SuperSeagull

I always take two and a couple of years ago broke an E string thanks to a burr on the bridge of my old Status. But, it was tight stage and so I’d left the other bass in the car so had to leg it over the road and then back into the pub. Lesson learned - take two and have them both to hand.

Thanks. Didn’t know any of those so will check them out, all more accessible than Colchester - not sure that would count as essential travel!

I get that - it’s just upsetting me seeing it less than perfect. Is that a bit sad? Frustratingly, it was something that fell onto it, the next bass in the rack is a Flea Jazz, another couple of dings wouldn’t have mattered on that one.

I foolishly managed to get a couple of small dings on my less than one year old Status. Gone through to the wood, around 1cm each. Deeply frustrating. I’m sure Status can sort it but I can’t drive it up there at the moment and I’m not sure I want to trust a courier so anybody know of any good finish repairers in and around Sussex? Thanks.

It was and there were. Drummer and I raised an eyebrow when they came in - seemed a little OTT even given current circumstances but turned out they part of the team for the service and playing the characters of “Mr PPE Man”.....as you do.

Yesterday was the first time we have been able to meet as a church since March. We usually meet in a school but as we can’t do that anymore used a barn at a local farm. Lovely to be back playing with the team. Tech team did a superb job with a cut down PA, in ears all round so could have left the MB at home and a chance to play my new Status in anger for the first time.

It arrived today - the £144 fretless jazz. First impressions - how the hell do they make it at that price 😂. It’s really heavy - I couldn’t play it on a strap for a whole gig. Build looks v good, set up pretty good - I’ll probably play around with the action but that’s personal preference rather than essential. Cheap and nasty knobs and pickup covers. Sound - it’s very good, in fact it’s marvellous for the price, plenty of mwah. You even get a jack to jack lead with it! It won’t get lots of use but for those moments when only a fretless will do it’s a brilliant buy.

Will do. Two new basses this year, a high end custom built Status and an HB - interesting contrast!

Hope not, just ordered it!

Interesting comments. I’ve been wondering about a Harley Benton fretless for £144. I’ve no interest in spending loads on a fretless as it will get played relatively infrequently but equally I don’t want something unplayable.

I think Status have nailed the headless design and engineering. Rock solid tuning, ability to use double or single ball end strings, compact (mine fits in a guitar gig bag).

So glad it’s not just me.

Is that the Audition amp that had little clips each side holding the head to the cab? The music dept of my school had one and I recall carrying it across the playground when the clips gave way and the speaker cab fell off. Still worked though with two guitars and a bass plugged in!

I’ve chosen to part with two beautiful instruments over the past couple of years, both to help fund a new gear. Both were fabulous, unique even. In my experience the thought was way worse than the reality.

That’s interesting. I was wondering about getting a small band together for a half day or so recording a whole bunch of tracks for use in services but assumed we had to add vocals later. Anything to take the pressure off recording and videoing in multiple homes and then having someone mix video and audio - it’s so time consuming.

I think the experience of struggling to get through a track you know well once you hit the record button is something lots of us can empathise with. I find I get caught out on the bits I think I know well, then I drop my guard for a second and it all goes wrong! On the track I posted above and on the others I am doing, I am deliberately reigning my playing in - less notes, fills, slides, playing in the dusty parts of the fretboard - less is more and as our Worship Director says before the start of each service “Don’t mess it up” !,

Thought I’d share this. Used by my Church this is me plus my two sons, one in Rugby, another in Southampton plus me in Sussex. We used tracks for the instruments we don’t play - Ben mixed the video and Jake the audio. My church has a few different groups providing music for the steamed services. This was our first attempt and another four are in the pipeline.

NY121. Matches beautifully sonically and size.

Get the additional cab. You will have a superb set up.

I had exactly that same Amstrad amp rigged up as my bass amp when I first started playing. My dad wired it up for me with the headphone out operating as the input and screwed to a hi fi speaker cab into which he had mounted two 8” speakers. A plastic belt was screwed on each side and it became a highly portable combo. Sounded absolutely shocking of course but did me until I was able to buy an SW head and cab from my mums Kay’s catalogue. Those were the days!

I’ve spent most of my of 40 plus years playing in various church settings. Currently in a large CofE church that meets in a school sports hall so we set up and break down each week. Band is usually drums, bass, keys, guitar and vocals and I am on a rota that means I play roughly once a month. We use OnSong, iems with Behringer personal mixers and have the benefit of a good tech team who like bass and can manage the appalling acoustics in our venue. We also have a music director on staff so the standard is high and the opportunities to develop as a musician are excellent. Top tips from me to add to what has already been said: Ideally use OnSong or an equivalent, we will often change keys at the last minute - easy with OnSong. Also easy to add in an extra song if that is called for. We rarely play a song in its original form and often change it on the fly so make sure you are clear with whoever is the band leader what the signals are to repeat verses, drop chorus, build etc. And even more important to have good comms with the drummer when this happens. Just because it is in a church doesn’t mean you cannot get into the music when you are playing. I know that my more “active” style of playing is an encouragement to the congregation to really enter into the worship we are creating. Enjoy!

Just had Hermes lose a set of pickups I’d sold. I didn’t insure as the cost seemed out of proportion to the value so assume I have no comeback. Seems a total lottery.

Sansamp BDDI v2 simply because every review was positive and I’ve found no reason to think about changing it.