Leaderboard

A bit Stingray heavy after getting back my beloved & long lost ‘95 Ray, 25 years after I originally bought it. So the bottom 3 are the only ones put out to play now that it’s back.

Viz Morrison the other main drawback if he's somewhat of an a-hole.

Played last night, wedding with 30 guests. New members in the band, new sound guy, new songs in the set, so bit of a risk but it was so enjoyable to be playing and the happy couple partied hard.

Treating this as a learning experience, so as I had a pretty straight grained ash offcut and some thin strips of walnut veneer, thought I might as well have a bash at a multi laminate neck! Not jointed yet, just a mock up with the cut pieces.

Well, that was good gig! First one for more months than I can remember and the release of all that pent up energy was incredible. Good audience up and dancing (and yes, we played only Grateful Dead music - the Dead used to say they were first and foremost a dance band). Only complaint - too short - we only had a one hour slot and it was gone in a flash.

Break Wind and Fire....best I’ve ever seen and some 25years ago before tributes were called tribute bands.

It’s funny isn’t it, with today’s so-called much better designed, much more efficient equipment we now need all these filters to get the perfect sound that we heard people in the 60s/70s/80s achieve from the supposed sub standard gear around at the time that wasn’t scientifically any good.

I've got to agree with this. Great music but I just can't get past the over-wrought fake emotion vocals. Sounds like he's having his balls squeezed in a vice.

Talking about what we do and don’t know about the universe obfuscates and deflects the issue, we are not talking about universe misconceptions, it’s Compressor misconceptions and I am pretty sure more than 4% is known about it (not including myself in that btw) The article is interesting, but the key points were: Control your sound Dont let the FOH be the one to ride faders and control too much for you. In certain situations he can see its use despite being not for him. Focus on your own playing (universally agreed by everyone) Learn to use your compressor properly Despite being not for him - he has pretty much agreed with what the ‘fanboys’ have said

I went out today, to get a guitar and bass. I had in my mind to get a Telecaster and either a 4 or 5 string bass. I did try out a couple of nice Teles but came home with a 4 and 5 string bass, instead. I already have a very nice '61 re-issue Jazz Bass, so didn't need another JB. But I picked up an American Original 70s Jazz Bass, in vintage white and got rather wowed by it. Really gorgeous and very smooth to play. Well, it has different pickups, positioned slightly different and different body wood to my '61, so that's my excuse for getting it. I also tried a couple of Cort 5-stringers. A GB75JH which is incredibly good, for very little cash. But the one that came home with me was an A5 Plus SCMS, which is a single cut bass, with a through neck and multiscale fretting and really excellent spec. Bartolini Mk1 pickups, Hipshot hardware and some beautiful woods. Including Ash body, with a spalted maple top and a maple and panga panga neck. The pre amp works really nicely with 3 band EQ, vol, pan and a passive/active switch. 2 very different basses, in pretty much every way but both are a real buzz to own and play. The Jazz will be more for band playing, the Cort for noodling and recording. Though I may take it to band practice, for some fun.

1962,1963 jazz

we had our first full pub set gig last Sunday for 15 months, with a newish guitarist after a couple of crash rehearsals, bit ropey, but as Basil would say "I think we got away with it"

Thanks to all who have given their advice on this. I added to 100mm port today. Also lined it and changed the speaker for a very good 16ohm SICA that I picked up on ebay for £40. It is ideal. The idea is to run this as a 16ohm small combo that I can hook up to an 8ohm 210 with two of the same drivers and with the same tuning. Very happy with the result. Next job is to upgrade the tweeter. It is certainly a fun project

If Motörhead are the Bourbon of rock music then Coldplay are the Horlicks. I am sure they are nice blokes but a visit to IKEA is more rock and roll. Edit: Apologies if I have offended any Horlicks drinkers with this post. Any members of Coldplay if you feel offended please just check your latest bank statements then just laugh at me. Your clearly doing something right.

There's an Indian guy who does an Elvis tribute called 'Patelvis' 🙂

Just ask them to send you empty pickup covers, faux pickups is all the rage.

I know a guitarist who depped a gig on bass. He said he found it very tiring, because he had to be playing all the time and couldn't take any breaks!!

My first gig of the year this evening. Just a 45 min spot in a multi band event, but at least we can get together and play for an audience again.

Compressors? I'll get my tin hat out 😀

And there you go. Dynamic control is not the only job of a compressor. Its also a timbre control, and a transient control, and a means of making space in a mix. Even on a pedalboard.

Aye I was bassist in that band for a bit and came up with the name 😂 There is/was also Bon Geordie up here if I remember right.

Yeah, if guitarists are so great how come nearly half of them are below average?

They weren't a tribute band but I always liked Frankie Goes To Holyhead.

I think they were called Cliff Richard and The Shadows 😉

This is a good one

It weighs 4.2 kilos...

Cheers pal, she’s got some mojo that one 👍 (It’s a Bravewood)

My wife works for an electronics components company. Their factories are currently operating on leadtimes between 4 months and 13. Yes, over a year on a lead time for a tiny little crystal for your digital circuit timing, worth $0.02. They are but a tiny part of the massive puzzle which @agedhorse has discussed above. It’s just one of those things right now, sadly.

That would be one of the bands that @mcnach from this parish plays in.

@Mace has a band called Fighters Foo I believe.

maybe dunlops ? A 4-string bass set will have Gold/Black/Silver/Gold

Looking forward to tomorrow (30th) when I'm off to see my old drummer's rock covers band play the afternoon away in a village pub garden. Fine ales, decent music, good company. Lovely. It's been way too long. Let's hope this is the start of getting back to what we love doing.

They didn't have forums to agonise over the details then so they just went out and did it. We can do the same now.

...whatever I tell them to!!

Thanks, should be a bit of fun. Rehearsed our set last night, few changes made but ready to go now. To think I'm excited about a quick set in a pub in Oxford - this day two years ago I was on my to Germany to headline a three day festival there.

Many years ago I needed to replace the circuit board in my Jaydee and Mr. Diggins posted one out to me. I remember the cost was very reasonable. However, it got lost somewhere in the postal system and without hesitancy, sent another one free of charge. 10/10 customer support.

In the end - after a few tryouts - I settled on the Seymour Duncan Studio Compressor, and have just set it to the manuals “even things up” setting. It doesn’t sound like it’s doing anything until it’s switched off which really suits me. Compression level fairly low, Attack on minimum, it levels everything out nicely, doesn’t affect the tone at all but just allows each note to have a greater clarity.

Interesting. Is it because being a "top class" bassist you've often got to do the things that go unnoticed rather than being showy? A but like being a "top class" referee in Footy or rugby, you've done well if nobody really noticed you're there.

Sure I heard of a DS tribute called Dire Strats.

Steve 'n' Seagulls are defo one of my fave You Tube watches, that they're from Finland and not Alabama only adds to the joy

Amused by references to "the truth" in a universe where we literally understand 4% of what exists and have no real idea what the remaining 96% is about. There isn't a right or wrong answer about using a pedal board compressor live any more than there is right or wrong answer about whether you play a 4 or 5 string (or both) or choose to slap or have a dirt pedal on your board. Not everyone wants or needs compression (i.e. ratio / threshold / make up gain aspects appropriately set) to control their dynamics and many of us are happy to get all the attack and note precision we need from using a pick and swapping back to fingers for a rounder sound, without needing a slow release and fast attack setting on a PB comp. IMO it's entirely valid to hold a different viewpoint about the value and use of compression in different circs e.g. studio (where it is pretty much always used) vs PB compression live (where it's often not). This guy happens to hold a viewpoint on the topic that I find myself in full agreement with: Should I Use A Compressor with My Bass? – No Treble If you're a better more accomplished bass player and educator than him, then feel free to shout him down 😉

Threshold Ratio Attack Release Makeup gain At the very least, wet/dry mix is extremely useful too, as is a side chain filter. Anything less and you aren't really in control anymore. And at least a 6 LED gain reduction meter.

A Rutles tribute Band. Oasis

I find this list a little odd. I’m a big fan of all of these bands and although some of the songs you have selected are OK, I think each band have done better - I mean a LOT better. Aerosmith a poor man’s Rolling Stones? I don’t think so.

Yes, this is absolutely part of it. I did explain this to Dave over on TalkBass but I think it might be good to include the same information here. 1. It has nothing to do with Gibson period. The decision was made everybody involved because we are having great difficulty getting parts in sufficient quantities to fill the large number of orders we already have. Not just orders outside North America but also within North America. It makes no sense to try to ship a couple of amps at a time overseas, that's how products get lost and damaged. Especially tube amps. 2. Why are we having challenges with parts? It's not just us, it's the entire manufacturing world that is experiencing these shortages. Raw materials are delayed getting to our suppliers, our suppliers are delayed in their own manufacturing and some of our component manufacturers are experiencing delays from their suppliers. It's not our fault, it's not our supplier's fault, it's a global problem and no matter how much we wish it wasn't so, throwing money at it makes no difference when the parts simply do not exist. 3. In our case, we don't use a lot of generic parts. Many of our parts (like transformers, PCBs, pots, switches, sheet metal, speaker components, enclosures) are custom parts and have longer lead times than generic parts. These have been delayed by our suppliers, and not just suppliers from any one region but suppliers from France, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, China, the US and Canada (I'm sure I'm missing some, but you get the point). This is mostly related to COVID, but because there are many steps in the manufacturing process, each step's delay adds to the total delay. 4. Then there's shipping delays... never have I seen the delays throughout the shipping world. Of course there's the shortage of containers, this was expected, BUT what was not expected was the ship getting stuck in the Suez Canal. It's not the week or two of direct delays, but the resulting suspension of operations at the ports because the ships they were waiting to unload and reload were all sitting out at sea waiting for passage. All those ships loaded with hundreds of thousands of containers that should have been unloaded and ready for their new loads. Combine this with the number of cancelled sailings (where a ship scheduled to depart is cancelled and waits for the next scheduled cycle. If you had containers scheduled for that ship, you were struggling to find alternative passage but often the logistics and global paperwork make it impractical. Containers with perishable goods, as well as livestock have priority, that's how the maritime laws are (and it makes sense). Then, the port delays, the inland shipping, the transfer companies, the rail companies, EVERYBODY is delayed. Oh, and the costs are out of sight too. This has not improved in the last 3 months, and may actually be worse. 5. We had our own factory delays, almost all of last year we had to operate in specialized "safe work cells" with all the necessary isolation and PPE gear. Because of the county we are located in, there were many weeks where we couldn't run ANY production due to stay at home orders. This applied to many of our suppliers too, and not just here, but much of Italy has been locked down pretty hard. Italy and the US are where many of our speakers come from, and THEIR suppliers were also locked down. Some of our suppliers simply didn't survive, we had to use back-up vendors and test sample parts in order to re-qualify the parts (especially where they are part of a safety agency approved assembly)... oh, and the safety certification agencies were also impacted, so there were delays in certifying the new parts so that the entire assembly could be re-certified. This impacts the EU specifically because of the change in EU market standards for legacy products (that do not apply to North America). It's a lot more complicated than "we just didn't want to ship outside of the US". The decision was more of what is practical, and promising something that we have almost no control over doesn't help the situation either. Nobody is happy about this, everybody shares your frustration and disappointment (including me) and we are all very, very sorry. When I know more, I will communicate it with you. Fortunately, there are a lot of good choices in bass gear these days, and if a manufacturer more local to you has stock, it may make better sense to move on for now and maybe revisit this at a later time. Hope this helps.

I seem to recall there was an Irish rapper who went out under the name Duff Paddy! That one still makes me chuckle!

Slightly off-topic, but having just mentioned Finnish and vegetables - some years ago, Marks & Spencers had (may still have, for all I know) a range of women's clothing branded as Per Una. When I visited the UK with my Finnish partner, we had to leave the shop as we were laughing so much we could hardly breath. The name brought a slightly less chic image to our minds. Peruna is the Finnish for potato.