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This is guaranteed to boil my fosters. I'm not the world's most reliable man, but my reckoning is that if I can turn up on time, then anyone can. Persistent lateness is just pure selfish bullcrap.

Well actually a very old Sei, but absolutely beautiful none the less. Aquired recently in a trade on here, and just back today following a service, a refret and the installation of a new preamp. i would love to find out more of it's history, I really want to know exactly how old it is, I do know that it’s one of the first ones, judging by the exquisite binding around the fretboard, so it's at least 20 years old. i love the headless design. The ergonomics are fantastic. It balances superbly, and is an absolute joy to play. The different colour LEDs are a touch of pure genius.

Wind back five years and you’ll hopefully understand why this bass is as special to me as it is.... In Feb 2013 I was diagnosed with a massive tumour on my right kidney. It was at Stage 3 due to the size (an unbelievable 9.5kgs!) and I was told by the surgeon that it they didn’t operate soon it would kill me one way or another. On Thursday last week, I was given the good news that I had no signs of recurrence and that they were leaving it to me whether I wanted to continue under observation; in short they were happy for me to be discharged. To get to the 5 year milestone was something I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to, so to say I’m relieved is an understatement! After a few tears (something in my eye) my wife told me to treat myself and knew I’d been hankering after one of these: who was I to refuse! After an early morning start I picked this up from Bass Direct on Saturday. The guys kindly restrung it with TI Flats and it really is the best Fretless I have owned. It is more special to me than words can adequately convey. Here it is:

I wouldn't worry about the Fender v Squier decal - you need to get the shorts sorted.

Hi Basschatters! Just to let you know that the full line-up and timings for the Main and Masterclass stages are now on the website. We're sorry to see that a few of you are frustrated by the way in which we reveal artists and timings. There are several reasons for this - we're sure you can understand that it is part of our marketing campaign to announce artists one by one rather than in one bunch at the start, but also artists often want to change time slots, artists drop out and are replaced - and we wouldn't want anyone to plan their whole trip around a specific performance only to be told that it's been changed or cancelled closer to the time for reasons that are out of our control. Anyway we hope you're as excited as we are about the show this year - be sure to make use of your 20% off tickets code, we can't wait to see you all there! Best wishes The London Bass Guitar Show team

Two important things to remember. 1. Probably the most important factor in getting Mani's bass tone is being Mani. 2. The reason why his tone is so good is not the tone in itself (if you heard it on its own in one of those isolated bass tracks you'd most likely wonder what all the fuss was about), but the way it fits into the overall soundscape of the other instruments. So unless you are playing in a Stone Roses tribute band where the other band members had completely nailed the sounds of the people they are copying, you'll find that you are going to have to alter the sound to fit with what the other members of your band are doing to make the bass sound right.

I bought a super compact. Loved it so much I bought a second. Like dating Salma Hayek and finding out she has a twin sister.

Done!

@Osiris - The G55 comes in at under 3ms latency. I seem to recall that the specs are <2.9ms. So certainly up there with pro level wireless analogue to analogue. (ULXD for example, is 2.9ms) - so you have nothing to worry about on that front. Funnily enough, even on small stages I tend to use wireless just so that I have no cables under my feet. Use it - there's certainly no reason in your setup why you shouldn't. If you were telling me you were running a Smooth Hound, I certainly would be urging your edge on the side of caution as you would be within the realms of trouble with that (in fact, it annoys me that people keep banding around that it has no audible latency and is much better than the line 6 equivalents - when in reality, when using it in an IEM setup, it is useless.) Ha - my setup - yeah, overkill for most - but for me it's the result of somebody who probably cares about IEM monitoring for all gigs a little too much. I've used this setup in front of a few thousand... and a few tens down the local I think as soon as you have experienced a great monitor mix - which no doubt you will with your planned setup - you are reluctant to give it up. For me, the more I have pushed the dual desks and external plugins, the less I want to give it up. It all comes down to the final point - I just want the best monitor mix I can have within reason. My setup is actually pretty quick to set up - it's all racked and ready to go... so no real difference to plugging in just one desk! But yeah, people are probably going to be satisfied with far less! @jrixn1 is right - the 215s will enable you to do a job - but I would urge both of you to try and get into the world of quad drivers. It's the difference between running a single 10 behind you and a four ten. Just far more headroom, control, authority... and bass! I had a brief exchange with @thommydonutsabout driver count. He's just bought some high driver count IEMs - I think he concludes with me, there's a big jump from a single to a quad... and then as you go up in driver count, the returns do diminish... however, some of these 6, 8, 12+ driver count earpieces really are nirvana. Defo worth checking out if you can stomach the cost - but as I say to people, you need to stop seeing your IEMs as headphones but as a replacement for speaker cabs. If you have the FoH doing all your amplification FoH, then see your IEM as Bergantinos (or whatever) for your ears - afterall, they are doing the same job - your personal monitor on stage. Then, the cost makes more sense. Put it like this, I'm yet to see anybody who has invested in the higher end IEMs regret doing so. I think @dood and @tonyf would agree wholeheartedly with me. And both of them have been through some serious rigs. Ask them which rig has been their fave - their 64 V8s... or their cabs. I don't know if you are about to come to LBGS or Bingley Hall at the weekend but hunt me down and I'll get some top end stuff in your ears if you want to hear the difference.

Pet hate of mine. I am ALWAYS on time. The only way I have ever been late for something is if my extra contingency travelling time is used up by extreme traffic conditions, and I generally allow enough time for that not to be a problem. The way I see it, if someone is always late they can just as easily always be on time. It believe it to be arrogant and disrespectful to make others wait 'just because' they are always late.

It was the first Vigier I tried as well but, it was a long(ish) time before it became mine. I ended up with a Mike Lull PJ5 and then sold that for 2 US Fender Precision 5 but every time I saw the Vigier I wondered why I hadn't bought it. One morning, seriously, I woke up and thought "that's it, I've got to have it" so, I sold both the Precision's and bought the Vigier. I haven't thought of buying another bass since, no GAS at all. I really have found my home hence the purchase of another Excess 5. It's taken me a long time, taken me on a cool journey of discovery and cost me a lot of money but to be here, has been worth it

I forgot “dancing Queen “with ABBA @4000 thinking on same lines I see

As if by magic... this appeared a few hours ago... I'm sure they didn't film it for me! (But it could be a buying omen...)

Dropping the action lower is also more likely to reveal other setup issues with a bass, such as uneven frets, sub-optimal amount of relief, etc. And how much clank you get will also depend on the tension in the strings (and obviously you playing style). Also - dropping the action by around a full 1mm in one go, if you've been playing with >3mm action before, is quite a lot - so not surprising that it would feel weird. Anyways - you asked for numbers, and insofar as I can tell, only @discreet mentioned any ... so here are a few more (all measured at the 24th fret / whatever is the last fret on a particular bass) I recall that Warwick's setup video specified their "standard" (= as delivered from the factory) action as 2mm on the hi-G, and 2.5mm on the low-E. I find that a useful "reference point for medium action". When the guys at Freedom CGR were doing no one of my basses, and asked what action I liked, I said "pretty low"... it came back with a bit under 1.25mm on the high-G, and around 1.75mm on low-B. Played beautifully with minimal buzz (which couldn't be heard amplified). So that would be my reference point for "rather low". Over a few weeks, I couldn't get my touch quite light enough for that action to feel natural on the high strings, so raised it a bit to 1.5mm/bit-above-1.75 on hiG/lowB - i'd still consider that "low action". Conversely, anything above 2.5mm on the high-G i'd consider "high-ish", and >3mm as "high". No idea whether these numbers for low/med/high would be shared by everyone, but it seems to match up well with what i've seen at my local bass shops (in Tokyo).

Here's some proper photos of the show and that... https://www.sundayforsammy.org/2018-photo-gallery

Thanks for all the kind comment chaps. You’re a lovely bunch xx

Mentioned on here before - Rick Wakeman famously ate a full Indian meal. "It was 1973 and we had released Tales from Topographic Oceans, which I didn't particularly like. The third piece in the show was a particularly long percussive piece and I didn't have much to do. Now, I used to have this roadie that worked for me, he would lie underneath my keyboard ostensibly to fix things, but mostly he would just mix me drinks and pass them up. So on this occasion he asks me if there's anything I need, but I heard it as him asking what I felt like doing after the show. I just replied 'oh, I'll probably go for a curry' and then he asked me what I would have so I started naming various menu items, 'onion bhaji', you know...and then, 20 minutes later there is this smell. Of course you know that curry is a smell that wafts, you detect it. And he's standing there under the keyboard rig with these bags of takeaway curry." The story, a classic pull-the-other-one, is "absolutely true". And Wakeman says he proceeded to "lay out the meal across my keyboards to have some." If you are thinking Spinal Tap right now, remember this is 10 years before that film. And Wakeman chuckles as he adds the coda, "I've probably been offered curry at gigs a couple of dozen times since, I don't have it on stage, but I'll arrive backstage to find that someone's sent a takeaway curry to me, or it's been ordered, or there's a takeout menu there. It's nice. It's funny.

Of course mate, especially in the jazz venues ;-)

I generally use my basses on a rotation system - every few months I'll change the bass I've been playing for one that's been cased for "a while" - this can be months sometimes, on other occasions basses can go unused for years if they miss their turn. My recent acquisitions - the Warwick Streamer and the Japanese MM Ray - have been on the rack since arriving, throwing the rotation system into disarray. This has meant that basses I have gelled with already have been unplayed in cases. TBH neither of the new acquisitions have impressed me, though I'm sure others would find them extremely playable. At the weekend the Warwick and the Ray went into cases and were replaced by my Silk Bass, rescued and rebuilt by Andyjr1515 some time ago. Another great bass...well worthy of bearing the Three Swifts logo. I used the Silk Bass for a couple of days before remembering that the Spector hadn't been out for several months, so out it came. Man, what a joy!! I'd forgotten how well balanced it is, how playable the neck is and what great tones are available. I've been playing it for the past hour and a half, only stopping due to Dog harassment and the need to eat. By no means an expensive piece of kit but it represents great VFM and the emotional feedback I've had from it this evening means it's as valued as my more pricey equipment.... Shows that you haven't got to spend a fortune to get a fine instrument that feels "right".

For the quality, ingenuity, style, groove rather than the money it generated..

Swing from Gentlemen Wear Polaroids by Japan...

"Yes" with an "if." If you have a good cab, a CTM-30 will be fine. If your music suits a mid-heavy, overdriven sound instead a deep, throbbing dub-reggae type tone, a CTM-30 will be fine. I did several pub gigs running my LB-30 into a not-particularly-efficient Laney 1x15, and wasn't struggling for volume. I've done some bigger pub gigs since moving up to a Berg 2x12, and I feel like I could go bigger. That said, my preferred tone is more John Entwistle than Jah Wobble, so I can see why Ashdown are hesitant to market it as a gigging amp.

As an aside, I know there’s a bit of badmouthing of their guitars, and they recently shut down their Memphis factory. I spent a portion of today tracking some parts with this (the pic is from the day he bought it) - I can only begin to express what a special guitar it is. Another close friend has a 1966 ES-330, and this feels as alive in the hand. I’ve played some corking CS Les Paul’s too - but some dogs too. They can make great guitars. Let’s hope there’s someone waiting to take over the guitar making and let Henry drown himself in Electronics companies he doesn’t know enough about to get right.

I´d chose alder for the sound. There´s quite an audible difference to ash. In fact all my Jazz and Precisions are alder. Check the Fender Customshop videos at youtube:

Did you bite the bullet @TRBboy? I'm thinking about grabbing a 735a.

With the LONG STRING HAWKERS:

Woo hoo! Im coming now! On the Sunday.

34".

Hi, I purchased a 435 back in August, struggled for the same reason as you as I couldnt find reviews. However I went for it, i'm really pleased with it, good value for money, good B string, I play mine through an VT tech 21 di and sounds great.

Have to say WoT you look very relaxed in any of the pics. Is that a true reflection or are you hiding it well No matter its still kool. Dave

This has been a great thread to read whilst enjoying my morning cuppa. Good on yer Nick.

Anything with Motorhead or Orion with metallica on their 86 tour

Not on stage , but I play wireless so I can wander off to the buffet whenever I am a bit peckish

I saw Temperance Movement a couple of years ago and it was probably the best live sound I’ve heard from a bass. P bass & Hofner into a Fender Bassman stack with a REDDI. Was studio like clarity! Nick is a fantastic musician though, plays to the song brilliantly!

Based on my 2012 model, Mim p-bass is ceramic. They do sound pretty good though. The Fender "original" alnico p-bass pickup I replaced it with is slightly better to my ear, but it's not a night & day difference.

MIM Fender IS real Fender... A long time ago they used cheaper ceramic pickups but these days I believe they use alnico like the US Fenders? If so, no idea when they changed but you would be able to tell from a photo. Whether they would be any better than your stock pickups is a gamble though. Personally I'd only get them if they were dirt cheap, otherwise I'd be more inclined to get something more specialist, DiMarzio, EMG, Seymour Duncan etc.

Jazz. This is one of the original 6 Sea Foam Pearl that made it to the UK. It appears there are more now available, about 5 years after the original US Guitar Centre run.

Looks the sort of bass a premiership footballer would buy...

I'd like to do something by the Dead, but the thought of Phil Lesh watching me would put me right off! Perhaps White Rabbit with the Airplane, I used to play that with Jenny Haan, one gig we had to play it three times before they let us get off stage! That or Move Over with Janis.

Our audience would be very suspicious of any gig we did without drinking. It's not unusual for us to have a 30L box of cider on stage. We don't drink it all on stage of course, there's usually enough left to share on the drive home.

Haha. Definitely cheating! I was wondering if I should have saved the pic first before uploading to muddy the audit trail... It got me wondering why Yamaha stopped making neck throughs, when they were so widely admired and eg their BB1200 is still regarded as unsurpassed by later models in the BB range?

Digging in is a big part of how I play, however you can get a lot of those growlier sounds with a lighter touch if you use lighter strings and a lower action!

Generally have a beer or two on stage. Our last gig was at a bar with a huge number of TV screens and I was caught watching the cricket at one point - in my defence it might have been during Sex on Fire.

In one band I used to play in back when I lived in that there London we'd not only like to have a snack on stage and swill a couple of beers but socialise with the punters too. I've never liked the them and us approach viz gigging but prefer gigs to be more like parties. If we could get people in the 'audience' involved in joining in playing something all the better

I find a Pot Noodle fits nicely into my drinks holder on my microphone stand....

Of course. It’s the law

I always have a drink on stage

Bass heaven: Listening to a great bass player Bass hell: Listening to me try and play the bass