanting "Sunty, sunty, gie's a tune, sunty gie's a tune" (for the sassenachs - "sunty" is a NE Scottish colloquial pronounciation of "santa" as in Santa Claus)

It took me a while to gather them, but I found the last one in September in Germany... Note the big difference in colour (pedal and box) between the 1982 model and the others. The other differences are: - Imperial nuts (external, I didn't check the thread) for the 1982, - Solid shaft pots with locking screw knobs for the 1982 and 1983, - Split shaft pot with push-on knobs for the 1984 and 1985, - Nylon washer for the footswitch lid screws for the 1984 and 1985, - No adaptor indication label near the socket for the 1982 and 1983, - A yellowish mica type of plastic with a bit of foam (2x3 cm approximately) between the circuit and the back cover for the 1982 and 1983, - A transparent plastic type corrugated sheet between the circuit and the back cover for the 1984 and 1985, - The "r" at the end of the name for the 1982 and 1983. The rest is identical, especially the circuit board and the tone seems more reliable on the 1982, less bubbling and less idiosyncratic with a slightly better tracking. All pedals tested with the same new battery brand, same cables, same bass, same ears and same player. I will try to find other differences should there be some.

So glad I made the effort to go this year. Always nice to put user names to faces! Thanks for all the kind comments about my DIY Ampeg B15 clone, people seemed to like it!

Never let it be said that you're not rock 'n' roll, Ped!

I'm sending my show reel in, thanks for the heads up😀

Here's the group shot - more later. Thanks for coming everybody😊

I'm not quite sure what this bass face is saying. 😀

Here's the 250W model from the new BlueLine range of LFSys bass cabs. Plus a bare cab showing the interior details, with the crossover.

Pub landlords/ladies are like farmers, they never say that business is good. TBF things might be tough, but never to the extent that they make out. The real problem is that when they start talking down the state of play, it almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. If people go to the venue because of the music, reducing it, or messing with a proven formula, will actually reduce their footfall. Venues have been getting away with murder when it comes to the band’s fee, it’s still the same today as it was 12+ years ago, but they’ll still claim it’s too expensive .

Wonderful to meet done new faces and a joy to see the old ones. Really is the highlight of the year. Thank you @scrumpymike , his family and friends for such a great day, wondrous food and good company. Highlights for me were getting to have a play through the Laney Digbeth courtesy of @MichaelDean - the valve emulation and tilt control are superb, and it's a real looker too, and @stevie cabs were a revelation, absolutely stunning in every respect but especially when paired with his Trace Elliot.

Aye, rub it in why don't you?

@scrumpymike and his brilliant group of helpers excelled themselves again this year. Scrumptious food (did you see what I did there?🙃) and great company. Always an excellent day, and an opportunity to stoke up my GAS. I was particularly taken by Scrumpymikes’ Sandberg superlight and Kevin’s Sandberg California 5 string with humbucker and P-bass style split pickups.

My 1969 Gibson Les Paul Bass and my self built copy from 2015. The copy features Gibson lo-z guitar pickups instead of bass pickups.

We had an afternoon gig that kind of turned into an early evening gig. The last spot went in a flash, but was actually over an hour and a half. It's a great pub and sounded fantastic. The landlord has spent a lot of time and effort setting up a proper stage, and it really makes a difference. It was a little disturbing to hear that they only had 19 people in on Friday though. That sort of thing makes it really hard to keep putting on bands 3 times a week. Luckily we managed to draw a decent crowd, so played for a bit longer than we normally would (to keep them spending over the bar - that's what it's all about) At the end of the gig it took me about 20 minutes to make my way to the back of the pub to where the loos are, because it seemed that everyone wanted to stop and talk about how great it sounded, how well we played, etc. It's not easy to tear yourself away even with a full bladder when you're being showered with compliments 😁. Anyway it continued while we packed up meaning that we took ages. We have next weekend off, but are going to have an "extraordinary general rehearsal" next week (we very rarely rehearse) to polish up a few songs for the Donkey the week after - probably our last there ☹️

A pair of Basschat DIY designs built by @chyc

Phil's excellent PA shootout.

Oh dear, so many great basses I forgot to take pictures... Thanks to all but especially @scrumpymike and the Scrumpettes. <BURP> Like @stewblack I wish I could have arrived earlier and it could have gone on longer. Delay the raffle to 9pm I say...

Dirty boy!

A big thank you to all who were there today. As a new comer to the Bash I was made most welcome and it was fantastic to see such a wonderful selection of bass gear. Also the food was unbelievably good. I had second helpings all round. Yum Yum

Just the thing for playing in your super shed.

1. Micro-tilt neck. If the fit and finish of new instruments was 100%, there should be no requirement for micro-tilt necks (or shims). These are machine made basses/guitars; any adjustment should be able to be achieved with truss rod/bridge/fret-dressing. 2. Aerodyne body shape. Well fundamentally, these are just Jazz/Precision body shapes with binding and without rolled edges or too much chamfering. Surely Gibson were making Les Pauls in the 50s with binding and 90° edges? 3. TBX tone control. Hmm. Never seen one in use, but in theory doesn't it just ape a regular Varitone pot (which Gibson used on the Ripper)? 4. Partnership with Lace sensors. Isn't this like saying Gibson partnering with DiMarzio or something? Businesses collaborating with other businesses to create a product isn't particularly new. 5. Antigua finish... Stretching things here Stub. 6. 'Paranormal' series mixing and matching features. FMIC board visiting Mexican/Japanese plants: "What are all those bodies and necks over there?" Floor manager: "They're parts that we haven't put together yet." FMIC board (hearing the sound of cash registers riging): "Try just building things from random parts, see what happens and report back in 48 hours. We can give it a range name of something funky and sell our unused inventory at a bloated price, then pull the range once that junk is cleared.' 7. The little string hook thst fits on the A tuner. WOW! 8. Fender Fatfinger. Good grief. I have some snake oil in my garage if you're interested. 9. Grasping that the 'budget series' should offer a quality playing experience to help build loyalty and aspiration to the more expensive instruments. They are the masters of market segmentation. I think this is spot on. 10. Modelling amps that focus on one classic amp and do it well. Why not just keep producing those classic amps, rather than dozens of amps trying to be those classic amps. 11. Custom shop. When Fender bought and shut down Hamer, Fender described Hamer as a custom shop; a small team of builders producing great instruments in reasonably small quantities/runs. Hamer were building as long ago as 1977, ten years pre-Fender. 12. Relicing. Nope, just nope.

The decisions in FMIC are being made by a board of directors looking at an Excel spreadsheet, not a hands-on visionary who will get inspired and take chances. Imagine the rigmarole someone in their design department must go through to get something through the various management layers and into development, never mind production. They can't innovate and get things to market quickly in the way a smaller builder can. The entire business model, decided at board level, is based on continual regurgitation and effective branding, unlike the Japanese manufacturers, for example, who seldom revisit the past, never mind try to stay there. Anything vaguely different (i.e. not another pointless jumble of existing parts) they've put out has been something which isn't strong enough to create a market of its own (like Mr. Fender himself was able to do several times with different brands) and usually something another brand has been doing better for decades. Still, they're promising innovation, let's see if it's just more marketing hot air. I'm genuinely curious.

Failure Swift.

Last nights outing with Emergency Exit punk covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. Love this venue with both bands. PA and lighting already in place with great SE's. Owner or Manager whichever is there on the night are both top guys and look after you really well and are so easy to get along with. Has to be one of the best run venues i've ever known. Anyways the gig wasn't very busy maybe around 20-30 folks in. It holds approx 150 but they were all up for a dance / pogo almost all night from approx the 3rd song. We did our usual invite to "Big Hastie" to come on stage and sing Into The Valley with us and as a treat we let him sing Hurry Up Harry as well. Just great fun. From what folks were telling us including one of the SE's who was on his weekend off but came along to see us, that Fri nights have been extremely quiet recently and tonight was fairly busy for a Fri night. My attitude to quiet gigs is that they are just paid rehearsals. Band played well altho guitarist had hand cramp a few times but he carried on like the trooper he is. Only one more gig this year before the band takes a break and considers whether they want to continue. No ill feeling within the band but a personally a little disappointed. Guitarist has been doing it originally since 1977 but on and off over the years. Been constant last 16 yrs and i think he's getting a little bored with it. We'll get together in the New Year and see how folks feel about it. I've only been with the band 3 yrs so i still enjoy playing the songs as they have so much energy and the band are all just really nice people. Used my Sandberg MarloweDK into Shure Wireless and then the Mesa TT800 and SW 210 & 115 cabs. The Marlowe sounds amazing thru the Boogie channel on this amp. Every note is so clear across the neck but has a wonderfully warm deep tone and with the flick of the Brightness switch i get a terrific edge for those more rasping type songs. So happy with this Mesa rig, plus i can lift the amp with my little finger whenever needed Dave

Went to see Peter Hook & The Light in Sunderland yesterday... a Black BBPH on it's way? (Not my photo)

Metal is rather broad! Not a tiny % by any measure. Point is, Fender don't dominate like they did 30 years ago, there is a LOT of choice out there now and their lack of innovation has caused many to seek choices elsewhere. Sure the traditional stuff has a place, but not every place 👍🏻

Finished my little project on the BB405 😊👌