BigRedX

We were supposed to be playing this coming Saturday. Gothzilla are reasonably local although they do play support at almost every vaguely goth/industrial gig in the Edinburgh and Glasgow area so maybe they are over-exposed. We're from Nottingham and Feather Trade are on tour in the UK from Athens Georgia, so not necessarily well known in Scotland. I'm begining to wonder if the venue has made a booking mistake and were looking for an excuse to get out of it?

Thanks. That bridge looks the same as the one fitted to the recent Hagstrom 8-string. It looks good but has the disadvantage that you can't adjust the intonation of the octave strings separately, so you'll probably experience tuning issues as you play further up the neck.

Thanks for the nice comments. Where are you playing with Gothzilla? Maybe have to do something with your band and Hurtsfall if you fancy a trip to Nottingham?

There are plenty of new bands with prominent bass guitar. You just won't find them in mainstream modern guitar-based pop and rock.

Maybe. Although I did have a Thumpinator in my previous rig. To me it seems as though the dispersion from the FRFR is much better which I think might be the most help in being able to have a sensible on-stage volume while still being loud and punchy enough for the audience.

Yes it was Bathgate in Scotland. It was for In Isolation, Gothzilla and Feather Trade. Apparently the venue had pulled the plug because they'd only sold two tickets for the gig. Personally I'm not sure how relevant that is. I wouldn't buy advance tickets for the sorts of gigs that we play (unless it is supporting someone very well-known), but simply turn up on the night. Maybe I'm too old-school to get it?

For me I can't see the point any more. There are so many instruments available, all with slight variations that unless I want something very specific there will be an off-shelf one that is right for me somewhere. And if there isn't I can always get something custom-made that will be exactly right. Back in 70s when I started playing, when choice was considerably more limited and I had no money, there was a point. In fact the only way I could afford my own solid electric guitar was to make it myself and buy the parts as and when I had the cash for them. I now have some guitars and basses with "good quality" machine heads from Gotoh and Hipshot and some with whatever the far-eastern factory fitted as standard, and there is no applicable difference between how well they work. In fact the last time I had to replace a set of machine heads was on a Burns Sonic Bass from the early 60s where the gears had worn to the point that they would no longer hold the strings in tune when at the correct pitch. Everything else I have owned has been fine. Same with pickups. The last time I changed a set was back in 1990 when I replaced the factory fitted Js in my Washburn 5-string with a very expensive set of active EMGs (that cost half as much as the full price of the bass) and was rather disappointed to find that the change had made absolutely no difference to the sound. Besides these days, by the time I have passed a bass or guitar through my Helix so long as there actually a signal I can get all the sounds I want out of them.

Interesting looking bridge and not the one that you normally see on far-east made 8-string basses (Dean, Schecter etc.) any chance of some close-ups of that? That octave E-string looks rather slack...

Saturday night in Heckmondwicke at Westgate 23 for In Isolation and Gothzilla. Small band room at the back of the pub that normally puts on punk gigs, but someone who knew our drummer from when he used to be in Every New Dead Ghost recommended us. We were a little bit worried that with it being an unknown venue in a small town we might end up playing to the drummer's friend and Gothzilla's manager, but it seemed as though every vaguely alternative person in Heckmondwicke and the surrounding are had turned up, so there was a good crowd. Vocal only PA meant that I had to use my RCF powered cab for FoH bass (these days it only really gets used for rehearsals), but it coped perfectly well, and although I was louder than I preferred on stage, I could still properly hear all the other instruments, which has been a problem in the past when I was using a conventional bass rig for the audience to hear the bass. Next weekend's gig in Bathgate has unfortunately been cancelled, so nothing now until 30th when Ex-Superstar, In Isolation, Gothzilla and Feather Trade play in London.

Did a rare vocal only PA gig at the weekend. smallish venue probably about 75 capacity in a long narrow room. The RCF745 was more then adequate. I had both the Helix and the RCF volume controls at just under half way, which was plenty. The last time I had to use my bass rig for FoH bass with this band was when I had my more conventional amp and cabs set up and I ended up having to be so loud on stage I could barely hear the rest of the band. The RCF seemed to be more controlled and with better projection and although I was slightly louder than I would have been out of choice, I could still hear all the other instruments comfortably.

If you can post some photos that will help with getting some info on it.

When I had mine built I knew which body shape I wanted because Sei had been mostly picked on that basis alone, that it was going to be a 34" scale fretless 5-string with an ACG01 preamp and I had a photo of a Nordstrand (IIRC) bass that I liked the colours of. That was it. Martin helped me pick out some woods that would give the visual result I was after and then sent me away to measure my favourite bass for the nut and bridge spacings. Once I had those I spent an afternoon in the shop trying out various basses the get the right neck profile and pickup voicing to suit how I played and how I wanted the bass to sound and after another 18 months this was the end result:

My last proper bass rig was put together mostly from the Basschat classifieds and various special offers on here. Even tough the bulk of it was either second hand or heavily discounted it still cost me a lot me than the combined new price of the Helix Floor and RCF745 that replaced it.

First date for In Isolation and Gothzilla mini-tour, playing upstairs at The Olde Salutation Inn in Nottingham: With X-Superstar and Feather Trade also on the bill for this gig it was a bit cramped on stage and I had to do a bit of a rewire of my "bass rig" in order for Feather Trade's bass player to also use it, but the gig went well and we seemed to have the biggest audience of the night. Just getting ready to go to Heckmondwicke for tonight's gig.

Photo from last night's gig at "The Sal": Tonight In Isolation are in Heckmondwicke, at Westgate 23 with Gothzilla.

Since my effects are now complexly MIDI controlled via the backing for both bands I play with, the actual unit can go anywhere on stage. Currently I have in the conventional place in front of where I stand most of the time just in case something goes wrong and I have to make the patch changes myself, and also because each patch has the name of the song it is for, it acts as a very expensive set list display.

Just a reminder that the Nottingham gig is tonight. Also we've just been informed that the Bathgate gig has been cancelled.

I couldn't get the grub screw tight enough for my piece of mind. I think my issue was that I already had the correct tools for the old style locks (a pair of mole grips and a spanner of the correct size for the nut) and now I needed different tools that I didn't have immediately to hand in order to get the new "nut" tight enough and not to unscrew. TBH with the old style many of the straps I have used have been too chunky to get two nuts on the locking part.

Except when they don't. Unfortunately a few of us here have had terrible customer service from Ashdown.

We've noticed the opposite, certainly with Hurtsfall who only have one CD single (one track) available at the moment, where people want to buy an album after we have played. Whether that is on CD or something else I don't know. Ideally I would like to do an album as a limited edition vinyl run with a download code. That way we have an artefact that looks great but no-one actually has to rely on the vinyl for the music.

My experience from both working the merch table for the band and as a punter is that it has nothing to do with the genre but more with the atmosphere at a gig plus some lubrication with alcohol that will make people far more willing buy a CD etc. immediately after you have played then they are to buy a download the following day. Streaming is a whole different matter. It's all to do with how popular your are as an artist versus how big a percentage your record label takes of the streaming royalties. Unfortunately in order for most artists to get enough streams to be potentially earning decent royalties requires the kind of promotion and publicity that only a proper record label can generate and they will take the lion's share of those royalties to do so.

Sorry. In that case I'd be looking for a 1U rack mounted two channel EQ. You should be able to pickup something excellent at a bargain second hand price.

In fact I'm not sure that the new design of any part of the Schaller Straplock is an improvement. In order to fit them properly and securely you still need the correct tools, just some different ones to what you needed before. You still need a mole wrench or similar to hold the "cup" part of the lock in place while you tighten the top section, and I'm pretty sure I could get the old style nut a lot tighter using the appropriate sized spanner then I can with a relatively flimsy allen key.

And which also makes them completely useless for fitting to any instrument not made of solid wood. I brought this point up with Schaller, but they didn't see it as a problem. Of the six guitars and basses that I currently use these new versions would be unsuitable for 3 of them.

I have a selection of 50mm wide leather with webbing backing black guitar straps ranging in age from 10 to 25 years. I also used a wide felt-tip marker to colour the brown leather bits at the ends of the strap black. All traces of branding have worn off them but I have a feeling that some of them might be by Levys.