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Played a tiny pub in Send, Surrey on Sat night with a local covers band I've recently joined for sh*ts n giggles... We had to set up down one end of the pub, in front of the roaring fireplace, which meant the drummer pleading with the landlady to extinguish the fire after soundcheck as his back was hotter than the sun 🤣 Howling wind and rain meant probably only about 25-30 in but a fun night. Played my 40th Anniversary Squier P as I seldom take my Spectors out to unknown pub venues..... but it sounded & performed admirably! Punters seemed to enjoy the 60's/70's set (Kinks, Bowie, T Rex, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Joe Jackson, John Denver, Neil Young, Squeeze etc) and I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'! Apparently they'd never heard anyone attempt it before....!

I must admit that I was rather hoping to spend Saturday slumped in the warm while storm Bert lashed Dorset, but no such luck! I was down to umpire a (field) hockey match at 2pm which for some reason wasn't cancelled but took place in rain and a gale. I accepted the ritual abuse I usually get without sending anyone off - poor chaps, running around in soaking shorts, I had to give them some leeway (I was well-waterproofed) After that it was back home to change and chance my luck on the roads to get to a gig in Milborne Port (near Sherborne). No, they don't actually have a port there, but there was rather a lot of water about... The venue was a large pub with multiple side-bars around a hub where Mustang Sally set up - the event was a celebration of life for a popular local lady, and the place was rammed. As the last to arrive I got the sought-after space in front of the slot machine through which the male punters had to walk to pump ship. Luckily their bonces were not in danger as they shuffled urgently to the convenience thanks to my short-scale H-B but the Bongo would have claimed some scalps! It was nice to see some enthusiastic skanking to 'One Step Beyond', [EDIT - VIDEO BELOW!] and generally a great sing- and dance-along response to all the classic pub-pop we did. I don't think our previous set-lists with rather more adventurous material would have gone down so well in this truly traditional village pub, local crowd situation. Our remote rehearsing tactic seems to have worked out well, with the Gillingham-based core band (vox, keys, drums) getting the structure and keys right, while the guitarist (from Weymouth and permanent now) and me (bass & sax, Bridport) learn them at home. No musical challenges were involved but we were able to play Monkey Man, Burning Love, I'm a Believer and This one goes out (REM) for the first time together without any problems. Thanks to an early start at 7.30 we were able to finish at 10.15 and I was on the road home by 11.00. The rain had continued hammering down all evening, and once again I was glad to be in the Jeep, getting through some serious standing water and even a road that had become a small fast-flowing river with no problems on the way back! PS - As I was packing up a very large and 'happy' lady crushed me against the fruit-machine and begged me to give her some sax lessons - well, I think that's what she said! Of course, being a gentleman I recommended her to our guitarist (he is a music teacher) then made my apologies and fled... Pic below - very low lighting pre-first set - me and the fruit machine, I'm looking gormless as always! WhatsApp Video 2024-11-25 at 10.27.18_3dda95f8.mp4

Two gigs for Hurtsfall at the weekend. First on Saturday playing "In The Bl4ck Midwinter" festival in Sheffield. The venue (upstairs at Shakespeare's) is small but there was a near-capacity crowd for the Saturday when we played. Some niggles with the on-stage foldback (at least there was some this time) where a request for the backing to be slightly louder resulted in it being so loud we could barely hear anything else. I don't like asking for monitor changes during the set as I think it can look un-professional and diva-ish, but despite the fact that everything had been fine during the soundcheck, it was far too quiet during the first few songs resulting in us struggling to stay in time. It sounded like there was a problem with one of the pots on the mixer for the foldback send as adjustments seemed to vary between almost inaudible and deafeningly loud. Eventually the engineer managed to find a sweet spot that worked for us for the last 3 songs, but it did make playing some of the set more nerve-wracking than it should have. Thankfully it appeared to sound fine FoH and everyone we spoke to afterwards said they really enjoyed our performance. It certainly didn't stop a good half of the room from dancing and singing along with our better-known songs. Didn't sell much merch, but I think that's because all those who would have wanted a CD or T-shirt already had one. There were a few T-shirts on display in the crowd. Sunday was completely different. We were playing at Saltbox in Nottingham as part of a Rock Against Racism weekend event. A much bigger venue with a decent sized stage and massively loud PA. However when we played at 3 in the afternoon it wasn't particularly full and it definitely wasn't an audience composed of people who mostly knew and already liked us. Still we seemed to go down well even if the response was a bit polite compared with the previous night. Once again there were foldback problems, during the soundcheck the wedge in front of me was farting out whenever our singer hit any loud/high notes and when we actually played it appeared to be completely dead. Luckily there were plenty of other wedges on stage that I could hear. Lots of professional-looking video and photography going on so hopefully I'll have something to post later on when it surfaces on social media. We had a proper dressing room (complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities) for ourselves - it was supposed to be for all the performers but we seemed to be only ones who wanted to make use of it. Unless we get offered something good at the last minute, that's it for Hurtsfall for 2024. We'll be spending the next few months working on our album and hopefully have it ready for early 2025. We already have a load of great gigs lined up for next year, unfortunately I can't announce any if them yet. My next gig is In Isolation's farewell concert at The Salutation in Nottingham on December 14th.

Our Sunday night jam gig has resumed , second week back at it , the original dive was legend but the building was in sad shape , the new dive is actually nice. It’s a different room , but the sound is good and the usual characters have all returned , so I know most of the faces. Unfortunately it’s in the downtown core , and parking is a misery. That’s the only downside. I think it should work out well. Had four bass players up. Several horn players , several drummers , the usual line up of guitar players. It was a good one. Hopes are high. Herself and I dropped in for lunch the other day , it was quiet , I took some pics of the new dive in daylight. The food is excellent!

I recently scored this SB700 on ebay for a rather ridiculous price. There is an issue with the jack socket though and it needs a tweak to the wiring inside to make the switch work properly. I've always wanted an old Aria, due to some of my bass influences playing them. Cliff, Neil Murray, Rudy Sarzo etc... I know that a lot of those guys played the 1000/ elites etc.., but I'm a died in the wool passive kind of chap lol It's a September 1981 if the serial decoders are correct. I really enjoy the feel of the neck - meaty without being fat, and quite wide as well but not uncomfortable in the slightest.

From a gig the other week, but only just got around to editing the video. Our relatively new blues band, this was the first time out with just us on the bill. Pulled in a nice blues loving crowd who really appreciated the set.

Back in the saddle after a weekend off, and I almost needn't have bothered; a refurbished pub in the arse-end of Bolton, we'd had a worrying 'Can you bring some people? It's been very quiet recently' from the landlord/manager; I had to inform the BL that it was 25 miles for me, and I can count the number of people I either know in the area or who would travel that far to see us on the fingers of one foot. It transpired that the landlord was thinking about one of his other pubs, and Satdy was to be a party night for the new landlady. Jolly good. Anyhoo, actual band space for a change (and a sort-of house PA which we didn't use), and luxuriously four (count em, four) double plug sockets right in the band area...unheard-of, I know. Turns out they were the best thing about the place; oh, and they'd put food on, a big buffet and a chilli, which was right next us, and putting me off a bit. As was the slightly random balloon arch in the corner. We started later ('Just hang on, it'll get busy in a minute') at tennish on request, with 100% of the pub in the other side. I can proudly say we'd attracted 60% of them over to our side by mid-first-set. Sadly, though these percentages start to look less impressive when I say the actual numbers were 12 and 7. And it stayed that way all night (same people, at least they were consistent). We were firmly back in Paid Rehearsal land. The buffet remained untouched until I thought I'd show willing and have some, at that point one of the audience thought the same thing which, if anything, made it all look a bit sadder; you'd have thought Free Food in Bolton might've started some sort of stampede, but no. We won't be hanging by the phone for a rebooking, I suspect with that sort of business on a Satdy night they'd struggle to justify paying for any entertainment more lavish than one of the bar staff putting on a funny hat. We still got paid, and trio/#1 Drummer meant we were packed down super-quick. Cheapo-P, Stomp, inears, chilli and a very dubious pie from the buffet.

The Wife is treating me well today making me birthday pancakes for breakfast, but we aren't here for such frippery 😂 We are here for Bass! Some quick iPhone snaps I took the day the bass arrived, better photos will be taken and posted soon. I have a new set of strings waiting to be put on and I got some strap locks for it too. I'll definitely be replacing the cloverleaf tuners. Purchased from the Marketplace here (for sale thread). Mark

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.

Played Daltons in Brighton on Saturday at an all day doom fest. Weather was suitably rainy, windy and the sea well rough, but great crowd and vibe. First time out with our new drummer which was cool and got some great compliments on delivery as a band afterwards which was cool. I was a Muppet though and left the back up preamp on on my board, which meant I couldn't quite dial in the tone I wanted....until I finished the set. Anyway, good fun all the same. That's it for the year for me.

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.

Thanksgiving Eve is a big Gig night in the States. Maple Road will be performing at Rockfield Music & Media. We start at 7:00. And it's BYOB . Very intimate Victorian vibe. Daryl

First photo from Saturday's gig. Probably be from early on when we were struggling to hear the backing on stage, hence all the concentration...

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!

As it happened last night I had on a pair of Chucks from the Jimi Hendrix collection.

"Why have you brought that brain? You're clearly not using it..."

Last nights gig with punk covers band Emergency Exit in The Cave went pretty well. Few mistakes as we have been winding the band down with this possibly being the last gig altho there was some discussion amongst the longer serving members last night about possibly continuing provided there are some new songs added to the set list and some other/more gigs added. Who knows where it will end up. I'm the new guy and being the bassist just go wherever the flow takes me. Decent wee crowd, very appreciative with several calls for encores at the end. (Please note the audience are not aware the band might be folding.) Anyhow it was a good night. First set i decided to dust off my Geddy Jazz which was great to play but i forgot the Markbass strings i fitted a few yrs back always seemed to get lost in the mix no matter what bass i had them on. 2nd set i went back to the Godin PJ mostly just using it in P position and it was a lot deeper but just lacked that mid boost to cut thru altho my wife did say it was deeper but she could hear the notes quite clearly and much preferred that tone. Ideally a P bass with a narrow neck would suit me better but the Godin does sound pretty close. It does have quite a nice neck on it too. Wondering if getting a pan pot added might work better with the 4 way switch for parallel and serios positions if that is even possible. Usual Mesa TT800 in Boogie channel into Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Dave

I've got Luminlay markers in a couple of my basses but I decided I wanted to try them a bit bigger and maybe with material a little more intense, so I cast some of my own. I first made a silicone mould of some 5mm rods. I then got some blue strontium aluminate powder (blue glows the longest), mixed it with some epoxy resin, a little drop of Elmer's Clear Glue to ensure that the powder didn't immediately sink, and then moulded them. Getting the resin into the mould can be a little tricky, especially making sure you don't have voids anywhere, but I managed to figure it out. I then installed some in a J&D 5-string I bought as a short term backup and experimentation ground (amazing bass for the money, btw!), and they turned out really well. As I said, blue glows the longest and I've timed these to still be emitting light visible to the eye around 4hrs later! In daylight they have the appearance of a slight cream colour.

Aside from the technical benefits that a well designed HPF would have, it would ultimately be down to how the marketing department translates that in to layman's terms. "Removes the bass from your bass.." big no. "Protects your valuable speakers from sub-sonic transients and aids efficiency." Much better. "A High-Pass filter removes sub-sonic frequencies that most speakers can't reproduce. These frequencies waste amplifer energy, affect speaker excursion and can lead to early driver failure. Using an HPF can improve bass tone." I think I'd write something like this ha ha!

I got my first 5-string in 1989 and haven't looked back. Apart for a few years where I alternated between 4-string fretless (only because I hadn't been able to find a 5-string fretless I liked) and 5-string fretted, I haven't played a 4-string bass since then. At the moment I play 5-string with one band and Bass VI with the other. I can't see myself ever buying or playing a 4-string bass ever again. TBH a lot of what I've played on the 5-string could be done on a two string bass, and I once took my Atlansia Solitaire 1-string fretless bass to a rehearsal for the Dad Rock Covers band I was in, where the fact that it was fretless was a greater hinderance than the fact that it only had one string! Some general observations. IME cheap 5-string basses aren't worth the bother. I see lots of people buy something cheap to try it out and unsurprisingly they don't get on with it. I was lucky because although my first 5-string was cheap and not that good, my second one bought a few months later was a second-hand Overwater and payed and sounded fantastic. Also IME scale length on its own makes little difference to sound and feel of the low-B. Too many budget manufacturers add the extra inch to their 5-string versions when what they should be doing is making the neck stiffer and the neck joint better (or ideally make it a through neck). Yes there are decent 35" scale 5-string basses, but anyone making one should be capable of making an equally good 34" scale 5-string. The best 5-string basses I have owned have all been well-made 34" scale and worst have been cheap 35" scale. Also the choice of strings makes a massive difference. Don't just slap on the 5-string version of your favourite 4-string set and expect it to work. It took a lot of trial and error before I found the strings that work best with each 5-string I have owned.

Future, or Folly?! Remains to be seen if this will ever become my gigging setup, works well at home though. The main issue with this sort of thing has always been latency and reliability, but this seems very reliable at about 6ms latency (which is better than most wireless systems). My shopping list is: Paint Audio midi footswitches to go with the tuner that'll go on the floor at gigs, and perhaps I'll get 'Gig Performer 5' to help with switching between presets if I can't figure a seamless way of doing that in Reaper. At a gig, the Laptop (setup for it to run with its lid closed) and interface would be put out of harms way on the Cab or on the table where we keep the mixer. If you don't count the cost of the Laptop and Interface and flight case (I already had them for other stuff so I'm not - so haven't spent anything using that maths!) then it'll be about £300 for footswitches and software including a few paid for Plugins...similar to the amount I'll get for selling a couple of analogue pedals. I guess the obvious thing is even with that mental gymnastics is that £300 could buy a decent multi-fx that is more convenient and reliable. But the Laptop setup adds almost unlimited options - often with free Plugins, and means that the sounds I work on for home/recording can be used live, one setup to rule them all! And Laptops/software are only getting more powerful and reliable, I think this might be the future - or at least something you see a lot more of in future. Edit: A re-shuffle to see how it'd work live. Seems to fit and work well and all the power adaptors are in a space below - just one power cable out. A quick move around and the flight case lid goes on. Sounding good just using the Laptop for 'always on' things, next step will be MIDI footswitches to join the tuner on the floor.

I am a stirrer, but TBF I only phrased it that way because the OP came in swinging on the 5 string side of things and it's the premise upon which this thread was started. I personally don't believe in any bass supremacy - I'll play what I like and I expect to be afforded the freedom to do that without judgement while I afford that freedom to others. Anyone coming up to me giving it all the "5 string's better/why aren't you playing a 5 string?" bollox (and it has happened IRL to me, BTW) will get the short shrift they deserve. I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of my choices that don't affect anyone else in the slightest, I just want to be left alone to work within the parameters I have decided are correct for me.

Indeed - that would upset the "4 string superiority complex' people and then there would just be a war like there often is! Luckily the 6 and 3 string people stay out of it

Mine are usually either leopard or zebra print suede brothel creepers...

Not really the bass for a jazz gig. What you have done by acquiring this bass has some kind of equivalence with a middle aged man leaving his wife for a busty blonde half his age. Not really very sensible but tremendous fun for a while. I can tell just by looking that this bass is going to be a monster. A new set of Rotosound RS66 is an absolute must, by the way.

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.

Fundraising gig for International Women's Day at Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar last night. Pretty packed, lots of people dancing and a great vibe. VID-20241125-WA0000.mp4

J all the way! He must be a drummer.

What is this cleaning you speak of 😁

Kudos to you for playing that live - killer Bassline!

Congratulations @Beedster! Superb! It's one of those basses that no matter what you thought you like beforehand, you end up liking it regardless. I've on occasion had people round to the studio and no matter who they are or how dyed in the wool they are of a "precision with flats" kind of person, every single one of them without fail has had a grin so wide after playing my Buzzard you would have thought that they just found out they won the lottery. Does it look mad? Yes. Does it work ergonomically? Also yes. Does it sound amazing? Yes. I've played a couple of B2's and they're really, really good. Both versions are instruments that inspire one to play better and invariably you do because of it. I favour an action so low as @Cosmo Valdemar says that a lot of people can't believe it's possible to set up a bass like that and have it still playable. @LeftyJ about the mid range. The 300 series boards do a cut/boost between 300Hz and 3Khz. The Buzzard does boost only between 200Hz and 10kHz. It could be argued the 300 board is more flexible, but of course that's not what the buzzard is meant to be. It's meant to be the most aggressive cutting bass ever made, and it is. You can in effect use the mid range as a treble/presence boost as the treble is localised at 7kHz. Or you can use it as a kind of wah effect by using the lower portion of it. The mid range control on the Chris Wolstenholme basses is different in that the boost can be tailored in terms of level. The buzzard is a fixed 10dB boost as is the 300 series boards. It's 3 batteries as it's an 18V circuit and one for the LEDs. The back switch turns them on/off. The other switch does the mid range boost.

With Mario Kart, one of only two home video games I've ever been any good at!

The tribal thing gets very tedious. Everyone's choices are equally valid, even when they obviously made the wrong choice!!

Is it worth it? Grrrrr Brexit!

Nice, I'd love to give them a try. I always use these, working my way up from coarse to fine: Micro-Mesh Soft Pads Set – Thomann I tried the rubber Hosco pads too, but they only come in fairly coarse varieties so they can't be used by themselves without finishing with something finer.

I think every rig report needs to include the footwear! 😂👍

While that's true, he needs to get his gear on stage and place it in the right place. Maybe there's an argument about whether that requirement should be borne in mind when the lights are being set up. In terms of lighting itself, I have two of those 4 lamp led bars and two single led lamps. They are all controlled by a foot controller and simple dmx. The bars are set to solid colours and the single lamps are always white (so I can see the side markers). All the lighting is on two stands either side of the stage. I have always looked at how lighting is used at concerts. You never see the random colour changes of auto sequences or sound to light. That's why I thought I should learn basic dmx and create some simple settings for a handful of changes.

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

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

Well for me, it's the neck width. I've played fives for quite a while now and can't see myself ever going back to a four, but I don't have hands the size of shovels and I'd struggle with a six. And yes, I have tried a few.

I can add some qualification to this. I previously had a pair of Alto 15 tops and no sub. The band did an outdoor gig and someone had hired one of these. With just the tops, the sound just disappearted (as it often does outside). Plugging in the sub suddenly made it sound like an indoor gig again. It was quite a revelation, and I bought one within a few days.

My sense with the 4v5 thing is that 4s work for most players most of the time, and i think it's that simple. For those for whom it doesn't work, 5s/6s are a solution, but that doesn't - as is perhaps suggested by the OP - mean that 4s are an anachronistic or limited instrument. I've owned 5s by Yamaha (TRB5, beautiful), EBMM (SR5, dull), and Status (between the other two), but never needed to gig them, 4s have always done the trick. I also briefly owned a stunning Yamaha TRB6, and first time I took it to rehearsal I was told to give it back to whichever NY-based pop/funk/soul session player I'd borrowed it from....... 🤫