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Two dep gigs in Wiltshire yesterday. First one outside a cinema in a storm blown tent, playing to nobody, and the second in front of a big screen showing the rugby to an entirely uninterested audience. The life of a working musician eh? There was a dep guitarist barely audible above the jangling of his nerves, and a two man brass section, also deps. Not quite in tune brass with not quite right guitar makes for fascinating harmonic content. In the end I stuck mostly with the root notes and watched the rugby.

I was not going to post about my gig last night, but reading a couple of the above posts has changed my mind 😆 Anyway, ours ( 3 piece blues rock band) was a small bar in a country pub in North Lincolnshire. Bit of a trek from the car park, but we had a reasonable space to set up. Around 20 or 30 people in, most of them staying for the evening. Very friendly landlady, left us to decide when to go on. We did 2 x50 min sets, and had polite applause throughout but no dancers. I was a bit on auto pilot for some reason, despite it being our first gig in nearly a month. Subsequently missed a few turnarounds but nothing to derail us. We did receive 3 offers of gigs though! One back at the venue, another as a fund raiser in the village hall and also a small festival next summer. Just goes to show you never can predict the outcome of gigs, even when they appear to be nothing special. 20 minute drive home in the rain, but 14.5 degrees around midnight - very strange. Heading up to Scarborough later for an acoustic duo gig, so hoping the weather stays okay.

We had an evening gig booked in a swanky cocktail bar. In the space of an hour four lovely Welsh women drank £150 worth of booze, danced, trod on the guitarists foot and then three of them passed out. Bar owner closed early and still paid us full fee. Very, very weird.

So, three weeks ago, I was messaged by a friend asking if I fancied learning 35 songs in just three weeks to dep for his band. I know the band, they are friends but it's not really stuff I know. I was flattered to be approached and I do like a challenge. I have spent every night learning these. I also thought it might be fun to dig out the upright for a few. I had ONE rehearsal. The show was last night. In the words of Jay Cartwright from The Inbetweeners, "Completed it!" I am definitely of a stage in my playing where I can immediately correct mistakes without getting caught but in fairness, most of it went smoothly. I really enjoyed it and the audience were well up for it. A bunch of North Hampshire farmers who seemed to like my "big cello". I did about 60% of it on my Fender Precision through a Blackstar amp. I have been invited to do there more shows this year. An amazing night.

A memorial night at Colinton Bowling Club in Edinburgh for a friend in another band we know who died last year. Five bands, with our friend's old band as headliners. The stage was surrounded with Christmas lights and looked very pretty: We broke our record for packing down and loading out -35 minutes from the last note being played to driving out of the car park. That might sound a lot, but as the gear included four Hughes & Kettner PA cabs, a heavy amp rack and the lights as well as our backlines, I think we did pretty well. Here's my bass rig - Sterling Stingray, Eden WTP600 amp atop a 210 and 118 cab:

Multi Band event for us in Hereford last night as part of a celebration of Rebellion Festival promoter Daz Russell's 40th anniversary of putting on gigs... Was a bit worried about being able to get there due to the many flooding hotspots on the way, but all was fine (apart from the lack of working pay machines in the carpark meant downloading the dreaded RingGo app). We were on at 8pm after Rat Boy's famous magic show (!); all went fine apart from having no vocal monitoring which meant having to remember changes without vocal cues but we mostly got it right - though a notable exception was drummer posing for a video when he was meant to be watching me as he never remembers where we stop on "3"... I was pleased with my tone - Parker bass into Helix, heavily gated and compressed with light overdrive and sweep delay for my solo bits into BBE pre, DBX compressor, bridged Crown power amp and Markbass 4x10. Had a decent full room too despite the rain - perhaps 100 of 'em - but I have no idea if anyone liked us as I'd packed everything onto my new lightweight trolley and was off like a rocket (can carry everything in one run!). I heard that Culture Shock (headline) and the Samples were good though. Treated myself to a bit of 85% cocoa chocolate and a dram of Port Charlotte Cask Strength with Jools Holland (very impressed by St Vincent's first song!).

Last night was at a venue I've played with Bluesfire but first time with Bendricks Rock. Always gets quiet later so told band not to take that personally. Felt really weak (sugar crash) when I got out the car, had to eat a double mars bar then a cheese and onion roll... I've had a bad bug all week then heavy night on the pop yesterday and nothing to eat for five hours before the gig. Felt better after snacking. Was expecting an 8:30 start tonight, turns out Landlady forgot to tell me 7:30 to 10... so we went on about 8 and played to 10:30. Numbers declined after 9... Seems the place empties early and they want bands to keep the early evening drinkers in longer. We are wanted back though. Got some nice comments and one punter asked fir a photo with the whole band. Next bit is from the passive active thread: Set up tonight with two basses. Thunder 1 (passive,but scary loud) and Sire P10. Soundchecked fine with the Sire but it seemed a bit prone to interference. Just about to start the first set... nothing! Worked in passive mode, but not very inspiring on a quick plink. Swapped to the Westone which sounded huge but under whirling disco lights I could barely see the neck dots. For the second set I played with the amp eq and gain enough to get the Sire sounding good. No lack of grunt when we did a stirring Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting. Wild lighting...

The Spacewasters played at The Trinity Bar in Harrow last night. Drummers car broke down yesterday so I drove me, him, and our depping guitarist. Traffics was poor but got there by 6pm so all 4 bands able to soundcheck. Evening was very light on punters, apparently a major psychobilly event was going on nearby so this really had an impact. The 3 other bands played well, then it was our turn. I was using my CIJ Fender Mustang into my Behringer BDI21, no amp just straight to FOH. Worked well but monitors were very small so much in them, made on stage sound very trebly. We played well and audience reaction was great, especially given we had a dep guitarist but due to the size of the stage, the load in/out, the parking, my back hurting, herding drunk bandmates, traffic, rotten weather and traffic overall my enjoyment for the gig was solely the 45mins we played - and I left home at 4pm and got in after 1am, for a gig less than 20 miles away.

I find myself with a new G&L L-2500. I'm a Fender freak and this is my first "non FMC" bass I've had in 35 years. But to me a G&L is still a Fender. Just part 3. Any way I'm loving the L-2500. And I've looked over the G&L line quite a bit over the years. So, I know what they are. Just had to be ready to pull the trigger. I remembered the M-2500. And I started to Google. Long story short. Found an amazing deal on a Honey Burst M-2500. Should arrive by Wednesday.

Pic from last night...

Well, last night was was a biker gig, but sadly I had mistaken for that term for several biker gigs we had done around here where it is just a group of people that like riding bikes, it wasn't that sort. Tiny area in some clubhouse in a corner on a concrete floor which was damp so we couldn't stick any of the cables down. Stripped out all of the interesting songs and just played rock and blues numbers, they really didn't want abba, 9-11:30 with a break. It was pretty packed but to be honest, really not sure why we were there, noone was really bothered and I think that the only reason people watched was because it was so wet outside! They paid us £50 less than agreed, but we weren't really in a position to argue about it but in the positive side, for a change everyone helped to break down, so after finishing and breaking down / loading and driving home, I was at home within 40 minutes of the last note. The best part of the evening was that it was empty on the roads and there were some great but manageable puddles on the way home!

Scale length, weight, string spacing, design, aesthetics. And the fact that you’ll look like an 80s sideman. I’ve tried playing them and it’s just not needed (for me). 5-string basses are like Land Rovers in that 90% if users will never need the extra capabilities.

Solid advice. Play the instruments you like to make the music you love.

New doom rig. Just have to dial in the dUg pedal and effects rig and I'm all set. No more amps for this young man.

We just got back from my daughters bands gig. Their first headline show. They filled the venue, I've never seen so many people in for a local band. The support acts were good and then her band, Butane Skies, were amazingly good. Loads of confidence on stage and a superb performance. All band parents were proper proud of them

I made an ickle one: Pedaltrain PB3 pedal-riser makes a nice little board. HX Stomp + passive Radial DI. Si

Ringo? The best parking app in the world? He isn't even the best parking app in the app store...

I've listened to it several times now. There are quite a lot of reminders of Disintegration, and also of some mid-80s songs I can't quite put my finger on. As is usual, some songs are stronger than others, but when I tried cherry-picking, it didn't seem as satisfactory as I had hoped. So I listen either to all of it in one go, or at least all of Side Two. I took the opportunity to compare it a lot with Disintegration, and then also with Pornography. I find that neither this new album nor Disintegration remind me in the slightest of Pornography. The latter is angry and in the moment, whereas Dis. and this one are both reflective. Quality-wise, it's not Disintegration, but then Disintegration isn't Pornography and it's still kept me happy for years. I don't recall ever making it all the way through The Top or Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me in one go, so I guess I'm placing it above them. I like that "Drone Redrone" reminds me of "Shake Dog Shake", though I'd be hard pressed to justify the resemblance I'm claiming to notice. (I could live with more guitars and fewer synths, but I've been thinking that since Live In Orange, so that's my own problem. If anyone else feels the same, there's a decent recording of "Fascination Street" on YouTube from Finsbury Park in 1993, when they were briefly keyboardistless. Very nice.)

After lots of sweaty rehearsals and gigs over the past few months I thought I'd give my Stingray some TLC. As a watch collector (as well as a bass collector) I tried this stuff I had and it works really well. Be gentle. Few quid online and it can be used over and over.

We played a Christmas Party for some Bikers last night in Paignton. They hired a function room in a good venue on the seafront, which was much better than the glass box they hired last year nearby. We used the venues parking spaces which was a bonus. A local gig for us all, so no big deal with storm Bert. There is a stage area that doubles as seating, so a balustrade in front of us. We had plenty of room and good setup and stage sound, although we couldn't hang our backdrop behind us. The venue turned all the lighting off when we started, it felt a bit dark, as they only had some Christmas decoration lighting. Our stage lights just about did us justice. There was some dancing at times, but a slight decline towards the end which was a bit surprising. We played well and I used my usual rig, Stingray into RM500 and BF210, which also went through the PA. They will book is for next year, and we will be increasing our party prices a bit.

LAST NIGHT! Azura (ignore the posters that say 'Azure band') at O'Neill's Leicester! We always have a good one here so we were really looking forward to it. We did it as a 3 piece due to the singer/guitarist being in the prcoess of being sacked (due to continued and sustained acts of egregious knobbery (with arseitude aforethought) and a complete lack of theology, geometry, deceny and good taste). Horrendous journey up (down?) the M6 through biblical rain courtesy of storm Bert (who names these storms? Seriously... 'Bert'?!), load in was the usual with the added fun of heavy rain, setup was good - the drummer and I had it 80% done by the time singer/keys/guitar had gone and dumped the van. It was pretty busy and the dancefloor was already packed when we started (I think the East Midlands Drop Dead Gorgeous Blonde Convention (EMDDGBC) was on in Leicester that afternoon) and the floor stayed full all the way through the first set, which was ace and went really well. Singer/keys/guitar (he's called Henry but it's probably easier to just call him singer/keys/guitar) had a gaggle of EMDDGBC alumni in front of him who were giving him loads (in a good way - asking for Justin Bieber songs, trying to put him off, asking him for mad announcements and suchlike), we got asked to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe (?) then someone else came up and said it was Alison's (or Alistair's?) birthday and they wanted Happy Birthday as well and before you know it, we're singing Happy Birthday *again* to NINE different people. I sang Shake Ratlle and Roll which we did in the wrong key so it was a Paul Robeson remix, I got all the words in Escape (The Piña Colada Song) right for (I think) the first time ever (singer/keys/guitar cocked up the BVs which is always hilarious (there are SO MANY words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different)), the drummer got propositioned again (happens every gig, he always says no thank you (he's engaged)), quick vape and shandy break, second set was even better than the first (except some spunktrumpet grabbed singer/keys/guitar's mic which is attached to his keyboard and got some choice anglo-saxon from me, singer/keys/guitar and a bouncer), Country Roads had the whole place up and singing their hearts out, the holy trinity (Dakota, Sex on fire, Brightside) took the roof off, three encores (oh... go on then), we were all knackered and very sweaty by the end of it. Pack down (we have got way too much stuff), load out (bouncer gave us a hand with the big stuff), back down (up?) the M6 (rain: biblical), back to singer/keys/guitar place, stuff out of the van into my car, back up (down?) the M6 (the rain had somehow progressed from biblical to apocalyptic) to my Dad's place in Brum about 2am for a pint of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew pear cider (ABV unknown) and the world's loveliest cat (and two other cats who are also very nice) and bed about 3. (Up at 10 and back down (up?) along the M6 to Jazz Orchestra rehearsal (with Birmingham's best japanese non-binary morris dancing trombonist) which was really good (first set Bond themes, second set christmas) but that's not really about last nights gig) I'd planned to take the P for a change but I picked up the wrong case and took the Sterling (no great hardship, it's a lovely Bass (did I ever tell you Ernie Ball gave it to me for nothing?)) -> small board -> amp board (VTDI set to fliptop) -> MB 802 -> PA (Newly re-soled cherry red DMs, foot fans). An absolutely top night.

First gig last night with my gorgeous 32" SLG, bought through here from @ead. Feel very lucky to own this beauty.

First gig for the BBP and yep digging it At first out of the box, felt the BBP to be a bit soulless but totally got over that last night. Great to go from P bass to zingy jazz - my fender jazz has other qualities but can’t see it getting played ahead of the Yam at the moment

As the weather is totally nasty today and a tree narrowly missed the workshop last night I had to take this photo in the spare room . Dolly the cat refused to move. once fully sanded and polished the colour will be much more blue and the denim more visible.

I play both. For a few bands I prefer 4s, for a couple of others I prefer 5s. Mostly due to songs in the set. I’m slightly less shit on a 4 than a 5 hence a 4 tends to be my preference

In my case, because I want to. I don't like the sound of the B string. They never sound 'right' to me. An entirely personal view, but I will never own a 5 string.

Why not six, then..?

Vids from the gig: VID-20241121-WA0020.mp4 VID-20241121-WA0021.mp4

I promised a couple of pics of my Sire U5 SS fretless. I’d forgotten it has a string through option. Correction: BTW controls are VVT rather than VBT. Sorry got my abbreviations back to front first time.

A while back I bought an ACG Salace shortie (352) from @binky_bass. And that was it. Once you’ve got one ….. Now as it happens, Alan found the rest of the same piece of camphor that’s on the back of 352. So the spec for my own build fell out pretty easily. 30.5” scale DFM pre amp Lined fretless ETS hardware And with its twin, I think of them as my Carlsberg twins

I'm learning a Who set at the moment. This, not one of their greatest or most recognised, takes my breath away every time I watch it. Mad, odd, loud, visceral (in places), and strangely beautiful, although not in a conventional sense

A return to the Plumbers Arms in Huddersfield last night. The usual postage stamp-sized area for the band to set up in, with the added bonus of our drummist having some sort of tree-shaped lighting fixture next to him that took up one of the two available plug sockets, meaning that everything was daisy-chained off my 4-way extension with me having been the first to plug in. The lack of space also meant that I was stood facing perpendicular to the rest of the band because I was positioned right behind one of the PA speakers and I was in constant danger of knocking the thing into some unsuspecting punters as it was. I used the Siredowsky, and the lack of space encouraged me to give the Elf it's first outing since New Year's Eve and it performed admirably despite the terrible acoustics. For most of the first set I could barely hear myself while our singist who was stood next to me claimed I was too loud, until at the break we realised that one of the PA speaker's input levels had been set too low, and after that everything sounded pretty good. We all played pretty well apart from a minor stumble in the breakdown of A Town Called Malice when our keyboardist randomly missed a beat, but fortunately it was right before the bass solo so we righted ourselves after that. We had a few people dancing through both sets, and afterwards a few people came up to tell me we'd played well, which was nice. After having no gigs since August we have another one next Saturday, at a larger venue which promises to be rammed, so looking forward to that!

It is....... different. Firstly, it is engineered to perfection. Second, it is huge. Third, the action is crazy low. Fourth, it actually makes you hold it like JE used to hold his basses. Fifth, the active circuit with the sweepable mid and boost/cut switches is very powerful. Sixth, the range is huge. And Seventh, and also most important, it makes you want to play it. Early days, I'll update as it goes, but at the moment, I'm very impressed.

If it’s not a Vigier Passion II then it ought to be!

Interesting indeed - he clearly felt that the neck mudbucker was something missing from the original (basically Thunderbird) pickup placement. As a big fan of Thunderbirds, but also of humbuckers placed right up at the neck, I've been very intrigued by the Mike Lull Tom Petersson model - anyone tried one? Mike Lull Unveils Tom Petersson Signature Bass – No Treble

They must have been ill; that figure should have been way higher.

That B required lots of string changes, before it started to sound similar than the other strings. I found .120 was the best sounding in a 35" neck. I use both, 4 and 5, and they are different animals. 4 feels lighter and easier, but as @franzbassist wrote, 5 offers different patterns, and for me Eb and D are easier than with a 4+detuner. In a band, where 4 singers want to change everything all the time, and winds want to go flat, a 5 works like a tool made for transposing.

I took a long time to adjust to 5s, but I pretty much play them all the time now. The main advantage I see with a 5 is it makes some patterns easier to play (i.e. you don't have to shift up and down the neck as you do on a 4, you just play across instead). Some 5s have a poor low B tone, which can certainly give a bad impression to a new user. I've tried a 6 multiple times, but it's just too much for me. If I slapped a lot I'd probably stay on a 4, but I like the increased versatility of a 5 overall and won't go back.

I did 5 string 25 years ago. Did it for a few years and went back to 4. Fretless and fretted, I easily adapted to 5. I sometimes played a 'd' on the low b. Didn't really like the sound below that Here's a picture of my custom made 5 string made by my friend Andy Crockett

Haha I’ve had my share of bass nerds at gigs! The wood plugs front and back are just to repair wood defects. It’s meant to be experimental so I didn’t want to risk messing up fancy wood. With the Riviera you can only tune through the body. There’s an anchor inside that rides up or down with the tuning knob on the front. I made a template for the mechanism.

My range is limited by the songs i play not by the number of srrings i have. If a song really needs more range than an EADG four string I'll tune down. Why carry around unnecessary extras?