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If you would like some constructive feedback on your website:- The one filter that I want to see is "Availability" - I don't want to wade through dozens of pictures on the off-chance that what I am interested in will be in stock. For example, I am interested in a 33", 32" or a short scale Fender, or maybe an Alembic - there are lots of pictures - all sold..... If I was interested in a 4-string fretless Fender (I am not) then I don't want to see the 10 you have sold - at least not in that section of the website. It would be better if you put them somewhere else., or allowed Sold items to be filtered out first.

Your wife has installed a special browser plugin that marks everything 'Sold'

For those BCers that have never listened and voted in the Composition Challenge, please have a listen and take part. Voting finishes tonight. This month's tracks are all great pieces of music in their own right. Having entered previously, I know that a lot of effort goes into writing these pieces and for 7 people to write and perform music just for 9 people to cast votes is a little disheartening! Come on, support your fellow BCers.

You can't have one Dave , he tells you how to handle that in chapter 2

This was my last experience of the the Bass Gallery. Just after Boogie brought out the Subway series of cabs, I ordered two (15s) from the shop. The first one arrived and the second took a little longer (from the Boogie end). Once I had the pair, I ran them up and there was a clear rattle coming from one of them. I did everything I could to check things over (made sure all the screws were tight etc) to no avail. Eventually, I contacted Boogie (luckily, a good mate is an endorsee) and Boogie conceded that the speaker must be faulty. Through the Bass Gallery they agreed to send over a replacement speaker. As someone who has a 'real' job to keep a roof over the family's head, I couldn't easily get time off to head up to London but the guy who was going to do the swap (I apologise for not remembering the name) actually delayed leaving for his holiday (that day) to meet me at the shop. he didn't rush around but took his time to open up the box and remove the speaker ready to swap out the rattling one. After getting it out the trouble was evident. The guy stapling in the wadding had obviously reloaded his staple gun and a block of 4 staples had dropped in and stuck to the magnet, near the cone. With those gone, the speaker behaved as it should. Having opted to keep the original speaker, I was offered the replacement one free of charge - on the proviso that I would return it if Boogie wanted it back. They never did and so I have a spare speaker in case I ever need it. I doubt I will becaue my diesel 2x15 has lasted for 30 years without fault. Before then, I had only bought a wreck of a Precision from the shop so I was not any kind of regular. I was hugely impressed by the level of service and customer care shown. For that, they will always be my number 1 store.

I know there's been confusion over the buzzer system we have so let me explain that. All three of us work down in the basement so the upstairs part of the shop is often unmanned and due to being in a busy part of London with a high crime rate we have keep the door shut! However we'll ALWAYS answer the door if you ring the buzzer! Or if you can't find the buzzer just knock and we'll rise from the bass dungeon to let you in

Money shots - oi , stop dribbling at the back Some side action Some rear action , matron. Yes i stuck another badge on the rear. Had some perspex i didnt know what to do with Some front action And a close up ( sounding like a porn movie ? ) of the flash SS cups under the grill screws. Oh yes. Come to daddy

Available now for pre-rder via Amazon for £20 !!! (Amazon USA are quoting $49, so this UK listing is a steal!!) Check this out at Amazon.co.uk Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0062747835/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_NHALAbCB5FHA4

I've also visited the website and seen those multitude of SOLD basses. It would be much more user friendly to have all SOLD basses in their own section

+1 The overall volume of a band is surely down to how loud the drummer is. My current band has a great drummer who can play very quietly and it's a blessed relief, to be honest. I don't care what happens, I'm sticking with this guy! A quiet-playing band also makes it much easier to rehearse, compose and get a good overall sound in general. Makes a huge difference when you're not pushing earplugs in, dealing with nosebleeds and gritting your teeth. A very loud band is just unnecessary, unprofessional and is also very tiring, both for players and listeners. *Awaits backlash from those who must be loud 'to get my sound' and so on... yawn.*

Ah, you mean very well...

Pop to The London Bass Show this week. There will be no shortage of folk showing you they are better than the next person at slap bass lol. #ProudToBeASlapFreeZoneAtLBGS

Excellent point and one we hear quite often. We do like to keep our sold stock on the website as it can give you an idea of the kind of stock we've had in the past (some people also just like the bass porn), however I do agree that it can clutter the website. Behind the scenes we're currently working on some tweaks to our website which will hopefully solve this problem!

I could downgrade it to a spank

I owe you one punch, redeemable on Sat or Sun

+1 about premium strings. I put a used set of D’Addario Chromes on my pb50 and it sounds really great. Lots of vintage, fat sounding goodness.

This is a great example of studio bass mixing with that big deep bottom likely high passed on the DI signal, then a low passed signal on the clacky top end signal with a drive (SansAmp?), maybe a Distressor or Fatso Jr. working it's magic too - you can hear loads of compression on it keeping it all tight and even and sitting just right in the mix. You can still hear the clank on top with the whole mix but it sits really well and just add that definition to the bass in the track. I think it's a good bass tone and it's certainly a good fit for this song but it's been crafted for that song to be fair. It's more pleasing than that last video of Cici but then it sounds like her signal is a direct D.I. signal rather than the amp. There's certainly no mic on the cab and I'd say it's a clean signal that the sound man is using for FOH mix. It's pretty terrible which is more a reflection on the sound man to be honest but yeah maybe that's what they wanted the bass to sound like.

HB PB-50 Modded! - *Version 3.0* *Audio Clip* This is my third modification of a Harley-Benton PB-50 Precision Bass. If you want to see what the stock donor bass looks like, Thomann have it for sale here - with more and better pictures than I can be bothered to take: https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_50_sb_vintage_series.htm As usual I reshaped the headstock to a 50s-style Telebass and painted the pickguard, but this time I went to town and converted the stock four-saddle top-loading bridge to a through-body two-saddle bridge with ferrules, more in keeping with the 50s vibe. Yes, I had a spare pair of pants on hand when I drilled through the body. And being a bit fed up with sunburst, I did a full refinish in Shoreline Gold. Yes, I know Shoreline Gold wasn't available until after the 57 Precision redesign, but what the hell, I really like it. The pickup is another Herrick Tele '51' - this time the Neo magnet version as opposed to the AlNiCo 5 variant fitted to v2.0. It's a bit stronger in the high mids and top end, throws out a bit more signal and sounds great. https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/tele-51-bass-single-coil/ I really liked the look and texture of the Shoreline nitro, so didn't clear coat it. I'm hoping it will age naturally in all the right places. The only stock components remaining on this assembly are the body and neck (obviously), the neck plate, the control plate, the string tree and the strap buttons. Everything else has been upgraded or replaced. As you can see, the Fender flats are getting a bit elderly and I want to get some of those La Bella flats that are specifically made for through-body bridges. Nevertheless, the bass sounds great and plays like a premium instrument costing many times more than the donor bass. Result. Body refin in Shoreline Gold nitro Pickguard in Ivory Cream Squier Vintage Modified through-body two-saddle bridge with ferrules Herrick Neodymium Telebass '51' pickup CTS solid-shaft pots, Chiclet cap .047uF, Switchcraft jack in cats-eye side plate Fender flat-top knurled control knobs with grub screws Wilkinson WJBL 200 tuners Fender 9050M steel flatwounds 55-70-90-105 Thanks for looking!

Know what you mean. I felt exactly the same about this stable mate. "Fortunately" Schecters are almost impossible to try before you buy these days down South and the store in London wanted a £200 non refundable deposit before it would get one in! Their designs are lush I agree!

Folks, get yer lazy derrières over to that sales thread, and start ordering. It's a wonderful little poster indeed, printed on good, thick and stiff paper. I'm now a very proud owner of two of them (one vertical and one horizontal), and I really wasn't kidding when I mentioned my Picasso and my Dali and compared this to those in a favourable way... Er... yes, I was kidding, but at least I wasn't lying. Now buy this thing.

Nice summary, thanks. Got me doing a bit of research and I've managed to pull the attached together which hopefully explains why valve amps with the same wattage do in fact sound louder than solid state amps with the same wattage, for any folk who are interested in the science behind it! Why do valve amps sound louder than SS.pdf

That sneaky ole bag !

@Spondon, there are actually a few pay to view slap courses out there as i mentioned, but they are expensive so I was interested in people's opinions of them before I took the plunge. And I'm the one who will be doing the slapping

Any chance of a BCers discount?

I've been thinking the same thing. I'm coming with a friend - travelling down Friday and making a weekend of it. The plan was I would drive from Brum to Leicester where she lives. Then leave my car there and she will drive down to London (I don't do driving in London!). But if it snows on Friday I really don't want to drive to Leicester, as I'm quite a cautious driver. So I might get the train down and meet her there. But then what if the trains stop running? And I really need to make the decision on Thursday otherwise I won't be able to buy an advance ticket. I wish I could stop fretting about it!

Blimey @Delberthot, you make it sound that I'm on some jihadist mission to rid the world of bass players that dig in Point of the OP was that I realised that I could make the sound I want using a technique that, although I knew to be good practice, had previously not felt right.

This would have been laughed at in the 70s. Everyone left the building for an hour for lunch. Quite normal when unions were strong. We have lost much and today's workers don't even know it. Current propaganda tells us the 70s were a socialist nightmare, but they most certainly were not. Proper pay and working conditions - now gone.

I can see no point whatsoever in sticking a 4ohm driver in that combo. Even if it was 400w driver, the size of the box would render it pointless. Was it advertised as a 4ohm variant? If not, I'd be pushing them for a replacement driver.

I don’t believe a thing unless you provide some visual evidence.

That looks very much like a Stingray tribute? Never seen one before. This argument about lines or not is very curious as far I can see. The argument put forward that it takes longer to learn to play an unlined Fretless is certainly not my experience - I bought mine off EBay about 10 yrs ago - I was astounded when I first played it how awful my intonation was - however it took me about two weeks of regular use to get my accuracy to an acceptable level - the dots on the top of the board are essential as location indicators - but beyond that it doesn't take long to get your ear attuned and to be accurate. I find the area about 12th fret can be tricky when standing up (owing to the angle you're viewing the neck, and also the fact the notes are so much closer together). To me the real difference is the aesthetics - I prefer a blank board. I also fully appreciate some people don't - not entirely sure why anyone thinks their choice is more correct than anyone else's.....

I didn't see him last year or the year before, and if he was around, he certainly wasn't to be seen/heard slapping at any stand I checked out.

True

Being a bassist, it's no harm to enjoy a bit of slap and tickle now and again...

Good evening, Ian, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Agree with Paul S - I have a gen1 Compact and it's a brilliant thing. I was one of the original guys who had the demo cab which Alex sent around the country, and was / still am blown away with it's quality of sound. If the rest of the range are as good or better it's really a no-brainer, but as cetera says , try before you buy as your personal preferences may not be met. Couldn't see why though ( Disclaimer - I am currently saving up for a BF Super Compact....)

Congratulations, Lovely Story and a Super cool Bass. Did you play 'Wherever I lay may hat' first?

Scored a bargain today. Picked up this wee beauty from the old Fakebook marketplace equivalent of £200. Only a couple of little dings. Pretty tidy. Sounds fantastic. I think I might upgrade the pots so they are a little bit more responsive but it's a stunning instrument.

I like compression and have a Cali76G, done well it gives that extra je ne sais quoi to the sound. Set it up to squash a bit and punch like Anthony Joshua, set it to allow harmonics and sustain, but it is defo more than a volume boost, although it can do that, and if compression is making you get lost in a mix, then the balance is not quite right. Compression to some degree is used on all instrument including voice on all instruments of your records that you hear from the studio, so it can’t be that bad surely?!

This is a dilemma. If its a design fault, and it might be an isolated one at best, then you need to decide if you really need string through body, at the expense of losing a good bass. It sounds silly that it doesn't work as advertised, but in my experience string through body is not a deal breaker.