Leaderboard

These are my beloved trinity which are now either under offer or up for sale. Its been a joy to have owned them these past years but needs must and you can't keep these precious things forever. I thought I'd share them with you. Left to Right 1962 custom colour slab Board Transition Jazz, Aug 1960 Stackpot, 1959 Transition P bass

I honestly dread to think what life would be like if I'd played drums; it was an option in my early teens. I'm currently up to seven basses, cabinets, small class-d head, peripherals, so god knows where things would be if I'd been a drummer. Given my propensity for just buying stuff, I suspect my drums would have looked something like this:

Some time in 2006 I had a gig with the motown band I was in at a bar on site at RAF base in Northcote, NE London. A band that @Beedster stepped in to replace me after I moved on. It was a 20 minute drive from Shepherds Bush and I managed to get to the gig about half an hour before we went on. Everything under control. My girlfriend at the time even decided to tag along just to hear the band as well. So I started the unloading process...speakers...amp...cables....and... No 1979 Musicman Stingray. I turned to my gf and asked in slightly concerned tones Me: 'F***! Where's my bass?!' Her: 'You didn't pack it?' Me: 'You carried it out for me, remember? You were in the car when I closed the car boot so I assumed you packed it. Where did you leave it?!' Her: 'I left it leaning against the fence next to the car ready for you to put in the car.' Me: '!?*!!%#@!' There in followed a twenty minute mercy dash back to my flat only to find nothing outside. I frenetically searched the apartment and was about to give up when there was a knock at the door. I sloped down the stairs to find my Russian neighbour two doors down from me, holding my bass. Apparently he'd caught a shifty looking couple walking off with it. He pulled them up and they claimed someone had left it out for recycling but thankfully my neighbour knew it wasn't the kind of bass that someone recycles I nearly cried with relief but there was no time. Back in the car for another dash up the A40 back to the gig and I made it...ten minutes late, sweating like a pig but with bass in hand.

1963. We had a six piece trad band in Cheltenham. We weren’t really traddies, we were very much into the Bop stuff that was emerging at the time but we were riding the trad boom and had plenty of gigs. So it was Tiger Rag all the way. We four unmarried members of the band lived together in a house, actually a succession of houses because we were getting ‘moved on’ a lot. Two guys were code breakers at GCHQ. We were quite entrepreneurial; promoting dances by other bands in the surrounding village halls. We were quite adept at fly posting, on one occasion falling in through a shop front in the process. One day we saw an article in the local paper that the organisers of the Gloucester Mayoral Ball couldn’t find a band. We’ll have some of that, we thought. So we thought of some poncy name, like the John Goodwin Ballroom Orchestra, and put in a bid. With an unfeasibly massive fee. I remember the letter back saying in the circumstances we have no option but to accept your fee. But we want continuous music, with strict tempo, old time, all the usual formal stuff. When reality sunk in less than two weeks before the gig we had trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo (banjo?!) bass and drums. So we found a young guy who played piano and a mate of ours played baritone. Half of us could even read, meaning the other half couldn’t. So, where to find a ‘library’? As it happened a local bandleader had recently died so two of us smartened ourselves up and went round to his grieving widow to express our condolences. And, by the way, could we borrow his library please. On the evening of the Ball we set up at the Guildhall. They were all there in black tie and jewels, the place was packed. So we turned up a quickstep and proceeded to play. The noise was excruciating, it was so bad. We hadn’t had any rehearsal and we had another four hours of this. I looked round and saw all the colour had drained from our faces. We were in big trouble. So after a while we threw the dots away and busked our way through the programme. It made a slight improvement but it was obvious nobody was enjoying the evening. With two hours to go we threw in a ‘trad’ set. All of a sudden the floor filled up and they all started smiling and leaping about like a crowd of young farmers. And that’s how will filled the remaining hours, all trad. We got away with it but it was a narrow squeak. It was a long time before we took the pee on such an industrial scale. Sorry it’s a bit long.

My P Bass that was bought with money from my family after my GCSE's. I got it secondhand but it was only a few years old. Over the years it's had a new neck, new bridge, new pickguard and has been fitted with Sims LED's. I've also badly touched up some paint chips (done years ago before I appreciated Mojo). It's probably not worth anything to anyone other than me but is the only instrument I can 100% say I would never sell.

I meet people behind those bins all the time, dunno what you were so worried about

Here we go again. Another one dissing St Anger. How many times do we have to read about how bad this album is, especially the horrible snare drum sound? How many times? Over and over again people criticise this album, telling us how bad it is. It has become such an easy target. However, if you sit down, relax and listen to it from start to finish, then you will hopefully realise that it is actually... really that bad 😉

🤣funny guy

I decided today that I'd fettle my old Godin fretless as I've not played it for a while due to the fact I had a few issues with it: 1. overpowering E string. 2. treble side slightly high at bridge. 3. bad static/crackle when adjusting the sliders. 4. intermittent fault on the output. Whipped the bridge/piezo out and someone has previously fitted a nasty shim... removed and that fixed 1 & 2. Took out the preamp / EQ and cleaned the slider tracks with anti-static spray and a cotton bud (very dirty)... fixed 3. Took off the output plate/jack and hey presto a chunk of tin foil trapped in between the contacts! No idea how that got in there or why but it isn't in any more. Glad I dived in and did that as the bass plays and sounds lovely. Moral of the story; don't put off till tomorrow!

Buy a lined Fretless, then close your eyes. Hey Presto: Unlined Fretless!

"Sonically Plebeian". 😁 Now how do I change my Basschat signature 🤔

I’M STILL IN!!!

Was it closed?

Burn the witch! 🔥

I’ve bought 6 basses, 2 cabs, 1 head and pedals. Ill probably sell them all so I’m still in right? 😂

I think some BCers would rather throw themselves in front of a scooter than listen to a hooter sounding like slap bass

Guitars and drums. I play both. I have more basses than guitars but it's still too many guitars, really. With drums, I am strictly limiting myself to one kit due to space but... you know... a kit is made of many pieces but everything must fit on the mat, that's the rule.

Same here, but for some reason I bought and sold three shorties before I finally ordered a Midwestern. 🙄 Another option around a grand could be a Rebirth Custom Guitars Jazzmaster Bass. I’ve had one before and it was a great bass. They’re made to order by Taka Hirose (Feeder) in Yorkshire:

Can't we just ban E-Scooters and fix the problem that way?

Ivory Embassy with two creamy cousins - all now gone to new homes.

Happy Monday! Here is my silver burst Jack Casady.

Owned many basses , all gone apart from these three which are most certainly staying .

Farida. There are 2 of them - was an idea I shared with their head guy and they arrived with my name on. had them for about 12 years…

There I was, in the middle of a very sensible Reduction In Force (I CAN'T do justice to more than 4 basses) when up pops this beauty on eBayI've always liked this bass, and it ticked a lot of boxes for me (mahogany, semi-hollow, f-hole, Matt finish, piezo), but I felt it was overpriced. "No", says I, "be strong", then the seller dropped the price by £100! Too good to resist, so the credit card took a punch to the nose... When it arrived, I was slightly underwhelmed, but I knew I would be: I'd played two examples previously, and both were the same- the piezo just swamped the magnetic pickup, to the point where it served no purpose. The second tryout, I raised the pickup to the point where it could compete, and I could see the potential. This one, though, was the other way around, the piezo was anaemic. Also, I didn't like the fact that although the neck is subtly lined, those lines don't extend over the top. This looks nice and sleek with the binding, but the player has to lean over the fingerboard to see where he is. Also, I don't like the Chromes it came with, they always sound sterile to my ears. SO ... Sell it on, or...? Investigation in the cavity revealed a trim pot for the piezo, and the balanced sound works well. Some 'skillful' use of yellow tape on the neck: A new set of Thomastik flats, and it's become, and likely to remain, my favourite bass! It's light, balances well, has nice simple controls ( vol/ tone x2 ), and sounds just fantastic with both pickups- tight and focussed with the Bartolini, and loads of girth and texture with the piezo. I'm a happy bunny.

Try the Revelation. Under £200 new, in a white or red P bass, PJ or Jazz style. Beautifully made, unlined with dots on the main fret positions. Here's mine. I've put a KiOgon loom in with Tonerider pups but the original Entwhistle pups and looms are mighty fine.

My Jack Casady from a few months ago, on unboxing day. I realised it was a perfect match for the cushions in the garden. 😄 Then I went on the hunt for a strap and found a perfect match a Canadian company, Perri's.

I've only got a couple of instances. Here's the earliest one.... My first ever 'proper' gig back when i was about 16 was an unusual one. It was at the very back end of the punk era so didn't seem to be quite such a shambles as it would nowadays - artistic improvisation and being pretty different was still encouraged. But we really were dreadful..... We had somehow snagged a support slot to a jangly/indie style band at the local main music venue (The Square in Harlow if anyone has ever played it) and needed to play for 45 minutes. Problem was that we only had 5 songs and about 20 minutes of material. I was ready to bail out of it but was persuaded by the guitarist/singer that we could stretch the songs a bit and he would fill out the gaps in between to help. We decided to dress up a to try and make a bit of an impact and Drosso (the singer/guitarist) informed us that he was going to make a grand entrance after the bass and drums had jammed around for a few minutes. I turned up a bit late (dressed in a tails suit and with Dave Vanian style white/black make up on) and literally walked on to the stage, plugged in and the drummer kicked the pair of us into action. Drosso came running up the stairs onto the stage a few seconds later. He was dressed in thigh high cavalier boots, a g string with his knackers hanging out, Sgt Pepper jacket and had a hollowed out teddy bears head over his head. We stretched out the first song for about 10 minutes. When we had finished the song Drosso reached behind his amp and grabbed a bucket he had stashed there earlier (I hadn't seen any of the prep work so this was all totally new to me). He then threw its contents straight over everyone in the front couple of rows. It was full of liver, fish guts and general entrails from the butcher shop. The crowd were not massively impressed and we spent an uncomfortable 30 more minutes playing total rubbish with Drosso generally abusing and taking the wee wee out of the crowd (all cardigans and chinese slippers) whilst they all glared at us waiting for us to finish. We reached the big climax and as we hit the last note Drosso triggered the 4 big flashbombs that he had set up (and not told anyone about) behind the gear at the back of the stage. It was like being on stage with Motley Crue! Except you don't get curtains at the back of the stage at a Crue gig. Which then caught fire and necessitated the evacuation of the venue.... Fortunately we didn't burn the whole place down. We just about escaped with our lives but were never invited back

An isobaric configuration reduces the cabinet size required to realize a desired low frequency response. For those of you who know what T/S specs are the Vas is halved compared to one driver, and therefore so is the cabinet volume exclusive of the space taken up by the second driver. The downside is that the cone displacement exposed to the air, T/S spec Vd, is the same for the two drivers as it is for one, so maximum output is the same as with one driver, albeit from a smaller cab. Isobarics were somewhat logical decades ago, when Vas values of 600 liters weren't unusual, making cabs capable of going low really huge. Since the drivers used in the Orange have a Vas around 150 liters the size advantage gained isn't that much, and as you've found it doesn't go nearly as loud as a standard 212, by 6dB to be precise.

Only probably? 😂

Yeah, good plan. We could call it the "Gear try out thread challenge 2022"

Oh, there was no authenticity to it. It wasn’t Louis Armstrong Hot Five, Jelly Roll Morton or anything like that. More like Kenny Ball. ‘Trad’ was quite a British style of jazz at the time. A bit of a mongrel.

It’s beginning to come together..or apart depending on your point of view . Fretboard is now maple, the headstock wings have been shaped as a test before being changed for maple too. The scratch plate and truss rod is sorted in stainless and the neck pick-up sorted. Got all the knobs , switches etc and the graphics. Steve at Guitarlodge is doing all the work and it’s all up to his exacting standards!

Not me. I'm not sure I'd buy any bass from Dave Ellefson..

Back in the 90s (again) the band lived together in a housing co-op house in Pimlico, 'twas a very nice Georgian Square just a stones throw from Scotland Yard... So we decided, after having been given our notice to leave (that's the way it was with co-ops) we thought we'd have a party, with the band playing. So we set up the 5kW PA in the big upstairs living room, there was a house full of folks and we started playing. We were just about to do our last number when a large police inspector came in (at least we thought he was, there were lots of shiny bits on his epaulettes!). He told us that if we didn't stop playing now the vanful of police outside would come in and make sure we did... Just as we were assuring him that we would do just that, and we were terribly sorry about the racket, our roady's large and very fluffy dog ran through the inspector's legs - he didn't notice the dog but he did notice that his nether regions had been heartily caressed by something quite hard and hairy, and that something he also couldn't see was wetly sniffing his bottom. By the time he looked round Merlin had gone, and by the expression on his face we can only assume he thought he'd been fiddled with by some sort of conjured-up rock'n'roll succubus! As he ran out he shouted over his shoulder "and don't do it again!". Otherwise a most excellent party, and we had invited all the very posh neighbours but I suspect they felt they might not fit in... And one of the Carter Unstoppable boys broke his arm falling down the stairs!

If money is not an issue, I would suggest a Serek Midwestern 2 with Serek Singles pickups. If you’re into the Mustang shape, I’ve seen the Atelier Z BabyZ which is an active/passive jazz monster of a Mustang. That one is quite cheap as well (less than a grand on Reverb used).

My latest iteration. This is my latest iteration of my "core" board... It's a Pedaltrain Novo 24, which is really a "Classic" with an extra row on the front to hold the Gigrig Quartermaster looper/switcher. Underneath is a CIOKS power supply and a Gigrig Cinco Cinco 5-port stereo jack patch bay; the CIOKS also has a USB out which can also a 12-Step (if & when I get around to getting that set up). Signal path is: Cinco-Cinco ports 1 = stereo input -> splitter cable -> OBNE pink & blue inputs. Cinco-Cinco ports 2 = mono input -> OBNE green input. OBNE output -> MicroBass 3 Input. MicroBass 3 output -> Cinco Cinco ports #5, output. MicroBass 3 Fx Send -> Gigrig Quartermaster In. MicroBass 3 Fx Return <- Gigrig Quartermaster Out. Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 1 Send -> Cinco Cinco ports #3 (Send), Return <- Cinco Cinco ports #4 (Return); going to a supplementary board (or with a jumper across them to close the loop if unused). Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 2 -> C4 synth Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 3 -> SS-11 valve overdrive (that's replaced my DHA VT1; it's pretty much the same, but smaller and so more pedalboard-friendly). Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 4 -> Octave up (Mosaic) & down (EBS Octabass) pedals. Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 5 - unused (custom toggle switch on this board rather than a loop). Gigrig Quartermaster Loop 6 - Modulation pedals (Phase 90 & Black Label Chorus). Disaster Area MIDI switcher - controlling C4 at the moment. Plans going forward: The four on the top row may be replaced by a HX Stomp if/when I get one (might even be today). If I do go down the HX Stomp route, I'll put a Morningstar MC6 I have on the top row too, to control the C4. And then I'll either swap the Disaster Area to being a switcher for the HX Stomp or make up a unit myself with a pair of momentary press switches for it. The OBNE Signal Blender is a bit bulky; I may replace it with something more compact if I find the right thing (I did look at a Gigrig three2one, but you have to do a button dance to set it to what I want). I don't use the custom toggle on the Quartermaster; I may replace that switcher with a stock 6-way one and have loop 6 go to another board with echo units last in the chain. I may look at the stereo capabilities of the MicroBass 3 at some point,

Doesn't cost much to get an unlined board fitted to a standard neck... you get to choose the wood (!or wood substitute) too.