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I love it! Thank you x

We had a bit of an odd one on Sunday; it was at the Wrexham Tattoo Show, and while the set went very well and the crowd were enthusiastic, the rest was a disaster, band-wise. The organisers and the venue were great, the punters complimentary about what we did, the sound guys did a top job..... But operationally the band was a car crash! I'll elaborate: Band politics (drummer/life difficulties) Late arrival of the drummer The previous act, some burlesque dancers) over-running A farcical soundcheck in front of the punters which saw three of the band being unable to play from any point that wasn't the beginning of a familiar song (this one really got on my t!ts, because we were trying to save time and ended up wasting it) The guitarist moaning that the engineer had disappeared at the beginning of the set and wasn't available to turn the guitar up in the monitor; said engineer was out front operating the desk from a tablet, as has been routine for about fifteen years.... The set being cut slightly short. Anyway, it was a learning experience and from an audience point of view there were no big problems. After all that we managed to play pretty well and the organisers and punters enjoyed what they heard. Onwards and upwards; we'll learn from our mistakes as a band. Cheers, JRK

Saturday's gig could have been a tad melancholic, as it was a memorial to a guy who passed suddenly earlier this year. He was the singer in a band that we normally do a two-hander with called Rock for Remembrance as a fundraiser for a charity supporting disabled Forces veterans. But far from being downbeat, it went down a storm. It was held in Colinton bowling club - a genteel place in a leafy Edinburgh suburb. A kids' birthday party was finishing as we were loading in - I don't think I've ever seen so many Trinity tractors in one small car park before. We were on first, and I was expecting our whole set to be met with nothing more than polite applause, but we had people up and dancing well before we finished. It got livelier as the evening went on, so all good there. On the downside, one of the lighting stands slipped as I was setting it up and took a lump out of my left index finger, and the lighting desk was sulking. It took a bit of percussive persuasion to get it to behave. I think it's on the way out. But all in all, a great night!

Barefaced cabs are not often seen on this side of the pond. One came up locally last summer , a compact 12 , a friend snagged it and I was seriously impressed with it. I’ve been running Berg cabinets with my gig rig , and I liked that Barefaced cab. Herself is fine with me buying basses or amps , but she just thinks of cabs as big black boxes. And believes I already have enough. It looks like I’ve snagged a One 10 cab from a seller in Quebec for a good price. This will be mostly dragged off to rehearsals. So I’m looking for something small that sounds good. It will be getting dragged out for weekly rehearsal. Looking forward to hearing this.

It’s gone to a good home, buyer loves it and its cheap adagio flats. I cannot play it easily any more due to advancing arthritis in my left hand - still gutted though

Alt Country… contemporary country… not sure how Katy Hurt would describe herself but I am privileged to play in her band. Here’s a couple of GoPro clips from summer festival gigs:

Think i might be a tad upset / angry at that one if i'm perfectly honest. Wouldn't have minded if i was 30mins along the road but 4hrs drive each way for a 20min slot plus all the annoyance of watching others over-run. Person in charge should do what i've witnessed at varied band shows and when their time is up he mutes the PA at the end of the song they are on. Job done. Its all very well getting paid same amount but you set yourself up for a 90 min show to get 20 mins worth. AAAAAHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!! Dave

I think an outboard preamp (with DI) is essential for any gigging bass player. The preamp is the FOH tone - the sound person usually takes the DI out from there or a house DI box is put between the preamp and the amp on stage. The preamp can be used to control the FOH sound and the amp on stage can be used to control the stage sound. That way you can EQ properly for two different environments. How I've always done it.

I remember a few years ago my Bon Jovi tribute were part of a multi-band event in Cleethorpes - a 4 hour drive away from southeast Essex where we were based. I believe it was some big local company putting on a family fun day for the employees - funfare, eateries, marquee for the bands. The weather was hideous - horizontal rain. By the time the bands started most of the punters had gone home. Everybody over-ran. First band was a Little Mix tribute, who went 30 mins over. Next a local dad rock band who were, by all accounts, whizzed off at not headlining. They went 30 mins over and the drummer, who had one of the biggest kits I have ever seen, including an array of small clear perspex toms, was being particualrly obstructive when dismantling it - laying out his cases and packing materials all over the stage so we couldn't get going until he was done. We were left with just 20 mins to play our 90 minute set - to around 80 of the promised 1000 punters Eight hours travelling to play 20 mins! Not a great night, although we got paid quite well and just laughed it off.

To paraphrase.... "They make these things called scissors. You apply them to the kind of fabric you would like your jacket to be, cut according to the pattern in the size and shape you would like it to be. Then you apply this oldfangled technology called "needle and thread" to your fabric pieces and hey presto you have a jacket." I hope this helps. And remember..... "Someone who knows how to sew shouldn't now complain about being given helpful advice after they complain about not being able to buy the jacket they want before some other fashionista snaffles it" You're welcome.

Well after about 6 weeks of gathering bits… I’ve just finished this. Squier Classic Vibe Body Fender Japan 75 neck Fender Covers Earlpilanz Pickguard NW guitar parts Covers/knobs Strat knobs are to emulate that weird 78/79 era where fender used strat knobs. wearing roto flats, plays perfectly, sounds great - may invest in some vintage voiced noiseless pickups at some point…

I've had a Tidepool blue Player series Jazz for about 4 years and though I knew I wanted to get rid of the boring white scratchplate, I've struggled to find a colour to match the 'Tidepool' blue. Tidepool seems to me to be a cross between blue and turquoise; it's metallic blue with a hint of green. Anyway, a search on Etsy for custom pickguards led me to a Korean business called 'Stormguitar' who make this beauty below. I will admit to being influenced by some of @admiralchew's colourful pedals. I love the cartoon design and there is plenty of blue and green so it fits Tidepool well. Anyone else got any custom or flashy pick guards to show off?

The Zep tribute played a hometown gig (well for me, the singer and the keys player) at Tapestry Arts Centre in Bradford last Friday. A decent turnout and all in all it went really well, which is always good when you're playing in your own backyard. (pics courtesy of Nigel Bain)

More here: https://www.katyhurt.com/video Great singer.

This. I matched one with a Tecamp Puma 300 and it sounded huge, even at low volume. But don't expect it to sound like the Compact - they are different beasts. 12" BF cabs are generally very hi-fi, 10" BF cabs have a baked in tone - usually described as 'Old School' or 'vintage'. Both types of drivers have their place, it depends upon what you want. As an aside and a big user of BF since they started, I have to say the LYSys ones have got my interest.

Yes. And the organisers were extremely apologetic. Would have been better had the organisers been organised but there you are

This It could be something as simple as a problem with the jack socket.

If you have a multimeter, see if the preamp is getting a charge when the bass is not plugged in. It could be something simple like something making contact and completing the battery circuit when the bass is unplugged.

If it was a £3 or £4k instrument then I would say that you are probably right - that's certainly how I would approach buying such a bass. However, for £15k I would suggest that you have to look at it primarily as an investment and I would be looking at all the photos and provenance I could reasonably ask for to justify such a high price tag.

Here goes!! own pcb layout in a 1590b (all top jacks obv)

There's always something, isn't there? I find changeovers can be a rush but there's no point in letting it spoil the gig for me. The daft thing for me about this one is that there were many ways to get it sorted and he just chose to be grumpy rather than proactive. "I can't hear my amp" isn't going to solve anything, but changing your position in relationship to the amp or relevant monitor may well do, to say nothing of getting on a mic and asking for more guitar onstage.... The mind boggles! Not being a Wrexhamite (Wrexmundian?) I'm not best placed to say, but there was a proper buzz at the show, so very possibly that is the case.

Doesn't sound that bad to me. I've always found gigs with band change-overs always have some sort of issue and you just need to get on with it. By the sound of it that's what you did and the audience enjoyed what you do. I do appreciate and understand the guitarist thing and its been the same in almost every band i've ever been in over 40+ yrs altho my current guitarists in both bands are exceptionally well mannered and just so easy to work with. I've waited 40+ yrs to reach this point tho so stay positive and look forward to lwhat can be achieved ater in life Dave

Hannibal approves.

I've come to that conclusion for almost evey material thing.....but perhaps I need to try harder to fight the capitalist/materialistic system!

Neither is Paisley

Fake news, it's not even in Glasgow...

The Digibeth sounds great, especially for the price. I the ability to have a great sounding board that you wouldn’t have to remortgage you house to replace is even more valuable. Rusty Box is the one preamp I’ve really wanted for ages but just never have the funds when they come up. That or they’re just as much as buying new. The search for the perfect preamp is never truly over

Sure, here’s my bijou little ‘does it all’ board, used with EUB, and fretted and fretless electric basses. Wireless from the basses, hardwire for the EUB, with the SansAmp and the Plethora X3 in the effects loop of the EBS Stanley Clarke pre. DI out from the Stanley Clarke and amp feed via the Micro Thumpinator.

Hey all. This is the first draft of the bass, I will have to work on the electrics as the stereo jack is making me mad cause it does not work with my mono cable unless I plug the cable half way and not fully in. Then I can start intonation and action (which is still pretty high for my standards)

The Trace was sublime. I've always thought amps were much of a muchness - but the Trace sounded ridiculously good. Thanks, @Merton for the short- term loan. They look good together, too!😄

Sunn Beta Bass Preamp

Hopefully a bit of inspiration for you from our spare room 😁

No need to restrict it, was debating with myself whether or not a distinction needed to be made. Originals, I've seen it go various ways - with a songwriting duo where the drummer and I were sidemen ("if you want to write songs, go form another band" - I appreciated the honesty), to the more collaborative approach I'm used to these days with The Inevitable Teaspoons - where someone will bring in anything from the beginning of an idea to a mostly finished song and we all get to work on refining our parts and make suggestions about others. The collaborative approach is slower, but it's enjoyable, and it's a hobby so we're not exactly bothered if we only release an album once ever 6 years. In the covers band, we're all free to make suggestions, and while we all have a veto we don't tend to use it unless the song is obvious cheese, we try to think about songs from an audience point of view. I do play a couple of songs I can't abide, but it's not about me, the audiences love it and entertaining them is the primary reason for us doing it in the first place. Most suggestions get at least tried - sometimes they fall by the wayside because they sound naff in a single guitar situation, sometimes they'll get as far as a gig and fall flat on their faces, other times they'll naturally drift out of the setlist because we notice they're not doing so well or because we've got bored playing it, or replaced it with something better that does a similar job. There's no tinpot dictator or central figure - we all work together for the good of the show. We're as busy as we want to be so I'd like to think that the strategy works.

Hiscox hard case for touring or flying, Mono M80 gigbag for everything else.

I'll put a ticket aside for you just in case. Dave

Any band I've been in which was a democracy, always folded due to disagreements about the choice of songs. The only bands I've been in that had any longevity, were those where the singer created the band around themselves and picked all the songs we played. If the singer can't sing, or doesn't want to sing the songs picked by the drummer (which is usually always the case), then the band is going nowhere fast. I don't join bands that are democracies, because in my experience, they usually have a limited lifespan. Although there are exceptions to the rule, I have a friend, who plays in a band, in which he (guitarist) the other guitarist and the bass player all sing. The person that picks the song sings it. And they've been gigging for about 20 years without anybody throwing their toys out of the pram.

The 2 AA batteries on the left.

Stop it, please.

What you can’t see is the CIOKS DC7 strapped to the underside of the board which appears to cope admirably with the kit above.

Sorry you’ve had to move on an instrument you loved. I’m going to chip in on Mustangs too. I’ve owned 2 modern ones and they were both so easy to play that a gig with them was like a night off! The necks were super slim and comfortable. Just be aware that for through-body stringing you need to allow for the extra length, so a 30in scale bass would need 32in scale strings. I haven’t seen you play but you mention difficulty stretching between frets - don’t be afraid to move your fretting hand instead, that whole ‘one finger per fret’ thing is a bit of a red herring.

JMJ Mustang, all the way

Great wee regular gig for our classic punk covers band Emergency Exit in The Cave in Paisley, near Glasgow Its a 6-9pm slot so home via kebab shop around 11pm ish. This is one of my fav gigs TBH. Night started well as we arrived with our gear with a local being literally thrown out by bar staff who had been asking him to leave on several occasions as he was very drunk and annoying a couple who were sitting quietly waiting for the band. Then during our 2nd set Jen the owner escorted another very drunk outside altho he was ok and just left without a struggle. Oh happy days in Paisley. Started the set to approx 15 people (its a very small pub so that makes it look busier than you'd expect. By the 3rd or 4th song it started getting busier and by the end of the 1st set it was very busy with several ladies up dancing away. Now that was fun (ny). And that was without our usual local support who were all attending a birthday party. All good tho. We even had one of the Blue Angels come up specifically to see us after playing the Club House last week. He's the organiser for the Ayrshire BA. He's actually a really nice bloke to chat to about bikes and band gear. He even owns a Hesketh (motorcycle for those that don't know) that he bought new in 1982 when they first appeared. That must be worth a fair bit of money nowadays. Anyways it turned out to be another fantastic night in The Cave. Early enough finish to miss the on-coming motorway closures that were being set up as we drove home. No pics or vids as yet but if any appear i'll pop something up. My usual punk gear. Sandberg MarloweDK into Ampeg SVT7 and Mesa SW210/115 cabs. Dave

when I had a HX stomp I went from cab sims to IRs, and then to just a HPF/LPF block... Chopping the top and bottom of the signal off meant it sat nicely in the mix, more like a bass should do and was easier for the PA to mix.