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Hi all, advice required please. I've recently acquired a second hand Matt Freeman Squier P bass which is lovely. It's very light, great low action and sounds wonderful. It's strung with Fender flats. However during my first gig with it last night I discovered that there is a very noticeable dead spot at the G (E string, 3rd fret). Its much quieter than the other notes and the bottom completely drops out of the sound which is dreadful when you shift up when playing the chorus of 'Play that funky music'. I adjusted the EQ to boost the mids a little and that seemed to alleviate the problem slightly but that might have been in my head only. Is this a common dead spot on P basses and is there anything I can do about it? Very disappointed to find a problem with an otherwise great instrument. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Thanks for all the replies, there are many keen eyes among the BC community! 👍

There's a fabulous looking P Bass for sale near me, the seller claims it's a 1995 model but I've never seen one like this. I love the finish but I reckon it's been modded with a new bridge and custom scratchplate. Anyone seen one of these or have any further info they can offer? I am tempted...

Hi all, I used Pirate rehearsal studio in Birmingham for the first time yesterday and it was a strange bordering on surreal experience. Pirate is unstaffed. Nobody on site whatsoever. When you book your room online you are given an access code to enter the car park, another to enter the building and another to enter your room. The electricity is turned on automatically 15 mins before your booking starts. The bass amp didn't work. I had to ring a number (alternative to using 'live chat') and spoke to someone in a remote call centre who advised me to go out of the room and find a replacement speaker cable from 'store cupboard 1' and gave me an access code to enter. This did not remedy the problem so he then sent me to 'store cupboard 2', another access code, to grab a replacement bass amp, and lug it back to the studio myself. Finally got working but wasted nearly 15mins messing about with the defective amp. However give them their due I complained about the time wasted and they gave me a free hour to use next time I book. The business model is clearly based on Ryanair with minimal staff costs and tech-savvy customers. Don't know if I like it. It was pretty busy so I might be in a minority here. I think having a human on site is a good thing generally. Anyone else used them?

It's about 2cm deep.

Many thanks for the replies so far, I will add pics later today to clarify the problem. Regards Ted

The jack socket on my Yamaha TRB is sunk too deep in the body side which means that I am unable to fully plug in my Boss WL50 wireless transmitter. Is there any quick fix I could use to get around this problem? I know that I could get a techie to move the socket closer to the surface but I've only just got it back from the repair shop and I could do without another trip so soon. I was thinking perhaps I could plug something into the socket which would stick out and thereby present me with another socket into which I could plug the transmitter? Amy suggestions appreciated greatly! Best wishes.

Rush supported by Primus. Oh yes 😎

Absolutely superb. Bubinga continues to introduce me to more wonderful tunes I wouldn't otherwise have listened to. It's unfortunate that all of the members of the band got the camera operator's attention but the bass player did not.

Here is the spec of the Macbook that I spotted in my local branch of CEX. Is it better to go for Apple for this kind of work? I prefer not to use Apple as I found them a pain when I had an iPhone in the past.

Hi all, Over the last year or so I've been spending time editing video footage I've captured from my gigs (I record everything I do). From this I've produced my personal showreel and little gig videos of my old band. I love it and use a brilliant and very powerful free programme called Shotcut to do it all. However my family laptop computer (HP pavilion Windows 10, Intel Pentium 2.1gig, 4GB RAM) just isn't up to the job and lacks power. It's very frustrating having to put up with jerky and juddering playback and occasional freezes which mean I have to shut it down and restart the programme. Can anyone recommend a decent laptop that I can buy and use exclusively for creative work like this, and perhaps run Logic or another production programme also? I'm an amateur and don't intend to go pro anytime soon but I would like to be able to use some half decent kit for a change. I saw a second hand Macbook pro 9.2 recently, would this be worth going for? My budget is around £350. Cheers in advance for any advice.

Some great comments here, thanks for the encouragement and advice guys.

I'm not sure what it's called but it's like sheet music but instead of all the notes there is just a big G or Bm7 in the middle of the bar.

I did a dep gig for the first time on Saturday night, it was a teaspoon of high grade horseradish after 18 months of sloppy peanut butter. I've been playing bass since I was 13 so over 20 years now. After a 10 year hiatus I resumed playing by attending local open mic nights and soon found myself as a permanent a classic mediocre pub rock band. Although this band dissolved last month, for me the experience was overwhelmingly positive and enabled me to massively improve my confidence, stage presence and vocals. So, desperate to get back in the saddle and resume my favourite hobby on earth, last month I answered an ad on FB for a bass dep for a wedding, standard function set, £150 each about an hour's drive from home. To my surprise I was offered the gig and they sent me the set list with a week to learn it. I have built a reputation as being one of the better players in my local scene and I would say I have a good ear, can busk well and can play anything that's thrown at me. This dep gig put all of that to the test and I came out wanting. These guys were PROS. I am a hobbyist. While the audience were not interested at all these guys SMASHED every single tune with incredible dynamics, grooves and solos and I held on by my fingernails. Apart from the occasional bum note I handled the first set well. During the second set it started to deteriorate. I made a criminal error in failing to listen to every song in the setlist prior to the gig. This resulted in me coming in in the wrong key at the start of Teenage Kicks. I played this track on a different key on my old band. Acompletely avoidable error which could so easily be avoided with a single listen to the track before the gig. All eyes were on me and if looks could kill... This threw me and I followed this up by accidentally kicking over the bass drum mic as I nervously moved across the stage to confirm with the guitarist the key of the next tune, now doubting myself. The drummer come round to check the mic and the singer turned round a second time asking what the f**k was going on. Only one more bum note which warranted another 'look' from the singer before the gig concluded, confidence all but shattered. I agree with the old saying that an ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory. This gig not only stretched me musically but was rich in lessons and if, as I expect, they do not call me back I will not be particularly disappointed. In my humble opinion I still think I am a good bass player. On the night I turned up early, dressed exactly as requested, I laid down tight and funky grooves in conjunction with the drummer, I smiled moved around and looked like I was enjoying myself and I played the overwhelming majority of the set correctly. Ihate excuses but this is the first gig of this type where I have not had a rehearsal beforehand. I need to practice reading charts - these were issued to me on the night and I found myself pretending to study them before we got up which is ridiculous in hindsight but I really didn't know what to do with them. Can anybody recommend somewhere I can download charts? Anyway onwards to hopefully more dep gigs, and over the course of the next year or so hopefully I'll find a permanent spot in a band.

I love gigging. I play covers in a pub band and record every gig so I can watch and listen to the whole thing all over again the day after. I note what sounds good and any errors I make. Even though the material is quite unchallenging I have used the experience to sort out two longstanding problems: my stage presence, and singing live. I look forward to an evening's gig all day and I often like to have a haircut before getting ready. It is without a doubt the best hobby I can imagine. And the money pays for my singing lessons and more basses.

As I said above it was a good gig despite the lack of bass player and his absence seemed to have no effect on the crowd who unmistakably loved the show. But if you went to see an orchestra having paid full price for your ticket and the cellos or some other parts were missing you might feel a bit short changed wouldn't you, even if the rest of the orchestra managed to cover up the missing parts somehow?

The keyboard player provided the bass and he did a pretty decent job. I looked out for bass pedals but saw none. It was incredibly disappointing when the realisation dawned on me that there was to be no bass guitarist on stage. I was half expecting a surprise appearance by Rocco but when it became clear this was not going to happen I asked the sound engineer what the deal was with the bass and he explained everything. As good a job as the keyboardist did I feel short- changed. I wonder if there will be the same problem at the gig in Manchester tonight?

Saw Tower of Power tonight at Brum town hall. Great performance by a band consisting of consummate professionals. Bass player off sick therefore no bass player. I am a fool because I bought the ticket to see my hero Rocco Prestia live despite him having retired years ago but I decided that it would be a gig not to be missed. But no bass player at all?! Can't get my head round it, if Dave Garibaldi was absent you can be sure they would hire a replacement drummer, but the bass player is off and they don't bother? What does this say about the way our investment is perceived by the music industry?

The band name must surely have been a barrier to success in the English- speaking world. I love bass-playing lead singers like Geddy and Sting but Peter Kingsbery has one of the best voices of a bass player I've heard. Surprisingly little out there by C(o)ck Robin really, took me over a week to receive their debut album which I could only find via Amazon from overseas.

Live in Munich 1986 I've searched this forum and I can find no mention of either C(o)ck Robin or lead singer/ bassist Peter Kingsbery. They were originally from the US but their success was mainly in Europe, France in particular. I think they were a solid band with great musicianship all round but im particularly blown away by Peter Kingsbery; awesome singer who reminds me of Roy Orbison, and a very decent bass player with it. Some tasty bass lines in the video above, some on bass guitar and others synth bass. He's still going solo but C(o)ck Robin itself only lasted a few years in the 80s. I nominate Peter to enter the singing bass players hall of fame.

I use JMB with mixed results over the years but then again I've always kept it non- political... https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/is-everyone-here-a-time-waster--t1132863.html

Can anyone tell me what Nathan Navarro has got strapped to his thumb in this clip? It might be unrelated but I'm fascinated by how he makes that incredible swooping wah sound that is commonly used in dubstep music

Don't forget Long Train Running. There is a lot of conservatism at open mic nights. The good thing about them is being able to meet other local musos but in my experience it is mainly rock and blues covers. Not really much potential for meeting people to produce original stuff I think but definitely better than sitting at home looking at bass porn on this forum.