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Sold out pre-tour warm up show at Teignmouth Pavilion Theatre on Friday night with Leather & Lace.... great gig with best IEM sound I've ever had thanks to a fill-in last minute tech who really knew their stuff! Lots of compliments on the Spector/GK tones outfront too! All ready for our 'Bootleg Rock Show' theatre tour in May/June now 😎🎸🎶 Sat night I played with the function band at a fabulous private 40th bday gig in the grounds of an amazing old house in Stow On The Wold. We were well looked after, there was great food & drink, lots of well bred ladies and mucho audience singing and dancing 😃

Blocked 🚫

Just a little heads up really for the skint among us, and maybe some younger players who can't afford the expensive gear, but still suffer from THE FEVER that curses us all..... the need for more stuff. You don't have to have a healthy bank account, all you need is a healthy love for the bass and the music. I've spent the weekend playing my basses, doing some tweaking and just basically having time with them. As much as I adore my Reverend for its perfect tone and playability and my Warwick for how comfortable it is, I would still argue that my two Sunn Mustangs are still my favourite basses. One of them was 50 quid, the other, I really pushed the boat out and spent a ton, Admittedly, I dropped a new loom into each at an additional cost of about £30 each, but other than that they're stock.... tuners, bridge, pickup etc are absolutely fine as they are, and these were budget basses when they were new. In my experience, of having many P basses, you won't find better ones at any price IMO. The "cheap" pickups in these (the original cream coloured ones) are really awesome, especially with a decent loom in there. Don't waste your hard earned on "upgrades" (schmupgrades) My point..... you can have GAS, and you can find great and very competent instruments for affordable prices. Your Squiers, Yamahas, Ibanez' etc that cost a hundred quid on Ebay are absolutely awesome as they are. Make them your own, set them up (or get it set up) to how you like them and get going. Don't get depressed dreaming about that Dingwall, the funk's in the fingers not the lump of wood they're holding. Don't get depressed watching Scott Devine teaching his students on silly expensive instruments that many of us can't afford, just love the gear you can afford, and have fun.

OMG I love it.... (and it goes without saying I'm not Chuck Rainey 😆)

"The woke lot would be offended", says person outraged by a musical arrangement.

I never thought I'd see the day when somebody considered a musical arrangement to be "woke", but here we are.

Played a great gig on Friday! Had some weird issues with one of our DIs dying for some reason - but we got it sorted! Got an insane amount of of compliments on the band and even my bass sound and playing. I have to learn how to take those compliments! 😂 Sadly the live stream didn’t go on but oh well. Next gig in a battle of the bands for £2k. So if anyone is free in aberdeen and wants to see a band that sounds like faith no more covering the prodigy (apparently!), you’re welcome to come party! LED shoes not required 😂

Didn't plan on buying one of these this weekend, but I'm a real fan of these 2003-2006 SUBs. Sports Utility Bass ? Stingray's Ugly Brother ? It certainly has 'that' tone. Next weekend, I won't plan on buying a Highway One Precision in 3TSB.

Mustang Sally (yes, I know!) played our two gigs at the gillingham dorset show on sat/sun, straight 2 hour sets both days in a huge beer tent. Weather on sat was awful, punters mostly absent, mud everywhere so a paid rehearsal, I guess. Sunday much better with sunshine and a lot more watching, enjoyable day and over the weekend 4x one hour sets to get used to my new MM Bongo - love it! Major mud removal task from cases and boots today, then off to a rehearsal at 7...

A marvellous Bash in a lovely central venue, loads of room, loads of beautiful basses, lots of gorgeous Basschatters. I finally got to try a Warwick Thumb, I've always wanted to try one since they came out, now I know I want one badly. I shall have to consult Warwick specialists about which years were the best for a four string thumb. I also played a Kramer, finally, thanks to @floFC, I thought it would be heavier than a tungsten Jupiter but it wasn't quite that heavy, really lovely bass. Other than that I sat in a very comfy chair quietly guffing and playing my bass whilst occasionally plotting with @Owen around how to send @Jabba_the_gut home with less basses than he arrived with. I ate eight mini pork pies which, I think, was a whole packet plus two more and I also managed not to shout fiddle! every time a raffle winner's name was called. I may have eaten my own weight in Jaffa Cakes. For a confirmed misanthrope events like this are often difficult, I would argue this isn't my fault and it's more of a genuine and appropriate response to the vast amount of people who are, invariably, horrible. Bass Bashes are a refreshing corrective to this because bass players, it turns out, are, on the whole, splendid. As @Andyjr1515 was checking the setup of chatter's basses I thought it might be an interesting act of destabilisation to get Andy to check the setup of two of my @Jabba_the_gut basses hoping he'd find it wanting whereupon I would inform @Jabba_the_gut and we could have had them settle the issue in the car park in a gladiatorial scrap to the death. Unfortunately the setup was spot on and I was unable to deliver the Caliguaesque thumbs down from my chaise longue whilst being fed grapes by a minion. So, great Bash, thanks to the organisers and the participants. Next time can we make togas compulsory?

Loving the colour and the feel. Really impressed with this. I tried one in a shop ages ago and wasn't impressed but the feel of the neck, tuners and the overall quality of finish has really impressed me so far. Once the kids are asleep will get it through the amp!

My blues/rock trio Toredown are playing our monthly residency at The Shamrock in Ipswich this coming Friday 28th. All being well this will be recorded and some of it turned into a CD, so come along and make some noise!

Give them a wrong address. They've wasted your time - waste theirs.

It must have been good if you're thinking about next year already.☺️

Are we happy to use the same venue for next year?

Is a mod dwarf Small Weller?

Eh, it's a gig. First one in ages for the 'Spoons, 'cos sax player got a job offshore and trying to work around his shift patterns has been a challenge. I don't take any of these BOTB things seriously, we're too niche to win anyway. It's more a case of reminding the three people who maybe care that we still exist as a going concern...

Ironically, i would say it makes it more likely to be legit - i mean if you were faking it you would never forget that bit!

We (The Bridge) played at our singer’s local pub in Gloucester, hence the place was rammed. I was getting over a second bout of covid (nothing like my 2020 close call! - More like a nasty cold with a hangover this time thank goodness!) I sat for some songs and stood for others (tested negative before) and only arrived just before we started and left straight after. Played fine, with IEMs it’s no stress or struggle anyway. We had our stand in FOH guy, so no pics or vids this week.

Another really enjoyable, busy gig at the Railway Hotel in Royton (near Oldham). The whole band is squeezing every ounce of fun out of our last year together. Excellent LL who looked after us (and paid us extra as he was so happy with the performance). My setup is very settled now. Ibanez SMS 1005, Ashdown RM 500 and TKS 212. Got some folk to get video on my new phone and I'm really happy with my tone and the overall mix. Even a stress fracture in my leg that curtailed my dancing couldn't take the shine off. https://youtu.be/njBUH1kJeCM https://youtu.be/rzJweF9AxM4

I see Norman mentioned quite often on bass-related sites. Just a heads up, especially if you’re Birmingham based. They’re playing at the college I teach at in a few weeks time. It’s a lovely venue with a great sound system. https://www.theblockheads.com/live-gigs/

Congrats on what looks like a brilliant bash!

Better play it on a Theykulele then.

Or give them the address of a dodgy block of flats, and meet them on the stairwell with a couple of mates, and a lump of wood....

Copper tape shielding is not a glamorous job but strangely satisfying and when done right can make your bass almost silent, even in the most death-trappy rehearsal rooms! Outlay - a few quid for the slug tape, perhaps some soldering and some of your precious time. Oh, and 100% learn to do your own setups. Your basses will end up playing better, the way you know you like them to and for no cost other than your time. If I can learn how to do setups, anyone can.

I thought it was a great venue.

This is in some ways similar to the Postmodern Jukebox treatment of some classic songs, which can either be amazing or hit and miss. It is meant to be different and a bit thought provoking. I don't ever believe there is only ONE way to play any song, even if I massively prefer the original when I hear a cover. That is a frankly daft notion. I do find this a little clunky and a wee bit laboured-sounding in parts like the break part in the middle (compared to the original), but it's a very familiar song taken at a slightly slower place and it's a live performance with almost a dozen people playing, so I can cut them some slack. I think if I had been in the room, I would feel it a bit more than I do by watching from YT. It may wind some people up when they hear it, but when a group covers another artist's work (to whatever degree of success) at least they are keeping it alive.

Did some work at the weekend. Electronics in place (tight fit inside the standard MM cavity!). Sounding good! It's got that grind at the top end. Right now the neck is back off as the fit between neck and pocket was 5mm loose, so I'm going to re-drill. Pretty pleased so far!

I've not run across these before. Looks nice, if you like that sort of thing (I do, but I have too many basses and it's too far away). https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115779414515?hash=item1af4fda9f3:g:Dj8AAOSwR4ZkDbHL

For the next one, could there be a section where people could put items for sale?

If the noise isn’t there when the comp is off or out of the signal chain chances are it’s adding noise or highlighting some noise somewhere. There’s an expectation comps can increase the noise floor and while some comps do it in a less noticeable way than others it could be the culprit. As always remove what you think is the offending item from the signal chain and test then do the same with the next bit of kit etc. As for settings the best thing to do is set the unit to where it’s doing what you want with minimal noise (I know I’m stating the obvious). It’s always hard to give settings especially on a compressor as we all have a different touch/attack but on the Cali a 4:1 ratio and fine tune the attk/rel to taste for a nice gentle evening out is a good starting point. Sorry I’ve just given the most generic reply ever on basschat 😀

I did not get the bass. I got the basses. It was a good day.

We've had a spate of closures in town recently, the "major" music venue has been closed down and is going to be knocked down to make way for another hotel, the other venue, has been closed to make way for a hostel type hotel, which leaves 1 small venue to host bands that don't play Scottish "Trad" style music. Anyway, we played there last night, not having played there in a while. Played with 3 other bands, two of whom pulled in a decent crowd, and it was the opening bands first gig. We seemed to go down well, and had plenty of people complimenting the band after we'd played. Big grins all round.

We played at The Regent Theatre in Stoke on Trent last night. Another big grand old place, and we drew around 1200 punters in - this was a rescheduled gig from earlier in the year when the band was suffering from bouts of Covid and flu. Audience were well up for it and the band played well, despite still being a cellist down. Bit of a long drive home, but in bed by 2am.

ok, so routing round in my spare PSU section I found a netgear 12V psu, and used that one instead. Its a lot quieter, and the buzz has gone away. I did find the 'get rid of ground buzz' setting did get rid of some of the buzz too, so it is now pretty well buzz free - its a little noisier than no effect, I don't know what that would be as a live thing (and also it is in my computer room which has a lot of noise sources). Playing around with just the effects that are set up as standard is actually pretty inspiring, they go from useful to completely unusable but interesting, very impressed with the quality and I haven't really done anything with it yet. I guess the best option is to take it to practice this week and see what it brings to the party. Once I got used to the workflow of it, I found it surprisingly easy to navigate with only 3 buttons, with its pedalboards and snapshots - I know the HXFX has that but honestly i have never used it in that way.

Cheaper still - I just gave my natural finish basses a coat of Lemon Oil - brought the grain right out. They look like different instruments. Changing strings can also bring life back to tired sounding basses especially if you go from, say, roundwounds to tapes or flats - whole new tonal palette to play with. The best surprise of all - playing that near forgotten about bass that you don't normally pick up - even if it is only for the one practice - can change the way you feel about your instruments and your playing.

So you should maybe get one of these then...

Always have them on me, like a pack of gum. 'Intent to Supply', the judge said. ☹️

I've just googled the PJB ear box as I wasn't familiar with it, but it's two 2.5" drivers according to what I found so when you describe a wasp like buzz my first thought is that the compressor may be adding a gain boost that's pushing the drivers too hard so that they're distorting. Have you set the compressor - and the Noble - so that they're at unity, i.e. the same volume as when they're on and off? If you're using one or the other, or both, to boost the signal try backing off the volume to see if the buzz goes away. The Cali76 is made with high quality components so hopefully hasn't developed a fault, my guess is that the tiny drivers in the ear box are struggling to reproduce sufficient low end at the volumes you want. Do you have any other speakers you can try swapping out for the PJB to help with the problem solving?

And then repeated it three times! Apols it didn't seem to have posted... Admins - feel free to delete the duplicate posts!!!

A wee warm up show at the Glasgow HMV, ahead of a big show case we're doing next week. Definitely had the vibes of a gig you'd expect to be doing in your teens, plus it was done at quite a significant financial loss, but hey ho. Zero monitoring either, sounded OK out front though. VID-20230422-WA0010.mp4

Much better last night than the previous one (we were part of a 5 band line up then and it was awful). Our third gig and everyone seems to stepped their game up, which is encouraging. I decided to use my shorty Stingray and during soundcheck, it seemed to cut through nicely FOH, but was lacking oomph to my ears. On stage it was often difficult to hear it. For the second set I changed to the JMJ Mustang and there was that low end power, I only hope that it sounded as good out front. Only downer was that I dinged the ‘Ray on the drummer’s floor tom, such is the life of a gigging bass I guess.