Leaderboard

Absolutely brilliant gig last night which was one of our regular acoustic residences that we host every other month where we introduce one or two acoustic solo or duo acts and then we as a band get up and play for just over an hour. Super busy with a very engaged and attentive audience who really clapped and showed their appreciation after each of our songs. It was a night of original music including 4 new songs and we ended up doing two encores. The highlight for me was the compliments I got after the gig. One lady came up to me and said, "apologies for interrupting (I was talking to my daughter) but I absolutely love your fretless bass playing, it reminds me of Del Palmer and the fretless playing on Kate Bush's first album". This absolutely blew me away as I'm a huge John Giblin fan, probably my favourite bassist along with Pino and Jamerson 😁 However, about 10 minutes later, another couple came up to me and thanked me for making her night so special. She said she couldn't believe the quality of music being played in a pub in Farnborough but to then hear fretless bass, her favourite instrument just blew her away and she couldn't keep her eyes off my playing. She turned out to be a vocal coach who also tours in a lot of different tribute acts but I was breaking her as that afternoon she had been to a funeral for a friend who happened to be a fretless bassist so it was joyous but a tough evening for her 😥 Then another guy came up to me who happened to be a Canadian drummer and said he was mesmerised by my playing and loved all the high melodic stuff I was playing but also all the lower stuff. He said I was watching you play and I knew there's no frets so at some point I was expecting you get it wrong and play out of tune but you never did, not once 😎 When you get compliments like that, it just makes what you do worthwhile. I'm a little bit on cloud 9 today 😂

Big small gig for us tonight. Borough Blues Club. It's 'on the circuit' and gets some well known bands, just 12 gigs a year. We are booked for November, but got the call after a band had to drop out. This was their first Friday event (due to the six nations) so they were worried about numbers, especially at £10 admission. It was about half full with forty-odd people and they were happy. Expectations of us were high as the organisers know Alex, our guitarist. Two hour long sets plus encore. We had eight(!) new songs after Wednesday's rehearsal, with the aim of serving up a setlist for an audience serious about blues. So we had a few hiccups- I muddled one song for another, and we had some miscommunication about keys... but got through it. But sound was excellent and we enjoyed ourselves. Fortunately the reception was as good as we could wish for. Not just the usual goog gig comments, but I got complemented on my playing (which I though was a bit random with a fairly big chunk of improvisation). Best bit, at the end we were told that our November gig will be packed as the word will get around 😎

Stood in with Dire Streets last night at Swindon Arts Centre - less than a 10 minute drive for me, which was nice. My direct-to-PA bass rig is now fully sorted, as is my IEM setup. I really enjoyed the gig, the only slight hitch for me was when the batteries in my IEM belt pack gave out halfway through the last number - Telegraph Road. I had to pop my earpieces out and work from the ambient sound, which was way louder than my nice IEM mix, especially the drums. Fortunately I was able to change the batteries before we came back on for the encore. I’m back out with them on rhythm guitar next Saturday - Artrix Arts Centre in Bromsgrove if you fancy a nostalgic night out!

Guess who's back! Thanks to @LukeFRC, @0175westwood29 and Admiral oh my Admiral @admiralchew This time this is for a metal project - I wanted distortion and fuzz and the chaps above were super helpful in steering me in the direction of what I needed and how... and well. I often add a modulation effect but I learnt that for now I don't need a compressor - In case I regret it, @tayste_2000 introduced me to the HX one (I've been in hiatus for some 5 months lol no idea of the new releases!). Now I have the gain stages I want, a preamp with pre/post loops I adore and a tuner/compressor/phaser/rotary/chorus/flanger and some few hundred more effects on the post loop 😀 I did not want to go with a HX Stomp etc as I wanted to keep these analog pedals after much research... this works mightily! I haven't had much of a chance to play with them all, but I am very, very happy to report they stack up super nicely and with even volumes etc - lovely. Wired with a Truetone CS6 underneath. Y'all are guilty for this, but thanks 👏 None more black:

21 basses and three amps in just over 1 square meter. It's all about height! They are normally in their cases, but still in the rack.

Been very content with my Squier 40th anniversary P and Warwick Corvette for quite a long time but had a sudden hankering for a Stingray that I just couldn't shake. Never tried one before and just loved that sound. This Ray34 came up at a good price on Reverb, just a shade over £500 after some negotiation, and had to pull the trigger. The colour is unbelievable. I love that blue sparkle, and the roasted maple neck is really smooth. Not totally au fait with active basses but put it through my pedalboard with a Solidgold Beta V preamp and a Jam Pedals Rat and I'll need to do some serious tweaking, sounds wildly different to the setting I use for my P bass. Now the conundrum of trying to justify having 3 basses around the house...

Played a 'blues and brews' night at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket. Lovely venue - we've played there before - easy load in/out, big stage, lights, great sound system with a team of sound guys. 3 bands, we were on last or 'headlining' as like to call it, a selection of local beers on offer. I wasn't confident anyone would turn on a chilly thursday in February up but apparently 60 souls made it - far more than I imagined. Bands were Red Sky High, Jamie Williams and the Roots Collective - who were especially good, great set of originals delivered in some style. Their bass player had a bitsa short scale Bronco/Mustang/Jazz hybrid that sounded awesome. Good player, too. Having been nicely warmed up and lubricated the crowd appreciated us and we went down very well, despite some left of field errors on a few songs we have played faultlessly for months (why does that happen?). We played a longer set, just over an hour, and it was all round a damned fine evening. No traffic there or back, in bed by 1am. My gear was my SG > new Trace Elliot Transit B pedal > desk which sounded pretty fab from where I was standing. Guitarist Alan's pic, taken from the mezzanine 'green room' where the performers hang out - Jamie Williams et al on their last song.

I'm often thanked for my fretless playing. Specifically, not playing it.

Living Dole — Cliff Richard

Now my January nightmare is over I fired up my new alternative baby rig (might use it tonight or probably safer leave to tomorrow or Monday’s rehearsals. It sounds rather nice 😁 that said it was a small room and would possibly need the second BigBaby to get the full 600w and survive on its own in a big room without PA support, but generally very nice 👌 Three channel emulations - Green/left = Ampeg, Yellow/middle = Marshall Superbass and Blue/right = Modern/filth. I tend towards the first two, but messing around today was getting sounds I liked from the filthy channel as well. Nice solid sound that’ll fit everything I do gig/dep wise from classic rock to disco and indie

Still in - why do I read this thread then go straight to the basses for sale section???

Also available as audio only from the usual places. An interesting listen.

Hi all I'm promently a ukulele player been playing for 14 years. Started dabbling with Bass last October. I've had quite alot of ukes pass through my hands.My holy grail has always been to own a vintage Martin Soprano ukulele. I love sopranos and am a bit of a tradionalist I prefer them with friction tuners. I've also got a 8 string tenor a baritone and a electric uke and 2 lovely hawian Mele sopranos. I used to belong to a local ukulele society it was fun played a lot of gigs with them even a local music festival where we opened the day for top loader headline. We even occasional had shena Easton guitarist play with us he is an avid user. Now I have the bug for bass guitar and I'm really enjoying it. Love this site as well really nice people on here .

New config for the recording board. My feet were just too big, but moving the future impact aux switch freed up some room. I need to fi d a few of the taller buttons from that UK guy. Who sells those?

Karma!!! It's a message from a higher being teaching you not to stray from the One Path!! See the error of your ways!! Repent!! Put down the skinny stringed aberration and again take up the one true Groove Machine. There is still time...you can be saved!!

Forgive me abstainers, for I have sinned. I sent a message to a seller about a bass. No money has changed hands and I haven’t had a reply yet, but I feel I should confess 😎

Upgraded the synth channel found a second sy200 for a decent price, the one up top is in the loop of the other, stacking lead synth sounds or a bass and lead sounds the midi control is awesome.

Wow! I have some corners where things pile up , but have some spring cleaning plans in mind.

Nah, bin the furniture and make a lot more room for new basses

Treated myself to this American Vintage ll 1954 Precision. Well, you cant take it with you when you go. 😅

I don't think the Wailers/Bob Marley would be be a fraction as famous without the superb rhythm section of Aston and Carlton Barrett, both extraordinary and innovative players. There is no doubt he was one of the greatest bass players of all time. If you want to know how to serve a song with a bass line Family Man was the man, what a loss.

I’ve been following Aston Barrett from a very early time, probably around 1977 ,and in my opinion he was one of the best bass players in the world , definitely in my top 3, without his arrangements the wailers music wouldn’t be the same , so much articulation and feel, quite a legend and he will be sadly missed, RIP family man

RIP Family Man, what a player...

Wonky sh!te, fuggetaboutit!

This 'box' has proved useful. A bit of a re-jig will house another three of the five I have hanging about.

The Thong Remains The Same - Led Zep

Please release me - Engelbert Humperdink

Hire and hire — Jackie Wilson

Yes ok, I'll join the club. How will I survive? I've only got 10 basses, 3 heads, 4 cabs and a load of pedals.

The Middle ～ Jimmy Eat World Anybody ready to close The Doors?

Corfu Fighting Carl Douglas

Crete Petite - Jackie Wilson

Are you this much fun everywhere you go?

I held on to my first bass for years thinking I couldn't just throw it away. There was nothing to like about it, no parts to salvage to give away that would be usable for the task they were supposed to do. But there really was a lot to hate about it so it went in a skip after I took an axe to it to make sure no-one else suffered what it offered. I'd have preferred to ritually burn it but as it was lacquered it was not an option so even that was a disappointment.

Let me solve that one for you. "I wanted it". The end.

We played at The Sugarmill in Hanley (Stoke) on Saturday night. It's our first headline gig here and the local venue so it felt like there was a bit more pressure than usual, that plus the lack of gigs since November, and it would be my first time on BVs, all gave me some nerves When I arrived, I greeted the soundguy. We're on first name terms and I thought we were pretty friendly, but the first thing he said is "what ridiculous gear have you brought this time then?". I explained it's just my usual stuff but he seemed really annoyed for some reason. I set up the kit and the whole band were ready to go in 10 minutes as usual. Then the soundguy spent 30 minutes plugging everything in. While he was mic'ing the kit I showed him my nice new cymbal. He's a drummer so I thought he'd be interested. He said "oh, so that'll be dominating the whole room then!". I said "not really mate, it's the way you play them" to which he replied "Yeh, which is F&*KING LOUD!!!". I asked if he'd ever done the sound for us before, and he confirmed he hadn't, so he'd have absolutely no idea how loud I'm going to play my cymbals. I just let it go. So, all mic'd up, he tried to get sound. He had the main outs from his mixer routed to the centre vocal wedges. I explained that it all sounded weird and that my drums shouldn't be feeding back but he just cracked on, sweeping EQ on the drum mics for a solid 15 minutes. Bass was checked just fine, but guitars (just DI'd) sounded weird and kept feeding back. I asked him to turn the stage monitors off just to check there wasn't an issue, and this is when he finally figured out the mains were routed to the two centre wedges. Half an hour to who knows on the phone and he reckoned it was sorted, so we went back on to sound check. All fine except the lead singer can't hear himself. There's sound out of the centre wedges, but it's quiet and muffled. The soundguy told me I needed to play the drums quieter. I explained that it's never an issue and we play similar sized venues all the time. He finally came up to hear the vocal in the wedges and agreed it sounded wrong, and so after another long phone call figured out that he should have used a different cable for these wedges. FINALLY everything worked and we did our check in less than 10 minutes, but from setting up to completing sound check was pretty much 2 hours. After this check the soundguy approaches me to tell me that my bass drum is a nightmare. "oh, what's the problem?" I ask and he complains it has "no top end". I screwed up my face and said "we're not playing metal mate". Then I went home to change and try to forget the sound check The actual gig was awesome, loads of people in, loads of people singing along, an encore... just an awesome gig all round. A couple of my mates were there, and they said it sounded OK but that my vocal mic was muted! All that practise and all those nerves for nothing!

Interesting to hear Le Freak played on something other than a Stingray by the great man himself. Definitely one of those players where it’s all in the fingers…(although, is it my ears or is his bass a bit flat?)

Sergeant Rock - XTC

A Dingwall.

Would not surprise me. Lots of premium objets soared in price during lockdown and have been falling back towards earth in the past year. Check out the second hand market for Rolex watches, for example, which has dived by well over 10%. Pedigree dog breed prices too. And as we can see on BassChat, throw in the CoL crisis on top and the market for buying and selling quality basses is well and truly frozen.

I think your fingers do go soft at the tips and that does affect tone. It's like riding a bike - if you want a super-lightweight bike, just ride your current bike a lot and somehow it gets lighter. If you want great bass tone, just play your bass a lot and it will start sounding better and better.

Time for new strings?

No, have you got any idea how much a flute this size would weigh?

None at all, new glazing wouldn't even be a tier 2 fail.

Keep all that gear but get a bigger place to live !! 😛 John 😎

I now have two set ups....my live rig and my home rig. Home rig is an iLoud MTM with an ampeg sgt-di and a boss re-2. Sounds awesome, live rig is still the matamp. Really happy with both and having a proper plug and play set up now makes practice more accessible which is cool 😎 Really happy ✌️