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Difficult gig last night but also a huge honour to have played. Found out earlier in the year, one of my long term friends called Matt has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has only got about 18 months to live. We go way back, something like 32 years and he used to follow one of my old bands and eventually became our roadie. I actually met him in 1991 in the queue to see The Alarm at Brixton Academy and when my other friend introduced us, he told him I play in a band which Matt responded by saying, I bet you're not very good, you'll never play Brixton Academy with your band. Funnily enough, exactly a year later, we found ourselves playing Brixton Academy, not once but twice and my friend Matt was actually there as well. We'd planned to play him a private, intimate gig sometime in October, with family and a few friends. However, he found out he now only has 3, 6 to 9 months left so we brought the gig forward to last night. He had no idea so it was a huge surprise for him as he thought he was just leaving Cardiff to see friends in Reading. We had people flying over from Germany and driving to Surrey from Portsmouth and Cardiff. Anyway, as you can imagine, it was a very intimate gig which was in a beautiful church in Wokingham. We set it up as if we were doing a rehearsal so the 12 or so people were really close and involved and felt part of the band. We had a joint friend play some Alarm songs first and then we played. It was very moving with lots of tears and the family couldn't thank us and everyone enough. A very special gig and not quite processed it all yet.

Coda 4 - my birthday present.

A band I was in during the early 80’s did a fair amount of working men’s club gigs. One of the band used to remove one ball from the bingo machine on our gigs, and put it into the subsequent one. Many clubs would leave the bingo machine unattended near the dressing room/cupboard so it was often an easy manoeuvre. Unfortunately we never got to witness the mayhem that would have ensued. 😆

My longest gigs are when we do the full Set list with Glam covers band at 2hrs 40mins. Doing that on a hot night wearing all the glam gear including a hefty wig makes you sweat buckets. On one occasion i was so dehydrated i started to get the shakes on my hands at the break and i had drank 1 litre of water during that first set of 1hr 15mins. Now i have 2 large 18" gym fans one each side of stage and they help a lot. Dave

I don't know about the vintage ones being better than the modern ones, but I can definitely say that in 1979 anything with an Ibanez logo on it was vastly superior to any thing coming out of the Fender US factory.

It`s always amazed me that Ibanez don`t re do some of the older models, I mean Fender have been doing it for decades! But maybe the only ones who would buy them would be sad gits on bass forums

We're booked on Saturday for 2 x 60 min sets for agreed fee, and have been told that if its going well on the night and the landlord wants us to carry on then we can play for longer and charge extra. For the last few gigs we have been playing for nearly 3 hours when the booking was 2 x 60 mins. I like playing, and generally happy to carry on for a few encores but an extra 45/60 mins can get a bit much, and I find the quality & (my) enthusiasm suffers a bit

Its rare we do the full set to be fair. I've raised the fact that doing two 1hr sets is what we should be aiming for with a few songs as a back up but it falls on deaf ears at times. Guitarist would play all night if he could and do it 7 nights a week. Seems to be that if we learn a new song we need to add it to the set along with all the others. My argument on it is that you should leave your audience wanting more and doing such a long set might bore the audience after a while. I personally don't enjoy listening to any band for more than 2 hrs unless its Rush, Genesis or Pink Floyd but i'm biased Tomorrow night we have been specifically asked to do two 45min sets. That's probably the least we've played. That's gonna be a short night starting at 9pm with a 30min break finished at 11pm 2hr drive home because of the roads being closed due to cycling events. Bad enough when its motorways shut after midnight but now its cross country roads meaning i need to travel out to Edinburgh and then South down to Jedburgh adding another 30 mins. RANT over Dave

The longest I've ever done was our festival band (The Hulla) gig at the end of June this year. Just over 4 hours with a 15 minute break half way. I remember thinking during the 3rd hour that I was running out of steam and just wanted it to stop. I played as complicated a bass part as I could that still fitted within 'Proud Mary' in order to try and get me out of the slump and it worked. The last hour was pretty much a non-stop dancing frenzy from the audience which gave us all the energy to continue. 😄

So the herd continues to grow….. I picked this up for peanuts, honestly expecting it to be majorly goosed, but it really isn’t at all. Nice clean bass, needs fretboard conditioning and straightening, and probably flats or even tapes. The previous owner dug into it pretty hard, but I’m going to give it a much more gentle future, and maybe fit a ramp. Made in Korea at the Un Sung factory, Grover tuners…. decent little bass, never had a Dean before. Anyway, best start working on my intonation eh?

Much better than modern Ibanez. I played and owned a couple of vintage Ibanez basses when they were new Ibanez basses. Lots of other top players used them in those days, too. I still remember the glossy adverts in guitar magazines. I was so excited when I got my brand new Musician Bass that I didn't sleep properly for two nights. I had wanted one for years. One of my happiest memories. It was epic at the time, but I think I would appreciate it even more if I had it back now. I would be able to set it up to play better, too.

You're certainly giving em their money's worth Dave. We normally do 50 minutes plus 1 hour - pretty much standard in the club scene around our parts; some want a little less, some a little more. On the hot gigs, the glittery jackets come off!

The longest gigs I've been doing recently are the jam nights, tho this fluctuates wildly, depending on who turns up: last night wasn't too bad, there were a few bassists in, so I only played about an hour in total, but the week before was hard work: just one bunch of kids in as a band doing two numbers, then a guitarist played bass with his pals for three songs, the rest of the 3 hours was me...and maaaan, it was hot and sweaty: high street bar, so all windows and doors closed for the noise... 😐

About three weeks after I ordered it, the acrylic light-up 5-string bass is here. Unusually (IME), it came in a foamy bag in a polystyrene box and nowt else - no cardboard box. So, to avoid polystyrene particles everywhere, the box got opened outside. It was almost in tune, so no need to send it back. I fine-tuned it and had a little plink. It needs setting up - the neck is slightly back-bowed and the action a little high but it's quite playable. Checked with a micrometer and the neck is about 22.5mm at the first fret, a bit thicker than I like - probably about 5-string Precision thickness, not a complete baseball bat. And now the bit you all are wondering about: It did interest Pixie the microcat. One of the LEDs at the 24th fret is out but I don't really want the stress of sending it back for that. There's a single PP3 battery to power the lights and the bass itself is passive, VVT (the T doesn't seem terribly effective). Sound is pretty good, the neck pickup has a nice mellow tone to it. I need to find out if I can get Schaller straplocks onto it. So that's another task. I suspect I'll need to use the original screw2s to maintain the thread in the acrylic but fortunately I do have a pair of mark 1 Schallers sitting on my desk. It's a bit on the heavy side but I generally play seated anyway so that's not a bother. Not something to play a whole set with but I fancy doing a few songs with it.

Ibby Blazer, I think. Pickup would have been a Super P4 hex-pole DiMarzio clone, which tend to be pretty pokey. Same as the P unit in my '82 RS924 Roadster, which is the best-sounding P/J bass I've had. The J unit's silly-hot, clocks around 12k, if I remember.

This is what I do. Mostly it’s a prompt for the key and the intro chords after which the hope is the rest falls into place. I also use it as a crutch for lyrics of songs I take lead vocal on.

Agreed, initially I thought they were back to back. Having Saturday to recover is a blessing. Blue

We’re the same Dave, we put a poll out to our followers on FB a couple of years back regarding should we do GG/Glitter band songs or not. It came back about 60/40 against so we shelved the idea. Dont remind me about the XMas song rehearsals 😂

Our drummer was in The Glitter Band in 90's and even he won't play GG songs. We've tried a few Glitter Band songs but we weren't totally happy with how they sounded so dropped them. We have another one to try at some point if we ever do rehearsals again as we are getting kinda busy and fitting in a rehearsal or two would be a struggle certainly this year. January is usually a quiet month for us so maybe then. We'll need to re-learn the old Xmas songs soon too Dave

I agree Mart. A couple of hours worth of stuff should see you through most gigs, whether pubs, clubs or festivals. In our theatre band we do around 2x60 min sets, and never had any complaints about us short changing people! Also in seated venues in particular, people have a limited period of concentration, and also need to walk about / use the loo / get a drink etc. ( Or maybe that’s just our audiences.) 😁

We got a completely unexpected and very positive review!!! https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2023/08/10/brightons-lambrini-girls-play-rebellion-festival-day-one-report/

The most-thumbed book on my shelves (I love early Precisions), with "The Illustrated History" and Geddy Lee's book not far behind. This is also an interesting collection of bits and bobs... https://www.musicroom.com/tom-wheeler-the-fender-archives-hl00103138

FYI

Just thought I would update this. I should say I primarily got these for playing drums, rather than bass, but hopefully I'll get the opportunity to use with both in future. Tried the IEMs both at home with my kit (with a Focusrite Scarlett setup, so no EQ) and at rehearsal (from a REALLY shonky rehearsal room desk and only with a single OH on the drums). The first thing that got me was the occlusion - it really is a game-changer. I've used earplugs and universal IEMs for years, but this is the first time I've ever felt properly isolated, which meant the in-ear volume could be reduced significantly. The second thing was the response. It was VERY clear - meaning I could hear *everything*, including the wonky tuning on a couple of my toms, the rattling t-rods, and the awful, awful rehearsal room kit. I haven't had a chance to mess with the stereo field yet (there's no pan out of the box on the Focusrite without messing with the apps and the rehearsal room mixer was a single mono output) but I didn't feel like I was missing anything. I've seen comments on the lack of bass response from 2-driver IEMs but the (DI'd) bass came through absolutely fine. Everything was clear and with a decent amount of bottom end on the bass. I have no doubt when they're going into my 'proper' mixer with suitable EQ they'll sound great. Far, far above my experiences with universal IEMs - about as big a leap as it was going from earplugs to IEMs in the first place. The downsides were few, but worth mentioning: the twisted cabling rubbed the tops of my ears so became uncomfortable after a while. I reckon some thin rubber tubing or heatshrink slipped over it would sort that. I also found the body of the RH IEM became uncomfortable pressing against the outside of my ear after a few hours. Hopefully not a major concern and something I'll get used to. And finally, there's the actual fitting in to wear - ACS suggest using their 'Comfort Cream' (which I have seen mentioned elsewhere is basically just KY Jelly). For me, it's absolutely essential with all of their products - the IEMs and both sets of earplugs. I simply can't get them into my ear canal without using the "cream" (lube), so I think I'll need to make sure I have some to hand (oo-er) at all times, which is one more thing to think about. It's a bit weird - you only need a small amount, and it really (ahem) aids insertion (ahem), but if you use too much it all feels a little gloopy in your lug hole. However, that all said, those are minor things easily sorted and the benefits definitely outweigh the issues. It's a strong recommend from me.

Tiptoe Through The Two Lips ～ Tiny Tim

What a fantastic thing to do. Well done, love the sentiment of it all. Even tho its a sad occasion this post made me feel good this morning @Linus27. Dave

Anything else would be pants.

Self portrait : And another self portrait :

… this may be a better example?

Latest incarnation - fairly simple, but high quality. Hugely impressed with Genzler gear.

Glasgow Mega Snake - Mogwai

I was walking on the seafront this afternoon & this version was the first thing that came to mind - 😎

One of the first basses I ever encountered was a friend's Ibanez Musician. Didn't know at the time what a good bass or a bad bass was, but I do remember it being a weighty beast. Pretty sure it was one of these:

Japanese Ibanez have been consistently superb. The old basses are very different to what they offer now but in no way better... or worse, for that matter.

Keep coming back to Bass > Lead > Amp... ish, usually via my trusty Joyo JT-305 Korg Pitch Black-a-like Muting Tuner... and often with the 'ol Coiley Lead. Wander off in fits 'n dreams and flights of fancy, or P!$$ing about waisting time as it's often known, with the Zoom B1on, or the 'lil Joyo Ironman pedals... a trait more often recognised in the Skinny String lot... Then, I'm back in the room...

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Dave. We always leave the punters wanting more rather than less. Trouble with Glam genre there’s a limit on the well known numbers, especially when some bands/acts can’t be played (thanks Gary).

Dancing Fool - Frank Zappa

I'm sure once upon a time there was a difference (I think I remember that all lacquers were types of varnish but not all varnishes were lacquer), but in common parlance the terms are pretty interchangeable

Nice. Looking forward to hearing how it urns out.

Something like this maybe, although this is a 63 I think

A big fat meh from this correspondant. Gibson haven't done anything interesting in bass for at least the last 5 years. I wouldn't be surprised if they're basically leaving bass to Epiphone now, Epi arguably make a better Thunderbird than Gibson are capable of right now. My guess is that it'll be full of Les Paul guitars and anything else other than basses that you can slap a Gibson logo on.

For anyone collecting the free 'Heavyocity Foundations' library, they have just released 'Staccato Brass': https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-staccato-brass/

Nearly all our gigs are 9pm start +/- 15 minutes, except sunday gigs and festivals. But we are only doing about 2 1/4 hours.

I have a love/hate relationship with pedals. One of my favourite bits of BassChat is the "show us your pedalboard" thread, and I often gasp in awe at all the gorgeous devices that my colleagues drag around with them, on pedalboards that have their own generator and which probably require their own postcode. I went through a phase which many of us must have experienced; the "people will only think I'm a legitimate bassist if I have a load of gizmos on the floor in front of me," phase. I came to the conclusion (after deploying a gnarly fuzz noise rather than a pretty, shimmering chorus effect by accident for the umpteenth time), that my needs are few. My current band covers a wide variety of styles so I need to ring the changes somehow, and the easiest way to do that is with a modest MultiFX - in my case, an old Zoom B3. Could I do without it? Probably. Would anyone notice if I didn't use any effects? Probably not. I quite like them, though. There is something really liberating about about playing "direct." I've supported the current line up of Dr Feelgood a few times and their (excellent) bassist doesn't have any toys at all. He plugs a P Bass into an Ampeg stack and it sounds glorious. Horses for courses, I guess.