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Wiltshire's darkest boy band Deadlight Dance played what was easily the best open mic that I have done in a LONG time. We thought it would be fun to mix it up and both play acoustic guitars so I dusted down my Gretsch Rancher and spent the last few days practicing. As it's 35yrs ago this month that Nick and I made our live debut (in a Sixth Form production of Cinderella, she lost her shoe at the ball to the soundtrack of us stumbling through Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead), we thought it would be fun to open with that very song. We also did versions of three originals from our latest release, "Chapter & Verse". I thought it was the best we'd played in a while. Directly in front of us was the legendary Nick Harper (son of Roy) and he seemed really into it. His friends all were too. What I liked was that every act, bar just a couple, watched and supported each other. The standard was exceptionally high and I felt confident enough to flyer the pub, which in turn boosted our likes / followers online. I have to say that Nick Harper's set was hands down the most impressive musical performance I have ever seen. He was down tuning notes with the tuning pegs as he played and it was an absolute masterclass in guitar virtuosity. Still the overriding take home for me was good musicians, all supporting each other.

I depped with the Spandau Ballet/Duran Duran tribute show 'From Gold To Rio' at Eastleigh Concorde Club last night! Great gig and best bass sound I've had in my KZ IEMs thanks to my Spectors, HAZardlAMPs pedal, GK Legacy800 and a cracking sound team the band use... @casapete - the keyboard player was Chris, your old bandmate in ELO Experience!

Last Friday saw us back at The Speakeasy Bar in Hinckley. Cracking gig, with many of the crowd saying they'd come to see us play before, which was great. We rattled out our set of good 'ole Country choons, with a sprinkling of Chrimbo songs for good measure. Finished the set with Islands in the Stream followed by MIFLAW. Cheesy I know, but fun to play and lapped up by everyone throwing shapes in front of us. 2nd encore ....Sweet Home Alabama (well you have to really). We did throw in 2 or 3 originals into the set which were very well received. Mike Lull P4 through a Handbox R400 with matching cab, with just a graphics eq and a thumpinator in the effects loop The band is called Southern Frontier Country Band...check us out on Farcebook and give us a like 🤠 Obligatory gig pics some of the excellent crowd

Bass...the final frontier...

My Christmas present arrived, a Reverend Mercalli fiver in wine red flamed maple, with a roasted maple fretboard and neck. The neck is wide but shallow (47mm at the nut and the string spacing is 19mm at the bridge, apparently). It needed a little tweak of the truss rod and the usual new bass set up stuff but after doing all that, I've had about 30 minutes on it. I am impressed. It weighs under 4kg, there is no neck dive, the neck feels lovely, though the width threw me off at first (my only other fiver has a narrower neck). The B string is much better than my other fiver (a Charvel Pro Mod JJ) and the weight and absence of neck dive means I think this will be my go to fiver. I'm guessing the 6 bolts connecting the neck to the body and the string through option are the reason for the improved B string, I'm not sure but the B string it came with is a 125, and it doesn't feel loose or sound flubby. I love Reverends! This is my third.

I have some friends that I met through open mic that asked me to play with them. They got excited when I suggest I use my upright bass. I like the singer's voice and they people involved but it's not strictly 'my sort of thing' musically. Still, it gets me out the house and I like playing with different people and learning new stuff. I just need to get some experience playing venues with higher ceilings!

Me thinks someone's autocorrect has been conditioned by their frequent searches!

Only because this time I remembered I could lower the endpin! 🙀

Snagged one! It's a Thunderbird, it does Thunderbird-y things (except neck dive, which is apparently a Thunderbird-y thing). Only had a quick razz in the headphones but it sounds good to me! It's a hard so-and-so to photograph for the camera in my mobile, it only shows the true sparkle when it's pulling focus and I catch it in the act thus: Sod it, have a video. 07_thunderbird 64 purple moving.mp4

J'arrive! Does look a lot like the 'Guyatone' (dunno what it is really, it's not an EB4 though), and the 'Teisco' isn't a Teisco - Reverb/Ebay rule no. 1 - every weird-looking 60s/70s guitar or bass is a Teisco, regardless of what the headstock may say. This rule has no exceptions. Teisco did make basses that looked a lot like this, though - the EB18, 3rd row: Although you can just about see this has edge block position markers (which seem to be a Teisco thing) rather than dots. Currently flicking through Frank Meyers' 60s MIJ Bible (an actual book, so frustratingly, no useable search/image search function) and it actually looks like these may be eariy Fujigen Gakki. Will come back with more boring stuff if I find any!

I didn't realise that hipshot made replacements for the Gotoh GB1 tuners that come on Japanese and some MiM Fender Mustangs, but I saw this new set of HB-10 with lollipops on ebay and I couldn't resist. This type of tuner has a narrower string post than most Fender-type tuners so the HB-10s are the only replacement set for basses using GB1s that don't require any modification to the wood. They came from a dealer in the US so they weren't cheap. The total cost inc shipping & taxes was £12, but there were no nasty surprises as the taxes etc were paid up front with ebay shipping. I have just fitted them to my Siennaburst Player Mustang and they feel lovely & smooth like the hipshots on my JMJs and the lollipops look the biz.

Update - we have a serial number! 6862. Apparently it's marked as "in production" Not sure what that means in terms of timelines but it's something!!!

Dropzone played the Purple Turtle in Reading last night. Much bigger crowd than I was expecting for a cold Monday night in December. Lots of cheering and dancing, and good feedback afterwards. Hopefully will get some more gigs there soon. ( We've played in the rather dingy basement before, but this was our first on the main stage ) I used their house Blackstar bass combo, I managed to make it sound like I wanted fairly quickly, but I'm pretty undemanding in this regard.

That is hideous. I love it.

It’s wrong, but what’s going on here? These ‘AI’ images create some things so well, but drop the ball on what should be simple.

🤪

I've got my oxygen tank and my listen/translate app ready!

Will you be ok? You might get a nosebleed going that far north!

Roy Harper was a fantastic songwriter. Heard one of his albums back in late 70's and it was so good. The song i remember most and was touched by the emotion of it was "When an old Cricketer Leaves the Crease". I'm not a cricket fan but this was such a fantastic song back in the day. Dave

My advice if using mid priced gear is Bass Combo with 115 or 2x10 500w If head then 500w minimum with a 210 or 212 cab For high end cabs like LFSYS or Barefaced the cab could ve a 112 or 110 cab but depends on if a loud drummer My personal fav rig ( but heavy ) was an Ampeg SVT212AV cab and that with a good 500w head or 100w tube amp would do any pub gig going For your musical styles a clean sounding amp would be better such as Ashdown RM500 or RM800 An old second hand Ampeg PF800 would also work well or Ashdown ABM600 too All comes down to weight I guess and tone you want

Squirt by Gender? Strange instruction!

Well, I had a wee razz through the amp tonight, and even at levels which won't incur the wrath of neighbours it sounds punchy and solid. Felt like a complete and utter rock god even without an audience, but any T-bird will do that to you I reiterate - NO NECK DIVE (caveat this by saying I use a Neotech Mega strap - but it isn't pulling at the shoulder of my jumper either). It will hold a 40-ish degree angle up from the horizontal, and is quite happy at 20 also, I kid you not. There are a couple of things I might change though. The electronics mostly - I don't like the taper on the pots - it's a bit all or nothing in the final quarter turn. Tone pot does very little also, so I think an experiment with different caps may be in order. Also, I'm not convinced by the stock choice of knobs - there's no context for them to be gold, they're the only gold coloured thing on the entire bass, save for the Epiphone logo on the TRC. I think I'd prefer black and silver top hats instead.

Ok, New Bass Day! That last pic I posted was of this bass. I picked it up yesterday for evaluation, and I've done the deal today. I'm pretty excited about this one, it's quite special. 1973 Fender Jazz Bass in original factory black with white guard. Neck, pickup and pots all date to '73. The wiring appears untouched, as do the pickups. I've spent the last hour restringing it, and giving it a setup and intonation. It plays like a dream and sounds fabulous. It is entirely original, but missing the covers and case, hey ho. Needless to say, one went out of the door too today, and I'm quite a bit lighter in cash than I was yesterday, but I think it was worth it. Thanks, Rob

Back at the Monarch Bar in Dunfermline with Temptation Waits on Saturday night. Good gig, not much of a crowd for the first set, but got a bit busier and rowdier for the second set when some merry punters arrived. Bar owner had forgotten to order enough stock for the weekend though, so there wasn't much bevvy to go around! We added six new songs for this one, which we got through okay apart from me during Welcome To The Jungle where I went a bar too early to a different section near the end. Oops. From what I can gather, only me and one of the guitarists noticed. Annoyed with myself though. Gear was my Fender Jazz into HX Stomp board, Aguilar Tonehammer 350 head and 2 Markbass NY121 cabs.

You did TB banned me They censored so many posts of mine I told TB moderator to censor this 🖕 Idiots

If you want to do a deep dive: check out Riddimguide.com.

I do like that mod - DiMarzio Model 1 with single vol control? Rather reminds me of my old '81 RD Artist which had been "EB3-ised" with mudbucker and mini-humbucker; beast of a bass (apologies fir nicking pic from @chenzo_1 who I sold it to....)

WHAT!!! Mind blown again gents. The thing is I am accustomed to 90's dance hall riddims being used in tons of songs, and they are popular to me as that is what I am familiar with. But I never expected that Richie Spice song that I've been listening to for years and was very popular when it came out, to be based on anything else. And then to now learn the Johnny Osbourne song is based on a previous one...I just find all this way cool.

I gave up for nearly 10 years as I just didn't find playing music fun or interesting anymore. World kept turning and now I enjoy it again. Invest your time and energy in things you love and your life will be worth it. (And don't spend too much time at work!) Best of luck for the future.

I could go on at great length about my favourite Spandau Ballet song, but to cut a long story short...

A pox on Epiphone for discontinuing the white Vintage Pro! Easily the nicest of the original issue.

A system with a few knobs set up by someone who knows what they are doing is always better than one with a lot of knobs set up by someone who doesn't.

Acquired through getting it wrong plenty of times on the long road to occasionally getting it right 🤣 Interesting to hear they're still having big problems with feedback when running a silent stage with IEM. What I'd be looking at is: How loud are they trying to run their PA How big a space are they trying to fill Where is the PA positioned relative to the mics Where are the mics positioned relative to the PA and to any acoustically reflective surfaces in the room Although their stage volume isn't an issue in terms of backline levels, if they're trying to play a "loud" show, they could still be getting in their own way with the mix. The Alto speakers are definitely at the cheap and cheerful end of the PA world, and whilst I'd imagine they'd do ok as purely vocal amplification over a band playing through backline at a sensible gig level, they're being asked to do a lot of work in carrying the whole band on a silent stage and probably being pushed beyond what they're really capable of. That's a lot of dynamic information and transients, and a much more constant load on the amps and drivers than purely pushing vocal, so they'll likely be running at their limits. As you mention, mic choice could help too, and the trusty old 58 isn't the mainstay it once was. There's plenty of options out there with a tighter pickup pattern. There's also the usual things about vocal performance to consider - is the singer projecting and giving out a reasonable volume, or are they whisper quiet? Are they on top of the mic or backing off/singing at a distance from it? EDIT: Just to add - I've just taken a look at the Zoom L12, as it's not a desk I'm familiar with. I see there's a one-knob compressor on each channel. Not sure how much of that they're using on the vocal, but if they are doing, that could also do more harm than good in this situation with regards to achievable level before feedback. If they're using it on the vocals, I'd suggest dialling it back or fully bypassing it and seeing if that helps them out. Usual vocal mixing tips apply too - making sure the high pass filter (labelled "Low Cut" on the Zoom) is engaged on the vocal mics, and making judicious and careful use of the channel EQ.

Played through a Spockenklang amp? "It's bass Jim, but not as we know it."

Ha, yeah Chris has been doing gigs with FGtR for quite a while now. He fits everything in around the ELO Experience dates, works well for him. I must get to see him with them sometime soon.

Absolutely, I'd definitely suggest try-before-you-buy, though in the UK for example, its actually quite difficult to audition even just a few heads together up at a comparable volume in any shop. I agree with you that Watts is not a measure of SPL and I've said that many times, however, when we are limited to what "specifications" manufacturers give us, a rough ball-park figure is better than nothing at all. Or, to put it another way, using reasoning, a ≤ pub-band novice is more likely* to find something suitable if we start with "500W RMS and a 2x12" from nearly all of the current well known brands.

The Bros documentary BBC4

Coincidence; I posted a Roy Harper video here just the other day..! Time for a resurgence of the style..?

Lots of people gig with a Trace Elf that only has 160w into a 8 ohm cab. There's no a guarantee that a 500w amp will suffice but I would not want to be in the same pub if it was required. One thing to keep in mind when scoping out gear is the volume knob position is a poor indicator for how much of the amp is being used. Many amps are at full noise by the 4th indent with most of the action occurring between 0 and 3.

That's nothing compared to the Fender JP-90

Ouch...It's like they tried to put a scratchplate on and missed !

There's no better evidence against the watts=volume argument than a B-15 👍

Hi Luiz! Well, there's so many variables involved from the size or amount of speakers you are using, the type of amplifier, even down to how 'honest' the manufacturer is with their ratings. I'd suggest, as a sort of 'capture all' that 300W RMS is a minimum with 500W RMS being a good place to head for. I also suggest that in most cases adding more speakers (e.g an extra matching cabinet) to be more effective than going from say, 500W to 600W output power. My favourite set up for most gigs is a high quality 2x12 with a 500W RMS+ amplifier on top and this seems to be a good match for the bands I am currently playing with, as anything larger, I'd run my bass in to the PA as well. (Then there's the IEM discussion to be had.. lol)

I’m def in the backing vocals only camp. I’ve done lead vox but my voice doesn’t have enough to it for that role, whereas I can tailor my backing vox to suit most lead singers, and harmonies are something that for some reason I get quite easily.