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A quick shout out to the guys at Alpher Instruments for their superb craftsmanship, willingness to explore new ideas and their first class service. Al and Chris delivered my new Hammerhead bass last Friday and what a monumental day it was. Tone wise this bass is absolutely mind boggling, the build quality is pretty special too. I have always been quite traditional in my taste especially when it comes to body shapes but I must say the more radical nature of the Hammerhead shape is definitely growing on me, have I mentioned the tones on tap? Blooming awesome!!!

I've had it since early summer, it just hasn't got home before now. A Squier JB V Active Deluxe from 2008. It belonged to our guitarist who died in October '23. The chap who was helping his widow out with sorting through his instruments and musical accoutrements called me and said that Angelika had asked if I would like it. It's been in our rehearsal room since then. I brought it home to change the strings and clean it, did a smidge of setup and the truss rod nut promptly stripped. I've just come back from the luthier after having a new TR nut fitted and everything is happy again. Neither of us expected it to be so simple!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my duo Deadlight Dance recording our live in a Saxon Church movie / album "The Wiltshire Gothic" so we thought we'd mark it with a cheeky few numbers at our friend Joe's Open Mic in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. Just for fun, I worked out a few on the upright and off we went... We opened with The Cure's Fire in Cairo, bravely tackled Sisters of Mercy's This Corrosion (on the upright bass and mandocello) and finished up with joy Division's New Dawn Fades. We got a second set where most of the acts had gone once they played (I always think that is a poor show!) so did a couple of our original songs and then some other deep cuts from the depths of our collections. The crowd seemed to like us but one drunken local coming out the toilet decided to shout about us being "f***ing s**t!" Everyone ignored him. I didn't think it was worthy of acknowledging at the time. I am sure he's brilliant! I don't know if it's a consequence of growing up post punk but I quite like music being divisive at times and not appealing to everyone. I felt we played pretty well. I was also rather taken with the teenagers who did a couple of set. Nice to see the younger generation giving it a go.

Hello! It's been a while since I've been on here but I thought it would be rude not to share a NBD update with the community! I bought it second-hand from PMT in Cardiff a few weeks ago. I was in town celebrating a birthday when some down time arose (Fiancée had gone Xmas shopping...) so I thought why not pop in and have a browse. I played a few basses, including some new Fender jazz basses and also an Ibanez six string, none of which were particularly inspiring... but THIS THING! Good lord. It's from 2004 I believe. It's nicely weighty, so feels proper sturdy in on the strap. Great balance too, doesn't hang low or suffer from any neck dive. The wood grain underneath the "honeyburst" finish is absolutely gorgeous, and the maple neck and finger board are a dream to play. It's got a great B string, despite not being a 35" scale, and sounds monstrous. Different from a Stingray with the one humbucker at the bridge, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a difference in sound between the HH and H models. Super versatile of course with the five way selector and two humbuckers, though I naturally find myself playing from above the bridge H pickup. I love how it looks - although part of me does want to replace the black pickup covers for white ones to match the pearly pickguard... Dunno, TBC. Just enjoying playing it for the moment! Here's a video I did of un-boxing it, it was fun to make! https://www.facebook.com/100003195770658/videos/3061739417322633/ I love Stingrays, and have played a four string teal green Stingray since my mid-teens so it's a natural progression! I've only played it at a few casual things - open mics and jams etc, but taking out with the band tonight to hear it in action for real. Can't wait! Thanks, Jack

Great gig, engaged crowd and the place was packed. No deps really helped. Above average compensation. Unfortunately not many decent pics. Daryl

What @chris_b said but I would also check out LFSys cabs. They punch well above their weight, literally and metaphorically.

You clearly do not understand what Basschat is about 🤔

I've just found out I've got the gig

Beautiful Day I will follow New years Day Until the end of the world Walk on Desire Angel of Harlem All I want is you Elevation Vertigo Even better than the real thing Mysterious ways The fly I still haven't found what I'm looking for Pride(In the name of love) Sunday bloody Sunday One Bad (+40) Where the streets have no name With or without you

Spelt ebOnol. Not to be confused with ebAnol, which is a perfume ingredient. No, I didn't know that either until a minute ago.

Brilliant! Also always lovely to see the instruments of a person who's passed away land in the loving hands of a friend/family member/loved one.

I'm not making a banjo. Twerp

love it Here I am working out what basses to play when I should really be learning the set

I picked up this cute H&K Bassmaster (pics not mine, but it's the same device) a couple of weeks ago, mostly as a home practice amp. It came in the original box! The seller was clearing the stock from a long closed bass store in the Netherlands (due to the owner's health issues). The master volume doesn't seem to work, but otherwise it's all fine so I'll just need to have that looked at. The EL84 is mostly there to generate actual power amp saturation for recording situations, but it's very much capable of driving a cab (5 watts output power). I paid €190 and I feel like that was €190 well spent!

I think an awful lot of people, particularly musicians, forget how important this is.

previous bass player was using a Rik. First gig in Feb 22d. The Horns St Albans march 15th somewhere in Derby march 29th The Booking Hall in Dover June14th Corn Exchange Hertford always been a bit of a fan. Had a double gatefold single with I will follow on it

@police squad - you need one of these....if you can find one. (photo credit @molan from when it was his. It's now mine and no, it's not for sale. Barrie might be able to elaborate, but my understanding is that this bass was previously owned by the bass player in a U2 tribute band. The pick-up's were hand wound by now retired Fender employee Abigail Ybarra and man are they lively. A P bass with a J neck is not to everyone's taste and sacrilege to some, but to me, it's just perfection.)

Congratulations on getting the gig. I know people have a pop at Clayton's uncomplicated bass lines and Larry Mullen's straightforward drumming but they are the perfect rhythm section for that band and those songs. Lock in with the drummer, let the guys up front go wherever they need to, and everyone will have a great time. Nobody other than bass players and obsessives will even notice what bass you're using 😉 When and where are you playing?

Arguing about preferences vs. playing your bass

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15Lr8WDHBe/ Nick trying to buy back his Wal... ...if his wife lets him. 😂

I've owned Ashly BP-41 and Alembic F2B ones, both of which were very cool within their lanes but not quite my long term cuppa. As usual, I'd rather just roll my own: That one is sitting over a commercial 1000 watt plate amp with DSP processing in the pic, but the power amp is now gone along with a more Fender/Alembic style rack job I did: And then I've done a few tube ones: ...which uses 6SL7 and 6SN7 tubes. The second version was two rack spaces rather than three, like so: And then my favorite is in a half rack width format, meant to fit side by side with either a tube one or a DIY 700 watt amp: And then the very similar preamp in this integrated 500 watt amp build can be run completely independently of the power amp section: I still own the first one and the last two, a luthier friend now has #2 and #3 and has taken both to his NAMM booth, and #4 belongs to a well known pro who primarily uses it in his home studio.

As an addendum to Satdy night's thoroughly Meh gig, I witnessed one of the most extraordinary shows of indifference I've ever seen; I've played for a very long time in all sorts of venues and, like most of us, have experienced many types of indifference: the Working Men's Club Institutional indifference(1), the Wrong Band In The Wrong Pub Indifference(2), the Wrong Couple On The Wrong Night Indifference(3), the Passive Aggressive Offended Indifference(4) and many others, but this bloke was something else: he sat off to one side, on his own, drinking steadily but not quickly, looking across the room. No paper, no book - at one point I had to check he didn't have earbuds in and an audiobook on the go - nothing to entertain him but his own company. He'd glanced at the band as we were setting up, and then completely ignored us for the rest of the evening. It got to the point where I was trying to catch his eye to give him a thumbs-up or something, anything to provoke a reaction, but nope, nothing. As we were packing down he finished his pint (possibly his third or fourth, it's not like he was there for a session) and left. Very odd. (1) The one where everyone yaps incessantly to each other all the way through the first set, and then if you drop a plectrum during the bingo you get shushed and tutted as they concentrate on winning that late-dated hamper that's been dusted down especially...they might get up for the last song for a stilted dance if you're lucky, and then bizarrely at the end tell you at the bar that they thought the band were great... (2) You can feel this one coming a mile off from the clientele's dress sense/age, and they've made the same assessment of you at the same time. Works at both ends of the age spectrum. See also 'That NYE the agent booked our semi-acoustic trio as a 7-piece Soul Band' (3) That couple that sit at a table right where the PA speaker's being set up, but refuse to move and spend the rest of the night alternately rolling their eyes and hollering across the table at each other... (4) OK, this one's fairly specific, but I had a bloke come up to me before a gig and tell me my bass was 'All wrong; it's got the wrong neck' - this was the Shukerbird, and he wouldn't hear about Leon Wilkeson or John Entwistle, he went back to the bar and spent the rest of the evening standing sideways to the room, except when people were applauding, when he turned to face the band and didn't move...

Another trip up to The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough for our acoustic duo last night. The bad weather had subsided and it was very mild so an easy drive there. Usual capacity crowd in this small cafe bistro venue, lots of familiar faces so a nice atmosphere. Christmas decs up in the room, and some of the boats in the harbour had lights on as well. Lots of requests, mainly more old stuff from a more err….mature audience. These songs included ‘This Masquerade’ , ‘Africa’ ( I really have to concentrate singing the harmony in this one whilst trying to remember the bassline), and one of my favourites, Springsteen’s ’If I should fall behind’. Audience were very enthusiastic, and we did an encore of ‘Sultans of Swing’ ( which went on a bit but made more interesting for me by a small trawler coming in to moor up just by the window behind us). We’ve just been offered a regular load of gigs for 2025 in this great venue. It’s a 100 mile round trip for us but never a problem, so really pleased. Ibanez PCBE12 into Rumble 100 combo / DI into PA. Clarks black suede chukka boots, size 10.

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

Long Beggs-related story. Feel free to scroll on by. Back in late '86, when I had hair and a discernible waistline, my rock-pop band were making our desperate bid for stardom. We lived in Reading, so it was dead easy to jump in the car and head into London to play gigs. We played quite a bit at the Red Lion in Brentford (RIP) -- our first few gigs there were as support to a guy called Philip Jap (the old farts among you might remember him) and his then band 'Secret Society'. I think he missed a trick by not calling them 'Jap's Eye'. Anyway, he asked us to play support at a party in London and we accepted. Being the mid 80s, slap was still acceptable -- almost mandatory in fact -- and our songs featured a lot of it. A lot. So there I was, thumbing the blazes out of my poor Wal, and it gets to the song with my showoff solo bit... I take a deep breath and go thwack-thwacka-ding wickety-wackety-wockity-dang, and having given it my best I look out at the crowd... straight into the eyes of Nick Beggs. Apparently an ex-label mate and friend of Mr Jap. I had a brief moment of wanting the ground to open up, I mean here's this bass god looking at me and I've just tried to impress this audience with something he could probably have done with one arm tied behind his back. But then his face broke into a big genuine smile, and with a nod he raised his glass towards me. I was walking on air for a month after that. I've bumped into him a couple of times since then, obviously he doesn't remember me but he's always been really friendly and happy to chat. Definitely one of our instrument's Nice Guys.

Santana's version of Peter Green's Black Magic Woman. Here's the very gig in June 1977

That’s a tough one! The Noble board is my main board and has been for years, so that is just dialed in. The Pedaltrain Nano below it is an attempt to capture a similar vibe and sounds in a smaller footprint for when I’m not taking my full rig out (my amps and Noble board typically live in a packed away flight case). The ‘clean’ board top-right is cool, with the CE-5 being one of the early analogue ones (they’re all digital now), old Octaver too, May ‘82. I often use that board with Jocee. The ‘dirt’ board at the bottom is just for fun at this point, but hopefully will get to apply it to some music at some point, lots of big grindy tones. And the HX Stomp is for when I just need any of the above in a tiny, easy-to-transport package…plus a mic-level DI. All of them, but ultimately, it’s all about the Noble board! Si

A lot of people dislike bono and write off the band for their association. U2 are without doubt one of the all time greats, their longevity and back catalogue are extraordinary. Listening to Boy and War seems like another lifetime they're so long ago, but both still powerful albums

Not sure if that’s a genuine question but I will answer it as though it is, yes the multitude of available tones from the four coils and stellar tone 10 way switch means you can play it in pretty much any musical genre. … and yes it has a metal pick guard.😬

There’s no one quite like Grammar - St Winifred”s School Choir

Second gig in two weeks!

Man Of Consonant Sorrow -Dan Tominsky/ Soggy Bottom Boys

And hopefully not his legendary temper!

Solid Foundation were a dub reggae band in the late 1970's. Technical Noodling is a type of cooking pioneered by Heston Blumenthal. There's a YT video of the now ageing Rastafarians attempting to eat this stuff for the first time, it's called...

And a Badass II by the look of it. Edit: Oh heavens. Triple post!! Must’ve gone through the Edge’s pedalboard!

Caution is best applied to 'deals' as many retailers bump the price up in the weeks or months beforehand and then lower them for black friday.

Barefaced Super Twin. 4ohm, 212, 1200w, 18kg. Great cab with tilt wheels, plus top and side handle.

Crikey: tell him he’s a wanger…

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.

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

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!

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.