Leaderboard

City centre pub/brewery. Awful access for cars so took the elf & PJB C2, the sire on my back in a soft case and found cheap safe parking half a mie away. The rig was enough to hear myself but the sound guy was too timid, so my sound lacked guts. Nice big stage area, about 8" high, and big room with good acoustics. We could store gear in the Brewery! With the awful forecast weather was actually decent but we only had twenty or not quite thirty people in at a time... but nice to see a couple of groups walking past and decide to come in when they heard us. The bar actually said it was more people than expected. We went down well, which is what really counts.

Just seen this news in my Google feed, which led me here. Oh my, what a shock! Such sad, sad news... 😞 I last saw Nick in October when he came to my house to buy an amp.. He was here for about an hour and in great form as usual - full of bass/ music related stories and full of laughter! And, apart from him trying to persuade me to sell him my Jazz bass, I remember we talked about Nick starting up a podcast (which would have been amazing I think) . The tribute message by his sister is really moving, as has already been said, and so are everyone's stories about Nick in this thread. And whilst it's nothing like as tragic as losing a family member of course, I think the bass playing community has not only lost a genuinely lovely human being, fellow Basschater and seriously talented musician, but we've also lost someone with such a breadth and depth of knowledge about the family tree of UK bass players (if there is such a thing) and the development of the bass guitar in this country.. Such a loss. Sending my sincerest condolences to his family and friends. RIP Nick.

I hope this is okay to post this here, if not, I'll leave it in the hands of the moderators... In light of today's news and the many messages and conversations I've had today, I've decided to dedicate tomorrow's Live Chat on my YouTube channel to Nick Smith - my memories and stories of him and I welcome any of you to come and join in and let us hear your memories and stories of this fine chap. I've had several usually stoic individuals in tears today struggling to cope with the news. Be aware - there are many of us feeling exactly the same way, you aren't alone. Since the London Bass Show ceased to be a thing for many of us, the level of camaraderie and brother/sister-hood that that show engendered and generated has become a thing of the past. If we can bring some good out of Nick's untimely passing, then let it be a rejuvenation of that camaraderie, in looking out for each other, sprinkled with liberal doses of compassion and understanding. This music business isn't a competition - prizes aren't given out for being a pain in the ar*e! So, tomorrow (Saturday January 25th) from 2pm (UK time) for a couple of hours, come and join a bass-playing community, whether you play bass or not, and feel free to join in by text/video/audio but if you just want to watch and listen, that's cool too. If you just want to connect with others who feel sad at this week's events, you will be in good company - grab a cuppa or your drink of choice, cake is optional, and I look forward to seeing you from 2pm. The link is below: https://youtube.com/live/FsuriHj9Z0o

Just gone through our messages… ”Oh wow, that’s it!! How does it sound?” This was the bass - sounds daft as a 40 year old bloke who’s played bass for 25 years…I was nervous sending a recording to him… For Nick.m4a Anyhow, this little ditty entitled “For Nick…” that’ll do.

Last night Royal Blues @ The Spice of Life, Soho, that London. Decent size stage with backline provided, so nice to be able to hear myself for a change 😆 One of our backing vocalists is away, which makes a difference as we usually have 3 part harmonies going on. But we were told it sounded good FOH. Multi band line up, with the bands having nothing musically in common, but we brought a few people and apparently it was sold out. Didn't get time to take an office pic, it was a line check during changeover then on. There were plenty of pics taken by the punters, I'll post some when I get them. Gear: Ibanez UB804 (EUB) - Swift wireless - Fender Rumble combo (supplied backline) & Korg clip on tuner. Footwear: black leather brothel creepers with white interlace.

it’s sounding mostly ace, just getting some warbling on the G string on high fretted notes so I suspect either the pickup is too high or the string is twisted. I’ll sort that out tomorrow. I went with a 0.1uF cap and it goes super dark and reggae like with the tone fully down. and I did my maths right… it’s bang on 7lb.

Andy, I get the sense that we need an event to remember Nick and a few others we’ve lost? It’s at times like this that we recognise we’re a real community ❤️

A great day with Nick.

Finally they have addressed the Sire headstock controversy! 😂

Thanks for this. been at work all day with a lump in my throat, gutted. Do you know, the last time we met was in August - we’d talked a good few years ago about the ‘E’ basses he’d had a hand in making around 2000/2001… One bleary eyed morning - one came up on eBay (about 15 miles from me) listed as “not working, for parts only”. I didn’t even send him the link - I just went and bought it. I sent him a photo and said “this one of yours?” He was bowled over - it’d been made for a lady he’d eventually end up with who ended up passing away unexpectedly…it’d been sold by her estate and he assumed it’d been lost forever. We hatched a plan, he drove up to collect it from me - and I’d fixed most of the issues with it (I just couldn’t sort an LED blackout, but had sorted the dicky preamp and broken machineheads). We started chatting nonsense and lost about 2 hours, messing with basses… Think we did about 4 bass deals over the years, the first one was in 2009 for a Marcus Miller Jazz at Piccadilly train station… We’d message fairly regularly, particularly if one of us had a new bit of kit. Ah man, very similarly to our MB1😎 - you meet people every so often who have an impact. Nick was one…a force of nature. The world got a little quieter this week - and is going to be all the worse for it.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFLB1L-Pqqo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link They look lovely! https://www.gallien-krueger.com/rb-legacy

It took a while longer to come together than expected, but today I took delivery of this absolute beauty and I'm pretty happy with it. The idea (inspired by a mate who's done similar tele and strat builds) was to build a really high quality vintage looking P bass but with modern appointments. The same kind of idea as buying a classic car and putting a modern drive train in it. The body came from MJTs eBay store. I had waited for an Aztec gold one to come up for a few months, one finally did but it sold for more than I was willing to pay. Shortly after this ice blue metallic one came up, I'd never heard of it before but after some googling I was pretty sold. I bid, won, paid the import, waited for delivery and finally it arrived in early August. The bridge is a gotoh 203 and the tuners are gotoh resolites. I'm really happy with both, they look classic but are slight functional improvements over the what an actual vintage bass would have, fitting in nicely with the restomod idea. Pickup and electronics are EMG GZR. I agonised over the decision, it's really easy to get analysis paralysis with P bass pick-ups because there are so many available. I considered Kloppmann, Bare knuckle, Di Marzio model P, various Seymour Duncans and probably a few more. Then I played another bass with the GZR in it and enjoyed it, so because I couldn't test any of the others I ordered the GZR. I may change it in the future but for now I'm pretty sold, it does exactly what I want it to, not that I could describe what that is. The strat and tele that inspired the build both have Warmoth necks. I enquired about getting the spec I wanted built and they weren't able to help, I wanted a 16" radius which they apparently don't do on bass necks, so it was back to the drawing board. I ended up contacting Jon Shuker about building a neck and ordered the same spec as he uses for the JJ Burnel Zenith bass, I shipped the body and parts to Jon, he built the neck to fit the pocket and assembled and set the bass up, all for less money that my mate had paid for his Warmoth necks after shipping and tax! Today it finally arrived and I'm over the moon. I'll list the full spec below for those that are interested. Most importantly there are photos. It weighs a shade over 4kg. Neck (Shuker): Roasted flamed maple. Carbon reinforcement. Stainless frets. Brass nut. Luminlay side dots. Black fret board markers. 16" radius. Gentle c carve. 43mm nut. 20.5mm depth at the first fret. 22.5mm at the 12th. Body (MJT): Alder with usual contours. Lightly aged ice blue metallic finish (nitrocellulose). Hardware: Gotoh resolite tuners in nickel. Gotoh 203 brass bridge in nickel. Gotoh aged domed nickel nobs. Gotoh large nickel strap buttons. eBay special anodized scratch plate. Electronics: EMG GZR pick-up and wiring. I think it came together pretty well!

Then and now.. So many laughs.

Hearing the devastating news this morning broke me. Fond memories & a guiding figure to myself and so many others. I remember him guiding and helping me out at my first big bass show when I was just starting out properly. His kindness, help, advice & appreciation really helped that day! Plus he got on great with my late father too. See you around Doctor Bass

I'm going to move this to GD, in common with other RIP threads, and remove the word 'missing' from the title. I hope nobody minds. A very, very sad day.

Sadowsky SBP-1, GSS Baby Sumo 600w, 2 x TE 110 cabs, TU-3, Mini Wah, NS-2. Boss OD-200, Zoom ME-60b, Caline 10 band eq, Sonicake Levitate Reverb/Delay, Joyo Jp-02 power supply. Home made wedge (£6), isolation pad, Custom Lynx cables, EBS Solder-free patch cables, Rockhouse board. Tidy. Ready to go until next week when I start changing it again...

I like that Billy Sheehan is/was actively involved in creating the Attitude basses, and uses them pretty much exclusively because they are what he wanted. He's also very enthusiastic about them. A lot of signature models are just pretty stock basses in a different colour or a certain pickup. The same can be said for Jack Casady as Mr. Sheehan.

Sadly just another Class D amp, with an unnecessary Drive circuit. I think I speak for a lot of us bassists in that, if we want drive, we already have pedals that do that for us. I can't ever recall hearing a drive circuit built into an amp even come close to a well considered pedal for the same thing. Why do these guys keep doing this?! Surely it would make more sense to build in a decent compressor, or maybe a blend for the effects loop, something more useful...

Awesome - so that cab shaped Trace Elliot side board that I have never plugged in (who knew you could play bass through a table!) doesn't count - and it looks so nice with a lamp and some pictures on top!

Their version of the Quatschmacher origin effects B15 could concept?

In the Autumn, my band released a 5 track EP based around books we read and liked. The end song was "Monster", based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Both of us (the band) felt the EP was our finest release so we have done a video to promote a second song. In case people were sick of our faces, we decided not to be in it... although there is a school of thought that could forgive you if you thought we actually were in it! The interesting thing(s) about this track are; 1) It's the first track I didn't play the main bass part. We wanted to mix things up so I played bass VI, keyboard and 12 string guitar on it, 2) The monster growl is actually my cat, sampled and dropped a couple of octaves, 3) The origins of the song were me sat on my sofa with a keyboard but when I sent it to Nick he started recording it with the chords in the wrong order. It actually worked better. The great thing about duos are the ways we interpret each others ideas. Anyway, for the minority who may be interested, enjoy. Warning: contains mild peril!

Damn that GAS. Mark

Any Overwater bass owners here? I have two Overwater bassess, both fretted and fretless. Been using it for gigs over the last two years and am very happy with them. I think Overwater is like the Fender Custom Shop basses in terms of build and quality. When I placed my order with Chris, initially I went for the hollow body series but later on I realized(or I think Chris told me) only both wings are hollowed. There is a centre solid block of wood in between. Well, that wasn't what I wanted as I was looking for a totally hollow body one in which 2 years later, I ordered a Stradi but that a story for another time! Anyway, so I changed to the J series instead. Don't think Chris was too impressed with the switch, sorry Chris! The first one was a fretless and I like it so much that I ordered a fretted one afterward! 😁

Saw this pop up on Instagram yesterday. Ernie Ball are bringing out some Pino Palladino signature flats. Interesting as the flats I associate with Pino are TIs, which his signature Fender P comes with. I have them on all my basses and they are nicely worn in, so I might be forced to buy a new bass to put these new Ernie Ball ones on 😉

Just got home from my last rehearsal. Guitar(lead, rythm and vocal), me(bass), drums(percussions). It was 2nd rehearsal for this new alternative rock project and it seems it was ok.

This is lovely… https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BMdAHsr3A/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I only change my strings when a new set is released that claims to be the best string for everything, ever. And then I go back to what I've been using for the last 8 years.

I agree. For me I want gain, volume, bass, low mids, mid mids, treble and a mute. The rest I'll use pedals.

I’m a big Ashdown fan, but I must admit I don’t like the garish branding of their signature amps - they might be amazing (I know the Geezer one is excellent) but I can’t get over the huge, ugly graphics they put all over them. The new Shavo amp is a perfect case in point. They had the right idea with the old Mark King head - subtle branding, but a distinct feature set, with the 12-band graphic, etc.

Stranglers - Peaches. Had no idea how to tune my bass when I first started playing, so I had to re-learn it once I did. Unsurprisingly, it suddenly made a lot more sense! Went on to learn the entire Rattus Norvegicus album, which on reflection, was a great tutorial & has probably had a long-term influence!

Yes, yes it does. I read that as need the equipment. GAS is real and causes hallucinations.

From the rules - "There used to be a convention that things not in the signal path didn’t count. So straps, stands and the like were allowed. I'm cool with that - what do others think?" I for one don't think something as paltry as a bag counts. Protecting our gear is only prudent and perfectly in line with the mantra of using what we have (in this case, protecting it so we don't have to replace it).

Just found this: https://blog.ernieball.com/accessories/ernie-ball-new-at-namm-2025/ I think that they might be Cobalt Flats, but in signature gauges.

For me, being dropped in the deep end and allowed to bumble along listening to the pieces while I learned was the only way it worked. I had bought some notation books in the past and tried to work it out by myself (I had a head start because I had played trombone in my school brass band reading treble clef) but looking at the books it didn't stick with me either. Bearing mind you are joining a band where you don't know anyone, I did initially have to suffer the looks of disdain from a few musical snobs in the band, but on the whole most either couldn't tell the difference, or were very supportive. If you did reconsider having a crack at it, I guess the main thing to look for is to whether you feel the MD and band would be patient enough to have you make mistakes and "learn on the job". As others have said, these bands often have varying skill levels and may just have been happy to find you, as the reading bit puts a lot of people off. It will also be down to whether you can keep a lid on your own anxieties and personal feelings of "I'm not good enough" which I got a lot (and still do). Believe you me, if I get given a new piece with any semiquavers in it, I still shake with dread every time! (Or quaver triplets with rests in them).... I remember once years ago before I tried to read myself, asking a bass player in a cabaret band how he managed to sight read visiting act's arrangements on gigs, especially the rhythmic patterns and fiddly bits. He said you begin to recognise common patterns in pieces of music which means you can anticipate it coming better without specifically counting or reading in detail. I think he is right there - it certainly gets a bit easier the more you do it.

I remember this response mica made many years back in response to a bass on sale on ebay that was re-finished by an owner, so i doubt if much would surprise them, and the love their basses to be played. 🙂

Source audio’s version of the fart pedal? 127 presets and full midi?

Awful news to wake up to. RIP mate

Midnight Hour, Wilson Pickett .And it was also the first full song I played with a band. Daryl

I've got 2 of the Subway 210s and a TT800 and can hands down say these are some of the best cabs I've ever used. They're punchy with plenty of low end, and very versatile. I was rehearsing with a loud rock band and just one of these kept up fine, with the volume at 10 o clock. Also pretty light and easy to move about. Highly recommended, great bits of kit.

I'd love this gig. . . .

Hypocrisy 1.01: I started this year's Gear Abstinence Thread, and now I am checking the updates on No Treble's website site 🤣 https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2025/01/23/namm-2025-new-bass-gear-reveals-launches-and-updates/ I'd like to play the Sterling MM Bongo.

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/amplifier-classes

Reverend Triad 5 Strings. Nice.