Leaderboard

This story I’ve repeated elsewhere but I think it’s worth putting on here as well. 2001 Ltd Edition Thumb BO. Sometimes, only sometimes, “the one that got away” swims straight back into your net. I bought this bass in 2003, brand new (despite its year). Gigged with it loads in London, recorded an album.., and then traded it in 2011/12 (not sure) for a Stingray. It quickly went to the top of the list in my head of basses I’d wished I’d never got rid of. And then… it appeared up for sale , on Facebook, this week. Mind blown, messages sent and received, confirmation made, bass purchased. I am so happy. And it’s the beautiful beast of a bass that I remember and with 12 years or so having passed, an instrument I can now appreciate more and make sound even better.

Great night for BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band in Dalkeith Social last night. Approx 200 there so that was good. Dancing from the start with a full floor for many of the songs. Audience well up for a fun party night and that always helps with quite a few dressed for the occasion too. 2 x 1hr sets last night which was easy and leaves the audience wanting more. Sandberg VM4 into Shure wireless and Mesa TT800 amp and SW210/115 cabs. Little touch of Keeley compression more as a limiter than anything else. Re-booked for March 2025 so that's good. Its a fantastic club that have spent a lot of money on stage, PA and lighting in recent years. On a side note and more a rant, 3 of us decided to stop at McDonalds on way home. I was last in drive thru qeue at McD's and altho only getting big mac meal i had to sit at the window for 10 mins. The other two guys had finished and one had headed home before i even got my order. Its a blooming "drive thru" why am i waiting 10mins for your signature burger. ? Experienced this a lot at McD's now so that will be last time for me. Burger was hot but chips cold and had obviously been sitting in the bag waiting for the burgers. Rant over. 1hr drive home on very quiet country roads. Home by 2am, had my coffee and bed by 2:30 ish. Back up 8:30am today for a trial PA set up with a guy that offered to do our PA for £100 a gig. We have a large gig coming up soon and thought we'd give him a try. We do know him. This is just to get things set up on his desk and make sure he knows what we are looking for. Starts 12am today so heading off 11am. Club had asked if we minded a support band of young local guys called Chapter 2. Only 16-17 yrs old but they were good. 3 piece band Guitarist / singer, bass and drums. They turned up with little pocket amps too with the bass player having a tiny wee Orange cube so i asked if he wanted to use my Mesa rig into the spare channel on the TT800 and he was over the moon. Ran thru the amp with him but at that age you grasp these things very quickly. You could tell they were nervous but they did a great job and even had the courtesy of punting our band and thanking us publicly for letting them support. Really great bunch of teenagers. Don't see that very often these days. There last song was Freebird which took me by surprise as they were mostly pop hits or their own songs. Dave

TONIGHT! The Cantina Band at The Vaults Real Ale Bar (dog friendly) in Knowle. We play here a lot and it's always the same story... no-one's interested, a couple of dancers if we're lucky and a few "Nice one, enjoyed that"s at the end so I was expecting more of the same. When I got there I found out it was a private party for a surprise 40th, the birthday boy's wife had booked us, she'd never heard us and hadn't asked for a setlist (we play a lot of rock covers - think Motorhead, Sabbath, McFly... that sort of thing) and she was asking the singer what sort of stuff we play. AFTER booking us (and after paying). Great, we're going to go down like a wet duvet. Sure enough, the first three songs were met with an empty dancefloor and a deafening silence from the other end of the pub (where everybody wasn't watching from), fourth song a couple of dancers. Great! Then a couple more, then a couple more then suddenly the dancefloor's packed! Harumble! They loved it - singing along, air guitaring, getting involved with the band (in a good way), Sweet child of mine nearly took the roof off (We got the riff in the solo right! That's twice now!), absolutely cracking set. Second set was just as good, went for a wireless wander into the throng which went down a treat, Birthday boy loved it ("You couldn't have picked a better set"), three encores, a couple of people asked for cards... turned out to be a fantastic gig. A few more shekels than usual as well. Dep drummer (chap from the other band) smashed it as usual. He took a pint off the barman while playing and didn't miss a beat. Oh and the drinks were all on the house! Usual setup for this sort of thing : Sterling -> Small (now slightly expanded with an octave and another distortion) board -> amp board (VTDI (set to SVT, sounds amazing) -> Thumpinator) -> Mark CMD121 Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip on the way home, back about 1 for a Henry Westons Vintage (8.2% ABV - AKA The Much Marcle Methadone) and a Curly Wurly. A decent Saturday night!

A hot one….. absolutely great crowd too.

Great fun last night. Still a guitar down and I’m in a aircast for another 5 weeks but got through fine. Arrived early as our sound guy had another gig on so we had extra to do and to make sure we could get everything connected and working. The pub was quiet to start with, but that was largely due to the earlier arrival and it filled up towards start time, and on through the evening (there was a big firework display on just down the road). I think that I need a new cable for my IEM”s as they were cutting in and out, but then again I could also probably do with a better system all round so I was back to old school with one plug-in and one out for most of the evening. Generally played okay with a couple of alien abduction moments for each of us through the night that we got through without major car wreck, and they crowd were well up for it singing and dancing all night. So all in all a pretty good session. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AVHmGogpi/?mibextid=UalRPS

We were in our new home town, Worcester, again (not that we live anywhere near, just that our last gig was there) playing upstairs in coffee shop cum bar cum record shop. Arrived to find a room which would possibly fit 30 people in plus the four bands playing... Sound guy had had it sprung on him that he was doing it that afternoon - he had no idea where the kit was and the promoter hadn't turned up yet (already 1/2 hour late!). So as we were headlining I stuck my baby rig on a pair of redundant (and broken) PA speakers and sneaked off for a burger (a Five Guys one, expensive but streets ahead of Maccy D's!). Came back an hour later to hear band 1 doing a soundcheck - they were due on at 8, but it was already 8.25. Then I spotted my old mate of 40 years who'd schlepped up from London to see us - so I basically missed the first band though they sounded pretty decent from downstairs. Next band started at 2130ish - tight as, uptempo punky stuff with a slightly poppy edge, all wore orange jumpsuits, were called Guinea Pigs and are well worth seeing. Penultimate band were called Paper Sailor from Glasgow - not at all punky, more metal but with melodic vox, bassman had an extremely battered Warwick which was good, they were a bit different from the norm which the Power Ranger suits added to - also well worth seeing! We finally got to set up around 1120 ( we were due on at 11 or before), did a 4 bar line check then started our set with an extended bass solo (!we often do - it's a whole 24 bars with gentle feedback and cymbal accompaniment - nobody left the room!) and into "Buried Alive". Despite that late hour the room was about as full as it could be of peeps who'd actually paid to get in, some of whom commenced to jig about wildly which encouraged us to do an almost flawless and rather rockin' set. I allowed myself the conceit of believing this was solely and entirely down to a new Helix patch I'd made which was a very slightly overdriven and heavily gated meaty thwacky slap sound, which I made the most of by slappin'n'poppin' like a superannuated Flea Tribute. Our other bass player was so impressed that he grinned at me and gave me a lovely wave like Gareth Hunt in that old Nescafe ad. The only mistake was at the end of Knockout which was meant to end abruptly on "3" but the drummer wasn't looking at me for his cue to stop. Still, nobody noticed I think! And a particularly punky looking chap came up to our Raph at the end and pointed at me and said "is that a Parker? I didn't believe they actually existed but there it is!". Managed to pack down and trolley to the car (£11,70 parking in NCP!!!!!) in 10 minutes so left Worcester at 1230, arriving home 1 hour 1 minute later (Google said 1 hr 19) in time for a wee dram of Talisker and a spot of Rupaul's Drag Race (!) before bed (and loud dog barking at 0630...) My other gear was BBE pre, DBX rack compressor, Bridged Crown power amp and Markbass 2x10.

Fantastic gig at Suburbs at the Holroyd in Guildford last night. A wonderful human being got 7 bands (including his own) to play his 60th birthday. We played 3rd to a very busy and enthusiastic audience. Our drummer has just retired due to tinnitus issues and we had a dep stand in on very short notice. Could have been a car crash, but I think he did brilliantly. Rig was my trusty P Bass, going through house combo and the debut of my new Sansamp DP-3X, purchased off our very own @NancyJohnson

Back out last night with the glam band after a 4 week hiatus. Relaunched with a new name after a previous band member registered the old name and did a ‘cease and desist’ on us. Less said about that the better….even at my age I occasionally get surprised by the actions of others. A big lively and local WMC, pretty full too so it was nice to be back on the pony. A pretty full diary now until January so onwards and upwards.

Just got back from a Spacewasters gig at The New Cross Inn, SE London. Was a three day psychobilly event, we are on that scene but really aren’t psychobilly at all, more like a rock n roll/garage punk type band. Great crowd for a Sunday afternoon, place was heaving when we got there at 5:30. We were on at 6:30 for a 40min set and it went great. No soundcheck, just linecheck but that’s fine with us. The venue provide full backline aside from snare & cymbals which makes things nice and easy, my CIJ Fender Mustang going into an Orange 4-Stroke amp & 410 cab. We played really well, great audience reaction, excellent on stage sound. Gigs like this really make being in a band all that more fun.

Well, that was fun last night. Played Krakatoa in Aberdeen with The Inevitable Teaspoons. We had a good time, but I thought I could have played better. Sound engineer forgot to switch back on the drummer and I's monitor because the previous drummer was using cans. So the first two songs (which we play back to back) were well ropey as we were completely detached (sonically) from the rest of the band. We were also plagued with onstage feedback - again, not our fault, sound engineer had got the monitor mixes a bit wrong. So our set was curtailed a little, had to jump to the last song and skip a couple, but folk were dancing around to our stuff, and the horn section were wireless so they jumped down onto the dance floor and got people excited by that. Got a lot of nice comments afterwards. Other bands were good too. Also a good night for equality - three bands played, one was 100% female, one band was 50/50 female/male and then the sausagefest that is The Inevitable Teaspoons! The only pic I have is of our sax player's drinks... Gear was the Sire Z7, into Krakatoa's house backline (a Markbass head of some sort into an Ampeg fridge (8x10))

Raffle Time. But making up for last night. For Mickey...

My early 70’s Fender basses: ‘71 Jazz and ‘73 Fretless P

Spooky Halloween gig for us on Friday night! Complete with spooky spider lurking just above my head the whole time!

Royal Blues, at The Sindercombe Social, Shepherds Bush, last night. We'd sent our spec 5 weeks earlier, but there were still not enough mics and stands. Fortunately the guitarist had some in his car. TBF there was just the one chap running things and he was helpful, can't fault him. The venue bass amp didn't work, so I was DI'd. First gig with the upright. Ibanez UB804 → wireless → DI. At least for the soundcheck. When we were due to start there was no sound from the bass so I switched to a lead. The onstage levels were different from sound check and I couldn't really hear myself, which did affect my playing. But apparently it sounded great out front, and the UB804 got compliments for it's sound. The promoter was happy, and we were approached by another venue owner who wants to book us. And there were a couple of 'industry' people who liked us too.

Pic from Saturday!

Yep. Borough Blues Club was a good night. One guy said 'it's great to be able to see a band like yours in a small place like this, I had a marvellous night' which was pretty flattering!

All Jazz basses. Youngest is 58 years old dots/bound/lollipops which I am quite enjoying. Acquired via these hallowed pages from the long term ownership of the lovely McKendrick, very sadly no longer with us.

51 this year 👍

Ned Steinberger just announced a limited production carbon composite multiscale 6-string . According to someone on Reddit they're only making 12. I'm afraid to find out what it's going to cost. NS Fin

Not last night yet BUT - I just turned my volume up when no one was looking HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! How you like it geetards? I’ll win…. Mine’s bigger than yours AND the PA. Let’s all practice together - “no, I haven’t touched it, same as it was when we sound checked”

Got it all cleaned up and the lighter fluid seemed to work a treat. Cheers folks. Frets shining now...they were absolutely manky. Needs a proper setup and nut filed to accommodate the .170 gauge strings

53 years old

1966, 1971, 1970:

Roxy Magic played at The Tropic in Ruislip on Friday night. A good time was had by all. Most of the band was travelling down from the Midlands, so it's always fun trying to work out how late everyone will be to the gig after negotiating the M50/rush hour/general Greater London madness. I'd taken the precaution of getting to London the day before, which meant I was able to go the spectacular Big Star "Radio City" gig in Hackney on Thursday night. Incredibly, we were all at the venue bang on time for a 6pm soundcheck. The gig was a stormer - the Tropic was full of ladies and gentlemen of a certain vintage who rocked their socks off. The band came off stage sweaty and satisfied. I could have done without the obligatory motorway closure on the way home, which sent me down county lanes and housing estates somewhere near Oxford. Oh, the joys of being a Weekend Warrior. I used my "B" rig - which is rapidly becoming my "A" rig - TC Electronic BG250 combo, Aria Jazz bass (£40!), Zoom B3 and a Lekato wireless bug system. I did give my faithful PJ Bitsa a run out in the second set though... I was delighted with my onstage sound and if my quick wander out front at the soundcheck was anything to go by, it was great through the PA, too. A nice lady down the front took some lovely pics of the band. Here's our hero modelling his new suit and his old hat. Yes, I am playing with a plectrum, wanna fight about it..?

First gig in what seems like an age, but is actually 4 weeks of people being away. Was going to take my Bongo, as the last few gigs I did on the new OLP, but when I picked it up, it seems it has made itself unplayable for some reason, fret buzz everywhere, maybe humidity or something, a couple of months ago I did a gig on it and it was fine. Anyway, took the Maruszczyk because that never causes an issue. It was a short gig for us, a two hour thing, we don't get those, and it was a nice 2-4 gig at a local village with no parking. When we got there there were two people there and said 'hope you are bringing people', so it seemed like it was going to be a bit of a quiet one, however, but the time we got setup, there were quite a few people there. Sound setup without any issue (in fact the same settings as the last gig) and from the word go, the crowd were right behind us. Actually ended up being pretty busy and considering no practices for a while, nothing major disasters either!

Never done that before 🤞In fact I did it at our last gig. It was at my local Legion and several friends were there. One, no musician but has a keen ear for music, said it was the first time she had really heard me and I was good. 😀 Actually scrap the bit about her having a keen ear for music.

Could you not just use the SM58 to beat your drummer into submission - those things are bomb-proof?

Decent crowd last night for a Restoration Jazz Band gig at a rented hall. This time we had a guest vocalist and she was fabulous, only had three rehearsals with her but she's a real find, she has done lots of musical theatre stuff but had never sung with a band and the audience loved it. Odd set up, we will move the drummer in next time, he couldn't hear us very well and at times we couldn't hear him, he's usually between me and the keys. A few flubs on my part but several compliments on the sound of my Shen SB100. As usual I used a Schatten Design pre amp mounted on my music stand, it has a volume control and I use the Bose to EQ my sound. First gig using my NUX wireless from bass to pre amp and very happy with it, after several years my Boss wireless started making strange noises so I replaced it with the NUX. All in all a good gig.😊

My 1968 Fender Precision, bought new by me in March 1969, seriously modded in 1986 and finally put in its case in 1996 when I switched to 5 string basses.

I'll start with my 1972 Kay 20 b. All original, all works, sounds great. Nice finish and feel. Looks lovely. Bits I like: 1. The fact each pickup has an on/off/mix switch, a volume and a tone. 2. The little pointers under the numbered knobs. Makes it super easy to dial in what you want. 3. It has character. Nice finish and feels more handmade than a like a modern cnc'd piece of wood. Edit: the headstock photo was taken before I did some work on it - previous owner had strung it all wrong!!