MichaelDean

I played at Exchange on Thursday night and it was really good fun. We were local support for a sold out show of Dopethrone and Wallowing who are on tour together. Managed to get free on street parking not far away, so load in with bass, pedalboard and head wasn't bad at all. Gear was the usual Dingwall Combustion, Gx-100, MojoMojo, Bass Big Muff and Laney Digbeth head into a borrowed Ampeg 610. Soundcheck was a bit late, but we got it done with time to spare before we went on, so that was good. Always good working with a competent sound guy! Our set was good. A few gaffs, but nothing disastrous. I was running the sample pedal for the first time, but that turned out to be fine! I think we went down pretty well. I didn't see anyone leave while we were playing, so that's always a good sign! It wasn't full capacity for us, but we must have had 50/60 people there. Wallowing were really cool and nice guys. Much more dynamic playing and less straight metal sounding in person than on their recorded material. We're playing with them again at Southwest Heavy Fest in May. Dopethrone were very good for what they do, but after a late practice the night before plus perpetual early mornings as I've got a 3 year old, I was not prepared for them to be always up on every song. Would have preferred some more nuance to the songs 😅 I've grabbed a pic we got tagged in on Instagram. It's a shame it wasn't one of my more enthusiastic poses!

I won a £1 free instant win yesterday. Immediately put it on the ToneX One pedal competition that they've got.

Good practice last night in one of Bristol's sketchiest rehersal places. Could hear rats, plugs falling off the walls. I had a big Peavey 215 to go through, so I wasn't that bothered 😅 I'll preface this next bit with a bit of context. I'm in a doom band and crushing amounts of low end are required. I finally found a fault with my Digbeth head - it's too light. It kept trying to vibrate off the cabinet all night! I had to tilit it back on the handle of the cab to stop it falling off 😂 It was a good practice though. We'd not played for a couple of weeks, and it was in the studio last, so it was nice all being back in the room again. Got a gig tonight as local support for Dopethrone, so should be a fun one!

I came across this after thinking about a ToneX One again. https://piratemidi.com/products/click-v2-midi-interface-relay-switcher-expression-output It will apparently allow you to connect the USB on the ToneX One to a MIDI device to unlock all 20 presets from said MIDI controller. One of these (plus import tax) and a ToneX One would probably set you back about the same as a second hand big ToneX, but it's an interesting proposition and a much smaller footprint.

I wonder if because they were essentially identical to some Aria models but with a different headstock, Aria kicked up a stink? A shame really. I'd only heard good things about them.

I thought that was just my cheap Harley Benton Tele that was like that! I didn't realise it was a feature and not a bug!

It's a good job none of you are going then! 😝 There's a lot more on there that I'm looking forward to seeing than last time I went. Wet Leg, English Teacher, Franz Ferdinand, Supergrass (could be fun?), Biffy, Deftones, Father John Misty, Japanese Breakfast, Kaiser Cheifs, Weezer, Wolf Alice, Goat, Chic, St Vincent, The Big Moon. I'm going to have a very nice time!

I won't tell my wife this! 😅

I felt a bit like that when I tried one for the first time at the last South West Bass Bash. A Limelight p bass that the same owner had was much more up my street. The Sandberg wasn't a bad instrument, but it was just missing something that I can't quite explain.

I saw this on your Instagram and was looking forward the build thread - it didn't disappoint! Lovely looking thing!

Coming up in a couple of weeks and our first gig of 2025 is local support for Canadian doom band, Dopethrone, at Exchange. The main tour support is Wallowing (in case you can't read the scrawl!). We're also playing with Wallowing at Southwest Heavy Fest later this year. Should be a sludgy night!

I quite like the look of the Judge Plus for an extra £18. https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/electric-bass-guitars/fazley-outlaw-series-judge-plus-black-electric-bass-guitar-with-gig-bag

Unfortunately not. I'd still love to do it, but it hasn't been a spending priority.

My brother wanted some help choosing a bass for his daughter today after she got assigned bass in Rock Club (came away with a Bronco in Coral that played very nicely), and then I got distracted by Jazz basses due to this thread. Quite fancy a Player II Jazz now 😅 The Aquatone Blue is lovely in person.