bassbiscuits

I think Leicester miles are different from other miles too. Satnavs do silly things like calculate distance / speed to give you ETA on routes. But those rules don’t apply in Leicester. Five miles could take you 10 mins or two hours.

http://www.howardsmith.co.uk Can’t recommend him highly enough. He’s great.

If you can stretch to Leicester, I can very much recommend Howard Smith for guitar work. He’s done all manner of work on my kit and that of many of Leicester’s gigging musos for years. He’s a top man.

Indeed. My brother, who is also the guitarist in one of my bands, is undergoing chemo for stage 4 cancer. We’ve managed to keep gigging while he’s still feeling well enough to do so, but that will come to an end at some point in the future. One of its many impacts has been this focus on the present moment rather than a future which may not happen. I’m guilty as charged of being busy now on things that will pay dividends in future, but the current situation is bringing home to me the importance of making the most of present time as well.

The place we use has a very old Ashdown ABM300 head into a Ashdown Mag 4x10 cab. Turns out it sounds huge! Which is handy as parking in the area is scarce and travelling light is the way to go.

On the other side of this equation I recently bought a neck for the same reasons listed here - I needed some tuners to replace broken ones on my bass and came to the conclusion this was easier than the hit and miss of buying and trying several sets of unsuitable ones. So yes, there’s definitely a market for necks, especially with tuners attached.

My two pennies worth? I don’t think situations like this ever end well. Doesn’t sound like the kind of relationships you need to sustain a solid, working band. If A isn’t much good anyway, then it’s probably less about B’s ability and more of a power thing against B. Again a fairly rubbish way to behave to anyone you’ve got a meaningful friendship or working relationship with. If there are other members of the band you like working with I’d be tempted to have a word with them about you leaving and taking them with you. Unless this is some very successful money spinner of a band where putting up with a temperamental band member is the price to pay for the financial security etc, then I don’t think I could be bothered to unpick it. I’d be looking for something else.

Just back from a 70th birthday gig at a local rugby club with the Andy Wales Band. We’d played for the same chap’s birthday last year so knew the venue etc (seemed to be dark, wet and windy last time we were loading in too come to think of it). I was feeling pretty ropey from my flu jab two days ago, and have also managed to do something to my lower back which made lifting and turning impossible but luckily the other two fellas helped me unload and set up the PA etc. I wasn’t able to move much during the gig due to the back problem but musically it went pretty well. Swapped out some of the slower stuff for more upbeat tunes to keep the dance floor busy. Drove home v slowly in very thick freezing fog which was nice. But I came home to the jackpot - leftover Chinese food from my missus’ meal which I’d missed earlier in the night, and Dire Straits Live Alchemy on Sky Arts. All is well once again. Gear: the usual. Yamaha BB604, Little Mark head and two traveller cabs, pedal board and my Mackie / Allen and Heath PA. PS I’m in no hurry to go to bed as I suspect my back is not going to be happy once it’s cooled down and had eight hours of inactivity to stiffen up.

That’s an epic pic

Yeah that’s a great album. Revisited it recently after many years. Some great bass you’re right

I play in an Elton tribute band and learning that album was a nice little adventure. Brilliant stuff.

Nice one! Welcome back 🫡

I suspect a few hundred quid. I think they’re happy to be guided by me towards something suitable and decent. There’s a music shop in town so I’m going to take her there to have a look and try a few things. And keeping an eye on BC too obviously. I’ve got a surplus Markbass 2x10 cabinet that’s probably too big for her to practice with but she’d be welcome to use for gigs. I suppose at that age, relying on lifts to and from places etc, it needs to be something portable to be of any use. Some good suggestions tho folks - I’ll keep my eyes peeled.