uk_lefty

Now we have the singer in place we are refining the early set list, chucking out some of the male vocal songs and putting on ice some others. It's great having a confident singer who knows their range and just gets what the band is all about. She's given us all homework and we will have some cracking songs for the next rehearsal. The only thing we are struggling with is song structures and fade-out endings, but more practice will get us there. Feeling really good about this band, just eager to get gig-ready!!

I started up an 80s band some time ago. We are still "forming" finding the right songs and so forth but it's feeling good. So I wanted an 80s bass and having sold off three basses at the end of last year I was feeling good and came across an Ibanez Musician from 1980, fully original. Struck a deal and it was delivered yesterday by the owner and used last night at band practice. First impressions: chunkier neck than I'm used to but not unmanageable. Weight is ok and a decent strap. Lots of knobs! These are a bit excessive I think: vol vol tone, three way pup selector, active/ passive switch, bass, mid, treble... So for ease of use it's both pups on full then using the active to find the sound. I played through an Ampeg head and Trace cab with the EQ relatively flat. This bass cuts through the mix! Gorgeous consistency all over the neck in terms of tone and volume, lovely for high fills, really nice sound for finger pops that I can't seem to get with other basses. So far I'm chuffed. Terrible photo, but I've been too busy playing it to just admire it.

No but I keep seeing them in one of the Denmark Street shops and I really want one. Unfortunately they don't do them left handed which is odd considering the originals came in left handed and Aria are usually pretty good to us.

I ordered mine on Mew Year's Day. Everywhere was saying it's out of stock for weeks yet, DV247 said it's in their main warehouse... Who knows when it will arrive. Really looking forward to Boss sounds and touch screen editing.

Ooops! Well, to be fair I'm left handed so... 🤪

Sorry if this is not an option but one thing I do when getting fingertip pain is to switch to playing with a pick. Luckily I have free reign over my tone, fills, etc. so if the attack and note choice is different, as long as the fundamentals of the bassline are there it's ok. It made me improve my pick playing to a point where I will play almost anything with a pick if I need to.

Get some gigs for my new 80s band Risky Business. Ideally first gig before end of March. Get some fresh material in for The Desert Penguins, ideally for the second half of the set. It's a really solid set list but i'd love it if we could shake it up and make picking those end of night songs a bit tougher than just going through the same ones all the time.

I change gear so often that I don't think there's a particular sound apart from whatever it is I play close to the bridge, usually finger style, and there's probably some licks I'm tiring out each time I play.

I've only had a brief play with it but cranking the gain gives a nice wooliness round the edge of the sound. There's definitely some "poke" to it which I was looking for, I'm confident there's sufficient volume here. It's a different flavour to my ABM and Bassman. I don't have any info on the cab, it has what appears to be two speakon inputs (one could be a link, not sure) and I have no idea the wattage or ohm-age but I'm guessing it's a 600w as most of these seem to be.

I've been reading this thread with interest... I've been using a Headrush MX5 for a few months now which is the same "form factor" as the GX10 and also has a touch screen. I'm really impressed with it, mainly for the touch screen and how easy it is to create and edit patches. I will probably sell it and replace with a GX10 purely because I prefer the Boss bass amp simulations. This would mean that my ME-90B is going too. I'd be ok with that, while I really enjoy the ME-90B for it's simplicity I hadn't experienced touch screen digital effects. A GX10 will cover me for guitar and bass. I've also got the Headrush on a small pedalboard so I can have my wireless and vocal FX mounted with it, a GX10 would just slot in as a direct replacement...

I love the concept for your band!!! 😎

This is ours... I couldn't say if it has brought any new bookings but it definitely can't have lost us any. The audio is from a different gig and the video from one of the larger festivals we do. Before this we have quite a few videos that have spliced together mobile phone videos from different angles and then original audio too. The guitarist makes those somehow on an Apple PC. Feel free to follow the band page and book us for any gigs in 2026. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvKAESgOpYH/?igsh=MjFrYmE1eXlxYTBk And here's a version made for phone screens: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvdGYWFAxXV/?igsh=MWJvc3hteGh3b2xqcA==

So I took a slight detour on the way to work yesterday and picked up this rather handsome but weighty unit. I fancied a 4x10 to replace my 2x15 cabs and ended up with a Warwick 4x10 and head. I had a Warwick Sweet 15 combo in the past and was very impressed with it so at the price this was a no brainer. It's been in the freezing cold overnight so I've brought it in to warm up before I test at my lunch break. Depending on how things go this could be... It's the best amp and cab ever, becomes my main rig, Ashdown rig goes on sale; Keep the cab, sell the head. Sell off my Ashdown NEO 15s and run my ABM600 into this cab; It's good but it doesn't beat the Ashdown, so it gets moved on to someone who will give it what it deserves

I can't begin to understand the science, maybe it's down to coincidence... When I had an Ashdown Routmaster set up I preferred their 15" cabs over their 2x10s. I had both at the same time. So for me I've just sort of stuck to 15s, though a Trace Elliot 2x10 combo sounds stunning. This morning I just picked up a 4x10 cab because I like the idea of having only one cab in my office rather than 2x 15s... Now someone is going to tell me that will make no difference whatsoever... But it will, one box takes up less space than two.

Excellent work, good luck!

What's the added switch on the MXR?

I think I may have missed an update... Well, almost two weeks ago we got a singer! It's been a palaver to find one, we had some promising leads and some that wouldn't be up to scratch. I'm so glad we kept on putting a set together. The drummer and I got our heads together and each contacted singers we had been in bands with before. The drummer's contact had been wanting to do less and less many years ago and couldn't be persuaded back to it, a female singer I knew from trying to set up an 80s band in the past. I didn't hold out much hope but wanted to give her a go... Well, she has kept her hand in and sounded really good doing almost the whole 'set' with us. The band unanimously agreed to bring her onboard. Risky Business is in business! A proper rehearsal booked for Tuesday night where we can get our keys sorted for the songs and work on arrangements and get used to playing together. Hoping to get some low-key pub gigs booked for early next year, give us something to aim for.

Well, I never thought it would happen... I got rid of my Spark amp and replaced it with playing electric guitar through my Fender Bassman amp and using a Headrush MX5 multi I picked up second hand. I started to experiment with the Headrush and it's pretty good for bass too so my Boss ME-90B is put to the side for a while. Well, a nice small multi effects pedal is great, but I wanted to add wireless. I've got a vocal effect pedal too, and I plan to get one of those MXR Synth pedals too... So I needed a board. This is what it looks like today, with space to spare for the synth. I could even mount the wireless transmitter for my IEMS on here but I think that's overkill potentially. I'll practice and gig this board next week and see how it compares to the trusty Boss ME-90B.

I have an irrational desire for a Markbass amp. I've got a Fender Bassman, Ash down ABM 600 rig and two separate multi effects pedals with good quality amp Sims. Yet when I hear someone playing through a Markbass rig there's a quality to the sound I am struggling to replicate: the punch. Is this baked in to Markbass amps? Or, is this something I can recreate with EQ and compression or something else? Unfortunately my multis (Headrush MX5 and Boss ME-90B) do not have a Markbass SIM. If I bought a third amp, would I even use it? I've gone in-ears now and my amps are becoming less and less used for gigs.