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I went to look at a Peavey Zodiac bass advertised in a local shop window for £99 and the guy showed me this Ibanez Roadstar II as well, according to Dr Google its a RB620NT from around 1983 (but open to advice on this). I am a beginner player and don't know much about gear but whatever it is, it spoke to me, and so I went home to find the cash, google it and went back today and got it, very grateful to the seller. I paid £180 It seems in strangely good condition for its age, better than I was at 38 years old, maybe it has been worked on? One of those situations where I don't really know what I bought ... but I like it 🤨. It seems pretty genuine, but again, I have no idea ... I took the photos straight away when I got home before the light left, still undusted, as I wanted to post this and see whether people think I made a wise choice. I practiced with it this evening and it surprised me how lively the output is, for a passive bass it seems to have quite a kick compared to my (one) other passive bass, I love the feel of the neck - it is a P-bass type? No idea, lol. I think it needs a setup and some strings and the neck looks a tiny bit torqued / twisted, is that usual for an old instrument? Plays ok to me, though. I get the impression it has been stored and unplayed for a while 5-10 years, any advice on what I should do with it to restore to full health? Anyway, I am very happy with it, I feel like I need to get some flares to wear while I am playing it to properly do it justice, here are some pics : Groovy! J

On Sunday I took a trip down to what is becoming for me, a standard bass trading place, which is IKEA (in Bristol this time, rather than Exeter as it was last time). This was to meet up and pickup this bass that I had played at the South West bass show, one of @Jabba_the_guts fantastic little basses. Fell in love with these things a few bass bashes ago and finally have one. I am sure most people have seen them unless they don't go into the makers threads, or the short scale thread where I posted it, and if not, there is a link at the bottom of its birth, as well as some much better pictures! This is so fun to play and also easy to use in the house as they are so small (27" scale). It sounds very full and bassy, with single / parallel series switch. And of course LEDs, with two options, very bright or OMG I think i have gone blind Heres the other pictures of it, and its creation thread.

Howden Live in Howden on Saturday. We knew ticket sales had been slow but the promoter insisted we crack on. He even paid us in advance! News that morning that the local support had pulled out... a sombre 2 hour drive up from my house fearing the worst. When we arrived, the venue looked pretty cool, probably 400 capacity, nice big stage, but there were several guys huddled around a rack of PA gear and a fuse box. There was some talk of an hour round trip to get a small PA that might do the job considering the low ticket sales. Somehow they managed to cobble together a working PA from what was there, but they skipped close mics on the drums, and the drum wedge was out. So was any chance of a meal before our set as it had taken quite a while. Anyway, we played 1hr 45 to about 40 people in a 400 capacity room and it was awesome. So much fun, and occasionally very funny. You can see the stage invader here

Anyone who's ever been in a working band knows the band lead bag/box. It's a thing of utmost importance but over the years it collects a few casualties and weirdos along the way. It contains the living, the dead, the injured and the "just in case". Over a year ago I decided to sort the band lead bag out. I disposed of the dead, straightened the injured and nursed them back to health, carefully calculated the various lengths required and purposes, wrapped them neatly and filled the pockets with spares, fuses, connectors, a torch, generic spare strap etc etc. It was a thing of beauty. Then I filled another bag with the walking wounded, weirdo's and stuff that was worth keeping just in case. Guess which fookin bag I picked up and took to our first gig back after the apocalypse 😔 ?

I appear to be going through a bit of a phase, as this is the 2nd 70's Japanese P bass I've bought in the last few weeks. This is my perfect P bass. I love the punk aesthetic of the white/black combo, I love the slightly 'wrong' headstock shape. The body seems to be a little undersized, as it's very light. The neck feels somewhere between my 78 Yamaha P and my Fender Japan J. I had been eyeing it up on FB marketplace in Bangkok for a while, a really good deal. It was on sale for just a little too long so I had to go for it. It's a 78 Greco in remarkable condition. It plays superbly and sounds as good. This is a keeper, for sure.

Just browsing a few basses as usual ,and there’s a 62RI jazz for sale in what’s called, Rare Caribbean Mist, I’ve never heard of this colour being on a fender, looks good though

Lacquered and polished up...

Here's a couple of stage shots from last night...

Reason for bank transfer is we don't accept Paypal for large purchases because If you change your mind and want a refund, PayPal keep the fees which can be £100 on a guitar. Watch this space to see the total irradiation of PayPal on our site. With a bank transfer we would just send back your payment and no one loses out ,except PayPal. Call me personally if unsure I've been around since 1997, I ain't going anywhere and we certainly don't cheat people, we are musicians first and salesmen second. Robbie Bryan

When it comes to natural woods I really like the look of KOA and Redwood tops.

Blimey, the things you miss when you're not paying attention! That looks like it's in amazing condition. So to do my duty - RB620NT, from August 1983, made by Fujigen Gakki. I could reel off a spec list but to save the copy-typing, here's the official blurb: Crazy bargain for £180, especially in that condition.

Just a quick one - my mini task of the day was preparing the bridge. The original plan was to go with a fender bridge I had kicking around, but after closer inspection, the original bridge plate is significantly more substantial, it feels about 50% heavier. So after a good clean to remove the rust, and some saddle/screw/spring replacements, I think we have the bridge.... It might get a shiny new one in the future, but I won't worry about that just yet. (I've corrected the E string saddle already )

Played the Leeds Goth City festival on Saturday with both In Isolation and Hurtsfall. It was Hurtsfall's first gig for almost 2 years and also the first since we parted ways with our drummer and decided to go for programmed drums instead. Two manic rehearsals the week before the gig (our first since March last year) mostly for get a feel for how the songs were sounding without an actual drummer. A couple of iffy moments during the set but I don't think anyone in the audience noticed. First outing as well for the Eastwood Hooky Bass which is big improvement over the Bass VIs (Squier and Burns Barracuda) I've been using before After that I felt much more relaxed for In Isolation's set. Plenty of people dancing and as far as well could tell not too many left to go and see Auger who were playing at the same time at another venue as part of the Goth City festival.

Well I say yes it jolly well is. Stick to the end if you can bear the bum notes. Audiences flippin' love it...

Experience suggests they are always too long, except when they are too short.

Bass players, eh ? Sort out the leads Sort out the diary Set up the PA Drive the van Know where they're going .....lets face it, we're bl**dy brilliant ! 😁👍

You've found the perfect anti-guitarist amp : don't change a thing !

I remember speaking to someone via Instagram who replaced the fan in their ABM for a high spec PC one, with the same size and voltage requirements. It was whisper quiet by comparison, and when I say high spec, it was still only about £20. I might do it in the future, but to be fair to Ashdown, how many people who buy a 600W ABM are that interested in playing along with an acoustic set up? These amps are for loud stage use, they make plenty of smaller, and probably quieter amps and combos for when a lighter touch is required, no? Eude

Sanded down and added a thin layer of lacquer to see how it looks. It's still very very very... Brown. 💩 I need more color in my life. (neck, pickup and bridge are just hanging around here for the pose)

picked up a rather nice short scale bass today. I doubt anyone has heard of the creator of them, but have been looking forward to this for a bit!

I have a cheap and decent squier mustang for exactly this. I was dubious at first, but boy this thing has blown me away!

I'm feeling the same about the Smoked Almond Metallic Embassy, a tort plate on this would look great. I nearly broke but just splurged my money on something else.

Quite surprised to hear this just now playing in the background of the Heinz tomato soup advert 😁

Well that just says where us bass players have been going wrong all these years. We need a band made up of multi instrumental bass players. The world would be a happy place of musicians that know there place only to willing to stand back and let others shine in the eyes of the audience.Also supplying there parts as needed but not trying to outshine each other.Staying in time with each other as the drummer would never stray due to there bass playing routes .plus always being on time and fully prepared for the gig playing on a stage where equipment is laid out with precision and detailed attention to hiding cables from the audience’s site. More over at the end of the night all used equipment is still in full working order but safe in the knowledge that we all carried back cables fuses soldering iron screw divers and other members within the bands own gear spares just in case. If I had only realised this 40 yrs ago all the ads put in the local paper for musicians and drummers would have been worded completely different.😂

I'm a teacher of children aged 4-6, and in my part of the world we're in the depths of lockdown. The school asked me to make weekly cooking class videos for the kids - and I'm happy to do so, but I aways thought the remote lessons of other teachers were a little dry. So I started recording songs and inserting mini music videos into my cooking class. It's a mixture of originals and foodified-ska versions of pop songs. The school loves it and even offered me a pay rise. Plus I'm feeling more productive than ever! Anyway, I thought some of you might appreciate these. edit: gotta express my appreciation for logic drummer as well. It's the best. Cheers! Z

Same body shape and a lot of similar features to this Orfeus bass made in Bulgaria.

Production is shut down in favour of short term higher profit. Asia controls much of the market now and can shut it down in a heartbeat. Manufacturing all over the world needs to be re-established.

A bit of a curate's egg of a weekend at the McVention Quo festival in Glasgow. We (the originals band) played the Friday night, and went down well for the only non-Quo-Trib band on for the weekend. I cocked up badly on the energy front, tho; I got a Greggs at about 8 in the morning on the way up there, and then with all the faffing of a multi-band lineup, I didn't eat before we went on at 8pm. I'm still recovering from the nasty flu&Covid thing I had a couple of weeks ago (though I've been fully negative for more than a week), and just didn't have enough in the tank, so three songs in I went off a cliff in terms of energy; I honestly thought I was gonna collapse, and I don't remember the last three songs. If it'd have been anything other than a gig, I would've gone and laid down, but hey, the show goes on... I felt better after a Maccy D's after I got off stage, but I was in bed in the hotel for eleven... Was OK for the next day - I stuck around to roadie for/watch State Of Quo, the band our drummer and geetarist are in (they were the best band of the weekend, including John Coghlan's bunch), and we went our for a curry after, but it was hardly the Bacchanalian debauchery it could have been... The supplied Markbass rig (LMIII and 2 x 410HFs) reminded me why I sold my MB stuff years ago, but I made the best of it, and apparently it sounded good out front... This is the first number, before I felt like lying down on the stage and expiring...:

Hi, here's a photo of my four cheap basses. L-R: Tokai Hardpuncher ltd., Spector Rebop 5, Harley Benton HBZ 2005 Deluxe, Blade B3 rescued bass. I just recently bought the Spector and am liking it so far. The Harley Benton will be sold soon as I don't need two 5 stringers, but it's a good bass for the money. The Blade was accidentally broken to pieces many years ago but my father glued it together again and painted it. I lost the original pickups and electronics so it is now passive with Dimarzio pickups and an old unknown bridge. z

Like a few of you, I thought the same thing last year when I inherited a guitar. 😌 A word of advice: whatever you do, don't attempt to learn to play guitar on a 12 string.... 😬

According to the man himself it's about £600 to have his exact setup: “I actually bought an amp off eBay for £30 but I’m not going to say what it is... I don’t want everyone to go out and buy them, because I might want spares! But there’s loads of them left. And it sounded magical. I did all the guitar stuff using that one amp, and I only had one of them, so any double-tracking was actually re-amped through that, to achieve the second layer. You’ve kept pretty tight-lipped about the pedalboard over the years, but the Electro-Harmonix POG2 is definitely one you are closely associated with. What makes it better than, say, a DigiTech Whammy? “To be honest with you, it’s just the first thing I had. I think it was more about how the bass works with the POG. I actually don’t like the POG sound on its own. I can always detect it on a guitar and for lack of a better word, it always sounded eggy! There was something unpleasant about it. I think my disgust of its sound caused me to drive it harder so you can’t really hear it’s that pedal. I have a love/hate relationship with it, you know? But I owe it a lot, and at the same time I’m not a massive fan of it, traditionally speaking. I think I only use two settings. I don’t use the others. Also, so much ground has been covered by other bands using that pedal, you don’t want to go treading on anyone else’s toes.“ This is going better than we expected, so it would be remiss not to ask if there’s anything else that’s integral to your tone... “Okay, yeah, there’s a pedal... I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I’ve never disclosed any of this information before. It’s a worldwide exclusive. You’re a good interrogator! Anyways, there’s a pedal called the [Tech 21] Red Ripper – which I didn’t discover myself, an assistant engineer showed it to me. It’s a bass distortion pedal and it’s wicked. For anyone out there who plays bass and wants distortion, all bass distortions are a bit stinky poo in my opinion. They sound cool in a YouTube video or when you’re on your own, but when you’re with the band, it makes your bass sound thin and not very nice. Whereas the Red Ripper is just rad. It stays really subby and warm, but has this squelch to it. I would say it’s a very good one.“ Good to know! A lot of this stuff is actually easily available and quite affordable. “There are some brilliant videos on YouTube on how to sound like us, but on a budget. One thing that made me laugh is the budget they work with – usually around £1,500. And I’m always thinking, ‘Man, you could do it with £600!’ It’s more simple than that." https://www.guitarworld.com/features/royal-blood-mike-kerr-gear (Following that interview Tech 21 announced the Red Ripper being re-released).

Then mic type XLRs should be fine in this instance. Powered amps going to passive speakers would need suitable cables for carrying such 'powered' signal - usually Speakons etc too.

FWIW, I owned the exact same model of Peavey featured in this discussion a number of years ago. I thought it was an excellent instrument for the money.

So many jokes possible on this thread, so little time..... However, on a more serious note, coupled with what @Acebassmusic says, an amp can get awfully warm during a gig, so boards can expand and wires can move. When the thing is off it cools off and "resets" back to its original state. I'm not saying that's the reason, just that it's believable that something like you experience can happen.

Are you sure you're not using a guitar amp? This feature seems to be in built with most models. 🤣🤣 I'm not an electronics guy but have heard in the past of intermittent problems with power supplies (transformer etc) not providing enough juice then giving it full beans (both technical terms 🙂 ). Also if the volume pot loses connection to ground the volume will increase....but why it would do this only during mid gig I don't know. Happy hunting!

There are people who do both loud stage and acoustic setups, and I have heard that there are people that only have one amp, seems not so useful if they have to buy another amp just for the quieter use if it is avoidable. My TC450 I could use on stage and in my bedroom, I know that is different as it is a class D, but it would be good if the ABM600 was like that.

Led Zep tribute gig at the Victoria in Swindon last night. Great little venue (albeit with a 'challenging' sound onstage) and a decent turnout who were a very appreciative audience, so all-in-all a good night. Long drive home to West Yorkshire in the early hours of the morning, not helped by three diversions on the M5/ M6 and then leaving my mobile in the drummer's car…!

Played The Shed in Leicester Friday night. Small but enthusiastic crowd and despite the on-stage sound being cr*p, out front it was good by all accounts.

but then I'd have to get some heavy rimmed glasses 😉

Natural as I love the look of wood.

My band are loud... this is my recipe for feedback free playing. 1) Krivo magnetic pickup (available from promenade music in the UK) 2) HPF. I also have an EA doubler, but find the HPF a bit feeble. I *think* the EA HPF is a 12db per octave roll off, wheras Fishman and the wonderful Fdeck HPF is 24db per octave, but the EA will be better than nothing.. A phase inversion switch is also useful. 3) Plug your f-holes. I use F-its. www.f-itsfeedbackblockers.co.uk 4) Raise your cab up of the ground, as close to ear height as possible so it's not firing at the body of your bass and making it vibrate. I use a folding keyboard stand. Also, putting your cab to yor side rather than behind you can help as youre pesenting the ribs of your bass rather than the whole back (i.e a smaller & less resonant surface area) towards the amp. Dave