neepheid

Another weekend, another new (to us) venue. Nine Lives playing at the North Bar in Peterhead on Saturday night. Peter-where? Exactly

Interesting thought - to be honest the amp I was eyeing up for the job has a single speakon output, but I'll think on some more. Glad I asked, what started off as something relatively simple in my mind has typically grown arms and legs as usual!

Thanks for the input and the advice. I should have added that the kind of small head I'd be looking at generally only has a single speaker out connector (because it would need to be small/light for toting around to gigs to potentially not be used), hence why I'd have to go from head to cab then back up to combo speaker, utilising the cab's parallel wiring of its two speakon sockets.

Look out, BC hive mind, here comes a daft question! I'm scheming about getting a small bass head for use in emergencies (or when I get bored). Currently I have a rig consisting of a Markbass Mini CMD121P IV combo and a Markbass New York 121 cab. If I was to get some sort of mini head and I wanted to use both speakers, would it be as simple as getting a cable made up with a Speakon at one end and a jack socket at the other end, so I can simply disconnect the combo's speaker from the combo amp and then do the following: Emergency head > speakon-speakon > New York 121 speakon socket 1 New York 121 speakon socket 2 > speakon-inline jack socket > jack plug coming out of the back of the combo And therefore present a 4 ohm load to the amp? Pictures for context:

Another weekend, another new venue. Played at the Railway Club in Keith last night with Nine Lives. Have you ever rocked up to a venue, only to wonder if it's even open? We feared the worst when the drummer and I arrived first and parked up outside. Tiny door which looks like it should be a side door or something turns out is the main door - pub is actually upstairs. Ugh, stairs, where are the roadies when you need them? So we recce the place and it's empty - save for a guy at the bar with an acoustic guitar playing it, who turned out to be someone we auditioned to be our singer but rejected. I did wonder if this would be awkward. Thankfully, it was not - he was bang up for a good night and came up and said hi afterwards, no hard feelings, good vibes only. Anyhoo, we get set up and just before we start, some people thankfully came in and it grew from there. Turns out there was some sort of fireworks display that night which explains the absence of folk at the start of the evening. It quickly filled up, ended up with a good crowd - it's not a big place by any means but the beauty of that meant that the 40-ish folk who were there seemed like way more. We had a fantastic sound, place was tiny so I didn't even bother with the PA, just used my bass rig to provide the boom on its own. We played really well, no major bloopers. Got lots of good feedback after and the landlord was impressed so hopefully we'll be back. It's a bit of a trek, but I'll travel far to play to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. Gear: Sire D5 then Squier Jag H (or the ATJ as someone suggested on LowEndLobster's discord server), into the Markbass terrible twosome.

It may come as a surprise to you, but you're the reason I'm being "mardy". I've got a gig tonight, I've got next week off work, I've got a whisky tasting on Tuesday night - I was in a fine mood until you showed up.

Simmer doon yersel!

Nope, I put D'addario XL nickel rounds on everything. It's the strings I like. If the stock strings don't annoy me when I get a new bass, I'll leave 'em be until they wear out, then I'll put D'addarios on it.

Bet you it's some imperial/freedom units size...

Again? You've got me nervous now - my only plan B is DI from the pedalboard into the PA. Perhaps I should invest in a wee backup amp...

Well, that's it done now. New pickguard arrived from earlpilanz (Brian Pillans) yesterday - excellent as always - fit first time, even around the chonky ATK pickup. Bear with him if your pickguard is taking a little longer to arrive than you're used to - he's moved from Glasgow to Newcastle and is working through a backlog as well as the general upheaval of setting up a new workshop and all that. I had band rehearsal last night, so I quickly fitted it before bed and took a couple of quick pics: Will probably take some nicer, whole bass pics at the weekend to wrap this up, but apart from deciding whether or not to keep the block inlay stickers, that's it done. Very happy with how this turned out.

A new venue for us on Saturday - Nine Lives at The Railway Club in Keith, Aberdeenshire

I use the same strings on everything. I don't give a toot what the bass in question has to say about it. What next, give them the vote? It's a slipperly slope...

Final piece of the puzzle should be arriving tomorrow... Pointless update I know but I'm excited

The only magic I've ever heard someone tell me about PJs is them both on full whack does something interesting. I use blend pots like switches anyway - I honestly have never seen (or heard for that matter) the point in blend controls. I'm a simple soul.

It's not a "reissue" and was never billed as such. Its official moniker is Gibson Grabber 3 '70s Tribute A "tribute". Weasel words maybe, but you can throw all your expectations out the window - it was never meant to be a slavish reissue of the original. I briefly owned two - both had issues of one kind or another and I wasn't that keen on them anyway having owned an original G-3, so as long as you accept that the only thing this has in common with a G-3 is the body shape and that it has three pickups and the same controls, then you'll be fine.

If I was BB2000-ing my BB1200, I'd have fitted a switch in the jack socket hole and moved the jack to the side. Just like a BB2000 then. Although this entire thing pains me and I think I'd sooner just procure a BB2000 if I was so inclined.

The only person who needs to be happy with your string choice is... you.

What's with the extra knob placement? They're almost meshed together like gears!

The whole source of the dilemma. Bass won't arrive this year. Cheap bass, no idea what size of tuners I might need. Standards may be out the window! I'm doing my best - will be buying a pickup ahead of time...

Right, need an early adjudication for next year, as I intend to go again. Am in the process of getting my final purchases worked out and done before the end of 2024. Hit a snag. I have already paid for a bass but it has a very long lead time on its arrival and while it was supposed to arrive in late December the ETA has slipped into next year. This in and of itself is not a problem with regard to the rules - the money's already out of the account in this calendar year. The problem lies in the fact that it was supposed to be a mod project - a challenge to myself to see if I can cruft together a NEW bass for £150 and it be giggable. This was inspired by my G4M "rat" bass which started as a "how bad can a £150 bass be?" question and ended up as a very decent £300 bass. So I decided if I could do it again but in half the budget Now I fully expect the pickup to be utter bollox, so before the end of the year I'll score something cheap that gets good reviews (probably a Tonerider), but who knows how ropey the tuners and electronics will be? It's kinda chicken and egg - I won't know until I get the bass. But if I buy gear early next year (bass is slated to arrive in January) then I'll fall at the first hurdle. TL:DR would the body of the kirk be willing to grant me an exemption to be able to buy replacement tuners next year should the stock ones turn out to be utter garbage? I tried so hard to get the bass to arrive this year (I ordered it on 18th September FFS!) but due to factors beyond my control that isn't going to happen (unless something magical happens). If you wanna be meanies and make me gamble I guess my spares box won't grumble, but I thought I'd ask before going down the route of buying stuff I might not need (or need but might not fit!) Thank you for reading my shaggy dog story, and I await your adjudication...

No time to say hi first?

Yes, they still have the fridge! Only the cab though, they're feeding it with a Markbass head (Little Mark 250 Black line) these days.