All Activity

I'll send you a vid... I reckon my avant garde creations will really work for the Tuesday 3pm slot

That is absolutely brilliant. Well done you!

All the very best with the venture!

I went to update your status and there's a note says that when you joined this competition on 15th Jan you had already gone out with a T2 fail before you joined, but were "hoping to be good from now on". I think that is exactly the spirit of this thread, well done for lasting this long. 👏

Another thought .. here's the speaker curve using the reference mic. It also shows a phase curve, There are two significant phase reversals. One where the bass starts rolling off, no doubt due to the reflex port and relatively unimportant. The other is just below 2Khz and associated with a dip in output. I assume this is the crossover frequency. Is it likely that I could improve the response by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, sorry, the tweeter?

A used Euro 5LX would be your best shout for proper classic Spector looks and tone. Necks can be a little chunky though so be sure it's your thing... new ones are £2.5k+ but used should be between £1400-£1800. This is a beauty that deserves a good offer: The best value for money though would probably be a Pulse II 5-string. You can get a new one for approx £1200 (e.g. https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/spector-ns-pulse-ii-5-ultra-violet-matte/ or https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/product/spector-ns-pulse-ii-5-black-cherry-matte/) and a used one for under £900. The neck on this is a beautiful satin smooth roasted maple with an ebony board. If you don't like the preamp just upgrade to an LHZ preamp (https://lhzpreampshop.com/products/lhz04preamp) and use the code 'GARYPB' at checkout for 10% off!

out of interest I looked at Thomann's site. It looks to be an American Ash body and maple neck, all good wood....if its actually USA Swamp Ash you may find the body' sound' is a bit 'lighter' than other woods like Alder or European ash.

Hi folks I've always loved the Stingray fretless sound, but they are quite a few quid especially his sig bass, so I set myself a task to see what could be done for not too many £s to get the look and as much of the tone as possible. Here's what happened next... I picked up a preloved DiMavery MM501 fretless as a starting point. Actually a lot nicer that I thought it might be, well put together (even with quite a weird passive set up). Nice Rosewood board, lovely satin finish to the D profile neck and acceptable hardware. Brucie bonus, it weighs less than 8lbs. I acquired a Retrovibe Stinger '77 with the Retrovide AlNiCo MM pickup (wired in parallel for this project) and put it all together. Finally I decided just to spray the midly unpleasant tort pickguard black to save a few quid. Here's how it came out. To my ears, and despite my huge talent deficit, I think it sounds pretty good and I am really pleased with the results. If were to do any further upgrades, I think I'd go for a proper new pickguard, some better knobs to cover the nuts on the pots and maybe a nice metal or bone nut. As ever my timing is appalling as my arthritis means I'm not playing much now, but if anyone is interested please PM me.

Tina's gear list, on wiki, tells a different tale 😀 Equipment Höfner 500/2 Club Bass[29][30] – Two pickup with single-cutaway hollowbody, purchased in 1978 Fender Musicmaster Bass[29] Used in early Talking Heads performances including Talking Heads: 77 Fender Mustang Bass[29] Used in early Talking Heads performances, seen on Saturday Night Live performance Veillette-Citron Standard 4 String[29] – Neck Through, teal green Fender Precision Bass – Used in early Talking Heads performances[30] Gibson Les Paul Triumph Bass[29] – used in early Talking Heads performances Fender Jazz Bass[29] – Used for Tom Tom Club live performances Steinberger L-Series Bass[29] – Seen during Little Creatures period Fender Swinger Guitar – Seen in Stop Making Sense during the performance of "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" Chapman Stick[citation needed]

Our renaissance-rock plays probably our last ever gig tonight. It should be a good one - the last few times we've played the venue it's been sold out. After tonight we're moving away from the UK, and rather than start again from scratch we'll focus on studio recordings and have an online presence.

Not sure how doable that would be as the string spacing is the same as the long scale, they are both 19mm at the pup. I think the Sterling version looks a bit cluttered due to it using the same bridge as the full size and the full size control plate but this is fixed to a certain extent with the use of the Ray special bridge in the ebmm version.

A used Spector Euro 5LX would be a good shout... Unless you're exceptionally lucky to find a US one for that price! (Did once buy a US 5 for £500...) I've owed a fair few Euro and US Spectors and as utterly lovely the US ones are, there really is not a huge amount of difference between them and a Euro ones. @cetera is your man for all things Spector! Would definitely recommend used... New Euros are crazy money these days (US ones require a mortgage).

Always annoying! A band of which I'm presumably still a member (though no rehearsals have been organised recently) was afflicted by misuse of rehearsal time. I'd always ask for example recordings and charts well in advance, but sometimes receive them late in the evening the day before. Similarly, requests for a set list for the next rehearsal would be answered, but when I turned up prepared there was a good chance of encountering "oh, I thought we'd try a new one, here are the charts and let's have a listen to a recording." There's one other band I play with where the first time I encounter new tunes is most likely on the bandstand during a gig, but the material is so simple that this is not a problem. The material for the band mentioned above is more complex, with various parts for horns and specific arrangements.

I currently have ongoing involvement with the following, in no particular order: - Bowie tribute 7pc - 2nd guitar (member) - gig booked in January, more in 2026 subject to confirmation - Rockabilly/country/originals 4pc - lead guitar (member) - gigs in 2026, BL actively seeking quality work including R’n’R festivals - Glam covers startup 4pc - lead guitar & MD (member) - showreel completed, BL now looking to launch us into theatres - Dire Straits tribute 6pc - rhythm guitar or bass (dep) - played about 10% of their 2025 gigs, more booked for 2026 - Pub covers band 4pc - lead guitar (dep) - covered for long-term illness but they have a new guitarist for 2026 - Rock’n’roll band 4pc - guitar or bass (dep) as required - nothing in the pipeline with them but they just call me if they’re stuck - Swing band 17pc - bass (or potentially guitar) (dep) - I cover their Monday night rehearsal if the regular guy can’t make it - Prog/pop covers band 5pc - bass (dep) - one member quite well known in the YouTube guitar scene - saw them, loved the set, familiarised myself with the set, dropped shameless hints to the keys player who I know, ended up covering 2 of their rehearsals Also-rans from 2025: - One-off jazz and jazz-adjacent gig on guitar, with the keys player mentioned above and a female vocalist, at a charity fundraiser that was a logistical nightmare - Asked to dep on bass for a theatre gig with a classic rock covers 6pc, suggestion of more opportunities next year - got well into learning the set but then the gig got pulled and I suspect the band is no more (website has gone) - Not long after that gig got cancelled, I got a request to stand in on bass with a blues band for the same night, which of course I did!

I’ve currently got a passive alder bodied Lionel and briefly had a pink active. I found the stock 40-100 strings horrible and weak and changed up to 50-105 ebmm slinkies which to me had a less brittle and more even tone - plus had better tension. Some owners consider the stock pup a bit modern sounding, well I wasn’t looking for old school and preferred the bit of bite, that said it’s nothing that can’t be dialled out with the tone knob and it’s more than capable of thump if that’s what you’re after. The active I had was more hifi and, had I kept it, (if you recall it had a finish defect) I would have found it a usable tone on some stuff I play but I don’t think it was the sort of catch all that the stock passive does…….and the pup is hot for a passive anyhow (it has as much output as the active neo pup on my Darkray…).

Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass

Cold Gin - Kiss

Whiskey lullaby- Alison Krauss and Brad Paisley