Sean

The 8" future? F1 San Marino? Blueline Thruxton? IYKYK.

This is useful and I've found that it helps me https://www.thestrad.com/playing-hub/performance-practice-the-missing-step-in-every-musicians-practice-routine/19405.article Things I do, some of which are already mentioned... 1. Stand up to practise (if you stand for the gig). That way everything is in the right place, your geometry is the same as it will be for the performance. 2. Practice the piece/song faster than the performance. 3. Learn the theory. If I can't write out a rough chord chart (or root note chart) for the song off the top of my head by the time I need to perform it, I don't know the song well enough. Being able to visualise the changes as a chord chart (or root notes) gives you another way to "see" the piece. It's like having the chart built in. 4. Related to 3. Know what's going on. A recent example was a challenge from a guitarist on my replica bass line of It's My Life by Bon Jovi. In the first verse before the chorus there's a C to F chord change where Hugh McDonald does his trademark "drone thing" and stays on the C (the 5th of F) and the chord is F/C. In the second verse in the same place, he moves to F making it a straight F. Knowing this demonstrates that you know your onions and also gives you confidence. The challenge stemmed from the fact that previous bassists had played the change to F in both verses thereby making the band perceive what I played as incorrect. Knowing this and being able to explain it, not only prevented by confidence from being undermined but boosted it. 5. Use visual aids for practising. I use highlighters in different colours to mark up sheet music. I'll use one colour to highlight a phrase that I need to concentrate on until it becomes baked in. Try different stuff until you find what works for you. I tried exploring memory palace techniques and it is great for lists and party tricks but I struggled to apply any of it to learning songs.

I have left a few 1 star reviews for various tradespeople and for the sole purpose of trying to save someone decent from having to go through what I did. I'm very very unlikely to encounter this bass builder but what this thread has done is steer me away from anyone in Europe other than Brooks. Not naming has potentially pushed some punters away from other reputable builders.

The other one. Slightly different settings but just a few teaks to the EQ. Very quick pre-rehearsal practise tracks for the band but my first 12-string recordings for many years. My throat is now officially sore! Surrender Practice .mp3

On Sunday at the SW Bash, I’d decided to not take a Spector to that audition, I just thought, nah, they’re so Marmite, they’re too “Spector”, especially the way I just run them all with a Haz-clone flat out. I was going to take my Valenti PJ or the BB2024x. Anyway, when I tried to play the songs on the Yam, I was all over the place, two frets out, what a mess and thought, well just be yourself and go for it. The fella in before me was wheeling out a Trace on a big dolly. It looked like it weighed a ton. I went back to the car afterwards in one trip.

They offered me the gig!

Here’s a sample.I’ve recorded it this morning for the guitarist and drummer to practise with. It’s using a patch I adapted from @Wolverinebass. It’s using the Orange Rockerverb 50 and Orange 4x12 models for the >500Hz and the RB800 + Ampeg 810 models for the low end. It’s got some compression in the mix but that’s it. Bi-amping is so much fun, I can’t to try it live. There’s a rig rundown video with Tom Petersson and it shows his amp settings so copied those over for the Rockerverb doing the high end and then I moved away from the Orange AD200 for the bass as I just didn’t like it and thought the RB800 model sounded amazing through the Ampeg 810. I put TP’s settings into the RB800 model as a start and tweaked from there. One thing I haven’t done yet is put a dash of chorus >700Hz as recommended by Andy. @warwickhunt we're not going into competition with the awesome Cheat Trick 😉 IWYTWM BD+V.mp3

My next adventure with the Monaco is gigging it with my 12-string using a bi-amp patch in a couple of weeks. It sounds great at home but it'll be interesting to hear it at the venue, see what the sound engineer says and hear any reactions. It's a jam night that's attended by quite a lot of gear hounds who always like a nosey at who's using what, so we'll see.

That's my new stage name, that is. Thank you.

The body reminds me of the Status B2. Is there some direct influence there either way?

I've just PM'd the three of you about Matt Gleeson's slot. 😉

I'm on standby to bring mine too.

Bring it along. I'll have one of the best guitar techs in the UK with me on the day, so it'll be in safe hands.

One thing I learned the other night was to consider using a chart if the song arrangement is different from the record. Mr Blue Sky by ELO. Sit me down with cans on and I'll reproduce that line every time playing along to the original without any visual aid or chart or anything. Playing it with just a drummer, two guitarists and a singer, in an audition scenario, you lose a lot of your cues and, unrehearsed with a very different arrangement, it's easy to drop the ball. In retrospect, I should have said that I'm going to use a chart to stay on track as I know the song but not the arrangement. The end of the song was played differently, which was a surprise and that's just something you have to deal with on the spot. The other songs were very guitar based and had simple arrangements so there were no issues.

What do you need setting up? What needs doing exactly? I was going to do set ups at the SW Bash but there was very little interest.

No. CTS pots might not be what you need. It's important to measure the diameter and length of the shafts. CTS are large and generally suitable for USA-made instruments. Bourns or Alpha are alternatives that are different sizes. I have a vintage high end Yamaha that recently had new pots and I went for Alpha because they were the same size as the originals. If I fitted CTS, I would have had to have reamed out the holes and that would be absolutely off limits on such a treasure. As usual, the answer to the question is, "it's depends".

Interesting strap button location.

Very nice indeed! If you ever need to find a new home for it, you know where to come 🙃

Amen.

I think a better thread title would help loads 😉