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First gig with the first wave ska band the Long Shots supporting ska punk band Rudebeard. Pretty decent turn out considering the trains were off after the storm. We played pretty well for a debut, lots of really positive comments. Played my Warwick star bass fretless through the rattly house peavey combo, but the sound guy did a great job. This was my first proper gig for over 12 years so pleased it went so well.

Thought I’d give the mini Stingray a more retro look…

First gig for this year (ignoring new years gig going into this year) - light on bookings so far. Playing at a local village pub, not known for music. Found out we needed to move it an hour earlier as they have a noise curfew because of local houses, so 8-11, ok with that, nice to get back earlier, especially as it is 5 mins down the road anyway. We played there once before for a haloween do, in a skittle alley, bad acoustics but good gig, so parked expecting that, but they have a new food area on the side, of the bar (which itself is next to the other bar) so we were there, quite small. easy loadin and setup, not many people, thought this was going to be a paid practice, but we still approach it the same way, these people are paying us. Less volume needed so sound was manageable and pretty good, took my Ric and my old ibanez #1 which had just had new strings. considering no gigs or practices this month first half went really well. The crowd were small, non mobile but appreciative. Had a break, some people left others came in. The second half is less blues, more party so tends to go better, and sure enough, they seemed more up for it the second half. Then we hit 'does your mother know' and loads of women from.. who knows where.. came in dancing, and from there on in it was pretty dancey. towards the end when we had some rock stuff, highway to hell and our ending songs, a load of blokes came in from.. yet another bar I guess, so we ended with Whole lotta love, which always goes down a storm (even though I have no idea why people try to dance to it) - in the end there were quite a load of people dancing in what was quite a small room, so it felt really full. It was a great way to end a quiet month. There was a video someone shared for a change - it was the verse of all right now, and me looking around and checking my pedals!

Great gig at ‘The Brook’ Southampton last night, played there many times, fantastic venue and audience as usual. Never done this before but brought a bass on the way down in Havent, Pompey and decided to use it at the gig two hours later!🤣.Really nice GB Spitfire 5 . Sounded fab but definitely needs some work done to get it up to top notch. Very comfy and light too . Will take it down to Bernie when I get time, being fairly local . 😊x

A partscaster precision I recently finished. I really like the combination of ice blue metallic, anodised gold and roasted flamed maple.

First gig of 2025 last night was a 40th at Studley Social Club in Redditch. Considering the state of the building on the outside, it was actually a really nice room with a cool stage and friendly staff. I’m really wanting to love my Mustang as I think it’s gorgeous and plays so nice. I played the first set with the intention of playing it all night. But, I swapped it out for the second set as it just doesn’t sound as good as my Gretsch to my ears. Both went through my B3 into the PA and monitored using 64Audio A4t in-ears. All round, a good night and enjoyed blowing off the cobwebs after a few weeks off!

Doubt it. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387707039318

My inner magpie wouldn't stop chattering since seeing this... I've wanted a bass with one of these metal flake finishes for years... I'd considered going the custom finish / build route but this ticked all the boxes. Really happy to have a G&L back in the stable. It's a great sounding bass too, loads of sustain and zing. All being well it will be making it to the 2025 North West & Scotland Bass Bash 😀

I used the Wattplower at a rehearsal for the first time last week. Blimey. It’s a good bass. Cut through and sounded better than anything I’ve played before. Those pickups are HOT and there’s loads of great sounds on tap. Super sparkliness is a bonus.

If we're introducing new levels then we should stick to the numbering convention, so the above is Tier 0. The 0 can be in shiny gold and look like a halo you want. I think weedling is a withdrawl symptom. The GAS addict can't buy anything and so that energy which would be spent eying up new gear and comparing munitae of details and prices and colours has to go somewhere. 😄

The Bush in Cwmbran with Bluesfire. Tight fit in this old pub, lovely customers and staff. As usual had a blast with some dancing (we aren't very danceable). Used my proper rig this time. Quecha aporoach shoes with custom orthopaedic insert to keep my ankle bearable.

Well, new used bass day as opposed to new bass day. Picked up for a very good price from Ishibashi Music in Shinjuku, Tokyo during a recent business trip. They had the grey and red in stock and whilst I preferred red, it had a few sizeable dings and paintwork chips and only around £10 price difference, so grey it was. Still very nice though. It's a non-export model, which IMHO, looks nicer and more balanced. The black scratchplate and control plate contrast nicely against binding on the body. Light, heavily contoured basswood body, very slim 70s profile jazz bass neck and a lovely punchy sound. If I was being picky, I'd say the jazz pickup sounds a bit thin - a common criticism - but it adds some bite to the sound. The P pickup sounds lovely and it's nice to finally have a bass I can use for the precision bass sound. Only other complaint is those silly plastic knobs. Will be replacing with chrome domed ones.

Thank you to everyone that contributed this afternoon... and a pleasure to finally 'touch base/bass' with some of you. Mike

Bargain at £350 including case

Ah! A new branch of physics has been discovered... Where the principles of anti-levers work...

1. Buy a box of Maltesers 2. Eat Maltesers 3. Cut out the (black) bottom of the box 4. Dust off remaining chocolate 5. Run it through a paper laminator to make it shiny & sealed 6. Cut out rectangle to cover pickups plus an extra narrow flap all round to fold down 7. Score, fold flaps and stick corners 8. Use double sided tape to stick onto pickups You're welcome 😂

Maybe The Donald will pardon him? he pardons everyone else

Didn't know Nick but I did message him when I imported my Klos Apollo bass direct from the States. I knew Nick was already playing one the same and we exchanged a few messages about the basses and his plan to put an active circuit in his. I also eventually managed to buy an Enfield bass a couple of months ago. I knew he was a demonstrator for the basses way back and I'd always hankered for one in part down to watching videos of him playing them. An absolute superb player too. RIP. My condolences go to his family at this sad time

"God tier" is for those who not only don't buy something, but also do not rearrange their pedal board for a whole year...

So how about a few of use get together and organise something, we have a lot of regional events, how about a national one? I'll help in any way I can and will donate a couple of Fenderish bitsas to auction to help cover costs?

If it had a balanced XLR out it would be perfect! Si

Last night Royal Blues @ The Spice of Life, Soho, that London. Decent size stage with backline provided, so nice to be able to hear myself for a change 😆 One of our backing vocalists is away, which makes a difference as we usually have 3 part harmonies going on. But we were told it sounded good FOH. Multi band line up, with the bands having nothing musically in common, but we brought a few people and apparently it was sold out. Didn't get time to take an office pic, it was a line check during changeover then on. There were plenty of pics taken by the punters, I'll post some when I get them. Gear: Ibanez UB804 (EUB) - Swift wireless - Fender Rumble combo (supplied backline) & Korg clip on tuner. Footwear: black leather brothel creepers with white interlace.

Something pretty niche, but special for those of us who still love the old Peavey era. The old Super Festival has been reissued, as well as a 6x10 with the classic style. Remains to be seen just how accurate to the original it is, but given that I know there are at least a couple of amp worshippers on the staff there, I have high hopes about it.

I've been a musician my entire life. My father was a high school band director and multi-instrumentalist. Started on trombone in the fourth grade, and on bass at 17 (now 62). Gigged full-time from late 1983 until 1998, with around a year and a half off to get my sobriety under my belt. After 20 years of not playing much at all, got back into it around 2018. Seriously into woodworking for some time, I began restoring my 1974 Mustang and putting parts basses together while waiting to have my full shop back up and running out here. I now build basses "from scratch" beginning with "cloning" my early 80's G&L El Toro (on which the neck has been unplayable for more than 20 years) and recently finished up 3 basses fashioned after the classic Stingray, but 5-string with 19mm string spacing.

Mmmmm…. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196967398730?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=2pMDnoK2QiW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=155UlNbXQGW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Nick was one of the cornerstones (imo) of this very site we all post on. I saw the initial posts on Facebook that Nick had gone missing as he was one of my friends on there, but hoped for the best. When it eventually transpired that he had passed away, I was shocked and saddened that he had gone at such an early age. My first encounters with Nick was in the very early 2000's on one of the old Level42 sites (think it was the Level 42 Digest, but I could be wrong - it was over 20 years ago), and then eventually on here. I also saw him a few times on the stands at the old London Bass Guitar shows, and just used to marvel at what an accomplished musician he really was. He always came across as a very welcoming type of guy, and always happy to help if he could. Thoughts are with his family and friends at this very difficult moment in time, and a tragic loss to the music community in general. RIP Nick Smith. 😢

Hi all, I’m a long time member but have been in a bit of a hiatus and rejoined recently. I’ve been playing more and recently joined a Morley college course with Paul Westwood (highly recommended). Gear wise, I have a Warwick Streamer II from the 90’s (now vintage?!), a few pedals (SA C4, Demeter compressor, …) and a a couple of amps. I use Reason + as my DAW. Currently looking to integrate bass playing with computer music, start a new project with collaborators, develop bass synth skills (thanks @Quatschmacher!) and tone (considering a new distortion pedal to integrate in set up. I want to build a pedalboard, have most pieces just need time and focus to do it… Cheers!

For those interested, here is the module used in the Sumo: Do your homework now. 😉

I’ve still had no official word that I can talk about this but someone has posted from the show: https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/source-audio-prototype-at-namm.2620008/page-4#post-40180070

I don’t remember this much wheedling so early on last year. If in doubt, don’t buy anything, or go big and go out in a blaze of glory.

Great shot. That's the right colour for a bass. . . .

Thanks for this. been at work all day with a lump in my throat, gutted. Do you know, the last time we met was in August - we’d talked a good few years ago about the ‘E’ basses he’d had a hand in making around 2000/2001… One bleary eyed morning - one came up on eBay (about 15 miles from me) listed as “not working, for parts only”. I didn’t even send him the link - I just went and bought it. I sent him a photo and said “this one of yours?” He was bowled over - it’d been made for a lady he’d eventually end up with who ended up passing away unexpectedly…it’d been sold by her estate and he assumed it’d been lost forever. We hatched a plan, he drove up to collect it from me - and I’d fixed most of the issues with it (I just couldn’t sort an LED blackout, but had sorted the dicky preamp and broken machineheads). We started chatting nonsense and lost about 2 hours, messing with basses… Think we did about 4 bass deals over the years, the first one was in 2009 for a Marcus Miller Jazz at Piccadilly train station… We’d message fairly regularly, particularly if one of us had a new bit of kit. Ah man, very similarly to our MB1😎 - you meet people every so often who have an impact. Nick was one…a force of nature. The world got a little quieter this week - and is going to be all the worse for it.

I only change my strings when a new set is released that claims to be the best string for everything, ever. And then I go back to what I've been using for the last 8 years.

For me it was Natural Mystic from the Exodus album , it’s the first album I learned to play all the way through, I still play it now occasionally , wonderful basslines