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a ha hahahahaha!

Nice to see Diego Maradona keeping himself busy on BVs!

Getting the drummer to play quieter is like cutting the lawn with a tumble dryer.

From my humble observations and what I hear from people, venues don’t want space taken up with a full band and large speakers/amps, and they don’t want the deafening volume that a large amount of amateur bands seem to want to play at. Sadly in nice bars/clubs a full band is a bit too much for a lot of punters, but they can tolerate a quiet innofensive acoustic duo who just play ‘background noise’. There is a nice bar in the nearest town to me and they have live music a few nights a week. An acquaintance goes there fairly often with work colleagues etc as the food and drink is good, and overheard him say as soon as the local blues/rock/cover band of choice fire up for the night they all get out as soon as possible. I think a lot of the time people just don’t want to hear another band playing the same old dross or murdering modern pop tunes in their local. I’m guilty, I play in a covers band and despite being pretty good (IMO) I would probably avoid a bar with us or anyone else playing 😂

Here's the antidote ...

Thought I'd share this experience in case someone else has the same problem - it might save you some hassle/cash. A while back my MXR M87 died. The level meter was still functioning but there was absolutely no sound coming from the pedal output. I did all the usual quick fixes (contact cleaner on jacks, replaced footswitch etc) but to no avail. After a bit of digging I discovered that the output op-amp in this pedal (TLC2262 in case you were wondering) has a maximum voltage of 16V. Obviously this would normally be OK in a pedal that runs at 9V, except that MXRs "Constant Headroom Technology" feature is essentially a charge pump circuit that doubles the pedal's internal voltage to 18V. It shouldn't take a genius to work out what therefore ensues if, like me, you're unlucky. I replaced the TLC2262 with an AD822 (which has a supply voltage of 18V) and my pedal now lives and breathes again. I believe MXR will fix pedals under warranty for a flat fee of £75, whereas replacing the blown chip cost me less than a tenner and a few minutes fiddling with a soldering iron (the TLC2262 and AD822 chips are both surface mount - soldering these can be tricky unless you're experienced in doing so). It appears that mine is not an isolated issue as a quick Google uncovers many such failures, so I figured I'd pass this info on in case any other BC members' M87s suffer the same fate. Please use or disregard this information as you see fit!

I hadn't heard of Hot Rods so I googled it to see what they were... Found a thread on a drummers discussion board answering an identical question about being too loud for smaller venues, and one of them honestly suggests that to be quieter on stage the offending drummer should mic up his kit because that way they can turn the volume down through the PA

Absolutely this! Our shedbuilder invested in one about 3 months ago - same issues, he's naturally loud so the volumes creep up for everyone blah blah....... We thought we'd only use it on certain gigs where we are scaring the landlord but we've found that our whole sound is miles better with it and now use it almost all the time. As well as limiting the overall drum volume its tightened the whole sound up and i can slot the bass in a lot easier with the kick (which we put thru the pa/sub). Nobody's suffering from cymbal ears any more either. We can get a great controlled beefy sound at lower volumes. Its also a great topic of conversation with the crowd - especially when we tell them we fill it with water in the second set :-) And we're looking for some stick on Garfields to stick on the inside where he cant each them whilst he's playing.

The recommended approach is to position a piece of cord or edge of a cloth under the edge of the knob, (or the remaining insert), then pull the string/cloth upwards. Don't punch yourself in the face when it goes!

I told you at the time that joining a band with John Hall would be a disaster!

...was his solo a spoof..?

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 don't just play Jazz you know.

Not the Flying Machine, by any chance ?

Got plenty of my own dust, thanks anyway!! I've got about a third of my garage as a workshop and I know what you mean about wheeling things around to use them. Looking forward to seeing these builds progress. Cheers

Somewhere in June, and no. I read it on leftybassist.com, it was posted by a member who works in a music store and got a mailing from Fender. Supposedly they're replacing the MIM Standard series, same way the American Professional replaced the American Standard.

...and another one about changing our branding name to Burns. You're right about the regional shows. We did London Olympia (aka 'the London Marathon'), compared to which the Bristol and Liverpool shows were a walk in the park - and cheap too! The most famous face I saw belonged to my mate Jim, but there won't have been many other visitors at the show who knew about Tractor.

Please say you're in a Can tribute band

No worries @Andyjr1515 glad I can share my wisdom

Which Oasis album did you play on?

Just a mini-hijack continuing on @Jimothey 's excellent explanation of the sellotape trick. I'm doing a partscaster for @Harryburke14 and he wanted something quirky on the headstock to do either with his name or associated the Peaky Blinders. I thought - ideal opportunity to try out the technique. Still got to varnish on top but even without - FANTASTIC! So, so, so much better than my previous method. Many thanks for sharing the tip @Jimothey and back to your excellent mod job @BrunoBass

How about an “acoustic” bass and a small but good combo at a suitably subdued volume? Or is it actual number of musicians that’s the issue? Or both? Or just plain plugged in phobia? Just a thought......

Why puzzled? Because my recollection of the cost was a bit more than that quoted. The amp itself looks very impressive - I have no problem with that side.

Met with Brendon Sunday to trade my SGC Nanyo fretless for his Cort Curbow. A real pleasure! Got to see his bass collection, try out a nice Spector 5-string and have a good natter about bass guitars - altogether an excellent outing! Brendon is friendly and easy going

I’m using GHS flats branded as Lakland JO flats. Really nice good tension and wonderful feel. I’m a bit gutted that rounds are working better for my current 5’er gig. Still though the GHS are good. I also like ‘Jazz’ flats. Great tension if you’re new to flats they're not as stiff as some of the big names I.e. Jamerson flats and the like.

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

Helluva intro chap..welcome to the madhouse, post long and often..and keep us smiling

One of the upsides of writing music on my own from a darkened bunker is not to having to engage directly with other human beings during the process… unless I choose to and always remotely over the ‘Net. Saves me a ruddy fortune in hand sanitiser.

I'm on a sorta' similar project. I own 2 USA SR5s and would never dare such a mod on them, so recently got a nice used SBMM Ray35 to do the P+MM franken-thing, been updating a TB thread about it. I'm waiting for delivery of a Wilde (Bill Lawrence) P-46 pickup to add to this. Also trying other pickups I have at hand with a rather "ratrod" test rig (in this photo with a cheapo -Donlis brand- pickup)... My intention is to integrate it as much as possible into the Musicman scheme, preferrably thru' the stock preamp. In the case of a P pickup I'd route the lower strings part of the P in its "standard" position but move the high strings' part towards the neck, reverse P. I'll update as soon as I do the final install. EDIT: BTW, I've made all sorts of switching mods to Stingray 5ers (both 2 coil as in this case and 3 coil as my USA SR5s). Besides this pickup addition I'm all for full humbucker flexibility. I particularly love how the neckside coil of the stock humbucker sounds when soloed (something not possible when stock either for the 3 coil -single+dummy mode only uses the bridgeside coil- and 2 coil -doesn't even have single coil mode but the "filtered series", which I don't dig at all-). Just ask via a message (not to hijack this thread) and I'll point you to threads and sample videos I've made about it. Being able to solo the neckside coil of a musicman adds a great "P meets Ray" tone in fact, all the punch, authority and cutting ability of a Musicman, plus some of that distinctive P "clonk" we all love. The bass in the photo (a 2-coil humbucker SBMM Ray35) has in fact one of those mods, which simply cut either coil for real single coil tones when in parallel (or none for the stock parallel wiring -and for the other series positions to work-). Can do 2 more tones apart from the stock 3 settings.

There’s a few videos on YouTube about it but it’s really simple: 1. You print off your logo on normal paper using a laser printer (won’t work on inkjet) 2 Cover your printed logo with sellotape then using the handle of the scissors rub the sellotape for about 1 min making sure all the sellotape is firmly stuck down and there are no air bubbles 3. Cut out the logo leaving a few mm’s round the edge 4. Put the logo in cold water for about 5 mins if it curls straighten it out again 5.Carefully rub the paper off the back of the sellotape and you will leave just the logo on the sellotape (if it feels slightly gritty then put it back in the water and carefully rub it again till you don’t feel any grit) 6. Wet the sellotape again 7. Place on your headstock or wherever you want the logo to go and blot with some kitchen towel remove any air bubbles and excess water then leave to dry 8. Once dry you can then apply your finish and flatten the same way you would a water slide decal See it’s simple and a very cheap way to do it In the style of blue peter here’s one I did earlier......

This is my Jazz, modified a bit

My mate has a Rickenbacker which he’s very proud of. I played it once - felt like a cheap 70’s starter bass. I just didn’t “get” it. So many do though. Strange. I don’t like marmite either.

SkinTrade. We had single of the week in RAW magazine, appeared on ITV but people had stopped making this sort of music around '91 / '92. We were still a couple of years behind the times. Good times. Sadly, I'm the only one who kept playing.

If you look closely you can also see this 2002 Jazz Aerodyne in the background of my avatar :-)

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

There's a Superfly 500 currently on eBay finishing in about 9 hours time (Sunday 11.52am BST) and the bidding is only £84 so far!

Brendan just acquired some pickups from me. Swift payment, good comms, valued forum member. Thanks for your business.

Bought a lovely T-bird from Brendon, absolutely no complaints. Postage was rapid and packaging was of great quality. An honest and genuine seller, a pleasure to deal with and would happily deal with in the future

Sold a Warwick Streamer to Brendon, no hassles nice and easy cheers bud

Brendon bought a pointy head crackle finish Washburn from me. Very laid back fella and was a pleasure to deal with . Another fella who's a credit to BC.

Some of the ones my wife calls me I can’t publish

Name is spelled Correctly. Brendon.