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How do you quantify genuine mojo? A few years back I acquired the bass below. I've jammed with it, recorded, gigged it and on my last gig with the Johnsons I threw it about 20' across a stage. It wasn't pretty when I got it, so I pledged to ding it every time it left the house. It's beautiful now in my eyes.

This is my most favourite bass, my 1984 L2. From December 1984 to the middle of 1993, it was essentially my only fretted bass and came with me to gigs, sessions, tours throughout the busiest time of my music career. It's been with me all over the UK and as far afield as the Middle East. That's the original Earth strap still on there too! Thing is, Steinbergers are pretty tough really, EMG pickups slightly less so... Yes, I sometimes dig in and my slap technique is in the Louis Johnson mould. And yes, it appears that a human thumb, used to anchor against the pickup can wear down carbon fibre! Original frets - they've been dressed once - she still plays and sounds magnificent!

All routed out, dry fit of the neck and all seems ok. Now sanding, lots and lots of sanding!! All bits bar pick ups here so almost dry fit time!

Saturday was Bearded Theory. It's a big one and a load of my friends and family had got me over excited and pretty nervous about it. I woke up at 5AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I only had to go to the studio, pack up my drums, bring them home, and wait for the van to arrive at 11:30, but it seemed like such a big task. So after lying there for an hour I decided to forget trying to sleep and get my sh*t together. They picked me up at 11:30 and we got to the Woodland Stage an hour later. A couple of hours nervously hanging around and soaking in the atmosphere (and passively smoking some very pungent skunk!) and we were on. The adrenaline kicked in and all my fatigue was washed away by the hundreds (maybe more than 1000?) people singing our songs back at us and cheering us on. 45 minutes later, soaked with sweat, I couldn't stop grinning as I packed away my drums. Best gig for ages!!! A bit of a crap photo bit I don't have a lot of time between songs to have a drink of water, grab a photo, and count in the next one After that we had to hang around until we played a small tent at 10PM. I crashed pretty hard in between so went for a lie down in the van for an hour or two and that seemed to sort me out. The tent was absolutely packed with people. We were parked right next to a side door in the tent, but the staff wouldn't let us load through that door. We had to go right around, through a fence, and then fight our way through 200 people to the stage. They seemed really anal about the rules for a bunch of crusty types smoking massive joints. Maybe the hi-vis vests gave them a power trip? Or maybe there was a real safety concern. Anyway the gig was OK. Their bass drum was seriously lacking in volume, and although I could see a mic in it, I couldn't hear it, so to get the mix right I was kicking at full power. Unfortunately this meant the beater went right through the head during the penultimate song. Ooooops! Still, the reception was great Early Sunday morning I got a call - "Are you OK to play Nice 'n' Sleazy Festival in Morcambe tonight? It's good money". We'd already got a slot at Strummercamp in Oldham that afternoon so it'd be another 2 gig day, but I was still buzzing from Bearded Theory so I agreed, as did the others. Strummercamp was good but I don't think we impressed the crowd. There were a lot more in the main tent for the ska band (very good btw) on before us. I guess we weren't their cup of tea? Nice 'n' Sleazy was another belter though. Packed room, great reception, and some great banter with some well oiled punks.

https://forum.jbonamassa.com/viewtopic.php?id=22909 Yeah, just dandy Joe. https://www.facebook.com/JoeBonamassa/posts/ears-still-ringing-from-the-amp-show-saw-a-bunch-of-friends-though-even-a-couple/164303641317/ https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/joe-bonamassa-in-concert-unbiased-review.251371/ I dunno about you - but I have some very strong views about Joe's views.

The first band I was in had a terrible name but we were popular locally and couldn't change as pubs would just advertise us with the original name. The events leading to the hasty naming involved a group of mates that got together with instruments in someone's kitchen once a week, not a band as such, just having a laugh. We went to the pub one evening to see a band and one guitarist was trying to chat up the barmaid with the old, "Oh yeah, I'm in a band you know", line. It worked so well he got us a booking and she asked the name of the band to put in the diary. We weren't a band and we had no name. He looked around for inspiration and a random bloke was wearing a bobblehat, erm "The Bobblehats" he said, Tw@t. Anyway we had to choose who would play what a get a set together in three weeks. The gig was horrendous and amazing at the same time. I had massive feedback issues for the first half but got it sorted in the break, at the end a bloke came up and congratulated me on my amazing sound in the first half but didn't like what I'd done to it in the second. It was noisy, raucous, and ferocious and people were dancing on tables and anything that would move got dragged out and danced on/broken. We were paid and the banned from ever playing there again. I learnt a lot that night, not least that we were The Bobblehats and the name stuck. Moral of the story, pick your name wisely, it might haunt you for a long time.

I live on the edge, me. I write cheques. I cross the road, too, sometimes. I just don't care.

I've had a bank account since I was 17. So that is nearly 45 years. For the first 42 or more of those years I paid for stuff - like the rest of the world - by writing cheques, which have my name, sort code and bank account details quite clearly written on them. No one has cleared me out of money or set up hooky DDs. I think you must be mistaken.

This is very recent Mojo

I was in South Yorkshire the other week and someone was telling me that they used to go and see Saxon in their early days when they were called Son Of A B#tch. She was new to the area and would go to a lot of pub gigs, and commented to her then husband that there was a local band she'd never heard of who must be doing well for themselves as they were on all the forthcoming attractions posters, often playing a few nights a week at the same venue, and then again at another pub for another few nights, and supporting a lot of other bands: One For The Lads Hubby explained that this wasn't a band, but an, ahem, one woman performance of an artistic nature, and not the same woman each time

I thought a heavy metal band could be called Truss. But they would only ever be support...

A common beginner's mistake. 😃

Gahhhh! They totally nailed it! So excited.

Post pictures 😀

Well, received it all in the post this afternoon - two bodies, one neck, a full roll of veneer AND a fairly heavyweight gig bag...all in an IMPOSSIBLY small parcel. @TheGreek maybe struggling a bit with the Nanyo save but he sure is no slouch when it comes to packing things well! It all looks good, certainly in terms of no unexpected surprises so far. I will have a closer look and a deep ponder over the weekend on the best way to go about it and then probably start on it early next week

Oh yes of course I am Adamant that we have those.😁

Update. Finally had the chance to use my Headrush FRFR-112 at a band rehearsal at the weekend with the Helix LT. Result? Very happy. It was just a 'technical' rehearsal with three of us as one of the guitarist and both vocalists weren't available. So just guitarist, drums and me. The drummer had a new toy he wanted to try out too (roland drum pad and sampler thing). I needed to check the headrush was going to work, so seemed like an ideal opportunity to try these things out without interference. I've mentioned before, we're not a loud band, and I previously used a single markbass 1x12 with a Carvin head running at 300w@8ohms. Before the Helix arrived I had issues with boom and mud I just couldn't dial out. It was much better with the helix's hpf engaged, but now with the headrush, much better. The low end is controlled, still fat and deep enough even at high volume. I had it set a volume I felt I would normally gig at and it was fine - didn't even break a sweat. As an experiment I turned up the wick to a sort of volume I'd never play at, and where my previous rig would get 'woolly'. Again, absolutely fine. The natural roll-off around 50hz really helped. In fact, I was able to turn the hpf on the Helix (which I also had set at 50hz from before) off without negatively affecting the tone. I found I prefer the tone of the Helix amp sims without a cab sim. To my ears, they just seem to kill the tone too much and don't 'feel' right (amp in the room syndrome perhaps). The key is a high cut instead around 3-4khz to simulate a real bass cab roll off. This, for me, more closely represents a DI from an amp going straight to the desk. Hopefully, this will translate nicely to FOH when we try that. FWIW, I also tried my backup preamp, a Valetone Dapper Bass straight into the headrush. Sounded fine. Sure, it's not as refined as the Helix, but it simulates a bass amp with 3 band eq and I'm sure it will get me out of a jam if need be. It may even suffice for the odd small gig with a short set where I need to travel light. Both of the guitarists use a Helix as well, each through a Yamaha DXR10, so I tried my bass through that as well. Not quite as deep but again, will get me out of a jam if the headrush fails. Likewise, my Headrush will be more than adequate to share as a backup to one of the Yamahas. Lastly, as another experiment. I remembered the smaller headrush FRFR-108 rolls of the low end around 70hz, so I set the hpf to that frequency. More than adequate for rehearsal, so I'm almost tempted to pick one up for rehearsals and small low volume gigs.

Just shoot me now......

In a similar vein, I was once in a band called Bread Poultice. Didn't get anywhere because we sucked. Ay thank you! 😃

Not sure you need to go any higher than £100 for anything other than aesthetics or brand bragging rights. I have the full fat Gator Pro Go (think they call it the ultimate now) which is all I could ever need in a gigbag and they're £99, superb bags and rock solid with high end appointments (solid metal clips for strap connections, integrated rain cover etc). I'll be honest I think the Mono stuff looks a bit tacky, like the puffer jackets everyone wore when I was at school:

That's also a fair point! Andy Lewis, proprietor of Acme Bass, the designer of my favourite bass cab the Low B2, was testing the design of a new cab for old school sounds and discovered that with an old P bass and flatwound strings, the tweeter made no difference to the sound whatsoever. So they just missed it out and called the cab the Flatwound! https://www.acmebass.com/pdf/b112_flatwound.pdf

TBH for a soul funk band you could do a lot worse than “Bubinga” ...asthe suggestions so far have amply demonstrated!

It must be powerful, it's blown you right out of your shoes! 🤣

Fair point, but it’s the best half!

Can I just say, this thread is great. Informative, humorous and makes you contemplate. Carry on chaps.

This one’s my most mojoed There must be more out there!

And this is why guitarists are always a nightmare when it comes to inears. Playing for themselves instead of the overall sound of the band. Bad for your hearing? In the fact that you can have a lower SPL? If JB has explored Klang and all the ambient options available, then I would be receptive of his wide, sweeping statements. In Ears have reduced the amount of people that have resulted in having chronic tinnitus... I'd say that's saving your ears. I find it interesting that all those that don't advocate the use of IEMs (typically the old school rockers) - are all the ones that are struggling with insufferable ringing ears. As for comments about the dynamics... the sounds engineers are in control of the dynamics that audience hear anyway, whether you are using IEMs or not. If your guitar rigs are overpowering the PA, then the balance of music that the audience here is greatly compromised anyway. Better to have a set of ears out front where the audience are to balance the mix. Fatter and fuller sound - he's saying a desk full of processing and a PA with full range reproduction can't produce a fatter and fuller sound? Err... try getting a fuller and fatter sound out of your kick drum without any processing and see how far you get. If you can't get a fatter and fuller sound, it's down to poor engineering or inadequate tools... not down to the concept of running a quieter stage with the PA doing the work. I think we can say that JB is a dinosaur who doesn't give a stinky poo about the health of his own, or other people's hearing. But hey, that's rock n roll.

I don’t understand people’s reticence at friending someone on social media. I have over 3,000 ‘friends’ on Facebook, and about 80 requests that I haven’t looked at. I actually know maybe 100 of them, but many of the others are quite interesting people. You can always de-friend someone afterwards if they turn out to be a nazi or a tory or something.

To which the most obvious answer is 'what is the maximum that you'd give for it?'

I don't think a short video demonstrating the instrument is a particularly unreasonable request, but I'd run a mile from anyone demanding proof of ID and social media acceptance just to buy an instrument, or anything else for that matter. I've sold cars worth thousands of pounds with nowhere near that amount of hassle. I'm not being funny but I wouldn't sell an instrument to you in a million years. You sound like you'd be a nightmare to deal with and life's too short. I'd rather lose the sale and sell it to someone else, or even keep it before sharing personal details (other than what is necessary) with a potential buyer.

Welcome. You've single-handedly lowered the average age on here and raised the average IQ. Nice work. 😀

I got my UE 900s what only 2 years back, and got a good deal with them at about £100 or so... it's crazy to see how much the initial cost barrier to entry has dropped and something half good costs less than a set of decent strings now.

MB801 is too quiet I’d say. I have one for personal practice and acoustic sessions in pubs* but I wouldn’t use it for anything bigger than that. CMD121P is a completely different beast, it’s a serious and loud combo. I rarely use mine without its friend, the NY121P extension cab, but for quiet gigs the combo alone should be more than enough I reckon. It’s quite sensitive to EQ and if you get it wrong it’s possible to make the treble sound quite scrunchy. Some people actually disconnect the internal piezo tweeter for this reason. If you wind up the VLE knob it will suit you quite nicely I think. The sheer smallness of this is quite compelling but I would like to look at the taller one with a horn tweeter - I don’t think they’re a lot more £££. HTH, ymmv, ianal etc *I play a fretless U bass through it so I think morally that’s just fine.

For loading into your own car a decent gig bag should be adequate. If going hardcase Hiscox are pretty much industry standard, lightweight and strong - they're really good.

This is world class Mojo, how it used to be 😎

I'm going to ask if I can review it, so hold that thought!

Ernie Ball Cobalts or GHS Pressurewounds are worth a shot.

Ok people... I couldn’t resist. I have to say the neck on this 1100s is gorgeous, I can’t believe anyone would sell it. Just restrung with some roundwounds, nothing special, I’m thinking about some flats. Got some lovely bottom end and nice and bright too when needed. Not bad for a 30 yr old!!

Yes, me too, especially if it somehow becomes a requirement...not everybody uses it.

I think we need to look at what we understand rock to be, looking at some of the comments my frame of reference appears significantly wider than some others. For me it is everything starting from things like Hendrix/Sabbath (or Little Richard/Bill Haley if you want to go back further) into all the genres that evolved from it. How can you say rock is dead when rock has evolved into Metal, Core, Doom, Sludge and what have you. I only need to listen to how bands like QOTSA, Karnivool, Mastodon, Intronaut, Tool, Animals as Leaders, continue to develop and define themselves and I know rock is in good shape. What are seeing is popular culture increasingly being based on “instant satisfaction”, which I believe is why kids will rather pick up a sampler than a guitar and the music industry is stuffing homogenous meaningless autotuned rubbish down their throats, doesn’t help. ....but there are still kids who step away from that and I am certain new quality music will continue to be written and new styles (be it rock, rap etc) will develop. Now some might see the band names above and say, these bands consist of 35-45 year olds..... doesn’t mean they are not evolving with every record they put out. And bands like Code Orange, Birds in Row are in their 20’s and are spearheading the development of Punkcore. So yes, 80’s hair rock is dead..... but other rock based genres are still relevant and evolving.

Love the graphics! But there was a band (still going) from Oldham back in the day called DARE, featuring a certain Professor Brian Cox... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_(band)#Past_members Glad that your band is happening though 👍

Geddy Lee reckons JP Jones is his favourite rock bassist. Mr. Lee has excellent taste.