markbunney

Back home from our NYE eve gig at The Oak in Sevenoaks. We had our first gig as a band here earlier in the year and so it was nice to be back. gig went well, the pub was very busy but it took a while for the dance floor to fill up, but when it did it was chaos. Drinks being spilled everywhere, mic stand & iPad knocked over, people walking across the band area and tripping over our cable etc, I am amazed that nothing got broken. the very drunk crowd did spoil the enjoyment of the gig due to constantly having to keep an eye on the equipment. I had to move my couple of pedals to the back of the stage by my amp due to spilled drinks. we ended up moving some of the songs around to try and be more adaptive and reactive to the crowd. We initially dropped Club Foot but then ended up playing it just before midnight. The crowd were singing the bass solo, which was a very bizarre experience as no one has ever sung along to a bass solo at a gig before! overall it was good fun and only half an hour from home. The main downside of today was getting some of the band lights out of the garage and discovering a leak

I don’t have a tab to hand, but when I used to play this in an old band I used to jam around the three (I think) chords F, G#, A#

Thanks, I’ll take a look

I did give it another try, but overall it wasn’t me so has gone back to the shop.

The YouTube bass videos are great, and I always appreciate the people who take time to post them with the tabs. I wish that was available when I started learning 30 odd years ago. me and the guitarist were talking the other day about what it was like buying a tab book and trying to follow along

I am noticing more and more that when I listen back now to songs I learnt a long time ago and have been playing ever since, that what I thought was the bass line was nothing like what was actually recorded! I think this is a mix between me now having better audio equipment and headphones, and general improvement as a player.

Normally after a gig we would play a playlist of some sort through our PA whilst we pack up etc. For NYE's gig I have said that we need shouldn't do that as it adds to the packing up time, as we can't breakdown the PA & mixer etc and we are all keen to get out of there ASAP. On a side note, I saw today a quote generator for a wedding band, and on their list of options was an after gig playlist put through their PA, and they were charging nearly £200 for that as an extra add on to the main gig fee.

I played this song at least once a month for 20 years and never realised those open A’s were there 👀

I keep looking at the new Mexican Duff Mckagen signature but it is also £1400 and I worry about the quality. I have the original issue Duff signature which I love, but am starting to think that the neck is starting to develop some issues. It’s 7 years old but I am constantly noticing buzzing and dead spots despite a recent pro set up. The American Performer range is around £1,250 and I am tempted to get one of those instead. I have always wanted an American made fender

My best purchases have been: Darkglass AO500 head Lekato XLR set to turn my IEM setup wireless Worst Orange Little Bass Thing head, I just didn't get on with it

I tried to play my Ibanez RG guitar through my Darkglass AO head (with headphones). It was bearable for a noodle, but nothing compared to a proper guitar amp

I only take one bass to gig, but I only currently have one bass. I am always paranoid that I will have an issue and so hope to get a spare of some sort in 2024. I am not sure if that will be a cheap spare, or one that is equal to my main bass. In 25 years of gigging I have only had problems twice, albeit with the same bass. I had bought a second hand Spector bass and the internal wiring came loose, I got through the gig by keeping completely still so the contact maintained. I took it back to the shop who soldered the problem, only they didn’t fix it properly and I had the same problem the next time i gigged with it, and it cut out completely. Luckily the guitarist at the time lived close to the venue and owned a bass so I was able to use that. The shop fixed it again, but I never trusted that bass again so moved it on.

I am having seconds thoughts about returning it! Now I have a few days off over Xmas I am going to get it out of the box and have another look at it before it gets collected. might see if they’ll exchange it instead

We learned Merry Christmas Everyone this year, which was fun to play. We only did it up to the key change part though

Nope

It first went up for sale at £1,099 and then a few days later went up to £1,299. I contacted them and they agreed to see it for the original lower price. The colour and finish on it was beautiful

I would think if you asked PMT to sell you one at £1,099 they would 👀 it has been on sale there this week at three different prices, £1,099, £1,299 and £1,499

Lol it wasn’t from there

They offered me a £30 gift card or a return, so I opted for the return. They said that as it had £400 off it already there was nothing else they could do. I think this was £400 off the list price though, as i had bought it at the advertised online price which was £1,099. it had been delivered directly from the distributor and it looked like some of the Ibanez tape on the box had already been opened and resealed whether this was for a final QC inspection or a return I don’t know. It’s being collected next week for a refund. thanks all for the replies, it’s interesting to see other people’s perspectives on the issue. It would have been the most expensive bass I had ever bought, and I needed to be 100% happy with it. I have noticed that QC across all consumer goods is terrible these days. The amount of things (not just bass related) that I have to return due to poor manufacturing or damage on delivery is terrible.

NBD today for something I’d been looking at for over 3 years, but for various reasons wasn’t able to get. This was an Ibanez SR1600B in Caribbean Shoreline finish. It arrived today and had a scratch on the fretboard and a ding in the back of the neck. The shop said they were just minor imperfections, which I guess they are, but after spending £1100 on something I expect it to be perfect, so they agreed to take it back as faulty. Just wondering if I was being overly picky, or right to expect a new instrument to arrive in perfect condition.

Useful rehearsal last night ahead of our NYE gig, it was the first one we’d had for a few months and we brushed up on some songs we hadn’t played for ages and also added in a couple of new ones. I realised that my strap had worn out, and my bass almost fell off. Luckily I realised and I have a spare. Annoying as it was a Mono one and really expensive, but the material that goes around the strap button has just disintegrated.

I’ve used the XLR one for about 6 gigs now and it’s been reliable (apart from the distortion mentioned in the above post which I think is due to the mixer) it’s just a bit bulky when plugged into the P2

Wow!

There look to be quite a few unsold tickets to London on Monday, I wonder if they will get reduced on the day to shift them

The photographer was going to come to our gig and just take pictures there