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Good Halloween fun on Saturday night for us at Starr Sports, Canvey Island. Load in and set up appeared to go smoothly, and we was ready for soundcheck within an hour. I still thinks there's work to do, to assign several tasks to other band members to get make it even quicker, however. Being a hallowed party, we went a little heavier with some of our first set, adding Enter Sandman, Run To The Hills, In the End and Zombie (yes, I know). For the second set our singers dressed up and we added a few halloween themed party songs that we learned especially for this even - Thriller, Monster and Ghostbusters that went down amazingly well. I think we may keep the first two in permanent rotation. Ghostbusters was a bit messy and my left hand cramped up toward the end of it - it's a bitch of a riff to play on the bass, and we purposely sped it up! Kudos to Ian Martin Allison for his Vintage Synth Pack — the Mini Mogue sounded perfect for Thriller. I'm not one for buying presets, but synths are not my forte, but it's made be consider trying one of his regular packs.

Possibly our last gig at the Donkey. It was rammed with a fabulous crowd. Hot and sweaty - fantastic! It really did feel like the end of an era though. There is still a lot of confusion as to whether, what I regard as Leicester’s top live music venue, is going to continue despite the Facebook screen grab I posted the other day. Anyway, the gig. Initially we had quite a lot of boom from the kick drum mic/stage resonance. My amp was quite low level as usual, to give the sound man some headroom to work with. It was a bit of a struggle to hear what notes I was playing at times. I had a word with the sound man in the break, he tweaked some stuff, and it sounded much better on stage in the second set. Sound issues aside, it was a fabulous gig to a very receptive crowd. We don't usually do the standing around on stage the end of the performance taking the applause thing, but this time was different. It did feel a bit final. I didn't take any photos myself because there were a lot of people taking much better photos. I'll post some up when they are forwarded to me. Oh, yes the Stingray-esque Sterling Sub5 sounded great (when I could hear it) and I revelled in the growly twang. The Rumble was on form as usual. Bittersweet.

I wasn’t really in the market for a new bass, but when I saw this up for sale, I felt I had to seize the opportunity. It’s a masterbuilt Warwick streamer stage II in a beautiful red finish. Interested to know if anyone owns or has previously owned a stage II. This is costing me a little over £3000, which is a lot but considering ordering one of these from Warwick is the pointy end of £8000, I figured it was a decent deal. This bass has never actually been played, so I’m getting a brand new instrument.

Some photos from Sunday at the Donkey And FrankenFocus... 1000018351.mp4

Monthly Bandeoke residency on Sunday night. Desperately quiet. I wonder they keep booking us. We have a weekly residency elsewhere on Sundays so end up sending a different crew to cover it when the dates clash. Hoping we can move the night for the monthly one. Thoroughly enjoyed playing though, some fun improvisations and more songs added to the repertoire.

Our band Slytherin were back at the coach house in Paignton last night, our favorite venue. It was busy from the outset and as the night went on the crowd were getting right into it and there was plenty dancing and singing along. At the sound check our guitarist thought he was feeding back in the monitors, so we lowered his level, and I had trouble hearing him. It was our singers mic, so some adjustments and the guitar level was raised during the 1st set which helped with the stage sound. Our drummer had some new skins which really helped the sound too. He also has some new Alpine Musicsafe pro ear plugs which were very good. We played well, barring a few mistakes later in the second set where I really messed up Hush for the first time, which we laughed about. All in all a great night as we played well and sounded great, and tried a couple of new songs. I had my usual StingRay, RM500 & BF 210 & also went through the PA. The pub is only having bands on Saturday nights next year, so less gigs to go around and we have 4 booked.

Saturday's gig was a Zep tribute at a civic hall in Cottingham, a pretty posh suburb of Hull (no, I didn't know that there's a posh part of Hull either)! About 200 or so punters there, with 170 tickets sold a week before the show @ £17, a few more between then and the the gig and a handful of walk-ins on the night @ £20. Unfortunately, we were on a fixed fee, but still a decent payday. Fortunately, we played pretty well and all-in-all a good show. There was a very decent PA with a married couple running sound who knew what they were doing, which always helps. Bass sounded great as well - usual rig for the Zep band of a Fender Am Std Jazz, into a Caveman pre, into the Handbox R-400 and a Berg CN212.

Next gig, this is coming with me. Lightweight cabs, heavy weight stereo head. Let's make some noise.

Better pic tomorrow but it's painted and working

So this year I hit the half century and although I have played electric bass for 36 years. I have never really played upright…my fiancé and I decided this year should be the time. So I made my way to the junkyard bought this beauty of a 4/4 Zeller from @Happy Jack as well as spending a delightful couple of hours hearing great stories and learning the first fledgling steps of upright bass playing. it’s been great so far, totally different instrument with its own feel and approach and I love it. So glad I’ve finally started this journey. jonny

Played the Dreadnought in Bathgate with Temptation Waits on Friday night, our first full gig proper. I had a ball, set went down well with a smallish but enthusiastic crowd. First gig with the new guitarist and as a five piece, we're all happy with how we sounded, couple of minor slip ups, couple of tunes played waaaay too fast, but on the whole pretty chuffed. Sound in my IEMs was great, soundcheck was less than 5 mins and perfect, thanks to the sound man. Gear - played my Fender Player Jazz for the first time, really liking how this sounds in the mix. My trusty Squier 40th Anniversary Precision was an unused substitute. Played through my HX Stomp based board to Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 head, with the provided Ashdown cab.

A couple of additions necessitated a wee rearrange of things on my wee pedalboard. Please excuse the massive interconnects, they're the only ones I could find right now - will replace with wee pancake ones when I get them... Path is TU-2 > Hotone Harmony > Bass Sweeper > Bass Synth Wah > comp > Monomyth

My advice, for what it’s worth, is to get out there and do some networking at open mics and jam nights. You will need to be open about what genres of music you play and will, definitely, “kiss a few frogs”. But, you will be mixing with people who actually want to play live music. One of the best bands I’ve played with came about after I saw a solo singer/guitarist at an open mic and said ‘would you like a bass player to join you?”. Good luck, and don’t give up!

Hello, Just bought this from Roy on here, thought I'd join this thread, loving it so far, not gigged it live yet, but will do at my bands next gig, just thought I'd say hello and stick a pic up 👍

In the middle is my fairly recent acquisition beteeen my two other Prestiges. The bass in question is a quite obscure MIJ SRMS5 Prestige from ‘22. Even though I follow Ibanez and normally I am quite up to date with their offerings this totally went unnoticed. Not that it is a surprise as it was (is?) offered only on selected markets with limited information (reviews or videos) and mine is the only one i saw in the wild.

1. No 2. Yes I just wish we would have been better seeing that people paid to see us. Daryl

Days late, but first gig with a new band last Friday. Taking me back to days gone past, playing with keyboards, being just the bass player and a different sorta set list from what I’ve done for the last six years. Liked it and nothing wrong with the set list, just need to tighten up as a unit, which we’ll do over time. I’ve come to the realisation that an almost 20 year hiatus has allowed my ( weak to start with ) skill level to diminish and I’ll never be as good as I was in the 90’s. Enjoying doing a wee bit more though.

A rare outing for Felis Leo last night at the Avon Brewery, Salisbury. We were supporting another local lot, Punkture. First outing for our new drummer Darrell and my 6th gig since joining in April '22. It all went really well if not a little on the fast side at times. Managed to fit all our set in, I thought it would be a squeeze but maybe the faster pace shaded a few seconds here and there off the tunes 😆 Loads of great feedback, we might be getting somewhere now and gigs might be more forthcoming... might've picked up 2 from last night. A couple of Punkture's band used to play with Paul Di'anno so they paid tribute to him during their set. He lived round these parts for many a year. VID-20241027-WA0001.mp4 Gear. I plugged my Lakland 55-02 into my TC Electronic BH550 connected to the Ashdown 2x10 cab of Punkture's bassist (who I noticed had a Shuker black P bass, couldn't see the signature on it though, forgot me glasses🤓).

Not a great night for us. We just couldn't get our groove going for some reason. We had a dep drummer but that wasn't the problem. On the plus side we sold 94 tickets at $15.00 a piece. Daryl

Eerily prescient - see below! A weekend of gigs to report on. Friday night with Nine Lives at The Leathan in Portlethen, near Aberdeen. It's an odd place to play - hard floor, low ceiling, band area walled in on both sides half way up. Caused a plethora of sound issues to be worked around, we were a few mins late starting. From gremlins with the singer's wireless mic (a lot of hiss for some reason - went wired in the end), to having to drop the bass down a lot because too much boom. But when we did get going, we had a good time, sound got better in the second half, probably because it got a bit busier. It was a good night - a small crowd but lots of enthusiastic dancing makes it worth double. Gear was Sire Z7 then G&L wunkay into the usual Markbass tone cubes. Saturday afternoon I did some wiring work on my Squier Jag H, was feeling cocky so I took it to the gig at night (with a backup, of course). Saturday night was at Gray's Inn in Mastrick, Aberdeen, again with Nine Lives. What a difference a room makes - wide open space, carpeted floor, high ceiling. Setup was a breeze and the drummer (who has taken up the challenge of being main sound guy, as well as being a sound guy!) nailed the levels almost right away. A less busy time, but we still had a few folk up dancing. I went walkabout through to the other bit of the bar where people were being shy and took 25% of the show to them. You can run, but you can't hide when the bass player's wireless! The Squier Jag H performed flawlessly, what a glorious sound in series mode! I was having so much fun I played it for the whole night (sorry you left the house for nothing, Triad). Modified Squier Jag H all night into the yellow and black modular bringer of boom.

As not everyone will naturally read a Gibson FS ad (can't think why), this is to draw your attention to a fundraiser to help BC stalwart Andy Travis and his daughter Iris. See within this ad. Cheers Clarky https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/503434-gibson-“the-ripper”-1976/ ... and here is the JustGiving link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mark-clark-3

Done and so honoured to be part of this. Only just found it on BC. Wishing Andy @AndyTravis and his family all the very best. @Clarky you are a very special BC'er and huge respect for getting this on its way. Dave.

The ZPO 5 is a very good bass, B-G or E-C. Here beside a Fender MM 34” ZPO with an East pre

That was one of our standards for a while, even not in haloween, but it always got messed up on some of the changes. However, we did a few times when we just did the rif during a fancy dress parade for 15 minutes and that was ok!

There was a time when guitar shops were also a place just to hang around. I can't imagine how much popular music has been influenced by people hanging out on Denmark Street, for example.

I think there's an enormous amount of cork sniffing that goes on with PUs and pres on basses. I've owned a huge variety from Status to Alembic Series II and Bart Mk1s and the latter are nowhere near as bad as many make out. You may have different preferences, especially when listened to isolated, but there is nothing 'bad' sounding about this bass. Note, I own one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EThymuEtxw I also own an Ibanez SR706, with Mks that's getting EMG45DCs, because I'm looking for that EMG tone and am prepared to (slightly) rout the bass to fit them in, especially as it cost me so little and isn't collectable in any real way. This, or the A6, could play just about anything I could consider ever playing and with some slight EQ tweaking, both could be used in a long, wide ranging cover or wedding gig, with just about zero chance of a negative comment on tone.

As a postscript to this, I REALLY must take things easier for recuperation!!! I may be out of the plaster cast and into an Aircast, so I can stand easier, but I very much overdid it on Friday night and was crippled all day yesterday 🤒 They're only gigs and whilst they may keep me sane, standing for too long will not aid full recuperation! Next week I must go full Val Doonican and have (and use) a stool at the gig - I also have to run sound for use, but the others will have to set everything up first!

Played at the ARC in Stockton on Tees with Elton Joel as part of the Counterfest tribute festival which is spread over six venues throughout the town centre. That whole bit of town was dead busy with people hopping between venues to see the different acts on. Great vibe to it fair play! Stage space was quite limited so stuck with one Yamaha bass throughout and my small Markbass traveller rig. Onstage sound at sound check was quite indistinct but once the place was full it all made sense and was much clearer. Steamy hot and busy gig too. Nicely done. Also made full use of the clocks going back to get an extra hour kip after three-hour drive back home to Leicestershire….

Johnnie Walker is bowing out from his long radio career today on Radio 2, from 3 - 5pm. For people of a certain age (like me) Johnnie has been one of THE definitive broadcasters , and introduced me to so many bands over the last half century on his shows, including 'The Rock Show' and 'Sounds of the 70s' along with many others. Always lots of great musical knowledge and stories about musicians, as well as having that great voice. He's retiring due to ill health, and I hope he manages to enjoy many more years to come.

https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/gifts/gifts-for-teenage-boys/black-sedrik-trainers/p/27618635 LMAO

Quite. I'm reminded of a local shopkeeper (now passed away) who didn't quite get this. I once had this conversation with him: "Do you see anything you fancy today?" "Unfortunately not, sorry." "Well, you must be blind then!"

I used to own a (non-music) shop and I was always very welcoming when people came in just to browse, because although they think they're not going to buy anything, you know that deep down they do want to buy something or they wouldn't feel drawn to come in. Sometimes they'd come back a few times and just look around, and then you know that in due course they're very likely to buy. Browsers aren't time wasters, they're just the unripe fruit of the customer world, who need gentle ripening with the warm sunshine of the salesperson's welcome. If someone works in a shop and doesn't understand that, either they or the shop won't last long.

Start your own band. Write a set list. Set out what musicians you want and what level of commitment you want. How often you rehearse and gig.

I think that if life has taught me anything, it's that things can turn in an instant. You may not see an opportunity now, but you really never know what's round the corner. Not very profound, but it has been my experience.

It's good to get it off your chest. I don't have much to add, apart from the usual "don't give up, mate" type platitudes - if you're still fit to play gigs (and you still want to) then I hope you find an outlet for that. The part I highlighted in your original post struck a chord with me. We had to change singers at the end of last year and what a gaggle of muppets, morons, and wastes of space and time did we encounter in our search! From no-shows at auditions, to people being all "I know all your songs" only to be found out at the audition, to folk with all the gear and no idea, to people who were overconfident to the point of either announcing that they were our new singer before we'd even said anything about it to them, to control freaks who could sing well enough but had a list of demands as long as your arm, trying to get folk to join the band before they'd even joined. We had it all - it was MONTHS of hell during which time we entertained thoughts of jacking it all in. TL:DR - I feel some of your pain, but stick in there, if we can find someone eventually in the wilds of NE Scotland, I'm sure you'll be fine in the end.