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

Thank you x

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.

Hmmm, I feel sure I covered it, but I wonder if it has been edited out. I'll need to buzz through the video later and check ha ha! It was a while ago and I've covered a load of kit since. You do have a good point there. This was a really long review. We try to stay under 15 minutes or there abouts but you know me.. I like the details! I agree, every review is going to be an overview, there are too many variables to cover every angle. Thank you!!!

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.

I might get away with it as long as I keep my daphne blue musicmaster in a gigbag.

Hence the forum name then, Bassassin?

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 have recently got myself a new 'winter project' to fiddle about with on those dark evenings while the current Mrs Rubis watches "I'm a celebrity" etc I've always fancied a 12 string for a bit of jingly jangly Johnny Marr action, and I spotted those Gear 4 Music kits online, which seem to get quite good reviews for the low cost involved, perfect for tinkering with! The problem is, they look to be maple fingerboards, and I prefer rosewood, but I did see an assembled one (they have the rosewood board) which was advertised as B stock or returned goods with £20 knocked off, so for the very reasonable price of £79 I snapped it up. It arrived very promptly, all nicely double boxed and still with the cellophane on the scratchplate, the allen keys, strap, leads gig bag and even the plectrums were all still in there. No signs of damage at all...………..better than a Black Friday bargain! Excellent service from Gear4Music, I might add. I must say that for the money, the quality is very good indeed, the body is ash (European I should imagine) but it's not heavy, the neck is nice and chunky, which I prefer, the fretting is all good and the neck joint is better than on a very expensive Strat I once owned Obviously it's not perfect, at this price I would be foolish to think it would be, but I was happy to note that all the little things which would need fettling are the ones I was expecting to find, having read reviews of them before buying, mostly set up and minor cosmetic things, such as (oddly) one of the string ferrules doesn't match the other 5 on the back! As I said at the start, this is just a little winter project, to see if I could make something decent playing and looking out of a cheap online bargain bucket. My intention is to turn it into something which looks more like this...……. ……....continuing with my love of Fenders' pastel colours, I will be respraying it in Surf Green nitro, with a matching headstock and amber neck tint. At the moment the finish is all clear, a thick poly on the body and a very anaemic looking satin on the neck, and although the finish quality is excellent, I want it to look more retro. So that's the plan, I shall try to sort out any little issues I find on the way, although having had it for a couple of weeks, I must say there is nothing wrong with these guitars as they come, and if the other stuff is like this I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them....check out the double necked Tele Jangle on Wayne !

T'wouldn't happen here. Any log in trouble gets our immediate and full attention, and the case is swiftly closed, to the satisfaction of everyone. It wouldn't do to have such a topic hanging around for too long.

And, just for good measure, a thoroughly embarrassing photo of this old duffer competing with our 19 year old singer/rhythm guitarist in a shape throwing contest 🙄

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.

'RollingStone Syndrome'?