BrunoBass

We played there a couple of years ago, cosy yes... As I recall we played the first few songs to three old men down the other end of the bar. Then a gang of 11-15 students arrived and carnage ensued, turned into a great gig.

^This

The price is what put me off when they were released.

The Starcaster name has been used as a budget range, I’m talking about the Starcaster model. https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/fender-starcaster-bass-guitar-in-black Incidentally the Affinity range are perfectly adequate instruments, despite their low price.

I popped into PMT Birmingham earlier today and they had a couple of Squier Starcaster guitars on display, just in. A Classic Vibe and a lower priced Affinity version. Having fancied one of the discontinued Fender Modern Player basses I asked if Squier had a bass version coming? They weren’t sure, and there’s nothing on Fender’s website. Does anyone know if a Squier Classic Vibe Starcaster Bass is imminent? They can have my money now if there is!

I have a RMI Boomerang Jive, which is wonderful bass. I always play it with the active circuitry engaged, but at the weekend I removed the battery to fit a replacement. Whilst the battery was out I decided to see how it sounded in passive mode. It sounded great, just like the active tone only with a lower output. However none of the eq controls worked. I inserted a fresh battery and switched back into active mode - the eq works. Back into passive mode with the battery still inserted and none of the eq works. By this I mean the bass, mid and treble controls have no effect on the signal in passive mode. This isn’t a big problem as I only really use the bass in active mode, but I wonder if this is a fault? I assume it must be, as the eq controls work on every other (passive) bass I own.......! What’s causing this and is it easily rectifiable? Thanks.

Does anyone know which bass this is in the video for Understanding Jane by The Icicle Works, from the mid eighties? There’s a brief shot of it early in the video, and then again towards the end. Thanks in advance!

There are videos on YouTube of him playing through Ashdown stuff from Memory Almost Full era, circa 2007.

We played at a charity ball last night. Thirty minute set between the auction and the disco. I was a guest at the ball too so I was in black tie, never played wearing a tuxedo before! We played really well, and sounded good, although our pub size PA was only just sufficient for the cavernous semi permanent marquee. At soundcheck I just couldn’t get my Geddy Lee signature Jazz to sound good, no amount of eq’ing helped and I was stuck with this boomy, weak tone that I just couldn’t dial out. I plugged in my back up bass, my RMI Boomslang, and it instantly sounded great so I did the gig with that. Back home at 3am. Today’s going to be a write off....

Here’s one from some festival or other in the summer. We don’t have many decent live shots of us, lots of blurry phone photos though.

Best? My RMI Boomslang Jive bass guitar. It caught my eye on eBay back in the Spring and it’s become my main gig bass. Punchy, aggressive Jazz Bass tones, faultlessly designed and built, and very light - I could wear it all night. That fact that it cost me just £190 topped off what is my favourite acquisition of the year. Worst? The Fender Downtown Express preamp that I bought, gigged once and returned. There was nothing wrong with it - the reviews and the YouTube demos impressed me but in practise I just didn’t like how it sounded. Disappointing.

Yes, as I said it’s not fast but at the wider end with high ISO it’s pretty good. Incidentally, the best lens I ever had was a Nikon 85mm f/1.8D which was great for gig photos - equivalent 127mm on a DX body and very fast. It met a sticky end but that’s another story. I really should get another.

I often shoot at gigs with a very small Fuji X100S. It’s got impressive ISO capability and a wide lens (23mm I think?) but it’s tiny and light and easy to use in that kind of environment. A camera like that is better for small pub gigs where you can get close obviously, but the results are decent.

You may want to investigate the Nikkor 16-85mm which is a terrific, versatile lens. It’s not especially fast but I’ve shot gigs with mine where the lighting has been good, and there are secondhand bargains to be had. https://www.nikon.co.uk/en_GB/product/nikkor-lenses/auto-focus-lenses/dx/zoom/af-s-dx-nikkor-16-85mm-f-3-5-5-6g-ed-vr

The epitome of simple and repetitive...

I joined my first band and played my first gigs when I was 16. I joined my current band when I was 46 (I’m 50 now). Age ain’t nothin’ but a number...

As a songwriter and a listener the lyrics are massively important to me - they’re 50% of the package. I want a song to be equally strong on both counts. That said, I’d rather listen to a song with a strong melody and weak lyrics than a great lyric with a poor tune.

‪Sorry to hear that Robert Freeman died yesterday, aged 82. Photographer of not just three of the greatest album covers ever, but of three of the greatest band photographs ever, period.‬

That’s me exactly, or it was at least until a couple of months ago. Increasingly those moments are rarer, to the point now that I’m feeling disillusioned and wondering if I want to continue, stop, or find another band. I feel generally unsatisfied and unfulfilled in my professional life too right now, this could well be connected.

Just in from tonight’s gig, a wedding do in a pub. Literally five minutes drive from my house, easy load in, great crowd and reaction, we played well, we sounded good, we were looked after and paid well. So why do I feel jaded and unsatisfied? I’ve been feeling like this for a while, and tonight as I lifted my cab into the boot I had a moment of wondering how long I want to keep doing this for, or even if I want to keep doing it. Maybe I need a break, maybe I need a different band? Although the grass isn’t always greener...

I’m in the 10%.... I love Underworld, in fact I had ‘Second Toughest In The Infants’ on in the car only yesterday. Useless trivia; my mate did Karl Hyde’s drive a few years ago. A very nice man, I’m reliably informed.

It doesn’t get a lot simpler, nor effective, than this. One note, on the beat. What a groove... ...sampled incidentally from this:

I remember liking that album too, I thought they were destined for great things but they seemed to fizzle out quite quickly if I recall correctly.

Easy Life Idles Slowthai Hardy Caprio Fontaines DC

We have an online band calendar where, in theory at least, we book out the days / weekends we can’t do, so we plan gigs around that. There are only three of us, and (apart from my solo gigs, which are usually weekdays anyway) none of us are in other bands. In the four and a half years I’ve been in the band we’ve only had to cancel one gig, when the singer got laryngitis.