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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

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.

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.

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...

Well, not much of a tale really, more an example of my broken brain, but hey ho. Got a new HB to scratch a fretless itch without having to save. Changed strings (not because I don't like the HB strings, I do) but the replacements altered the set up. So out came the Allen keys . I suffered a major brain fart, tightening and tightening and tightening - convinced it would be right soon. I shredded a couple of Allen keys and still I soldiered on. I stopped, bewildered and exhausted. Took out my straight edge and, well, basically I had bent the neck way back the wrong way. I don't need telling how dopey I am (but feel free of course) what I'm really here to say is this. If you wonder whether the woods and components of HB basses are of a poor quality then think again. This neck ought not to have survived my heavy handed bodgery. Seriously. But it has gone back to a perfect relief, the truss rod still functions fine and it plays beautifully. It was £144 new.

I used to really like gold but I’m kinda 50/50 now , I do fancy something with sparkle like this

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.

A month later, and Pharaoh Gold Firemist plus Tort is occupying my every waking thought

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.

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!

UNDER DEVELOPMENT Hi All, as most of you will know a few of us here have been developing a series of cab designs on a similar line to creative commons. Free for anyone to use, share or add to so long as it is done on a not for profit basis. So far we have developed a 1x12 Basschat Mk1, a smaller easy build version of the 1x12, a very high quality lightweight FRFR 112T currently described as the Mk3 (the mk 2 was withdrawn when the drive units ceased to be manufactured) and a low cost 110T. I've also built a 1x6 'House Jam Combo' in the build diaries along with a 6" House Jam home practice speaker, a lightweight 2x10 and a 1x15 not yet published but which I'm happy to share. I'm sure there will be more to come so that we will have a fairly comprehensive set of designs. The problem has been that with the passage of time (we started in 2014) the designs have gradually become lost in the thousands of topics posted on BC and a lot of the original illustrations/photo's have been lost when file sharing sites went down or became subscription only. My aim is to make sure you can get all the links to the original designs from one place and to go back and retrieve as much information as I can to aid anyone who wants to build these designs. I'd also like to achieve a little standardisation to keep the design threads as short as possible but with plenty of helpful practical hints. At the moment most of the designs are long rambling threads going on for many pages. I'll link to those threads to start with but replace them with links to the edited designs as I get time to do them. I'm going to reserve a few replies so i can easily edit this thread please don't comment for the next 10-15 mins Basschat 12 Mk1 single 12" driver, 350W, 122db, 14kg easy to build 1x12" Mk1 112 Basschat 'Easybuild Cab' Smaller version of the Mk1 with a tailored bass response to match difficult acoustic spaces (pokey pubs ) this has a video of a live build (in under an hour!) at the Southwest Bass Bash Easy 12" cab build Basschat Mk3 lightweight 12" neo driver with neo horn very high quality FRFR design. FRFR 112T Basschat 110T Easybuild Lockdown project. A lightweight 'easybuild' 1x10 with a good quality horn. The crossover has only three components and requires no soldering. Basschat easy-build 110T House Jam Combo/speaker A remarkably competent and loud 1x6 perfect for home practice and semi acoustic work. This is a build diary with minimal design details but I'll look to write this up as a design as soon as possible A House Jam Speaker

The receptionist at BC Towers delivered this to me this morning! I’m looking forward to trying it out. They certainly have a good reputation and it sounds like it’ll do the sort of compression I like - so we’ll see…. Hopefully I get a chance to play with it later once everyone is fed and watered

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.😂

You did very, very well! When these instruments were new they were inexpensive and, as a result, they were dismissed by many as being “entry level”; A big mistake as these were very well made basses that played and sounded great. I started my bass journey 35 years ago with a good deal on a used Ibanez bass. I hope you have as much fun as I did!

All these (except the first) are Elixir 40-95 nickels. Basses in drop D. Several months old. I've never had coating come off my Elixirs, but I never use a pick. I think the older 'polyweb' design used to flake a bit but the new formula (nanoweb) are perfect for me.

"If your bass is going to have one pickup, this should be the one" 🖤

Yes, I think it is a good idea to try and have "clean" threads with the drawings, parts lists and pics etc, as the current ones have got very lengthy, and are interwoven with various builds etc.

Own the entire PA - every single component from each lowly but essential 13amp power lead and mic cable to the subs except for one SM58 mic that belongs to one of the guitarists for b/vs. Own the small but functional and very portable lighting setup. Operate 1 & 2 the above. Carry 1 & 2 above in a van bought solely for that purposes. Load and unload 1 & 2 above in and out of 4 above on my own, despite one of the guitarists living approx 400m from me!!! Go through the cable and power trunks the day after a gig putting everything back as it should be! Sort out the shared diary, including reminding everyone to fill it in after someone says they're busy on a night that is plainly free in the diary. Sort out rehearsals inc locating and visiting new rooms due to band member changes. Select material and set lists. Sort out the gigs, including visiting venues in person to look for new gigs, posters etc Record, mix and produce multi tracks from gigs and rehearsal for appraisals and use in social media. Keep social media up to date, including advertising gigs on regional and venue pages. Brilliant? I'm f**king amazing!!!!

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

Hard to answer without knowing the size of venues you play and where you locate the power amps etc. Having said that, I would have thought that a couple of 10m and a couple of 5m would give you enough options for most smaller venues provided you can chain the cables. I'd also advise marking the cables or connectors in some highly visible way to prevent them being mistaken for XLR mic cables. You would know the difference, but helpers might not be as clued up. *** Ignore this re. marking - active speakers, so normal signal cables not speaker cables.

Oh god! Not another horror from ebay! Still, no rest for the wicket I suppose. Some say that messing around with a bat is how Covid started...

I know a bit about this, but it seems rude to pick the low hanging fruit and leave the details to Bassassin to fill in. Would be even ruderer if I got them wrong, so I'll just wait nicely and let him tell us alllll about it. So I'm glad it's natural, as that's keeping my jealousy at bay

@Bassassin You should enjoy this ping a bit more than some of the junk we cast before your eyes

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.

Those who know me on Basschat will know my obsession with Chameleon Flip Paint which has been going on for nigh on 20 years 🤣. Here’s a few of my basses.