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And they're done, barring another couple of coats of finish:

I blame BC for this!After attending the BC double bass bash in April I developed a serious case of GAS and this is the result."Marilyn" is blonde, curvy and has a sweet voice and I couldn't resist her. She is an Engelhardt Swingmaster ES 9 that was purchased from Gollihur 10 years ago and has sat virtually unused since then and is in absolutely mint condition.To make it even better, she came with all the paperwork for her and a K&K Double Big Twin pickup,K&K Pure preamp, an Ingles stand,German bow, three types of rosin, quiver,mute and several books including an untouched Simandl.She was dressed in a lovely green like new Gollihur bag.I also got the original almost new Thomastiks that the bass started life with, she is currently strung with Correlli 370 F strings.The original owner has been playing pedal steel in country bands and just wanted to get rid of the bass because he wasn't using it. I am still tweaking the preamp and my amp to get the sound I want(I play jazz standards in two bands) but it is certainly fun and I am also enjoying trying out my woeful bow technique. She came home with me yesterday after a 13 hour 994 km road trip to pick her up.It was a long day but in Canada drives like this are a fact of life. I'm still not sure why I did this at my age(72) but I plan to have fun with her.I have a gig tomorrow night but I will use my trusty Yamaha SLB 200 EUB and save "Marilyn" for another day. Thanks again for that great day in April,it was just what I needed to make me pull the trigger and join the "real" DB world.

I do exactly this. With this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KTC5AO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's Post-It tape so it comes off again without damaging the page.

Ah, I'd not thought about this modern malarky. Masking tape over the screen..?

Well I've just got around to listening to the rest of the podcast this evening, and I must say - what a fabulous effort by all concerned! The Chowny interview was lengthy but very engaging. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to hear more about CITES from a manufacturer's point of view. I do feel slightly embarrassed at how my questions dominated the Q&A so much, but am pleased that they instigated some excellent discussion . Hopefully there might be a few more contributors next time The pedal demo, and discussion of the analogue vs digital thread were also brilliant. 2 hours did seem a bit daunting at first, but it actually flew past. I'm looking forward to the next one. Well done, and a big thank you!

Hi folks. I just want to mention my Classical and Contemporary Studies for Bass Guitar has just been published by Mel Bay HERE - which can be downloaded straight away as an eBook, or hard copies are available from the publisher, or one of their sellers. It will take a month or so to reach Amazon UK, I imagine. So, what is it? Half the book is given over to 21 studies by "the Paganini of the bass", Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889), very classical in style, and progressive, from fairly simple to complex. For the second half of the book I commissioned 12 Studies for Bass Guitar by Gilbert Isbin, whose influences run from contemporary classical to jazz, world musics, etc. If you like Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, etc, you might well like these solo repertoire pieces. Isbin loves yearning, often haunting melodies, and the 12 pieces are generally in two-part counterpoint, or a melody and accompaniment. Every item in the book has a sound file recorded on a fretless 4-string bass by me, but all the pieces could just as well have been played on a fretted 4-string bass. You can see videos and hear soundfiles of every piece from THIS PAGE of my website. Any questions, just ask. Cheers, Rob MacKillop

Hi all, An artist I play for, Jocee, released her latest EP to a sold out Pizza Express Jazz in Soho last night. Take a listen here: The last album, Just Love, is also available on Spotify, plus CD & vinyl on her website here: http://www.joceesmusic.com/shop For those who care: Don't Say - Bass Collection Jive fretless with La Bella groundwound strings Where On The Map - Lakland 55-01 (US Bartolini electronics) with La Bella White Gold Nylons Not Wrong - Lakland 44-94 passive P/J (solo'd Precision pickup) with La Bella Gold Flats Dancing In The Kitchen - Lakland 44-94 passive P/J (solo'd Precision pickup) with La Bella Gold Flats All recorded DI into a Focusrite Clarett 4Pre USB Let me know what you think Cheers Si

Just thought I'd do a quick update on this topic. I haven't had much of a chance to use the cab in anger until the last couple of weeks down to the usual band politics and lack of gigs followed by all the work involved in starting a new project. You've probably all been there. Anyway I have had the chance to try it out in anger at a full rehearsal. As a little extra spice the drummer has a 7 week old baby and hasn't been out for a while so was hitting things with a little extra enthusiasm, thank heaven for earplugs! So, I was back in the hall with the most appalling acoustics, all hard surfaces high ceilings, well you name it. To save anyone having to go back the speaker was designed to cope with this sort of space, and those pubs where you just can't get the bass sound right. The deepest bass was rolled off with a 2dB hump at around 120Hz to add a bit of thump so they didn't sound too bass light, a kind of old school underdamped response but with a modern high excursion driver using a single 12 built into a very simple 30l cabinet. To complete the picture I was using a Fender American Deluxe P Bass with a Markbass Tube everything set flat with VPF set at about 10.00 o'clock. We play pop/rock covers AC/DC, Queen through to Chelsea Dagger via Summer of 69 sort of thing (I've no shame) It sounded awesome, first of all really effortlessly loud with two guitars a keyboard and drummer really driving on it was really well up in the mix, not a hint of a clipping light on the input and with plenty to play with at the master volume. I have to say there didn't appear to be much in the way of high power compression either, it was over 30degreees outside, warmer in and we played for three hours without any noticeable tail off in performance by the speaker. This with a single 12 in a cab the size of an old fashioned milk crate. The sound? Well it was the sound of a P bass, punchy but sitting just right in the mix once the band got going. Not the sort of thing you'd set up playing alone at home where you'd probably want a bit more deep and some mid scoop but with a band just spot on. I can also report that in this really difficult room I had no problem in monitoring my own playing both with and without ear plugs. I know you can't trust someone praising their own design but this was meant to be built as a bit of fun, a demo at the bass bash, something I wanted to try. I fully expected to be building a 45l cab which to my mind modelled a lot better but thought I'd try a cab just on the silly side of 'too small'. it was only when we plugged it in at the end of the bass bash I realised it was worth sticking with. It started life as a curiosity piece really but honestly I'd recommend building one to anyone who wants something really portable, isn't too bothered about the top end (it has no tweeter/horn) and who is happy with a straightforward old school sound straight out of the box. It will cost you around £120 to build and once the parts are cut, well it took me around an hour to do the basic build in the video, maybe 2.5 hours in total including the pre prep and finishing.

You guys don't have stage lions in the UK? Blue

Nah - it's from a Maison - a decent 90s Korean-made Nanyo clone. Still a bloody waste.

In terms of making the control knobs, I used the same method as my first attempts with Jane's lightweight electric. For the backs, with my press drill locked in position, I drilled a hole for the 6mm grub-screw collet to fit into from some ash offcut with rosewood veneer glued on the back : Then a forstner to create the rebate for the pot nut and washer: Then my panel-hole cutter: Leaving me with a back, with all drill cuts concentric: Then glued the poplar burl tops and cut the assembly to height, ready for insertion of collet, drilling of side grubscrew access hole, installing of position dot and final shaping, which are the next jobs on the list:

Mastodon seem to have one sound now: loud with too many drum fills. Even the vocals are relentless.

don't like him. Too talented. Not jealous. At all.

we're all different, that's the main attraction of Trace heads for me, the GP12 gives me the chance to shape my sound better, especially like being able to cut the 30Hz and 40Hz area to clean up my sound and cut out any boom that happens in certain rooms

Not the prettiest of solutions, but masking tape over the tab would solve that particular issue, I'd suggest. Just a thought.

ACG if you do not already own one.

Unfortunately Yes. Back Home, 1970, is still the best.

Seems like he loves distressing all kind of things. Is Fleetwood far from Langney ? He could spend a night there.

Don’t deface a book! I’ve had s few books like that, always thought it was weird. I can see tab may be a distraction but if you’re properly reading it shouldn’t affect that. It never doesn’t for me anyway...

Sounds like an excellent piece of work you have pulled together - very well done! I will definitely be ordering a copy (and for the record I love the fact that it has both tab and music notation - means I can work at my sight reading of both ) ...just checked, currently only available as Kindle edition on Amazon UK. @Rob MacKillop perhaps you could give this thread a bump when the hard copies are available in the UK via Amazon to give us a gentle prod / reminder to get your book? Looking forward to it!

Ignoring the obviously scam prices it still highlights what a mess Gibson are in, I wouldn't even buy any of those at that price!

That headstone looks wrong should be a walnut plug,looks fake to me.

there is also the Heil "the fin" I can't give any advice on it but I know that there are plenty of people who love heil mics, they also come in black or silver and light up either red or blue (depending on version) when fed with phantom power. https://www.studiospares.com/Microphones/Mics-Dynamic/Heil-The-Fin-Dynamic-Mic-Chrome--Blue_318070.htm Matt

I wondered if anyone would pick up(oops, sorry about that) the wood shedding image and I'm not surprised that you got it first.

No strings either. They always come with those. Definitely not real! 🤣

So pleased you are happy with it. I got my Mustang (exactly the same as yours) in 2015 after years of playing a Rik. I too changed the strings to flats (D'Addario Chromes in my case) and am absolutely delighted with the sound. Unintended bonus is on small stages I tend not to whack the singer with the head-stock so often. 😎 Well, she thinks its a bonus.

Since I've recently landed a new gig, I've been in a diary-writing mood, and have been reminiscing about the various bands I've been in over the last decade or so, and some of the near misses. This one springs to mind: I responded to a posting on joinmyband looking for a bass player to join a drummer and guitarist to start an originals indie-rock band. Sounded interesting so I sent a message asking for more information. They seemed to have reasonably good credentials, though I was a little concerned that the guitarist seemed to be more interested in namechecking the bands that he's been a tech for. They said they were also looking for a singer, and at the moment the guitarist is doing the singing in rehearsals. They told me the date of their next rehearsal, and that there'd also be a guy coming along trying out for the singer job. With 3 days to go, they asked me if I wouldn't mind learning 3 covers that the singer knows well, just to help him out. Sure, I said. I arrived at the rehearsal rooms, got my stuff set up and started chatting with the drummer and guitarist. Apart from the guitarist giving off vibes of being a horrible womanizer, they seemed okay. Then the singer arrived. A fairly stocky fellow, he bumbled in, smiling through broken teeth, and growling about how he's got a stinking hangover so apologies if his singing wasn't 100%. Uh-oh, I thought. Give him the benefit of the doubt though, maybe he's just being very modest. But no, he started singing, and it was not good. Maybe it was the hangover, or maybe he just can't sing. There's no way to tell, and so I'd never take that risk. The end of the "audition" came and the guitarist and drummer were practically shaking this guy's hand saying "welcome to the band". I took that as a red flag and made my decision. S.P.

Lovely basses. It’s the clarity that you either love or don’t. There isn’t really an Alembic sound, it’s just the strings, and filters if you want them. Look out for an SF2 rack preamp - essentially the filters in a Series II Bass but in a 1u rack. Very expensive new, but they do sometimes come up used, and a lot cheaper.

Thanks guys! I actually bought a Quilter Bass Block 800. It controls all of the note extremely well. Lots of the lightweight heads go loud, but not in a very effortless way. I can however recommend this amp/speaker combo. I played an outdoor festival type gig on Saturday playing a mix of rock/pop and soul, and it didn’t break a sweat.

The GEQ or para EQ on the Zoom MS-60B both work well; the pedal is around £50 second hand and does a ton of stuff besides. If you get, make sure to get the free Tone Lib editor which makes editing patches a doddle and fun. Out of interest, why not use the EQ options on your Helix (which I presume it has in abundance)?

I've actually got both on my board: the FI is amazing, and I do have a midi expression pedal attached to it, and for years the SYB-5 was really a curio: then I got the roland EV expression pedal and attached it to the SYB-5 and it came *alive*. The SYB-5 is an utterly different beast with the expression pedal on. The tones are amazing for solos - even the distortion "synth" on it becomes really usable - the sweep on the pedal is enormous.

Played a regular pub gig this weekend, they have a stage the staff set up in one of the window bays kinda thing. It's usually a late gig anyway (first set about 10:15 start, second set 1:00am finish), but with Russia playing for penalties (and I'm glad they've gone out with that approach), it was gone ten by the time they started setting the stage up, so it was gone eleven before we started, so we went straight through in one set till one. Given the heat in the (packed) pub, it was rowdy, sweaty, hard work. Good fun, though.. 😁

Maude clearly is hook line sinker. Guitarist; reasonable, polite, insightful, apologetic 🤨 hmmm

Yeah, nice try Maude, but we're not buying it.

Thanks, guys. I don't think Mel Bay would entertain that at all, Ralph. They know what sells, I guess. I'm just happy to get the music published by such a big company. Sorry. You can only please some of the people some of the time, as they say.

Waterloo Festival! Eddie was walking along the beach round about the time I was playing! Back playing with the China's, off and on, have been for a couple of years. Even played Hanna Hanna a few times. Hadn't been played since '83, seems like nobody could work out how I do it. Not telling! There's a live version from the Ahoy in Rotterdam in '83, which even I hadn't heard till a few weeks ago. Grin like a Cheshire cat in the gym when that came on. Back playing fretless, 5-string, now. Haven't loved playing this much in years, and I'm 60. Gig at every opportunity till you drop, I've learned that too many times in the last 20 years. Just do what you love.

This thread would be here, because i posted it due to her abiilty on a bass. I never mentioned anything to do with her looks, or this ballacks about JK. I didnt even know about that story.

Also known as a Norrisole.

your lady singer is the boyfriend of the guitarist? you should learn Walk On the Wild Side "and then he was a she..." but WHY do you need vocals transcribed? can't she listen to it and then sing along to it? I think your problems might be more than finding this transcription best of luck

it sounds like you’re describing the shure super 55: https://www.studiospares.com/Microphones/Mics-Dynamic/Shure-Super55-Deluxe-Dynamic-Microphone_433190.htm there are some cheaper alternatives, but that’s probably the one they’re copying

i picked up a skeleton case, its super tough and a perfect fit, i paid around £40 i think, doesnt mess with my settings too which is nice.

Lol. I'm going to suggest what I was using. Tecamp Puma 900 (500W into 8 ohms) is loud as hell into the F112. The voicing options on the head work well. The bass knob cuts at 30Hz so acts as a HPF for some rooms. 'Taste' knob radically changes the sound from crisp/clear to 'old school' middy/thumpy. The treble knob is set a touch high for my taste, but I only really tend to cut a bit there, so no biggie.

Went to see the brilliant band Moscow Drug Club last night at St George's in Bristol, with Andy Crowdy on upright bass. I've seen them before but last night I had a seat right down the front and the acoustics were great, so was able to appreciate things a bit more, particularly Andy's pizz technique & sound (I think he had a set of Thomastik Spirocores on). Looking online I see the HENLEY JAZZ WORKSHOP ‘MASTERCLASS’ coming up in August, so I'm looking into whether I can attend.

Bas was very accommodating had a great little chat very pleasant and communicative. Lovely guy. sold him my bass synth E-H

Sold Bas my 'project' Yamaha BB425 in the most straight forward and pleasant of deals. Great guy to deal with, good comms, very friendly. Met up to hand it over, had a natter. An absolute pleasure doing business!

The last time I saw a performance like that of the poor old gentleman to Jack's left was when we played a bank's office Christmas party. The CEO's secretary who booked us was there to explain that her boss fancied joining us on stage. For the whole set. And he'd already set up his stack. And his pedalboard. And he had some song suggestions. We'd just finished setting up on the periphery of the CEO's square footage when this perfectly pleasant, slightly porky chap wandered over with a PRS round his neck and asked us if we were ready to go? We were and we did. After a couple of numbers I looked round and this chap was pulling all these guitar faces and widdling away like a nutjob - in total silence, his amp being turned to zero. Our guitard looked at me, I looked at him, we both looked at the drummer and we smiled. After we finished he shook our hands, fulsomely complimented us on our playing and asked if we'd like to do it again some time. I said yes, certainly then wandered off to talk to his secretary away from the main party and ended up boffing her across his desk. Funny old world, eh?

Cheers, my firts post and new pickguard.

I've been in wedding & function bands for about the past 23 years. Anyone who's been in that type of band knows that you can be playing one style one minute and something completely different the next. In that time I've owned about 130 basses and the right bass for the band was the one I had at the time and to alter the sound I've moved my hand towards the neck or the bridge and played either heavier or lighter. My advice would be to find a bass that you really like to play, that feels good and you can comfortably play all night. Chances are the audience won't notice the difference anyway. Sometimes we get too caught up in trying to find something that we don't really need. I know that I was incredibly guilty of it in the past. When I change basses it's for the hell of it and not the sound. Any half decent bass will sound decent through the PA. Once I had it out of my system I started enjoying playing more instead of trying to find something that I thought I needed but had all along