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I love gigging - I live for it. Did my first one in 1968, local village hall, age 14. Since then (54 years!) I've toured the clubs and festivals of Europe and USA, done the working mens clubs all over the UK, done pit work, accompanied singer songwriters, and toured with some world class musos. I'm currently playing in an originals band, and taking deps every now and then. I'll be 70 soon, but still get the same buzz when the band's in the pocket. I've had no formal lessons, don't read dots, know very little theory, but have good ears (what's left of them) so in a way I've been blagging it all this time. Most terrifying gig was a festival in the French alps doing a western swing set with Tommy Allsup, with no rehearsal, no charts, had to busk pretty much the whole set with him calling the changes out the corner of his mouth. Got away with it though.

Recently set up by Basschat member Stevie, LFSys is a new name in a market that’s already pretty much saturated. So what can Stevie bring to the already crowded party? The first part of the answer is ‘loads of experience’, given that he’s been the driver (excuse the pun) behind the long-running and successful Basschat self-build cab project. But there’s more to Stevie than being handy at DIY, as you can read for yourselves in the ‘ABOUT ME’ section of his https://www.lfsys.co.uk website. The second part of the answer to ‘what’s new?’ is the bit that really motivated Stevie. As a bass player, he was unhappy with the sound quality of what he was hearing while standing in front of his rig at gigs. He wanted to improve not only the audience’s listening experience but also his own. Having already done so much cab design and build, following some additional development work that took the self-build design to a higher level, Stevie found himself just one step away from becoming a manufacturer. A big step maybe but – spurred on by the number of people who had seen the self-build cabs and said they’d pay him to build them one – he decided to take the next step into small-batch production. The LFSys bass-cab was defined a couple of key decisions. Uncompromising sound quality was top of the list with other considerations such as lightweight construction following on behind. Stevie opted for the ‘FRFR’ approach and set about creating a couple of cabs capable of delivering full range and flat response. The reasoning was that, if you make cabs that faithfully reproduce what’s being put into them, you’re giving bass players a kind of sonic ‘backdrop’. This lets us overlay the ‘sounds in our heads’ without first having to overcome any cab-induced ‘colouration’ that gets in the way of what our imagination, fingers, picks, pedals, modellers and amps generate. The next key aspect is mastery of the cross-over technology that is all-important in the performance of multi-speaker cabinets and a pre-requisite of achieving the ‘flat response’ half of FRFR. There aren’t many who really know what they’re doing in this highly-specialised field but Stevie is one of them. That’s all very well, but what does it mean to us? To be honest, it didn’t mean that much to me at first. I believed my existing cabs were doing the business and wasn’t considering replacing them. Until I heard Stevie and Phil Starr’s ‘blind’ cab shoot-out at the S-W Bass Bash, where one of Stevie’s Silverstone cabs was pitted against some of the best of the rest. When asked which sounded best, nearly all of us (me included) opted for Stevie’s cab. However, Phil finished the session by stressing the limitation of the shoot-out: the musical test piece was an electronically-generated, bass-heavy demo recording chosen only because finding a skilled bass-player capable of doing a professional, multi-genre demo had proved to be a step too far in the time available. Being a bit of an ‘old school’ rock-‘n’-roll luddite myself, I drew some comfort from Phil’s warning. My hunch was that Stevie’s bass-cab recipe wouldn’t translate into my preferred ‘classic’ tones but rather into something a bit too bright, clinical and soul-less. Plus, I’d never got on with the HF-enabled cabs I’d tried in the past. Nevertheless, as a fully-GASsed-up member of the Basschat fraternity, I resolved to try both the already available Silverstone cab and the soon-to-be-released Monaco for myself at the earliest opportunity. Fast-forward to our living-room a couple of months later. I’ve got a Silverstone and a Monaco side by side on the floor with my Mesa TT-800 straddling across the top of both. First I try the Silverstone that came top in the bash shoot-out. I haven’t changed the amp controls from my normal gig setting and I’m instantly preferring it to my existing brand of cab! A few minutes later, I find out that the more expensive Monaco sounds even better, a result that is later replicated in Silverstone owner Phil’s much larger sitting-room. But STILL I cling on to my scepticism: how will it perform under real live gig conditions?! To cut a long story short, it’s the end of our next gig and my band-mates are coming over to slap me on the back. They don’t know (or care) what the new box is or what it does, just that it works. So I tell them. It makes the bass sound much more clearly defined and articulate than before so it cuts through the mix and enhances the whole sound of the band – even on stage. Before I’m even half-way through my short explanation, they’ve turned their backs on me and are packing their kit up. It’s worth adding that, courtesy of my wireless system, I nipped into the front of the audience at the beginning of the first set for a quick check that all was well – which it was. The only tweaks I made to my amp were to back-off the bass and treble a touch (to 1 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively) on both channels, use the DEEP boost a bit more often and the BRIGHT hardly at all. With the LFSys Monaco, I now have killer-sounding, 600W (AES)-rated, 8ohm cab that handles the reduced power from my 800W (into 4ohms) amp with headroom to spare while still being PLENTY loud enough to cope with any of our indoor gig venues AND compete with my decibel-junky band-mates. More importantly, it feels like the music we make has kind of more room to breathe. Last but not least, this single-cab solution to my needs comes in at only fifty quid more (and a couple of kilos heavier) than ONE of the matched pair of 12” single-driver cabs I’ve been gigging with. What’s not to like? 😊 PIC'S TO FOLLOW

I'm done for the year so...

Exactly, My family had just moved from Southern Spain back to the States. I told my team mates I had played with the Spanish All Stars. There was no Spanish All Stars.😀 Blue

Slappa de baysszS

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmHMQoes9un/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link "Super 3rd on a Super Twin. If you have a Super Twin but you’d like a 1x12XN cab for smaller gigs or a 3x12XN stack for big/outdoor gigs then the new Super 3rd is the answer. It’s basically our awesome Super Compact reshaped for stacking on a Super Twin. Also available with a tweeter (and crossover and full HF control). 600W, 8 ohms, 97dB for the Super 3rd. This full stack is 1800W, 2.7 ohm, 101.5dB (max SPL ~134dB - stand well back and wear hearing protection!) Oh and they’re really light in weight despite the heavyweight tone, remarkably compact and as beautifully finished as everything we make!"

We do probably 80 weddings a year. We'll learn as many tunes as they want as long as we have time and the client is happy to pay the £100 per song that we charge for learning requests.

Tried to put it in my nose, but it's too big.

It’s alright @scrumpymike, I’ve got your back and will do the link thing

Since turning to 5ers I've adopted the Floating Thumb technique - on 4 strings too.

Take a walk in my shoes - I'm in Aberdeen - there's next to no cool gear up here locally so if I see something tasty that's collection only I'll ask. If you don't ask, you don't get. No need to get your nose out of joint - I can read, why do you think I'm messaging to ask if you'll reconsider? I'm not some flecking illiterate chancer, I'll have you know!

I grabbed this as it was only 20 min away from me and looked like a fun project for a few days. Needed a full stripdown, clean and setup and strings, but i've got it singing now. Interestingly I found this exact bass was in the US a couple of years ago, I've messaged the previous owner to try and find out how it got here but they haven't logged into talkbass for a while. The tuners were unusable when I got it (no movement then massive jumps), but they were just overtightened, I stripped them down and reattached, they're fine now. Is it heavy ? Yes, but not quite Peavey T-40 territory. It's a solid instrument and the single pickup with 2 band EQ gets a very close Musicman vibe, albeit a little different due to a lack of humbucker. Very usable though, I'll try and stick a demo up.

Fake it 'til you make it 😉

My standard method of dealing with people looking for money off due to completely insignificant or imaginary problems is to offer them a full refund if they return the item and no alternatives. I'll be very polite and apologetic, but I won't enter into any dialogue with them over discounts or partial refunds; they are obviously not 100% happy so they should return the item and get their money back. In every case I have never heard anything more from the buyer.

I bid (and won) at the Gardiner Holgate auction recently. Boss CE2, 1981 black label, made in Japan. For me, THE chorus pedal. Eagerly awaiting delivery Pictures to follow

So having been stuck at home during Covid, me and the Mrs got hooked on “Bargain Hunt” and it’s now on permanent “record”. What’s this got to do with basses I hear you ask?! Well has anyone else noticed the well executed and quite funky sometimes, bass riffs during the programme? I could swear whoever writes it is a bassist! Does anyone know who’s involved?!!! from a sad BH addict! (Well it’s cheaper than GAS!)

Great gig last night. Sound was excellent, best I've heard at a large venue for some time, maybe ever. Crystal clear mix and not too loud too. Big set, 2 hour plus. After touring around London all day and probably not eating enough , embarrassed to say, I ran out of energy and feinted in the encore! 4 feints in all I think from the first one to getting to the concourse for a sit down, thankfully my girlfriend and a lovely lady stranger helped me to a quiet cool spot to recover. Thanks to the lovely lady stranger for the help getting out to the side and buying me some water, nice too know there are still people out there willing to help.

Here’s mine - a 2013 MIJ Mustang. I swapped the dark tort plate for a plain white one. It’s the first and only short scale I’ve owned. Initially I got it due to a shoulder injury, but it’s got a sound and attitude all of its own which made it a keeper. With flats it has a smooth, almost acoustic bass sound. With rounds it’s got a midrange snarl and punch. I still love my long scale basses (especially for drop D tuning etc) but my Mustang adds a very usable, quite distinct flavour of its own which is well worth having.

I just ordered a guitar for child no2. An Ibanez GRX120SP (catchy name). She loves her little Ibanez Micro and this has the same neck profile and only 1mm wider at the nut. I'm sure she'll like the metallic blue colour as well.

Thorsday Child - Bowie

Makes No Sense At All ～ Hüsker Dü

This is by no means universally applicable, but I have come across several collectors who are not great players (to put it politely). The ones I have encountered are successful in their careers, so have plenty of cash to splash. They appear to imagine that owning fine vintage instruments will somehow enable them to play as well as their musical heroes. I played in a band briefly with a couple of guys - one an architect and one a lawyer - who were afflicted in this manner. They had plenty of fabulous instruments and were both nice guys and good company. They were also seriously hopeless. Socially, it was very enjoyable - we played at some very nice parties thrown by similarly wealthy pals of theirs - but musically, it was painful. I tried in vain to tell myself to just enjoy the company and the craic, but I had to walk in the end.

It looks OK Ive seen far worse on factory built guitars. I am looking forward to seeing the finished item. I had a nicely equipped workshop until about 4 years ago. planer, router table, 14" throat Startrite ceramic guide bandsaw, table saw, compound mitre saw, bench drill, 150 litre tank twin cylinder compressor, mig welder, lathes one for wood one for metal. Took me years to have that lot. We had to downsize to a bungalow so had to let it all go. Now I work on the conservatory table so I know how you feel.🥲 I did keep my routers, drills, hand planes and saws etc. That bass in the Vid sounds awesome! Hopefully yours will to.

Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Vertebrae U2

Nice basses

I did a five day course with Jon Shuker last year. I can thoroughly recommend it. The group size was small - limited to three people, with Jon leading things and assisted by Tim Lever (a very interesting character - great to chat to!) It was an all-inclusive price of £1,000 each - I believe Crimson charge separately for the course and materials. A possible down-side is that you are restricted to building a Precision or Jazz style bass - although you can basically do whatever you want as long as you stick to the basic design. There's also no time for any solid paint finishes - I had a clear lacquer. Sunbursts and similar were also possible. I made a standard P bass. All good quality components - Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners, Seymour Duncan pickup. And lots of attention to detail on things like fretwork left me feeling that I'd struggle to buy such a good quality bass for £1k. Here's the finished item!

You should sell it to me... it'll look great next to my black one!

I bought various bass guitars and a double bass because as a lefty, good stuff doesn't come up often so.....you know how that goes. I have gigged most of them. At one point I was up to 8 I think. I have now pretty much decided that I'm done with gigging, my last recording project is complete (and I'm due to go for a get together to her the finished product this weekend) which I used three different basses on and I don't think there will be another one any time soon. I'm selling (and have sold four so far) everything except my go-to Hot Rod Precision, my Roland Cube 30, LM3 and Barefaced Compact (just in case....lol). This part of my life is pretty much done: It's been a great 12-15 years but things change, and I'm moving on to other things so my small "collection" is surplus to requirements. BTW I've had no luck selling on here, but everything I've sold has gone for the same if not more on a popular auction site. YMMV.

So, instead of planning to sell stuff to downsize on unplayed instrumens I bought a guitar. I blame reverse psychology advocated by BC.

No contest. MTD KZ5 - 19mm string spacing and the best B string under £1000.

Absolutely not denying he is a fantastically talented person, as a song writer, as a musician and as a guitar player (amongst many other talents). A 2 1/2 set at any age is good going (Peter Hook does this too and clearly has gotten in shape in order to do so). They mix it up too which is the sign of a great band. The point is more that he doesn't do any vocal exercises or look after his voice. Had he been singing 80s rawk style, it might be different. That's no dig at him but just he knows what he can and can't do, and works it brilliantly. When he started singing at Wembley the other night the first thing we thought was "wow, he's still on it!"

Loquat crept in. Mud

No apologies needed. I love looking at gear… I love that period at a gig when you stand or sit looking at a stage In anticipation of the possible magic to come

Asking buyers to send back the item for a refund can sometimes be a bit dodgy as well. It has been known for unscrupulous scum to send back a parcel of rubbish in place of the real item. They must send back using ' signature required ' Once the item has been signed for, the sender/buyer now has proof for Ebay that they returned the item and that you signed for it. This only works in certain circumstances though. Living too close to each other is likely to end up with a personal visit.

eBay will refund you the sales cost or allow you to re-list with no charge if you show evidence of the buyer doing what they've done. I've had that before and they waived the fee I incurred.

This was my rig of choice for a recent gig and one of the few gigs I've done this year that hasn't involved an Ashdown ABM. It was more a nostalgia trip to use this Trace Elliot as I was intending to sell all my Trace Elliot kit at the time and have now done that. The AH200 GP12 is quite a special bass amp and in my experience always punched way above its weight and had that sound.