casapete

Damn, not far from me! Would have come if it had been a public event too, looks like an interesting setting. Hope you’re well buddy.

Looks great Mart, where was this please?

I’ve never seen images of George playing the PC bass - always seem to remember him using a sunburst Precision. (I also didn’t know that George was the brother of singer Emile , of ‘Emile Ford and the Checkmates’ fame.)

It’s the late George Ford. He was in Cockney Rebel, and played on ‘Come up and see me, Make me Smile’. He also did various sessions including Cliff Richard, Linda Lewis, Al Stewart and Medicine Head. Great bass player.

Yeh, just get the app from the store on your TV’s options - on my LG you access from the white button with a black house logo ( (I think!) My daughter has Disney+ so she kindly allows me to be one of her 5 users. I think it’s around £7.99 a month to sign up. She says you can sign up for one month and then cancel, and from what I’ve seen of ‘Get Back’ it’s easily worth it for that alone. (Even better if you know someone who’ll let you be one of their 5 chums!)

It’s amazing what a bit of adrenaline and determination can overcome! Well done for getting through it and doing a good job. (Spare glasses kept in the car maybe from now on? 😆)

Hey Blue, good to see you back and hope your health issues are now sorted. I’m nearly 64, been playing music for a living now for nearly 30 years and no intention of stopping anytime soon. Started in bands almost 50 years ago and to be honest can’t ever imagine not playing live in some form or another. I travel all over the UK doing theatre gigs in a tribute band and am fortunate to work with a great bunch of positive minded people who make it very worthwhile. I believe this is one of the main factors in sustaining my enthusiasm in my advancing years. I have worked with some musicians over the years who did make me wonder why I was doing this, which made me realise that being with the right people is paramount. Am fortunate to have no serious health problems, and still have the stamina for long days/nights spent travelling and playing. As for the future, I will probably eventually stick to doing smaller gigs nearer to home if possible, but don’t see me retiring fully until the point I can no longer play. It’s been in my blood far too long. 🙂

I'm the same at the moment. Was worried about it being Covid at first (especially as our singer now has it and we've had to cancel the rest of our gigs this year) but after testing a few times mine is just a really naff cold. Lots of them going around here at the moment. My next gig is with my acoustic duo next Tuesday so hoping I'll be 100% by then. Hope your voice holds out for tonight.

Totally agree. We sat down to watch it and were a bit concerned how long it was - needn’t have worried as it held our attention throughout ( and Mrs CP didn’t even nod off once....). Superb.

I believe that (rather annoyingly) there are two types of connectors made by Neutrik nowadays. The proper ones are labelled ‘PRO’ and of their usual high standard. Their ‘budget’ range is called ‘ReAn’ and probably used by the cheaper cable companies so they can allude to them being of a better quality than they probably are. 😡 ClearTone cables definitely use the PRO stuff. 😊

I’ve been in bands for 45+ years, and my cables have only been made by ( in chronological order ) a) Whirlwind ( still got a couple that work great ) b) Award Session - Cleartone ( still going after 20 years or so) c) OBBM ( got quite a few which will no doubt see me out) I admit I also have a few of the old Fender ones that came with instruments in the 70’s - grey cable and screw on jack connectors. Use these at home and still fine after nearly 50 years!

This ^^^ Look at big / famous bands and see what they're using - can't remember seeing anyone using Planet Waves and other brands which make exaggerated claims about their performance, especially all those featuring gold plated bits. It's all in the construction - if it's Van Damme cable and Neutrik Pro connectors then you're sorted. Now obbm has retired, I've found the best cables for both quality and price are from these guys. https://www.award-session.com/cleartone_cables.php If they're good enough for Stevie Winwood they'll do for me!

Some do contain lemon and some don’t . Doesn’t seem to be much info kicking around regarding the exact content though, and the term ‘lemon oil’ is a very ambiguous one. Mrs CP is a clinical aromatherapist and uses pure lemon oils in her line of work, but I wouldn’t want to try using them on my basses. I think any of the reputable brands that are made for fretboards (Dunlop, D’Addario etc) will be fine. Like Frank Blank says above, I’ve been using mine for eons, in fact the small bottle I have must be at least 20 years old! Once a year applied sparingly does the trick.

Yup, that’s the one! Think it’s been cleaned up for DVD / Blu Ray release. Unfortunately doesn’t feature the acts on the VHS though, but brilliant nevertheless.

I’ve just got ‘The Legendary 1979 Concert ‘ featuring Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. One of those rare occasions when the word ‘legendary’ is no exaggeration - the best concert I’ve watched for ages. The band are just amazing, and Bruce has boundless energy throughout. Jackson Browne and Tom Petty feature on one song too. Highly recommended.

I’ve got a gig on NYE at a seaside hotel. Playing with my guitarist mate and another friend on keys, backing a singer and doing some stuff on our own too. There’s a DJ on so will take the heat out of having to play too many sets which these sort of gigs can descend into! Money not amazing but am just glad to be out TBH, especially after last year being the first I didn’t gig in maybe 35 years! The hotel has a stage which prevents having to be too near the punters which helped my decision as well. Just wondering now if I’m going to fit into my dinner suit, it’s been a while.....🤵

I agree. However, I went to see Liverpool based singer songwriter Robert Vincent a couple of years ago, and he was using what looked like a 1970’s Eko acoustic guitar. ( I had a similar one back in the day, and it was very solidly built with a bolt on neck IIRC. ) And yes you’ve guessed - it sounded amazing in his hands. Maybe top notch pickup(s) had been fitted or some other trickery. Ive worked with a few classical players, and (like in other fields) there does exist the whole idea that a violin/cello etc can’t possibly be any good if it cost less than blah blah etc. As mentioned above, where that line is drawn is probably an ever changing thing, defined by rarity, desirability, tone and BS.

Used US Stingrays ( like a lot of other basses) do seem to have crept up over the last couple of years. You used to have your pick of a few around the £750 / £800 mark, whereas now they fetch around a grand. I guess this is largely due to them going up in price when bought new? Mexican Fenders are the same - Precisions / Jazzes as well as Strats and Teles were all around £300 s/h not long ago, now mainly £400 / £450, although some can be bought new for not that much more. Blame lockdown perhaps, or is it just good old supply and demand? Flip side of this is if you’re looking for a loud & heavy amp - they seem to be hanging around for ages at what were once considered to be giveaway prices. I sold an immaculate Fender 600 watt head and matching 6x10 cab during lockdown for next to nowt. 😕

I remember a few cottages in our village in the 60’s were without drinking water too, the residents had to go to a tap in the road near their dwellings. My bedroom window used to regularly ice up too, before we had efficient central heating. ( Just realised this is getting a bit Monty Python now - paper bag at t’bottom of the garden etc!). I sometimes worry that using electronic tuners may mean I lose the ability to tune up accurately by ear, so test myself every now and then. Can still do it within a cent or so, but electronic tuners just make life so much easier. Without a reference point ( or perfect pitch ) they ensure everyone is in tune with each other, so why wouldn’t you?

AWB still great - their singer is ex Tower of Power vocalist Brent Carter who has been with the band for around 10 years now. They sounded fantastic at Buxton.

Musicman - had a fair few Stingrays and Sterling’s as well as a couple of Subs. All USA models and all brilliant - well made, played great and with superb tone controls. I’ve just sold what is probably my last one though, can’t find one light enough for my ageing shoulder I’m afraid. Had a couple of great MM guitar amps too, top notch stuff from a great company. Fender - nothing really to add, other than for me they’ve made the definitive electric basses for nigh on 70 years. Still got my 63 Precision, but these days I mainly use a Japanese Precision Lyte. This bass has enabled me to keep playing long gigs into my 60’s without problems to my shoulder and back, and for that I’ll always be grateful. Gallien Krueger - Used many of their amps over the years, and still got my 800RB which (after my old SVT rig) is my favourite bass amp. Also currently have a 1001RB and an MB800. Never had any problems with their stuff, and can’t see me changing anytime soon. Barefaced - Had a Compact cab for years, and like my P Lyte it has enabled me to play gigs with much less hassle than when I had heavier bulkier brands. Love the fact they’re a UK company, and will be looking at maybe getting another of their cabs when funds allow. Oh yeh, honourable mentions also to Yamaha, Tech 21 and D’Addario.

I use a clip on tuner ( gasps from some folk on here...🤣). I don’t use any pedals at all, preferring to keep stuff simple and let the amp take care of tonal adjustments if needed. If I can’t get the amp/ cab to sound right without pedals then the rig isn’t for me. Understand some may need certain effects of course, especially in a covers band where it’s necessary, but all my gigs fortunately just require bass straight into amp sounds. (I did actually use a pedal on one dep gig earlier this year, borrowed an octave pedal off a mate as we did Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’. )

It’s only been open around 18 months, and situated on the first floor of the buildings on the West Pier in the harbour. I’ve played in Scarborough a lot over the years - before playing at The Lookout we played at The Tidesreach cafe on North Bay which was run by the same chap. Then used to do Thursdays at The Indigo Alley in town, with some fantastic players. The pub stated outside ‘ Real music and live ale’ , a great gig!

Played a small acoustic gig at one of my favourite venues last night - The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough. The bistro venue was fully booked, and it's one of those gigs where everything is great - audience, staff, small house PA etc etc. Looks like we have a monthly residency there in 2022 so happy days. (The second picture below is what I can see behind me when playing!)

Although I agree that I could probably use the same bass and rig for my 4 different gigs, I choose to have different stuff just to ring the changes (and make me think they’re more suitable!) Main theatre band - Fender P-Lyte with GK 10001RB head and GK Neo 410 cab. Country band - Dano Longhorn, GK 800RB amp into BF Compact. Deps / functions - Fender Jazz bitsa, GK MB800 and BF Compact. Acoustic duo - Washburn AB20, either direct into Yamaha/Bose PA or Fender Rumble 100 combo. (All amps into PA via either Sansamp or using amp’s DI.)