Norris

Nope, must be someone else you're thinking of 😀. I like a weekend off now and again when the guitarist is off on tour but never considered stopping.

The Black Horse in Whitwick was the first gig in a few weeks and a good job too - we've all had man-flu during the downtime. Luckily I am just about over mine now, but it was pretty grim at the start and then spent ages slowly trailing off. Anyway nothing that a bit of performance adrenaline can't fix. Although I'd created events on Facebook the guitarist/vocalist didn't do any further plugging with a day or two to go like normal, because he wasn't certain we'd be able to play. So it was satisfying that we managed to fill the place on a dark, wet and gloomy Friday night. We played quite a few songs that we don't do often so that made a nice change too. The Stingish bass is becoming a mainstay now - it's just so lovely to play. Boss GT-6B multi-fx into the Big Muff that I'm still playing with (more fuzz, more fuzz!) and thence into the fabulous Rumble v3 500 combo. Some nice compliments too to round off the night. I think we only have one weekend kept free for the rest of the year now - the long run towards NYE has started

I've used a Comfort Strapp for many years and wouldn't use anything else. Thick neoprene padding and elasticated, it absorbs every shock and really spreads the weight of any bass. Just check the length, because you'll probably want long, if not extra long unless you like a bass under your chin

Next question please...

I'm not a classical guitarist. However I do love noodling on a nylon strung acoustic. Many years ago we bought my son a classical guitar, which he barely played but I loved. He took it away to university. After missing it for 12 months or so I've finally treated myself. It's only a cheap one - a Martinez SM-80 that I picked from Ebay. It's a few years old but I don't think it's really been out of the packaging. I've had it a week or two and have just this evening fitted a new set of strings (D'Addario Pro-Arté EJ-45). I rarely pick up a guitar at home normally but I've not been able to put this one down.

Good on you! It sounds like a horrible, toxic and abusive situation. They don't deserve any further consideration from you. You owe them nothing. Leave with your head held high.

I have a Sire P7. It's a really nice bass. Not the lightest ever, but no problem dangling from my Comfort Strapp. I gigged it regularly, until I upgraded the preamp (to a Retrovibe Stinger) in my Sterling Sub5 - that is lighter, tighter string spacing and now also sounds great. The Sterling gets to go out most times now. Both are budget 5-ers, but very playable

Sums up 80s bass playing for me 😂 Oh, and some guy called Mark King

I'm just glad of the dot markers on the side of the fretboard 😂

I DON'T have a gig tonight. It doesn't stop me thinking my phone is going to ring any moment and have a bandmate asking where the heck I am because we're on in a minute! I'm sure I'm not the only one

Nope, just the end pin. I don't bother fitting the "shoulder" bar. I'm not a proper DB player so don't need to reach over. I do use the hip bar though. The more you play it, the easier and more comfortable it becomes. I'm probably doing loads of things wrong though

Usually resting against my hip, but occasionally a bit more relaxed...

Backline the vast majority of the time. Bigger gigs where we have full PA will use the DI out

I've been on here for decades and I'm very familiar with Daryl's threads. Just this one seemed a bit different and some of his recent posts might have indicated a slight lack of confidence / self deprecation. I'm much reassured by his reply though 👍

I saw them a couple of weeks ago on the current tour in Leicester and thought they were excellent. Maybe it was just an off night or a bit of fatigue creeping in? They are not spring chickens any more.

I'm a bit curious why you started this thread Daryl. Interesting topic, but I hope you are not thinking of bailing, because it sounds like you are in with a good bunch of people.

You've not done something silly like turning the volume down on your bass have you? Or batteries running low? Either that, or like others have said you are ridiculously loud. Another Rumble 500 user here btw. That has plenty of power for pretty much any situation.

Just so many great basslines - and there's another!

Absolutely! You can't sum up XTC in one track because they are so musically diverse. At least listen to the sublime bass line on Mayor of Simpleton before writing them off 😉😂

Back at the White Hart in Melton. I do like the sound there. It was very quiet when we started setting up, but livened up ok. Perhaps a little too lively from the young teachers celebrating the birthday of one of them - only two full glasses dropped and smashed. They moved on after our first break. We normally play here on a Sunday to a nice relaxed atmosphere, but it made an enjoyable change to be a bit more "in your face". I got a nice balance on the Big Muff with enough fuzz to be able to tell it was on too. GT-6B before it, Rumble after it. The Stingish bass (Sterling Sub5 with Retrovibe Stinger preamp) is a definite keeper - a load more compliments on my sound and it's so comfortable to play too. What wasn't comfortable was accidentally stabbing the tip of my fretting index finger on the sharp pointer of a temperature gauge only 24 hours before the gig. It was a lot sharper than it had reason to be, went in at least a mm, and spilt a fair bit of blood. Paracetamol numbed it to start with, but adrenaline is the best painkiller.

I think I have mine on the 8th notch of the end pin. I always seem to set it too low and then have to raise it 😂 Similarly I only fit the one "fake body bit", the one that leans against your hip.

It's like the advert that's on at the moment where a young kid is playing a strat, then jumps on a pedal. The guitar sounds exactly the same. So he jumps on it again... and it still sounds the same. Just looked it up... EDF advert Edit: apparently he can actually play a guitar though

After our gig on Friday we were inundated with media forwarded on to us: 66 photos and 14 videos. The same people were there at our gig on Sunday and... nothing! (So far). So you'll have to put up with the single photo I took, this time from behind the drum kit for a change... Our second visit to the Donkey (now the Donkey Venue) since the change of management. The old regulars are still boycotting the place, but we still managed to fill it. It doesn't quite have the same vibe though - it's lost the "specialness" we used to feel. It was hot again, and great fun though. However I seemed to use up my annual allocation of cockups in the first spot, starting off in the wrong key on the very first note and continuing downhill from there. Ah well, I got them all out of the way in the first 6 songs so can look forward to playing the rest of the year flawlessly 😂 Usual kit: Stingish bass, GT-6B, Big Muff again (but didn't actually engage it!) into Rumble. Shiny black DMs. Compliments this time included my lights: a pair of Thomann Stairville CLB4 RGBW(?) 4-way bars with a couple of mini kintas bolted on top. Now, it's a simple formula: band plays, beer gets sold, band gets paid. I'm not quite sure if the new management have quite got the hang of it yet though. We could have done without hanging around after we finished loading, for 20 minutes waiting for them to stuff some notes into an envelope. 🙄

Not quite as sophisticated, but I have some lights like these which are very cheap, surprisingly effective and are rechargeable via USB. Apologies for the Amazon link... https://amzn.eu/d/3CG5H8O