Leaderboard

I think today’s the logical day for showing this one. May the 4th be with you, and all that! I’ve added a delay since last year and a more fully-featured drive pedal. The drone, a multi-chorus and a fuzz have made way. I’m happy with the functionality of what is essentially a novelty board though. In particular, the bass chorus and reverb both sound right up there with some of the best of that type of pedal.

The Hulla band played a 50th birthday party last night in what is becoming a regular venue for us in Port Eynon on Gower. We've played inside and outside the hall, in teepees and marquees there and, for the first gig I played with them, open air outside the fish and chip shop on the sea front back in 2022. That day we were paid in food. 😀 The stage was cramped but I wanted to play my new 5 string Ibanez. I was aware that it might not be possible without repeatedly stroking the guitarist's lower back with my headstock (not a euphemism) and took my headless shortscale Ibanez as an option. But I managed to find a little spot between drums, keys and guitarist that I was able to make my own. I had planned on using the onstage monitors rather than my in ears but the cramped conditions and proximity to the drums and the guitarist's amp meant that I ended up with the IEM. Our sound man had brought the PA subs and during the soundcheck my bass was booming away but once the hall filled up and he'd EQ'd properly, the sound was good. I kept the board to a minimum - Zoom MS60b giving me a noise gate, compressor and tuner and my Ampeg Classic preamp going into a DI box and into the desk. IEMs were through my Behringer P16 via Ultranet from the desk and a pair of KZ ZS10s earphones on which I've replaced the silicon buds with foam ones for much better isolation. Footwear of choice was the lace up black Skechers which have become an intergal part of my sound. This was my first gig playing a 5 string for several years and there were a few string faux pas but nothing the derailed the night and overall I was happy with my performance, and with the 5 string. I love the narrow string spacing and neck, which suits my hands perfectly. As usual, we had a lot of fun on stage and the audience were up and dancing from the first number. Hiding behind the guitarist.

Played at the North Bar in Peterhead last night with Nine Lives. Bit of a weird one. A venue we've never played before. An area so wide, but with paths customers will take across where the cables to the PA speakers have to go, so I spent most of my time sticking cables down with gaffer tape. Really going to have to investigate using wireless bugs to get the signal from the desk to the PA speakers for places like this in future. Rushed setup as a result, and we were a bit late starting. And after all that effort, it was pretty sparsely attended - in the first half we ended up playing to 4 (four) folk plus the bar staff. "Paid rehearsal" came to mind, but thankfully some people came in later on and it was better in the second half. On the plus side, the sound was good, and the SB-2 performed admirably, with the Wunkay seeing out the second half. I do love my G&Ls. MFD FTW. Gear was the fantastic MFD brothers (G&L Tribute SB-2 then Wunkay) into the usual Markbass cubes of low frequency. Please excuse the terrible photos, my phone was having a 'mare focussing, it would seem.

My old band Knock Off have decided to part ways with their bassist so have asked me to help them out until they get a permanent replacement. Am looking forward to it, though coaxing that old aggressive sound out is a challenge as now playing Fender JMJ Mustangs rather than Precisions for my backs sake, plus my hands can’t take that battering playing style anymore, am sure I’ll find a way though. Some good gigs lined up (Cocksparrer on May 31st in Islington being the first one up) and will be nice to catch up with a lot of people I’ve not seen since I left at end of 2019.

A rugby club up in the valleys on Sunday early evening. Modest attendance but enthusiastic reception for Bendricks Rock. I'd driven to London at 1:30 am, got four hours of non-sleep from 5-9 then drove back for 1pm. About 20 minutes of fitful nap, eat, shower lots of tea, then picked up by vocalist for 50 minute drive. I was amazed that not only did I not eff-up, I had a good gig. Nearly dropped off in the car back. Now I'm going to sleep early, goodnight.

Long overdue update. Waiting on body being finished before hardware upgrades and re-assembly. Mirrored scratchplate not shown should complete the build. Impatiently waiting but happy with how the checked finish looks on the upper body.

I played a really good gig at Bar Silo in Golant in Cornwall. Crowd was amazing and the venue was absolutely wonderful. We even got free food which was delicious.

VID-20250503-WA0001.mp4 Played a Salisbury Live gig on Friday at the same venue as @Cat Burrito played last weekend. The room is quite big with a dancefloor in front of a low stage and there are tables and chairs on a gallery area up some steps (this is on the same level as the rest of the club). There were three bands and we were headliners. Our drummer was drumming in the first band and singing in the second band so it was a little weird but we got to see another side of him and both bands were good. There wasn't a lot of audience throughout the evening but enough for it not to be embarrassing and consider it a 'paid rehearsal'. I'd say the fact that there seemed to be very little promotion apart from what the bands put in themselves, the venue is out of town and there's loads going on in Salisbury this weekend contributed to a low turnout. Having said that, the evening was great fun and we got another gig out of it later this year...with a guaranteed audience 👍🏻 Back to my Airwalk Ones (worn out soles but comfy!) Spoke to the other bands' bassist and we had a connection to a local band from the early 90s so that was cool. Short video from the outro to Butterflies (slightly cut short 😬)

I never win things. That’s what I said to myself when I missed out on a bass competition a few months back. Anyway, I decided to go in for that Yamaha and… well, I won it!!! Is it your old bass, Andy? I’ve never played a Yamaha before so I’m psyched about this one arriving.

It's not necessarily to do with the anagram, I've been feeling this was about the QC for a while but decided to stick it out for a while with the QC. It's great but underused features why. Its almost like I just want less stuff haha The QC is amazing but probably overly complicated for my needs and with some effects I struggle to get the sounds I want or find how some of them interact with my basses I just can't get the sounds I expect from them. Most notably from the filters. It would be to free up some cash and either at some point go with an anagram or actually just buy a few nice pedals and a tuner.. the Anagram would probably make sense due to the range of drives and also the extra effects that I would use sporadically. I've got a whammy, a phaser and an aftershock already sitting in boxes that all do the job. Would maybe opt for a Dunlop Chancellor Wah, MXR vintage bass octave, possibly a comp to add to that but then I love the clean set up of the QC and dislike my OCD with builinf pedalboards. Let's face it I can do pretty much all my gigs with my bass, tuner and sansamp.

Membership revoked!!

Current state of the art in driver design was realized closer to 20 years ago. What's changed since then is more and more sources are producing state of the art drivers.

Oh I know, but currently it doesn’t and we have no timeline for when it will. Bluetooth he said I hope I’m not too optimistic but it should be a couple of months. Audio over USB was pulled last minute before release, but it’s had 3? firmware updates so far and it’s not there. I’m sure it will all be there, just we don’t know when and if you NEED one of these features you should hold off getting it for now imho

Well I didn’t think I’d ever spend this much on a strap, but I caved in and ordered a Heistercamp custom strap. Not that I should feel guilty treating myself, but I sold something on an eBay auction that I didn’t need, and got twice as much I expected, and three times what I paid for it. I basically made £100 out of nowhere. So it was a no brainer to get myself a nice luxurious strap. There were a lot of choices on the custom order form, I was really stuck between suede and smooth leather backing. I’m used to suede, and like it mostly, but it can be a little annoying how grabby it is, and having to lift it off my clothes to adjust the angle of the bass even slightly. So, I thought I’d try smooth leather for a change. Pics will follow when it arrives, but I’m very excited

They're only "experts" in what they like. We have people coming up and telling us we were great. That doesn't mean we were great, but that they liked the evenings entertainment. We did our job.

I’ve gigged it for a couple of weeks now on its own. It’s excellent. Even in its current form, although I do wish midi functionality had been sorted at launch. I much prefer the interface and sounds (for bass) compared to QC and stomp…. Like I’ve said before I’m absolutely aware you can dial in great sounds for both as I’ve had both but I just don’t want to sit and tinker. I’m going to dive into the NAM side of things next and see how that goes as the ones that are in the anagram as standard sound very good

It's quite odd, but just the change in one component (albeit a major one) and the bass is so much more appealing to me. Been able to get the action down very low (maybe 2mm at the octave), much lower than the old neck, and acoustically it just sounds more resonant. While I don't need any more basses, I genuinely find joy from doing stuff like this. I can't believe that what I've done here is realistically that different from what (I can't remember their name) Limelight etc are doing, by sourcing and selling on cobbled together kit. [Edit: I notice that all the Limelight stuff is now showing as Prices On Application on the classic and cool guitars site.] My wife is now going on about me starting up something to earn a bit of £££ as I slip into an early retirement. 😂

Utter bullshít bad marketing strategy: The transition logo appeared when the acknowledgement to sell or buy, depending where you are, the company was official, so very late 1964 to very early 1965, not 2 to 3 years before. 🤦🏻 Quite expensive for what it's not and I agree with the refinish, Tony.

Fool For Your Oven - Whitesnake

Another one for the discussion: Fender Precision bass 1962 - Matching Headstock Fiesta Red https://reverb.com/item/89351369?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=89351369 The seller has a great theory about why a '65+ decal would be fitted on a '62 bass... But of course Fender didn't do such funny things. And patent numbers don't match '62 anyway. An original matching headstock on a 60s precision? I haven't seen them before, but could well exist if someone waved with a bit of money back in the day...

It doesn't happen nearly as often as I would like but, occasionally, there is an album that you listen to and, from the first beat to the last, it is special and you keep going back to it for inspiration, sometimes for decades. A few I can't get over are: Michel Camilo Big Band- Caribe - Anthony Jackson is on absolutely top form here. He is also massively impressive on Steve Kahn's live album 'The Suitcase' - a double live CD with Anthony Jackson on fire. Allan Holdsworth's 'Road Games' with Jeff Berlin ripping us all a new one. Jimmy Johnson on the first three Wayne Johnson Trio albums; Arrowhead, Grasshopper and Everybody's Painting Pictures Bruford's first three: Feels Good To Me, One Of A Kind and especially Gradually Going Tornado - Jeff Berlin at his finest but the production on the last one really works for the bass. Joni Mitchell 'Shadows and Light' - Jaco's finest moment? Possibly. But what about Pat Metheny's Bright Size Life. Marc Johnson's Bass Desires Dave Holland's Conference Of The Birds. Which are the albums you go to for bass inspiration?

Playing the Tap in Nottingham this Friday with Gévaudan. First time playing Nottingham, even though I was at uni there. Free entry...lots of riffs!

Short stuff.

Absolutely. Some of the Fender curios come with 100% genuine provenance. Like the slab board ones that are all documented.

I saw that last night, I believe there are a few matching headstock precisions in existence but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one up close, first glance it looks like a refinish to me

These have been sat in the studio part of our rehearsal room for as long as I’ve been in the band. The studio section was full of gear, and as the studio user moved gear out with our help… The cabs remain. Today I was informed they were left behind for me. very cool - look unused and sound great. 210/410. Turned the horn off on the 410. Sound really well; I’ll enjoy this setup - I missed 10’s. I am sad the Orange 112’s will go - they’re ace, but I’m not into collecting cabs and amps.

There are a couple UK guys who can fake guitars to the point where they are indistinguishable. It's not a recent phenomenon either. I was looking at guitars produced by Clive Brown 25 years ago that were absolutely convincing. I owned a vintage 60's Strat "refinished" by Clive Brown which another luthier gave me the willies about and I disposed of it quickly to a Jeweler in Portsmouth. He once pulled out a "58 Strat" to a bunch of assembled dealers (I was present), and they all gawped over it until he revealed it was actually a JV Squire he had completely done a make over on. Richard Henry can tell you many stories of the number of "all original" Fenders which appeared in Music Ground (he used to work there) having passed through the hands of Clive Brown. It's always been tawdry, and the main culprits are still at large. 60's is a minefield, 70's seems much more safe as they haven't moved on to those yet.

So would the exercise be a way of getting some cash back but maintaining functionality you need, or are you looking for something else from the Anagram? I've snapped back to my senses somewhat and realised that the QC does everything I need and risking a switch to a lesser unit on the basis of its size and bass specificness would be a bit of a risk. I'd definitely buy the Anagram out of the two if I didn't have the QC, but i've not seen anything yet that would justify a switch. I'm more just frustrated at the lack of bass focus with the QC.

I've been with my current bass for 47 years Bill, but over that period, have owned around another 1965! 😂

That One 10 defines physics. Moving air isn't just an expression, it's how speakers work. A high quality modern ten with 8mm excursion capacity will move as much air as vintage fifteen with 3mm excursion.

Ah no. Being of youthful disposition her output consists solely of short video clips, all in portrait mode, none longer than a minute. Not even worth trying to grab a screen shot from 🤣😂 I need to put my reading glasses on next time!

I'm not convinced they're mods at all. None of them are wearing parkas.

It's quite clearly a reshaped Harley Benton headstock. Bunch of amateurs.

Annual Otis Jay Blues Band show at the local Forest Arts Centre, New Milton. Sold 100/130 tickets for a three-band bill - all good clean fun and a joining-in audience to boot. Great to have pro sound and lights. Sandberg VM4, GK MB200 through Barefaced Two10, DI’d of course.

Gigging in a pub? Soundcheck 'till you're happy. Gigging in a ticketed venue? Be done and dusted before they let people in. ...IMO, of course.

I bet someone sent him a telegram at the time slagging him off

Second gig for my originals band last Saturday evening in Reading. Gig put on by a local promoter who has delt with our guitarist before. All new to me and was slightly nervous as only required to take Squier PJ-555 and pedalboard. Happy to find Markbass lm3 and 2x10 cab supplied. Small pub but a sizable enthusiastic crowd for the four bands. We were on second and went down very well. Friendly sound man and I could hear everything fine which encouraged me to do my backing Vox. I'm not great but it's so much easier when you can hear yerself. Lots of positive comments from audience members and one of the other bands want us to do a gig with them in September.....so far so good. update, some footage has shown up...got to work on that ending😆

Go on then, all this talk of 1100s', and as it's sat there looking at me after Thursdays rehearsal. 😁