Leaderboard

If you don't feel like reading, just pass this one by. Nothing is simple anymore. Montreal, 1971, Shed 25. Owned by a football player (Montreal Alouettes) down by the docks (where the large storage sheds were numbered). At night, the area was so dark you had to be careful carrying gear. There was nothing else around but a small restaurant 5 or 6 blocks away where you had to swim through the snow drift as you went down several steps with red and green neon lights flashing in the snow. I remember fueling up on cheap scotch, fried eggs and two cups of coffee. The waitress was Muriel with the nice smile. An establishment feeding beer daily to longshoremen and motorcycle gangs. Long torn down. We were 15/16 and it was our blues band with blues harp: Messin' With The Kid, Jumpin' Jack Flash/Johnny Winter and Johnny B Goode. Don't even tell your parents about it. By day it was the hangout of the notorious Dubois Freres Gang. Lucky for us they never were around at night. The women wore nothing and were very young. It was all new to me then. They used to rush us when we came in saying, "Ooh! Les Musiciens! Gadze! Gadze!" There were actually very sweet. The older ones were much more street savy. The customers were all old enough to be daddies, but their tips probably fed them. This was when Montreal had been long established as an open city and just before the modesty laws were instituted. First time we saw bouncers in action. Some drunk decided to argue football with the owner. They took him outside. They came back in without him. We got nosey between sets and witnessed more blood on cement than we imagined possible from one guy. We were going to ask for more money. Another night I sensed something while playing, only to see this hand twice the size of mine playing along the neck with me. Everyone was laughing. I felt like Pee-Wee Herman in the bikers bar. I was glad when he finally sat down. It was the Outlaws having a beer stop. The old guys driving the little sidewalk sized snow plows would drive like speed demons down their routes and then stop in for a couple of hours to have a few beer and sell pot. Then we had to play for women who were auditioning their dance routine. We'd play Help Me Baby and Green Onions. They liked it. It was mind boggling for a teenager. I can still smell the tobacco and beer stained carpet if I think on this too long. I don't think this routine exists anywhere today, except maybe Calcutta or the Barbary Coast. We split $40 for each night, six nights a week and stopped after three weeks as we all had day jobs. That's my lurid little tale of musical debauchery. Now tell us what the cute lady is doing with the price tag around her neck...?.

Our old singer had a habit of running up mid song and taking my hat off me..... annoying but she thought it was funny, until one gig I’d turned around and was facing the drummer and she tried it as I turned back around... not quite a black eye by the end of the gig but close. Thankfully my bass was ok. 😂😂

Well apart from a string tree it's finished and I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out........... 😀

Grrrrr……………….😣

A white or chrome cover, a lipstick or bronco type PU would have been nicer IMO.

On the subject of t-shirts, mine's not bass clef but definitely bass (and me 😁) on my long sleeved tee.

You could always try a collaboration with this guy: https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/hear-goes-nothing-t1126047.html Now you be sure to keep us all posted, y'hear?

It sounds like he is a control freak , if the band is a multiple album selling outfit earning you a great living, then he is also a great guy to play with , if you are pub covers band, he is a knob

BOOM! Got the job!!!! Band is called Fraudio btw. Absolutely stoked and in need of a beer or two. Now begins the hard work!

Hi, I'm currently studying music at uni and am in the middle of a business module. As part of this module we have to create a musical brand and work out how to market it through market research and other forms of marketing theory. I've chosen to go down the route of a session bassist, as this is what I aspire to do in the future and therefore am collecting market research for this. I know we're all mainly bassists here, but it would be much appreciated if you could fill in the survey, particularly anyone with experience of producing, songwriting or leading a band. The questions are pretty basic and it should only take a few minutes. If you think I have left anything important out, please let me know! Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJ7MPS2 Many thanks!

I often think some covers bands aren't genre specific enough, a lot of people who go to gigs regularly are loyal to their genre, Mod, Ska and punk are popular in my area, you can please some of the people all the time, you can't please all the people all the time

Black scratchplates rule. You are all wrong with your fake toilet seats and horse brass preferences.

Have you tried messaging @KiOgon (John) he's usually pretty prompt replying.

never ashamed of anywhere I've played, but plenty of pubs that I wouldn't ever drink in. Not the rough ones - that's most of my drinking life - but the awful, Stella Artois & John Smiths serving town centre pubs who have an entertainment budget to spend on bands, or awful dance around your handbag type bars, Weirdly all of those were played in a punk covers band, and we got repeat bookings at some of them

Oh and this was the first outing for the famous UPS Saga bass! Sounds pretty damn sexy I think.

This isn't technically true. Some session bassists are brands (Will Lee, Pino Palladino etc.) but they develop their brand through years of playing and exposure, not because they simply tell people they're great.

Hey Blue, I understand your pain. I also didn't want anyone to see me when I played one of those basses!

Hiya, I'm not really trying to make the case for the gt1b, each to their own etc. Just thought folk might like to know about the assignable pedals. That said, I'll try to answer these questions as I've had the gt1b myself. 1) at a gig or rehearsal I don't think you'd want to be messing around with assigning switches. I think you'd want to set that up at home. That doesn't prevent you tweaking effects units 'on the fly' though. 2) sound and tone etc are subjective but to these ears the effects sound very good. The amp models and overdrives were really good in particular I would be very happy to gig or record with them. But, as ever, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 3) Is there an OC-2 in there? Almost. The octave is an OC2 clone and, again, I thought it sounded pretty good. I was using the -1 sound and liked it as an OC2 sound-alike. I didn't use the -2 sound so can't comment on that, or on the other synth sounds which I didn't use. In general, I think you'd set up your 'board' at home and then tweak it easily at the gig / jam. That is very doable. I still think the best multi for on stage tweakability is the Boss ME80b, which is an oldie but a goodie! In the end I couldn't quite get a driven OC2 sound that I liked from it, (despite liking the octave and overdrives individually!) . I also prefer the simplicity of analogue units with a single knob or maybe two. ... the gt1b sounds great though.

The best at different things can come at different times in our lives. My best as a university lecturer was about 15 years ago, and I recognised that and gave it up 10 years ago. I will almost certainly never be as good a bass player as I was a lecturer, but my best as a bass player is yet to come. With care and practice and a following wind I won't live to "cessation". I don't want to.

Here's my twin Stingrays....and my real twins 😍 They're my babies, all four of them.

Not a bass - my first-ever 6-string guitar was a quite decent Columbus SG copy which I had in 1980. Aside from a bolt-neck & fake humbuckers, it was a pretty reasonable facsimile of the original, down to having a very slender, volute-free neck/headstock junction. Can't quite remember how it happened but it probably involved the enthusiastic execution of inept powerchords, playing along with Motorhead or somesuch, and a surprise meeting of Columbus headstock and bedroom wall. I do remember a sudden loss of string tension and very rapid de-tuning. And then the "plop" as the newly-liberated headstock hit the floor. I lacked the skills to correctly repair my newly decapitated guitar - but I didn't lack imagination: I've still got it now.

I bought this Precision bass just over 3 years ago I think. It's originally a Squier VM and had satin finished maple neck/fretboard. Not long ago I'd had it up for sale as I'd sort of 'gone off of it'. However, I bought a Mexican Blacktop P bass neck for it. It's now my number 1 bass. The new neck has lacquer finish, which I prefer, and the much nicer looking spaghetti style Fender logo on the headstock. I went the whole way and got an F neck plate as well I shouldn't like this bass at all as I've never been one for natural finishes, but this is now such a lovely bass. It feels nice, and with some flatwounds on it, it sounds gorgeous. They're not the best photos, but here we go...

Adam Clayton managed two gigs in a row once without a new signature model for the third gig, does that count?

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may the 4's be with you

I haven't been to see Tull for a few years now. A mate of mine and me used to go to most of the tours since the mid 80's. Even that far back Ian Anderson had suffered vocal issues but seemed to find a way round it. However by the time Martin Barre left a few years back we were looking at each other at the end of gigs and saying 'this is getting embarassing now, think its perhaps time to stay home'. I'm sure IA still gets a kick out of performing and as long as there is some sort of audience he's entitled to do so but when it gets to the point you are taking an additional vocalist on stage the writing's on the wall. Whitesnake went the same way, the last couple of times I saw them you were hearing the backing band singing as much in the mix as Coverdale's pale shadow of the voice he once had. Time waits for no man but it's inevitably crueller on singers on the whole.

Well, I've finally had a chance tonight to sit down and annoy the neighbours while I tried it out. I'm well impressed. My Metro is still in store, so I had to use my little Eden EC8 solid state practice amp. But the richer tone was really noticeable straight away. It's very responsive but I found I needed to fiddle with the mix and crossover controls quite a bit to avoid fuzziness. But I did manage to get a lovely warm and rich sound out of it. Having said that, the overdriven sound is fantastic, so if that's your thing, just plug and play. I suspect I'll need to find the sweet spot when I hook it up to the Metro, and maybe mark the settings with a spot of paint. Then I just need to remember to turn right for the fuzz and left to dial it back. But this pedal definitely delivers the goods. whaz hot: solidly built, responsive controls, LED to show if it's on or off, gorgeous tone, does what it says on the tin whaz not: the PSU is (a) 15 volts and (b) really flimsy. It flexed so much that I thought I'd broken it when I first plugged it in. That's a drawback in a pedal costing north of 100 quid. overall: well chuffed. This beastie's a keeper - I'll just have to put up with two PSUs on my pedal board.

Very hard - what would be the point of the Helix LT then if a unit half the price and half the size did the same thing? No, easier to make a cut down unit with less DSP for people who want just the amps - I am surprised they didn't do an HX Amps, but then maybe that is what the stomp is effectively. I find the amps quite uninteresting compared to the effects. I have amps. I can have all the modelling I want, but my 2 x 12" Tc cabs and TC450 isn't going to sound the same as an ampeg and 8x10 however good they are, so until I am going straight into a PA without an amp it has less interest for me. I think you just want different things.

Praise the Lord!! I have my amp back. June 17th it went bang and we are now November 27th, cray.

That looks really good. I think the accidental oversized neck pocket works really well too. It wouldn't look as good without it.

Good afternoon, Damian , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. GAS..? 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome FRFR..? 'Full Range, Flat Response' cabs, usually powered, often used as PA for FOH (Front Of House...) NAD..? 'New Amp Day', when one's new toy arrives, as you may shortly find out. A short appreciation posting is mandatory, even if only a brief 'Yay..!' Hope this helps.

Yes. I see he's had the hair removed. 🙂

Cool looking P bass

This is really interesting. I hope you don't mind me making some points... (This comes from spending time as a music lecturer when we would set assignments like this). I think you're confusing your own career aspirations with the demands of the assignment. A session bassist themselves isn't a brand, but a company that provides session bassists - or deps - could be a brand. 'Deps on demand' or something like that could be a good model. You could test the market on how much people would be willing to pay for a stand in. Say a gig pays a band £1000 but the bass player has gone. What do you do? This situation you could jump in and provide a service that ensures the gig goes on, keeps the client happy and the band earning. Looking at your survey, you're already collecting useful information. Apologies if this is seen as critical, it's certainly not meant to be.

Late 1970's - The roadie of the band I was in somehow managed to leave my '63 Precision (in it's case) overnight leaning up against his gatepost at his house after returning home after a Sat night gig - we were playing the Sun lunchtime and he'd agreed to leave the gear in the van but take all the guitars indoors overnight. Two little boys had knocked on his door about 10am on the Sun and asked him if he wanted the 'old guitar' that he'd left outside and 'was it for the dustman ?'.....

Sold it on eBay for £26

Bottomline, if you want to play frequently and earn cash you are doing covers. When I started playing in late 80s it was all about original material. Now everyone wants to sing along (in the instant satisfaction era we are in that is not surprising). I have been lucky in that I am in an originals band and we do 5 or so gigs per year that are fun, but we pay for our studio by also doing tributes (basically same “originals” guys in all, with some “guests” in some of the tributes). Yesterday’s Nirvana/Pearl Jam gig paid for an entire month of studio rent, keeping it cost neutral

The lead guitarist probably thinks that his is an important , integral part of the song...….he is wrong. I played in a band where the lead guitarist left and we just carried on playing gigs. We even carried on covering All Right Now...with no lead break. Nobody ever made any comment ...they just all sang along with the chorus as usual and we continued to get re-booked. In short…..ignore him.😜

I use channel 1 for an old vintage style tone and channel 2 for the Glowplug overdriven sounds. Works a treat. Cuts through the mix really well too.

So, a quick update. All going well. A couple of quietish nights - Bristol Tunnels a bit of a disaster with audience numbers, but it was a foul night, and the venue had a big local blues act on the next day. Birmingham went well - was the home gig for one of the other acts, so it was mainly her audience, but we won a fair few over. Selling CDs at every gig which is positive, and we're playing well - all that rehearsing of the set has paid off. My Fender Pro 800 is sounding great, especially when the Italian band's bass player puts his 68 P through it!! Keighley tonight. Small cafe/bar/venue, with good reputation, and good pre sale. Right on the station concourse if anyone fancies popping over.

I for one welcome our Ashdown overlords...