All Activity

Hi dies anybody recognise the marking on these Jazz pick ups? Thanks Tony

I did a bit of busking with DB and a drummer. Drum and Bass, geddit? We even did sone D&B inspired musings. I had a few pedals and a battery rig.

Yup - it's tricky. This intersects in my day job all the time so I encounter it lots. For these specific examples: Ex 1: Yes, it definitely could by some because you have the dominant group - in this case white people who come from the colonial powers - picking and choosing elements of the colonised culture. The Beatles in India with the Maharishi would be a great example. UK comedian Nish Kumar makes fun of stuff like this all the time. Ex 2: No because the colonised are claiming the rituals of the coloniser. Ex 3: For the left: no partially because of the the same reason as ex 2, and partially because rap music and fashion comes from an oppressed group, the African-Americans. The issue becomes when middle class white guys do it. But then what about the Beastie Boys who were the children of well-known Jewish intellectuals and obviously have so much talent that they get a cultural free pass? Or Eminem, another huge talent who comes from the same background as most black hip-hop artists. Also: so influential that he too gets a pass. For the right: yes because their view of modern cultural thought is that white people, especially white males, are themselves an identity group under siege on all sides. Leaders around the western world have rallied to this cause and we saw 100,000 - 150,000 in London last week and to some of them it is an existential crisis hence the "Great Replacement Theory". "Political correctness gone mad," "censorship by the left," and "too woke" are common complaints from people on the right. Also, Brooklyn's Adam Yauch Park - named after the Beasties MCA - is constantly being graffitied with swastikas and Yauch himself was a practicing Buddhist. You see what a Gordian Knot this is? A basic tactic that tends to work with 85% of the population: 1) Don't punch down, only punch up. (Although that got Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel cancelled and sent the MAGA faithful on a McCarthy - or should I say - McKirky - purge of progressives in the US when they punched up. So this might not work any more.) 2) Be respectful. If you are clear that you are doing something with respect, not parody, almost everyone sensible will accept it. For now anyway. If these are annoying to you, don't shoot the messenger; I'm not saying that I agree with these. I am just trying to give examples that I have encountered in the professional world. I will say that all this is incredibly had for musicians. Music has always been a sponge that relies upon being influenced by anything.

Hot Covers are based in Carluke, Scotland. Not only are their products very high quality, their service is impeccable. I had an urgent need for four custom covers for the LFSys Monaco. Ordered on Monday - and they were here on Tuesday. So, definitely not made in China. As others have said, it's good to support what little UK-based manufacturing industry we have left.

Drummer Wanted for 70's Glam Rock Band Cambs area looking for a drummer for a newly formed Glam Rock Covers Band Slade, T-Rex, Bowie, Mud, Sweet etc etc

I got given one of these, just the unit, no power supply and no idea if it works at all? Does anybody have any knowledge about these? The psu for these appears to be a bit old school so I don’t have one that Is it worth getting a power supply to see if it works? if not does anybody want it, door stop, paperweight?

Hello folks Just thought I’d let you know that the new The Divine Comedy album is out today. We recorded this back in September last year at Abbey Road. There’s a bit of upright bass and the rest is pretty much all on the Wilcock bass I bought off the lovely @Old Man Rivajust before the sessions started. And for those interested the electric bass was always running through the Jad Freer Capo I bought off @Chadu25 too so the Basschat Marketplace has had a big influence on bottom end of this record! Hope you like it 😎 Simon

Many thanks for the advice: @Joe Nation, @PaulThePlug and @MartinB. When I googled a scroll saw, it came up with electric bench tools starting from around £100. I’m tempted, simply because it looks like a handy tool to have but it does somewhat inflate the cost of making the scratchplate. I think I could get a custom plate made for around £50. I’m just wondering how many times I’m going to want to do this and whether it is worth the investment. Otherwise I guess a coping saw with a fine tooth blade would fit the bill.

Not all of us can afford or justify expensive PA speakers/monitors, so I thought I'd share my experience of the cheap Thomann 'Fun Generation' powered speakers and invite anyone else to share info on other low-cost options. This is the 15" option, they also do 12" and passive versions of both. https://www.thomann.co.uk/fun_generation_pl_115_a.htm With refreshing honesty they rate them 600W peak/140W rms. I bought two 15" powered ones as cheap monitors. I regularly use one as a monitor and aside from not being suitable for putting my foot on, it's always delivered without fuss in many different situations. Thrre are two 'mic' channels with xlr and jack inputs. Annoyingly, line in uses phono sockets, but I just use the mic channels with the gain down (never had distortion issues). There's basic bass/treble eq, 90% of the time I leave these at 12 o'clock. I discovered the back plates with the amp, inputs and bt functionality are interchangeable between 15 and 12, passive and active. Just rewire the connections to the crossover. I swapped one over to make a 15 active and a 12 passive. That gives me the flexibility to use 2x12, 2x15, or one or two 12+15 pairs. I have used an active/passive 12" pair as PA for lectures with ease, and once or twice as a small pub-size vocal PA when our vocalist's Mackie powered speakers weren't available. It's not clear what the real world power of a single cab is - do you need the extension cab to achieve 140W or does that deliver a bit more? They are loud enough and the audio quality is good enough to be usable in everyday applications. I think the audio is at least as good as my 8" HH monitor. I would invest more if looking fo a small full-time PA, however. Despite the 'fun generation' name they are a different league to the cheap but similar looking 'party speakers'. I suspect they are sold with other name badges. Importantly they are robust, reasonably light and easy to use. Two powered 12s or even one powered, one passive would meet the basic monitoring needs of many bands for under £200, and they could save a small gig if your main pa goes down.

That's awesome, I'm super pleased one of my posts helped I had the same revelation when I moved to the lightest gauge possible and the Nickel rounds are just so musical. Keep at it, fretless is much a wonderful thing.

Nope, doesn't look like him either at all. He was George Benson bass player for those who wonder who he is.

Apart from the specs of Pino's signature, it was one of your posts which made me strung one of my Rays (actually, both, until Chromes 40-95 have arrived) with 40-95 nickel plated rounds. It's what I call revelation. Now, I'm in love with thin rounds on fretless. Albeit, I must admit it wouldn't work in my first year with fretless. Of course, it'd be different by different people. As to me, I needed quite a lot of time with flats to understand (to some extent) how fretless works. I reckon it's gonna be a journey as long as life itself, but it's one of things which keeps me interested in playing the bass.

Thanks! That's a fair bit closer than Derbyshire!

Why downgrade?

For me, on my fretless Jazz basses, I use Rotosound Swing 66 Nickel rounds with the lightest gauge possible. They are the best sounding strings I have ever used on a fretless. On a P-Bass, then I use Labella Deep Talkin flats and again, the lightest gauge possible. I find flats give more of that mwah sound and more pronounced vibrato. The lighter the gauge as well, the more expressive and articulate I find the bass is.