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I’ve been progressing steadily in my playing since taking it seriously early last year. I landed a gig with a local jazz band, after meeting folks at the jazz jam in Lancaster and getting to know them, and we do the odd gig. We played yesterday at the Ribble Valley Jazz & Blues Festival and went down well. However, I’ve kept looking for other opportunities, JMB and Facebook being the main searches. Anyway, a few weeks ago, someone posted on JMB and Facebook looking for musicians for a soul/ska weddings/functions band. I answered the add, and after a bit of to and fro was sent 10 numbers to look at. This guy is a trumpet player and has sax and trombone already lined up. Basically it’s a horn section forming a band around themselves, and they’ve been playing together for about 20 years. A WhatsApp group was created, and over the course of the last few weeks, new people have been added to the group and introduced along the lines of “welcome Joe, our keyboard player”, “welcome Suzie our vocalist” etc. In the end it’s ended up with nine people in this “band” on WhatsApp who don’t know each other from Adam, and have never met, played together, or have any clue what standard anyone is at. Male and female vocals, keys, drums, guitar, bass (me), and three piece horn section. A rehearsal room was duly booked, and everyone showed up, to meet each other for the first time and play these 10 tunes. It was a nice room, plenty of room, with good PA, back line and drums provided. I had a Hartke head through 2 4x10 Ashdown cabs. Now, based on past experience, this could go in any direction, however, from the first count in of the first number, there were grins all round. Everyone had done their homework, the keys player and drummer are great, the guitar player knows what he’s doing, the horns are in tune and locked in with each other, and the singers can bleeding sing. We rattled through the 10 numbers twice, only pausing to fine tune starts and endings, agreeing where the pushes should be etc. I couldn’t really believe it, it was like a good band from the very first note. Some tunes we did again after wondering whether that perfect run through the first time was a fluke, but it wasn’t, it could be replicated. Get home later, the WhatsApp group is happy, another 10 tunes are distributed, rehearsals are booked and there’s talk of booking gigs already. I’m still not sure how this actually happened, I need to pinch myself. Is this a unique occurrence, or does this happen often? Anyway, I’ve got 10 more tunes to learn in the next week and a bit, and some of them are a bit tricky, so I’ll be practicing every night I can between now and then, as I know now that the whole band will have them nailed before they arrive. Rob

A rock guitarist plays 3 chords to 1,000 people, a jazz guitarist plays 1,000 chords to 3 people 😜

IME it’s everyone but the bass player, who in every band in which I’ve played has not only been hugely talented but a great guy who everyone loved 👍

Love this bass!...... the aria fretless acoustic is a real gem!... designed to actually sound fat.. with a big body.... ... I really like it.. My first proper bass was an Aria P bass copy.. & it was built better than the real thing to be honest ...So I was willing to give this a proper look.... really like it... & it has f holes!... It sounds great & it's not that expensive.... Any other love for the Aria FEBFLUFFEN

Possibly the sweatiest gig I've ever played, depping in on a disco tribute at a pub festival in Glastonbury. Love the house rig too 🥰

Local pub, first time with the dwarf effect pedal, only one issue! - we were in a little alcove which seemed not great but turns out it was great for sound, the PA was outside, we were inside, no feedback or anything, could keep the volume inside quite low. Its only our third gig with our new guitarist and it is going from strength to strength. A few silly mistakes but nothing major, crowd were good, didn't seem like anyone at the start, but by the end it was pretty busy. Effect pedal is excellent, very happy with it, considering going ampless soon and just going through the PA.

Its taken a while but here it is! I've added some pictures from the build too! I'm over the moon with this bass & will upload some videos soon too! Specifications are as follows - Outline Overwater Hollowbody Thinline Bass 6 String Fretted Scale Length - 34.5” Neck 3 piece Maple Neck Glued Neck Joint 24 Frets 54mm Nut Width 18mm String Spacing Ebony Fingerboard Side Dots Only (luminlay) with PC inlay at the 12th Fret made of maple Ebony Binding Std 6 String Overwater Profiling Body Swamp Ash Body Zebrano Wood Top with matching headstock facing Electronics Active OW/John East preamp (alike the Custom P5) Bass & Treble boost/cut. Sweepable Mids Turned OW Acetal Black Knobs Controls - Volume, Pup Blend, 3 Band EQ (notched double stacks) & Passive Tone/Active Switch Pickups - Overwater 6 String Soapbars x2 Ebony (plastic black if possible) Pup covers Neutrik Locking Jack & Balanced XLR Out Covers Black Acrylic for Back Plate, Battery & Truss Rod Hardware Bridge - Top Loading in Ebony with black saddles Machine Heads - Enclosed Black Mini Matching Xtender on B string Added Ebony Pickup ramp Xtender Key PC inlay at the 12th Fret Luminlay side inlays

I had one and IIRC it was a good fit in my Gator Fender Jag case, which seemed to fit every s-s bass I've ever had. I'll post a pic with dim's when I get a minute.

Saturday night gig at the George Hotel in Castle Cary for Mustang Sally, a warren of a place with lots of side rooms for eating, drinking, carousing etc. We got the bonus of a party of very happy young ladies on a birthday party bash who joined in with tamborines, vocals and jumping about. Georgie our lead vocalist did her standing singing on the tables thing towards the end - a very cheerful and rewarding (in all senses) gig. We tried out some new numbers, no disasters , including 'Geno' in my sax set - must get the harmoniser sorted for next time for the full effect! The Bongo is a beast of a machine - just getting used to it now after four gigs tone & volume-wise.

I just did a gig that was one of the most fulfilling of any that I’ve done in a long while. It was a freebie that our singer arranged at a care-home, which is local to his place. These folks, I tell you, they were spontaneous, involved and we just belted out a range of “oldies for oldies”. The cherry on the cake was when one of the administrators said they’d seen several folks who have dementia and were singing along with seemingly no issues. That touched me and reminded me that whether it be my first gig or my last gig………it’s all about bringing a positive feeling to all the participants.

Following another quality field, @NickD led from the front to pick up a well deserved win. Being keen to give everyone something to do on a bank holiday Monday, he has provided the image and some background toot suite.... "Is it a drunken hallucination, a dream, graffiti, a really expensive nightclub, an inter-dimensional portal, a doorway to the astral plane, a very arty yoga studio, or the entrance to a secret society only Bill Gates can see?" 'Image credit - Freepik' Simple rules ✔️ Entries must be <5 minutes and recorded between now and deadline. ✖️ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on ✖️ Bagpipes. please no bagpipes, the Grand National truce has just expired, and the Coronation truce has been postponed till the next one . ✖️ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you.. Deadline wise , we will go for midnight on my sisters birthday which is the 24th which means you'll probably have till tea time on the 25th ...when I'm back in from work! A line or two of blurb as well for the vote thread will be lovely. Have fun

I went to see the concert last night. The band were so young and incredible musicians, and Stanley of course is a legend and performed superbly. i was fortunate to meet them at their hotel after the gig. Mainly because Stanley's road manager had a couple of his own cd's for me to play on my radio programme. Anyway i got to have a chat with Stanley and he introduced me to his wife. I asked him if there was a reason he didn't play his alembics and he said it was because of the acoustics. It a depends on the venue since many of the theatre venues they play, an electric bass is too boomy in the room, so in those places he would use the acoustic for the gig. To be honest i really love his db playing as much as his electric playing so it didn't affect my enjoyment.

Simple for me...... Cancelling rehersal on day of rehersal is completely unacceptable. One off fair enough. Twice, no. Third time they're out. What's the point of trying anymore? Not learning songs? Unacceptable. As above. If they're committed they will learn the songs and turn up. If they're not ,then .......

So anyway, about keys players ...

I am lucky enough to have a fretless built by @Jabba_the_gut, this one in fact... ...his basses are peerless in my opinion, this thing sings. Put it this way, I had a Rob Allen fretless and the Jabba bass sounds better.

So, on Friday we played our first gig since July 2019, and the first with our new guitarist, it went well.

Aged 18, for a proper ticketed gig. It was at a local nightclub supporting some art school band or other. We were called Peach Melba.

Jizzlobber ～ Faith No More

Great to see a thread on here about Leigh and where's @4000 when you need him? We used to talk a lot about what an amazing bass player Leigh is back in the day... Leigh has lived in California for many years now and is still pretty active, touring with one of two versions of BowWowWow that's still going- the other one is fronted by Annabella. He's had two Wals over the last 40 years, both ProI II models. Back in the late 90s, I sold him the leather scratchplate model that he uses a lot these days, though I think he had to change the neck on it at one point. Totally right about Leigh's slap playing @Marky L- he is really good in that department... But his signature sound is definitely his pick playing, and often on BWW tunes, it's the bass lines that really made the songs IMHO. Band I was in at the time supported BWW on (IIRC) their last ever UK tour in 1982, so I had the pleasure of watching Leigh play every night for nearly 3 weeks.. He was absolutely superb - hardly ever missed a note or a beat and was great to watch. There are lots of his bass lines that I love, but amongst all of them, 'Go Wild In The Country', 'Prince of Darkness' and 'Sexy Eiffel Tower' are my personal favourites...

I bought Darkglass Tone capsule directly from Sandberg, but they sent it to me through the dealer. Also they sent me a stacked pot and a wiring diagram (high mids are now tone in passive mode as I requested). Everything fit tight but perfectly inside. I decided for the Tone Capsule because I previously had a Darkglas Vintage Ultra V2 pedal on which I manage to get the sound I was looking for. Only later I saw that the Tone capsule on board preamp has the same (or almost identical) frequencies. I wanted it inside not in a pedal.

Saturday night saw us return to The Victoria Club in Aylesbury. Room is up stairs (no lift) so not a good load in and finding somewhere to park a nightmare. Small audience, but we seemed to have been well received. Our drummer was not available so his brother depped and did a good job.

Gathered together various basses in various stages of construction today, all but two will be heading out (I'll let you guess which two). So many parts, so little time! There's a further two I couldn't be arsed to get out of the pile in the shad also 🤔

No one needs 2 guitarists....

This morning I modeled the above circuit into neck and filter circuits for simulation. I also laid out a board that will plug into the Underhill PD4 and allow me to test and listen to the actual circuits. Honestly, I don't have high hopes for these filters as a general purpose filter preamp. The filtered feedback loop appears to be used to taper the Q, and it shifts the response to the bass end as the frequency rolls down. I don't completely have my head around the feedback circuit; maybe a real EE can explain it? The C19/R32 and C26/R44 high pass stages seem to be to cut out some of the sub bass boost from the feedback response (as well as set the impedance after the cap). It all seems like a bit of a kludge to work with the peculiarities of the Wal bass. The Q, of the bridge filter in particular, gets very high, I suspect because the response of the single coil pickups (the ones I have measured are very flat, and even have a dip in the 3-4k area). This is probably going to sound nasty with normal pickups--the high Q (>12) filters I have made tend to create "wolf-tones" at different spots on the neck, and are generally too honky and nasal in the areas your guitarist will give you dirty looks for! Anyway, it seems to work well for a Wal, but it doesn't look like something that will turn any bass into one (you will still need the same neck, pickups, and pickup placement to get that!). I haven't had time to make up a plot of the bridge yet, I'll post it when I do, but in the case of the neck, you can get the same response with an FV filter by just turning down the Q a little as you roll the frequency down, and you won't have the sub-bass boost problem or the inflexible Q slope. (It would need to be re-tuned it to the Wal's ~2.4kHz upper and ~95Hz lower frequencies.) Lastly, the circuit seems like it would be very noisy in several areas. I don't know what op-amps are used, so I don't have a complete understanding, but i.e. you could use a 10k for R32 and R44 and get 20dB reduction in noise at that point. The input summing circuit seems like it would be very noisy as well. I learn a lot more after I get the test boards back...

Guitarists haven’t been a problem in every band I’ve been in. But in every band I’ve been in that has had a problem it’s been the (lead) guitarist. My theory is that they simply can’t handle being “number 2” as no matter how good they can play the focus is on the singer. This fries their fragile minds/egos so they become difficult in order to be the focal point.

Get the duff guitarist a capo?

Try the securing washer from an old bicycle tyre valve. The old-fashioned sort of bike valve washer has exactly the correct dimensions. It is quite thick, but I would judge the truss rod would be restored to a flush position by doing so.

I use ACS 17db for when playing gigs and have another set with 20db filters that i use when attending gigs that are loud. I highly rate them.

See pic above.

Great venue, The Music Machine! Has a rising stage that was set at different heights for different gigs. I saw The Antz and The Banshees there on a double bill in '78 - it was a fantastic night!

I'm fairly sure myself and a mate saw an early incarnation or A&tAs in their original more "arty" pre teen pop star format. Me and this bloke ( our drummer of the period) were always going to gigs when not playing ourselves, the Music Machine in Mornington Cres. had bands on literally 7 nights a week and virtually everyone who was around at the time played there. ( and dead cheap to get in) Those "small blue tablets" were widely available in there too, 3 for a quid

Andertons have always refused to weigh stuff for me over the years. Every time they've just told me that I can rely on the returns process. Even when I've pointed out that I might need to go through every one they had in stock. GG have weighed stuff, and GAK have always been really helpful for that too. Peach weigh all their stuff and put the weights and serial numbers on the website.

I Spent part of yesterday afternoom watching SC live in concert. Incredible gig.

Congrats @NickD, great tune! 👏

Its twin is waiting ... 🙂

Ritters may seem a bit niche to some, maybe unattractive to others or perhaps overwhelmingly expensive....but....I was lucky enough to buy a Ritter Cora from @molan during a moment of weakness (his, not mine 🤣) and it's a truly wonderful thing. If you get a chance to try one, I urge you to do so.

It's down to the band leader doing their homework and asking the right questions and giving the right information. I've recently been approached by two people putting together bands. It was pretty obvious to me which one was clued up and which one was a deluded dreamer just from the WhatsApp messages. If they're clued up they'll attract the right musicians and be upfront about what they expect. You're probably very lucky in that you've hit someone who knows what they're doing. It can take a long time and a lot of dead ends before you learn who to avoid.

I should post the setlist so far, especially as I'm going to find one or two of the second 10 a bit tricky. Song, Artist version Brown Eyed Girl - Reel Big Fish Hard to Handle - Commitments Rocks - Primal Scream Superstition - Stevie Wonder Valerie - Any Winehouse Son of a Preacher Man - Moonraisers Tainted Love - Gloria Jones Hot Ska - Skameleon Hold on I'm Coming - Beverley Knight Don't Stop - Fleetwood Mac (live version with horns) Lady Marmalade - Patti Labelle Piece of my Heart - Beverley Knight Rescue Me - Fontella Bass Mercy - The Third Degree 10/10 - Paolo Nutini Gangsters - The Specials I Wish - Stevie Wonder Unchain My Heart - Joe Cocker (2002 live version) December '63 - Frankie Valley Seven Nation Army/Sweet Dreams mash up - ska version It's varied and interesting for sure. Lots for punters to like, and lots for me to like in terms of interesting and cool bass lines. The first 10 are more or less there after one rehearsal. I have much less time to work on the second 10 though, and I think "I Wish" is going to take me a while....... There's going to be another 10 released upon us after the next rehearsal. For the time being I'm happy to just be a part of this, and I'll learn whatever gets thrown my way. I guess in the longer term, the rest of us will have more say in the material that gets added. Cheers, Rob

The band where i play now, was made by a woman - vocalist. She posted her voice samples on facebook and told exactly what musicians she would like in future band and what music she would like to create. I liked all and responded. In a short time (1 mounth) all band was completed. Vocal, 2 backvocals, piano, solo guitar, rythm guitar, me bass and drums. We are all satisfied with each other and working. At 2.june is planned the first gig for 1500 listeners.

Two great gigs for us this week. First at Billingham Forum which is always a great place to play with the audience well up for having a good time. Then down to Burnley Mechanics, which despite the tricky load in is another one of those venues that is guaranteed to be a good night. Capacity audiences again defying current financial woes. Nice to have both of our cellists back with us, really does make a difference. We're having some time off in May, then back in June and July with a vengeance - our usual dates supplemented by some rescheduled ones due to recent band health issues, so looks like a very busy summer.