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Having done all the sums we are left with an overall profit of £690. This has been donated to Cancer Research for breast cancer, and Cancer Research for prostate cancer. I have also donated a smaller amout to the school for hosting us. The couple of raffle prizes that were not claimed have been donated to the school's music department, which they are very grateful for. Huge thanks to Guy Pratt, Laurence Cottle and Barry Moorhouse for their support!! Thanks also to my girlfriends Gary (@Cetera) and Darren (@Bassforradio) for their early arrival and help with setting up, with Darren also doubling up in his professional role as ace interviewer! Also special thanks to: Mick (@Thegreek) for reaching out to several businesses and getting some prizes from D'Addario Trevor (@TrevorR) for securing the services of Laurence Cottle and Barry Moorhouse from the Bass Centre. Oh yes, I'd better mention the wife, Mrs Hamster for sorting the refreshments!! Thank you all for making the day another enjoyable sucess! Colin

Big shout out to the independent retailers supporting our passion. After a long search looking for knobs for my jazz bass, I finally found some that fit via James’ Home Of Tone. Great selection of stuff, good quality, decent prices, better looking jazz bass.

We were at Chelmsford Civic theatre last night. A 400 mile round trip for us, so a long day. Sold out crowd of around 500, nice sounding room and good stage. However, about 3 songs into our first set, I heard a crackling noise from my amp. Went off, then returned next song. Our brilliant tech Sam quickly swapped my leads (guitar to DI / DI link to amp) and it seemed okay, then started playing up again. Sam then got my spare amp out and swapped it over and the problem disappeared. First time I’ve had to use my spare, so glad it was there. Also first time a GK amp has given me problems, BUT! Our sound tech said it sounded to him more likely to be a faulty XLR cable from the DI to the desk than the amp. Anyway, finished the gig using the spare head, and have one more gig to do tomorrow in Penistone before we finish for this year. I’m going to get there early and try to pin down what the fault is - it’s a fairly local gig for us (70 miles away) so not a problem.

Put together a new grab and go board for gigs and public transportation... It's one of those Harley Benton Power Spaceship boards with the power supply built in. I have to say, I'm very impressed with it.

Another good night at McCafferty’s in Epsom. We played better last month but I think the songs we played are all ones we can use again. As usual most of the other bands were good. I managed to plug into a guitar amp. It sounded a bit farty on stage, but apparently sounded ok out front and sounds ok in the video.

Just got in from tonight's gig. We had a 30 minute opening set for punk / metal crossover legends Hellbastard. I struggled with nerves a bit tonight, I think the thick smoke didn't help. I couldn't see the audience so didn't know how they were reacting. I had a couple technical issues. I think my compressor died and just gave me a horrible noise. Then I stood on my lead and pulled it out. We survived and had a lot of positive comments. A couple local bands said they'd like to play with us and the promoter wants to book as again so we must have sounded alright. Watching Hellbastard afterwards was just brilliant. They are absolutely relentless, their drummer is an absolute beast. They were heavy, tight and fast and a nice bunch of blokes and they were loud. As a bonus, It was walking distance from home do I could have a few adult beverages.

I totally agree, but would suggest buying the best ear protection they can afford. If people are wiling to pay a lot of money for gear, they should make good quality ear protection top of the list. You can always replace gear, but once your hearing deteriorates, it can't be replaced.

Me too as long as I knew I was leaving before dakota and wouldn't be anywhere near earshot by dont look back in anger!

Never had any desire for a Gibson after I played the Epiphone 60s Thunderbird...might just be the perfect T-bird. Even so, when it came right down to it, I had to let it go. It was either Thunderbird or Thundergun and the Reverend was just a little bit better.

Second ever gig for the rock covers band I joined in March last night. At the Hive Nightclub in Edinburgh. Had an absolute blast, great wee venue, crowd got right into it pretty much from the start, plenty of signing, dancing and a bit of headbanging. Rig for those interested : Squier 40th Anniversary Precision (I love this thing, can't stop playing it, use it over my more expensive basses now) into Warwick Gnome I Pro 600 (via Helix HX Stomp) and Markbass New York 121 cab. Was DI'd from the amp and used IEMs to ensure I heard myself...it's loud up there. Has to be said, a good gig is great for the old mental health.

Hey all, names Matt. I run Goliath FX (promise I wont spam, but if I see a post about overdrives am I allowed to comment?) I make mainly bass orientated effects and utility pedals. The utility stuff is new and I'm working on it. Basically switchers, DIs, etc. I'm a metal bassist, played metal most of my adult life. So am I fool for trying to take on DarkGlass? Who knows. Aside from bass I love spending time with my son and wife. We go fishing, play Lego (all obsessed with the stuff) and little man has started to show a keen interest in playing bass/guitar so looking forward to expanding on that. I work a shift job as an engineer so my off time is pretty precious which is why, one day, I'd like to take on Goliath full time but its not earning me anything yet so its a bit of a pipe dream. Yeah, thats it, thanks for reading. Chat soon.

That's also true but pre CBS are more desirable to many simply because of the direct link with Leo Fender and a degree of rarity. My CS Pino is as good as any P I've ever tried but it's probably still only worth a third of my genuine 1961.

You're not wrong, but humour being my goto on the Internet I I thought of several ways to go with this. The old classic "WHAT?" really works better in person when you get the person to repeat themselves, doesn't really work here. I did consider asking if you would like me to let you know when I inevitably get tinnitus for cheaping out on my hearing protection so you could have an opportunity to say I told you so, but that seemed far too prickly for humour so I deleted it. But it's not really a joking matter, is it? I honestly can't go back to using nothing - be it attending gigs or playing at them, I sometimes quickly take a plug out and put it back in to remind myself why I'm wearing them and it sounds like someone's attacking my ear canals with power tools.

£160 for hearing protection is cheap, compared to the £2-3000 that good hearing aids cost.

I was just thinking about the set from my gig last night and there's maybe one song I would happily lose as it's pretty uninspiring from a playing perspective. Ironically, it's one of those songs that always goes down well and last night was no exception (go on, have a guess which one it is). In this band we operate a kind of checklist system: 1. Are we all up for trying xxxx song? 2. Are we performing it well? 3. Is it going down well? 4. We've played it for a while now, are we still happy to keep it? Stagnation doesn't really feature in this band as we have another set of songs we can substitute in to keep it fresh.

It is finished. Truss rod adjusted, action low, but not as low as the previous telecaster like (i.e. mrbacco 1 the ferrari one), will get a new nut and file it a bit to get the lowest possible. The pickup is a beast ... cannot turn the volume to a 1/4, as it would break the amp (very inexpensive one I have) and maybe the attic windows glasses ... but it is at least twice the power of the first minihumbucker in the red one. The only thing is that, through my cheap amp, I do not get the chubby phat sound that I like, but I will try this evening with headphones that seem to get a better sound. Anyway I am surprised by the fact that I can turn the volume up jus a very tiny wee bit to get an atomic power. I imagine it would be fun_tastic on a gig stage! Thanks everyone for following and, as ususal, for supporting a beginner ! 🙂

Wee afternoon charity event today 1-6pm with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band so home by 7:30pm Sold Out gig and dancers up for it from the word go again. The organiser wants to book us again for another charity event so we will give the discounted rate. Had a few requests to book us for birthday parties in 2024 but unfortunately our calendar for next year is filling up fairly fast. DJ that was in the venue said the feedback from everyone he spoke to was WOW just WOW what a show. He's never heard that about any other band that's played there. He's also on the club committee so that was good. All in all a great wee afternoon and we even got sandwiches and hot sausage rolls provided at break with coffee and tea. "Lubbily". Those sausage rolls sold it for me. We even got paid before we even started. How confident was the organiser altho she did see us play their for a birthday party 6mths ago. Happy Days No gig pics but here's our "ready to go" pic from the tiny changing room. Dave

Up the Danos! ✊ 😁

I see what you did there @Goliath_FX

Absolutely. I've been wearing NHS hearing aids for the past 16 years. They aren't those huge pink banana-shaped objects any more! I have cutting edge digital ones. For gigs I can reduce the volume via an app. so that, effectively, I have my own IEMs. Audiology depts don't seem to suffer like many areas of the NHS. At least, not locally. I can get an appointment within a week, generally, and drop-in for free replacement batteries from any of the nearby clinics that have them available. Brilliant service.

This is why I like playing in tribute bands - it solves this inherent tension between what people want to play and what people want to hear on a night out. Everyone is there to play and listen with a shared love of whatever band it is, you also generally a lot of leeway with more obsure song choices.

I don't know, I am not sure I have ever really been to an average wedding, probably related to the people I know. The last but one wedding we did though was quite a lot of money spent, 'big farmer' type, proper wedding venue (who couldn't have been more helpful), big buffet and twee citreon wartime vans outside with different catering. A best man who clearly wasn't used to public speaking. Wedding went well, but the thing that impressed me is that the bride, in bridal gown, when we started took her wedding shoes off, put sneakers on and danced to every single one of our songs in a > 2 hour set.

Don't think much of the new Doctor Who intro music... the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are really phoning it in here...

I think it helps to have a core genre of music that you play. It helps when people say to their friends "I saw this ace <insert genre> band last night". However, I do enjoy surprising people with a few choices - have observed raised eyebrows (but in a good way) and comments sometimes passed like "Oh cool, you do that song". We try and tread that line. There'll be grumpy punters if we don't play any AC/DC, but they don't mind if we throw in the odd curve ball. Weddings can do one - there's a reason the money's good - far too much pressure, far too much having to learn one-off pap songs that you hate, venues can be Richards about noise levels and arranging access - no thank you, I do this for fun. I've only ever played one wedding, and it was with my originals band because it was a mate who really likes us and specifically requested us - we did all our songs to date and padded the night out with covers that we enjoyed playing, it was a good night.

WOW, just WOW sanding block and about 25 minutes. amazing. I feel like a clever person @Jean-Luc Pickguard thanks mate

Yeah the Regal sounds great to my ears! I haven’t compared it to my actual Noble yet, but think it will compare favourably. Si

Maybe your guitarist doesn’t like it due to the solo being a bit tricky to play?!! I sometimes dep in a band that does this song, and the main riff is getting a bit tedious just as the great solo section arrives and elevates it IMO. Needs to be played at the same tempo as the original as well, any slower and it loses it’s urgency. Always goes down well with the crowd too.

He has wired one arseways and now they're out of phase with each other, i.e. ground to the live lug, hot to ground.

Interesting, I recently picked up a Gibson Studio which I'm not allowed to play until Christmas. I have tested it though and I think it may be broken as it plays and sounds great, the bridge seems solid, it doesn't have neck dive or any flaws other than the usual signs of a used bass. Note: According to the internet they all have those faults but it seems to me that the "Studio" solved a lot of those. Just as well I don't believe everything I read! My colour too!

Funny (maybe) story - I bought a Tokai Thunderbird because the guitarist in the band I was in at the time said I should be playing a Fender Precision...

hi David Let's kick the word 'static' into touch ...unless you're prone to receiving small stinging discharges of electricity with an accompanying blue or white flash Computers are very noisy creatures, unfortunately, and not usually well-designed to 'play nice' with analogue equipment ...Welcome to the world of ElectroMagnetic Interference (EMI)! EMI can happen: by transmission (ie. without any connecting wires), by conduction (thro' connecting wires), and by induction (the magnetic interaction of nearby wires, usually coiled) More likely to be a problem where low-level analogue signals are passing thro' either high-impedance circuits (found in parts of passive guitar wiring) or thro' high-amplification circuitry (eg active guitar circuitry in general) As a simplification, EMI can be reduced by conductive shielding (usually around low-level signals needing amplification), or magnetic 'shielding' (eg. ferrite cores around wires carrying higher-frequency signals) So for instance, it's a good idea, especially in the presence of digital noise EMI 'generators'/'transmitters' such as computers, to increase the effectiveness of any existing shielding in guitar signal paths: - ensure pickup/control wiring and cavities are completely enclosed by well-grounded conductive surfaces, all grounded back to a single point (usually the guitar jack shield lug); - experiment by adding ferrite rings, looping any wires connecting guitar to computer, and low-voltage power supply leads thro a ferrite core a few times, to see if this reduces EMI transmission by the digital/swiitching devices - if you, or friends are handy with elec. tech., try fitting some small ferrite bead/capacitor filters on input paths of low-level analogue signals Bit of a dark art for us mere mortals, unfortunately -good luck!

Spot on. I had a Gibson in the past. Sold it, missed it, bought the Epiphone Classic IV Pro and - hand on heart - it was a better bass. Roughly £800-£1K cheaper secondhand.

Maybe because the current Gibson versions are massively over-priced and the more affordable Epiphone version is better looking and closer in spec to the original 1960s Thunderbird?

We supported a band of young'uns years ago, who thought that swapping guitars every song and using backing tracks (keys/pads/backing vocals) was the way to go; the drummer was using a little iPod Nano which was jacked into FoH via a mini-jack. It was a collision of problems. It was all very odd; as the iPod was going to FoH, you could hear the count in and then silence; they were absolutely reliant on the on the drummer keeping exact time. Of course this was never going to happen; they were always playing catch up or slow down as they were never in sync with what was being played on the iPod, so the backing tracks were coming in late or early. I'll remember their final song until they put me in the ground. The lead guitarist (frankly, I've never seen a guy so in love with himself; his girlfriend was nearby swooning and I definitely saw him mouthing, 'I love you,' to her), swapped to a different guitar, the wrong one as it happened, which was tuned down a full step. So you had the backing tracks coming in wrong, the bass and rhythm guitarists looking as though they wished the ground would open and the lead guitarist oblivious he was horribly out of tune, all the while whispering sweet nothings and pointing at his mates. Oh, the hilarity.

Short scale fretless Harley Benton Beatbass is a thing, I already posted it a few times here, and sounds amazing too, this video starts out with it straight DI'ed and nothing else done to the signal: https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_beatbass_fl_vs_vintage_series.htm Unlined, but with side dots markings where the frets would be. 175£/199 Euro Amaranth (Purple Heart) fretboard, which is very close to as hard and stiff as Ebony.

I had another couple of listens to this last night, just to see if would grow on me and I was struck by how horrible the production is. It sounds very uneven, guitars too loud, not enough bass. This never helps when I’m sitting down to learn new material. If it doesn’t sound good to begin with, I’m usually less than enthused about listening to it. This live version sounds loads better to my ears.

Weirdly I find it’s often just a different bass line writer (if that’s the correct term). I can happily play complex stuff from one band but struggle with seemingly simpler stuff from another. Some bass lines/ sequences just seem to fit my way of playing better than others.

OK, I got my SSL 2+ plugged into my Pi4, running Ubuntu Mantic with Linux Kernel 6.5, compiled for low latency. I was able to get a latency of 5ms using a buffer size of 160 with a period of 3 (I think: don't want to spoil the punchline of why I cannot remember). I had Guitarix running with chorus, a cabinet IR and reverb running with 1 buffer underrun according to qjackctl. All was going great, the latency was well within my own limitations as a musician and I was able to play along to my hifi in the room. That was until my Pi crashed and I had to reboot. Now granted I've just upgraded my OS so it may have gremlins still, but I absolutely wouldn't want to rely on this setup out on a gig. It also took multiple attempts of plugging and unplugging the interface for the stars to align and the Pi give the interface enough current for it to start-up. This is an aside, but I thoroughly recommend people try out integrating their Jack setup into Pipewire (an alternative to Jack). I've been frustrated in the past not being able to e.g. listen to Firefox YouTube while Reaper is running, but with Pipewire-Jack integration this is a thing of the past. You can even route Firefox sounds to your DAW and record website music!

I keep recommending the Gibson EB5. Really light, great pickups and USA made. I picked mine up for under £600.

Indeed. I teach across two campuses and got to see his talk and demonstration twice at two venues. Yesterday though, when we went into the live room next to the classroom, and he did the experiment with the drummer, it really showed just how much more controlled the sound could be, and just how loud it was otherwise. I don't teach on the performance modules. If I did though I'd certainly be buying a set of customs to protect what's left of my hearing.

Long live the Independent Trader!! I dread the day that the huge companies have a monopoly over what is available to buy. Sometimes it isn't just about how cheap you can buy something.

Dadford and Sons surely?

It has everything to do with age, you won’t find a 68 P less money than a 72, I’ve been looking for a 68 for quite a while and there’s none for sale, 68 are always 6k and a 72 is 4K now