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  1. So, for a while I have been eyeing up the new ocean turquoise Gretsch junior jet ii bass, not having a lot of disposable income my wife had offered a couple of times to go halves with me on the cost of one but I had always declined. Anyway the other day my wife told me that she had a delivery and asked if I would sign for it when the courier turned up. Anyway the courier turned up I signed for the delivery and then my wife told me to open the box, I thought maybe it was a new computer chair or something, I opened the box and my eyes lit up when I saw a Gretsch box inside the box, I was over the moon. Anyway it is a great bass, the photo doesn't do it justice, in person it is much prettier and the colour is much nicer, it sounds great too and if someone told me this bass sold for twice what this sells for i wouldn't question it at all
    64 points
  2. After a few beers at Christmas I ordered a knock off Dingwall from Ali express.. I woke up the next morning to an email from the seller asking what “customisations” I wanted.. what a treat.. a custom bass!!… so I went to town, orange finish, 3 x pickups, maple neck… and a custom headstock logo! It arrived this morning - it’s awesome!! Obviously it’s not actually a finely crafted, custom instrument - but the finish is pretty clean and it sounds good, all the electrics work and it’s very playable!! The hardware is a bit lightweight… but for £279… it’s a lot of bass!
    40 points
  3. I’ve been drunk many times in my life, but never Ali Express Dingwall with a Tesco logo drunk
    36 points
  4. I was my worst auditionee. The band (2 guitars, drums) sent me a list of songs. I rehearsed them for days on end, then turned up for the audition. They launch into a song without saying what it is. Then another and another. Some are in different keys from the originals. I have no clue, none whatsoever. At one point, mid-song, the lead guitarist wanders over, picks up my left index finger and physically places it at the correct fret. Then he wanders back again. Finally he says: "Roxette?" I say: "The Swedish duo?" "Nah, Feelgood." I'd never heard it before. It wasn't on the list. In the end they just ignore me and play on. Audition over I pack up and the band repair to the pub (I'd been told that going to the pub after band practice was mandatory as part of band bonding). "You coming?" one of them says. "Me? Sure." I follow in my car. In the pub I sit at the table saying nothing while they chat. I am feeling dreadful. What a complete and utter horlicks. I'm burning with embarrassment and shame. Then the lead guitarist looks over. "You in?" I couldn't believe it. They turned out to be a great bunch of guys and great musicians (the lead guitarist in particular). I learnt very quickly after that. Memorable gigs followed. I learnt later how I'd got in. Sheer desperation on their part. Not a single bass player for miles around. Not one. Except me.
    35 points
  5. I see your singers and raise you a keyboardist. This is where my lifelong distrust and aversion for keyboardists comes from... Once upon a time I answered an ad for a funk band with female singers. It was like an X factor style audition being run by the guitarist who was a decent enough chap but the songs were more indie rock. There were loads of other guitarists and drummers there but only me as a bassist so I was kept. A week later and we audition a keys player. Dave shows up, long hair, looks like he wants a job in IT support but isn't bright enough, spends forever setting up his scaffolding for all his keyboards while talking about all these festivals he's played where the soundman didn't even have x, y z but of kit we've never heard of. Eventually he's ready to play a song. He hasn't listened to the audition songs or come prepared in any way. Stereophonics song? "Oh..... Errrr, Welsh band aren't they? I think I might have heard them on a cassette. My girlfriend is Welsh." Ummm thanks Dave. He plink plonks a couple of notes while we play. He doesn't even try to overwhelm us with weird sound effects, he just stands there looking confused the whole night, even when we tell him the chords. Guitarist invites him back the next week if he can learn some of the songs. Next week. Dave has clearly not learned anything and I doubt if he could achieve Grade 1 piano. After bashing through some songs hoping he will catch up guitarists says "let's pack away and when he goes get all our gear back out". I've packed away and Dave is still dismantling his huge keys rig so I get bored and say F this I'm off home. Half an hour later I get a call from the guitarist through gritted teeth: "I know you haven't got them, but can you check all your pockets and cases for Dave's car keys? We've turned the place upside down and just can't find them." I didn't have them. A long while later I get a text. Dave's car keys were eventually found after checking everywhere including in the till of the pub. They were in the pocket of his hoodie all along. I never saw Dave again. I've never played with a keys player since.
    32 points
  6. Keyboards Dave was almost as weird as the drummer.... So eight years ago I got together with a guitarist and singer to do 80s indie I guess you'd call it. I liked the two of them and we clicked so we got some songs together as bass, two guitars and vox and looked for a drummer. Drummer answers ad saying all the right things. Except he wants to rehearse a long way away, being the only one with a car out of the three of us I'm happy to drive us there. We get there and the drummer, I think also a Dave, is flapping around with the studio staff because the kit isn't right and he needs something really specific and can't believe they haven't got it... Etc. We play one or two songs and he's ok. He can't stop talking though. He keeps telling us how it would be great if we did Crazy Horses by the Osmonds, Robbie Williams Let Me Entertain You... We are fixed on Talking Heads, Camper Van Beethoven, the Waterboys so we don't think this will fit. The guy just doesn't stop talking about how his last bands were so great playing the Osmonds. We have a drinks break and we can't get a word in edgeways. Drummer keeps saying how some people don't like him because he has all these ideas but surely we should just talk about it and agree or disagree. This is a valid point though his actions are suggesting he will talk until you agree with him. He gave us a set list he thinks we should do... Having not met us before, not registered that we've already been working on something, and not registered that we aren't doing karaoke in a flat-roof pub type songs. We play some more. He tells us how on stage he wants us to set up with his drums at the front because nobody else does that. He tells us he has a headset mic and wants to lead vox on some songs. When we are leaving with all our gear packed up he runs over, slams the door shut, turns off the lights and then starts playing with glow in the dark drum sticks. We leave confused, slightly scared. And never contact him again.
    30 points
  7. With a landmark birthday imminent, I decided to treat myself to new bass. Which would be an upgrade to the two Squier classic vibe bases I’ve been playing for a while. (A Mustang and a Jaguar). I’ve been down many internet rabbit holes, thinking about options. But haven’t had much of a chance to try out any contenders, given the lack of shops that stock much more than the most popular models. Especially given I was trying to decided if I prefer short or medium scale. So I decided to make the trip from Cardiff to the Guitar Show in Birmingham last Saturday, to actually touch some basses. The plan was to check out some basses by Reverend, Sandberg, anything else that might be interesting and pay a visit to the Vintage Bass Room stand to try something a bit more classic (just to see). I was impressed with basses by Reverend,Sandberg and a couple of lovely medium scale builds from @Manton Customs. But none of them made me smile like the vintage basses that @walshy and @AndyTravis where showing off at the Vintage Bass Room stand. Turns out what I really needed in my life was a well played in 2EQ stingray. It looks fantastic, but plays and sounds even better. So it came home with me. I was planning to keep it in its case for over week to make the lead up to the big day exciting. I lasted 24 hours. Spent about an hour with it yesterday at home, through my Ashdown studio 15 combo. Happily the bass plays and sounds just as good I remember at home. I’m looking forward to getting into a rehearsal room in a couple of week to see how it sounds with drums and guitar. Just need to get a proper band sorted so I can get gigging with it. Here’s a picture at home, much better pics and more details can be found at Vintage Bass Rooms Thanks @walshy for making it possible for to own such a great instrument, and being great to deal with.
    29 points
  8. 3 tracks in-studio session. Sound should be pretty good Not sure if you all can get this in the UK https://www.rte.ie/radio/2fm/ I figured if anyone was on and interested... We're on the Dan Hegarty alternative show. National station!
    27 points
  9. Been on here years and seen you lot snagging vintage bargains, well today was my day as I spotted this old thing for £60 in a charity shop window. It's a Hondo II Professional with what I assume to be a Dimarzio, no Made in Japan on the neckplate so is this Korean/Samick or a later MIJ Tokai or something? Serial is 0110454. Sounds impressively loud unplugged, looks all original (to my untrained eye anyway) aside from the janky knobs. Pickup housing has cracks but not completely broken, parts rusty and definitely showing its age but should clean up to a less ratty state and the neck is straight. Some weight to it, given the rust and the fact I found it in the port town of Fleetwood I wonder if it actually has been used as a boat anchor at some point. Obligatory rubbish car seat shots.
    26 points
  10. Against my own better judgment, I present 'Wishadelic Demotune', a mix of two of the great audible art installations of the past decade - namely, Psychedelic Tuning and the infamous Wishbass Demo from youtube. I apologise in advance if this causes distress or genuine harm. It may be an idea to remove small children or animals from the room first. Psychedelic Wishtune.mp3 EDIT: on second thoughts, I shall rename it 'Wishadelic Demotune'.
    26 points
  11. I have a couple of stories. They're not as good as those above, but here goes. Back in the 80s, some pals and I started a western swing/honkytonk band in London. Two of the band members were an established guitar and fiddle duo who knew the material, so we were off to a good start. We put together a couple of sets, sent out demos and got some gigs. All was going swimmingly until said duo got offered several months of lucrative work in Europe and announced their departure. We debated what to do. I played fiddle (it was originally my main instrument), but was playing bass in the band. Should I swap to the fiddle and look for a bass player? In the end, we decided that it was better that we had a rhythm section that knew the stuff and that we should add solo instruments (we had a competent rhythm guitar player, who also sang). We had gigs in the book and figured that a solo instrumentalist who doesn't know a number could sit out and not leave a hole, whereas a member of the rhythm section dropping clangers would not be good. We put out some wanted ad's and booked a rehearsal room for auditions. We looked for guitar players first. We did have a few interesting characters show up, saying things like "country music and swing? Yeah, no problem. Only three chords, innit?". One bloke was amusing. He produced a beautiful vintage Gretsch when he set up (to approving nods from the band. He must know his stuff if he has the right instrument, eh?). We kicked off a number and he thrashed the unfortunate guitar, pogoing around and gurning. We nodded at him to take a solo, whereupon he turned the volume up and thrashed away at the same chords, jumping about on one leg and smiling broadly at us as if to say "Great, aren't I?". We politely asked him to leave his number in the waste paper basket on the way out. All was not lost, though, because two guys showed up together next. They were long-time pals and playing partners, both had Telecasters (one with a B bender) and knew what they were doing, so problem number one solved. Rather than hire a room to audition fiddle players, I suggested that I should invite people to my house to check them out (I would play guitar to accompany them) to weed out the no-hopers/weirdos. We agreed and I placed the ad'. One guy rang the doorbell, I answered it and he fixed me with a gimlet stare and asked me, in a heavy Germanic/Scandinavian accent, whether Zis was the place for ze audition. I replied in the affirmative, led him to the lounge and offered him a cuppa, which he declined. Attempting to make small talk and break the ice, I asked if he had come far. "Vot do you mean?", came the reply. "Er, I wondered if you lived far away", I replied. "No. I do not". His manner was rather intense. Right. Okay. Let's get down to it. "Vot does the band play?", he asked. Thinking "didn't you read the ad'?" to myself, I replied "Western swing and honkytonk. That sort of thing". Another gimlet stare. "Vot is honkytonk?" I rattled off the names of some of the better known players and singers and he looked blank. I picked up my guitar and asked what he would like to start with. "I shall play you a piece that I wrote", he intoned with a fierce glare. "Do not play ze guitar, please". Um, OK. Go for it. He launched into a frenzied rendition of, er, something, sawing away furiously. It sounded vaguely like an American old time fiddle tune, The Devil's Dream, but was in some sort of free time. He finally stopped with a flourish and I said "Ah, the Devil's Dream". His eyes bored into me. "No. I wrote this tune". Have it your own way, sunshine. At this point, I was ready to throw him out, but felt I should give him one more chance. I suggested I should sing one of the songs from the band's set and he could play along. He agreed and I launched into a straightforward Hank Williams number (can't remember which. It was almost 40 years ago). Before I had got to the end of the first line, he was carving away, out of tune, out of time. He played random inappropriate nonsense over the entire thing, to the extent that it was a struggle for me to get through it. I put down the guitar, thanked him for coming and said I'd be in touch. "So I am in ze band?", he enquired. OK, you want honesty. "I'm afraid not", I told him. "Why not?". "You just aren't familiar with the idiom", I replied. He glared at me and said "I am not satisfied with your explanation". I'd had enough. I took out my fiddle and gave him a few bars of western swing legend Johnny Gimble's party trick, which was to play swing fiddle and scat sing a harmony line (a great device. I'd worked for hours to be able to do it). "Because you can't do that", I said. With a face like thunder, he put his fiddle away and left without a word. Just as well. Saved me from having to clean his blood from my carpet.
    25 points
  12. Bass Amigos, Its Steve Fishman aka Steve Lawrence here. Someone asked about my gear and sound with Hugh. Missed this one by a decade or two. Its P bass for me and even the Burns bison (UK c.1980) is a PJ . Most of my basses have had J pickups (added before I found them) but I use the P pickup only as a general rule. I still have the Peavey Max but last several years have been using a Genz Benz Streamliner a lot. Theyre great but I dont love the eq with 3 fixed (not my fave) frequencies prolly to sound SVT-like SVT isnt my 1st choice. I endorsed PV and have a couple of T40s and a Midibass. I also have a cool vintage Carlsbro 200W valve amp for loud bands. Im currently doing projects incl Glen Matlock & The Maestros w Clem Burke and Gilby Clarke and Intergalactic (post psych postpunk). Im gonna try to look on this a bit more often. Love to all bottomly people!! XX Steve https://epi5050.com/musician
    25 points
  13. The finished Bass. Mark is due to visit the workshop this Friday to take delivery, and we may make a short video/sound check.
    25 points
  14. Back around '78, we auditioned a singer as our geetarist at the time was going through a 'strong, silent' phase and decided to give up singing to practise his playing more (whatever!) At the time, we were playing standard pub-rock fare from The Stones, Eric C, Roxy Music, blah, blah. One local hero was a big noise in the cabaret and working men's club circuit and thought he was the next Tony Christie/Elvis. So, we rent a rehearsal space, send out a set list with half a dozen well-know 'standards (for that time) and await the arrival of the great man himself. We, in the band, all resembled drop-outs from Lynyrd Skynyrd at that time, and he rocks up looking like John Revolta (shirt collar outside wide-lapelled jacket, etc.). He firstly needed to spray something into his throat, as this allowed him to 'expand his range', and then he went through a vocal warm up of about ten minutes of scales. By the time all this had been accomplished, the guitarist was giving me looks to let me know he was going to crumple with restricted laughter, and to say not a word. Meanwhile, Mr Fabulous is now bu**ering about with the PA amp, attempting to find echo, reverb, treble and lord knows what else. This 'search' for settings unleashed feedback, rumbles, parping whoops, and sounds Ron Grainer would have been proud of. Perhaps, 25 minutes into the audition, Perry Combover was ready to rock and first up was Brown Sugar by the Stones. 1,2,3,4. Intro goes well. He proceeds to hit the wrong note as he joins in. Not only was he in the wrong key; he was singing the chorus. You simply must accept at this point, that he was approaching the number very much in the style of Harry Secombe, as 'Mr Bumble' in 'Oliver'. It was akin to Leonard Cohen auditioning for Greenday. Possible because he was unable to breathe, our guitarist was on his knees, pretending to be doing something with his amp-controls. Seeing this, I decided to face the wall, but to plough-on regardless. Suffice to say, I planted the top of my head flat against the wall, to provide some measure of pain, in the hope it might stop me having convulsions of mirth - I swear I couldn't see, for tears of laughter running down my face, and daren't breathe in case I atrophied. After what seemed like the 'director's cut'/'festival version' of the song -which passed for me in slow-motion, allowing me to re-live my entire life to that point - we road-crashed to a halt. The drummer looked like he had been tasered, and all blink-reflexes were gone; the guitarist was a sort of crimson-peuce colour and probably now boasted a new world record in holding breath, long enough to impress a south-seas pearl diver. I was, as I recall, almost managing to stand with a ninety degree bend from the waist, being held up olny by the pressure of my head on the supporting wall. "Well guys," quoth the great man,"that sounded pretty good to me, but I don't think you've got the solo quite right somehow!"
    25 points
  15. Somewhere out on the internet there's a drum forum, a singers forum, a keyboard forum... Where every single one of us is getting a virtual kicking...
    23 points
  16. NBD!! After much deliberation, finally decided to take the plunge on this drop-dead-gorgeous (IMHO) Sandberg Cali ll TM SL 2-band active that Thomann had in stock. Only just unpacked it but I can report that the build quality and playability are spot on - as I expected, having owned a Lionel. Thanks to its paulownia body and lightweight machine-heads, this one weighs next to nowt and still balances perfectly on the strap. I'll post more feedback when I've got to know it properly.
    23 points
  17. Played my first Wilcock over 2 years ago and finally placed an order last year. Arrived today. Its awesome! Only had a short noodle on it but its sounds killer, love the 'bridge' pickup, getting used the mudbucker, but overall it plays great and its PINK!
    22 points
  18. Just back from an Elton John tribute gig at Butlin’s in Skegness. Simple joy of playing a vintage P bass thru an SVT rig for about 1,000+ people (and a blow up dog) enjoying a 70s weekender. An ace day out!
    22 points
  19. Medium scale 32" Aria Pro11 Thor sound TSB550 Neck through bass in natural Ash with the rare 4 in line headstock. This is a lovely bass I have had this for a few years, for a time I only played med scale but now I have moved to 34" scale so I would like to sell this to help towards a getting a Rickenbacker 4001 or 4003 so i would be interested in a part trade for one of these. Quality hardware, passive. vol and 5 way tone control and a coil tap switch. truss rod fully functioning frets are in great shape with minimum wear. 44mm nut width with a super fast shallow neck, low action, solid brass bridge, original pickup . Lovely light weight bass about 8lbs, very comfortable bass perfectly balanced on the strap in great condition with a few minor dings and a tiny scratch next to the jack socket, it is rare to find a bass of this age (1980's)in such good shape. The first three photo's are the best match for the colour they where taken without the flash on the camera. Prefer collection from Nr Plymouth Devon, I'm happy to drive a reasonable distance for a personal handover I don't have a case but if a courier is required it will be very well packed I am also selling a Epiphone Thunderbird vintage pro 60's bass and a Ashdown CTM 300 Valve amp
    21 points
  20. Played the crooked crow bar in Leighton Buzzard on Saturday night. It's a funny venue, it used to be a Blockbuster video rental shop but now it's a live music venue. The boss, the staff, the sound people, each time we've played there they've just been so good to us. Not in the way of loads of free drinks or whatever but just in the sense that they really want you there and want to make sure you've got everything you need for a decent gig. I'd highly recommend anyone in this area to look them up. Anyhows, we are doing another specialist 00's gig on Friday so we trialled about five new songs and they went down very well, so we were pleased with that. Best part of the night: an artsy bloke in the crowd who fancies himself as a poet started peeling and eating an orange while doing some strange crouched down dance. Band's the Desert Penguins. Gear: Ashdown ABM600 with 2x15" cabs Bass: Stingray
    21 points
  21. I don't want a thread de-rail or a big discussion here but I'm just a little uncomfortable about the direction this might be headed. BassChat thrives because of the generally good natured ethos of debate here. We don't discuss politics or religion and I've had my knuckles rapped for the former Maybe would be better steering away from discussing national stereotypes? I love getting comments from @agedhorse who is a person of great knowledge and experience. He frequently helps out with individual advice to owners of gear he has designed or had an association with. His insights into what Gibson are attempting or indeed any information about how things look from his part of the industry are always fascinating and worth reading. I would love it if more industry insiders engage with us in this way. Often in the past this has been from bassists who happen to work in the industry and their insights are always interesting and add to our general knowledge of all things bass. Obviously they are a little constrained in what they can say and they are unlikely to criticise their own products or employers My own nationalism is pretty limited, I feel shame about quite a lot of England's past and pride about other bits but I'm really happy to see increasing numbers of people from around the world joining BassChat and I'm proud that we make them welcome. Let's all be friends here.
    21 points
  22. If there was any doubt whether I am a pedal obsessive it's been dispelled since I suffered a shoulder injury. I've played less bass so I found a different bass-related outlet: building boards! I recently put together a European board using excellent versions of each type of pedal I play using only European manufacturers, and using each manufacturer no more than once. The board, power supplies and cables are European too. I think only the velcro isn't (I went for American dual lock instead of Swiss velcro). I've been meaning to put together the European board since August but was waiting on a particular pedal. Ultimately I gave up (and it shipped today!!). In the meantime I put together other themed boards by manufacturer (Broughton, Iron Ether, Caveman, Noble and Cali76 (it may as well be one brand!), EAE and 3 Leaf): Here's a photo of all of the assembled boards (save that the BC1 is being used on the European board so that Caveman board has disappeared):
    21 points
  23. I was at the Dog and Duck last night when I saw Charles Berthoud sitting in with a blues band. It was terrible - he kept playing so many notes and was slapping and tapping over everything. He was also playing a class D amplifier that had no heft. Nobody in the crowd was dancing due to the lack of groove. Eventually the band got sick of him and invited a Basschat greybeard onto the stage to sit in. From the moment he plugged his (modified) Harley Benton into his vintage '80s Trace Elliot everything changed. The power and heft of his whole notes and the tasteful use of minor pentatonic shapes (no matter whether over a major or minor tonality) had everybody up on the dancefloor grooving away. I later saw Charles outside pacing up and down nervously and chain smoking, a bit like when Clapton saw Hendrix for the first time. True story. There's a lesson for us all there I think.
    20 points
  24. First time in Arbroath with BLOCKBUSTARZ last night in Royal British Legion. Sold out again which is always a great morale booster. Audience were up for it from the first song. Lots of people turned up in Glam gear too which is always great to see from the stage. It was so enjoyable we had a contest for best dancer and best glam dresser who both won one of our T shirts. A few others we gave out our new pin badges. Was very warm even with our fans on but air-con units above the stage were firing out warm air all night. We had a smaller upstairs function room to get changed in which was good too. Lot better than a small cupboard sized room that some venues have given us in the past. 4 blokes and a female singer doesn't work in cramped spaces My usual gear, Sandberg VM4 into Ampeg SVT7 and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Shure wireless unit. Stage a bit boomy even with gramma board it was a bit noticeable. Had to turn the bass EQ down a bit on the amp to clean it up but no big deal. They want to book us for 3 nights in 2025 incl a Xmas gig. Bit of a drive tho 2.5hrs on way there and 3hrs on way home. On way home the roads were quiet but they closed the main M90 right after the Queensferry bridge crossing meaning i had to take a detour. Wasn't home till 4am so by the time i unloaded the car with my bass gear and the 3 way 15" PA cabs it was 4:30am and then a coffee to wind down getting to bed at 5am and back up with a cat banging cupboard doors at 8am. Bit tired this morning to say the least. Probably one of the most enjoyable gigs we've played. Just great fun all night. One or two wee hiccups but nothing we couldn't cover. Dave
    20 points
  25. Hi Folks, For Sale only: Fender 50's Classic Lacquer MIM Precision bass. I'm looking for £750 ono (which is what I paid for it). I bought this fantastic sounding P Bass here on Basschat a year ago from Jon, aka @Mudpup, who I'm sure will attest to what a great bass it is... It's called a Classic P Bass for a reason, and that's because it sound like you always imagined a P Bass should! Its punchy, growly, full and warm sounding and works great in just about any musical setting you can think of where electric basses are used... I bought it for a recording project (which it was perfect for) but now that particular project's finished, I find I'm not using it so much - preferring instead, my G&L SB1 because it has more of a Jazz neck profile.. To quote Jon: ".. this has a Nitro finish and is the same series as the sought after Mexican Roadworn basses. It's effectively a Roadworn without the factory relic job - you can give it some genuine wear yourself. And of course it's iconic Black and Maple 🙂" Alder body, one piece lightly sanded maple neck with the skunk stripe and the truss rod is working fine. Possibly due to the wider neck, these basses are very stable and very resonant sounding. Weighs is approx 8.6lbs. Previous owner fitted a Hipshot Detuner which correctly matches the reverse winding tuners on this model. And the original tuner comes with the bass. A Black White Black WD pickguard has been fitted, but the original brass anodised guard is also included. Another quote from Jon's For Sale ad last year, which still holds true: "Condition is used with some dinks and marks in the nitro finish. There is light scratching on the back but not full on buckle rash. You can see buckleworm on the back up close. It's all genuine mojo wear though and looks fine from a few feet away - this is a gig machine rather than a case queen." A Fender deluxe gig bag is included. Ideally, collection from Potton in Central Bedfordshire, 3 miles from the Beds/Cambs border is preferred, but I'd be happy to meet up within a reasonable distance if that helps. Trial of the bass is welcomed. I've got amps in the house and a Zoom B3 + headphones set up for a car meet if it helps. Plus the obligatory tea/coffee /biscuits of course.. Thanks for looking and please message me if you have any other questions. 😊 Cheers Nik
    20 points
  26. hi! Marc here from Sandberg! first and foremost, I hope i’m not breaking any rules for the forum/this thread. if I am, someone kindly let me know (or give me a swift kick in the butt). as for your frustrations, I can assure you that it’s not intentional avoidance. some of the insight provided in this thread is spot on, in that we (like many other companies) have had a number of issues with emails either getting to us OR getting to people. anything from spam filters to the email servers people us (eg Google) rejecting our emails entirely for a variety of reasons, most recently the SMTP authentication certificate. these are just a couple very real and often very frustrating things we’ve encountered and are working to fix that! to address your specific concerns/inquiry, please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] (yes, “.com” - I live in Chicago. you are also welcome to CC my personal email at [email protected] to make sure I see it). thanks for bringing this to our attention! -Marc
    20 points
  27. TONIGHT! The Meathead's Arms in Wolverhampton (a fight every night or your money back) with 5 piece girl singer pop music band! (We go out under different names because of something something different agencies something... I don't like to ask) Dep singer, lovely lass, worked with her before, ex-bandmate of the others, she's basically one of the lads. Unfortunately, she'd not got the memo about no dress code, so she was was dressed up like (her words) a high-class prostitute and the rest of us were in scruffy T-shirts and jeans. The football was on when we got there- the smell of testosterone, Ben Sherman shirts and poor quality cocaine made for an electric atmosphere. Load in and setup all pretty normal, nice big stage area so I set up next to the drummer to keep him company. A fair few people in, mostly ignoring us and waiting for Match of the Day to start so we treated it like a paid practice. First set we played really well apart from Toxic which we messed up worse than Britney messed up 2007, luckily no-one was listening so we got away with it. Second set had a couple of dancers and a few tables at the back seemed to be enjoying it. The drummer and I had a great time while the keys player was frantically doing FOH sound, sorting out clicks, cueing the singer and occasionally playing some keys. Highlights were the two Dua Lipa ones (Levitating and Don't start now) which are a blast to play, Murder on the Dancefloor (new one which we all complained about but now love) and Crazy in Love/Crazy mashup which I've FINALLY sussed out (It's really very simple, it goes 6, 4, 2. 8, 8, (4) 8, 10, Crazy, loads, 4(*), ending. Simple.) The drummer loves that one and plays it like he's getting paid by the note. It was the first public outing of my new improved enormous pedalboard (NIEPB) which sounded fantastic - the SA C4 patch for Toxic is brilliant (shame we totally buggered the song up, but the Bass sounded great), the EBS Multicomp gives the sound a fat, round, warm punch in the guts but in a good way and I'm fairly sure the two metres of retina-destroying pink LEDs make it sound extra fabulous. (It's not quite finished - when a certain online retailer who shall remain nameless bothers to post me the stuff I ordered over a week ago, I can hook up the patchbay AND have all matching red patch leads. Obviously, you can't tell they're red, what with the two metres of retina-destroying pink LEDs, but still...) Played the 5 String 'Ray which is still a work in progress - I did find myself reverting to using the B as an expensive thumb rest when I switched to autopilot, but Rome wasn't burnt in a day and all that. Second outing of the weekend for the rainbow Converse, foot fans! Paid cash, shipping forecast on the way home, back about 1 for last nights curry with a pint of Westons Reserve (8.2% ABV), an Old Fashioned (Lots of ice, much bourbon (usually Maker's Mark but Four Roses tonight), sugar syrup (use maple syrup for a really good one), Angostura Bitters, lots of stirring and a twist of orange peel over the top) and most importantly of all, desperately seeking validation from strangers on the internet. Cheers. Same again, please.
    20 points
  28. Tonight! The Cantina Band's world tour of the Vaults in Knowle continued - A truly momentous occasion, as we had five (or possibly four?) new songs in the set! We'd done something on Wednesday called "Rehearsal" (?!) which is where you all cram in to a small room and try to play songs you don't know with nobody listening, so it's a lot like a gig except we had to pay for it. I don't think it'll catch on. Usual stuff - the bar was rammed, a few folk ventured to the corner betseen the toilets and the fire escape to see us., we played pretty well and those that were up dancing seemed to really enjoy it. Of the new songs, Lithium went down the best, Helter Skelter was the most fun to play and Centrefold was the cheesiest. Went for a wireless wander into the bar during Sex on Fire, which was a lot of fun and went down well. We all really enjoyed it for some reason, maybe sticking a few new ones wasn't such a stupid idea? Highlight was me being *just* about to start Ace of Spades, then the guitarist counting in to Whole Lotta Love... nearly went very badly. Sterling (my fave Bass for Rock stuff) -> small board -> Sansamp programmable -> Mark CMD121P Feet: Red socks -> Rainbow Converse. Had a laugh, got paid, home about half midnight for a curry, a Weston's Reserve (8.2% ABV) and an Old J Tiki Fire overproof spiced rum (75.5% ABV) Very different gig Saturday- female fronted pop stuff with the 5 string and the first outing for my new improved enormous pedalboard... Tune in the same time tomorrow!
    20 points
  29. Shamelessly copied and pasted from a post of mine years ago, but, I hope, worth a revisit: Manchester...erm, mid-80s... Our drummer (in an originals-with-the-odd-cover 80s Rock Band) was about to become a Dad, and had reluctantly decided he'd have to shelve the rehearsals and gigging for a good while, so he'd stepped down, and we were on the urgent look-out for a replacement. As a thoroughly nice chap, and knowing we had gigs booked we needed to fulfil, he had even left his kit at the rehearsal rooms for new drummers to use, in part or whole, for the auditions. We organised a Sunday afternoon, with an hour slot for each drummer we'd contacted, and it started unremarkably, but then, second to last, was the standout. And not in a good way. He turned up in a six-wheel Transit, immediately earning about a thousand bonus points, but it became terribly clear that all this thing held was his kit...and there was little room for anything else. After refusing to use of any of the already-set-up kit, he began ferrying kit in. And more kit. And more kit. After ten minutes of watching boxes piling up, and with his end of the rehearsal room beginning to look like the dockside of the Queen Mary before a round the world jaunt, we volunteered to help, and then we all spent the next 45 minutes setting up a furry tigerskin-covered double-kick kit, with six raised toms, three floor toms, eight rototoms and so many cymbals we couldn't see him any more. As he tightened up the third china cymbal, I said "No gong, then?", and he froze, looking concerned. "I didn't bring it...should I have done?" I assured him it wouldn't count against him, and eventually, with about five minutes left of his allotted hour, he was ready. The singist had been forced to nip outside to intercept the last auditionee, apologise and ask him to bear with and go for a pint in the local for twenty minutes, and then our hero launched into the first intro, to a then-bog-standard Bon Jovi tune we'd decided would make a good starter audition song. Now, in 40+ years of bands, I've never played in a freeform jazz ensemble, and I certainly hadn't back then, so I was unfamiliar with the five-count intro, and the thirteen-bar drum fill*, but this chap was clearly a master. We couldn't possibly fault him for brio, enthusiasm, and certainly energy...it was his counting which left quite a lot to be desired**. In addition, having taken so long to set up his mahoooosive kit, he was determined to hit every single drum and cymbal as often as he could, with scant regard for the song, or indeed the befuddlement he was creating amongst his prospective fellow band-members. I shall leave to your imagination the meal he made of the drawn-out ending, suffice to say Richard Wagner, had he been hanging around the rehearsal rooms (unlikely) and not dead for about a century (for once, fortunate), would probably have shaken his head and said something unflattering about bombast. In German. He finished by standing, his arms aloft and his eyes shining. Had that thing Usain Bolt does (not the running, the archery-arms thing) been around, he would have been doing that. We shuffled our feet, unable to maintain eye contact with him or each other, for fear of collapsing into hysterics. Eventually the singer thanked him for his time, and we all heaved-to loading his van again, while the singer went to buy the other auditionee another pint. He didn't get the job. * I'm probably doing an enormous disservice to freeform jazz ensembles around the globe here, so apologies if so, but I'm at a loss as to where else to place it musically. Perhaps amongst those gangs of glassy-eyed, saffron-robed enthusiasts one encounters on the city streets, each banging a drum in a random manner with a blissful expression and no regard for hard-pressed shoppers... ** I note that 'dyscalcula' is the numerical equivalent of dyselxia, and apparently A Real Medical Thing. It may have been that he was a secret sufferer; that would explain an awful lot. Edit: I've just spotted that I've spelt 'dyslexia' wrong in the footnote above. Oh, the irony...
    20 points
  30. Last Night: Bloxwich hockey club's end of season awards/prizegiving/dinner/pissup at Old Wyrley Hall in Walsall (I think?) with Down to the Floor - 5 piece girl-fronted modern popular music beat combo. Britney, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Arianna Grande, Rhianna, Girls Aloud, Spice Girls, Whitney type stuff. Load in at 5 so we're set up, soundchecked and out of the way before the awards and speeches. The stage is about the size of a postage stamp (a normal one, not one of the big commemorative ones) so there was barely room for my size 12s and the New Improved Enormous Pedalboard (NIEPB). The Bass amp was on the other side of the stage and I had to fold my stand up between sets, it was that small. I had a bit of a mare setting up as the Bass amp (not mine) decided to commit suicide (luckily I had mine with me) AND my midi controller decided it didn't want to play nicely, so I took ages to set up and had to soundcheck without IEMs and hope it would all be fine. Soundcheck done (sort of) and with some time to kill, a couple of us went to the drummer's gaff and watched most of Pretty Woman with his Mrs (Spoiler Alert: Julia Roberts is pretty and also a woman. Richard Gere is also in it (He's not a woman, as far as I am aware. I wouldn't call him 'pretty' either, but I believe he is generally considered to be quite handsome (if you like that sort of thing))). Back to the venue for 9ish, sat around and kicked our heels (and had the singer paint my nails a fetching shade of purple) while the prizegiving and roistering continued, went on about 10:30 to a room full of incredibly excited and heavily refreshed hockey players - imagine rugby players but without the restraint, decorum or dignity. They absolutely loved it, the dancefloor was packed from the first note, we played really well despite being wedged onto a tiny stage - I was so close to the drummer, I could smell his earwax. We had our first choice singer, she's fantastic - she's always nervous about Love on Top (the song), but she smashed it - including the four key changes and the whistle register stuff. Highlights were Toxic, which we nailed (a relief after we totally flubbed it last time) and Crazy in Love/Crazy mashup which is our collective favourite now we've nailed the arrangment (It's easy enough: 6, 4, 2, 8, 8, (4), 8, 10, Crazy, 6, 4, loads, (*4), ending). Two 45 minute sets, finished about half midnight... they would have had us playing til 3 AM, they were loving it that much. The organisers loved us, they want us back next year (again) and have promised a bigger venue (again). Played the 'Ray 5 -> New Improved Enormous Pedalboard (NIEPB) -> MB 802 (with PA support - I'd love to hear the OC-2 and C4 synth bassline on 'How will I know?' through those subs) Foot fans: White DMs with purple laces (to match the white shirt with purple tie and purple fingernails - you think I just throw these outfits together?!) Packed up (the drummer can now officially carry his entire kit including cymbals and hardware in one trip), home about 2 for last nights curry and a Westons reserve (8.2% ABV). Great night.
    19 points
  31. 41 year old Ibanez RB924 CS (Cherry Sunburst) From my favourite era of Ibanez shapes, this has tow passive pickups, master volume, pan, passive tone and three way switch which I seem to recall does parallel / series and some other option. It makes a difference !! Pickups look like soap bars, but are double J and P when you look at the pole pieces. The sound confirms this. Super skinny neck which is very easy to play. Condition is very decent for the age, it's not pristine, but marks are confined to the rear. For sale as something else has drawn my eye. Will ship anywhere in the UK and happy to work out your choice of shipping service. More photos to follow shortly as soon as my drive behaves.
    19 points
  32. Bought on looks alone 😂
    19 points
  33. Jaco... I don't really like fretless bass. I don't like burpy bridge pickups soloed. (I mean, who wants to listen to burps?!?) I can appreciate the musicianship, but I really don't care for what he does. It doesn't speak to me at all.
    19 points
  34. The Pipeline in Brighton last night. Fun but smaller crowd than we would have ideally liked (and I felt for the main act who drove all the way from Nottingham). Guess even a rainy Sunday night doesn't pull out all the goths! Anyhow, my make-or-break test run of Rickenbacker was OK but not as comfortable as my short scale Mustang
    19 points
  35. Maple Road 3/8 The Bend Theatre Great Theatre gig. We played 9 songs opening for Ivy Ford. We we're clicking on all 6 cylinders from the first couple of notes. Stage sound was outstanding. Daryl
    19 points
  36. In Tewkesbury last night at The Roses theatre. Capacity audience of just under 400 in this arts centre probably dating back to the 70’s. Easy load in and set up, then a great Thai meal just round the corner at the historic Black Bear Inn. Superb Pad Thai for a tenner, and some marvellous ales too. Oh yeh, the gig - it went well, no problems, well received and that’s it really! Just about to set off to Swansea now for our gig there tonight at The Grand Theatre.
    19 points
  37. For Merciless tone shaping ability, no doubt.
    19 points
  38. My band 'Shreds.' played at The Outpost in Liverpool last night. This was our first time playing in Liverpool, and we were headlining a show that had three other bands on the bill. The fam came along with me to watch the show, and my son is always happy to help sell merch (he sold 4 t-shirts!). We arrived well in advance and were greeted with an incredibly competent and friendly sound guy who said he's been working there for 14 years. We normally play LOUD, but this was a small room and he asked both the guitarist and I to trust him and turn our amps down a bit, so we did. We had a setlist of 20 songs, three of which were new. During the soundcheck we managed to 'rehearse' each of the new songs. Things sounded just fine to me during the soundcheck. I think that about 40 people showed up and when it was our turn to play, I soon realized that I could not hear myself very well on stage. I backed up against the bass cabinet, which helped somewhat, however it wasn't quite loud enough for me. I usually have problems hearing our guitarist on stage, but now both guitar and vox seemed super loud through the monitors. I probably should have commented to the sound guy, but I was afraid of losing the guitar feed in my monitor so I just carried on. The show started 30 minutes late, there were some technical issues with vox during one of the other bands' set, and the bands before us seemed to burn a lot of time by talking to the crowd. Once we got up on stage, we were told that we'd have to cut our set short. So, the three songs that I worked so hard to perfect on bass this past week were tossed out! Oh well, at least I learned them in preparation for the next show! They did sound really good during the soundcheck, which was attended by the fam and a couple of the other bands.
    19 points
  39. A few months ago, I watched a video of a guy designing and building a guitar/bass with a spinning round neck. He surprisingly got it to work! Now Charles Berthoud has got his hands on it. Not everyone's cup of tea, but you have to admire his ability to play his style on almost any stringed instrument.
    18 points
  40. Same bass, new licks of paint, graphtech nut, cts pots and a gigbag to save you the ballache of finding a T-bird shaped one.. https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/Electric-Bass/Thunderbird-'64/Ember-Red
    18 points
  41. Last night was our annual fundraiser for the local theatre, The Courtyard in Hereford. It’s tough as the arranger to keep coming up with interesting new stuff for the audience, takes me a year to plan, but managed a 15 minute country medley (named No O In Cuntry) and 10 minute dance music medley for this year. Some tech issues meant we didn’t have control of our monitor mixes so a bit isolating, some occasional mistakes on my behalf but all in all a fun gig and have to start planning the next one now!
    18 points
  42. Just arrived. It's great to have a Dingwall back in the fold. Number 25 of 82. Set up beautifully right out of the box. Thanks to Bass Direct for a super fast turnaround
    18 points
  43. About ten years ago we were looking for a new drummer. First chap we tried spent over an hour setting up the biggest kit we had ever seen, and then proceeded to drown the rest of us out. Mutual agreement he wasn't the best for the band. Out of desperation we then tried a 14 year old kid who volunteered through a friend. Sort of did it as a favour as he had never been in a band before - turns out Sam was God's gift to drumming. He won the Yamaha U18 drummer of the year competition a year later, we recorded a bunch of Toto songs for his A-levels, and then he left us in his dust when he disappeared off to become a session musician! It was quite humbling to have a tiny part in his development.
    18 points
  44. First gig of year for us! What with a change in vocalists and 2nd guitar, it’s not been a productive start but we’re up and running now. New guitarist is quite versatile (1st guitar off stage at this point in the gig enjoying his new wireless freedom!) and a change to female lead vocals has meant a more ‘lounge’ oriented set but it went down well. Played at an embassy club, there’s not much of a live scene here in Islamabad so you always get an enthusiastic crowd as they’re just grateful someone is playing, so you’re never quite sure if they’re applauding your musical performance or just the fact you turned up!
    18 points
  45. FREEZING night in Wrexham, taking part in the Metal For The Masses competition…. lots of fun though, and delighted to be through to the semi final. The Greco Thunderbird was awesome, and the TC head into an Ashdown 8x10 sounded great. I’m literally just about warming up now! It was COLD!! 🥶
    18 points
  46. Finally bagged a teal/maple!
    18 points
  47. Sold two mustangs, bought this. More soon…. busy right now…. playing
    18 points
  48. I decided 30” scale was a bit too much for me, so I’ve had a 30cm scale made instead
    18 points
  49. Some pics arrived from Sat nights gig iin Arbroath at the Royal British Legion Club with BLOCKBUSTARZ. (see earlier post)
    17 points
  50. Played Butlin’s Skegness last night - doing a Semi-regular Monday slot there with a Nile Rodgers tribute over the coming season. Decent venue & crowd especially considering the time of year! Rocking my MTD Saratoga 5 just like Bernard Edwards used to play, obviously 👀 😛
    17 points
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