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Never Miss Another Gig! Oh no! The car won't start! And there you were, just about to set off for a prestigious unpaid 'exposure' gig. What a disaster! Not if you're the proud owner of the Del Var Industries Emergency Bass Bike Kit! Simply attach the quality engineered front and rear wheel assemblies to your bass* with the bolts provided and you'll be pedaling off to fame and fortune! Impress your friends and baffle your enemies with the Del Var Industries Emergency Bass Bike Kit. Only £199.99 (exc VAT and Shipping) allow 28 months for delivery * May involve drilling and / or modification. Not recommended for use with vintage basses. Goldbrick Ltd (trading as Del Var Industries) accepts no liability for any injuries sustained during the use of this product or any loss consequent upon failing to acquire a record deal. E&OE.

Ampstack shared their album. 14 March at 17:44 · Knob tip: If you are one of those people that always runs same settings on your amp, take the knobs off and put them all on straight up or in highest position when on your favoured settings, then it is easy to reset if you have to lend an amp at a gig or whatever.

Draw a penis on your face to make people think you fell asleep at a party.

You're in the middle of a gig, the crowd are roaring for more and your bass goes out of tune. You kick in your pedal tuner and ... nothing! It's borked. What to do? Simply ask the venue owner if you can use his landline phone. Pick the receiver up, crook it to your ear and tune to the dial tone - a combination of 440hz (A) and 350hz (near as dammit F). Because it's an interval either (or both) notes will do. And because you haven't dialled anyone this hack is totally free! Hey! Presto! You're back onstage and ripping the place up with your blazing licks.

@Al Krow I don't mind being quoted, it's being misquoted that I object to. My settings are not a trade secret at all, but as I have tried - and seemingly failed - to explain that, different basses have different signal output strengths and different fundamental tones. These mean that you'll need to optimise your compression settings for each different bass you use in addition to factoring in other variables such as your right hand plucking strength (I'm somewhat ham fisted whereas you attack the strings with the angst and venom of an asthmatic tapeworm) and any tonal characteristics of your amp/cab/speakers etc. What this all means that my settings almost certainly won't work for you*. So for the record, my settings for the 160 Comp on my B3 are; THRSH -32, Ratio 2.8, Gain 10, Knee Soft, Level 88. * For example, you often wax lyrical about the aggressive sounds of your Ibanez but if you set your compressor up with the settings that work with my warm, mellow sounding Sandberg as above, you'll start yet another thread/poll/campaign to tell the world that you have once again "proved" that compression is an urban myth and the likes of @Skol303, @51m0n and myself will lose the collective will to live. Again. etc. The best thing to do is to try it for yourself and find the settings that work for you with your gear. It really is that simple. There, I've said it. I feel cleansed.

That was dub he wanted, not flobbadob.

My TB500 came home yesterday. Required lots of repairs, email from Mikko: Hi. Just to let you know your Terror Bass 500 has been repaired and is ready to be sent back to you as soon as we've received payment. There were a few things wrong with your amplifier. The front of the amplifier had suffered some damage, the control panel was slightly bent and 3 control pots were snapped from the circuit board. They were still making slight contact so the controls were still sort of functional but that's where all that crackling was coming from. There was also a filter capacitor in the power supply circuit that had snapped off the board and it was making all sorts of crazy pops when turning the amp to standby or off. I've sorted all of this out, calibrated the clock frequencies and cleaned the pots and contacts. The total cost of the repair including labour, parts, shipping + VAT amounts to £47.40. You can pay this via debit/credit card or PayPal by calling our sales team on 0208 905 2828. Have to say, what a fab experience with Orange 👍

Hello (Hé) everyone! Small new on this forum, I come from France, I am 42 years old and I play on a Jazz bass 72 color sunburst. I have also a bass acoustic EKO of 1980 and one double bass of study, a jazz bass squier vintage fretless of 2007, bass six cords of my manufacturing, Fbass style and a singlecut also of my manufacturing in 5 cords. As amplifier I have a GK RB700 II, a baffle GK néo of 15” and one baffle GK of 2X10”. J also kept an amplifier EARTH of 1978 which always works : -) See you!

Yes - I don't normally look at drums things, but the drummer in my band loves tool, and is one of the better drummers I have ever played with so when he says about things being hard I tend to listen. I like this, not because the normal 'girl on youtube thing', but its really easy to see what is going on and show the structure of the song, the concentration needed and the relief at the end!

check out EBS MicroBass II, had mine for years, rugged, super functional, drive knob for grit, EQ to dial in what you want, excellent input/output options

I can't see why anybody who was selling a bona fide item would refuse.

No all she ever says is ‘is it in yet?’

I put small yellow cable ties around lead ends and mike stands etc that could be ‘confused’ by other band members who think the rock wire cables could be their’s and the Aldi special ones could be mine at the end of a gig.

http://youtu.be/bSABkZfh8-A

IMHO pups have a MUCH bigger impact on tone than the wood and perhaps the single biggest impact on tone, other than 'in your face pedals', of anything in the signal chain. So I'm in agreement with @burno70 that the P set up, with the tone dialled off, is the thing to go for here - and no surprise that your P pups are delivering the creamiest deepest lows Having said that, mahogany is just a lovely hardwood.

Agree,by John Paul jones's admission he never repeats himself so on Zep stuff i just role around the neck on the fills and get it on the important bits

It's a bit daft that it doesn't say on the website, but I think, looking at the other samples, that one is on figured, flamed, wood and the other is on straight grain. On the teal one you've chosen, you can just see the green coming out in the parts of the flame that are straight grained... Bear in mind that the samples appear to be on maple - the darker wood of your body will give you a different colour tone. Best way of finding out is to put some on in the bottom of the neck pocket. Apply with a small pad made up of lint free cloth and un-thinned. The colour when it is still wet will be indicative of both the colour tone and the depth of colour once it has been clear coated. The colour will look quite different once it's dried. If it has dried and you want a reminder of what it's going to look like, just wipe it over with a slightly damp cloth. Great job on the body, by the way!

Love your honesty (which is humbling) and that alone makes you deserve every success. Hope the PA speakers were good 'uns too.

What's the neighbour's wife's clothes rail doing in your house? Asking for a friend.

How about this for a cable tidy

Maybe the increase is to pay for the new product line?

A bit of a pain to take a door to every gig just to use it though!

If you run out of butter, mash cheese and milk together to make a tasty dairy-based alternative.

The guitar is actually very simple generally. The bass and drums though, eek!

Aww dam, i've only just seen this via the sticky note system on the new site. As luck would have it, i'll be free tomorrow. I can bring: 75 Jetglo 4001 76 burgandyglo 4001 05 fireglo 4003 90's Fender jazz 62RI ampeg SVT300 and 810 cab 70's roost head. I too can't wait to see the Entwhistle tbird

Is Tool well known enough to be included? Jambi has a ridiculous amount of variation, especially under the talkbox guitar solo, plus intermittent use of auto-wah on single chords within a line (an utter hand-foot coordination nightmare!) In slightly more classic territory, haven't tried it for a while but I remember 16 year old me getting confuzzled by Smoke On The Water - the bass does some pretty intricate stuff under the all too well known guitar riffs.

Great idea. It also really confuses people when they borrow your amp - they sound terrible! Bonus.

mmmm Nice.... again... The cover art seems a bit dubious though....

I modified an Ashdown combo head to make it rack-mountable. I purchased it in a homemade wooden casing which was crap! 10 mins with an angle grinder, another 10 with a dremel de-burring the cuts. 4 holes drilled in the front. I used the offcut pieces of the casing to add some strength across the top using the existing holes where it mounted to the combo, otherwise it flexed quite a bit.

I will be coming over with a Shuker, a Dingwall, a Double Bass, Bergantino IP310, Felix preamp, various pedals inc Future Impact for the synth pedal comparing thing.

When working on my Basses I put an old blanket under the body and use half a dozen cardboard tomato trays( the ones you buy small tomatoes in from the supermarket) stacked together upside down as a neck support.

tried a compressor at a gig last night, in front of the sansamp bass drive sim on my Zoom, then switched it off after a few songs, my sound was clearer and more dynamic with the compressor off, doubt if the crowd noticed, but I did, so I guess the bass drive does enough compressing for me

I think it's more like you suddenly notice that they are dead. I've had similar experiences, there is some factor (different room?) that tips things over the edge. After having the same thing happen (and because I'm weird like that) I keep a log book and record when and with what string all my basses are strung. I aslo record all gigs and what bass I used. I can generally head of such problems before they happen.

The Mighty Mite necks are pretty decent. I would equate them with the neck on a Squier bass. The ones I've bought were Jazz Bass necks and were pretty slim front to back. I've also owned an Allparts Jazz Bass neck and it was substantially chunkier.

Thanks for the PR lol. Yes I will get one. To me this pedal does a few things I want, but not too many (like the B3n) that makes me feel I’m undersuing it. It’s not going to be a cure to any problem, but it will definitely have a use. I guess ill wait for a video review or two, just to make sure there isn’t a hidden issue, but on paper its going to be ideal.

Gigs like this are a bad business model for someone and are not tenable in the long run. Most bands are playing in the corner of a pub. Many of these are not "proper" gigs but the pub manager thinking you'll deliver him a room full of punters. In the long run this doesn't work either. Some people will come out to see a local band at a local gig but "out of town" bands won't necessarily have that local following. If the venue can't generate an audience then most of the bands won't either. We had this when a venue decided to ditch all but the local bands, because they, "Bought in the punters". When I asked how many local bands there were they said, "About 4 or 5". So they were expecting 4 or 5 bands to fill the place twice a week for the whole year! Of course they coudn't sustain that and there are no gigs there anymore. The venue has to be responsible for filling the gig every week with its own punters (people who want to go to that gig and on a regular basis) and the band's audience will be the top up. Unfortunately the bottom line seems to be that in the UK most people are too lazy to go out to see most of the live music that's available. Compared to a night in front of the TV with a drink at your elbow, a gig is noisy, expensive, uncomfortable and inconvenient.

When did this ... replace a full stop?

I'll be bringing along a 70's P bass, an Aria Pro II fretless and a MM Sterling. Also a pair of Markbass 210s and a shovel, in case I have to dig my way out of the car park.

I would say “great minds” as mine has taken a similar theme to yours this month. However I’m not so sure there’s any greatness in two grown men penning numbers with talking polar bears in them.

Old PRS bass (Robbie Shakespear), Jazz Bass on neck pick up and tone off, or a Hohner B bass or Hohner cricket bat bass will see you through....standard tools of a dub player

Yamaha BB425. Roll the tone off and set it in P bass mode and you'll have a lush dub tone in a quality bass. There's one going for a good price on fBook (I have no connection to the seller!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/689090051102626/permalink/1844064058938547/?sale_post_id=1844064058938547

I'll drink to that. Of course, achieving it consistently must be hard even for the pros.

Reviving an old thread about varitones, rather than starting a new one - just wondering if any BCers are fans of them? (Or otherwise..... ) My only previous experience was on a BC Rich CS NT Eagle bass, which rather bizarrely had a 9V active output boost with passive Varitone, which to be honest I wasn't too impressed with and usually left on "bypass". Generally I prefer passive basses anyway, and rarely touch the treble roll-off tone control. However, I was recently looking for a decent wiring harness to put in my latest bitsa P bass build, and bought one off this forum from (top fella) greenolive, which had an integral Tonestyler Varitone: http://www.stellartone.com/Page.asp?NavID=313 - replacing the tone control, with the standard tone control on a stacked double pot with the volume control. Thought I'd give it a go, especially as it was only a couple of quid more than a standard P harness, and the components were top notch. Have to say I'm knocked out by how good it is; the darker settings give a thick, punchy bass and midrange with all of the growl and clarity intact and none of the woolly mushiness of a standard passive tone - really usefully sculpts the sound. Wonder why varitones aren't more widely used?

I've got my perfect rig for my preferred sound/main projects: Spector US/Euro basses thru old GK800RB and a Genz Neo212T ....so I'm not searching for that 'elusive tone' so much. For me now it's about collecting, enjoying owning and playing other basses that I've always fancied..... or having ones that are more suitable for other gigging situations e.g. old Fender P with flats

Oh I'm liking the look of this!

Agree with the rose tinted specs idea. There have always been bands with audiences that appreciate musicianship and listen with rapt attention to people just playing well. There have also been artists who get away with murder but put on a good show. The usual spectrum in between of course. I enjoy all these extremes but I'm aware that some punters get bored easily and need to be entertained by something 'flash'. Maybe that's what has changed in the age of instant gratification?

I fear I may be the guilty party here. The OP was about the offer of a demo of the Markaudio system and I jumped in enthusing about a similar (visually!!) system that seemed to great for its size and was intrigued by Bills rsponse. The concept of speaker placement is doubtless worthy of its own thread so sincere apologies if I lead things off at a slight tangent. Maybe a new thread on how to site a pa would be interesting, whether a single box or a system consisting of subs etc.

You're all good here, folks - everyone has an opinion so as long as we all treat each other with respect and realise that not everyone has the same experience, what's the problem?

I have trouble with some of my own basslines! Make some, play some and everything is great. Have a break then go back and I've lost the feel or timing! It's just like someone else had written them...