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I find Mark very responsive, even out of hours. They’re not Amazon, but a one man band (plus the odd helper). Despite the higher commission than the Gallery they’ve sold all the basses I’ve sent on commission in a few weeks for far more than I’d get on here or eBay/Reverb with all the tyre kickers and lowball offers. It’s easy to forget there are very few dedicated bass shops in the UK, and I doubt any of us would do a better job for the profit margins on offer. They have a lot of very nice kit for sale, and post Br**it and the reduction of realistic buying options, have become more important.

I may reassure Mr @JapanAxethat the DoI has no association with this thread. Indeed, our guiding principles are a firm adherence to English as she is spoken, a penchant for clarity and brevity, and a fanatical devotion to the Oxford comma. That said, the 'Level 42 before Level 42' thread has excited the interest of the DoI's Faculty of Humanities; a team of our finest researchers are engaged in a deep-dive semiotic study, the results of which will be published in late 2022.

Thank you. I've read it all through a couple of times but was unable to draw any conclusions. Was this via Google translate?

I took a risk recently and sold off my Stingray 5 and Rivoli and have ended up with this from Bass Direct. It’s a 2021 Nash PB-J 63 in Fiesta Red. Apparently the first owner already had too many basses. Lucky for be though as it plays like a dream and sounds amazing…

I’ve used Direct Courier Solutions and they have confirmed in writing that they insure instruments, but with any courier, close attention to packing is necessary. I pack everything like I am expecting it to be thrown out of a second floor window.

I didn't even know he was on life support.

Indeed - I'm absolutely over the moon with the work they did. Extraordinary job. Looks incredible, feels like a veeery expensive bass and sounds wonderful. They even managed to preserve the tricky little plastic sleeve on the truss and the dot locations at the interface between the board and the neck (now replaced with luminlay...a very nice touch). In addition you can't feel the join. An impressive achievement given that the original gloss finish on the neck is untouched....luthier witchcraft if you ask me!

I must say, I loved Nevermind at the time, I thought it was finally the death of hair metal. A triumph of substance over style, for a change.

My Classic Sabre

Be part of the pandemic or not. I don't understand how people are willing to facilitate these events currently. -paragraph deleted- I'm sorry, I have nothing positive to say. I work in a hospital.

Is this an offshoot of the Den of Iniquity thread?

...and Marcus Miller would be working in a McDonalds today if it wasn't for some guys that used to hang out in Denmark St. 😂

It wasn't even the sound of nu metal that annoyed me the most - it was the LOOK. Yes, I am aware of the irony of that statement following on from 80's spandex.

I'm not sure anyone is being hostile here. My observation would be that the way you write is incomprehensible to a lot of us. There are many on here for whom english is not a first language, maybe even not a second, yet folks always try to make themselves understood. But this weird street patois you have adopted really is next to impossible to unravel. I am sure you have some interesting points to make but I actually have no idea because I can't make head nor tail of what you are writing. And clearly I am not the only one.

So I'll bite in the spirit of the question, i.e. albums where I went crikey!... from bass perspective: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, 'Flight of the Cosmic Hippo' Jaco - eponymous, Joni & WR +1 for Bruford Yes - all 70's albums Return to Forever, 'Romantic Warrior' Stanley, 'School Days' UK - eponymous Rush - 'Permanent Waves' & 'Moving Pictures' Mark King, 'Influences' Steve Khan, 'Modern Times' w/ Anthony Jackson Brand X, 'Masques' There you go... some crackers in there.

Fishbone - Truth and Soul, 1988.

The Average White Band, early '70s.

Tuff cab is great, it's full of solids so it builds really well. It goes on as a sort of gel, a bit like painting on Swarfega in texture and it stays workable for quite a long time but it sets really hard. The long open time means mistakes are really simple to correct and you can work slowly and carefully FWIW I have a simple process I now stick to. First make sure all your sanding and shaping is done, sanding back set Tuff Cab is almost impossible it's scratch resistance is also sandpaper resistance. First coat I apply with a paint brush, I apply a thin layer but take care to get it into every crack and crevice. I have tried thinning it to get deeper penetration but it isn't necessary and the adherence is excellent if you have a dust free surface, I've never had any peeling or scratches through to the wood. Second coat I apply a generous coat of paint all over the cab (again I use a brush) and then use a standard mini roller to even out the spread all over the cab. Having an even coat is important for the texturing. I'm aiming for about 0.2-3 mm depth of paint here all over the cab. Having got it even I then do a very light rollering over each panel in turn using long strokes of the roller all in the same direction. This lifts a texture on the paint which I think of as a 'linen' effect like a coarse cloth finish. The texture will depend upon how coarse your roller is, the thickness of the paint and how quickly you move the roller so slow light even movement is what i aim for. The glory is that Tuff Cab stays open for so long if you aren't happy you can just flatten it and repeat, it's a joy to work with. Final coat I apply an even thicker layer, it doesn't drip so you don't get runs. Again I use the roller to even the paint layer first then do a finishing pass with a coarse roller. I have the coarse foam rollers sold specially by Blue Aran but I've used thicker mini rollers too and you can get a good effect either way, just different. I've done a lot of house painting so I'm used to a three coat paint finish and three coats might be unnecessary but this is a system that works for me. The attraction of Tuff Coat is that it is so forgiving, take your time and it's hard not to get a good finish

New neck is on... setup & truss rod tweaking required now. Once it's all set up and working, I'll strip it back again and apply the oil/paint/decal. Very happy with the look. EDIT: setup complete, action now down to a much healthier 2mm. Neck is lovely. Rich is very happy bunny

One of the best selling albums of '73 and it just passed me by.

They have serviced all my basses and I have bought and sold basses through them over the years. If something ain't right Martin and John would be the first to want to fix it. Lock-down taught me not to take for granted really fantastic specialist shops.

Good to see they’re making some improvements, think the UK bass playing world is far better off with BD around.

If there's nothing wrong with the Squier, keep the money. You don't need to upgrade things just because you can and the adverts pressure you into thinking you should.

Hullo! I was wondering if any SB2 tribute owners out there could do me a favour and help me out with a quick measurement....... I know it's 38mm at the nut, but if anyone could let me know the width at the 12th fret then I'd be extremely grateful. Having seen the NBD threads from @RussFM and @Lfalex v1.1 as well as the various other new G&L threads, I think there may be a NBD thread on the way if the above measurement comes in about right 😉 Thanks!!

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition DoI!

Got this out today, as I had the time to play properly for a couple of hours. Sorry, its filthy now 🙄 Think I've finally got to grips with the EQ- use it to accentuate/de-emphasize the harmonic content using the 3 position switch (? +12dB / flat / -12dB) to get the sound to sit where you want it in the mix. Use the volume control to compensate for any gain/loss in the output, and if there's any shortfall in the low-end, use the AMP EQ to reinforce it a bit. Live (hopefully) the man behind the desk will do the same.. It's only taken 2 decades!

Insurance is £20 per £1000. I have used them 3 times.

(In agreement with much of what had been said before) The real "value" in modding lies in the learning processes; The acquisition of the technical skills to perform the task and the learning curve that accompanies this. The understanding of how the modifications affect the tone and playability of the instrument. The insight that the modification process gives into the original design and construction

Yeah, That’s a fair argument. But, I always STP as a bit more…I don’t know.. sleazy rock band stuff. Quite the distance from how I viewed the rest of the associated scene. It’s all subjective at the end of day.

But being from Seattle in the early 90's made you Grunge yet there is a massive difference in the music of those bands therefore as a music genre it's a misnomer. It should have been simply called the Seattle scene. Grunge has become sylised with a certain rock based element that had certain qualities marking it apart from earlier hair metal, not least the look of the musicians which had as much owed to the time rather than the music. In that sense I would argue that STP were Grunge. That's to say they had that sound, look, style of grunge at the time. At the end of the day who cares what's grunge and what isn't? I just liked all the rock music coming out then and if it got lumped in with grunge then I called it grunge. I liked grunge as in I pretty much liked every band I heard back then. Apart from the Melvins. I couldn't get into them.

It was something I noticed when the 2024 came out. None of the 2024s I saw had it, the 1024s and below did. My TRB 4 and 6 don't have it but the Bex4 did. Purely anecdotal, rather than something I could say for sure, though 🙂

The 90's was just the best decade ever for me. The band was doing great and the music around was the best I had ever heard. Grunge was and still is, the most amazing genre (even although it's the vaguest genre ever) of music I have ever experienced. Most of it still sounds fresh to my ears.

I would like to add to above praise. Camden Town is nearly local to me, I live, work and rehearse in North London, so the Bass Gallery is quite convenient. Martin has done a fair bit of work for me over the last couple of years: set ups, pick up replacement, shielding and, recently, replacing fret marker dots with Luminlay dots. Occasionally I have had to chase them about work I've asked them to do because they haven't called to let me know its finished but the work itself has so far been flawless. I feel lucky to have them around.

I still use a B1on, the only trouble with them is adjusting patches is a faff, but once they're set up to your liking they're great, I recently got hold of a Tech21 Leeds pedal and have set up the Zoom to sound more or less the same

I've owned a B1XFour (while owning other previous generation gear). B1on/Xon is better, sounds better/fuller (B1Four sounds boxy in comparison) and less noisy. Equally functional, same 5 simultaneous FX, drums, looper. Widely available used for dirty cheap.

I’m going to use Tuff Cab for the outside of the cabinet, just not for the baffle. I’ve used it before and found it very easy to apply and get a decent looking finish, using the rollers that Blue Aran sell. There’s a blog post on their website about how to use it which includes some handy tips.

I suppose I'm as guilty as the next person where tweaking specs/altering stock instruments goes, but in all cases I'll consider the worth of the instrument, the necessity of the upgrade and whether the cost is warranted. Every bass I buy gets Dunlop Straploks. A couple have D-tuners. Both (IMO) cheap and worthwhile upgrades. Stepping up a bit, pickups; I put a (secondhand/as new) EMG Geezer Butler PJ set into an old Hamer as the matched P-unit was hokey. Sub £90, decent upgrade, enough left from £150 for a chip supper. Rule of thumb? Shop around, check the for sale section here. That said, in my case a £200 John East unit on a £5.5k bass? Yes, but on a £350 instrument? No, not so much. As @Raymaninferred, a lot of money is wasted on upgrades.

Aye! Was blown away when I heard Reel to Reel Cacophony... And the dancefloor was always absolutely rammed at Angels Chester Roxy Bowie Nite when they played this:

So the point here is that: - Most funk bass players in the U.K. didn’t play Fender basses. - The scene as we know it now was emerging, and the narrative imposed on history doesn’t always resonate with someone who was there at the time (see the 60s etc.) - At the time Mark King wasn’t considered a funk pioneer, but this label has been applied retrospectively - There was a small group of U.K. funk bassists clustered around London and Denmark Street that pioneered the genre This is all good stuff. Personally, the fusion stuff here and the white socks, shirt strap Acid Jazz stuff that emerged from it leaves me utterly cold, but I’m sure the scene was a lot of fun.

The Bush/Belladonna debate is a strong one and I get why people love Bush more. Saw him a couple of times on tour and can't fault the man. Belladonna will always have a place in my heart that can't be moved.

Oasis’s entire career completely passed me by. At the time i missed out on the whole Britpop thing to be honest. Then I got to relive it anyway for the next 25 years in a variety of pub bands. Lucky me eh.

I like a couple of nirvana songs but I really think the whole grunge genre was really overrated I always remember the metal heads and grungers always scrapping obviously metal always won 😊

I’m all for sharing, but is it too much to ask to make the topic understandable?