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Thanks Phil and how awesome that the cabinet I chose in the blind testing is the BassChat 8" which I've still been thinking about building

Just a heads up that after the first five of these necks are completed, the price will need increase to £480. So if you are keen for a pb neck, I recommend securing an order slot sooner rather than later if possible.

Sid stopped by this morning for a swap involving a pedal for an amp. Pleasure to deal with, fully trusted seller!

That will give you pretty much all the fundamentals of all the notes on the bass. E 40hz - G 392hz.

A true gent and a pleasure to deal with. I bought jonunders' wonderful Spector RST5. Thank you for an exemplary transaction.

Just met up with Ainsley to complete a trade. All was good and he's a great guy to deal with.

I no longer own a double bass, consequently these books are surplus to requirement. I’m Selling both together for £40.00 including postage

That is the kind of "giving up" I like to see, i.e not really giving up at all.😄 Never make the mistake of thinking that if you're not out there gigging ect that it's not worth continuing. A friend of mine is a very successful artist and he always emphasises the importance of pottering about at home for any creative person. That is often where great ideas are born, and who knows what those ideas might come to?

It's modelled on the Walkabout, so that's the comparison for the WD-800. The Walkabout used a MOSFET power section. The newly released 800D is modelled on the 400+, which has a valve power section. The current range of Class D Mesa amps are very highly regarded by fans. The big advantages of these Class D amps is that they're not 30kg and they don't have huge servicing costs to keep them running over the long run. Valve amps aren't the "gold standard", they're just different technology. For many of us any advantage they give is "outweighed" by Class D amps' convenience. Yesterday I took my Laney 400 to the bass bash, it's 37kg. It's a behemoth of a thing. It takes some handling. Currently my Mesa 400+ is away for repair, that's going to be expensive! Mesa products are a gold standard whatever tech they are and, being very customer focused, Mesa makes very different flavours of amp for different needs. I'd recommend trying out the WD-800, TT-800 and 800D and seeing which ones suits you best. You can't go wrong with any of them, they're just different.

I agree, this is what's happening.

An interesting contribution to a Facebook thread (not from me, I should add) that has relevance ot us here. I’d just like to chip in my views on all of this, as I hold some pretty strong opinions on the state of things right now. I’m both a hospitality consultant and a musician that plays across the UK, so I can see the issues on both sides. I feel this gives me a fairly balanced take on the problems, though I do think the blame rests mostly with venue operators. 1st issue: Many venues book the band but then expect the band to do everything. The ones that offer ticket split type shows are the worst for not promoting anything. They already have their captive audience, but it has to be a team effort when it comes to marketing. 2nd issue: You have to spend money on promotions. Gone are the days where a crappy poster and a couple of Facebook posts were enough. The time has to go into it. We’ve played around 30-40 gigs this year and most of them have sold out. The common denominator is that both the venue and ourselves have spent money on sponsored posts and time on content. That’s the world we live in now. A crappy Facebook event isn’t bringing anyone that wasn’t already going to come. This should be agreed and decided at the point of booking - it pays dividends on the night. 3rd issue: If it’s a fixed fee, the venue and band should decide what’s being spent on marketing, and that should be factored into any payments or costs. For covers and tribute bands, the best policy is usually for the venue or promoter to head up marketing. It makes the biggest difference as they have the captive audience in their area. 4th issue: Venues need to understand that bands aren’t cheap and stop mugging people off. It’s often a 10-12 hour day including travel. £300 between six people should not happen. Bands also need to stop selling themselves short for £5 an hour. If a venue can’t afford to pay a band properly, they need to rethink their goals - book solo acts, duos, or DJs instead who are better quality. If you’re getting £300 bands, no wonder nobody’s coming. It’s because they’re probably shit and you’ve built a rep for having mediocre bands 5th issue: We can’t change the world, so we have to live with it as it is. Stop trying to run pubs like it’s 1970. It’s a digital world now. If you can’t get on board with socials as a pub manager, employ a company to do it all - otherwise you will inevitably fail. 6th issue: I wouldn’t worry too much about pubs having gigs listed on their website. Most pub websites get very few views aside from people checking opening times and menus. It’s handy as a ticket outlet with direct links from socials, but that’s about it. Socials are the absolute decider in whether venues fill or not. Lastly, for bands: Work on actually creating a brand and image for yourselves. Don’t just be another dad rock band or claim to be the number one tribute. Put some effort into creating something memorable that stands out and stop accepting shitty gigs. Be more selective about who you work with and where you play - it all adds to your image. The first thing I look at before booking anyone is where else they’ve played. If it’s a bunch of skanky, run down pubs that are on their last legs, I’m probably going to look elsewhere. In short, both sides have got lazy or are too stubborn to move with the times. Both must. Formula for a dead night: Shit band + no promotion. Cost to average size venue: the band and Running at 50% capacity. Let’s say a venue can take £6k on the bar on a busy night - you lose £300 on a cheap band and miss out on £3k of sales. Gross for the night: £2.7k (without other factors or overcomplicating it). Formula to sell the place out: Fairly decent band (£800) + £200 on marketing. Venue at 100% capacity. Gross for the night: £5k. Even more if it’s ticketed. Plus a growing rep for having the best bands around on. Why venues don’t understand these simple maths is beyond me. There’s no excuse. If a venue says “Even if I promote it, it doesn’t work”, then either you’re promoting it wrong, or your venue is already past the point of no return and you probably need to start thinking of a plan B.

@BigRedX a friend of mine (guitarist) non-stop raves about the Helix Floor. I’ve heard it a lot first hand, again, on guitar and it’s clear that the step up in sound quality compared to my old M13 is massive. It’s a multi I am keen to try at some point!

I'm not a huge bass pedal user, so not mentioning guitar pedals everything that has ever been on my bass pedal board are the following, again using the * to indicate something in use as I still own all of the below - seems I have never sold a bass pedal! Includes pedalboard and power supplies, but not patch cables: Aguillar Octamizer Boss CS-3 *Boss GEB-7 Boss TU-2 Boss TU-3 *Boss TU-3s * Bright Onion momentary kill switch *EHX bass big muff EHX big muff pi (original russian version) *Genzler Magellan Pre Hartke Bass Attack (preamp pedal) *Keeley Compressor Pro *Line6 Relay G30 MXR bass envelope filter MXR bass chorus *Pedaltrain Classic Junior TC Electronics Ditto stereo looper *Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7 Truetone 1 Spot

CBS Fender started it...

Technically a 6 string is even more so. However I found the C string struggled to be heard in a stage mix. I also play fives because of those low notes. When I want to dig down and tap into some weight and authority, that B string is there.

I've scoured my various posts and FS topics on here, and combined with what I can remember off the top of my head, this is my list. I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten about. I've listed all the pedalboards and PSUs that I can remember too. (#) = Bought more than one (*) = I currently own it (£) = Its for sale [sfx] Micro Thumpinator 3Leaf Audio Proton V1 Aguilar Filter Twin V1 (2) (£)Aguilar Octamizer V1 Aguilar TLC Compressor V1 Akai Deep Impact (2) Akai Headrush E2 Akai Uni Bass AnalogMan Chorus (2) AnalogMan Mini Chorus (*)Aotearoa Intermodulator Aphex 1404 Punch Factory Artec Big Dots Tuner Atomic Echo Clone Barge Concepts VFB-2 Blender Barge Concepts VFB-2 Custom Behringer UP100 Ultra Phase Shifter Boss AW-2 Auto Wah Boss BF-2B Flanger Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer Boss FT-2 Dynamic Filter Boss FZ-3 Fuzz (2) (£)Boss HR-2 Harmonist (1 for sale) (2) (*)Boss LS-2 Line Selector (2) Boss OC-2 Octave Boss OC-5 Octave Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive Boss TR-2 Tremolo Bright Onion Mini DMFS (*)Bright Onion Pedalboard Patch Box (£)Broughton Audio Carina (*)Broughton Audio Josh Wah Envelope Filter (*)Broughton Audio Subsonic (*)BYOC Pickle Fuzz Catalinbread Serrano Picoso Catalinbread SFT Catalinbread Valcoder Chunk Systems Agent 00Funk MkII Chunk Systems Brown Dog Cog Effects Knightfall V1 (£)Cog Effects Knightfall V2 (3) (£)Crowther Audio Prunes & Custard (1 for sale) Darkglass B3K Darkglass Microtubes X Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Demeter OptoCompulator x2 Devi Ever Torn's Peaker Digitech Bass Synth Wah Digitech WH-1 Whammy Digitech WH-4 Whammy (2) (£)DOD FX25 (1 for sale) DOD FX25-B DOD FX84 Milkbox Compressor Dr Scientest Dusk Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah x2 (*)Dunlop DVP4 Mini Volume/Expression (£)Dunlop GCB-95 Crybaby Wah Dunlop Q-Zone EBS Octabass EBS UniChorus Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls (NYC) Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth (original big box) Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (Black Sovtek) Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (NYC) Electo-Harmonix Octave Multiplexor (original big box) (2) (£)Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron (original big box) (1 for sale) (*)Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI Fulltone Fat Boost V1 Fuzzrocious Grey Stache (£)G-Labs True Bypass Wah Pad GigRig QM-6 Looper (£)GigRig QM-4 Looper Gromtech Aminato Guyatone BR-2 Bottom Wah Rocker Guyatone SV-2 Slow Volume (*)Hamstead Soundworks Subspace Ibanez SB7 Synth Bass (*)Iron Ether Oxide (2) (£)Korg DT-10 (1 for sale) (£)Korg DT-10BK (£)Lehle Acouswitch Preamp/DI (£)Line 6 Echo Park Line 6 HX Stomp Line 6 Space Chorus Loop-Master 5 Loop TB Strip Loop-Master Pedalboard Patch Box Malekko Echo 600 Bright (£)Marshall Drivemaster Marshall The Guv'Nor (original) Marshall Shredmaster (2) (*)Maxon AF-9 MI Audio Neo Fuzz (*)Mission Eexpressionator Mojo Hand Cream Pie TB Edition Moog MF101 Lowpass Filter Monacor Effectmatic Montgomery Appliances '77 Flanger Morley Dual Bass Wah (*)Morningstar ML10X (*)Morningstar ML5 (*)Morningstar MC3 Morningstar MC6 (*)Morningstar MC8 MSD EarthQuaker Bass Wah (2) Musitronics MuTron III (original) Musitronics Phasor MXR M82 Bass Envelope Filter MXR M117R Reissue Flanger (2) MXR M188 Bass Auto Q (*)Neural DSP Quad Cortex Origin Effects BassRIG '64 Black Panel (2) (*)Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass (£) Panda Audio Future Impact v1 Pearl OC-07 Octaver (2) (*)Peterson Strobostomp Mini (*)Peterson StrobostompHD The Really Good Pedal Co. Funky Puppy (*)Red Rocket Cream Pie Clone Roland AP-7 Jet Phaser Sadowsky Bass Preamp/DI (£)Sonic Research ST-200 Turbo Tuner (*)Source Audio Spectrum Intelligent Filter Subdecay Baby Quasar Subdecay Noise Box (2) (£)Subdecay Prometheus (1 for sale) (£)Subdecay Prometheus DLX Subdecay Proteus Subdecay Quasar DLX (*)SushiBox FX Neptunium Tech21 CompTortion Tech21 VTBass V1 (2) Tech21 XXL Bass Edition Tonefactor Analog Filter 442 Red Tonefactor Eleven Tonefactor Hellbaby Tonefactor Pulp Mill Visual Sound Visual Volume V1 Wobo Double Looper (2) Xotic X-Blender Xotic Stereo X-Blender ZVex Distortron PSUs: (*)1Spot Burkey Flatliner (*)Cioks Sol (2) Dunlop DC Brick Godlyke Power All (2) (*)GigRig Generator (with various distributors, isolators, high current adaptors etc) Maplins 9VDC Power Brick Pedalboards: Diago Tourman (*)NYC Pedalboards Lunchbox (2) Pedaltrain 2 (Softcase and Flightcase) Pedaltrain Metro16 Pedaltrain Jr (4) (*)Pedaltrain Nano Schmidt Array SA450 (3) (*)Warwick Rockboard Duo 2.0 (*)Warwick Rockboard Tres 3.0

OK batch 2 has been finalised and will be underway next week. I'll set up a new thread for updates on construction. For Batch 3, the price for the JB4 necks wil need to increase to £480 to match the SR necks. I'm sorry for that but it turns out that 450 per neck is just a little below the threshold needed to make other things like websites and scalability happen.

....which, I guess, is one reason DAWs were invented

Technique - there are LOADS of youtube videos. I personally like Stuart Claytons stuff but there are others out there as well. Gear - Can't really go wrong with EBS. It's very clean sounding but their product line up offers great value for money, especially second hand. If you want something a bit grittier then there's Ampeg or GK but they are entering rock territory. Band integration - Getting out of tune isn't normally a problem. Learning how to use space can be a challenge for a guitarist, bass is a foundation that defines the energy in the song and guides it's harmonic direction. To begin with just learn the parts to the song until you develop a feel and appreciation for how the bass works. Check Sting in the Police (Walking on the Moon) and Adam Clayton in early U2 (New Years Day) for how to use space and simple lines to support other band members. If you want to learn about how to use music theory and chordal knowledge to enhance your fingering efficiency and harmonic modulation then the last word has always been and always will be James Jamerson - check out Reflections by the Supremes. Paul McCartney is also a master at using melody tastefully in basslines without swamping the song - check his Wings stuff especially Coming Up and Silly Love Songs. If you fancy having your boundaries pushed a bit, check out Stevie Wonder's basslines as played by Nate Watts especially Master Blaster. They might sound simple but your fingers will be all over the place because Stevie wasn't confined by the fretboard. If you want an example of how not to play bass, check out Ronnie Wood on Rod Stewart's Maggie May. It's lead guitar on bass...some might say it still works but probably a good way to get fired from your first function band.

I have only just noticed this, it was the original grille from the After 8 Combo. It now has a new grille that I will photograph later. Bought from SGS Metals on EBay. I will also link to that later. SGS will cut to size.

As always, my pleasure

This is the problem with streaming services in that there lots of music, mostly from the late 70s and early 80s that hasn't made it on to any of them. Major labels are normally well represented, but where the recordings didn't make it to a CD release there is a good chance they won't be available to stream. I can't help you with Screams, but the Zones album (I was a big fan too) is available to download from at least one music blog which should be easy to find. I'm not normally a fan of getting my music from these sources, but in the absence of an official release or stream I think it is just about acceptable.