Stub Mandrel

Used a P tonight at rehearsal. Like my Flea jazz it has early sixties spec fender vintage pups and the same strings also in similar 'used but too bright to change condition, so fair comparison. 100% honestly, I felt it wasn't as 'present' as the jazz had been on Saturday.

I have labella tapewounds on an acoustic. Still stiff but much nicer feel thsn fender flats.

I've got a GP11 1110 (red stripe 4x12 combo). Sounds great. If only it was easier to move around, I've only gigged it twice 😞

Good rehearsal with the originals band tonight. Got my basslines finalised for 7 songs. We jammed a song that was acoustic guitar only on the bands first album. I came up with a bassline that had a 'Cirrus Minor' feel - very pleased with it.

"Less than 0.02% THD at full power" It may not be acceptable for hifi, but even 10% THD is not unpleasant for a solid state instrument amplifier. 0.02% gives a conservative power rating for a stage amp.

Well it was pretty good. Refreshed a few toons for Saturday.

Rehearsal this evening. Bass Terror, mid and bass 12 o'clock, treble about 12:30. Gain about 2 o'clock. Great sound despite strings nearing end of life (Fender nickel plated). All songs but one tones full up, neck full volume, about 30% on bridge. One song went neck only. A bit of slap, lots of fingerstyle, a bit of pick. All sounded good, no trouble cutting through.

Off to one now.

I put the bass with flats on thecdtand by my desk (where I keep my current 'practice' bass). I find I'm hardly picking it up, almost dreading it. That says it all to me.

Last Wednesday . I've been documentaryfied.

God that's scary. Searched it out on YouTube. Nit only did the chorus immediately come to mind, but I recognised Charlie Harper's furry red jumper. I must find my old UK Subs tapes...

Well that's nice and simple to understand...

Amps vary, many have scoop built in, but on Saturday I dialed in about 1 o'clock of bass and treble for my Flea jazz... partly intuitive as we were in an outdoor marquee so I felt the bottom end would need a bit of help, and the treble would add clank when I needed it. Lots of slamming the strings agsindt the frets later I don't think I suffered any lack of presence or cut through. One of my brothers was in the audience and made an interestng observation... my sound had a good full bottom end, unless he stood close to the pub wall that was opposite us.

Hardest thing is getting the buggers to stop while I tune to drop D or back up again (and NO - d-tuners are the work of Satan).

Maybe my ears are puny or I'm easy to please, but I don't get these problems despite switching between wildly different basses.

Well done Nick's mum!

I've got one bass set up with Fender flats. They are like steel rods. Not enough flex to feel the frets under my fingers and string bending is horrid. Going to try the Harley Benton 40-100 set which is supposed to sound good and be supple for silly money.

Sorry if it's 'suck eggs' but did you set the channel input gains so that each source only flickers into the red before doing anything else?

Well done, if you can do one gig, the next will be easier.

Glad you got into hospital, that can turn nasty if not caught quickly. Now get well!

Yesterday's gig was a last minute booking. Rhythm guitarist couldn't make it due to dog illness... but dog turned out to be ok so managed to make it. Lovely old pub but in a small marquee outside, and a yellow weather warning. The warning was lifted and we set up to a healthy number of people. Numbers drifted up and down but it was a good gig. In our break and afterwards we could hear another band playing behind the pub opposite. Had a real 'festival' feel with people wandering between the venues and good vibes. We haven't gigged for a bit and were a touch scrappy but the punters didn't notice. Anyway, rehearsal on Tuesday as we have more gigs approaching. I had a bit of fun with effects, second encore was Superstition so I used the Joyo XVI with a bit of modulation to get a crazy synth sound. This was the tail end of the first set. I have no idea why audiences love this song, it's just three chords, repeated....

Hope Medicare can help.

If you have to do a big jump up the neck dot's help a lot. I mostly use them when changing position, just like on a fretted bass.

It's appalling as ever so unless it's a Black Monks tribute...

BTDTGTTS