Leaderboard

Yesterday saw a return to the Blue Boar in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. It's been 6 months since we last played there and the deal is normally a 2hr acoustic set. Load in started with the "help" of our new furry roadcrew, Puma. She is lovely but I can't see her making old bones - too inquisitive! We get to the pub and some people had come down from London to see us which was humbling and nice. To be fair they were here anyway but had seen our poster and heard the name. We'd sold a CD before we started and set up our massive amount of kit. I was on mandocello, upright bass, mandolin, acoustic guitar and backing vocals. The London couple were quickly upstaged by a couple that saw us 2yrs ago and were from Spain! Again, I think they happened to be in the area but saw we were playing and remembered us from before. The landlady came up afterwards to say that the locals had been worn down by our consistency in playing gothic music and had to admit we were really good players. That made my night! And we were rebooked for June. I appreciate we're all bombarding each other with our bands, but if anyone is curious, we are live tomorrow on Swindon 105.5FM from 8pm for an hour of music and chat. The show is aptly called "Don't Stop the Music"... and why would we?

We had a nice surprise last night at the blues jam in the old dive , great little band doing some classics from the 20’s. Steel bodied guitar , trumpet , euphonium ,and drums. Sounded gorgeous.

Played at The Market House in Maidstone last night, which is my favourite venue in the local area. The pub was packed and gig went really well. Only downside was that I got a parking ticket in the loading bay, which was annoying and I’ll be appealing that tomorrow. I'm playing in the same place next Saturday with a different band, which I’m looking forward to.

I was lucky to get one of the last CW basses with graphite that Rob made. I’d just finished my immunotherapy and decided to treat myself with the purchase with some money my mum had left me (she passed unexpectedly just before I got my diagnosis so it was a tough time). I called on the off chance and Rob said he was just finishing off a CW with white LEDS and the guy who’d ordered it couldn’t take it for some reason so it ended up with me. I know we all say we have a bass we’d never sell but this one really does hit that category for me. I gig it rarely but it always puts a smile on my face. I hope Rob and Dawn enjoy their well deserved retirement.

Lovely collection you have there prowla

Get that gridge grounded!

I played at Exchange on Thursday night and it was really good fun. We were local support for a sold out show of Dopethrone and Wallowing who are on tour together. Managed to get free on street parking not far away, so load in with bass, pedalboard and head wasn't bad at all. Gear was the usual Dingwall Combustion, Gx-100, MojoMojo, Bass Big Muff and Laney Digbeth head into a borrowed Ampeg 610. Soundcheck was a bit late, but we got it done with time to spare before we went on, so that was good. Always good working with a competent sound guy! Our set was good. A few gaffs, but nothing disastrous. I was running the sample pedal for the first time, but that turned out to be fine! I think we went down pretty well. I didn't see anyone leave while we were playing, so that's always a good sign! It wasn't full capacity for us, but we must have had 50/60 people there. Wallowing were really cool and nice guys. Much more dynamic playing and less straight metal sounding in person than on their recorded material. We're playing with them again at Southwest Heavy Fest in May. Dopethrone were very good for what they do, but after a late practice the night before plus perpetual early mornings as I've got a 3 year old, I was not prepared for them to be always up on every song. Would have preferred some more nuance to the songs 😅 I've grabbed a pic we got tagged in on Instagram. It's a shame it wasn't one of my more enthusiastic poses!

Relicing should be outlawed as a crime against humanity (or at least instruments). When was the last time you went to a car dealership and paid extra for fake dents and scratches ?

Gig number two was a success. Afternoon Sunday gigs can be a bit slow but these guys were up for it. Set up ready for number three now back in the centre of Bristol. My feet hurt.

More 32" medium scale bass options would be nice.

Banished to the back room whilst our living room and dining room are redecorated. My number one and number two into a cali76, a Bassrig supervintage, SVT III non pro and an early 15” barefaced compact. Always with flatwounds 👌

… use code SHOW2025 to get 20% off until I think April. They were giving away little business cards at the recent Bass and Guitar show I went to. Saves a bit more than the VAT they add on the website strangely!

Hmm, Unless it's a period correct model, let's shave those heel blocks down on bolt-on basses, get rid of neck plates and countersink fixing bolts. Hide pickup tangs! - Especially on Split-Coil P pickups. Well done EMG (and Dimarzio) for managing this! Small comforts and all! A wider range of pickup cover types. Radiused pickup covers. Oh headstocks... either flat out do the copy you're trying to pretend your not, or come up with something original that doesn't look like a 4 year old drew it. Rounded/Rolled fingerboard edges as standard. 22 frets on more models please. Well done Sandberg. The afore mentioned Luminlay or decent contrasting markers.

Yeah, but rosewood vs maple.

First gig of the year after NYE's paid rehearsal, at regular haunt Spen Victoria CC. On the basis that the Siredowsky needed new strings (a Jazz with rounds isn't supposed to sound like a 60s P with flats!) and I hadn't had a chance to do that yet, I went with the Squier P as last night's axe. After thinking I was getting lost in the mix at previous gigs, I decided to forego my compressor this time, and holy cow my tone has returned. I think I need to use the compressor a bit more sparingly, as using it as an "always on" pedal isn't working. I went with the ABM despite the small venue, and decided to give the valve drive a go, and the fates all combined to make my tone sound, if you'll forgive my entirely unbiased opinion, fecking amazing - deep and thunderous while also clear as a bell when it needed to be. Things were a bit shaken up as we'd decided to mix our standard set up a bit, as we're at the point we don't need to look at set lists to know what song is coming next. Our singist, who normally favours a vaguely Adam Ant-esque getup decided to forego all that for an old band t-shirt - it can't be uncool to wear your own band's merch if you don't actually have any, this is one someone made many years ago. For the most part the running order seemed to go well, and new songs Alright and Mr Brightside went over very well, and using Two Tribes as our second encore song was a great choice. Only a couple of minor mishaps, where our keyboardist started his section of A Town Called Malice in the wrong key and dropped out for a verse until he could recover himself, and he lost the patch he was using for the guitar solo in Alright (I still don't know why our guitarist can't play it) so had to stay with the piano sound he was using for the rest of the song, which sounded, well, crap. But all in all a good start to our year of gigs. They're starting to trickle in now, and we might end up with about seven over the year, which will be good and manageable for me with a new baby on the way. A couple of shots but none of my footwear I'm afraid; I was only in scruffy Merrells so hardly worth showing. (it did get a bit busier than this...)

The Musicman style truss rod adjustment wheel at the base of the neck should be mandatory on every bass.

Another Bootleg Eagles show, this time in Saltburn, North Yorkshire. 18 months of prep is finally paying off... lots of dates in the diary now. Great tunes, great bunch of lads.

Last night at Wilsons, Aberdeen with Nine Lives. Weird gig, definitely a game of two halves. First half was rank rotten - sound in the room was awful - could barely get the vocals loud enough without feeding back, started five mins late because of all the mucking about (not Axl Rose levels of lateness, but it still bugs me). It was passable out front, and people could clearly hear the words because I could see them mouthing along, but there was very little coming back making it hard to hear where we were in a song. No room for monitors in this pub, we basically had to rely upon reflected sound. So spooked I was that I didn't change basses at half time - I didn't want to introduce another variable to an already tenuous situation. But we sorted it. The table nearest the right PA speaker emptied at half time, so we took the opportunity to move it forward, not much - couple of feet maybe, but what a difference it made - it opened up the possibility of increasing the gain of the singer's vox without feeding back and made for a much better sounding second half. It got busy too, and it was much more fun. Went for a couple of walkabouts in the crowd which went down well. Lesson learned - kick people out of the way if you have to to get your PA far enough in front of the band. So, it was the BB1200 for the whole night, into the usual Markbass rig. Footwear - Vans calf hair checkerboard slipons. Hmm, quite colour coordinated last night, just realised.

Sei's in particular are far too personal to the person they were originally made for them the become collectable just for the name IMO. Shuker makes too many different designs many of which are copies of other brands. For luthier-made instruments to become collectable in themselves you need a situation like Wal where there are a limited number of designs, which are not over-personalised to the person they were originally made for, and a couple of well-respected players with distinctive sounds to start using them exclusively. And then for the supply of new instruments to become limited. I can't think of any others that fit those criteria at the moment.

Just a follow up thought on this. I don't think there's likely to be another generation after the baby boomers for whom the electric guitar – and to a lesser extent the electric bass – is such a potent cultural symbol.

... 15 months later and I'm in a band. I've been in a band with the guitarist before and I've known the drummer for some time. It's the singers first band experience and she's got bags of enthusiasm. We've only done a few practices so far. We're all doing our homework, but we're also successfully trying out songs on the spot at practice. We're making changes to songs to work for the instrument line up. ... and we're being offered gigs. Fingers crossed we'll be out and about very soon. It all feels very positive

Sue Ryder P Bass anyone...

I did three gigs with my sunburst HB JP450 yesterday, and it received a lot of compliments for it's look and sound. I have to say it was extremely easy on the shoulder after more than five hours of gigging and I had no problem getting a good sound at wildly differing venues.

Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp Clone:

How about you stick to buying new but reliced instruments and I stick to buying new gear that looks new? Everybody ends up happy.

We're actually on the Purley Oaks side of Sanderstead, so probably a mere 10 minute walk or so from where you where! It's madness!

You were robbed. Worth about the same as what it would have cost new from Woolies back in the day - about £19.95

I've always found that, when new, Elixirs of any variety sound like 6 gig old versions of their nickel or stainless cousins.

The port isn't right for sure. A port of that diameter is appropriate for one ten, but not four. That raises the question as to if the cabinet volume is correct. I suspect it's too small. The idea behind this cab is a good one, but the execution appears to be lacking.

I quite like the fact that production models usually require a bit of personalisation to suit as it makes them unique to me. I absolutely love my Hofner Verythin long scale bass but they missed a trick not putting white binding around the F-holes so I had that added to mine. It makes them pop out a little more. The original volume / tone buttons were a hideous orange so I changed them and I added the racing stripe. On balance the modifications were inexpensive and I have a truly one of a kind bass.

So, here's the Squier '77 I've bought to create my Fender 70's build. I haven't received it yet, but I'm a little concerned that the previous relic attempt has gone too far? I wonder if light sanding may be key, but the gouge looks a little deep to me. Maybe best to wait until it's in before worrying too much lol.

With hindsight, I'd say the most important thing with gear is just find a bass that [you] love the shape of, something that makes you actually want to pick it up and play, something that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck when you pop the latches on the case. This is one hundred percent the most important thing. 2nd bit of advice would be to take on board that they all, more or less, fundamentally sound the same out of the box. In general it doesn't matter what pickups you have installed. The sound is only really affected once you apply other elements (amps/cabs, stomps etc) and how you actually play the thing. We're just slaves to guitar and amplifier makers and the remoras that are making pickups/pre-amps.

It's not that at all. I wanted, e.g., the Pink Floyd bass sound so got a precision with flats. Now when I want that sound I play that bass and get it. I wanted a Stevie Ray Vaughan guitar sound so got a Strat and get that sound when I want it. Etc. Not everyone asking these questions is on some futile dream chase.

Here' a quick noodle with Low Pass, Low Range, Drive Down. On a Jazz type Passive Bass and no compressor or preamp or EQ etc. BTronIII Bass.mp3

Last night's office. The Squier continues to punch above its weight, the ABM was set just so and sounded immense, and having dropped the compressor the pedalboard may as well have not been there, albeit I needed the BDDI21 for our last encore song

A couple of live shots from last night, complete with footwear.

It's quite simple really. You just need to apply the leschirons XY principle. Anything I bought (X) in the last 24 months for thousands is now worth £150 Anything I sold (Y) for £150 because I didn't like it or use it any more is now worth thousands.

Picked this up today at the end of my GAS burst. First Ibanez I've had for about twenty years. A very nice condition 2017 SR1400 Premium. Spent the latter part of the evening setting it up, as someone had set the neck flat and raised all the bridge monorails to compensate! All fixed now with a low action