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Ooops. Anyone for Jenga?

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This arrived! Only spent 30 mins with it, but first impressions are great! Really tight, clear and punchy sound. Great slap sound, handles the low B really well. My mrs will kill me for not getting the painting done… so I’d better revisit it later! Already extremely tempted to make this a 4x10 set up.

I was thinking of contacting a mod..but then I thought it might be just as easy to create a new account. I may have had a few ales...

On hearing the postman struggling to cram something through the letterbox I assumed a) he'd finally cracked and decided to hump the attractive front door (it's the stained glass window with the sunset that does it) or b) Chez Blank had been targeted for an inordinate amount of junk mail this morning. In fact it was the rarely seen option q) arrival of Bass Bash T-Shirt, addressed to none other F Black, whoever that is? As he appears to take the same size as me in T-shirts I have appropriated it. Cheers Stumpybike. 😉

Yurs indeeeyud…

Hello, it's me, seashell. Member since 2011. But I've changed my email address and the only way I could figure out how to gain access to the site was to create a new account. So here I am. Apparently I have to do 5 posts before I can contribute to Off Topic. So here's one See you soon bass buddies x

In our band, we tried all sorts of stick-on solutions for the guitars and basses and a number of them worked for a reasonable amount of time. However, eventually, all of them shifted or fell off and so I started replacing the side dots with luminlay ones and have since fitted them almost all of my new-builds. There are alternatives, and Luminlays aren't cheap for what they are, but I have always found them the easiest and neatest solution. You 'charge them up' before the gig with a UV torch, just a few seconds for each dot - they glow brightly for a few minutes and then dull down quite a lot. But in low light, they are visible for at least an hour (sometimes more). We used to give them another zap at the break. The good thing is that they make perfectly decent dots in daylight too. They are not difficult to fit, but it isn't really a DIY job unless you are handy with a drill and scalpel. You basically drill out the existing dot. Drill 3-4mm deep at the luminlay diameter (there are various sizes), pop a drop of CA onto the end of the luminlay 'stick' and push it firmly into the hole: Then cut off with a razor-saw or similar and clean flush with a single-edged razor or scalpel: They do larger diameters too for the top of the fretboard, but we found the side dots best for use and un-intrusiveness. I'll try to find a retro-fit photo if I can.

I don't think that's ever been considered 'OK'. If someone had done that to our female singer (back when we still had one) they'd probably have received a good kicking from everyone in the band.

I agree about the Genz cab, it sounded excellent. But the BC12MkIII blew it out of the water -- the clarity was just out of this world, not a trace of harshness or mud at either end of the spectrum. As a two cab solution (or one cab for smaller gigs) I would snap them up in an instant. I do play quite a lot of larger gigs so my ideal one cab solution would be the Greenboy -- as Phil says, it was pretty much the BC12 but bigger. Both of them have left me dissatisfied with the sound of my EBS 2x12. Great, more GAS just when I thought I was ok. The BC12 was definitely my winner by an absolute street. It's a credit to all those involved in its development.

It is a great song though. You should have played it.

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Software. That's written by them spotty little 'erberts wot types on keyboards, innit? That means you need fingers to earn a bit of bread. Be a shame if something were to 'appen to them. Well, we've 'ad a good run of 'andouts from that Sunak geezer, but this is a dirty bleedin' liberty. I'm taking Pliers off furlough - got a little job for 'im.

Bit tardy contributing to this thread...here's a Fernandes FPM-80, bought from @Beedsterlast year.

Nah, sounds like an unwell octopus.

Yo, 'shell. Administration Tariff £25 - account recovery £50 - username change £75 - getting someone else put on posting approval Enquire within for 'specials' - no job too big, no job too small.

Can't one of the admins update your old account? It'd be a shame to have to start all over again!

I remember someone in a (loud) local band customising the guitarist's amplifier by repositioning the volume pot on the spline, so to make the maximum setting effectively '8' instead of '10'. Think it worked for a few gigs before he twigged. 😆

It seems I always seem to end up asking people the same question - what problem are you trying to solve ? (other than satisfying your desire to buy a shiny new toy that is).

Tens; a pair of One10s and a mint Two10S I snagged from Facebook thanks to a little investigative work from @eude. The idea being that my new Glock can do 2.67ohms, so I’ll run a single One10 (8 ohms) and the Two10 in 4 ohms when I need to move that much air 😁

What about what I call the big finger, the thumb, it gets me a nice deep rounded tone and it’s surprising how quick you can get with practice

I know I said it was a rough pub but it did have a roof over it.....

I switched to maple fingerboard instruments which made it easier when stage lights were dim, but then I got some sheets of glow in the dark stickers from a pound shop and cut them down to use as dots on the side of the neck. Very cheap DIY solution but it worked 👍

Some builders here have drilled out for luminlay rods @Andyjr1515 might be able to help

We also tried the TC RH112 speaker, which performed ok, a fairly solid bass speaker that wasn't too coloured, probably due to the depth. But still, out of all of them the BC12" Mk III is the one I would have gone home with. Oh wait, I did!

There is something you don't expect in Hemel Hempstead!

I always find it strange to hear people say that they can pay better with a pick, I am mostly a fingerstyle player and I cannot play anywhere near as well with a pick as I can with fingers

We couldn’t be more different - but that’s one of the great things about music - I think bass is a fabulous solo instrument.

I make sure the open strings are in tune and the intonation is correct, and I deal with any slight inaccuracies in fretted notes towards the top of the neck by Really Not Giving A Sh*t.

@Andyjr1515 @BassToolI bought some decals from these guys and you guys were right - very pleased with them. This bass was finished a few weeks ago -here's the final photos. Time to finish the next project!!

See! That's why we play bass. Labor, defecation, vomit, as long as THEY REACT.

I play using my thumb a lot these days. Mainly the blues rock stuff but even some of the Police stuff is done with the thumb. As you say, a nice deep round sound

I don't like the fingernail click either, it even puts me off my playing as I try to pluck differently to eliminate it. I try to remember to carry nail clippers but there have been times I have ground my nails down on the brick wall outside the gig.

Do you know the year of manufacture? My 82/87 5th Anniversary.

Midas MR18 is £499, the slightly cheaper Behringer option (XR18) is £477 - there really is no reason why these small form factor digital desks are not the staple for most pub/small club gigging bands given that you not only get 6 aux outs for multiple dedicated monitor feeds but you also get 2 FX channels, 31 band graphic EQ on each output, 4 band parametric, dynamics, a noise gate and insert points on each input channel. And I never let the lead singer loose with the iPad! Give them proper monitoring either though their own wedge or IEMs and it happens. Believe me! You can crank a wedge so loud they turn their backline down!!!!!

The niggle will go away with P16Ms - it the reason why I'm suggesting the XR18 - it gives you an upgrade path over time as money allows. The XR18 is enough to get you going but wont prevent you going stereo for cheaper, unlike other options with a fixed number of auxes, or without any network monitoring solutions (which will be way more expensive than the Behringer option). RCF745s? Absolutely.

On to the 'shootout' which was a bit curtailed because I wasn't sure I was doing it until the day before. My usual partners in crime Stevie and Chienmortbb(John) were swamped at work and moving house respectively so i was on my own. I forgot John normally brings the sheets to hide the speakers so it wasn't a blind test. The advantage of this is that not having to hide things meant we could move things in and out and try more speakers. The set up was a WAV recording into my RCF mixer and then fed through 4 Aux channels into two Peavey IPR 1600 PA amps. I used a RCF ART10 as a reference speaker, everything was set flat and I adjusted the volumes of each channel so that the levels were the same on a C-weighted noise meter. We were peaking at around 98db so it was pretty loud. We started off with the BC110T design, The BC Mk3 12" speaker that Stevie designed and I think around 20 people built, A MarkBass NYC 121 and a Genz Benz Focus 112. The first thing to note was the 'reference speaker' the RCF ART310 it was a useful reference because i know it to be a pretty honest speaker but for bass it was just too bassy, it's designed to be on a pole of course and on the floor the reinforcement meant the bass was just a bit over the top, I'll need to rethink that for next time and maybe put the reference speaker on a pole. However it might be a consideration if you are thinking of going the FRFR route with a PA speaker. First up then was the BC110T Basschat easy-build lockdown cab project - Amps and Cabs - Basschat TBH there wasn't a lot of comment about this speaker. The sound was a lot more usable than the reference and the general feeling was it was a giggable option. For a speaker that would cost £150 to build and given the company it was in that was probably a good result. Next was the big brother The BC 12" Mk III Stevie’s 12” FRFR Cab Build Thread (Basschat Cab v3) - Amps and Cabs - Basschat containing a Faital Neo driver and a high quality Celestion Neo tweeter. We'd previously tried the Mk2 version against the Barefaced Big Baby and it was preferred by some people. As an improved version the MkIII is a serious speaker. The reception for this was great, immediately liked with at least one person wanting to get on and build one and there was a general concensus that everyone would be happy to gig this speaker. Third was the Genz Benz Focus, I was quite impressed with this, all the speakers so far were FRFR bass speakers designed to be uncoloured and I was behind the speakers, it sounded very like the BC12 from there, so much so that I went out front to have a listen. this is a great honest speaker, a bit of tizz from the tweeter and the concensus was that the BC MkIII was better but if you ever get offered one used it's really worth a look. The final speaker in the test proper was the MarkBass NYC. An interesting speaker because at the last bass bash it had been the 'Marmite' speaker. 40% had put it no 1 and 60% last. The comments here were all of the nature "it sounds like a bass is meant to sound" "it will probably sit well in the mix" No-one here preferred the sound to the other speakers though to be fair it's a decent mid price option. There were some comments that it would work well with Mark Bass amps. that was it as far as the 'shootout' element was concerned. I can't give an opinion as i was stuck behind the tables operating the gear most of the time. If anybody there wants to comment that would be great. there was a clear winner, the BC MkIII. I missed a real opportunity because @Stub Mandrelhad brought his GRBass cab and we had a couple of BF cabs in the main room. However Jim had his Greenboy 115 and we swapped that in for the MB. I didn't have time to match the volumes with the meter so it may have been louder than the others as i relied on ear to set the levels. It was a seriously impressive sound which I did manage to hear against the MkIII. There's a real slam about this speaker with the use of the dedicated 15" bass driver and the midrange was nicely detailed pulling out some details I didn't hear in the other speakers. It is a sizeable speaker though. As a no compromise speaker I haven't heard better yet. the feeling in the room was that if the BC MKII was like listening to your bass through decent headphones then the Greenboy was more like being in the recording studio with the big studio monitors. So that's it, the method would have worked well and If i'd had time to try a range of speakers and organised the ones I Wanted earlier it would have been more informative, maybe next year.

One of my all time favourite players. I was lucky enough to attend a one day masterclass with him a few years ago.

Well, let's face it, the bass (guitar and upright) is somewhat limited as a solo instrument, unless you use loads of effects boxes. I would no more choose to listen to a solo bass album than I would a solo drums album. IMO the bass, like the drums, only works as an ensemble instrument.

We had the Chief of Antwerp Police come on stage, hand on gun, hollering at us in Flemish. I’m not particularly fluent (as in I speak none) but I could tell he didn’t want to help on BVs.