All Activity

Sadly, we're seeing more and more of these 'divisions' in the world today. A lifelong friend of mine really surprised me the other day. He'd come along to one of my local trio gigs last Friday and really enjoyed when the Drummer's daughter got up to sing a few impromptu numbers with us. So said Drummer's daughter was due to perform her second go at her solo act in another close-by local town on Sunday. I invited my friend, because I really wanted to support `Kate in her performance endeavors. This time, my lifelong friend (a very educated man who travels the world consulting in lean manufacturing) says, "Bit too BNP for me." "Huh"? "British National Party. They were always headquartered there." "We're just going to see Kate perform. Not to engage in political activism, LOL!" "What do you mean? I don't like racism." "No, just that you object on the grounds that a few people in the area may be racist. Racism is everywhere." "I don't want to bump into any." "So you're not going to go back to America on Wednesday for work on the grounds that Trump is a lunatic, then..?" 🤔

The point is that certain issues have a profile in certain people's imagination that is disproportionate to their actual incidence.

I'm not a professional, so for me it's as much about the social side as the playing. Consequently it has to be a comfortable environment to relax in. And that's not just extreme views or prejudices, but also something more mainstream if it was too preachy. An interesting debate where there are differing views is one thing but if it was constant it would take the fun out of playing.

If he was, it would only have been because he was trying to sell something 😂

Not sure what, if anything, this post is trying to contribute apart from sarcasm?

Gene Simmons was a member on here!? 🤯

That's just beyond the pale! Does his wife drive it to do the school run?

Is musicians shouting abuse at asylum hotels a thing nowadays? Is it a problem many of you are actually encountering? I expect not. But at least now we know that you're against that kind of thing. Were I a recently-arrived Albanian or Afghan youth anxious to be granted Leave To Remain just knowing that the amateur bass players of Britain were,by and large, on my side would,no doubt, be a source of great comfort. Maybe someone on Basschat could come up with a funky little ditty, preferably without any slapping in it though,(too aggressive, might trigger PTSD ect) we could somehow send to these poor souls. They could listen to it to drown out the sound of the lynch mob outside.

Just bought a phase 90 from @spongebob - communication was great and even delayed posting so it arrived when I returned from holiday.

Update: I've bodged it. At work I managed to find 2x 10nF X2 capacitors, so connected them in series for an effective 5nF which is hopefully close enough to 4.7nF for government work (or 'Spoons work at least). Got proper replacements on order, but fingers crossed the bodge will be good enough (and the other one doesn't go pop in sympathy!) for tomorrow night! Stand down emergency, I think. Thanks for reading! The culprit: The bodge:

Hi I'm about to order 4 piezeo speakers for an Omni 10.5 kindly donated by @neepheid (who apparently is searching for capacitors as I write this). I believe the originals were Goldwood 1016's but these seem to be somewhat more difficult to find than an honest politician. Recommendation for a replacement looks like the GRS PZ1016 https://www.soundimports.eu/en/grs-pz1016.html OR the Monacor MPT-06 https://www.thomann.co.uk/monacor_mpt_016.htm Both have high shipping costs relative to the costs of components, though Thomanns tweeter is nearly 3x the price of the GRS one. Is anybody interested in a lareger order OR does anybody have 4 x Goldwood 1016;s OR Monacor MPT-06 OR GRS PZ1016 tweeters they want to sell and move on,. Thanks Rob

Yep I’ve always preferred most of the bass from backline in small / medium venues

I've been more than a bit smitten with my '95 Aguilar equipped Stingray, so you might say this is a natural addition... After selling off a few instruments over the last few weeks, I picked up this 2023 Stingray Special 5 in 'Smoked Chrome' yesterday. I first saw it when @lowregisterhead had it up for sale on here. I knew where it went, and traded a couple of instruments along with quite a few pictures of the Queen in order to acquire it yesterday. The setup was very good and curved accurately to the fingerboard as was, but I put 40-125 Elixirs on it last night, and today made some small adjustments, including raising the humbucker according to MM specifications. The ceramic pickup still has the typical 'MM chewy sizzle' (yes, that's a technical term!) and looking over it, you can sort of see where the money has gone. I think MM are going the premium route these days, making less instruments, but really concentrating on top quality (and raising the prices considerably too!). The Special's new titanium tuners are much thicker and feel great in the hand, and the border between the glossed headstock & the oiled neck is utterly perfect. I've always liked basses with ebony fingerboards, too. Consider me suitably impressed!

The only supplementary (apart from playing) exercises I've done have been: To stretch apart the fingers on my left (fretting) hand; over the years the span of my left hand tip of index finger to tip of pinky is about an inch more than my right. Touching each fingertip to my thumb. Generally wiggling fingers. Using a PC keyboard. I've never done anything strength-wise. Playing-wise I've generally learned songs - they help build the muscle memory and bring in different styles of playing. For the rght-hand I use a pick and/or fingers; I like to try and be able to play something by either method, but I tend to find pick is more precise and fingers more free-flowing. I think a deficiency of my playing is I don't know the scales, but when someone starts talking about mixolydian or whatever I often think "oh, that's like this one I play". I also think it's been remiss of me not to learn to read music, but maybe one-day I'll put serious effort in; OTOH, I subscribed to the idea that I want to play my stuff rather than be an automaton doing what someone else has written note-for-note.