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Hey guys, Finally got my order received, including 2 Yamaha BBs, Ashdown CTM head and cab and even an ashdown tone pocket to stay on the neighbours Christmas card list 😉 hahaha Obviously, matching 4 & 5 string BBP34 and 35 basses. Fit like a glove, sound amazing and don't break my back the way the BB1025 does. Extremely happy to have these. The ashdown is just pure valve bass amp goodness. Got less watts to play with but compared to my Trace Elliot 715 and Ashdown Touring 220w, I've got more tone to play with and its loud enough for what I need it for. I will be investing in some casters for the cab though, it's a heavy thing and the wheels on the back of the cab are practically useless unless you're 2ft tall, to use it on the 45° angle and don't need to move it sideways. All in all, feel like a kid on Christmas getting everything on his list to santa. So happy 😁

If not already sorted DM me your address and we will get a couple of fuses in the post today

Being let down due to illness or personal crisis is perfectly acceptable but being let down due to simply getting a better offer is beyond contempt. I would never work with someone like that again, they will let you down time after time.

Well time moves on and I’ve actually got playing again. Just home stuff in my little practice room. I am really enjoying getting back to ‘bassics’. I bought a Lakland Skyline P/J £600 off in the recent GuitarGuitar sale as I wanted a P with just 4 strings. I love it, such a good bass and the Plek’d board makes it a real joy to play. Then the desire for a matching 4 string J sorta grew and I bought a Mexican Jazz from Nick on here. In part I grabbed it because it had Hipshot upgraded tuners and luthier refined fretwork. It’s a joy also, two great basses (and my 2 ACGs and Rita) I’ve already added a Hipshot Type A bridge and some new pickups so some things don’t change.... What is different is that instead of learning theory followed by picking up tabs for songs I’m working on learning to improvise and use my ears more. Loving it all again. I hope a band opportunity doesn’t come along as I can’t afford a rig:)

Fixed properly

Trigger pulled on the A/O amplifier. You know, I've seen enough in the Darkglass promos past and present to know whatever I've seen is reasonably accurate, so no qualms. Delivery 6-8 weeks. Will report back on delivery.

My newly acquired 1991 S2 (or S2 'Matrix' as I think it would have been termed at the time being headed). This is a bit of a timewarp bass - it really is in mint condition. It recently came into this country from the Netherlands (where the original owner resided). Maybe a member on here? I did initially think that I had a problem with a noisy preamp/buzzing at higher volumes. Turns out that the equation of this bass + my old Trace SMX's + the electrical interference in my man cave = buzzing at high volume. Tried it elsewhere in the house, at different times of the day and through a couple of more 'modern' amps and it's as quiet as a mouse. I'm really enjoying it and as @MB1 warned me, I may end up wanting more than one!

Wasn’t expecting this at all, especially the voice... Good band too...

I've just been offered the opportunity to join a signed band, doing gigs at bigger venues than I'm used to around the UK. My current main band play pubs, clubs and functions. I decided I'd be better to tell the core of the band (hubby and wife) face to face, so I went round to their place on a Sunday morning. I explained my situation and told them that I'd like to continue gigging with them up until the end of June, by which time they'd need to have recruited a new bass player. This fitted fine with the new band's plans and has given my old band plenty of time to recruit. They've not been dropped in the doo doo and we remain friends. Successful conclusion!

Just wanted to say that Ashdown have been outstanding with a beautiful Hayden guitar combo that has caused me a few problems (problems mostly of my own making I should add). We've had some challenges with couriers, guitarists who've used the wrong fuses etc, but Ashdown's comms and customer service are second to none; I love the 'why don't you pop in, have a cuppa, and we can take a look' approach (which I wish I'd done as it would have taken the courier out of the equation). Anyway, shout out to Guy and Dave for great comms and a really helpful attitude. And when I look at this thread I started, and then at my collection of Mesa and Ampeg gear, I have to wonder why I don't have more Ashdown bass gear

So those pickups would be considered ceramic as opposed to alnico, or indeed neodymium.

I saw some overwound neodymium Martin Herrick pickups on eBay with a 'make an offer' tab. I offered £75 and was well chuffed when it was accepted. That is £45 less than the usual price. I fitted them today and after some fettling I'm very pleased. Punchy and bright with great mids. I think they look good too. I initially installed them the same height as the original pups that came out (that are actually surprisingly good anyway). The Neo magnets are so strong that, particularly with the E string they were seriously affecting intonation and causing fret buzz! Lowering the pickups solved this although I was a little confused about what was going on at first. The originals have magnets epoxied to their underneath. I wonder if this is a mod? As I say they sound surprisingly good for Mexican standard pups. Here's a photo of the bass now and the magnets stuck onto the old pups:

See? You can check out but you can never leave. Welcome home.

Looks like we may have a different winner of the 'who's travelled furthest to the Bash' competition. No prizes but just the kudos of sitting on a motorway for 6 hours...

Reading some of these posts, you can make problems for yourselves if you insist on playing the original lines note for note on every occasion. If you really have to play a line and you can't, then the only answer is to practice it until you can! If I'm learning a song, I check the original version, then I have a look for the original band playing live. Many times they aren't even playing the original lines themselves. I work out what needs to be kept and what I can add. I make sure I capture the gist, the feel and flavour of the original but I'm the player. It's perfectly acceptable to make these songs your own.

OP is right to feel aggrieved, it's not good enough. Here is the best place to rant though, I'm sure she knows what she's done, no need to make sure she knows she is Satan cos' it's a small world on each of our gigging scenes and you never know what's coming or what's been missed cos' two people on the same scene don't feel they can pick up the phone to each other. Let it out on this august forum cos' you're absolutely right then let it go. Les

Works well for a tour, poorly for frequent gigs around your home town.

Move it to Off Topic if you want to get some serious clickbait....

After a a month or two of umming and ahing about whether to get the HX Effects or the Stomp and watching countless reviews/tutorials on both I've finally put my order in and, subject to the vaguaries of the delivery service, the Stomp arrives on Monday.

That’s what I find hard. When a song changes the verses, it gets me confused. I like regimental. Verse , chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. I’m the singer, so it’s less to learn by muscle memory. Chuck in variations and Im like, that’s not fair!

From where I sit, that's Game Over, Insert New Coin.

'E's not a bass guitar, he's a very naughty boy!

I’m going to attempt to attend every Bass Bash this year so count me in. I’ll be bringing... Fretless Rob Allen Mouse Fretted Godin A4 FRFR set up ...@Frank Blank’s acoustic corner if you will.

Frisco I can handle for a guitar's brand name, but BRIAN?? Guy at gig: 'Cool bass, mate. What make is it?' You: 'Err....it's a... Brian'.

I got a second copy today as i thought it would make a good raffle prize at one of the upcoming bass bashes!

Now after I have had the Bugera BVV 3000 four years and eight months of heavy giging, the first two tubes have been reported fail by the Infinium-Circuit. The lights for tube Nr. 1 and 3 are on, which does mean that they run out of specs and have to be replaced. I ordered two Sovtek 6550 WE, and will replace the failed ones as soon as possible. As I found a source with tubes on an absolute reasonable price, the other four tubes will be replaced during the next 1 or 2 weeks, as the shop ran out of this model of 6550. They'll ship the other four tubes as soon as they have them in stock again. As the Infinium circuit is able to handle different tubes, I am fine with throwing in two new tubes to the old ones, as they advertised that you only have to change the tubes that are reported. Lets see if this takes influence on the tone, quite curious about that. I will post again when I have replaced the first two tubes, and again, when all tubes are replaced.

It's all gone too far! Basically a 3 channel rig that started life as a Muse rig...now I am back to 2 bass channels and one faux guitar channel...i guess think Royal blood. For those interested signal chain is P bass mid pickup.... tuner....lehle...to CH1...pitch fork with exp pedal (love this on bass and guitar)...T rex bloody Mary (seriously underrated)..Boss Os2. (Fantastic in a mix)..mxr micro chorus...Nobels trem....alesis reverb/delay rack (would like to change this for timeline/grand Canyon/dispatch master etc) ..out to Peavey Valve king.. (this gets guitar tone with octave up but flipping octave back to unity with exp pedal adds extra grunt when needed) CH2 from lehle ...Boss oc2.....animato (yum) ..big muff...sheehan deluxe drive (hell of a pedal) with ls2 in gain loop to blend in some crunch when clean...BMC (does a thing esp if you want mids boosted funily enough)...spectracomp....out to Marshall 7400 CH3 neck Pick up (woofer PU) on my adapted P Bass...Way huge green rhino (love this pedal) ....bass balls.(lol)..Big muff...FM pro rack..(love this) .EHX octave....prunes and custard..(great odd distortion sounds).. second Marshall 7400. P bass has 2 outputs. Board Works great as i like to play some G**tar as well.... if i plug guitar in to main input on board the signal splits through the lehle giving me the option to use wet/dry rig when recording. Downsides are power supplies and sheer weight...but sounds great from Sheehan to Motown .. looks good at night...lol

I did something silly a couple of weeks ago which resulted in me owning this gorgeous bass. I've always said the only Rickenbacker I'd ever own is a 4005 due to me not really gelling with any 'normal' Rick basses I've tried, but the 4005 being one of the best looking basses ever made, IMO. The price of 4005's being what they are meant I'd never be owning one anyway so it was kind of a running joke with our guitarist who owns eight Ricks. This bass popped up on my fb feed on one of the selling pages, one of those random posts that pop up from pages you don't really follow, I thought 'ooh that's nice', but it was in Chester and I was in Cornwall. Gigging commitments meant I couldn't go and look at it and I couldn't expect someone to post it really, could I? Anyway who knew what it would be like being a custom build and it was more than I wanted to spend, plus I was didn't need any new gear being happy with my own. Roll on 24hrs and I'd agreed to buy it 🤣 It's a faithful tribute to the 4005 (ok ok a copy) built by the luthier ***** *****(the names have been changed to protect the innocent😗), whom I've never heard of, body I assume is maple but would like any thoughts from the experts on here, it's got some nice grain and quilting, block binding, maple and walnut laminated neck, partial genuine hardware, not sure about tailpiece but it looks the part and the pickups are custom wound House of Tone toasters to give a Macca neck, Geddy bridge mix. The previous owner (don't know if they're on here) sent it by Parcelforce to arrive before midday next day, after a tense three days it arrived at work (Christmas backlog) and I'll admit I was a little nervous unpacking it, firstly was it in one piece, secondly what was the build quality like? It was in a Gigblade semi hard case which is actually a very nice case and when opened I had a wave of relief wash over me, it was beautiful. The quality of ***** *****'s work is awesome, the woodwork is great and the fit of everything is excellent, my only slight bug is the lacquer finish but it's not as bad as I thought from the sellers pictures. Most people wouldn't see anything wrong but I'm a fussy tw@t when it comes to paint. Too be honest it's not really bad enough too bother refinishing but time will tell if it bugs me enough. Anyway pictures, you must be bored of my ramblings. A couple close ups to try and show the quilting, as always it looks better in the flesh but you can see a bit of it. In real life some of it almost looks like velvet, it has a real depth to it. The neck is really well made, maple and walnut, bound and crushed pearl inlays. Lovely signature Rickenbacker carving around the bout. As you can probably tell I'm over the moon with the looks, but, and it's a big but, I don't like how it plays. Given that I don't gel with Ricks it's no surprise but my thought when I bought it was with it being a copy I won't feel guilty fiddling with it. Some of you may have noticed the thumbrest, it's a very crudely chunk of wood I've doublesided taped on to just try out. Because of the style of bridge the strings are very long way from the body, nice low action on the neck but string to body is huge and using pickups as thumbrests isn't working for me. Using the bridge PU as an anchor is just too close the bridge and using the neck PU just feels too sloppy for my style of playing. It has to be right or I won't end up using it. I'll make a nice wooden rest and tape it on so that it can be removed if sold. I'm making a new nut as the string spacing is wider than I like and the strings are very close to the edge of the neck, a few times I've slipped the G string off the neck while playing. Now for the sound, it's very nice but the PU's are quite low output, it doesn't seem to have a lot of punch but that's probably down to the placement, reading up a bit this seems to be the way the real ones sound. Either PU on its own sounds good but together I get that Jazz phase problem only worse and the volume drops. I might wire a series switch in and call on the electrical guru's of the forum for help. All in all I love it and once I iron out a couple of niggles, which are my fault not the basses, I'll be over the moon. It's certainly imposing, it's massive, and although I'd never claim to be the real thing with the mojo of the real thing, it's quite possibly better quality than the real thing and certainly doesn't look like your average Rickenbacker copy.

If that really were the case, I don't think Fender would be able to sustain their sales or success long term. And also I think its rather dismissing that many will have made an objective decision and chosen Fender, based on eg trying out many basses. I can personally relate to my own experience when I went searching for another bass - I went in with an open mind and tried many; and chose Fender after that process. Also, I don't get "saddened" by others' (buying) decisions. I fully recognise that others are free to choose something else, and that Fender isn't a "one size fits all" - but also neither is any other bass guitar manufacturer, or anything else really.

I shall be doing the same one some of my pedals sell! Hopefully not too long 🤤

I reckon you are right, it's not by much though

Thanks to the replies so far. In the time when these were first released I remember the boutique Bass market was really just starting to blossom. Status, Alembic, Wal, and others all threatened the mass produced status quo (not the band). I always found Vigier to be the most playable out of the case and the sound variety for a gigging musician was fantastic. If you love a P Bass sound then buy one I have no gripe on that count, but if you are looking for more than "set it forget it" these 1980's (now vintage) instruments are great.

On some songs i've done where bassline changes every chorus i'll just play the same chorus notes each time unless its a specific stand out bassline but that's not normal in most songs. I'll write the full song out note for note anyway but as you say it's remembering what chorus has what bassline. Most people don't or won't notice. Just pick the best of the chorus bass lines and if its a tricky line then do that one. You'll enjoy playing it more and if the audience does pick up on it they'll see that you learned the harder part. Sneakiness is my forte Dave

Bit like Triggers broom !

For me, that's the sensible approach. Don't blow a good singer out totally, you might be in a similar situation again, and she is the singer to save the day at short notice. Time is a healer and you might feel different towards her a bit further down the line.

It might be worth a few simple checks before you pack off the Ashdown? Are you sure it’s not as simple a fix as the HT fuse? ..that blowing would instantly cut the power, whereas a semiconductor would more likely give a gradual or intermittent issue and a transformer would just be spectacular (smoke, burning etc) The fuse could get taken out by a power valve going bad, so maybe replace any blown fuse and if it goes immediately again, then start a process of elimination on the valves Best I let Ashdown guide you through it - they are the experts on their amp after all, but worth doing some simple checks first PS - Martin Garton in Bury is great, but not sure if PCBs are his thing?

Oops looks like I forgot to say I was coming. Put me down and I may bring the +1. Equipment. Bugera Amp (the MosFet one) Fender Aerodyne Jass Bass ( P/J) Grrg Bennett Semi Acoustic Bass (Samick) Basschat 1x12 cab.

A Town Called Malice, but The Jam. I never get any complaints from the band, but I never feel like I can get the right feel and fluidity to it.

Reggae, dub , blues , funk , I went through a hard house and jungle phase in the 90s but always reggae 🙂

That is just lovely, and so very similar to my current fave bass (pics to follow)

I see the full reunion documentary is on YT, and without adverts. Enjoyed that. 👍

That top cutout...”where’s me washboard? Eh?”