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Biker club in Dagenham on saturday afternoon. We were a singer down and a dep drummer (Kelly, one of my oldest friends from school with whom we formed our first band when I was 16 and he was 14 - he later turned pro for while as a session drummer). Pretty easy gig. Classic rock covers and I got to sing lead on a couple of songs to give Jenny a break. But the weather was temperamental - it started raining whilst we were setting up under the marquee, and got a little chilly during our set. Unfortunately, we had to cut the second set shorts. We were asked at very late notice if we could start earlier as the band on after us had another gig in the evening ("Dennis and Dave" - Dennis being Dennis Stratton of Iron Maiden fame). We thought we were ready to go around 15mins early, but we had a problem with the desk. It took 15mins to work out it was a dodgy aux lead feeding the IEM. Still, we started as soon as possible, with a quick wee break in the middle and carried on till 3pm with no problems and we played well. We packed down in record time and the sun came out just as Dennis And Dave started playing, so they had a bigger audience than us. Oh well.

Friday Night The Jazz & Blues Crawl was a success. This is the 19th year of the event. We had a great crowd closing the event at 9:00 at Wild Shots Pub & Grill. We had a dep drummer who was struggling. Pics 1. Strange load in 2. Band pics Saturday Afternoon Cancer Benefit outside at The Stillery with a 3:00 start. When I arrived all our gear was set up on stage covered with tarps as rain looked like a sure thing. The rain never came. Great sound on stage. Very cool crowd and we had our old drummer Tim who was brilliant. Jenny was great interacting with the crowd. We had a few fans that showed up for both shows. No pics. Blue Nice pay day gig.

A double header on Saturday just gone for Turnette Doone aka my lot; outdoors at the Chard Rocks Festival at 1:20pm, then indoors at the Black Horse in Taunton in the evening. Chard Rocks was beset by intermittent rain, but at least it got rid of the wasps. We started playing just after the rain had stopped, and thought all was well, until the wind lifted the waterproof stage covering and a waterfall-esque torrent of rainwater that had been sitting on the covering plunged down onto the front six feet of the stage, fortunately missing us and the pedalboards. Think Duran Duran and The Reflex video, but without the glamour. We promptly moved further back, and managed to stay dry, and also alive, for the rest of the set. We didn't really make use of the 'semi-personalised mobile green room', pictured below. The Black Horse gig that evening was cracking, and drier, bar the perspiration that was flying around. The crowd were well up for it, and all the big choons worked well. All things considered, a great day, and a green room experience we can reflect on, in our old age.

We played the New Foresters in Blackwood, Gwent last night - a good crowd and a good night although the space for the band is really cramped. However, the flagstone floor seemed to be a black hole for bass so I spent an hour or two in the shed this morning making a 36mm thick plywood platform which sits on a strong plastic beer crate that will lift my pair of 1x12s more than a foot off the floor. It seems to be stable so I'm planning a test flight when we play the Eye of Ra motorcycle club annual festival this coming Friday.

Still enjoying my Flea bass as we (Otis Jay Blues Band) celebrated ten years of Southbourne Ales, the beer brewed at Poole Hill brewery in Bournemouth this Sunday afternoon. The Trace Elf/Barefaced One10 combination really seems to sing with this particular instrument - drummer and guitarist have expressed a preference over other passive Fenders and active Sandberg. So better keep them satisfied. 😀 The singer is in his own world…and as you can see from my expression I am not impressed by the music stand!

This is a CNC machined bass and it's an amazing instrument!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using CNC, gear snobbery beyond any kind of sense. What if a luthier used a drill to screw parts in and instead of using a screwdriver? Time for a boycott? I think people do get this mixed up with mass produced production line, which of course use CNC but its not the CNC bit that cheapens or otherwise reduces quality of the final product.

Played at the Old Vaults in Faversham last night, which was a new venue for us. It was our first gig for a month or so after a break over summer. It went very well, and hopefully we will be back there again. Someone asked us if we would play at their wedding next year! A nice compliment to get, hopefully he still feels the same when the beer has worn off. It was my first time using IEMs as well which was a positive experience. I have just had my bass professionally set up, and that sounded great as well. Some tensions are arising in the band around commitments to upcoming gigs. A member is experiencing grief on the domestic front so is pushing to cancel some upcoming gigs, and scale down the amount of gigs we do going forward, which the rest of us are not keen to do, especially cancelling gigs which is not cool. So will have to see how the situation pans out.

Late to the party! Happy JMJ Mustang owner here, photo here from recent jam night which I've had to snip closely as there was some political commentary behind me (surprisingly it's not "I Love Boris"), and the guy with the camera had trouble not getting someone's pointy headstock in the way of me. Also worth pointing out that the bassist in the house band plays a short scale Wilcock. He's often generous to ask if I fancy a go, but I'm worried I'll bosh it on something 😧 that's probably it behind me.

I played unlined fretless for a number of years and always used rounds (Rotosound Swing no less). I found them far more zingy and dynamic. I just don't get the current flatwound trend, especially on fretted basses. Hey ho, that's just me.

Yeah, pretty much! These are tools the luthier used to make my jazz. I even got upset he used a belt sander!

Great gig at the bank vaults Aberystwyth last night. We're a 5 piece band and the stage is very small so i was overspilling into the main path to the toilets. It sounds rough but it's a lovely little bar where the punters go for the music and really listen. we had a great time. Our regular drummer couldn't make it but the stand in did great after just 2 rehearsals and kept us all on our toes with his radically different approach to each song.

"Hand Built" used to mean using a hand saw, hammer and chisel. Even luthiers who don't use CNC machines still use various other machines and tools for the various steps of building an instrument, including preparing/planing wood, cutting the wood (bandsaw), sanding, drilling, routing, etc. A CNC machine is just one more machine. And many of those who do use CNCs only use them to cut out bodies. They still prefer to do neck shaping, etc by hand using planes, rasps, etc.

Here is a beautiful one

They already have done.

Although I actually think you're gonna need two fretless basses

For me, it's La Bella white nylon flats on a fretless, and has been since pretty much they were introduced. They are very versatile, aren't "thumpy" or dull at all, and have plenty of sustain right down to the low E and B. I love them.

Give me all your basses. Give me all your basses. Do it now. Do it now. 🤭

Most of the gigs I’ve done over the last year have been in small pubs or cafes or else on stages in local events where parking is an issue and you often have to walk a few streets to get to the stage through crowds (food festivals and the like). For this the elf/110 has been invaluable. I can usually get away with one trip on foot with no compromises as the elf just gets DI’d and sound great. It looks a little odd on a big stage but most people don’t even notice. One really handy feature is the gain/compression function, one less pedal to carry. Great piece of kit.

You’ve lost that lovin feeling. Righteous Brothers

We Call It Flaccieed ～ D Mob

Well, completely context-free links aren't terribly helpful.

Worth discussing arranging a dep for the gigs he won’t do and going forwards finding a permanent replacement.

I'm going to make my lot sit through Supper's Ready and Awaken. And they'd better pretend to enjoy it.

I love that theyre still using their old 80s turbo tms3s as sidefills after all this time. They're definitely creatures of habit. I took the kids to see them in dublin a couple of weeks back, they were astonishing, especially considering bruce and nicko's health problems.

Radial ProDI secondhand is a good shout.

Everything that's distasteful and unlikeable about the current "music" business right there...... I listened for 30 seconds. 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back....

After last weekend's care home and army barracks weirdness, Saturday night saw a wlecome return to normality for Rascallion with a gig at one of our regular village hall venues. As we soundchecked in front of the folks running the bar and the kitchen, we did wonder how many people might actually turn up as there were a couple of multi-band events plus a 1940's Weekend (a major attraction in these parts) taking place no more than 20 miles away, but fortunately folks started arriving at about 7pm to partake of the food, then stayed on to listen to us when we fired up at 8pm. The first set saw possibly the best onstage sound we've ever had, which was a great confidence booster, and everything went swimmingly. Oddly, it seemed to go to pot two numbers in to the second set, despite nothing being changed on the desk (at least not by human hands... 👻 ), but we muddled through, and overall it turned into probably our best (and definitely sweatiest) show so far. The new numbers getting their first public airing (nothing too adventurous, just Before You Accuse Me, Tush and Sharp Dressed Man) went down well, while the only major off-piste moment was Mr Singer forgetting the second half of verse two in Mary Jane's Last Dance and jumping straight into the chorus, but we all somehow caught up with him before it all went too horribly wrong. Next up in two weeks (August Bank Holiday Sunday) is another return visit, this time outdoors at a local pub we've played at twice before. Apparently they've now got full marquee coverage over the beer garden, so hopefully we'll avoid the weather-driven ebbing and flowing crowd we experienced the last time we played there should it be at all iffy on the day. 🤞

The band are playing it, and they didn't write it... Anyway, it was only posted for fun.

A headless Bongo 6 might be interesting.

Nice pic. Blue

I was at the South West Bass Bash yesterday, albeit very briefly, but thankfully long enough to pick up the superb fretless built for me by the supremely talented @Jabba_the_gut. I am pretty much gobsmacked by it, I don't know how a bass can look this good and sound even better than it looks. If you hold a note steady and then begin to add a bit of vibrato I swear the note gets louder, there's some sort of freaky juju going on with the fingerboard. Anyway, short scale, stainless steel nut and fret markers, semi-hollow, piezo, I'm not really a technical man when it comes to instruments but Jabba builds the most beautiful basses and they fit in exactly with the type of music I play so, it's perfect. I am a very lucky man, I get to play (another) work of art. Cheers Jabba, its a f***ing masterpiece.

Here are some sound samples of the different strings on my three different fretless basses. The strings in question are LaBella Deep Talking Black Nylon, LaBella Low Tension Flats and Rotosound 77 Jazz Flats. Please note that this was just something I knocked together very quickly off the top of my head with a Tascam digital recorder stuck in front of the amp so its very crude so apologies for the bum notes and not so exciting bass lines The first samples (A1, A2 and A3) are just a quick generic bass line that I was making up on the spot to show the three different strings. The second samples (B1, B2, B3) are the effects I use which is reverb and chorus and something played higher up the neck. The third samples (C1, C2 and C3) is again something being made up on the spot but using an octave pedal. To be fair, the differences are not huge but are noticeable. One of the basses sounded very smooth, balanced and creamy which was a nice surprise whilst another sounded a lot more Precision like than I was expecting. Anyway, hopefully it all works and you can get an idea on the differences. A3 A3.mp3 A2 A2.mp3 A1 A1.mp3 B1 B1.mp3 B2 B2.mp3 B3 B3.mp3 C1 C1.mp3 C2 C2.mp3 C3 C3.mp3

Noooo, not at all!

I'd look into finding a dep for that member if I were you. You can keep your busy gig schedule and the band member getting grief from home can relax knowing his spot is safe. You really don't want to get the reputation of the band that cancels gigs.

At least they added the handbuilt feel with the neck bolt arrangement...

I've tried flats on fretless, and gone back to rounds. Elites stainless 40-125 on all four 5-strings and 40-100 on the 4-string.

I'm very keen to hear that also @Linus27

I've used Roto 55's for fretless for years. They're stainless groundwounds, so you get that brightness without all the fretting noise associated with rounds, and you can slide notes and harmonics easily.

I've become a bit obsessed with the bassline on About Damn Time by Lizzo. It's a pop/disco/funk masterpiece, is what it is. There's some good bass playing in pop at the moment.

Find the core tone you want and work on things from there, I prefer the core tone of flats on fretless, but find TIs a little too flexible for FL, while for example La Bella Deep Talkin' Flats would be way to stiff (and I'm no fan of nylon strings for anything other than a very specific tone, one that I certainly wouldn't think of as versatile in any way). I do have a fretless strung with rounds and there are moments where I prefer it them, but if I had to make the choice it would be flats. Good luck 👍

I live quite close to The Swan in West Wickham, a pub with live music you may know. Thanks for the advice. Apologies for the late reply.

We're currently using the LD Systems Icoa 15 (about £400 each). The horn is coaxial loaded which keeps the size down. Can thoroughly recommend, we did a small outdoor gig with them as foh and they were perfect.

Yes, Reverend Thundergun. I started a thread about the Citradelic Sunset Thundergun about a week ago. Couldn't go with that color. Now this one looks fantastic, and I got it for $350 off! I've always liked Guntmetal, Graphite Metallic, Midnight Satin, etc, and this one's my favorite example. The simple change from the older version's black pickguard to white really puts it over the top.

I watched that same YouTube video and was surprised. During the British Lion gig, I could only see his old Marshall two 4x 12 stack close up. I stopped chasing his sound a while back now. If you ever listen to an isolated bass track from the same album, there is a slight difference in the bass sound. Suppose it comes down the mixing to suit the song. Each album has its unique bass sound, it's not about the clank as many people think. I tried his signature flats, and to be fair they don't stay fresh long enough.....

Nice wedding gig in Chichester this evening, furthest we’ve been off our usual patch in the three counties. Two deps in, keys and drums, but they really nailed it. Good crowd as well, took a little while to get them warmed up but they went for it in the second set- the only issue was a punter dropping a fart of chemical warfare proportions causing our singers to completely corpse during Angels until they could breathe safely again.

Yes, just like the new Squier Paranormal Rascal Bass (and the old original Fender Rascal Bass for that matter). Which I think might have been the exact point with suggesting the Rapier as being an alternative to the Rascal Bass (beside them both having a similar bridge + neck humbucker pickup configuration, and being in just about the same kind of price class as well). Though the Rapier is 31" scale length, while the Rascal is standard 30" short scale.

32"