Stub Mandrel

My dep next Saturday. "This Saturday at Uplands #1 venue The Terrace at Whitez we present a newbie the brilliant 'Up To Eleven'...they will be belting out a huge 3 setter " Edit: Just noticed that's my elbow on the right!

The active Hohner Jack basses not only have a switch, but they also allow you to play in passive mode when off, so a dead battery is not gigs terminating.

+1 🤣

I was going to suggest this, although I would keep the narrow spacing.

For someone who rarely sings I have a fair mic collection. Although I now have an SM58 (more than adequate for my basic BVs) I still tend to use my ~30 year old Proel copy of one. Have various others, including two cheap but excellent Behringer condenser mikes, a half decent Sanyo SM58 clone, some real old cheapos and some much better cheap but usable ones from Thomann. Also a snare mike and a couple of cheap kick drum mikes (one with a replacement capsule). I also have an old AKG mike meant for general recording that is very nice. In the loft is sn old crystal mike I may fit into a new housing for harmonica (just in case). I have two of those USB condenser mikes you can use with phantom power for passable results. I also have the bits to upgrade one of them with a large diaphragm capsule and a super clean single FET amp. So lots of microphones but not doing too much, although the new band will see four vocals and a miked up kit and guitars...

Not the most technical of videos, but this is the sort of fun we have when playing 🙂

My ambitions were lways modest and stepwise - play bass, jam, be in a band, write a song, play a festival, revord a demo... I probably had a few thoughts of "wouldn't it be cool if..." in my 30s, especially with the second originals band. We had a great songwriter as band leader and boy/girl vocalists wjo were good, although she was posdibly yoo young and not serious enough about it. But I decided to put career first and ended up married and away for over 20 years. Refinding music as the marriage collapsed saved my sanity. Fulfilled lots more ambitions as for some reason my playing is hugely improved. Finding I can learn stuff quickly, lots of styles, jam, dep, improvise. I suppose my two ambitions are to play a really big crowd/festival and it eold be nice to appear on a proper album. Oh... and one day to play a few songs live with my youngest brother.

Had been a bit anxious about numbers last night. We started a bit late as had to wsit for the first half of Tonga vs Ireland to end. Felt a bit empty but rapidly filled up, one of the rugby fans who went into the lounge abandoned the match and came to see us instead. In the end we had a really good turnout. Really enthusiastic crowd with lots of dancing - we aren't really a dance band but did a few up tempo songs. Good feedback, including from the singer of the new band I've started up who hadn't seen us before. What was really nice is we are starting to get people coming from further afield to gigs just to see us instead of just a random audience.

Me too. I can't be 100 definite but willing to put up £13 if needed.

Tonights gig.

Ah yes, in my day Bacchus Wine Bar was always a bit posh (=expensive) so I didn’t go often. Hope it was a good night!

Attitudes to change fascinate me. In terms of their impact on how a bass actually sound and feels both hi-mass bridges and laurel fingerboards make only small (or imperceptible to many people) differences. One is cheaper, the other more expensive than the traditional approach. If laurel was rare I'm sure boutique builders would be singing its praises. Equally, if high mass bridges were cheap, they would be derided as a gimmick.

Tarantism are good... Magnus is a leading light in the current incarnation of Hawkwind.

I read that Fender sales nosedived in the last 12 months as the "pandemic boom" in sales ran out of steam. Some smazing deals on these and I'd get a 40th Jazz if I didn't already have two lovely jazz basses.

Which pub? Back in the 80s that title would have fitted the Angel's back bar...

Don't decide. Bring both! Seriously though, someone else is sure to have a BF so bring the Berg?

Who Did You Think I Was by John Mayer. Blues... but the Pino way.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons at the Patriot for the 'launch party' for new top 40 album 'Kings of the Asylum'. Only promoted via their Facebook page it sold out in hours. I'm a huge fan... seen them seven times since 2018. Getting the full stadium filling performance on a 200 capacity club run by an MCC, was utterly awesome!

I think that what I put, just from the opposite perspective 😁

Unless you are using an HPF set high so it filters out the fundamentals, then it shouldn't impact the Mutron.

Your tone will vary with your level of hydration. Even pick players will find the pick is held less rigidly when they are well hydrated.

Depped it a couple of weeks ago (keyboard player only joined in on the brief choruses?!) 🙂 now the singer for the new band wants to do the Beck, Bogart, Appice version - good news is that basswise it's pretty much playing the keyboard part like we all do anyway!

Never got invited up to play (other than at Jam sessions or local bands) but this did happen to me last year when I shouted out to one of my bass heroes that I saw him play in 1981!

Perhaps the initial experiments could start with ash, alder and maple...

Lots of people make stunning, beautiful, eminently playable and gorgeous sounding basses. A minority of those people are also excellent salespersons and become rich and famous. That's all I'll say on the matter for now.