Leaderboard

This should probably be in the selling areas, but there are so many stickies in there it is hard to see anything, and I think it is quite important, although hard to stop. There are a current number of "Man in the middle" scams being tried, both here and on other forums. How this scam works is that someone is selling something on the forum like this: GoodSeller: I am selling this expensive bass, I am not shipping it GoodBuyer: Oh thats just what I want, will you ship it GoodSeller: No, I said I wouldn't! then someone looks at that interaction, and creates an account GoodSel1er, where there is a 1 instead of an L, a complelete different username, but looks really similar, then he sends a message to the buyer: GoodSel1er -> GoodBuyer: Hey I have changed my mind, do you want to me to ship it? I can send it to you by paypal F&F for £20. GoodBuyer-> GoodSel1er: Great thanks, you have lots of good feedback I will buy it off you. <sends money> then a week later, angry buyer posts on sellers real post 'you are a scammer you haven't sent me anything', and of course it is the first that the real seller has heard of it. BadSeller has trousered the money and is off with it, and because it is either a bank transfer or a f&f, you have no comeback. Obviously the answer is not to accept F&F or bank transfer, and ask for additional photos etc as usual, but additionally, be really sure who you are talking to - if someone messages you offering you something that is on the forum, go to that post, click on their username and select 'send message' to reply, then you know you are talking to the right person.

Around October last year our friend Nick Smith came to see us about having another bass made but to his design of shape which he called the “Midas” We lost Nick in January in a tragic accident before we got past the design stage of his new bass. However he had selected all of the woods and we’d gone through the detail on the spec that he wanted. Following Nicks funeral at the end of February Gav and I felt it was only right that we finish Nicks bass, and after seeking approval from Nicks family we decided that it would be fitting that once complete we would hold a raffle or auction with all proceeds going to a charity close to Nick and his families hearts. Over the last few weeks we’ve been progressing through the manufacture of Midas number 1. And over the next week or so we’ll share the photos and videos of its progress so far. This video shows the design of the bass, technical specs follow “Greenie” the Kratos he had from us a few years back which had become Nicks main gigging bass for Genesis Connected. It features a one piece ribbon sapele body with a beautiful book matched flame maple top, flamed maple one piece neck with ebony fret board, Aguilar HJ pickup and 18v preamp, led fret board side dots, Grainger bridge, hipshot tuners and Evo Gold frets! Once the details of the charity raffle are tied down we’ll post on how it’ll all work, but we should have Nicks Midas done within the next 6 weeks! Stay tuned for more updates! SOLIDWORKS Premium 2023 SP1.0 - Midas Full Assembly 2025-03-29 09-46-28.mp4

....also, just because you want to play doesn't mean people want to listen. Something a lot of amateur bands fail to take into account when they inflict themselves on an unsuspecting audience. A friend of mine has a band that keeps moaning about how little they get paid but I have to keep reminding him they're lucky they don't have to pay compensation to the audience for the psychological damage they cause with their dreadful playing.

Hey guys, Been a long time lurker, but was recently hired by MTD, so I figured now is as good a time as any to introduce myself. Prior to my current gig, I was with Vigier on the stateside of things for about 13 years. I don't wanna break any rules, so if you have any questions about products, please feel free to dm me or email [email protected] I'm an actively touring bassist. I play for So Hideous, Lores, Luxury Funeral and used to be in the Number 12 Looks Like You and Sawtooth Grin among many more. As for gear, I play an MTD 535 a G&L L-2500 and a bunch of different Vigiers. My favorite amp is my Verellen Meatsmoke and my favorite cab is my Aguilar GS412, but they can't always make it to every gig so I'm more than happy to bring my Quilter 802. Still looking for my 'forever' compact cab if anyone's got any suggestions. I started building my own pedals like two years ago, just in time to finally start using my HX Stomp live lol... But I'm an absolute gear whore, so I'm sure I'll never stop swapping my stuff!

Avantguard fitted vs Fender Custom Shop on right hand side.

Had our first jam with the blues band since our drummer passed away in May. It was amazing to be back in a room making noise with the band again, but it did feel a bit weird playing with someone else behind the skins. Still, roll on the next jam!

Progress 😁 I’ll get my coat then shall I? 😂

And there you have about 90% of all product advertising distilled in 9 words... 🙂

Bob Gollihur's site has a good explanation of why impedance matters and why you may need an impedance matching preamp for your piezo pickup https://gollihurmusic.com/ohms-impedance-from-the-input-perspective/?srsltid=AfmBOoqHLBKvd9-BHmshssKiCIrAT5-J3dtKmh8iyoYJAZfJ0RjsUZO7 If your Shadow 950 sounds nasal and thin through your Rumble 115, then you probably need a preamp with a high (5-10 MOhm) input impedance to match the high impedance of the pickup. The simplest preamps, like the K&K pure preamp will buffer the impedance difference between the pickup and the amp input but offer no EQ, phase inversion or high pass filter (HPF). If you can afford it, I would recommend a preamp with a HPF control as that will help defeat feedback on loud or boomy stages. Again, Bob Gollihur's site has a good range of preamps available, but it's a USA site, so it's worth seeing waht's available from a european dealer https://gollihurmusic.com/preamplifiers-and-eq/1-channel-preamplifiers/

It’s a classic combination

My original series 5’er has the XLR out. As @snorkie635 says, the XLR is only active when there is a jack plug in the jack socket. For live work, you just run a jack lead like normal. If you want to take the bass straight to FOH you can, but that means two cables. But having chatted with Chris May, the XLR is intended for studio work rather than live, so in the studio, you plug a jack into the jack socket and take the XLR to the desk. In this scenario, the jack lead doesn’t have to be connected to anything at the other end.

Two gigs for me this weekend, first was with Siren at The Boathouse, Bradford-on-Avon on Friday night - turned out to be a busy night with lots of faces recognised from our previous visits. We played pretty much all of our setlist but were cut short when the new manager turned on all the house lights and stage lights at the end of a medley that we do, we took that as a sign that he'd had enough, and so the crowd that had been up for a party all night, were calling for more to no avail!? A bit of a strange end to what had been a great evening really. Sadly no photos to share, as I was heading there straight from work I used my 'easy' rig, TT800, Big Twin II, Geddy Jazz with 70's P Bass as back up. Saturday night saw Sarum's Lot play at The Devizes Inn in Salisbury. We were asked to setup in the darts room. This was the exact opposite of the previous night where space was somewhat limited, so was a rather intimate set up for the drummer and me, leaving the guitarist to enjoy loads of room on his side of the room - in fairness to him he does tend to boogie and is much more animated than me! The crowd were up for a good time from the off, loads of singing & dancing, even some air guitar! This band plays classic rock covers and we were asked by a young lad whether we could do 'I believe in a thing called love' - we don't do it but duly had a go, and smashed it right out the park (even if I do say myself!). A thoroughly enjoyable gig with a great crowd - we all left buzzing 🙂 Same gear as previous night. Hopefully the links work😊 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16anAdo3PW/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F9bZbTbBw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Great gig at a local WMC this last Saturday for the Glam Lads. It's one of those old school clubs that saw the likes of Bob Monkhouse et al in its heyday but fortunately is still doing well...a pretty packed house as it seems the locals were up for some 70s Glam. A prospective agent showed up to view the first spot (looking to fill a few little gaps in the gig calendar left by the previous 'booker') so we were on our game and thankful for the large and enthusiastic crowd. The agent, also a bassist, was complimentary on my sound...he said his expectations weren't high when I said I was using just a couple of MarkBass 12" but he was surprised with the clarity and punch. So all in all a cracking night and our next visit there will be NYE which should be a stormer.

Two gigs for me this weekend, both on the East Yorkshire coast. Saturday saw me playing with The Alligators blues band at The Black Lion in Bridlington’s historic old town. Quite a large pub at the front, with an amazing room at the rear that is concealed from the pub by large velvet curtains. There are raked pews that lead down to a dance floor area, and the stage is like a small theatre, with a a large dB PA that unfortunately we didn’t get to use. Easy get in from a side alleyway so it looked like being a great gig. Unfortunately there was a distinct lack of punters, but we still gave it our best to the small groups of folk who ventured in. A great sounding room, and I used my usual passive Precison Lyte / Rumble 500 combo which I’m really enjoying. Finished at 11.15pm, quick pack down and home by 12.30. Sunday early evening I was at our regular haunt in Scarborough, ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ with the acoustic duo. A beautiful day meant the town was busy, but we got parked ok and set to go by 6pm. The venue was rammed with diners plus a few guests seated at the back. We played our usual request format, and tunes included ‘Samba pa ti’, a couple of Simon and Garfunkel things and ‘Copacabana’ which I’d forgotten how much of a workout the bassline was! We both were given a nice tip from a visiting celebrity couple who remembered us from a gig there a couple of years ago, and also received an enquiry to play at the local yacht club from a couple who’d arrived at the gig by yacht - who’d have thought that in Scarbados! It was one of those gigs where it all gelled - great venue, audience and our playing, so much so that I genuinely could have played for another hour or more. Still, home by 10pm to pizza and wine.

I've often said that I'd happily rock up, bass in hand and play to 2,000 people for free... I might even offer to pay but if you want me to hump £4000+ worth of my equipment to a venue/pub miles from home that I have no association with, at a time that inconveniences me, to play to a bunch of ar5eholes who have no respect for the hours/years I've put into getting to the level that I'm at... I want paying! I may have paraphrased the above on occasion!

There are no pranks here, it is the April Composition Challenge, or as Mr Smalls would describe it... Compo-Compo I say no pranks, but as the eclectic @Leonard Smalls was the worthy winner for March , we might have expected a left field choice of picture , but even so.....be prepared to be enlightened! In Lenny's own words... "G'day! Looks like folks voted for The Funk! So piccy here:" I was perusing my science periodicals (as if!) and came across this (*) which reminded me of an attempted jazzy jam from a number of years ago. The organiser handed everyone a bit of paper with abstract colours on it and said "we'll be using this as the basis for our improvisation"... We made a proper racket but I did meet a really good trombonist! *it's actually a wavelet periodigram showing Geomagnetically Induced Currents in power distribution lines (colour indicates power) as a function of time... It demonstrates the problems "solar weather" can cause in our modern techy stuff - there was actually a 9 hour power outage in Canada as a direct result of GICs! Well there you go, a little learning along the way Usual simple rules apply ✅ Entries must be <5 minutes and recorded between now and the deadline. ❌ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on ❌ No Bagpipes, I think they might cause a few GIC's , but you can go and play them in Canada! ❌ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you.. Deadline-wise, we will go for Midnight on the 24th April A line or two of blurb as usual for the vote thread will be super duper smashing lovely. Good luck, Have fun

This CD is available in the U.K. via https://propermusic.com/products/visitor2035-visitor2035?_pos=1&_psq=visitor&_ss=e&_v=1.0 Its the 1970's latter end of....I'm playing bass, answering ads in Melody Maker and making slow progress. An advert draws my attention and I eventually have a jam with the band down in deepest Sussex outside of Horsham. Visitor 2035 go on to do a series of gigs at universities and some festivals. Whats most important is that we start rehearsals with some pretty hefty jamming which has served me well. We respond to a series of adverts from a German record company who were advertising on train platform poster boards! We sign on the dotted lines and record an album down at Pebble Beach studios in Worthing. The record company have taken on a few UK bands, I think 'A Flock Of Seagulls' was one. They falter on our release date for 9 months and slowly leave us behind. Its the dawn of punk and our Weather Report driven Chick Corea meets Brand X music is slowly disappearing from the mainstream. Abandoned, we go our separate ways, keeping in touch now and then and for a couple of fun gigs. 2022....we get a call from Hannover based M.I.G. Music.de ...we have an old fan working there and he wants to re-release the album, now CD. Why not hah! Its a fusion of rock jazz type driven instrumental music of which many of us were partial too at the time. Proper Music UK sell it as do M.I.G. We have world release, wow, didnt get that before... NOW with a recent review from R&R latest magazine edition….and bass gets mentioned first! I hope this short sound clip and picture link works: VISITOR 2035 CD mix and photos.m4v

The pickguard chat in this thread was enough to make me sign up. The red tortoiseshell pickguard on the Fender Hama Okamoto Precision Bass is pretty good. A cut above the standard dark maroon modern Fender tort or the various lurid tortoiseshell pickguards on eBay. This is mine: The tort layer is thin, but is the right mix of red, darker and lighter shades. The white sub layers are more parchment than stark white as well. I am 99.9% sure these same pickguards are sold separately under the 'Boston' brand, part number PB-415-TI. I bought one of these pickguards from a Dutch seller and put it on my AM Pro-II P Bass: It isn't a Spitfire or Lavaguard pickguard, but a few tweaks to the colours used puts them well ahead of other cheap pickguards.

This is Pimlico's law. The longer a discussion goes on about musicians' pay, sooner or later someone will bring plumbers into the chat. It's like Godwins law but with different kinds of tanks.

AB sounds pretty good on everything he does. My band have decided to do Watching the Detectives, which Andrew played on. The Rumour were a great backing band.

Nope, looks pants. Yam speedblocks or nothing 🤣

I was on a cross-channel ferry in 1997 from Newhaven to Dieppe, and entertainment was provided by Sid and Doris Bonkers (© Private Eye) on guitar, bass, drum machine, and dubious vocals, including a ground-breaking rendition of 'Delilah' in 4/4 instead of the more conventional 3/4 time.

The key word is 'top'. They're made to be used along with a subwoofer. Some are capable enough to replace a bass speaker, but by no means all, and short of trying them you have no way of knowing.

YES! Good choice. I wish I had thought of that myself. Heeheehee.

I think I prefer the Yellow!!......👍🏻

There are only so many people who have great writing talent when it comes to music. Back then if a seasoned old producer who new a good tune, didnt like your offerings you were toast... Been there, got the T shirt.. twice from memory. Now we have everyone plus the hens and the chickens... "writing music"? At the risk of repeating this age old boring statement. As an extreme eg... "Agadoo" is a superb silly billy party tune. No one today gets anything even near to that example. In other words even the daftest tunes to be good have be well written. And lastly. Everywhere I look advertising people are using old pop tunes to sell product to young people. Why?

A while away but we're (Ligeia Wept) doing a series of gigs in September. Could be a good night for any northern doomsters, goths etc. Some great other bands on the line up and the Todmorden gig is in an architecturally stunning church.

What a bass should sound like in this context I guess but completely wrong for lots of other music. There is no ideal bass tone for everything.

Music is a passion and a hobby for me. How many things are there that you can do that bring immediate pleasure to a large group of people? Seeing an audience really enjoy a gig is my main reward. Payment us about covering the expenses to be able to have those experiences.

All laptop screens are a bit small: That's my work set-up. InDesign Document on the middle screen with the pallets to the right. Two word files which I am working from on the left. And here's the same set up for music: Logic arrange page on the middle screen. HX Edit or Logic mixer page on the right and plug-in editing windows on the left.

As I feel my teeth itching every time - it's "drawers", not "draws". @Dad3353's apostrophe cruiser needs repurposing.

@AndyTravis, thank you. It’s all too easy to say “it means a lot”, but genuinely, I really appreciate feedback, of course positive on my videos. I do everything myself (except for edits to my final renders by the digital guy); I’m still learning how to create and edit videos, even if I have spent the last 30+ years obsessing over everything bass and technology. Obsessing really wouldn’t be an overstatement. I have issues 🤣 I just want to create the kind of videos I want to see. I’m far from perfect in delivery, but I’m getting there. Many a time I’ve nearly given up on it as there’s a real apathy or lack of engagement - maybe that’s my fault, but it’s really hard to capture enough people’s interest. I’m not pretty and showing a bit of flesh isn’t an option, which for many seems to be the way to go in the absence of any real quality material, so losing a battle from the off when people would rather “engage” with something that requires less investment. So, I’d really appreciate if anyone watching my videos can at least give them a like to show your appreciation. Better still a supportive comment. Following my socials and the magazine channel would really give me a boost. Http://www.YouTube.com/BassGearMag and http://www.instagram.com/danveallbassist I’m also on Facebook, my page is DanVeallBassist or the OG profile /DoodOnBass is still alive.

I did up to grade 5 clarinet when I was at school, with the lure of an alto saxophone if I got merits in grade 5 (just managed to scrape by!) Whenever I hear of folks doing grades, I wonder if this is still their bible? It was in the 70's.. 😉

My first gig this year with my main squeeze, Felis Leo. We played at the Angel Inn, Andover...my first time there. Back in my youth I would drink mainly at the Lamb, the Lardie and the Station. The gig was part of a multi band, multi venue festival under the banner 'Andover Rocks Reignited' and I think we were the only originals band playing at our venue. One of our guitarists moonlights in a covers band and they were further up the bill, we were on at 3pm and they were on at 8. There were 2 stages, one for bands and at the other end of the pub, one for acoustic solo or duo acts. It was amazingly well organised, to the second as well! There were screens onstage for the bands counting down to the start of their sets and subsequently to the end of their sets. This was incredibly helpful 😁 My set up was an Ibanez sr1205 which I haven't played in anger for a long time, a TC Electronic BH550 and my two Barefaced one10s. Had a couple of complimentary comments about the one10s and my sound so chuffed with that (compliments are rare so I'll grab em when I get em). The whole day was actually great with not even a minor gripe about anything, got our photo taken by the local rag, everyone was in a great mood, spoke to people in the flesh who I've only conversed with on our socials and people genuinely enjoyed our set! I still have the same warm afterglow now that I had yesterday 👍🏻 I've not received many video clips yet but here's a bit of Timezone taken by the singer in our guitarist's other band VID-20250330-WA0000.mp4

Another Eagles tribute show, this time at a theatre in Stockton. An enjoyable night. We're a few shows in now, so everything is less of a conscious effort. The vocal harmonies parts - of which there are a shedload, all of which are very high / falsetto - are coming more naturally, so I can kick back and enjoy the occasion. It's such a strong, varied set - every song is a classic (assuming you don't hate The Eagles, of course). Anyway, I had to use IEMs last night as we were using the house PA and there weren't any monitors. I doubt I'll ever love using them, but I hate them less than I used to.

It's because PMT think they are the only ones to have access to the internet and they truly think their buyers are plain idiots who won't look elsewhere. 🤦🏻

Ah what a miserable old git I’m becoming. it was nice to be out of the comfort zone, and in retrospect a bit of fun which people seemed to enjoy. I need to stop taking myself so seriously.

Private 60th birthday party last night for us with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam. Also our drummers birthday same day. Organiser saw us 2 yrs ago and thought it would be great for his dads 60th. He had shown him vids from the gig 2 yrs ago and his Dad loved them. Was in a church hall with its own bar which was kinda strange but a well organised event. Approx 40-50 guests. We were paid while loading in so that was a 1st. Not a big fan of private parties tho as not every guest will be into Glam so it can be a bit MEH !!!. Birthday Boy had no idea what was happening and we were asked not to give it away. Covered the logo on bass drum and no band t-shirts worn also no backdrop. 1st set was a bit slow to get moving. We had some feedback "drone" issue coming and going with singers mic that we just couldn't nail it. It wasn't fine at soundcheck. Turned out it was pick up from snare drum so we managed to resolve it for 2nd set. We had a few dancers 1st set and it was turning out like many private parties ("dead") but we were getting well paid so thoughts of paid rehearsal were going thru my head. We were all invited to partake which was really nice to be asked and we didn't want to disappoint our host and be rude so we partook of a few bits and bobs and were even delivered a tray of food in our changing room which was a large room just off the main corridor. 2nd set it just all seemed to clicked, sound was perfect, dancers filled the floor and party was officially started. Decided to use my Handbox WB-100 last night for a wee change and boy was that a treat. I forgot how much i liked an all valve amp. Warm depth of tone with the mids boosted as advised by our very own WoT and the clarity was just so good. Using the Sandberg VM4 into Keeley comp, WB-100, Mesa SW210/115 cabs and the sound was amazing. I need to use that amp more often. Feedback was excellent with several folks looking to book us with one guy that manages a few other clubs being very impressed. They want us back as a proper function rather than a private event and bar manager reckoned it would sell out. She even wanted a list of where we play so she can come along. All very promising. The number of people coming up at the end complimenting us was quite touching at times but obviously a few beers had been partook by the end of the evening. Something i don't usually mention but here goes :- Arrived at venue 5pm Set up and S/C 6:30pm Doors open 7pm 1st set 8-9pm 2nd set 10-11:15pm Loaded by 12:15am Home and unloaded 1:30am Bed 2am Dave

Rhythm Stick! 😖

There you go.