BrunoBass

Thanks, I put the orange one together from parts.

Thanks, it’s a J&D ‘75 Jazz, it cost me a shade over £100 from DV247 about a year or so ago (they’re a little bit more now I think). It’s probably my favourite. For the price it’s unbelievably good.

Here’s my whole family of cheapos. All get gigged, the white PJ and the black J regularly. Together they cost less than half of what my Fender Jazz Deluxe cost.

...and finally for now my totally stock J&D ‘75 Jazz, which cost just over £100 new a year or so ago. I haven’t needed to upgrade anything, and the hardware is superior to that of ymy Squier above. This bass has become my defacto number one, and most frequently gigged bass. I have a Fender Jazz Deluxe but the cheap one tends to see more action, it’s a fantastic instrument.

Here’s my modified Harley Benton PB50 bass, total cost £120 including mods.

I love cheap basses: I can pick them up for next to nothing, modify them if I want to, not have to worry about them getting dinged... I also get a certain perverse pleasure from gigging something that cost £100 and yet sounds and plays great. Here’s my latest acquisition, a used Squier Affinity PJ which I picked up last week for £100 in immaculate condition. It sounds and plays (after a few tweaks) fantastic. I gigged it at the weekend and it performed admirably, although I will upgrade the tuners as they’re not great.

Now you’re talking!

Thank you! We’re not too bad for a bunch of middle aged weekend rock stars! 😁

Congratulations. The fact that you’re a bunch of mates in a band together is great, I think. We’re the same in my band. I remember a rather condescending thread on here a couple of years ago where bands consisting of mates were getting a bit of stick, for some reason. ‘Boys night out bands’, I think they were referred to, as if that were a bad thing... Anyway, it’s supposed to be fun, so good luck to you. The feeling you describe is still there for me, despite our band existing for a few years now. However the more time goes by the less the dog work appeals, to the point that even rehearsing feels like a chore now, but gigging is a different story and something that I look forward to from the minute I wake up on a gig day. We get paid but it’s not about the money, it’s about the fun, and sharing the adventures we have together out there on the road.

We played a mid afternoon set in Cropredy for the Fairport Convention Festival Fringe yesterday, and much fun was had by all. Good crowd (a mixture of the traditional Fairport types, families with young kids, rock fans, a load of our friends and family etc...) and a nice happy vibe. We played for ninety minutes, and went down really well. We played well, good energy onstage and a nice bit of interplay between us. We’ve lacked stagecraft historically and I’ve encouraged everyone to move around a bit and look like we’re enjoying ourselves, which we are doing much better now; the audience pick up on it and we pick up on their energy in return - obvious. We were done by 4.30pm, and I was packed up and home by 5.30pm. I took MrsBass into town for drinks and a meal later and saw a few people out who’d been at the gig earlier and were full of compliments, what a great feeling! Next stop for us is The Bell in Bicester next Saturday, one of our favourite places to play.

Old thread resurrection. I’ve been hammering The Clash this week on the 800-odd motorway miles I’ve done. They’ve never been far away from my ears since I heard Bankrobber as a kiddie back in 1980. Simonon is one of my absolute heroes and the reason I play a white/black Precision. Has anyone cooler ever strapped on a bass guitar?

Er... where we in the same band? Seriously though, you’ve just described my current situation to a tee.

Same with me and Stereophonics. Mind you, I struggled to enjoy them before I met her too...

Pretty much my feelings too.

Mine was a Squier Silver Series Precision, exactly like the one in the attached photo. I bought it in the autumn of 1991 from a shop in Bicester, which may or may not still exist. I remember I part exchanged a Squier Silver Series Strat plus the balance; I can’t remember how much now. I learnt on it, played it nearly every night, did my first gigs as a bass player with it, nearly got it smashed by an over zealous Australian rugby player who literally pulled it off me during a gig, clouted someone else round the back of the head with the headstock when he tried to snog my then girlfriend, whilst I was mid gig, all good fun... I kept hold of it until 1994 when, with no bass / band prospects on the horizon I sold it and bought a Telecaster. Yes, I wish I’d kept it.

We did a wedding in a marquee in a field recently. I slept with my stuff in the tent with me. The only options were to leave it in the car or in the (unattended) marquee overnight. Neither was going to happen. The guitarist in a band I was in years ago had his guitar nicked when we were loading out after a pub gig. No one’s going to question a bloke walking out of a pub with a guitar case under his arm. The thing was, the case was empty as the guitar was still on it’s stand...

Ok make that five...

I’d never heard of Colne until last weekend; we played at a wedding party in Kelbrook.

When not playing bass I write songs, do rough demos of them on GarageBand and play them (alongside the occasional cover) in bars and pubs. Before I joined my current band I was gigging weekly on my own; the band takes most of my time now but I still manage to get out on my own occasionally. I don’t really get nerves anymore when I gig with the band but I do enjoy the adrenaline/sheer terror of flying solo. I wish I had time to do it more often, actually.

A mate of mine has a Stingray copy with a treadplate pick guard - very metal 😉

Mine point east when full on, I like south west on the bridge pick up and the tone pointing north (from playing point of view).

I’ve been listening to a lot of Crowded House this week in the car. I’ve been a fan since the eighties (before that, if you include Split Enz); they’re one of those bands I always go back to, Neil Finn is one of my favourite songwriters. I like Nick Seymour’s bass playing too, very understated, plays for the song first and foremost. He also does this thing where he sometimes holds the root note even after the chord has changed, or shifts to the root note of the coming chord in anticipation of it’s arrival. I like it, it adds a tension or an urgency which is very pleasing.

Hi @Sibob, I’m really pleased with the Dock. The issue was with GarageBand itself; since I last updated the app they’ve added a pitch correction feature which is on by default when recording via a microphone. The pitch correction was trying to straighten out anything that wasn’t quite where it thought it should be, hence the effect described above. I’ve disabled it now and all is good, minor tuning issues aside!

I have four. Two are self builds. The other two are ‘proper’ basses and both get gigged regularly. Four nearly became five this week, but I had a word with myself and convinced myself that I didn’t really need it. The finance agreement on one of my basses ends at Christmas. I think number five will arrive shortly after, depending on what I fancy.