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I've not posted on here in years, maybe 10? My pedalboard is looking the smartest it's been in ages after a thorough clean and rebuild, and I'm chuffed with my new Cioks power supply, so here we go. I can definitely go down a size of pedaltrain with a few flat cables and properly mounting the power supply underneath, but then again, maybe I can make use of this space... 🤔

I'm very happy with it! It plays and sounds great as it is, and a cleanup, wax polish and oiled fretboard did wonders for the looks:

From the old; To the new (with a video set to old footage); Through to my latest release (out today to coincide with WGD24); Here's to the music that made many of us want to pick up the bass back in the old days!

Like it says in the Old Testament, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours Wal. I was brought up with the understanding that a deal is a deal. Both parties are honour-bound to stick to what's been agreed. Before you agree a deal by all means thrash out the best terms for yourself that you can, but whatever you finally agree on you've got to stick to. This whole thing with Wal basses has got a bit daft. They're great basses with a unique tone and great history but they're not worth getting involved in a blind auction with spiraling prices just because of dwindling supply and burgeoning demand. I remember when Wal basses were fairly commonplace. No one was gazumping each other to get one back then. Buying a bass is one thing, selling your soul is something else entirely. There's plenty of other nice basses out there. I'm not having a go at the new owner particularly, I think his only real crime is over-enthusiasm. Good people often make errors of judgement, doesn't make them wicked. And the American chap still has his money intact to buy something even better when he sees it.

Greetings! I have what appears to a one-off all-graphite Warlord. [EDIT: wooden wings!] would love to know its history. I’ve read up on Pangborn and found a reference to this bass from 1985 when it was in its planning stages. Aside from that, nothing. I quite love it. Anyone see this one before?

It's the curse of pub/covers bands: you play like a bunch of individuals who've never met before and there's punters who loved it, the other side of the coin is a great gig without a note dropped, you're all nodding at each other at the end like the Muppets used to do coming off stage, and no-one in the audience blinks an eye...

I've wanted one of these for YEARS and I finally got one. It's a 1988 NT5 with a beautiful pommele bubinga body and stock EMGs. It plays great and balances pretty good too. Just needs a fresh coat of wax to bring out the nice wood grain!

Andy Rourke 😗👌 It was only relatively recently that I discovered that most of his beautiful, melodic and highly memorable driving bass contributions to The Smiths were performed using regular (and pretty high tension) Rotosound 66s, but tuned up to F#! He made it look easy. Fabulous talent.

I have owned two of these over the years, I've also owned a single neck 4 string as well. I bought the first double neck way back in the mid 80's, it was an OEM model offered by a guitar deaker who had purchased a quantity of these from the Hondo after they had been discontinued. I modded it by adding a Dimarzio Model One mudbucker just below the neck on the 4 string. I eventually traded it away. I found the 4 string used, it was a great bass, ironically, it felt and sounded like an old P bass, the Hondos are different from the Danelectro Longhorn in that the bodies are solid and the they are long scale (34"). Someone ended up offering me a bunch of money for it, so it went away. I found the second doubleneck on reverb as a project bass, most of the parts were there, but it was in pretty rough shape. I build basses for a living, so I added it my pile of projects that I hope to get done. Recently I had the chance to work on it and everything went together nicely, it has two output jacks, which I believe was wired like Rickenbacker's Ric-O-Sound (the control harness was missing). I need to located the output jack that Rickenbacker uses for this (I think). It is heavy and huge, but the 4 string sound like a Precision and the 8 string sounds thunderous. I haven't gigged with it yet, but hope to soon. Here's a pic of my employee Tyler, holding it. It's bigger then he is. LOl.

Here are a couple more mid-refin so you can take a look under the hood, so to speak.

Simon Gallup, Hooky, JJ Burnel, Jah Wobble and Aston Barrett have already been mentioned. This leaves me with this fine gentleman: Horace Panter

Hi All, Just picked up a new to me bass. An Ibanez SRX700. It’s a neck thru beast and it’s very nice to play. Can’t seem to find much information on these basses but it’s a great weight and has a lovely tonal pallete and looks amazing. Really pleased with it? If anyone knows more about these, please share 🙏

I sold and posted an Alembic Clarke deluxe to a guy in Corsica.I originally stated in the for sale post that I WOULD NOT ship internationally and U.K. sale only. The Corsican guy obviously really wanted the bass so i reluctantly allowed myself to be persuaded to go ahead.No money had changed hands at this stage, just a gentlemans agreement if you like. I then was contacted by someone here in the U.K. who said he would have it. I must admit to being very very tempted but in the end i decided to honour the original request and sent it to Corsica. After a few very anxious days the bass arrived there via a brilliant FedEx service ahead of schedule. All turned out good in the end! Thank f*** x 🤣

A bit of over enthusiasm and a bit of desperation. The blame should lie with the shop. They made the original deal and shouldn’t have entertained anything else after that. A true display of greed.

As this thread has been dug up it would be a good time to add that the bass has now been signed by the man himself. 😎

I thought I'd replace my Stomp with a full fat Helix. Thought I'd got a good deal on a Floor but it got cancelled (I missed his messages which was to say that the funds wouldn't be released until after he'd gone on a tour that he was selling the Floor to buy an amp for, otherwise I'd have bought it by another means) so concluded that I didn't need the four send/returns or the scribble strips so an LT would do. So it arrived, and the first impression was that it was very big. Second impression too. It does mean I no longer need my six-button MIDI controller or external power supply though. I tried restoring my saved patches from the Stomp, and much to my delight that worked. So now I'm going to do some more experimenting and try an organ synth in a send/return loop.

The thumb is so nice, i'll even forgive you for the state of that headstock

That’s one sexy bass, congratulations. Pangborns are as rare as the proverbial rocking horse p… I used the Warlord as inspiration for my custom built Jaydee GA24.

If you can't stretch a bit to a used Ray 35 I'd hang on for a Tribute L-2500. I got to play the one Waynesworld on here was selling (now sold) as I was originally going to buy it, then committed to an ACG build in the interim. The neck on it was lovely, didn't feel overly chunky and I would have no problem getting through a gig or extended playing periods with it. I've owned a few L-2000 and Asat basses (both USA and Tribute) and like with the MFD pickups and triton electronics. Versatile instruments and definetely a Swiss army knife bass. Sound can be a bit dark/organic sounding if you're used to more hi-fi sounding basses and they definitely have a 'grind' about them. Harder to find are the M2500s which is much the same bass but with an 18v preamp, 3 band EQ and a blend control rather than the switching. The pickups are also wound a bit less than the L series so sounds a bit more generalised/neutral sounding. I had an M2500 which I really liked and on reflection should have kept.

Might be interesting to share some setlists? This was ours for last Saturday, with appended notes... with two exceptions these are songs WE want to play, rather than chosen to please an audience. War Pigs ... (sort of mashup between the original and the shorter Foo's version) White Room What is and What … (only works when you know you have a 'rock' audience. Pressure & Time Wishing Well Cross-Roads Devil Woman All Along The Watchtower Simple Man Black Night Hungry Like the Wolf ... (In the style of Reef's version, but the whole song) Sex Bomb ... (In the style of Mystic Prophecy i.e. 'German power metal band') Paranoid 20th Century Boy We Gotta Get Outta This Place ... (In the style of Alice Cooper's version, but the whole song) Sex on Fire ... (Just to keep everyone happy) Saturday Nights All Right ... (Well it was Tyson v Usyk afterwards, but we love this anyway) Rock and Roll Dakota ... (we're in Wales, at least one Phonics song is obligatory). Sympathy for the Devil Crazy Little Thing Called Love ... (we ran out of time as we'd already gone past the 11.00 curfew) Interesting how 9 songs = 45 minutes, I think we'll fit another one or two in as we get slicker with the changes, this was the first gig for this line-up and only our 3rd gig. Pub's reaction "Thanks guys sounded amazing.. we look forward to having you again. Xx" 🙂

I have an Encore and a Stagg if that floats your boat?

Indeed. Arguably pre/proto Goth.

Graphite neck construction can be as inconsistent as wooden necks - the fingerboard is still vitally important in how well the bass can be set up. I've had four Musicman Cutlass basses all with necks like bananas and a couple of Modulus Quantum basses, the fretless also had a banana neck while the fretted was so stiff it sounded like glass breaking. All because of the phenolic (aka Bakelite) fingerboards. Contrast that with the OG, my Alembic Series 1 which plays like butter because it's rigid but dampened by the wooden fingerboard. A bit like Leo, they got it right the first time...and then abandoned graphite necks completely around 84 because of QC issues. Geoff Gould supplied them to Alembic and Musicman AND was setting up Modulus at the same time. You've scored a honey of a bass with no issues. Enjoy it. I would recommend looking at the latest East Pro Uni pre, John has tweaked it so there's more of a mid peak available and with a bit of careful twiddling, it's possible to push things into Status Series II territory, if that's your thing. I've installed one in my Status S1 through neck and it does everything it used to but also now the Series II honk. So now I get to channel Graham Edwards and Go West...in the privacy of my office. BTW, I have a hunch this bass is an 86, not 85. @scojack maybe able to shed some light on things too, he used to run a website for Pangborn instruments.

For me there are three people who jump out. First up for his playing in the Sisters of Mercy particularly is Craig Adams. He never looked the coolest in the early videos but his bass playing was perfect and more than made up for his silly bopping about (he's calmed down with age!). I liked The Mission too (& his stuff with The Cult) but those early Sisters recordings were what I tried picking out from the records with a bass in my lap. I have his autograph on my living room wall. Next up with have Sami Yaffa from Hanoi Rocks. He went on to play with Jetboy, Demolition 23, Joan Jett and then New York Dolls. He was a role model in that I never wanted to be *famous* but I did want a career where I would be out playing music I wanted. I guess Sami did that. I met him in 2019 and he was the nicest, most humble guy. And finally, for both amazing bass lines and for looking cool as a cat, Simon Gallup. I have a mutual friend who got me his autograph. He's been sent stuff by my band and has said he'd like to come and see us. I suspect he's just being polite but it was nice to hear.

For a while I had a Steinberger XL25 - the narrow spacing one and yes it was dense and heavy, even compared to full sized basses. Steinbergers are made from carbon fibre impregnated resin though, not layers like you'll find in most other graphite necked basses. I think the Pangborn might be a carbon wrap but I have nothing other than speculation to base it on. I always liked the Panger's ergonomics and meant to trace the body shape before I took it to the Gallery. But my UK visit this summer was absolutely mental in terms of logistical complications and I didn't get time to see anyone...not even relatives. Any how, it seemed to me that Ashley was trying to make a greatest hits of eighties basses with this one - the pickups are Armstrong and modelled on the GMT pickup Kent Armstrong made for Rob Green originally. The body shape is clearly Alembic influenced but downsized. The electronics seem inspired by Jaydee. The original finish was so thick Tim (who helps Jon and used to be in Dead or Alive) was ready to give up on it. Those horns in the omega shape were literally sanded out of finish, not wood!

I had a few, but @neilmurraybass was the guy who really did it for me. Such melodic lines in a rock context ❤️

Has anyone mentioned John Deacon yet? The bass break in "Liar" from the first Queen album was the first time a bass part really hit home with me.

I was going to comment the same as @MacDaddy, Happy World Goth Day just doesn`t seem to fit.

Most of my teen bass heroes have been covered, but it was this guy who hit me the hardest: The mighty (and ludicrously underrated) Graham Gouldman of 10cc

I would require a rather more substantial bribe to go on holiday to East Kilbride...

My selections - The old: The new: Mine:

Just back from rehearsal. Targeted a few songs that are nearly there rather than running through our set. Are You Gonna Go My Way (for some reason we couldn’t nail the timing coming out of the solo) and You Could Be Mine (GnR) are now gig-ready. Numan ‘Cars’ and AC/DC ‘You Shook me all night long’ are homework for next rehearsal.

Ok, opened mine up this evening to see what the problem might be. Connected the line out direct to a QSC K 10.;2 to see what was coming out the 'LINE out' xlr. Took the internal speaker out, took the amp head out, pluggeg my bass in. Found the sound was very crackly when touching the "Pre/Post EQ"switch. Sprayed some SERVISOL SUPER 10 on the switch, now; No crackle, smooth signal to desk - everything sorted ! Very easy to fix !

The Tivoli in Buckley on Saturday. If you play there and go to the back stage room, you'll notice a little piece of cardboard with the words "Mind your head Tom" written on it perched just above the doorway. That's from last time we played there in November when I walked into the door frame with the top of my skull which sent me to the floor and gave me some dizziness and a lasting headache. Well, I didn't notice, and I did it again, even worse. My head still hurts today! Anyway, I played OK. We were supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang who have a big following, but I reckon there were less than 100 in, which feels pretty empty in "The Tiv" which is a huge room. It was quite reassuring that the crowd for the headline act was basically the same size as for us. Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on Sunday. This is one of my favourite venues to play, just great in every way. It was an early start - doors at 5, we were on at 6, then The Men They Couldn't Hang on at 7, all done for 9pm. The room was packed and we went down really well. Loads of compliments, loads of merch sold etc. so job well done. I thought this photo was cool, even if I do look a bit confused. I'll blame that on the concussion

You're depping with a band. . . . and you're saying you won't play certain songs? IMO the job we take on when we agree to dep in a band, is to play their set to a level that they don't notice their regular bassist is missing. . . . period. That includes all the songs on the list. Whether we like the numbers or not is irrelevant.

Peggy Sous - Buddy Holly & The Crickets

Tinseltown in the rain. The Blue Nile

My selection,

While Status Quo songs are only two and half minutes long, and you only have to learn 3 notes, and if it's not a tribute you don't even have to wear double denim. But what most people forget is that cover bands don't like two and half minute songs - there will undoubtedly be extra choruses, extended guitar solos and god forbid, crimes against crimes; - The Satatus Quo Medley. Caroline, Down Down, Rockin' All Over the World plus some obscure number that only the guitarist knows.

I experienced exactly this a couple of years ago the advice on here is sound but it’s whatever works best for you. I literally left the band for 3 months. I talked to the guys (and gal) and we got a dep to cover me. Lots and lots going on at the time. Work/family/home and out every weekend with the band. We are still together. I went back with renewed love for the bass and band. Talk to them. 👍🏻

I once came off stage at the end of a first set where I was a long term dep trying to talk a dep drummer through stuff and an utter car wreck of a set to be greeted with “you guys are BRILLIANT “ 🤦🏼‍♂️No accounting for taste. I suppose they must still have been able to discern the songs being murdered 🤷🏼‍♂️🤣

This guy - Jim Lea from Slade

Bruce Foxton, I had a real "we`re not worthy" moment when I met him.

Piano player in a bar, playing old standards to a room that doesn’t care. This drunk guy wanders over and says “Do you do requests? I want to sing” Pianist says ‘why not. Nobody will get upset’ So the drunk guy says “ok. I want to do ‘Life is a bowl of cherries’ but I want you to play it in 5/4 time. Pianist says “But it’s in 4/4. It won’t work.” Guy, getting a bit aggressive says “I want ‘Life is a bowl of cherries’ in 5/4 time, pal!” Pianst says “ok, ok” and starts playing in 5/4 Guy starts singing… ”Life is just a bowl of f*ckiiiiing cherries….” (I had my coat on before I started).