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I've not been very active on here for a number of years so didn't know Sam. However, I've just read the depression thread and it's heart breaking. Whatever the cause of her passing to be that unwell mentally is awful and must have been terrifying for her. It's very upsetting. Rest in peace Sam

At The Cricketers in Westcliff on Easter Sunday. Our "long-awaited" debut at this venue. I've wanted to get in here for a while - it's one of the good ones on the local circuit. Someone who used to work at another local pub where we play approached us to play at this venue as "he knew what we can do" and convinced his boss to book us. It turns out we didn't disappoint! It was a little quieter than I had hoped for, but Easter Sunday evening is an odd one. But the people there were up for a proper party and stayed till the end. The chap who booked us told us his boss was very happy. He also said he's looking at putting on a cover band event at their music venue next door that they also run (locals will know this as the former "Club Riga" venue bar - which was quite a popular venue for originals and tribute bands. I even saw Michael Schenker and Blaze Bailey play in there several years ago). Anyway, he said they've just got it up and running again and want to put on a cover bands event with the best bands in the area and has invited us to join the roster... which is nice. A couple of other people involved in local bands told us they really enjoyed our set and performance, too. I was very happy with our performance considering we were a man down (guitarist on holiday), which meant the other guitarist wasn't able to double on keys, which restricted our set choice a little. We also had a dep drummer as our usual drummer was watching West End show with his family and wouldn't have made it back in time to set up. He actually showed up to watch halfway through the evening, so we dragged him up for a song. As such, me and the sole guitarist had to work a little harder and creatively. I got to use my "Eliminate the guitarist" Helix preset for a few songs, which blends in an octave-up driven guitar tone as well as power chords with my standard bass tone. Sounded great to my ears, and filled a hole during a couple of solos.

That is so sad, like so many I was chatting via pm with Sam. She was going to build one of the first of the new BassChat 8" cabs. I have a kit of parts here packed and ready to go and was increasingly concerned when she suddenly stopped communicating. Now we know why. I'd like to think whatever happened was sudden and quick while she was still planning for the future with new builds and new adventures. She will be missed and she touched a lot of us it seems.

Pictures say all that needs to be said, it's taken me a while to get here, but I suspect that of all the fretless Precisions I've owned (P, PJ, PP, PM) and all of the board materials I've used with them - rosewood, ebony, maple, graphite - this is by a long way the sweetest. Classic Vibe body, PUP, and circuit (the PUP as I'd been told would be the case, is very very good indeed), paired with a stunning Warmoth neck. First rehearsal tonight

Oh hey — Reverb here. 👋 Just to clarify, Reverb is not being purchased by Fender. Two new investors—Creator Partners + Servco—have entered an agreement to purchase Reverb. I think the confusion probably stems from the fact that Servco has a long history with Fender stretching back to the '50s, and is now a majority owner of Fender. Once the deal closes, although we'll share a common investor with Fender, Reverb will be a privately-held, independently operated company. You can read more on our blog. Cheers!

Will there be a cheaper and better quality Japanese version of Reverb?

Wanna hear something funny. I just saw this. Like 30 minutes ago. Read like the first 3 post. Ordered it. It arrives tomorrow. So... pedal board number 6?

This is my bitsa; Fender AVRI 62 neck, Fender MIJ P Bass body refinished in sonic blue nitro, a Creamery pickup, and a mix of Gotoh, Hosco, and Fender hardware. It's very light, coming in at 3-point-nine-something kg.

Sod it. Live once.

Janek just posted the below on his YouTube channel. They have managed to secure a venue in North London, in Dalston, on the 1st of June. Tickets on sale, I bought mine just now and with the exchange from US to GBP it comes to around £35.

Got this beast on loan:

Anyone read the replies ? Post #1 says Reverb bought by Fender's owner's Servco r. What follows is a whole load of waffle where folk think Servco buying Reverb means they have FMIC running it, one eejit even says he's glad no generic private equity firms are in control. Guess joined up thinking is a thing of the past 🤣

In response to a couple of PMs I'll post pics of each of these (and the two that don't fit in the box) in a day or so 👍

Don't own this any more but this is my old cheapo rat Jazz I threw together from random bits off here and AliExpress/eBay: The pickups were old MiM units, the body was from a low end vintage MiJ copy (already sanded/stained when I got it) and the neck was from a very nice old Japanese copy. Tuners, neck plate and bell plate were new cheapies, the bridge here was a nice quality Korean unit. God know how many bridges and tuners this thing had over the years, lots of extra holes but it had a certain charm. If anybody wanted to know what those old butcher block Fender copies from back in the day look like when the paint is sanded off well, here you go.

I just took delivery of a Harley benton PB50. I'm doing a 50s Rock'n'Roll show and have used my HB Beatbass up till now. It's fine soundwise, but the 14mm string spacing, while doable is overall a bit meh. Also, while looking at the media stuff running on the screens behind us, I noticed that, when not playing upright, they were all playing (surpise, surprise) 50s p-basses. The clue is in the name, right? Also, I wanted more of the brash 50s youth look (cars with fins n'all that) than vintage p-bass. The irony of the fact that I am in my late 50s and no longer a youth is of no relevance here 🤨 Soooooo, that's how I justified this purchase to myself. I swapped out the delivered roundwounds for HB Flats, did a bit of work on the action and Bob's your aunty's live in lover. It's loads of fun. Can't wait to do the show on Friday

It's a bit like Amazon's recommendation engine: "Ah I see you bought a new TV. I guess that means you like buying TVs, so now I'm only going to recommend you TVs for the next few months"

Will they be renaming it to Deluxe Reverb or Twin Reverb now?

Texas has a bit of an "exceptionalism" thing going on - in most places in the US, you see the American flag flying outside peoples' houses. In Texas, you're more likely to see the "lone star" state flag. They regularly threaten secession from the union and think they're better than the rest of the US. They're kinda the "Brexit Britain" of the US. Austin is a cool city - been there a few times. One of my favourite places over here. And it's very different from the Texas stereotype - young, progressive, geek-friendly, music everywhere, people bike and use public transport (they have a decent light rail system), and so on. Great food too - proper authentic Mexican food, Texas BBQ, good steaks, and surprisingly good Indian food! As a Brit in the US, it's also nice because they have a good football team (Austin FC), Nando's and a decent British pub (run by Brits) that does a Full English and a good Sunday lunch! But you don't have to go far out of Austin to be reminded where you are - miles and miles of nothing, megachurches, people in the biggest, most jacked-up pickup trucks you've ever seen (all the big car manufacturers make special Texas-only models!), people carrying guns, and so on.

Completely agree Joe, I have this rather weak part of my brain that believes that a bass built while the Beatles were still together has some magic, but every time I own one it goes, and my old bitsas stay, simply because theyr are better instruments in nearly every respect. OK, they don't have the mojo (although they do if people think they do of course), but they make me feel much better when I play them, and that feeling's a big part of why I play 👍

Yep, I had a 78 Precision that was around 7.5lbs, and a 77 that was 10.5lbs. And a mate of mine had a 77 that was exactly the same as mine except it was 14lbs. We used to joke that he stood on stage like The Ramones not to be punk but because that`s what the weight of his bass did to him.

The OP had it right in that some of these bitsa basses are like custom shop creations. I picked up this one a few days ago and have worked on it a little. Done a nice setup with lighter Elixirs, and added some better foam on the bridge pickup, as it was sinking too far away from the strings. Just been out and done some new outdoor pictures, too. The constituent parts are; Fender MIM roasted maple neck, Schaller tuners, 'Guitar & Bass Build' high polish Alder body, Hipshot bridge (only bridge I've ever seen that needs a 0.05" Alun Key!) and active EMGs with a 9v battery under the gold tort scratch plate. A very lively and snarly sounding bass - think of it as a non-pink Betsy.

There's a chap whose work features on here occasionally who could do that for you...

I've decided to base my build on the Fender Bassman 100, with a circuit more or less like the one below. In the past I've reduced such circuits to one channel with a single input but I like the idea of being able to use this as a guitar head too. Rather than jumper the inputs (which would work, as the channels are in phase), I'm thinking of having a single socket that connects to Input 1 (high gain) of both channels. Then I'd have a 3-way switch to select channels (Bass-Mix-Guitar) and use the channel volumes to mix their relative levels.

Has anyone seen, or played with, one of these yet? Looks like a serious contender. https://www.darkglass.com/creation/anagram/ (Can feel my gas rising....)

..or destroy it!

I noticed that too. A bit annoying. Boss do make a MIDI enabled expression pedal (EV-1-WL), but it's a bit spendy at £140. I still can't get on with the Darkglass tone though. That fizzy top end and seemingly disconnected low just doesn't sound good to me.

Behold - the finished cab drawers (and the other two cabs are very grateful for the speaker donation):

Very true. My local grocery emporium were out of stock of my usual brand name choice, so I took a chance on their own brand. On opening the bottle I missed the woody notes of my favourite Domestos, and whrn decanting I noticed a lack of body. It went down well enough after I'd let it breathe for a while, but the afterburn was shocking.

Just ordered a 2nd one in black. Only 2 blue left.

Read that as "strap ons" at first, and got a bit confused.

I'd imagine that depends on the order value - yours is twice as much as mine, Andy. And apologies to Neephid for all us buyers hijacking his NBD thread!

Oops...

Good antidote for COVID-19, if I remember the Mango Mussolini correctly from his first lap of the circus tent.......

What a great turnaround from Janek and IMA. btw everyone should go see this on Saturday night https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/baba-yagas-hut-kenji-hyakkei/ - just round the corner from the Vortex. And this is on at the Vortex Sunday evening https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/events/2024-06-01/ and a free jam session downstairs at the Vortex same evening https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/vortex-jam-session-4-2025-03-30-2025-04-13-2025-04-20-2025-04-27-2025-05-18/2025-06-01/ (I might cancel my holiday for all this now...)

Mick had two Mk1's: One was tulip, seems he really favored that one. The other one was cherry. Both very rare woods, but a few cherry ones were made, as IIRC the cherry tree came from one blown down in a storm.

I think this actually does add some more information: 1. It states that Ofcom MUST (my emphasis) consider the size and risk level, which I don't recall before. It doesn't say "should" or anything that is a get-out. 2. This leads onto "higher-risk services" must take more stringent measure compared to low-risk. This confirms the multi-tier approach and where Ofcom will be more focussed. Why would Ofcom be focussed on low-risk providers? 3. It also confirms that "additional duties will not apply to smaller services in the scope of the art". Letters like this from senior politicians are written by civil servants and will be reviewed by other senior civil servants. Its entirely possible 4-5 civil servants have edited this and produced this as a template. Words like "must" are very carefully checked and whilst mistakes are made, I'd be very surprised if this letter was thrown together quickly. I am not a civil servant but my better half was and used to write letters like this for ministers and for briefing packs. If Peter Kyle's team has put this together, it will be be accurate and carefully worded. Ministers absolutely hate having to go back and correct something, thats actually an understatement TBH. If they don;t have to commit to something they will, this is a surprisingly good letter in my opinion. This reinforces my view that Bass isn't big enough to be important in this context. Thats not a slur on the excellent job the mods do and the many people who contribute it this, but the target of the act is Facebook (Meta), WhatsApp (Meta) Google (Alphabet), YouTube (Alphabet) TikTok, Instagram (Meta), X, BlueSky, SnapChat, WeChat, Reddit, SnapChat. Meta and X will have problems IMHO. My worry here is Ofcom, they are the regulators and they could choose to be complete arseholes and decide that Meta is too big for them, so they'll go for easier targets and build up case law and then go after the big ones. Its easier to go toe-to-toe with Meta having won a few smaller cases in the courts and got precedent on your side. The mods need to take some precautions and do a risk assessment. I haven't seen the Digital Support Service pack yet, but will have a look at it later this week. This might help. It may be worth the mods pulling together a working group of IT professional and legal people with govt experience to help and assist them. Doing nothing is 100% the wrong option, I would suggest: 1. A working group is pulled together to look at this. Otherwise all the work falls on one or two people. Having other people provide input means that multiple people look at the info and try and parse what is probably dry civil servant legalese. 2. Identify what Basschat MUST do based on what is known. 3. Identify what Basschat MIGHT need to do as it's a bit unsure. 4. Pull a plan together to get to the goal, which is to submit what is needed to Ofcom but that puts Basschat in the low risk area. There's more to it than the four steps above but it's a start. Rob

No. That's the myth of underpowering, which like Nessie and Robin Hood just won't go away.

Just had a follow up from my MP who apparently sent my concerns to the Secretary of State. I'm not sure the reply really says anything we didn't already know though.

I think a unique bass that someone has carefully assembled has another kind of mojo.

I would guess there's enough slack in the neck plate screws to allow that gap to be reduced at the same time as correcting the obvious neck alignment bias towards the G string.

Yeah they are, but 11lbs is generally middling and, though too heavy for some, not too bad imo. I've got two 70s JBs, one's 9ish lbs and the other's 12lb+! Plays and sounds amazing though and perfectly comfortable on a wide, padded strap. I think I've played every mid-late 70s JB that's gone through the Bass Gallery and there have been a LOT of boat anchors.

Alright, it's almost final! The Notaklon will likely be soon replaced by a 4th DIY pedal in a 1590B enclosure, a 3-band Rat. I built one for friend and I like it SO much better than the Klon clone! I am also a "compressor goes last" offender. The multiband BC-1X just cleans up the various digital volume swings from the C4, the envelope and the Tera Echo so nicely.

It is if you do it right. Our hearing is logarithmic. It takes ten times the power/a 10dB increase in level to sound twice as loud. To account for that volume controls are also logarithmic, commonly referred to as audio taper pots, as opposed to tone controls, which are usually linear taper pots. I've seen amps that used linear taper volume controls, and the result was not linear. But it has nothing to do with the amp class.

Learning bass might give you some quick results with simple tunes, but like any instrument, it’s not easy and requires dedication and practise, so don’t pick the low end for an easy win, but because you are drawn to it. Whilst you can certainly learn to play by watching videos, reading literature and playing along with recordings, as @SpondonBassed says, it is by playing with others and the dynamics that that involves that you will learn best and become a properly rounded musician.

Not at all - I'm very happy to carry on with long stories with various plot twists about old basses. There's enough trash talking in the real world and I come here for a bit of a break.

Scent and flavour are not the same thing when it comes to bleach

Played 2nd on the bill in a 4 band/artists gig in Alderbury (village close to Salisbury). It was a fundraiser for a Salisbury Live event in June called Picnic in the Park. It was a social club and a good mix of locals, band members, friends and family in there, pretty busy and a good atmosphere. Our drummer did his solo act before we went on, he sings and plays guitar in his own band. Our set went well, some of those that have seen us before said we get better every time they see us... I guess the songs are becoming more familiar 😂 I enjoyed the night, the last band played covers but threw in a few curve balls that I enjoyed (I am the resurrection, who covers that?! Brilliant!). For the shoe fetish crew - a pair of scruffy Lee Copper Converse fakes. Normally I wear my Airwalks but wanted a change. As an aside, my 87 yr old dad watched me lace up a shoe today and told me off. Apparently they taught him how to lace up his boots during National Service so that you could cut the laces with a knife easily and get your boots off quickly if you needed to...every day is a school day 😁