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Not last night - Saturday weird one - but got to see @Dankology and his ace band Dead Tenant We had a mix of our punters and some of the regulars of the venue… We got paid, played well…bit of a weirdness with the venue owner (put it this way, we got a 3 text apology) but not bad.

Oh well, sorry guys. Daryl

Just to echo @AndyTravis's comments above... Saturday was great: afternoon gigs might be the way forward. Fiasco Jam were phenomenal - great songs, great arrangements and everyone locked in. As I've already said to him, Andy might be my favourite bassist: despite his immense technical and sonic range, he always serves the song and never puts a foot wrong. We were a bit rusty in comparison but acquitted ourselves acceptably. Very grateful to FJ for taking us along!

I have a Joyo American Sound. Alright for a cheapie, but looks too orange for my tastes. Was a bit bored in work so whipped out a tin of Hammerite. Not the best finish (should have gone for two thin coats, rather than one thick coat). Scribbled on it with a silver paint pen to finish… Liking the way it turned out! Anyone else ruin their pedal resale for sh!ts and giggles?

Found myself at a rehearsal room last night that didn't have backline. Dug out my battered BDI21 from the bottom of my bag, plugged DI into the PA. Worked a charm, sounded good to my ears.

Letting one like this, at a good price, slip through my fingers, while I hemmed and hawed over it, still stings. Very tight string spacing, however - 16.5mm or less, IIRC

I use beringher products and have done since starting making music in the late 90s. Aware of the snobbery towards the brand I liked what one engineer said to me (I'm sure he lifted it from somewhere): The difference between not making music or using Beringher is far greater than using Beringher or using brand x

A law should be passed that all bassists carry one of these, excellent bits of kit at such a good price.

FWIW I set out to answer some specific questions: Could you run a PA with just a couple of fairly modest 10" tops if you also used a sub? How would that compare with a similar priced set up with 15" tops? How capable are the mid priced line source PA set ups and are these a viable option for a band PA. We've been arguing this one for a while in various threads so the opportunity to put this to the test was too good to miss. @Woodinblack and I have been talking about doing the comparison for a while and maybe inviting a select few to try things out too. The bass bash seemed a good way of doing this and letting more people make their own minds up. So my take was that I'd happily take any of these out as my bands PA. None of them sounded anything other than good and that is what you should expect. A PA shouldn't really have a sound. If I'd had more time (90 mins to set up three PA's before people came in) it would have been good to eq each PA to the room, specifically the bass from the bins which were too loud from the 10+sub and I think I could have lost the boom from the Evox too. I also had some budget Wharfedale Titans there which I think would have surprised people and would have liked to have tried the 10's without the subs. I've gigged with the ART 310's and a sub they can sound really impressive set, up properly. I don't think many people in an audience would notice but the midrange capability of the ART745's did shine through when comparing A/B but at a £500 premium over the 10+sub system and £800 over the Evox. I think the Evox is there in terms of usability, after the first round it was probably the preferred system for the acoustic music from the comments I got on the day. That answers my initial questions and the conclusion I draw from this is that different systems are appropriate for each band. If no-one can lift 15"tops onto a stand then they are immediately out of the running for a band. Using 10's and a sub make more sense and you'll get some really solid bass. For the cost of the 745's you could easily buy something like the NX10's and an ART705 (and you don't need to stick to RCF) which would out perform the speakers I had on the day. The Evox were the easiest to set up and move around, probably safer in a crowded venue and sounded good. These are all good options and you need to think practicality as well as sound.

Hmm, this takes some thought. The best purchase is probably my Barefaced 3x10. Undoubtedly the best cab (for me) I've had. It's just brilliant live, in any venue. Can I have a 2nd best? Discovering GK 400RB series amps, and buying ......three of them. The first one was like hearing the sound I'd been looking for all this time, albeit through previously mentioned 3x10. Worst purchase? I don't really have one, but if there is one, it's that I bought a brand new Ashdown head just before I discovered how much I like the GK RB series heads. So I've basically never used it, even though it's a great amp. Rob

As far as I can see, there are no 'new' features as such, just a collection of previous ideas put all together for the first time (not sure it would be the first time either). I guess it's hard to be innovative when you're such an icon in the industry, as every time they have gone 'off piste' they've not really sold that well. It's not their fault, it's stick in the mud players. Whilst not nearly as bad as guitar players in this respect, bassists are not a lot better. We didn't exactly go mad for the Millennium or Meteora. "How many guitarists/bassists does it take to change a light bulb? 50. 1 to change it and 49 others others to talk about how good the old one was."

Do you know which PUP and circuit they are Dan? As I mentioned the other day, I'm planning to out-innovate Fender on this with a Jazz body routed for MM PUP and a Status Graphite Jazz neck; it'll sit somewhere between the Modulus Flea and the Fender Active Flea Jazz sig you have - give it 5-years and Fender will release it as the Beedster Signature model 👍

A month later, the lyre pedalboard is almost finished. I'm waiting for stereo patch leads for the expression pedal, and the 9v lithium battery has been more faff than expected, so that's not done yet. But otherwise all going well...

Playing the music of Steely Dan

Do ‘Eggs TC’ count, or have I gone oeuf topic?

This Atelier-Z looks nice https://reverb.com/uk/item/85202792-atelier-z-babyz-4pj-2020-white-short-scale-bass-made-in-japan

Well...I've managed to source a B stock CQ18T from Andertons for £40 more than the price of a new CQ12T, which has made the decision on which one to get much more straightforward 😊 Should be arriving later this week.

Sales of a superlight range of Precision and Jazz basses, with top quality build, components and materials, wold tap markets Fender are ignoring. The "oldies" have the cash, have played Fender in the past and would probably buy a Fender again, if it suited their requirements.

Philip Bailey was an early member of Earth, wind & fire and has a vocal range of 4 octaves 😲 14th with Nathan East Philip Bailey & Phil Collins - Easy lover | Bass: Nathan East

No contest for best purchase. LFSys Monza.

The British Sound was too pink, so got a rub-down to bare ally, then old school sticky letters... And a BeadyEye got the leftovers of a Black rattle can treatment...

And a Bluesfire gig too!

We've made our next batch of gigs into a Tour of South Wales!

Ah awesome! Cheers! Sorry to hear about the weather, it was iffy all day. Will keep an eye out for ya, hopefully our paths will cross again

I’m quite envious. The Mod/Ska/‘60s band I’m in, indulge in some reggae-esque tunes. It’s always fun when we do.

Joining a reggae band next week. Currently learning a bit of Bob M.

Non Silicon Wood Silk Bees Wax and Oils - Cheap Spray from Tesco etc... and Pop! Try some on sanded wood (obviously says not for unsealed wood and scratches... but hey, lets go!)

S'eggs Pistols

Sweetwater have just added a Schecter 12-string bass. Amazingly, it's only $1.100. Sadly, the body design is a bit Rickenbackeresque, which I'm not particularly enamoured with. It's instruments like this where I ponder the idea of finding a luthier who could cut off the wings and glue the central core into something else. (I may have a noodle in Photoshop later today.) It's going to be available in the white option below or black with a maple neck. No black/rosewood option.

Fixed, my dear boy.

Meanwhile, Ernie Ball prove they have mastered innovation "with 6 new finish colours." https://www.facebook.com/share/gvMW8ACSygqzjzQJ/ I await the autumn colour collection from other manufacturers soon. Possibly in association with Kevin McCloud, Dulux or Crown.

I just got this DJ4, I've owned various Jazz Basses and this is up there with the best of them: Bonus that it's more sparkly than I thought it would be:

Flatwounds vary massively. Some are super bright, almost like roundwounds like the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, and then at the other end you get the thuddy old fashioned tone of La Bella Deep Talking Flats. Everything else is somewhere in the middle. Apart from plastic / tape wound things which are different again. They also vary massively in tension. La Bellas are quite high tension, Thomastik TI Flats are super low tension and very flexible. La Bella also do a Low Tension string, but I haven't tried them. Some flats are ruinously expensive so trying a lot is not always practical. However you will find that people sell their old flatwounds on here so at least you can try a bunch that way. As per the last video in this post, Ed Friedland came from an upright background and though the La Bella Deep Talking Bass was what he was looking for. I'm a big fan of flats, and I have different ones on different basses. Shortscale Sandberg Lionel passive PJ: Fender Stainless flats. Then I have 2 shortscale Jim Deacon precisions - one has proper old La Bella Deep Talking Flats and the other has Dunlop Flats. Medium Scale Ibanez 5 string - Dunlop Flats Sandberg TT4 (active Jazz type) usually has Ernie Ball Group 2.5 flatwounds. From memory so you can listen to examples: La Bella Deep Talking Flats: Duck Dunn / James Jamerson. Both famously liked their strings very old to the point they would grease up new ones to remove any twang a new set had! Dunlop Flats: Michael League of Snarky Puppy is a fan. Very expensive though. Ernie Ball Group Flats (different from the Cobalts): Joe Dart of Vulfpeck / Fearless Flyers / The Ollam always has these on his passive stringray bass. Pino Palladino - Thomastik TI Flats are on his signature model. Also expensive. Comparison of La Bella Deep Talking Flats and their Low Tension alternative Dunlops, DR, Rotosound, and or course La Bella. Do note that the Rotosounds are a nickel alloy called Monel. It has a very high nickel content so if you have any sort of nickel allergy (as I do) then they are not the best choice. and finally - Ed Friedland talking about his favourite and that some of his La Bella's have been on for 20 years on his old green P bass near the end of the vid. As Ed says - he's an upright / DB player and he found the La Bella's to be just the thing he was looking for. Prices are all over the place. Stings Direct tend to be really expensive for many of them. Bass Direct is usually the cheapest for La Bella. Dunlops come up cheap on Amazon occasionally - stick some in your "Save for later" and keep an eye on the price. Everytime have a look everywhere for the best deal. Hope that helps a bit.

...but if F has bought timber for the next 200 years, a lightweight bass is coming in the near future. As an innovation.

I was thinking that the random bass playing from the hall was louder than I was for some of the time Random may be too kind for some of our playing...

First rehearsal using it with the band last night. Got some comments when the band mates noticed it wasn't a bass guitar, which took longer than you might have thought 😆 So looks wise it got the thumbs up. I had it on its db setting, the BL said the sound fitted the band really well (Americana). I must be doing something right because my fingers feel fine today - both hands. I'm using predominantly db picking with occasional variations. Because of the 34" scale, it's my usual 1 finger per fret technique. Still loving playing it 🤩

I 'watched' it and received an offer to buy for £800, FYI (I can't afford it hence posting here)

There could be a job for you at Fender HQ in the “secret plans and clever tricks” department...

Greetings from another SE representative! Didn't know we had quite the cluster of BCers in the area. Welcome @TheMoose!

I got very lucky, posted a wanted advert and @hiram.k.hackenbacker sold me his. Don’t want to rub it in Chris, but I’m having so much fun with it, the tone is outrageous and just makes me think of his live tone, and some tunes from Dream Canteen. The pickup is very well designed IMO. I only bought it as my other basses have flats but I like to jam to RHCP with rounds sometimes - so job done 👌

This year has been a strange one for me - left the theatre/tribute band in April (supposedly to play fewer gigs), and then immediately joined a local blues band, as well as continuing with the acoustic duo and the odd dep here and there. Anyway, total gigs for 2024 will be about 85 I think. In previous years I’ve done around 140 though, so at least it’s kind of semi-retirement. 😁

Best so far, complete GRBass backline, and finding a Westone Spectrum DX, which was my first good bass at a really good price.

But not surprised.