All Activity

Congrats, they are nice sounding amps

I'd concur on the Queen thing. NATO was the last decent Queen album, but I'd say Sheer Heart Attack was their absolute peak. Again though, it's all subjective. My brother taped SHA for me and I listened to it endlessly, along with Sweet's Sweet F*nny Adams and Sparks' Kimono/Propaganda albums. Time, place and circumstances account for a lot. Would they stand up now? If I told my teen nephew to go at listen to them? Probably not.

I remember one of my more knowledgable musician mates saying of my TRB6 ".....the sort of bass played by NYC session musicians". That pretty much says it all 👍

I’m in the market for a new iron so it’d be great to see what people are recommending in 2026. 👍🏻

Aaw come on W, I think you know more than enough where my musical tastes lie. 😏 'Rock' music (along with all it's sub-genres) is simply too all-encompassing to capture within 500 songs, but you have to admit the inevitably of the tracks peppering the top 20/50. I have a mate called Pete (bass player too), lovely bloke, a few years older than me, who would look at that top 20 and all those wretched power ballads and go, 'Yep, yes, absolutely, yeah, Christ yes,' at pretty much everything in there. He wouldn't be considering, or be remotely interested in Alkaline Trio or Fishbone or Jane's Addiction or The Beths or Momma or XTC or Steven Wilson or Pavement, Primus, Living Colour, Veruca Salt, Jellyfish, Smashing Pumpkins (and so on), as these bands simply aren't on his radar and to him they don't represent rock in it's purest - 1970s/1980s - form. The stuff, as a guy nudging 70, he grew up with. The Planet Rock 500 is like those wretched NOW! compilations; it's the songs Neal Kay would spin before the lights went down for the headliners at Hammersmith Odeon. It's awful populist rawk, filtered down to it's lowest common denominator; Queen (and I love early Queen), Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden. The only one that suprised me was Rainbow's 'Stargazer at #3. The only reason Alter Bridge are at #8 is because the station probably play it a lot, because sure as hell, Pete wouldn't have just plucked that one out of the ether.

So I recently re-entered the world of the Precision with the purchase of one of the new American Professional Classics. I currently have the following amplification… TC Electronic RH750 in TC 2x10 enclosure + 2 single TC 1x12 cabs. MarkBass 2x10 combo with 1x12” extension cab. Backup TC Electronic BQ250 head unit. Usually the RH750 stays at home - even with its built in trolley, 28kgs is a lot to haul around, despite the full rig sounding great, and having the on-board compressor which makes the Precision sound fantastic. The MarkBass system sounds fantastic for my more modern-sounding instruments, like Status & GB, or my Jazz Elite, but for the passive Jazzes and Precision it just sounds too artificial and highly processed, despite the best efforts of the ‘Vintage’ filter. So during the Xmas holidays, I spotted an Ampeg Venture V3 on offer in the sales with £200 off RRP, so I did the usual research and found it made a sound I might like. It arrived earlier this week, and it is very good indeed. Rather than ploughing yet more money into Ampeg’s highly expensive cabs, I’ve jury-rigged a dual 12” system with the extension cabs from both of my main rigs, and oh my, does it sound good with the Precision!

I wish I could take full credit for the neck. It’s a very good Chinese one which I have reshaped the headstock and given a lot of love to the back and fretboard. Necks is my next hurdle to jump. Bodies are very forgiving and it I suspect you could strap a bridge and some pickups to a scaffold board and it would play but necks make or break the build. As @Kiwi graphite ones and the multitude of manufacturers that build in China demonstrate, necks being produced there are excellent with only the usual fettling a new neck needs. By using quality manufactured necks, I can ensure consistency, quality and keep overall build costs down. This allows me to concentrate on custom building gorgeous bodied, fantastic set up and playing basses which I can offer at a non boutique price point. I mean, after all, I’m not doing this to be the next Jon Shuker; I’m a chap with a full time day job who like pottering around in his workshop, trying to not lose a finger on bladed machinery and sanding stuff😂. I have no pretensions that I will ever make money from either building basses or playing in my band😆

Free community music festival in Komedia in Bath last night. There were a lot of musicians who made me feel very inadequate. Crooked Snout, Mute TV and Kill Mirror Image were all amazing. The headliner, Meryl Streek is an Irish solo punk vocalist. Its just him and a backing track but he really puts on a hell of a performance. Very angry and tells stories with his songs. He's starting to get some decent success and last night was the start of his British tour. We chatted with him after the show, top bloke, loves what he does.

Just ordered one from EBay for quiet home practice cost me £38 as EBay have a discount code dropping the price ! Result

I think Gregor has mentioned that he sold basses for a living so I think he knows his stuff. And, to be fair, they probably avoid reviewing something they don't like at all. I have seen them be critical of fit and features - recently getting a spec changed on a bass which they then re-reviewed.

As a comparison I ordered my XVIVE A58 from Andertons and paid next day delivery DPD based on I would be home to receive it. Order placed early enough but they didn’t ship and after calling them they said they were very busy and not all next day shipments were processed. Not a major thing as they are normally slick. As mentioned ordered on Bass Direct Friday, it was shipped Friday to arrive Monday which is fantastic. Yep they get my vote 👍

I thought exactly the same but not quite as extreme in the offset. So maybe that rare instance of successful plastic surgery?

Congrats Mikey. I had an identical TRB-6 II, probably the one you lost track of. It was a great bass, and the only 6-er I’ve ever got on with. Hope you enjoy the new one.

mine's been pushed to delivery in week 4 now I can live with that for 63 quid

Lovely job. Kudos to working with wenge like that. I love the final results when I work with it but it's smelly, splintery and just flipping hard work! But that all said, the very, very best bass neck I have ever played - leaps ahead of anything else I've personally played - was a wenge necked Cort Curbow a mate used to own.

Just bought A MTD KS5 from Mike - what a bloke. The bass is in great condition and Mike was so generous with his time upon pickup. Could have sat for hours chatting with him all things bass. Many thanks Mike!

Hurt So Good - Susan Cadogan

Tied Up - Yello

John Paul Jones' studio gear goes up for auction A full list of the gear below. Guild Thunderbass Amp Akai S3200 Digital Sampler Akai S1000 Digital Sampler Hughes & Kettner PS64 Guitar Amp DBX 120XP Subharmonic Synthesizer TL Audio Ivory 5001 Quad Valve Preamp Klark-Teknik DN 30/30 Graphic Equaliser Dolby A type M361 Noise Reduction System Dolby A type M361 Noise Reduction System DBX FS900EU 2 Module Frame w/ 2x 902 De-Esser Modules Survival Projects Stereo Panner DBX 3BX Dynamic Range Expander DBX 3BX Dynamic Range Expander AuraTone Super-Sound Cube Roland SRV-330 Digital Reverb Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay Roland SPV-355 P/V Synth Roland PAD-80 Percussion Controller Musicaid Clap Trap Roland TR-727 Drum Machine Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer Novation Bass Station Simmons SDS V Maselec MEA-2 Precision Stereo Equalizer Arbiter Soundimension Moog Minimoog Model D Yamaha NS-10M Pair AuraTone 5C Super-Sound Cube Pair Yamaha NS-10M Pair Yamaha NS-10M Tweeter Pair Lexicon LXP-1/LXP-5 Multi Effects Unit Carlsbro Mantis Analogue Delay WEM Copycat IC400 Tape Echo Delay Dynacord DRS-78 Reverb Lexicon PCM-70 Digital Effects Processor Roland SDE-330 Digital Delay Roland SVC-350 Vocoder Electro-Harmonix (EHX) Talking Pedal Urei 565T Filter Helios Electronics Ltd Stereo Preamp/EQ Empirical Labs EL8-X Distressors Pair Moog Model 15 Synthesizer Maselec MLA-2 Precision Stereo Compressor Pye Compressor Alan Smart C1 Stereo Compressor GML 8200 Stereo Parametric EQ Eventide H3000SE Ultra Harmonizer AMS DMX15-80s Stereo Digital Delay AMS RMX16 Digital Reverb Urei 1176LN Rev F Pair EMS Synthi Hi-Fli + Pedals Decca Limiter/Compressor That Thunderbass amp was the one that Dave Grohl borrowed and promptly blew the speaker before returning it. 😂 You can see the sold items here. Mark

I'm In Chains - Tina Arena

Yep. That's either the extended and remastered disco mix version collaboration with The Cheeky Girls OR Planet Rock cocked up. It doesn't really affect the numbers much as it should be in the 1960s stats and not the 1990s. I didn't check every year apart from checking the upper and lower bounds as I don't even know some of the bands. Rob