Sean

Going back on topic... Anything by REM

@Woody1957 any progress?

To add to this and illustrate just one of the points above, you don't necessarily need to "tribute" a specific artist, there are two (that I know of) acts out there in direct competition that tribute the genre that is the punk and new wave scene (1976-83), there's Punk Off! and rePunK'd. In some cases they play the same venues but well spaced on the calendar. Both have well-produced showreels and they are very savvy with social media. Ticket prices get up to 35 quid for theatres and the amount of graft that goes into the production, planning and stagecraft exceeds that of a function/covers band by an order of magnitude. There's up front investment as a business proposition long before any profits of ticket sales come in and at that level someone needs to be "on it" pretty much full time.

I think this could be a good shout. If you go down this route my advice would be to make sure you have your key ingredients in place early. I spent 4-6 months (with a friend) rehearsing, planning and putting together an Aerosmith tribute and we were so keen and over the moon with the guitarist chemistry, drummer, band name and sound that we were ploughing ahead without the crucial ingredient, Tribute Steven Tyler. We auditioned a lot of singers (male and female) and we always thought that it would just be matter of time, we never got there and didn't have a Plan B. We could have taken one of the auditioned singers and easily done something else very good but all of us were fixated on Aerosmith. We found out the hard way why there aren't many Aerosmith tributes around. I would drop everything to be in a good Aerosmith tribute (sorry, current bandmates). I'd also love to do a Pearl Jam tribute, I'd get to wear Vans and play my Hamer every gig. Having an idea of what tribute you'd like to be in and knowing all the obvious bangers off pat gets you off the blocks.

Me. I love them. You can see mine in use by some Basschatters on the SW Bash thread. It’s been gigged a couple of times this year. The thing is absolutely awesome. It’s out of date in the way that a Porsche 959 is out of date but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a huge amount of fun and should be overlooked. It’s scary, it’s like a living thing when it’s warmed up and running. The Monaco cabs have made it a viable proposition for gigging and it pairs really well with them. I gig Class D, Class A/B, Class H, no-rig and use and enjoy my whole fleet, I embrace all the differences between them and it gives me an enormous sense of well-being. There’s something very liberating and “two-fingers up to the modern world” cranking one of these monsters.

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There's a lot of bassists here that have done or do tribute at quite a serious level and might be able to comment. I think the answer depends on the situation, the particular tribute. The last time I did it, I was approached because the band leader knew me and knew that I'm generally up for playing anything within my technical capacity. If you're looking at being in a touring tribute I'm sure kit, ability and being gig savvy are givens. There's one big touring UK tribute band that I've seen a few times where the bassist (IMO) hasn't got the chops and some of the iconic parts are simplified or sketched over but he's solid, does BVs as per the original, has replica gear and is a really good lookalike. He seems to be a really nice guy too. I'm sure that what he lacks in technical ability is made up for in all the other things he is and brings. I don't think think there's a cheat code for this, I think you just have to knock on a lot of doors, put yourself about and network.

I had a US L2500 modded as described. The pickups are amazing and splitting them unleashes great J sounds.

I keep my different gauge picks lined up ready for the songs that they're used on. People have taken the p155 but I've spoken to quite a few bassists that do the same. I love Clayton Custom delrin 1mm picks but I need a Dunlop Tortex 0.73 for things like the intro to Chelsea Dagger or the guitar solo section of Crazy Train. Obviously, I don't change pick during the song but chose the best tool that suits whatever part of the song requires it. I can play the two examples above with a 1mm Clayton but I can dig in and get the feel and attack I need with the thinner pick. On the flip side, playing any Killers basslines with a yellow .73 just feels too floppy.

Using a plectrum to play bass is a valid and useful technique that many people haven't mastered. Some of the greatest bassists are primarily pick players (McCartney, Carol Kaye, Duff, Foxton, the list is endless). I believe that a serious non-artist bass player at any level needs to be able to cover a range of attacks. I'd encourage you 100% to learn playing fingerstyle but I'd also say that there is no shame in using a plectrum and that there are many ways to use a plectrum and many different types of plectrum. I play around 50/50 pick/fingers. There are some songs that are just unimaginable to play without a pick; Would?, London's Calling, Welcome to the Jungle, Silly Love Songs and then there are are songs that just seem to be better played fingerstyle; Faith, Mardy Bum, Silver Springs, Go Your Own Way. There's a lot of BS/snobbery in the bass world about plectrum use, I've no idea where it started or on what ridiculous foundation it lies but what I do know is that it's absolute nonsense. When asked, "Do you play with a pick or fingers?", I always answer, "Yes, of course." Embrace the plectrum, master it and no more silly talk round here, please.

I get Error 404 when I click the link.

I Don't Believe in Christmas - The Sonics Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time) - Pearl Jam

Update: I've added a Cali 76 and am using one for pick attack, one always on. Works a treat. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/289-post-your-pedal-board-basschat-style/page/486/#comment-5597175 @Osiris thanks for the input.

All gone!

Toltec is a brand belonging to Laverack Guitars based near Leeds, UK. https://www.laverackguitars.com/toltec-pickups Lee Laverack is the chap that makes them. They are very boutique and many are wound to people's individual specs. Lee is very helpful and engaging and loves a new challenge of trying to get a pickup to match a customer's requirement. He's done two custom jobs for me, one was a pair of splittable J humbuckers, the other was a PJ set that doesn't sound like a "normal" PJ set. I've also got a pair of J pickups from Lee that I'm hanging on to until I need them. They're that good. My advice would be to contact Lee and have a proper chat if you need anything. He's a gem.

What a looker. If you lived in this shire I'd offer to have a look but take it to a decent tech.

Oooooh, yes it does!

We've just come back from seeing Jack & the Beanstalk at The Hippodrome in Bristol. We had cracking seats and I sat just in front of where the bass player was in the pit (under the stage). How does it all work? Can the musicians in the pit see the stage performance on a monitor? I couldn't see any? I guess it's all IEM and that the musical director (the chap at the keyboard in front of the stage) speaks to the band through his mic? He also used what looked like a proper old fashioned phone handset. How on earth do they get their cues? Panto format deviates from script a lot, so I guess that you have to really pay attention. It's worlds apart from anything I've ever done and I'm fascinated to understand how it works. And in case he's on here, the chap on the SR5 did a cracking job and, guessing again, that he plays an SR5 because it just does what it does in that environment with 100% reliability. It would be great if some Basschatters that have done or do this could give some insight as it's so different from what most of us are familiar with.

The NS2000/4 is very different from what you might expect and is worth commenting on. It's got really big solid maple wings with a quilted maple veneer that is around 8mm at its thickest point around the pickups. The upper horn is feckin' hoooge. It's long too and ends above fret 13. This makes it much more "Fender" on the strap. The neck carve is a bit skinny in my world, it's 41mm at the nut and 26mm deep at the first fret. Now that's a Louisville Slugger to your modern J and Ibby SR players but for me, it's about as skinny as I'll go. The cavity cover has 6 screws that go into brass grommets and that cover is recessed. This is a feature that should have been on Euros. I've added grommets and machine screws to all mine but I can't ever see myself routing any of my Euros. The tuners are budget. I'll be buying some used Gotoh tuners to replace them. The nut and bridge are brass but are unique and specific to this bass from what I've seen. They're a bit soft but are more than fit for purpose and at 25 years old are in much better condition than the frets, which I thought were a bit soft compared to other nickel frets I've worked on. The quality of the woodworking is fantastic as you'd expect from that Korean factory. It's a proper 3-piece maple neck through build with mahoosive maple wings, a reasonably nice quilt veneer and very high quality build. The savings in materials come from the hardware, the electronics and savings in cheap dot markers versus mother of pearl crown inlays. What surprised me was the extra CNC run to put the route around the cavity instead of leaving it out and putting the cover on top of the back surface like on a Euro. The paint job and finish is top notch but the colour is ever so dull. It's like a foggy day up North. No one is ever going to say, "Phwoar! That's a looker." I'm going to give it the @Mike Brooks treatment tomorrow. Water with Simple Green at a 30:1 ratio to clean and some Dunlop 65 Carnuba to polish it up. Fantastic and thanks to Mike for the tip. I did the fretboard with Crimson Fretboard Cleaner and Crimson Fretboard Restorative yesterday and that did wonders. I usually use Monty’s products but found some Crimson dregs (great name for a band) in the garage last week. I'll post a pic tomorrow when it's finished its glow up. NS2A for the next project. Although a Korean-built Legend NT rescue would be worth the effort and interesting to see how different that is.

Here's the fret job in progress. On an instrument with very worn frets there's a point that comes when doing a fret level where you need to make the call on either carrying on or a re-fret. This Far Eastern beaut will be getting new frets in the summer, I'm looking forward to putting Jescar 55090 stainless narrow/tall frets on, doing the fall from 15 onward and seeing how that goes. (Fret fall is brilliant if you pay up dusty ends a lot). If it works out nicely I'll be refretting the '02 E4 and the '17 E4LX Maple as they're pretty battered.

Another LHZ installation yesterday. This time my first LHZ-04 (it’s a smaller version of the LHZ-03) into a Korean-made NS2000/4. The passive EMGs came out (up for sale here) and some actives went in. This is my very first solderless installation. It came with the pre-wired jack and the EMGs just clip on and away you go. It had a full fret level, and dress yesterday too with a fall off from the 15th fret, new strings and a fingerboard glow-up. It plays and sounds fantastic now. Ideally it should be refretted bt I think I just managed to squeeze one more out of it before having to get the serious gear out.

Please could someone explain this from the Overlord website about the Fujin bass? Japanese wind god, a terrifying magical demon who carries a large bag of winds on his shoulders. Often pictured alongside Raijin, and like him, our second headless bass model features a classic double-cut design. What's the double-cut design got to do with Raijin? I've lost the plot.

The latest iteration of my gigging board while I was experimenting with adding a noise gate yesterday. I bought that Donner to prove out the concept and it does the job. I'm not sure what a high-end bass-specific noise gate would give me but am willing to learn. The big change with this board is the addition of a second compressor. I play about 50% of the set with a pick, the other 50% fingerstyle and previously was only ever happy with the compressor for one or the other. I also tried comp off for fingers, comp on for pick and just couldn't get a setting I was happy with. I then mocked up a dual comp patch in the HX Stomp and reached a point where I was happy switching between pick and fingers. If you use 2 comps, you quickly learn that the two "stack" so you need to think about ratio settings. Signal path: Spector with EMGs and LHZ Haz-clone into: Front End: 1. Korg Pitch Black Bass Tuner. Brilliant, accurate like nothing else I've got. 2. [sfx] Microthumpinator v2 I've had one of these on/under my board for about 15 years. 3. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Pick Attack) Switched on for when I'm using a pick. 4. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Sparkle) A tone/EQ-shaper that I've got really attached to. It works nicely with the Spector/LHZ and is always on. The filters on these are very good and allow you to keep your low end intact. 5. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Overdrive) Dirt. These boxes are so good and have such a nice range of drive sounds that it made sense to snap up a bargain when it presented and get another. I love these as dirt pedals, so versatile giving warmth and breakup right through to smooth fuzz that reminds me of the SansAmp DP-3x. Effects Loop 6. Aguilar Chorusaurus v2 (Shimmer) I've been through a lot of Chorus pedals over the last 20 years. This one is the winner. You can see that I use quite a subtle chorus. I use it a lot. 7. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Always On) An utterly marvelous compressor. 8. Noise Gate We'll keep an eye on this and see how it performs in the wild. The board is a D'Addario expanding one and I use a Pedalsnake to run power and signals through the loops. A future addition could be an Emma Discumbobulator v3. We'll see how the set list evolves.