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A quick shout out to the guys at Alpher Instruments for their superb craftsmanship, willingness to explore new ideas and their first class service. Al and Chris delivered my new Hammerhead bass last Friday and what a monumental day it was. Tone wise this bass is absolutely mind boggling, the build quality is pretty special too. I have always been quite traditional in my taste especially when it comes to body shapes but I must say the more radical nature of the Hammerhead shape is definitely growing on me, have I mentioned the tones on tap? Blooming awesome!!!

I've had it since early summer, it just hasn't got home before now. A Squier JB V Active Deluxe from 2008. It belonged to our guitarist who died in October '23. The chap who was helping his widow out with sorting through his instruments and musical accoutrements called me and said that Angelika had asked if I would like it. It's been in our rehearsal room since then. I brought it home to change the strings and clean it, did a smidge of setup and the truss rod nut promptly stripped. I've just come back from the luthier after having a new TR nut fitted and everything is happy again. Neither of us expected it to be so simple!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my duo Deadlight Dance recording our live in a Saxon Church movie / album "The Wiltshire Gothic" so we thought we'd mark it with a cheeky few numbers at our friend Joe's Open Mic in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. Just for fun, I worked out a few on the upright and off we went... We opened with The Cure's Fire in Cairo, bravely tackled Sisters of Mercy's This Corrosion (on the upright bass and mandocello) and finished up with joy Division's New Dawn Fades. We got a second set where most of the acts had gone once they played (I always think that is a poor show!) so did a couple of our original songs and then some other deep cuts from the depths of our collections. The crowd seemed to like us but one drunken local coming out the toilet decided to shout about us being "f***ing s**t!" Everyone ignored him. I didn't think it was worthy of acknowledging at the time. I am sure he's brilliant! I don't know if it's a consequence of growing up post punk but I quite like music being divisive at times and not appealing to everyone. I felt we played pretty well. I was also rather taken with the teenagers who did a couple of set. Nice to see the younger generation giving it a go.

Hello! It's been a while since I've been on here but I thought it would be rude not to share a NBD update with the community! I bought it second-hand from PMT in Cardiff a few weeks ago. I was in town celebrating a birthday when some down time arose (Fiancée had gone Xmas shopping...) so I thought why not pop in and have a browse. I played a few basses, including some new Fender jazz basses and also an Ibanez six string, none of which were particularly inspiring... but THIS THING! Good lord. It's from 2004 I believe. It's nicely weighty, so feels proper sturdy in on the strap. Great balance too, doesn't hang low or suffer from any neck dive. The wood grain underneath the "honeyburst" finish is absolutely gorgeous, and the maple neck and finger board are a dream to play. It's got a great B string, despite not being a 35" scale, and sounds monstrous. Different from a Stingray with the one humbucker at the bridge, I can't quite put my finger on it but there is a difference in sound between the HH and H models. Super versatile of course with the five way selector and two humbuckers, though I naturally find myself playing from above the bridge H pickup. I love how it looks - although part of me does want to replace the black pickup covers for white ones to match the pearly pickguard... Dunno, TBC. Just enjoying playing it for the moment! Here's a video I did of un-boxing it, it was fun to make! https://www.facebook.com/100003195770658/videos/3061739417322633/ I love Stingrays, and have played a four string teal green Stingray since my mid-teens so it's a natural progression! I've only played it at a few casual things - open mics and jams etc, but taking out with the band tonight to hear it in action for real. Can't wait! Thanks, Jack

Great gig, engaged crowd and the place was packed. No deps really helped. Above average compensation. Unfortunately not many decent pics. Daryl

What @chris_b said but I would also check out LFSys cabs. They punch well above their weight, literally and metaphorically.

You clearly do not understand what Basschat is about 🤔

I've just found out I've got the gig

Beautiful Day I will follow New years Day Until the end of the world Walk on Desire Angel of Harlem All I want is you Elevation Vertigo Even better than the real thing Mysterious ways The fly I still haven't found what I'm looking for Pride(In the name of love) Sunday bloody Sunday One Bad (+40) Where the streets have no name With or without you

Spelt ebOnol. Not to be confused with ebAnol, which is a perfume ingredient. No, I didn't know that either until a minute ago.

Brilliant! Also always lovely to see the instruments of a person who's passed away land in the loving hands of a friend/family member/loved one.

I'm not making a banjo. Twerp

love it Here I am working out what basses to play when I should really be learning the set

I picked up this cute H&K Bassmaster (pics not mine, but it's the same device) a couple of weeks ago, mostly as a home practice amp. It came in the original box! The seller was clearing the stock from a long closed bass store in the Netherlands (due to the owner's health issues). The master volume doesn't seem to work, but otherwise it's all fine so I'll just need to have that looked at. The EL84 is mostly there to generate actual power amp saturation for recording situations, but it's very much capable of driving a cab (5 watts output power). I paid €190 and I feel like that was €190 well spent!

I think an awful lot of people, particularly musicians, forget how important this is.

previous bass player was using a Rik. First gig in Feb 22d. The Horns St Albans march 15th somewhere in Derby march 29th The Booking Hall in Dover June14th Corn Exchange Hertford always been a bit of a fan. Had a double gatefold single with I will follow on it

@police squad - you need one of these....if you can find one. (photo credit @molan from when it was his. It's now mine and no, it's not for sale. Barrie might be able to elaborate, but my understanding is that this bass was previously owned by the bass player in a U2 tribute band. The pick-up's were hand wound by now retired Fender employee Abigail Ybarra and man are they lively. A P bass with a J neck is not to everyone's taste and sacrilege to some, but to me, it's just perfection.)

Congratulations on getting the gig. I know people have a pop at Clayton's uncomplicated bass lines and Larry Mullen's straightforward drumming but they are the perfect rhythm section for that band and those songs. Lock in with the drummer, let the guys up front go wherever they need to, and everyone will have a great time. Nobody other than bass players and obsessives will even notice what bass you're using 😉 When and where are you playing?

Arguing about preferences vs. playing your bass

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15Lr8WDHBe/ Nick trying to buy back his Wal... ...if his wife lets him. 😂

I've owned Ashly BP-41 and Alembic F2B ones, both of which were very cool within their lanes but not quite my long term cuppa. As usual, I'd rather just roll my own: That one is sitting over a commercial 1000 watt plate amp with DSP processing in the pic, but the power amp is now gone along with a more Fender/Alembic style rack job I did: And then I've done a few tube ones: ...which uses 6SL7 and 6SN7 tubes. The second version was two rack spaces rather than three, like so: And then my favorite is in a half rack width format, meant to fit side by side with either a tube one or a DIY 700 watt amp: And then the very similar preamp in this integrated 500 watt amp build can be run completely independently of the power amp section: I still own the first one and the last two, a luthier friend now has #2 and #3 and has taken both to his NAMM booth, and #4 belongs to a well known pro who primarily uses it in his home studio.

As an addendum to Satdy night's thoroughly Meh gig, I witnessed one of the most extraordinary shows of indifference I've ever seen; I've played for a very long time in all sorts of venues and, like most of us, have experienced many types of indifference: the Working Men's Club Institutional indifference(1), the Wrong Band In The Wrong Pub Indifference(2), the Wrong Couple On The Wrong Night Indifference(3), the Passive Aggressive Offended Indifference(4) and many others, but this bloke was something else: he sat off to one side, on his own, drinking steadily but not quickly, looking across the room. No paper, no book - at one point I had to check he didn't have earbuds in and an audiobook on the go - nothing to entertain him but his own company. He'd glanced at the band as we were setting up, and then completely ignored us for the rest of the evening. It got to the point where I was trying to catch his eye to give him a thumbs-up or something, anything to provoke a reaction, but nope, nothing. As we were packing down he finished his pint (possibly his third or fourth, it's not like he was there for a session) and left. Very odd. (1) The one where everyone yaps incessantly to each other all the way through the first set, and then if you drop a plectrum during the bingo you get shushed and tutted as they concentrate on winning that late-dated hamper that's been dusted down especially...they might get up for the last song for a stilted dance if you're lucky, and then bizarrely at the end tell you at the bar that they thought the band were great... (2) You can feel this one coming a mile off from the clientele's dress sense/age, and they've made the same assessment of you at the same time. Works at both ends of the age spectrum. See also 'That NYE the agent booked our semi-acoustic trio as a 7-piece Soul Band' (3) That couple that sit at a table right where the PA speaker's being set up, but refuse to move and spend the rest of the night alternately rolling their eyes and hollering across the table at each other... (4) OK, this one's fairly specific, but I had a bloke come up to me before a gig and tell me my bass was 'All wrong; it's got the wrong neck' - this was the Shukerbird, and he wouldn't hear about Leon Wilkeson or John Entwistle, he went back to the bar and spent the rest of the evening standing sideways to the room, except when people were applauding, when he turned to face the band and didn't move...

Another trip up to The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough for our acoustic duo last night. The bad weather had subsided and it was very mild so an easy drive there. Usual capacity crowd in this small cafe bistro venue, lots of familiar faces so a nice atmosphere. Christmas decs up in the room, and some of the boats in the harbour had lights on as well. Lots of requests, mainly more old stuff from a more err….mature audience. These songs included ‘This Masquerade’ , ‘Africa’ ( I really have to concentrate singing the harmony in this one whilst trying to remember the bassline), and one of my favourites, Springsteen’s ’If I should fall behind’. Audience were very enthusiastic, and we did an encore of ‘Sultans of Swing’ ( which went on a bit but made more interesting for me by a small trawler coming in to moor up just by the window behind us). We’ve just been offered a regular load of gigs for 2025 in this great venue. It’s a 100 mile round trip for us but never a problem, so really pleased. Ibanez PCBE12 into Rumble 100 combo / DI into PA. Clarks black suede chukka boots, size 10.

Fundraising gig for International Women's Day at Edinburgh's Wee Red Bar last night. Pretty packed, lots of people dancing and a great vibe. VID-20241125-WA0000.mp4

Long Beggs-related story. Feel free to scroll on by. Back in late '86, when I had hair and a discernible waistline, my rock-pop band were making our desperate bid for stardom. We lived in Reading, so it was dead easy to jump in the car and head into London to play gigs. We played quite a bit at the Red Lion in Brentford (RIP) -- our first few gigs there were as support to a guy called Philip Jap (the old farts among you might remember him) and his then band 'Secret Society'. I think he missed a trick by not calling them 'Jap's Eye'. Anyway, he asked us to play support at a party in London and we accepted. Being the mid 80s, slap was still acceptable -- almost mandatory in fact -- and our songs featured a lot of it. A lot. So there I was, thumbing the blazes out of my poor Wal, and it gets to the song with my showoff solo bit... I take a deep breath and go thwack-thwacka-ding wickety-wackety-wockity-dang, and having given it my best I look out at the crowd... straight into the eyes of Nick Beggs. Apparently an ex-label mate and friend of Mr Jap. I had a brief moment of wanting the ground to open up, I mean here's this bass god looking at me and I've just tried to impress this audience with something he could probably have done with one arm tied behind his back. But then his face broke into a big genuine smile, and with a nod he raised his glass towards me. I was walking on air for a month after that. I've bumped into him a couple of times since then, obviously he doesn't remember me but he's always been really friendly and happy to chat. Definitely one of our instrument's Nice Guys.

Santana's version of Peter Green's Black Magic Woman. Here's the very gig in June 1977

That's if they would even deign to speak to you... I had a Parisian girlfriend for a while, she would often never speak to me or acknowledge me, mmm.... now that I think about it, I wonder if it was me....

Update on my JJB-300. Loving it even more than when it was new.

Not sure if that’s a genuine question but I will answer it as though it is, yes the multitude of available tones from the four coils and stellar tone 10 way switch means you can play it in pretty much any musical genre. … and yes it has a metal pick guard.😬

There’s no one quite like Grammar - St Winifred”s School Choir

Man Of Consonant Sorrow -Dan Tominsky/ Soggy Bottom Boys

And hopefully not his legendary temper!

Solid Foundation were a dub reggae band in the late 1970's. Technical Noodling is a type of cooking pioneered by Heston Blumenthal. There's a YT video of the now ageing Rastafarians attempting to eat this stuff for the first time, it's called...

Caution is best applied to 'deals' as many retailers bump the price up in the weeks or months beforehand and then lower them for black friday.

Barefaced Super Twin. 4ohm, 212, 1200w, 18kg. Great cab with tilt wheels, plus top and side handle.

Back in the saddle after a weekend off, and I almost needn't have bothered; a refurbished pub in the arse-end of Bolton, we'd had a worrying 'Can you bring some people? It's been very quiet recently' from the landlord/manager; I had to inform the BL that it was 25 miles for me, and I can count the number of people I either know in the area or who would travel that far to see us on the fingers of one foot. It transpired that the landlord was thinking about one of his other pubs, and Satdy was to be a party night for the new landlady. Jolly good. Anyhoo, actual band space for a change (and a sort-of house PA which we didn't use), and luxuriously four (count em, four) double plug sockets right in the band area...unheard-of, I know. Turns out they were the best thing about the place; oh, and they'd put food on, a big buffet and a chilli, which was right next us, and putting me off a bit. As was the slightly random balloon arch in the corner. We started later ('Just hang on, it'll get busy in a minute') at tennish on request, with 100% of the pub in the other side. I can proudly say we'd attracted 60% of them over to our side by mid-first-set. Sadly, though these percentages start to look less impressive when I say the actual numbers were 12 and 7. And it stayed that way all night (same people, at least they were consistent). We were firmly back in Paid Rehearsal land. The buffet remained untouched until I thought I'd show willing and have some, at that point one of the audience thought the same thing which, if anything, made it all look a bit sadder; you'd have thought Free Food in Bolton might've started some sort of stampede, but no. We won't be hanging by the phone for a rebooking, I suspect with that sort of business on a Satdy night they'd struggle to justify paying for any entertainment more lavish than one of the bar staff putting on a funny hat. We still got paid, and trio/#1 Drummer meant we were packed down super-quick. Cheapo-P, Stomp, inears, chilli and a very dubious pie from the buffet.

I must admit that I was rather hoping to spend Saturday slumped in the warm while storm Bert lashed Dorset, but no such luck! I was down to umpire a (field) hockey match at 2pm which for some reason wasn't cancelled but took place in rain and a gale. I accepted the ritual abuse I usually get without sending anyone off - poor chaps, running around in soaking shorts, I had to give them some leeway (I was well-waterproofed) After that it was back home to change and chance my luck on the roads to get to a gig in Milborne Port (near Sherborne). No, they don't actually have a port there, but there was rather a lot of water about... The venue was a large pub with multiple side-bars around a hub where Mustang Sally set up - the event was a celebration of life for a popular local lady, and the place was rammed. As the last to arrive I got the sought-after space in front of the slot machine through which the male punters had to walk to pump ship. Luckily their bonces were not in danger as they shuffled urgently to the convenience thanks to my short-scale H-B but the Bongo would have claimed some scalps! It was nice to see some enthusiastic skanking to 'One Step Beyond', [EDIT - VIDEO BELOW!] and generally a great sing- and dance-along response to all the classic pub-pop we did. I don't think our previous set-lists with rather more adventurous material would have gone down so well in this truly traditional village pub, local crowd situation. Our remote rehearsing tactic seems to have worked out well, with the Gillingham-based core band (vox, keys, drums) getting the structure and keys right, while the guitarist (from Weymouth and permanent now) and me (bass & sax, Bridport) learn them at home. No musical challenges were involved but we were able to play Monkey Man, Burning Love, I'm a Believer and This one goes out (REM) for the first time together without any problems. Thanks to an early start at 7.30 we were able to finish at 10.15 and I was on the road home by 11.00. The rain had continued hammering down all evening, and once again I was glad to be in the Jeep, getting through some serious standing water and even a road that had become a small fast-flowing river with no problems on the way back! PS - As I was packing up a very large and 'happy' lady crushed me against the fruit-machine and begged me to give her some sax lessons - well, I think that's what she said! Of course, being a gentleman I recommended her to our guitarist (he is a music teacher) then made my apologies and fled... Pic below - very low lighting pre-first set - me and the fruit machine, I'm looking gormless as always! WhatsApp Video 2024-11-25 at 10.27.18_3dda95f8.mp4

Played a tiny pub in Send, Surrey on Sat night with a local covers band I've recently joined for sh*ts n giggles... We had to set up down one end of the pub, in front of the roaring fireplace, which meant the drummer pleading with the landlady to extinguish the fire after soundcheck as his back was hotter than the sun 🤣 Howling wind and rain meant probably only about 25-30 in but a fun night. Played my 40th Anniversary Squier P as I seldom take my Spectors out to unknown pub venues..... but it sounded & performed admirably! Punters seemed to enjoy the 60's/70's set (Kinks, Bowie, T Rex, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Joe Jackson, John Denver, Neil Young, Squeeze etc) and I even had two guys come up and compliment me on doing 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'! Apparently they'd never heard anyone attempt it before....!

Two gigs for Hurtsfall at the weekend. First on Saturday playing "In The Bl4ck Midwinter" festival in Sheffield. The venue (upstairs at Shakespeare's) is small but there was a near-capacity crowd for the Saturday when we played. Some niggles with the on-stage foldback (at least there was some this time) where a request for the backing to be slightly louder resulted in it being so loud we could barely hear anything else. I don't like asking for monitor changes during the set as I think it can look un-professional and diva-ish, but despite the fact that everything had been fine during the soundcheck, it was far too quiet during the first few songs resulting in us struggling to stay in time. It sounded like there was a problem with one of the pots on the mixer for the foldback send as adjustments seemed to vary between almost inaudible and deafeningly loud. Eventually the engineer managed to find a sweet spot that worked for us for the last 3 songs, but it did make playing some of the set more nerve-wracking than it should have. Thankfully it appeared to sound fine FoH and everyone we spoke to afterwards said they really enjoyed our performance. It certainly didn't stop a good half of the room from dancing and singing along with our better-known songs. Didn't sell much merch, but I think that's because all those who would have wanted a CD or T-shirt already had one. There were a few T-shirts on display in the crowd. Sunday was completely different. We were playing at Saltbox in Nottingham as part of a Rock Against Racism weekend event. A much bigger venue with a decent sized stage and massively loud PA. However when we played at 3 in the afternoon it wasn't particularly full and it definitely wasn't an audience composed of people who mostly knew and already liked us. Still we seemed to go down well even if the response was a bit polite compared with the previous night. Once again there were foldback problems, during the soundcheck the wedge in front of me was farting out whenever our singer hit any loud/high notes and when we actually played it appeared to be completely dead. Luckily there were plenty of other wedges on stage that I could hear. Lots of professional-looking video and photography going on so hopefully I'll have something to post later on when it surfaces on social media. We had a proper dressing room (complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities) for ourselves - it was supposed to be for all the performers but we seemed to be only ones who wanted to make use of it. Unless we get offered something good at the last minute, that's it for Hurtsfall for 2024. We'll be spending the next few months working on our album and hopefully have it ready for early 2025. We already have a load of great gigs lined up for next year, unfortunately I can't announce any if them yet. My next gig is In Isolation's farewell concert at The Salutation in Nottingham on December 14th.

Our Sunday night jam gig has resumed , second week back at it , the original dive was legend but the building was in sad shape , the new dive is actually nice. It’s a different room , but the sound is good and the usual characters have all returned , so I know most of the faces. Unfortunately it’s in the downtown core , and parking is a misery. That’s the only downside. I think it should work out well. Had four bass players up. Several horn players , several drummers , the usual line up of guitar players. It was a good one. Hopes are high. Herself and I dropped in for lunch the other day , it was quiet , I took some pics of the new dive in daylight. The food is excellent!

We played a Christmas Party for some Bikers last night in Paignton. They hired a function room in a good venue on the seafront, which was much better than the glass box they hired last year nearby. We used the venues parking spaces which was a bonus. A local gig for us all, so no big deal with storm Bert. There is a stage area that doubles as seating, so a balustrade in front of us. We had plenty of room and good setup and stage sound, although we couldn't hang our backdrop behind us. The venue turned all the lighting off when we started, it felt a bit dark, as they only had some Christmas decoration lighting. Our stage lights just about did us justice. There was some dancing at times, but a slight decline towards the end which was a bit surprising. We played well and I used my usual rig, Stingray into RM500 and BF210, which also went through the PA. They will book is for next year, and we will be increasing our party prices a bit.

LAST NIGHT! Azura (ignore the posters that say 'Azure band') at O'Neill's Leicester! We always have a good one here so we were really looking forward to it. We did it as a 3 piece due to the singer/guitarist being in the prcoess of being sacked (due to continued and sustained acts of egregious knobbery (with arseitude aforethought) and a complete lack of theology, geometry, deceny and good taste). Horrendous journey up (down?) the M6 through biblical rain courtesy of storm Bert (who names these storms? Seriously... 'Bert'?!), load in was the usual with the added fun of heavy rain, setup was good - the drummer and I had it 80% done by the time singer/keys/guitar had gone and dumped the van. It was pretty busy and the dancefloor was already packed when we started (I think the East Midlands Drop Dead Gorgeous Blonde Convention (EMDDGBC) was on in Leicester that afternoon) and the floor stayed full all the way through the first set, which was ace and went really well. Singer/keys/guitar (he's called Henry but it's probably easier to just call him singer/keys/guitar) had a gaggle of EMDDGBC alumni in front of him who were giving him loads (in a good way - asking for Justin Bieber songs, trying to put him off, asking him for mad announcements and suchlike), we got asked to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe (?) then someone else came up and said it was Alison's (or Alistair's?) birthday and they wanted Happy Birthday as well and before you know it, we're singing Happy Birthday *again* to NINE different people. I sang Shake Ratlle and Roll which we did in the wrong key so it was a Paul Robeson remix, I got all the words in Escape (The Piña Colada Song) right for (I think) the first time ever (singer/keys/guitar cocked up the BVs which is always hilarious (there are SO MANY words and all the choruses (chorii?) are slightly different)), the drummer got propositioned again (happens every gig, he always says no thank you (he's engaged)), quick vape and shandy break, second set was even better than the first (except some spunktrumpet grabbed singer/keys/guitar's mic which is attached to his keyboard and got some choice anglo-saxon from me, singer/keys/guitar and a bouncer), Country Roads had the whole place up and singing their hearts out, the holy trinity (Dakota, Sex on fire, Brightside) took the roof off, three encores (oh... go on then), we were all knackered and very sweaty by the end of it. Pack down (we have got way too much stuff), load out (bouncer gave us a hand with the big stuff), back down (up?) the M6 (rain: biblical), back to singer/keys/guitar place, stuff out of the van into my car, back up (down?) the M6 (the rain had somehow progressed from biblical to apocalyptic) to my Dad's place in Brum about 2am for a pint of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew pear cider (ABV unknown) and the world's loveliest cat (and two other cats who are also very nice) and bed about 3. (Up at 10 and back down (up?) along the M6 to Jazz Orchestra rehearsal (with Birmingham's best japanese non-binary morris dancing trombonist) which was really good (first set Bond themes, second set christmas) but that's not really about last nights gig) I'd planned to take the P for a change but I picked up the wrong case and took the Sterling (no great hardship, it's a lovely Bass (did I ever tell you Ernie Ball gave it to me for nothing?)) -> small board -> amp board (VTDI set to fliptop) -> MB 802 -> PA (Newly re-soled cherry red DMs, foot fans). An absolutely top night.

Morning Limahl, and welcome to the forum 😇