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Hey gang I'm doing a couple of sold-out shows at Newcastle City Hall this weekend in the house band for the Auf Wiedersehen Pet 40th anniversary celebrations. 21 tunes, most of which I've never played before, all of which are bangers. We've been in rehearsals all week, with everything laid out as close as it will be in the night (albeit in a different venue). We're getting monitor mixes and FOH mix as close as it can be, so there shouldn't be a whole lot of work to do when we have production rehearsals in the hall tomorrow. Usually with gigs like this keys and arrangements can be rather fluid, right up to the show itself, and this one is no exception. It keeps me on my toes, especially as a non-reader. A few scribbled notes, a decent memory and a following wind will see me through. Gear-wise, I'm using what I use down the Dog and Duck... Handbox R-400 head, TKS S212 cab, and '71P with flats, and a Maruszczyk Jake with rounds (haven't decided which will get the nod yet), and an LR Baggs Venue DI (used only for silent tuning). FOH is getting the cab mic'd with a Beyer M88 and a DI from the R-400. I'm told a 50/50 mix is being used. The band are a bunch of great lads, and it's been a pleasure so far. Tomorrow, we're moving into the City Hall. I'll post updates when I can. This is Jamie. Jamie's a mixing GOD. Monitors...

Been interested in these for a while due to the nut width. This one popped up in conversation here and, well, one thing led to another and now it’s in my house! It came with a black scratchplate, which I thought looked ace, but the original white plate has aged to a lovely coffee-stain/cream colour, and looks absolutely effin fantastic! One surprise was the string width at the bridge - I’d just assumed it would be standard P spacing but it’s a little tighter. Nothing I won’t get used to. Changed the knobs just because.

In over 30 years of playing I’d never played a Gibson bass (but I always wanted one). I remember in 2002 finding a Gibson Grabber for £250 in Trade-It (ask your dad) but it was gone when I called. Anyway, fast forward to 2024 and this dropped onto my inbox and promptly a deal was made. Pick up this week and the bass is here and what a wonderful thing.

A nice change from the pub gigs with pisht punters on Friday night - album launch gig (Persona Non Grata by Noel Fraser - it's on all the streaming sites) for my erstwhile Singist/BL...he's gone all Country(ish), hence the daft hat and my check shirt. Unusual venue (tho a touch epic), the sound was apparently good out front, but onstage it was the swirly, bouncy, reverby nightmare I'd feared. The drummer was using a mix of sticks, hotrods and brushes, and he and I had to have his drums in our monitor , because even standing next to him it was tough to hear what he was playing on the more subtle songs...a good evening, though... I like this one, tho it's more about the bass than me...

Great gig at one of our local music venues, first outing for my Rics, which performed amazingly well! Nice Bank Holiday vibe,

Birthday party gig in the High Peak, Derbyshire, near Monsal Head. My car packed to the gunnels with all the PA and my gear etc. Went really well as the party guests were all Country music fans and knew most of the words to most of the songs. Cowboy hats n boots were the norm and there was a hog roast which was yum and a bucking bronco which was good fun to watch (none of the band took part). Used my EV subs, recently acquired to match the tops, for the first time and the sound FOH was excellent. Used my go to gig rig of Mike Lull P4 and Handbox R400 with matching HB 1x12 cab which sounded really good and I'm really gelling with now I've gigged it a few times ......and the cows enjoyed it. There were two large bovines in the pens next to the stage who were oblivious to the racket we were making and I'm sure they were nodding gently in time to the music 😊

Hot and sweaty gig with the Andy Wales Blues Band at the Flying Circus in Newark last night. Lovely summer evening. I travelled light and just took my Yamaha BB604 - usually the last thing I’d associate with a blues band (when there’s a choice of a precision for example…) but in that format it worked really nicely. Got plenty of grit and punch if you play it hard, but smooth and fat if you ease off the gas a bit. Anyway, nice gig and for the bonus of seeing the northern lights on the way home. Pulled over on some dark country roads to watch them.

With my JMJ on hold and the Mikey Way in the classifieds I thought I’d take a quick group shot of my shorties before they are reduced from 4 to 2.

Islamabad spring music festival finally went ahead. Stayed dry with a bit of cloud so not stupidly hot (only 35C at the height of the day). I played in three of the bands but the most fun was a Hendrix tribute as I found a guitarist who’s been inhabited with the spirit of Jimi…. Started with ‘Fire’ and ended with Voodoo and guitarist leaning his guitar live against the amp as he walked off stage, much to the consternation of the sound guy who wasn’t paying much attention until the howling feedback. Modest turn out but everyone stayed until the end and the food stalls were serving up great food. Right at the end as we were packing up lightning appeared in the sky and it was a mad scrabble to get everything packed away before it tipped it down but we got it done. All the bands used my Yamaha DTX ekit and it sounded superb through the PA. Getting 6 bands worth of musicians together was like herding cats but well worth it in the end.

So, we’re setting up for an Islamabad open air spring festival… 6 bands and plenty of side stalls. Typically 36 degrees and sunny all week then a thunderstorm this morning. Hopefully the weather behaves itself for the next 24 hours as we’ve postponed it once already due to storms. I’m in three of the bands so should be a long but satisfying Saturday!

The bare necessities 😁

Ey Up Mi Duck festival near Doncaster on Saturday night. We were last on and they went absolutely nuts for us, singing along so loud I could clearly hear them over the on-stage racket. This was the view while the previous band played at the other end of the tent. Sunday night at the Castle and Falcon in Birmingham supporting Theatre Of Hate. There weren't many in, and the response seemed a little lack-lustre, especially when compared to Saturday night, but we won some new fans and sold some merch so that'll do!

Just picked up this cab today, a rather tasty Epifani UL610 1500w beast. Currently paired with my Epifani UL901 head to make quite a monster of a rig. Not disastrously heavy for a 610, about the standard weight of a 410, so a tolerable one-person move. Set it up in the studio today for our first band practice in 6 weeks, it didn't disappoint! Snagged it for a mere £250 from eBay. 👍

Played a small festival in Wiltshire yesterday evening. Not much money but lovely to play out of doors in the sun. We bass players don't get much attention as a rule, but yesterday I had a couple of folk with kind words. The second guy was a keyboard player in awe of the sound of my bass. A Harley Benton jazz. He was quite right, it does sound awesome.

Here’s the latest iteration of my Nano pedalboard. Sounds great

First show done…

Another wee Sold Out gig at Polmont Bowling Club. Lots of dancing, fun and just a great night by everyone. Half time sandwiches and drinks thrown in too. Used the Godin and the Handbox WB100 with Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Band members said the bass sounded more full. I still need to work on the hi-mids for better clarity at the top end tho. At moment i'm hearing bass and treble. A little more experimentation required Did have an aching back last night so thought i'd check the Godin weight and its 8.6lbs compared to 8 with my Sandberg VM4. Was a long gig tho started at 8pm, had a 30min break from 9:30pm to 10 and played until 11:40pm and then a rake of requests for pics with the band. Paid at half time and feedback was excellent. Got asked if we would be interested in doing a Dec gig at a venue in Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. Guy was specifically there to see us with a view to book and was very impressed. 3-4 other enquiries on how to book the band too so all in all a productive night. Approx 1 hr drive home with virtually no traffic on country roads so that was great. I know these roads well from when i worked at Grangemouth for many many years. Dave

Mrs BC and I were in Hay-on-Wye for a break over the weekend and I happened to chance upon a guitar shop (predominantly second-hand stock) that had opened since the previous time we'd visited (2021). In the window there was a lovely Yammie SG, and a couple of nice PRS's, so I ventured in, not expecting much bass-wise. However, there was a really nice Wal sitting on a stand right in the middle of the shop floor. There was no price ticket on it, so I tentatively inquired, expecting to be told it would be in the £4-5k ball park, only to be told that one was about £3k, and that they had another that had not yet made it's way into the shop that was a little under £4k. The one I saw was a four string fretted Mark 2. Looked to be in pretty nice condition, though it needed a set up. Anyway, to anyone who's in the market, it might be worth a trip. It's not on their website yet either. I have no affiliation or connection with the shop, but thought someone amongst the BC fraternity might be in the market, and this one seemed to me quite reasonably priced in comparison to some of the daft prices being asked. The shop is called Wye Fret.

Thank you so much everyone for posting about this bass, it looks like I’m going to be the new owner! I’ve wanted a Wal bass since I started playing bass guitar when I was 16… I’m 34 now. I’m a huge fan of Flea/RHCP, he is why I play bass and I love Tool/Justin Chancellor and my old bass tutor is a big fan of Rush, we saw him do a talk together last yet… I have my own alternative rock band called Earls of Eden https://www.instagram.com/earlsofeden https://www.facebook.com/share/iTN6fLnVYZxkh2Zt/?mibextid=LQQJ4d and we have our debut album coming out later this year so give us a follow! I own quite a few basses including an Alembic Europa, Rickenbacker 4003, Music Man Stingray Special, American Standard Fender Jazz & Precision basses. In “real life” I work in HR in a bank - the day job pays for the hobby! Would love to be a full time rockstar but happy to just for fun. Anyway, I’ve been hunting for a 4 string fretted Wal MK2 for several years now. 2 years ago I emailed Wal to enquire about pricing and Wal owner Paul Herman said they are not taking any new orders and have a backlog over 4+ years long… I’ve emailed them a few times since and they just don’t even reply anymore so I figured getting a new one now is just impossible… so I’ve been searching online the past few years on every guitar shop website and reverb trying to find one. The handful of Wals I did find were all either MK1s or Fretless or left handed or 5 string MK2s ranging from £6-12k. I tried out a Wal MK1 in denmark street last week and they were asking for £10K!? Fretted MK2s seem to be very very rare and sell almost as quickly as they appear online in minutes… So I was on the Facebook group “Bass Players” https://www.facebook.com/share/grWV6JkPGoL4nUsS/?mibextid=K35XfP and I noticed on Tuesday someone had made a post asking about how long it takes to order a Wal bass… https://www.facebook.com/share/p/rxY21NrA5VMrchkD/?mibextid=WC7FNe I then from that thread started chatting to a guy called Michael who had just bought a 2nd hand Wal MK2 from someone off this bass chat website and suggested I check there so I made a login on Tuesday night around 10pm… …Then on Wednesday afternoon while I was working at home on my laptop, I was bored so browsed basschat, noticed this thread talking about a fretted Wal MK2 in a guitar shop in Wales and I was excited and shocked… I immediately called up the shop at 3.20pm (they closed at 3.30pm), spoke to the owner saying I wanted to buy the Wal. He said he had already sold it to some American. I said I would pay more and it’s easier to send it & sell it to me in London than a dude in the USA. The owner said he would think about it and call me later. That evening at 9pm he called me and gave me a price to outbid the American and we agreed. The shop owner from Wales is actually coming to deliver me the Wal in-person next week… (he needs to be in London for his band’s producer apparently so an excuse for a visit haha). I’m so happy and I almost can’t believe it!!! Thank you again everyone, I’ll send a pic once I have it in my hands!

The gear

Send me your narcotics, please! Where to start? There is no resentment felt across Europe for Britain, particularly when it comes to the likes of music, comedy and other artistic pursuits, which are massively respected. Your view is a lie sold to you by multiple governments and media sources to make you think Europe was to blame so so many of Britain's recent and not so recent failings. Brexit's not like the brochure, eh? Ever wonder why? Your second paragraph perfectly illustrates why there should be resentment, however. The Ibiza tourist of posts. Take your head out of your arse, lad. As you say, the UK entry was rubbish. Grindr visuals with music not fit for a Wetherspoons advert. Yet you somehow think there's a larger movement at play which was behind other countries not voting for such a terrible song? Was 2022 that long ago? Show some respect, send something entertaining and you get votes. It's oh so simple.

That’d be this bass I built when I was 16. 16 year old me had very different aesthetic preferences than 36 year old me. It’s also the heaviest bass I’ve ever played 😂

My '66 Precision. Bought in the early 80's, from Tiger Music in Brighton (for £260). Pictures are almost 40 years apart.

Still got my first ever bass… bought new in 1982. An Aria Pro 2 SB700. Fabulous bass. Still love it and sounds great. Playing it in a university musical around 1985.. Playing it last November for an “80s” set…

This is my current board based on the Aclam XS1. In order to maximise space I replaced the end cheeks with pieces of right-angle aluminium faced with self-adhesive silicon rubber strip. Underneath is a Thumpinator and the rechargeable battery pack. It is my intention to replace the Sweeper, the Subnup and possibly the Tuner, BDDI and Thumpinator with an HX Stomp. There are however a couple of issues with this. 1. I need to change over from battery power to mains power as the battery pack does not have enough capacity for the HX Stomp. Not a big deal just need some cash. 2. Going from the the Cali76 to the Stomp will mean that the Tuner function is after the compressor which is not recommended. Would it be sensible to put an FX Loop as the first block of The Stomp and run the compressor on that?

I will add a Midi controller and a Relay G10s very soon. But so far, this is what I am using.

Drove back from seeing Phil Campbell then watching pub gig in Narberth over the weekend. Utterly knackered. Bluesfire played Cubanas in Barry, always good for us, as crowd into blues rock and guitar pyrotechnics. As I was getting ready to load (gig less than a mile away) had non-stop thunder for 5 minutes out over the channel. Managed to load as first rain came scattered big drops, but got in car and then it went biblical. Sat outside venue for 15 minutes until it stopped. Got in, to find guitarist's dad stuck in rain with pa , lights and puncture. Used venue pa and lights (as good as ours, better monitors, but vocals only). Meant a speedy knock down later. Numbers a bit low due to weather, so started 15 minutes late. Numbers picked up to be ok for venue but not as many as we expect. Familiar faces and some new ones. Alex got the crazies and did some mad solos, I played my '76 mij Maya fretless (really overdoing the slides and posing with frantic arpeggios) and Flea Jazz. Alex dropped me into a solo so I got the crazies too. On one song Alex called The Hunter. Paul started drumming Walk In My Shadow, and I started the Hunter as Alex came in with Sultans of Swing 🤣 somehow we all settled on Walk In My Shadow by the first change. Another song my high d started feeding back, in the playout solo so I had some fun with that. Felt like were were jyst having fun while people watched. Despite this, went down really well and we were bombarded with great feedback, especially for Alex. Several people promised to come and see my other, new, band on Saturday our first gig in Barry. Walked out on a high, promoter said he'll come to my gig on Saturday too. Nothing for us until July now, but got a good bucket on top of fee, so we were able to stash enough for rehearsal studion end of june and get extra each. Now radox bath...

We had a bit of a schlepp over to Nottingham yesterday supporting South Africa's finest, The Soap Girls... It was the first outing for our new guitarist, who rather than humping around some enormously heavy Marshall amp, uses one of those Blackstar Amped pedals as part of his effects board. Sounded great! And as a whole we were mostly OK - I managed to mess up The Birdy Song (*), but much worse, our drummer managed to play completely the wrong rhythm for our final song which made it impossible to play to. And for some reason we decided to muddle through rather than put our hands up, point at the drummer and say "you've not only let yourself down, you've let the band down and you've let the whole audience down" then restart. Lesson learned! Still, rest of the songs were great - tight, funky and punky - I could hear myself (Parker into Helix/BBE/DBX compressor/Crown Power/Markbass 4x10 and we had folks jumping about in a groovy fashion rather than brandishing sharpened sticks and pitchforks! The Soap Girls were also excellent - great show despite the gratuitous nudity that was mainly to satisfy a number of slightly seedy-looking middle-aged gentlemen who were far more interested in getting a quick flash than in the music. And their bass player displayed impressive core strength by bending over backwards, unsupported to within an inch of the floor, then standing straight back up! They also expressed jealousy over our 2 bass line-up... Getting home took 4 hours, exacerbated by the obligatory 2am stop at motorway services to complain about the prices and quality while I smugly reminded them how I'd urged them to come and have one of the fine burgers (vegan and not!) at the adjoining brewery. I'd partaken alone, along with a fine pint of on-site brewed Castle Rock Mild while they'd complained of being full, having spoiled their tea by gorging on junk food on the way. Kids!!! Anyway, duff Soap Girls pic, none of us available:

I built this bass as a gift for a friend when I worked at the Yamaha custom shop in LA around '94-'95. I used a Yamaha neck but it had nothing to do with the company. The black lines in the fingerboard are graphite to increase the strength of the neck and to make the strings speak better. I wound the pickups as well. The body is basswood with a maple veneer on top. It's great to see it after all these years!

I can join in again! 4 Play (👊🙄) back in action after a 3 month break… Greyhound, Sutton Bridge. Singer was sober for once… made a modicum of difference. Played ok, decent enough turnout but quieter than usual. Usual Fender Dimension USA 5 into GK/Barefaced. Rock solid as always. Completely GAS free. TBH suspect many folks opted for garden/BBQ given the weather. Frankly, I’d rather have been in my summerhouse with gin but there we go! Nice Sunday afternoon gig at a more middle class pub next weekend.

I was actually there for that program. It was just up the road from where I lived. They used a disused station and brought all the artists in from Manchester Central Station by steam train.

6 months on. EP recorded with Band - just waiting on mixes. Opposite of writers block; I’ve been writing continuously since December. The output has been of a consistent quality but it’s too much for the band to keep up with (and there are 3 other songwriters in the band so it’s busy…) 3 Festivals booked for summer. Have started a second project for my spare ideas with singer from new band. No funk, so it’s a change - just come home from second rehearsal with side project.

Another Satdy night, another bar...this one, however, was a bit upmarket/older clientele (a new venue to us), and when a 60th birthday Do walked in (about 15 ladies, there were balloons and sashes, that kinda vibe), a hasty rearrange of the set towards the Girly Dancy Songs led to a more engaged night than it could have been... Downside, tho, was something that hasn't happened for a bit: Singist/Geetard/BL got there first, and texted 'Lads, it's up two flights of stairs', which was followed by three immediate responses of 'Oh, f**k nooooo...' Still, as I say, that's the first one this year, so can't really complain, especially as I've tweaked me back (Physio booked Weds) and was able to honestly swerve much of the heavy lifting...thank the gods for Helix and inears...

I the words of the prophets, I had a doozy of a day. This is a long one so tl;dr version is my car broke down on the way to the gig so I got towed there, the gig went great and then I spent all night waiting for the RAC. First gig of the year and we were playing at the East and West Ardsley Social Club near Dewsbury. I was very excited, and even bought myself a new shirt for the occasion. Well, things did not go to plan for me. Half a mile away from the venue all of the warning lights on my dashboard came on, along with a warning of an engine malfunction and I believe the full beam headlights as someone coming the other way flashed me. I managed to pull into a bus layby and turned the engine off, after which the dashboard and lights stayed on but the engine wouldn't start and I couldn't close the windows or open the boot. After resisting calls from the band to have someone pick me and my gear up and abandon my car at the roadside, I suggested if I got towed I'd be able to get my gear out through the backseat and would call the RAC at halftime. Our drummist Mick and a bloke from the club came out with the shortest tow rope ever and a towing eye, and we very gingerly made our way to the venue with me trying very hard not to crash into the back of Mick's Range Rover. Mick took the turn into the venue too tight though, which snapped the tow rope and meant I had to be pushed to a parking space. We were only about half an hour to kick off at this point so I hastily assembled my rig (ABM atop Two10S, with the P-bass used for the first time in a while with my Sire still to receive it's new Sadowsky preamp), and with no opportunity for soundcheck (or "tonight's office" photo) we began. Someone in our following very helpful told us we were a bit loud so we all dropped the volume slightly and all was well. The crowd, other than the twentysomethings in our following, were very subdued and at halftime we debated cutting new tune Club Foot from the second set as it might not go down very well, but we figured if nothing else it would be a paid rehearsal so opted to include it and it went down pretty well. Our second set is a lot more energetic than our first and we were having a great one. We even got three encore calls which was surprising as we usually only manage one, maybe two. I was caught on the hop by Mick launching straight into Chelsea Dagger for our second and just managed to grab a pick in time to start where I should. Then we were demanded to play A Town Called Malice again, so I was a bit broken by the end. Afterwards I resisted further invitations by the band to crash on various sofas as my car was still unlocked, and with north of £1500 worth of gear in it I didn't want to leave it unattended, albeit in a well-lit and CCTV-monitored car park. So from 11pm I sat and waited for the RAC. And waited. Then waited some more, with a final burst of waiting after dawn. Finally the recovery patrol arrived at 7.30 and managed to get my now completely dead car to start off a jump. After dumping all my gear at home I left the car outside a local garage ready to call them tomorrow to get a confirmatory diagnostic of a possible ECU failure. Then it was home for some sleep. Hoping for a quick and inexpensive resolution to the car woes before the next gig in a fortnight. I had such a good day on Friday, but yesterday was a day full of finding out the bonus I'll be getting for getting chartered will now be ringfenced for car repairs.

I’m glad it’s in the hands of a player rather than someone who could potentially be a collector or seller, but it’s bad of a shop to renegade on an agreed sale.

Last night's board

So after some hassle with the courier delivering to the address down the road that is one word different to mine (not the first time; I have complained) I have the Three10. The true test will be on a gig (I have two in a couple of weeks), but my initial impressions are good. The tone is what I expected: overall very warm, a little less upper mids than my Compact, a touch more bass, but just the right amount of the right kind of highs (IMHO). I've played around with the tweeter and not heard a massive difference with it on or off, but I play with flats and no wild effects, so frankly I'd rather have a mellow tweeter. The wheels and handles mean its not much more awkward to move than the Compact, though I did not enjoy carrying it the hundred or so metres back to my flat! Plus it matches my office.

I’ve had this happen to me and it’s really gut wrenching too. Bad form for the shop to do so. That’s noted.

Not quite a weekend rig but it was the one of choice for a gig last night. New band time and doing some Jazz/blues fusion with a sax player, and as it was just a short two hour gig to a quiet weekday crowd, we played low volume so the punters could still talk when the band was playing. Worked well and I am enjoying the low wattage rig and sitting down while playing these days. Laney R210 200 watt/4 ohm cab and an old mid nineties TE GP7 SM130 amp, in limited edition green leatherette of course. Sounded fab.