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Will the circle be unbroken - the Carter Fmily

Joe Dart's career is built off cheap frankenstein basses and his Mexican Fender, before the Musicman collaboration. To be fair even the Musicman collab is all about creating the simplest instrument possible - he currently gigs the cheaper Sterling version. Here's a crowd singing along to his bassline on his MIM Jazz.

All My Life's A Circle - Harry Chapin

Go for it. It'd be nice with black hardware and some DR Red Dragon strings, but it's still nicer than a typical black Jazz bass

Also love the fact that some (definitely not all!) of the most successful musicians in the world played basses that many average gigging bassists could have afforded when those basses were in production. And for no other reason than they loved them eg Paul McCartney with his Hofner and Yamaha BB and Tina Weymouth another Hofner player are two that immediately come to mind, and I'm sure we can think of plenty of others?

Hip To Be Square - Huey Lewis & The News

All well here. One more gig on New Years and then I will bid 2025 an enthusiastic farewell. I hope you're well too!

Could be a fun blindfold test to do at a future bass bash? The clip has had 172k views in 2 weeks - clearly a topic of interest!

That was really good, and worthy of a follow all by itself. I've listened to the rest of the album, and it's now on my list to get on the next Bandcamp Friday. Mark

Geometry. Semisonic

Me too! Any day of the week!

We did a lot of pub gigs too - a lot. And to be honest, I’d be more scared by the behaviour of heavily drunk mates of the groom or bridesmaids and bevvied up Sharon from Accountings than the average pub punter!!!

I have my Ashdown CTM-300 absolutely purring today My favourite amplifier of all time

Funnily enough, this thread has had me thinking about how for so long I had to sell my main bass to replace it with another one, and never had more than two basses at a time. I was always looking to get a "better" more expensive bass than the one I had and it was the only way I could afford it. That was probably true for the first twenty years of me playing the bass. I expect lots of folk followed the same route with similarly mixed results. Nowadays I just like a bass that I can have fun playing, and that could be at any price point. The problem is I'm one of those people who has been cursed with good (expensive) taste, but I've also got a Sire and a Harley Benton that I do most of my day-to-day practising on and they are both very satisfying basses and amazing for the money. I think when I reached the stage in life where I could comfortably afford more expensive basses it took away the imperative to "upgrade" before I missed the chance. That realisation helped me concentrate more on practising playing bass rather than trading up to endless,"upgrade" basses and then discovering their strengths and weaknesses. Most of the time I was just swapping one dissatisfaction for another.

Vennart posted that on FB yesterday, haven't had a listen yet. Oceansize were amazing.

Stuck In The Pyramiddle With You - Steelers Wheel

I have 2 pedal boards that I select between using a switcher A/B pedal. Each board goes to its own DI box and a dedicated channel on the FOH mixer. Pedal board A will have a loop or sustained notes running that I then pitch shift while playing over the top of it using pedal board B so both channels have active outputs at once, it's not either or. For my show in February the logistics are severely compromised so I want to simplify everything massively and was thinking I'd use something like that vintage Boss KM2 to mix both my pedal boards into one di feed. My fee for this show is low so I'd rather economise on the mixer front. Under 50quid is where i'm looking, so the boutique mixers and ABY loopers are out. I have a behringer 8 channel mixer I could use worse case scenario, but I'd rather something small and simple that I can power from my existing power chain and have stuck to a board

Change of plan .... I now want to be able to connect a Roland FP30X electric piano to a Behringer UMC1820, via midi. The Midi (out and in) on the Roland FP30X is the USB B-type ("USB Computer") The UMC1820 has midi-DIN in and out (and the USB is to connect it to the PC). There is no such thing as a midi-B to midi-DIN cable. So, I was instead advised that I need a Midi junction box with a USB-A (for the Midi port). Can anyone advise, or recommend a suitable Midi junction box? Ideally, with a separate power supply input (no cobmied USB power). https://www.cme-pro.com/h4midi-wc-usb-host-midi-interface/ (4 midi DIN ports) https://www.cme-pro.com/h2midi-pro/?srsltid=AfmBOorC_nVwHWECm7l27q92lOgEx6S5tJUkpTkhHHTngMOImr7B2XkI (2 midi DIN ports) https://www.thomann.co.uk/behringer_go_midi_host.htm (a very simple box - but will it work for my set-up?) https://www.doremidi.cn/h-pd-2.html (a box from the USA, but available in the UK) I also want to run an EMU Classic Keys (midi DIN in, put and thru), but I can probably use the Midi out from my UMC1820. Help!!!

I’m thinking of dipping a toe into EUB What strings do they use? TY

Pretty simple formula for me. What will it cost me in parts, materials and timber from the sawmill to build. If it's another 100% more to buy then it's expensive .

I sense a competition … how about the 2026 Gear non-abstinence competition? the winner is the most frantic buyer of shiny things, with bonus points for “buyers remorse” swift offloading ? Equal bonus for donating it to charity when the dopamine hit wears off