Leaderboard

Stonking gig last night at my local club. We usually get a few friends turn up when we play this place so we asked the proprietor to open 15 minutes early at 6:45 so we could load in and get a bit of a sound check. Alas the punters had other ideas and it was standing room only by 7:15. Amazingly we did manage to get a decent sound - suspect I was slightly on the loud side as I was using my Fallout bass which is a bit hotter than my Mustangs. A guy and his wife traveled from Dewsbury (about 40 miles) to see us and brought a big bag of party wigs which he dumped near the stage - wasn’t sure what this was about...then on the second number he got up and danced his heart out and got all the punters going, distributing wigs for them to wear. It was like having a 70’s glam Bez 😂😂😂 All in all another great night, next week we venture into the dark lands on the other side of the Pennines so we’ll see if our run of great gigs continues.

Our return to The Coach House, Paignton on Saturday night was well received, although it could have been just a bit busier. Still, those there were very complimentary. Second outing for the Stealth Bongo, and absolutely loving it. Also, second assault on my headstock by the guitarist’s Pete Townsend windmill impression during Won’t Get Fooled Again (as per last week, and first Bongo outing), and still no dink.

Ok, time passes. Still many barriers to overcome, but with the aid of a 4-wheel walker, have managed a 1.5 mile circuit of Tavistock town centre and park. There is still pain, and unexpected instability to deal with, quite apart from needing personal care for some things. Still uncertain as to regaining the superpower of putting on my own shoes and socks!

Our 2nd gig of the weekend was last night in a pub in Essex. They've banned hazers and smoke so we travelled light and just used the couple of par bars the pub has installed - it was a nice quick load in and out without all our usual lights and lasers. When we arrived it all felt a bit quiet and we were fearing a dead duck evening. There was only about 15 people in there as we kicked off the first song but after about 20 minutes it had filled up and was packed out at the start of the second set. You play nose to nose with the crowd in here and it can get a bit lively. Last time here we had to stop at 11.45 as there was a fight kicking off mid crowd with a couple of cokey chavs being idiots. The security team here aren't as good as they used to be and have become a bit slow on the uptake. You can smell when it's likely to get a bit silly but they can't seem to pick up on it. No fights tonight but we had a youngish girl sneaking round the side and trying to hit the cymbals and getting too close to mains leads and stuff - we had to stop mid Sandman to tell her to hop it or we wouldn't start again. Drinks were going everywhere due to some pretty frantic dancing front of house later on. Another drunk woman was going on at me to give her the singers tambourine to play with - I kept saying no but the singist gave in, said yes and she immediately hopped up next to us and proceeded to do some odd booty wriggling routine and knocking the drum screen rather precariously. I booted her back to the crowd side of the monitors with her precious tambourine. We have a few more there later this year and we're definitely asking for some barriers at the front or a security guy for the second set.

Third gig of a busy weekend. First time in this venue. All went well, appreciative hard drinking crowd. We finished , started to pack down, barmaid tells me her boss told her music should go on to 11.30. We started our second set a bit earlier, I tell her, you had your two hours. She's adamant. The gig was from a booker and we didn't want him to get poor feedback so we did a somewhat stretched encore. 15 minutes of Born To Be Wild anyone? The drummer was on the wrong page so it literally restarted three times.

This was out tonight at TTT Motorcycle Sudbury…! of course, sound man spilled a mug of coffee over my new pedals (all except Polytune arrived this week for my bday). Dried them in a rush and they all seem to be working, but man, what the ffffffflip…!?!?! Will not play them for a couple days and pray they still work as they did, happy to hear any tips just in case 😢

Top night at the Bowling Green, Horwich. Busy all night with a decent dancefloor from the first song, moving to packed from about halfway through the first set. By the middle of the second set we were moving mic stands backwards and I had to give a few dancers a gentle nudge to prevent them from joining us onstage. Punters were very well oiled and right on the edge of crashing into us, but it was all out of enthusiasm. With such restricted room, the Ibanez SMS 1005 came into its own. Our singist, who has become used to avoiding the bass headstock on cramped stages was most grateful for the headless. I've mentioned before that this is our last year, and we're all milking every ounce of fun from it. Combine that with a great crowd and we found that extra 5% you get sometimes. Best we've played in quite a while. I still can't take a decent selfie though!

Having lurked on this thread for a while I wanted to add my recent experience as thanks to this knowledge and help for others. I was previously in a band which was full in ears, silent stage, Yamaha mix app on your phone to manage everything and loved it. My main gig is now in a 17 piece Big Band. I sit between the Drummer, the guitar amp and 4 trombones and was concerned I was damaging my ears. Since I'm doubling on Bass Guitar and Double Bass, having enough volume to stay in tune was also becoming an issue. I tried lots of ear plugs (they all muffle the bottom end no matter how flat or "perfect for musicians" they claim to be). So following advice here I got a second hand Zoom H6 and it has been a game changer! My amp volume is lower (correct volume) since I can now hear myself. And the stereo mics on the H6 pick up the whole band way better than expected including speech from the band leader at the other end of the room during rehearsal. I mount it on my tablet stand and angle it away from my amp and drums and send my DI-out to one of the inputs. I plan to experiment with a monitor signal from the PA desk which only has solos, vocals and keys, but should add even more clarity. I already had a pair of Shure 425 which give me a great isolating fit so my ears are protected, I can hear my bass clearer (without deafening everyone else) and all for the cost of a second hand Zoom H6. (Used in multiple rehearsals and 1 gig so far) It hadn't occurred to me that I could run an IEM system for my self in a non mic-ed up big band, so thank you for all the great information in this thread. Feel free to give you selves a pat on the back or ask any questions if you trying to do something similar

I’ve not written a new bass day post before but if I don’t do it for this bass I’ll never do it. I sold my flat at the end of 2022 and my partner and I are now renting somewhere together (i.e. a home that could house two people and bass gear) while we save for a new place together. I figured that this is probably the only time I’m likely to have the cash balance to justify acquiring my dream bass (even if only for a while) so I went for it. Shortly before Christmas, I was lucky enough to have my prayers/wanted ad answered by a kind member of this forum and acquired my holy grail bass: Please meet the newest member of the family, a beautiful Wal Mk III 5-string with shedua facings. It’s absolutely thunderous and everything I hoped it would be: the preamp is a dream, the B string has the smoothness of my Warwick Streamer’s mixed with the raw aggression of a Stingray, and the gorgeous tiger-esque facings seem to move in the light. I’m sure like many folks on here, I’m a big fan of Justin Chancellor’s playing with Tool (I tried quite hard to avoid saying I am a big Tool fan/fan of Tool there) and the preamp gets me in the tonal ballpark (my playing is miles away from his though, sadly). While not really on topic for the NBD post, I was lucky enough to bump into Justin Chancellor when Tool were in London last year. I was entirely starstruck and stunned into incapacitation for a short while before recovering my senses enough to ask him if he wouldn’t mind signing a wedding card I was carrying for my brother and his now wife as they met owing to a mutual Iove of the band. He was very gracious and my partner and I seem to take it in turns to wear my/her hoodie that he gave to me at the show. Anyway, back to the post… If you happen to see me posting basses and pedals in the classifieds over the next few months, this is the reason why. A big thanks to those that helped make this happen, particularly @dyerseve and @TrevorR. May you all get your holy grails in 2023!

I felt like I had a breakthrough with my Poly Blue last night. I used it on several songs, adjusting on the fly each time, and the sound was astonishing. The combination of phase, octaves and the 'mono' button produced a quite remarkable sound. Is this an octave pedal? Or is it a multi effects pedal? I used it to thicken the sound of one song played higher up the fretboard - a song which didn't need that synthy sound - for a disco synth sound, for a huge funky semi synth, which, combined with an envelope filter was wonderful. Truly my favourite pedal.

Played a large music bar in town last night which is a regular gig. I thought we were sounding pretty good and the guitarist had a great sound (he's changed from a Les Paul to a Telecaster and the sound is now much clearer than before). He was playing through the venues Orange Valve head and a 4x12. In fact after the second song I actually shouted over to him what a great sound he had. That was probably the wrong thing to do, as it fueled his egotistical guitar brain and he went straight for the master volume! At the break the sound engineer came up to us and said that one of the barmaids (it's a big bar with a capacity of 900, over two levels, and she was working at least 50 feet away) had complained that she couldn't continue working as the guitar was so loud. He said the guitar sounded fantastic but it was the loudest he had ever heard a guitar being played at that venue and the guitarist had to turn down before he sent the bar staff deaf. For the second half the guitarist turned way down and I had to listen to him through the monitors (which sounded, in comparison, like a ukulele played through a cheap transistor radio). Next time he plays I've told him to bring his 15 watt Fender pro junior, which is what he usually plays through, and he'll not be able to make anybody's ears bleed.

What sort of finish? I've got: Matt, satin and gloss varnish Worktop oil Floor oil Table wax/oil mixture I'm thinking maybe the worktop oil in a slurry/buff fashion ala @Andyjr1515

Well, it’s been over 2 years and I’m doing a refinish. I damaged the control area a while ago and I decided to “fix” it by routing the top to fit a tele type control plate. the refinish is going pretty good. A few spots of finish left to remove completely. Then on to finish sanding. Tru-oil will be used.

I found this interesting:

Watching the "for sale" ads I can see that there are many of us who are downsizing or clearing out gear which we aren't using. I, for one, have far too much gear but that doesn't stop me from acquiring more. I also note that at the moment many members are selling to fund other purchases because seemingly money is tight. Between us all we must have enough parts for several builds which would be more cost effective if we could trade x for y in the marketplace. I'm looking for a gold bridge and gold tuners but have a chrome high mass Fender bridge and numerous chrome tuners that I would trade and others might want. Same with pedals which I'm sure are on peoples GAS list. I know that money is tight - the news tells me so - why can't we go back to the good old days where we could barter two fish for half a sheep? I'm putting this out there to gauge whether there would be any interest in adding a "Swap/Trade" option to the Marketplace.

Turkish reggae? Of course Turkish reggae!

On my 'to do' list for tomorrow. Be here tomorrow from Amazon

Same. One of, if not my favourite vocalist. Still upsets me hearing his voice. It could also be an age thing/ things I’ve experienced as I find music in general hits me more emotionally than when I was younger.

A few years back I importedt an old '64 P bass in bits and in quite a sorry state. The previous owner had been able to afford a neck refinish from John Kallas (owner of JohnK Vintage Guitars who's built or restored some crazy amount of instruments over the years!). However, he ran out of money and offered it as a parts bass to get it finished. When he first bought it, the entire neck & body had been stripped back & finished some sort of horrible, slightly sticky to the touch, lacquer: Here's how it arrived to me in it's original, but totally knackered, case: I contacted a few people about refinishing the body but quotes were either really high or they didn't want to take it on given how nasty the existing finish was. Then, one day, I was chatting to my good friend, and local luthier, Julian Mullen. I mentioned that I wasn't sure what to do with this albatross and he took a look at it. He had actually closed the refinishing part of his business because it was too time consuming and a pain in the donkey to try and run a paint shop. He had a good look and confirmed that everything definitely appeared to be original and that the first colour would have been Olympic White as you can see the overspray in the pickup and wiring cutouts. He then said he had just one pack of genuine US nitro paint kicking around in his workshop and it just happened to be Olympic White - it then became a bit of a challenge for him and he decided to take it on. One of the first things he discovered, having stripped away the lacquer, was that the body was a little thinner than it should be for a '64 but that he could rebuild it up using a few more layers of paint than usual. This was no easy job as it required several coats of primer and nitro with full sanding down between each one. ules is something of a perfectionist and carried this out over a long period, making sure it was completely dry and ready between every coat. He then fitted all the parts that came with it, pickguard & pickups not show in the pic above. After all this work, this is how it looks now, I couldn't be happier: All pics taken on my phone so apologies for the quality. I've tried to show the true colour of the paint and this has darkened the board and guard a little. The guard is a lovely deep red tort and the board has some really nice dark grain running through it that almost looks like ebony (it will be brazilian rosewood). Hopefully you can see that the nitro is already checking nicely and the neck has begun to do this as well (the neck was refinned back in 2011 so it's had a good 10 years to 'catch up' with the body finish). It should now continue to age gracefully

Yes! I'm quite tempted by that myself fir my BB1024

I found that they start to feel good after about 2-4 weeks of regular playing, a lot quicker than the 760FS I’ve got as they took ages, if you’re ok with the TI tension I think you might like them

Just in case you want an alternative supplier, the Bass Gallery also carry Acinonyx. I got my V1 from them last year and it was marginally less than Bass Direct at the time. Mine is from the second batch and has not suffered from the issues that some of the first batch had: noise, sticking or non-functioning buttons and bridge saddles dropping. I guess they must have sorted any QC issues for the second batch. There is a very active Acininoyx thread over on TalkBass. A few people across the pond have already got fretless and the V2 versions and are giving their feedback. Might be worth checking out, if you are interested in one. For what it is worth, I love my V1 but I agree that the tonal options are not subtle: basically heavy treble roll off, full dub and the mid-scoop also seems to roll-off a lot of treble. I do like the press button, instant predictable tone change and the options work for me in conjunction with the pickup selector but won’t for everyone. The bridge pickup really works well solo: it retains plenty of bass and with the first tone roll-off produces a really nice burpey vibe. It’s really difficult to select the “all in” serial mode but worth it when you do. I would happily swap the mute button for a single button “all in”. It is also a bass that you can play for those 3 hour, Sunday afternoon pub gigs without feeling totally wrecked at the end. Perhaps this V2 is going to have a wider and more subtle tonal palette. As everything is mounted on the scratch plate, they could just flog existing owners a loaded plate to do the conversion. My favoured first variant would have been a medium scale version but I don’t even think they have thought about that one. It would probably mess up the balance as well to have a longer neck.

Me too, and still do. Adding a second cab is always an option too, stacked vertically of course, it’s tall! Mine doesn’t see as much action as my little Elf and Barefaced One10’s though, but that’s down to the gigs I’m doing. Rob

I Fort the Law - The Clash

I saw this this morning too. He was a really great bass player. I’ve seen him play twice, both times with JB. On the second occasion, I met him and chatted outside the venue for a few minutes. He was a very gentle and mild mannered sort of guy. Only 69 years old, too young. Rest in peace. Rob

I really like it, midi is a big plus in such a small pedal, I’ve actually got the big double pedal aswell so I should do a comparison! they sound great tho

I had that cab with a LM3 head and it worked well

My Favourite Things - Julie Andrews

The best cleaning job on my old SR5 fretboard I used nafta lighter fluid and 0000 steel wool to polish off all the grime from the previous owner. A couple of thin Birchwood Casey gunstock oil coatings to nourish the wood and a bit of same brand wax for the back of the neck.

This is my word of the day!