StingRayBoy42

How could I forget?! I played the Sousaphone on an episode of Lucy Worsley's history thing on the telly, the one about the Peterloo massacre. She's lovely - really friendly and down to earth. That's me in the background. (I'm the one with the Sousaphone.)

Stop it, you!

I love that BF/Tonehammer stack... my GASlight is on!

TONIGHT! The Meathead's Arms in Wolverhampton (a fight every night or your money back) with 5 piece girl singer pop music band! (We go out under different names because of something something different agencies something... I don't like to ask) Dep singer, lovely lass, worked with her before, ex-bandmate of the others, she's basically one of the lads. Unfortunately, she'd not got the memo about no dress code, so she was was dressed up like (her words) a high-class prostitute and the rest of us were in scruffy T-shirts and jeans. The football was on when we got there- the smell of testosterone, Ben Sherman shirts and poor quality cocaine made for an electric atmosphere. Load in and setup all pretty normal, nice big stage area so I set up next to the drummer to keep him company. A fair few people in, mostly ignoring us and waiting for Match of the Day to start so we treated it like a paid practice. First set we played really well apart from Toxic which we messed up worse than Britney messed up 2007, luckily no-one was listening so we got away with it. Second set had a couple of dancers and a few tables at the back seemed to be enjoying it. The drummer and I had a great time while the keys player was frantically doing FOH sound, sorting out clicks, cueing the singer and occasionally playing some keys. Highlights were the two Dua Lipa ones (Levitating and Don't start now) which are a blast to play, Murder on the Dancefloor (new one which we all complained about but now love) and Crazy in Love/Crazy mashup which I've FINALLY sussed out (It's really very simple, it goes 6, 4, 2. 8, 8, (4) 8, 10, Crazy, loads, 4(*), ending. Simple.) The drummer loves that one and plays it like he's getting paid by the note. It was the first public outing of my new improved enormous pedalboard (NIEPB) which sounded fantastic - the SA C4 patch for Toxic is brilliant (shame we totally buggered the song up, but the Bass sounded great), the EBS Multicomp gives the sound a fat, round, warm punch in the guts but in a good way and I'm fairly sure the two metres of retina-destroying pink LEDs make it sound extra fabulous. (It's not quite finished - when a certain online retailer who shall remain nameless bothers to post me the stuff I ordered over a week ago, I can hook up the patchbay AND have all matching red patch leads. Obviously, you can't tell they're red, what with the two metres of retina-destroying pink LEDs, but still...) Played the 5 String 'Ray which is still a work in progress - I did find myself reverting to using the B as an expensive thumb rest when I switched to autopilot, but Rome wasn't burnt in a day and all that. Second outing of the weekend for the rainbow Converse, foot fans! Paid cash, shipping forecast on the way home, back about 1 for last nights curry with a pint of Westons Reserve (8.2% ABV), an Old Fashioned (Lots of ice, much bourbon (usually Maker's Mark but Four Roses tonight), sugar syrup (use maple syrup for a really good one), Angostura Bitters, lots of stirring and a twist of orange peel over the top) and most importantly of all, desperately seeking validation from strangers on the internet. Cheers. Same again, please.

I used to be in a band with the keyboard player from the Courteeners and a different band with the drummer out of Catfish and the Bottlemen when he was about 15. A friend of mine toured the world playing keys with Cradle of Filth, she's got some good stories! On stage, they were all evil, baby-eating monster types - off stage, they were middle-aged blokes from Ipswich who complained about their shoulders hurting. Good days!

About five years ago I went into a florists in Kidderminster the day before Valentine's day. Ordered a bunch of Roses for the then Mrs StingRayBoy and nodded hello to the long-haired, leather jacketed old feller waiting for his flowers. We stood there and made "Tsch, mad this innit, what are we like?" faces at each other for a very long five minutes, while my brain played "That's Robert Plant. That's Robert Plant. That's Robert Plant. Out of Led Zep." on a loop. They say never meet your heroes, but I think he handled it really well.

Tonight! The Cantina Band's world tour of the Vaults in Knowle continued - A truly momentous occasion, as we had five (or possibly four?) new songs in the set! We'd done something on Wednesday called "Rehearsal" (?!) which is where you all cram in to a small room and try to play songs you don't know with nobody listening, so it's a lot like a gig except we had to pay for it. I don't think it'll catch on. Usual stuff - the bar was rammed, a few folk ventured to the corner betseen the toilets and the fire escape to see us., we played pretty well and those that were up dancing seemed to really enjoy it. Of the new songs, Lithium went down the best, Helter Skelter was the most fun to play and Centrefold was the cheesiest. Went for a wireless wander into the bar during Sex on Fire, which was a lot of fun and went down well. We all really enjoyed it for some reason, maybe sticking a few new ones wasn't such a stupid idea? Highlight was me being *just* about to start Ace of Spades, then the guitarist counting in to Whole Lotta Love... nearly went very badly. Sterling (my fave Bass for Rock stuff) -> small board -> Sansamp programmable -> Mark CMD121P Feet: Red socks -> Rainbow Converse. Had a laugh, got paid, home about half midnight for a curry, a Weston's Reserve (8.2% ABV) and an Old J Tiki Fire overproof spiced rum (75.5% ABV) Very different gig Saturday- female fronted pop stuff with the 5 string and the first outing for my new improved enormous pedalboard... Tune in the same time tomorrow!

That looks like a LOT of Bass for less than £350, nice one!

With a name like that, I'm surprised they've not been sued by Rickenbacker.

I knew there were some nutters on JMB, but this guy is in the homebake aisle (way past crackers and nuts). I kinda want someone to go and audition, then report back.

I think most ABGs are too quiet unplugged - to get enough volume, they have to be about the size of a Cello. The loudest one I've found is the Tacoma Thunderchief - sadly discontinued (Thanks, Fender) but they do turn up second hand from time to time. About £600 used, which is way over your budget... they are lovely though! There's a cheaper version, the Olympia OB3CE which is probably around the £300 mark used but they're rarer than a scouse tory. I've also heard good things about the Epiphone El Capitan... or there's that Warwick Alien on Marketplace at the mo. EDIT - Just noticed this thread in 11 years old, so you're probably not still looking for one. 🙄

VERY cool! And where did you get the Moog cushion?!

I'm the other way- gotta have exactly the same (Mono Betty Long Bkack) strap on every Bass.

I used Doc's proplugs for years, they were pretty decent - £20 ish? I use custom ACGs now - pricier at £149, but (once you get used to them) they are fantastic.

Tarragon went out of business, they had to send the bayleafs in.

I'm selling my Dyson, it's only gathering dust.

Sounds like you're Dyson with death...

Thank you! I did look at connectors... I didn't know they were called spade connectors, turns out they're more widely available than I thought.

I went for the EBS MultiComp Blue label for a few reasons - it looks pretty simple, it's got decent reviews and there was one on the electronic bay at a decent ish price. After an entirely unscientific half hour muck about at bedroom levels, I think it sounds pretty good. Very much trial and error, but Sens and Comp set at 12 o'clock seems to give a nice, natural sounding compression and of the three modes, Tubesim sounded the best to my ears. It seems like you'd have to really try to get a 'bad' sound of it. I'll no doubt fiddle with it as I go along and ask the keys player/sound engineer/boss for his input at the next few gigs, but for a simple, decent sounding compressor... I'm happy with it.

Mr Shepster8316 sold me an MXR M81 - good price, nice pedal, great comms, quick postage, top Basschatter.

Don't worry, I won't - not after what happened last time.