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I suppose it's a bit early in the game to tell them to go fück themselves with a traffic cone

As promised, they arrived late afternoon and I packed those bad boys up like a rabid mammal. They are officially “in the post” for tomorrow so no tracking numbers to have you refreshing and foaming. If it’s not in the post tomorrow then you should see it Saturday. It’s the kind of great system where you can’t track it until it’s delivered, god bless them. so it’s been a long wait, highs and lows, many posts, but you will like them. Ive just had a big go through a Matamp and two orange cabs. Yes my ears are stinging.

Sound like a bunch of bankers to me. Especially the sound guy. Why are they moaning about the size of the bass amp? Unless it`s a SVT and matching 8 x 10, what`s the problem?

The wheel of dUg arrived, and yes, I confirm you WILL sound like dUg now. Unless you happen to like the McCartney setting.

May I suggest the Fender Super Bassman all-valve head currently for sale in the marketplace? If I had the necessary paper tokens I'd be on that like a Weight Watcher on a Greggs Steak Bake. Mmm, Steak Bake... Mmm, Fender Super Bassman... punchier than a Geordie alcoholic. Edit: No offence, Michael.

May I nominate that for the Basschat Word of the Month award? I respectfully suggest for those who like to shorten words that the contraction narseness be adopted from this day forward. Narseness is like niceness only it's applied in an inwardly direction by shoving one's entire head up one's own fundament.

Chuck my tuppence in... I've been running blues jams for many, many years, and there are as many ways to run a jam as there are stars in the sky. Most of the basics have been covered, but a few things to bear in mind from the hosts point of view: We are there to attract punters; musicians and non-musicians into the venue to spend money on alcoholic beverages (and crisps). If alcoholic beverages (and crisps) are not purchased then the chances are the Jam won't be there for long. This is a careful balancing act Musicians want to play. Punters want to be entertained Get the balance wrong and you end up with a room of musos nursing a pint all night, or the house band playing a 3-hour gig for thruppence. What may look like a clique to you, looks to me like my reliables. They turn up every month without fail and without them there probably wouldn't be a jam. If you are new come and say hello Tell me what you like to play Be honest about your ability, if you're a bit unsure say so, I'll get you up with some experienced musos to help you along. Put your name on the list of jam and you WILL get called up Everyone WIll get at least 3 numbers, I can't guarantee when (see the balancing act), see above if you need to leave early, again let me know, I'll accommodate you in the grand scheme of things if I can I run Jams because I love playing with friends I don't get to gig with. I love watching something come together from nothing, from musos that may have never met let alone played with each other. I most certainly don't do it for the kudos or the money. So if you attend a Jam and it seems a bit cliquey, consider the internal political bollocks that may be in play to ensure that the Jam is there the next time you fancy a little no pressure play. Of course, some Jams can be really cliquey, I don't go to them either :-)

In the very early seventies, I had the look. Lots of hair, 27" waist and sprayed on pants ( as in trousers, not Y-fronts) I auditioned for T-Rex (drums) and got a second audition. Unbeknown to me, and all of us at the auditions, Bill had already been approached and had already recorded a few tracks. Anyway, obviously, I didn't get the job. My then wife to be however, still maintains to this day that I lost out because I was too good looking for Marc Bolan to have on stage with him. Well that's her story and I'm making sure she's sticking to it 😂 Probably did me a favour really as I suppose he could've offered me a lift home at some point.

Here's mine. Had a nice opportunity to test drive the appropriately-named Temple Drums from Soundiron and the new Ethera EVI vocal/synth library. Also in here are some amazing instruments from Sound Dust - Cloud Cello, Cloud Bass and Plastic Ghost Piano (which is mixed with a sprinkling of The Giant piano which you may remember from some of my earlier tracks). I went for the story that I saw in the picture - the German U-boat docking next to a mysterious temple as part of Hitler's obsession with the occult. The lone figure gets drawn deeper into the temple's mysteries and never comes back out.

Genzler Magellan, either the 350 or the 800 (just ignore the drive channel, although you're missing a trick if you do ). The clean channel has a massive weight and punch. It's also got on incredibly versatile and simple pre-amp. Just ignore the anti class D brigade, this thing punches like Tyson after 8 pints of Stella

Well mate I phoned saying saying I'd swap my imperfect sunburst they sent me last week for another one as I couldn't be bothered to wait for the Ebony ones to arrive. the guy on the phone said oh wait we've just had a delivery of Ebony ones in (I didn't have one on order) Today this arrived

You might wanna try the Quilter BB800, Little amp with lots of punch!

If it's all in good nick (i.e. no dings or scratches) you're best to key the existing paint surface with a grey scotchbrite pad. Give it a really thourough going over so that there are no shiny spots at all. Using rougher papers or abrasives will lead to scratches showing in the top coat. I bought one of these and repainted it a little while ago:

My one and only Shuker ...weighs a ton !!!

The earliest Trace 4x10 combo's were black Painted/wood finish (MKIII's I think?) Came with either a GP11 or a very basic GP7 Pre-amp. These combo's later got a covering when the MKIV's came along. With the introduction of the revised MKV range, the GP7 was dropped in favour of the now footswitchable GP11 pre-amp, The combo still had the moniker 1110 combo, up to this point a similar sized 1x15 version was available. Then along comes the GP12 Pre-amp in about '88, with the extra 30hz slider, so the Combo became the 1210 & a much smaller size 1x15 combo. The power was increased to 200 watts at 4 ohms as opposed to the previous 150 watts (Think you'd struggle to hear much difference as they were all punchy beasts?). The next in the 1210 series, introduced in the early '90's was the SMX (12 band graphic) & SM (7 band). The SMX series having the twin pre-shape contours & twin hi/low compressors, along with the valve pre-amp option. I think Fans were dropped in the favour of heat-sinks on the amps? A HF Horn was introduced as an option as well.. Trace Elliot then underwent a series of buy-outs, firstly by Kaman & then Gibson & later Peavey. The covering on the combo's changed from a black vinyl to a green carpet fleck, with a slight change to the face of the pre-amps. The controls remained virtually unchanged but I recall the compressor being simplified? That's about all I can remember of the 4x10 combo's?, apart from the fact that they all weighed a ton, They all performed brilliantly as a stand alone combo without the need for an extension cab for the majority of the time? You certainly found out who your friends were when it come to shifting one around if you didn't have a sack-barrow or fitted castors...

I'll just leave this here... https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/legacy/products/bta-400 ;-)

My mate was caught with that when he wanted something from the 'States. He'd got all the address details and delivery charges sorted out and something made him check. When he found out about an additional charge from PP he binned the transaction. He will not buy from North America any more because of the undisclosed additional charges. I bought a bass kit from Australia and was informed on the vendor's webpage of the additional import charges before I committed. In this case I was happy to accept having been given opportunity to consider. Good. Had I only found out while the goods were being held at customs I would have taken it as customs holding my goods hostage. Not good. Additional charges should be made clear at the point of sale in my opinion. It is the world wide web after all. No-one can really fall back on the lame excuse that because they are exporting they can't say what additional charges will be applied. Brexit or no Brexit it makes no difference. If a website can give you prices in your own currency there is no excuse for leaving out the import charge. Whoops. Pardon me for the rant. Thanks for the clip.

Last time I imported a bass from the states I wasn't charged a penny, until over ayers later a letter arrived from TNT with a demand for payment (it was still their first letter). If I had the foresight to move house in the interim I don't know what they'd have done... so there's that!!! Specify TNT and get your affairs in order!!

Thanks! I wanted to try doing recording and syncing the video with audio, which I haven't done before. I'll try and do a better one at some stage because I learned a lot from making that one! I also demonstrated only a few patches on the unit so will perhaps rehearse and plan a more 'professional' vid one weekend!! As you can see/hear, although my initial assumption would be that this bass would be a bit of a travel bass which I'd always use with an octave, it has become a superb sounding and playing bass in it's own right, and I only occasionally use it with an octave; and when I do, it has a really sweet synthy sound that works really well in a mix (which I'll try and demonstrate next time, too!!)

My band run a jam night at Tilwalds in Tyldesley, near Manchester. This is the blurb we post to get people to turn up: Musicians - please share! Putting the call out to all our musician friends. The Three host a regular weekly jam night on Sundays 7.00 - 10.30pm at Tilwalds, Elliott Street, Tyldesley, M29 8FJ. Acoustic players, solo artists, singer / songwriters of all styles and all ages welcomed. In the interests of everyone's safety, please bring your own microphones and guitars. Why not bring your band down to do 3 or 4 songs to a good audience and maybe get a booking at the venue? Bands are always welcome. We will make up numbers if you are someone short on the night. It's your chance to rehearse those new songs in front of an audience and have a few beers, too. Why pay out for a rehearsal room? Want to get up, but don't have a band? If we know the song, we'll play it with you. Tap the landlady up for a gig. TIMES: All acts get 4-5 songs, or 20 minutes (as the number of players allow), then the next act goes on, and so on. If time allows, we will go around the players again. Come on down and make yourselves known to the host band and we will get you up. GEAR: Top quality back-line amps for 2 guitars and bass are provided, drums and full PA for three vocals is in place. ** Please bring your own mics, guitars and basses. ** If you need a capo, please bring your own. If you're bringing a keyboard please arrive just before 7pm then we can get it set up and positioned rather than taking up slot time. The Three will be hosting the jam night every Sunday at Tilwalds. This is a live music event. Every bum note you will hear is generated by a living, breathing human. We do not do backing tracks and neither do you. I hope that we never ever get 'cliquey'. We are reliant on the people who turn up to make it what it is. The host band play for half an hour or so and may do another ten minutes at the end of the night, dependent on how many people have come along to get up and play. In-between that, we just want to keep things moving and get people up.

Hi Torby, That's not good. Can you let us know a few more details and we will have a look at what we can do to get you sorted. Amp Model - Serial Number - Date Purchased - Retailer purchased from -

Hello Everyone, I'm Jacob, I have been a lurker for quite a while so thought it was time to join the conversation. I used to play a lot when I was younger, but kind of fell off after I finished at university and started 'real life'. Anyway, I recently picked the bass up again and have really gotten back into the swing of things and am enjoying it, even thinking of trying out for some bands once I get a bit more confident. My gear is pretty random, I play a 5 string LTD F-205 with a pair of EMGs which makes me look like I am going to head out church burning, picked it up from a mate who was pretty much giving it away because he had overspent. I play it through a small Ashdown After 8 combo which is perfect for my needs. I am planning on getting another bass at some point but don't know what, mainly because I don't want a 5 string because I never use the B and the LTD is very uncomfortable to play sat down but am also unsure as to what sound I want haha! Looking forward to chatting with you and contributing where I can!

I've been watching this and it's amazingly interesting/insightful;

Many years ago, I had an idea. Why didn't bass amp manufacturers do an amp which had distortion bands seperated by frequency? That was 15 years ago and now, the future is here. For those of you who "set everything flat" or "don't do distortion," leave now. There is nothing here for you except pain. Some of you may be aware of the fact that Wounded Paw do a 700W version of this, but as I don't like the "small box" format. I wanted a rack pre format. Basically, it's a switchable 2 channel pre. One side being the 6 band overdrive and the other being a clean channel. The 6 band overdrive is immensely flexible and can do a clean tone if you want and can go all the way to full on armageddon. The textural variances you can get from this is truly remarkable. If you play a 5 or do downtuned, then this thing will work for you really well. It has better low end distortion than Darkglass to my ears (much more crack) and the treble has so much harmonics going on that the treble knob often has to be used to tame them a bit. I really can't overstate the flexibility of this. You can go from clean to mild overdrive, to fuzz, to total insanity. It is also possible to have a clean low end and distorted top end. The other night I got a very "Live at Leeds" type tone with my 50's Precision, then recorded with my Wal in drop D in a more "Justin Chancellor" type setting. I did ask for a few tweaks from standard. On the back panel I got an extra XLR out added as well as a parallel input so as to use it in the loop of something else if you wanted to. I also asked for a mod making the effects loop active on the clean tone. This was to cover myself for other things. As for other features, the Effects loop can be pre/post on the dirty channel, but only pre on the clean. I'll get back to this in a minute. Due to the extra switching and because I have the first one, there was a bit of teething trouble with getting it to work quite right, but Preston is great and was really helpful in sorting this out. I suppose you could argue that this is the "Wolverine signature" preamp, but maybe that's a bit of a stretch even for my own vanity. The clean tone is very, very clean and I'd imagine too clean for even many purists that swear by it. This was why I wanted the effects loop to be active, so that you could say use a preamp pedal with a bit of dirt to jazz it up a bit. I've tried this and it works brilliantly. The dirty channel is a distortion that allows the inherent character of your instrument to come through. My Mk2 Wal sounds like a Wal and my Status Buzzard, still sounds like it always did. Some distortions take over, this doesn't. Moving on then to the Battering Ram EQ. I got this for 2 reasons. Mainly as a stand alone pre pedal for light gigs and also for recording to jazz up my synth setup. So, firstly, the EQ. It's very, very flexible due to the parametric nature of it. As a clean tone, it's fantastic. The overdrive and fuzz are in parallel which has it's added benefits. Firstly, the overdrive. It's not really a distortion per se, it's mainly an overdrive even at max settings. It's quite dark as it retains the lows brilliantly. Now to the fuzz. This adds the juice really. All the mid character you want for a bit of cut. Pile in the octave up fuzz and you have a brutal tone. Like Doom? You'll love this. It actually works immensely well for guitar as well as a mate was recording some guitar for his solo album and used it with a Peavey 5150. He thought it was "the tightest fuzz I've ever played." He was also amazed it wasn't much more expensive. In truth, this is great gear with a unique character of it's own. It has elements of Darkglass, Tech21, Big Muff, Ampeg even, but is of course none of these things and a refreshingly original take on the age old medium of distortion and fuzz. I'm surprised Wounded Paw doesn't get more love per se, but being based in Toronto might have something to do with that for those of us in the UK. If you're after something a bit different, then I'd encourage you to check it out.

Thanks yet again lemmywinks, mine arrived at my local Argos, Click and Collect, no postage fees, no buggering about for less than 30 quid ! Ordered on Monday here today Thursday. It is a top quality gig bag and has more pockets than a shoplifters/gamekeepers coat. My lovely new Chowny CHB-1 fits in this case with room to spare

Not unless dog poo and McDonalds packaging is made from gold...

Pm d you dude.

I would've agreed had it not been for the giraffe print giant table cloth behind him.

It`s never to early for that!

WTF? Tell em to mind their own gear and let you get on with yours!

Now look what you've done, you've made me buy a 5 :). Rare as hen's teeth Hohner B Bass V. Only the 3rd I've seen for sale in 5 years of looking. Awesome sound, neck through, figured wood throughout - £180 + post.

I think what @SpondonBassed is getting at is that if people who have played together turn up and do songs they've preplanned whether a soloist or a band, then that's an open mic, a jam is where people who are not used to each other get up with nothing planned and play a song on the hoof

Was going to say that there was some talk on Talkbass about the Dame connection. Looks like a successful operation in getting brand awareness outside of their local market. If you do a search on Dame and Sire on google, theres a fair few discussions.

Alternatively - string it with really light gauge roundwounds and bwwangg like a mofo!

One of these might solve a problem for me too... thanks for sharing mate

Its going to need a second dose of grain filler to fill in the little pin holes and a small trench on the back that I didnt see. Also a rounded sanding bit to tidy up the lug hoes. I'm on holiday at Bass central in Florida so things may go a bit quiet.

Re: my gigbag issue, I’ve found something which *might* work: https://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_urban_mini_strat_gig_bag_bk.htm will need to check dimensions to be certain but it looks like a strong contender. I’ll be wanting to make that F****r logo disappear.

Really enjoying the Hepcat '62 pickups that were already fitted in a Jazz I bought from France the other week. I'd never heard of them before, but I'd gladly go back for more. Parisien boutique bonus!

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Was that the one with the comically mis-aligned strings?

No problem. I'd have only had to explain it to the probation officer in any case

Depends entirely on the type of show. Big Band type thing with complex arrangements where the players are pretty stationary - stands are pretty common. Rock band - Nope. Not now. Not ever. Everyone else in the band has to learn their parts so they can tart around and put on a show. The singer is the most visible element of any band. A music stand completely ruins the performance for that type of show. Imagine any good rock / pop / funk band you like. Queen / Iron Maiden / Metallica / Prince / RHCP etc etc and think how bloody awful it would be if there was a music stand up there. But even if we ignore those - most of the other local rock bands won't have stands and your singer is going to look like a twonk next to them. If the rest of the band can learn a 30 song set list then so can the singer.

If it's OK to have frets instead of simply learning where the notes are, then it's OK to have a music stand instead of simply learning what the words are.

In my experience Jam nights are cliquey and are best avoided.

from my own very limited experience of singing you can sing the song better if you know the lyrics without having to think to hard about them or even worse, read them

You're the bass player, and would maybe not like to have to change instrument just because the band feels it's not 'acceptable'. He's the singer, and should have the same privilege and respect, I'd suggest. Of course the 'issue' could be discussed, but he decides what he needs (or wants...) for the gigs. For my part, I've never bought into this 'acceptable' stuff; I've seen too many bands with all sorts of stuff on stage for it to count for anything. As long as your show is good, such props are of no relevance. Just my tuppence-worth.

I had one a while back. The black with tortoiseshell pick guard. It played fantastically and its built really well. Had a great sound too. Perfect combination of P and J. I think you'll be happy with it as its definitely underrated.

"...but Jack made it look so easy!" Dang

With too much time on my hands one day I actually made a YT playlist of some of the nominations on the previous F&G thread (prior to the soft ware change). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIzVtYENBfYrCBJ_Y-U0HGLgzDwx7ihrt