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Gear doesn't have to be gigged to justify having. There's no rule or special virtue about that. In fact plenty of us might be between bands or have ceased being in a band altogether. Does that mean we should sell all our gear? If it's sitting around not getting played at all, whether at home, in the studio or live, it's only at that point I think "yup this should be with someone else". But as long as it gets used and you get enjoyment, creativity or simple pleasure from playing it; in my books that's plenty.

And to the next scary bit - cutting and gluing the ebony blocks. The process was straightforward but needed to be quite accurate. Not only does the ebony have to be cut spot on, but because of the radius, it needs to be certain that the middle is proud of the fretboard but the sides set into the fretboard so, when attacking it with the radius block to smooth them flush, I don't sand into fresh air. Here's 6 done and 4 to go: And here's all 10 in place: I'm going to leave it on the template until I've sanded them flush - in the event that any or them are flawed, it then would be a simple job to rout out the ebony with the index pin still in the right place and re-do. In the meantime, I popped across to Neil's and took some profile and depth measurements from his favourite playing neck: Every bass has its own feel, but making the new one to similar profile and measurements should make it have a comforting familiarity when Neil gets to play it

Well the deko Stingray alike has arrived and well i`ve managed to find the reason for being a deko, a badly cut nut, ive set it up, played it and its perfectly fine even the B string is ok, quite happy for £43

Total miming should be compulsory for some acts, Florence and the machine for a start.

Having just sold my passive FRFR cabinets, I am hoping to soon join the powered FRFR collective! Exciting times ahead I am sure.

Hello Pete, as you quite rightly said, this is a huge area, likely to mildly upset the connoisseur by relating my experience. I’m no Milt Hinton, but I have recorded in a fair few studios, so I have formed an opinion which I transiently consider sensible (I.e. I may change my mind next week). I started out by being very particular about mic placements and now I’m of the school of thought of “stick the best mic you have a foot-and-a-bit away from my bridge and I will try to play my socks off”. That seems to work for me at the moment. Depending on your personality trait, you may also augment your chances of success by bribing/threatening the engineer. I feel being friendly works best... what I find very important is to keep your cans at a minimum volume on one ear only, so you can hear yourself playing “in the real world” which is essential for tone and intonation. your problem really lies on the mixing afterwards, when the bass may keep being pushed further and further back...you may want to keep the threats for that phase.... all of this may well be a load of rubbish of course. Most of all, have fun!

Sometimes good things come from bad auditions. I've been trying to find a band desperate enough to want me, and had some ...interesting... experiences. Audition 1: answered an ad on JMB for a blues group. I tell them how long I've been playing - not all that long - as I want to be honest up front. I do a bit of recruiting in the day job, and know how narked I get when confronted with bovine manure. Better to be straight with them from the off. Anyway, he replies, telling me that there's a drummer lined up, plus someone on blues harp and maybe keys too. Could I learn a couple of songs and pop round for a twang? Rightio. I turn up at the BL's house and am treated to half an hour's talking about his guitar collection before we get down to business. He's provided an amp - an ancient Vox gee-tar amp that didn't look much younger than me. Hm. I'd have brought the Eden if I'd known. But I crank the low end and off we go. He's hunched over his chord chart and doesn't look up. With no drummer to lock in with, some eye contact might have been helpful. He then chases me out of the house before his wife gets back. Hmmmm. Then about a week later, I get a 'thanks but no thanks' email. Meh. Think I dodged a bullet there. Audition 2: answered an ad on JMB for a rock covers band. Again, I'm up front about my level of experience. I get their set list - wow! Fabulous! - and learn half a dozen songs, as requested. Then the audition's brought forward a week. Great. But I rock up at the appointed time - to a studio this time - to find that the BL was struggling with one of the songs I'd learnt and had to teach the singer one of the others. Oh dear. But the rest sounded good, although at the end of the evening, they said they thought it was beyond me to learn everything on the list before their next gig. They were quite decent about it though, so fair enough. Audition 3: answered an ad on JMB for another rock covers band. As before, I make it clear how much I do and don't know. I learn the requested songs and turn up to a slightly less-than-ideal studio - bare wooden floor, no sound insulation and a PA that didn't look much more powerful than my home stereo. As I'm getting set up, a guitarist walks in; he's being auditioned too. He sets up his backline - a lovely Marshall valve amp. Then the BL arrives and sets up his backline. Then off we go. The PA just about copes, but after the first song, the BL says to me, 'it needs much more bass'. Well, I was standing in front of the amp and I could hear it OK, which meant he certainly could from the other side of the room. But no sweat, up went the volume to just under half and we launched into the next song. Jesus. My amp was making the room shake. I went to turn it down and the BL said ‘no, leave it, it’s just right’. The guitarist turned up his amp as it was being drowned by mine. Not wanting to be left out, the BL did the same and we went into song number three. This time, the weedy studio PA was completely overwhelmed; all I could do was lock in with the drummer and hope for the best. Then things started to go south when the BL started playing something a bit different before stopping to tell us that we needed to follow him. By now the volume was up well past 11 and the only way to follow him was by lip-reading. The next song fell apart when he missed out an eight-bar sequence from the intro. By now, the negative vibes were starting to creep in. At the end of the evening, the BL thanked us for coming and said ‘we’ll have a chat and we'll let you know’ in a sarky voice. So much for that, then. The guitarist and I compared notes outside and we both reckoned we wouldn’t hear from them again. We swapped numbers though, and decided we’d look at doing something together if it didn’t go anywhere. After a week of radio silence, I pinged the guitarist a text and as expected, he hadn’t heard anything either. He then asked me if I was still up for getting together, as he had another guitarist and a singer who were interested. Oh, was I ever. So a few days later, the three of us (the singer couldn’t make it) assembled in a very nice studio in Cranfield. What a difference! No attitude, a lot of fun and some great songs to play. The Stooges, Black Sabbath, the Undertones, Tears For Fears, the Cult… all good stuff. Plus some originals that the guitarist had written that needed basslines added. I had a whale of a time, and when we decided to make a go of it at the end of the evening, I was on cloud nine. So I did join a band from a terrible audition. Just not the one I originally went for!

Take that responsibility ! i joined up with a new formed band and after the first gig we had terrible PA sound issues , so when I asked who knew how to run it they all shrugged the shoulders and said the PA came from a previous band split and a different guy used to run it 😂 So took all the kit , hired a hall for a couple of hours and played with all the kit and worked a simple solution with desk , amps and speakers , sound checks take a 2 minute blast of roadhouse blues 👍 In the land of the blind , the one eyed man is king 😉

Get 2 layers of foam that are half thickness and cut right through one then put it on top of the uncut one...

...followed by gagging and a sack over the head for a finish

Not much cop if he couldn't even get your name right.

Am I the only one who read this topic title as Guest Beer at gigs? Wishful thinking or dementia, I fear

I play in a duo where I sing and play guitar. I also play bass and do bv in a 4 piece playing "red dirt" country (modern alternative country from Texas/Oklahoma). The singer who does some solo gigs called and wanted to use a duo at a bar-b-que place, but the guitarist didn't like the money offered so the singer asked me to back him on guitar. Did the gig, got more money than expected and free ribs. Singer called said he missed the bass, getting more money, so now the guitarist is in, it'll be a 3 piece for the next 3 gigs. Same money for me. So.....either he really missed the bass, or he likes the other guy better on guitar (he is good). I don't care. I'm getting money for nothin' and my ribs for free!

A bit of a whim purchase this one as it really hasn’t been the best of years but I was on the Eastwood site and saw some cheap ex-demo stock. I’ve always liked the natural finish on a flying V and really liked the look of this one. Eastwood’s always seem to play well and be great value for money (at least all the ones I’ve tried do) so I took the plunge. Amazing customer service from Eastwood as always, although DHL could probably warrant a thread on its own in terms of how they tried to deliver it. 30.5” scale, fairly lightweight body with a pretty thunderous sound. No, you can’t sit down with it but standing up, you can release your inner Rock God. And yes, I am probably old enough to know better!

I really must get round to watching the last two episodes, I'm really glad it's not like the good old days though, when I had to sit though the whole of the Old Grey Whistle in the hope of seeing the odd good act, at least we've got fast forward buttons now, count your blessing you youngsters

Well after several gigs and a couple of rehearsals with my new QUILTER BASS BLOCK 800 I am as pleased as punch. I am now using it at all gigs. Way too good to have as a back-up. A fellow player was very impressed with my sound last Saturday night (and surprised at the price). Quizzed me about the amp, took photos and went off to buy one. A great range of usuable musical bass tones, plenty of punch. Simply marvellous ever player should have one

It looks like this might be a thing folks, I'm going to try and put decent pilot together with @SpondonBassed by the end of the month, so we'll see where it goes from there. I'll PM people individually to sort out the specifics. Thanks to everyone for showing an interest in this and feel free to keep posting any ideas in the mean time, but it's not the end of the world if this thread sinks, I'll be sure to bump it once the episodes out! 😁

Ah fair enough, I think I'm just defining slickness with a different threshold but I totally agree with that. I'm a freelance audio engineer on-top of my part-time day job, I'm not just a hobbyist, the last job I did was for the "The 8th Asian Awards" and I've done a tone of audio restoration work and production on different podcasts. Plus I'm a fairly eloquent and charismatic fellow too on the sly, 😜🤣 so i'm up for putting a pilot together if folk are cool with that? Personally I think https://appear.in/ is the way to go for the first punt, it's like Skype or google hangouts but with less delay and better audio. That's if everyone's cool with me capturing all the audio at my end to minimize fuss for this first pop at it. If we want to go for better audio after then; we could use something like http://www.pamela.biz/ and everyone capture audio at their ends and we comp it afterwords but that means we'd have to use Skype. If no one objects to me kinda taking the rains for the pilot would you @SpondonBassed be up for co-hosting? We could do a few segments and then interview @Chownybass? Providing your still up for it Chowny? Then once its all recorded I'll do a rough edit and possibly pass it to you @project_c to do a QC listen through to catch anything I've missed? Then if you'd pass it back to me I'll master the audio and bosh; post it up here and see what folk reckon, get some feedback on if we should/how to proceed with it? If it get's "green lit" then figure out who's going to run the Libsyn and the admin side of things. What do folk think? I by no means wish to dictate what should happen to everyone, I want it to be BC's podcast not mine. You just posted this after I'd typed up my previous gambit so for the record I'm up for traveling too if in-person would be a preference but it's definitely less doable if we'd like to make it regular. I'm in Manchester not sure where everyone else is?

I'm finally in a band with a great drummer AND a guitarist who can play quietly and I'm very grateful for that. Those who say they have to play loudly 'to get my sound' are talking crap, basically. Even rock bands can sound 'heavy' without being really loud. My view is that some people like to be loud to direct attention away from their playing, paradoxically.

Yes indeed missed by many a band. One huge problem is with certain musicians who are under the mysterious spell of thinking that things only sound good when REALLY loud. "My valve amp sounds better cranked" and "I can't get the tone out of my kit if I play lightly" I have heard oh so often. Thing is, I agree that certain equipment does indeed sound awesome loud, but are totally overkill for 90% of gigs. That Marshall 100W and 4x12 cabinet doesn't start to do that beautiful compression characteristic until the valves are working hard and the speaker cones are near their limits. By that point, the volume is tinnitus incurring. So, for the most part, that kit is the wrong kit for the job at the Dog and Duck on a Friday night.

I remember my Thunder 1A as being a solid and great sounding bass. The biggest downside of them was their weight though. Bloody heavy basses, but when they sound like that, you can manage. The cachet is coming from people of a certain age, who bought & used them as their first/second instruments, and went on to use them in our first bands. Add to the fact that they have the Matsumoku history, and better build quality than some of the other "budget" instruments of the time, and now that people of a certain age have a bit more time available and a bit more disposable income, then prices start to rise. Yes, I would have another one, purely for nostalgia purposes, but it'd have to be at the right price. Saying that, I always wanted a through neck Thunder II or III.

Nope. Everything I buy is to be gigged, as often as possible.

Can anyone recommend a quality set of flatwounds for a 30" scale Squier Jaguar?

I have a Barefaced Super Twin and it doesn't get out of 1st gear for an average pub / club gig. These days, a 2 X 12 will cover most scenarios. If you need to go louder, you'd probably be damaging your hearing.

Ashdown should revive the LB550 case, with the same tube front end and a decent power stage. I found the one in my LB550, and MiBass 550, to be quite lacking. Maybe the RM module. I love the LB format though.

Same here - i grabbed one as an experiment after having poor experiences with other class D amps (slam, heft blah blah...) Its an amazing little bit of kit and provides most of what i was missing from other class D's. I'm 4 gigs in with it and loving it. The unusual tone controls are very intuitive as long as you spend 10 minutes having a think and a fiddle at home to understand them. It sounds huge in a band situation through a couple of Barefaced cabs using a good P Bass. Loads of heft, plenty of volume and no flattening of the low end when you crank it - the sound stays consistent when you get loud with it. The clever limiting is easy to hear when you run the gain over 7 and the sag begins to appear or you can keep it clear and clean with lower gain and higher master. Really impressed with it 🙂

James playing their Greatest Hit. Duller than duller than dull. St. Vincent - the Emperor's New Clothes. Style over substance. And then, finally.....music broke out. Kamasi Washington. More please. Daniel Bloomberg, bland singer/songwriter. Wetter than an otter's pocket. Even the DB couldn't keep me awake for that one. Amazing the variety of views you get on a forum, innit?

Although I am proud to be English, I cannot look at the flag of St.George without thinking "Football Yob".

Well opened it up last night and it came with 2 x 12AX7's (cheap Chinese 12AX7B's to be precise). I threw a Ruby 12ax7 HG into V1 and a JJ into V2 and immediately the amp seems more 'alive'. Will report back once ive had it in rehearsals with the full band but impressed so far. Just need to order a decent set of casters and a dust cover

Please tell me you play in a folk trio 😊

Yes, the band are doing really well after I left 😂🤣😂

Apart from the roadworn cosmetics the only difference with the JMJ is a custom-spec pickup voiced to be similar to JMJs original '66 Mustang. So tonewise it may have a slightly more vintage vibe than the MIJ but it's still going to sound like a Mustang and unlikely to be much different to your MIJ. I haven't tried a JMJ, love the way it looks but a little pricey for me.

You know I couldn't even tell you off the top of my head! Whatever the standard Pyramid Black Nylon Tapewound Uke bass strings are. I bought them for my U-bass about 18 months ago, at which point it went in the corner in shame as it wouldn't play even close to in tune ANYWHERE one the neck. But I transferred them onto the Harley Benton about a month ago and I'm liking both basses much more now. Always liked the Benton, but have disliked the U-bass since I took the original black strings off it. The Thunderguts at least play more in tune than anything else I've tried on the U-bass. Edit: I will say that restringing the Harley Benton is a nightmare. Probably easier with virgin strings, but with the strings previously on the U-bass... let's just say there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth trying to aim the spiral end through those little holes blind and at the very end of my contorted wrist's reach. I don't have the smallest hands in the world and there's no rear access hatch like there is on the Kala. Interesting times.

In my very limited experience, it's not worth bothering with the feed from the pickup and you should always go with the mic(s). Pickups work live because they're easy to use and don't feedback. But in a recording situation a mic will always sound much better.

Would we consider getting it up on a popular social media account, such a bassporn on instagram, for more publicity for tech users?

Oh yeah! I remember doing a gig where we had a young support band. The guitarist turned up with a little amp and a well beaten up zoom pedal from yesteryear. He plugged everything in and took his first chugs on the guitar in soundcheck. Me and my keyboard player just stood there with our jaws on the floor. This teenager, rocks up with his kit that he has saved like mad to buy and decimates everyone with a guitar tone to die for.

The "my amp only sounds good at high volumes" argument is hogwash. Modern variable gain amps can create wide tonal variation at pretty well any volume. A less powerful amp will break up/overdrive at lower volumes, so maybe guitar players ought to think about downsizing from that Marshall/4x12 rig when playing pubs, clubs and the local wine bar.

Funny this topic should come up this week as I’m doing a show week (I do about 8 or 9 am drama ones a year with a team of uni/ conservatoire trainer musos) At the dress rehearsal I asked the piano player to turn down- no problem. The trumpet player asked the French horn player to swop places as those things are the Marshall stack of the orchestra, no problem. The guitarist asked the drummer to take it easy- no chance, coincidentally the drummer is crap. Anytime I work with really good musicians, they play for the room. I did a restaurant gig with a London session drummer once, he played kick, snare and hats only, twigs for sticks and I swear it was one of the deepest grooves I have ever played to. Wish he was on this weeks gig!

...and they're Yamaha, which is good enough for me! 🙂 Now all it needs is aux in, headphone out, amp sims and a DI and I'd be wondering why my Zoom B3n was still around...

We need a :barf emoticon.

I avoided them for years because I thought they were boring. Then one day I decided to see what all the fuss was about and instantly fell in love with the sound.

Thanks for the replies, I've joined up to JMB and I've added a couple of ads in the nearest counties. A load of views and no responses seems to be the way thus far. Off to some kind of musicians mixer tonight to find band members, hopefully no keys in bowls!!

It always amazes me when people manage to get a bad sound from a Precision - with most amps set flat they work well in the mix, and if you then eq them they can do so much.

I liked the tone of my One10's but I had concerns over the fact that they couldn't keep up with my band's moderate volume in certain pubs (acoustically damped by carpets and furnishings). Despite everything they are very small cabinets and do not defy the the laws of physics. I confess that I succumbed to the hype and believed they might be as loud as, say, a Markbass NY121. Unfortunately they're not. I actually replaced the 2 One10's with one Markbass Std121HR and have done a number of gigs with that, with no issues and plenty of spare volume available. I also think there is a valid criticism of using non-standard optimistic specs on the website ("usable frequency range" etc among others) and the general tone of the site inferring that other manufacturers are "behind the game" in design terms. Don't get me wrong, Barefaced cabs are a good option among many good options but there are other cabs out there are on a par or maybe even better.