Leaderboard

No, I plan on taking a full-length mirror on stage with me and then standing just off-stage. 😎

The story actually evolves around what comes with age. Don't ask how it happened, I don't know it just did. I didn't realize it when I left home for the show. I had put my underwear on backwards. I knew something didn't feel right by the time I arrived at the gig. I was tired and a little confused . I just said " screw it" entered the bathroom and took all my clothes off and put my underwear on correctly . Lol I guess that's rock & roll. Daryl

So Pete is in Hobgoblin Music in Cambridge and has stumbled across an all-original Maya which - from a distance - is the spitting image of Macca's later bass. You couldn't make it up. And the shop want silly money for it. As in seriously silly money in the right way ... it's like stumbing back into the 1990s. What did I say? I said BUY! BUY!! BUY!!! Bridge pickup cover is still in place and doesn't bother me at all. I can play the bass perfectly happily with that in place. Someone has clearly tried to differentiate between the V/T for neck and bridge. Somewhere along the line, they've mixed up the knobs so that neck volume and tone are the wrong way round. There are no grub screws and the knobs don't just pull off so I'm not sure how to swop them around. Original trc is utterly horrible ... but it's authentic. This is a very nice piece of wood. No boxwood or ply was used here. And the tuners are quality items.

In truth, it didn't start with a Spanish name. I recently joined a band that does an awful lot of Beatles stuff. It's a weird thing, but I grew up listening almost exclusively to The Beatles (essentially until I was about 15, which was 1971), they are and will always be my favourite band and the most important band in my musical life, yet I've played a ridiculously small number of their songs in all the years I've been gigging. So this band could be very important to me. I already have a 1964 Hofner 500/1 Violin bass (yes yes, I know it should be a 1963, but have you seen the prices?) so what I needed was a Rick. Do I go for an early version of Macca's bass (1965 Fireglo) or a later version (natural refin)? That's what sparked the 'Wanted' post for a decent Rickenfaker, and that produced a very nice bass from @Thor which - from a distance - is the spitting image of Macca's early bass. The hand-drawn trc in sharpie is a thing of wonder, the rather more professional fake jobbie has to go and will be replaced by a Shaftesbury trc. Bridge pickup cover has been replaced by the perspex bevel preferred by most Rick players. Reasonable amount of wear to the body, and it's the real thing rather than a pathetic 'relic' job. Tuners are much cleaner than you'd expect - usually these are covered with rust spots. Only major flaw is the nasty crack where the wing is glued to the neck-through. It's been stable the whole time that @Thor has owned it, and it doesn't worry me. Even if it gets worse it's an easy fix for any competent luthier.

Posted this vid in the Roxy Music thread, but suspect he deserves his own spotlight having played in some important bands of the time - Adam & The Ants, Vibrators two name two. I think I learned more about playing bass from hearing and studying this bass line than I learned in the following 5-years. As I said in the other thread, it's tight, present, and insistent. Nothing special in itself, but it doesn't just suit the song, it drives it along powerfully. Glorious

Just got home from a Spacewasters rehearsal. We only rehearse when we’ve a gig looming (2 in fact, in the next couple of weeks, both at The Water Rats in Kings Cross) just to refresh a bit. Our new guitarist is fitting in well, both guitarists working this eve on sounds and who does which lead bit etc. Plus me and both guitarists now doing backing vocals so a lot stronger in that dept which is good. Bass was JMJ Mustang into the studios - I think - Laney stack of amp/410/115, sounded great. In this band I tend to go for a more traditional supporting bass sound which I prefer to the up front/listen to me sounds I’ve had previously.

My latest bass

by mistake... yeah right

updated big board photo. MK2 octabvre and HX stomp back, and added the EWS stormy for another drive flavor.

😂😂😂 I remember years ago one of the older guys i worked with came into work and after a visit to the loo he realised he'd put on his wife's underwear. The obvious Scottish sarcasm followed and when asked how he managed that he explained. "It was still dark when he woke up and didn't want to wake his wife. His underwear was in the drawer next to his wife's and he opened what he thought was his drawer and took out underwear not aware he was in the wrong drawers. (excuse the pun) He was almost retirement age so we all believed it was a genuine mistake so think yourself lucky it was only a minor mistook you made Daryl. 🤣 Not 100% sure why he even told us. ? Think i would have kept my mouth shut. Dave

Slightly off that line of discussion, on Facebook today was saying they use a class D 3000W karaoke speaker for their bass at home and it sounds great. A bit of digging showed the '3000W PMPO' device as rated at 2 x 150W into 4 Ohms.

I'll be comparing the two and sharing my thoughts in time along with a full review. I'm also planning another review of the QC as there's lots to include since the last ones. I am mega pleased to see that the next OS update of the Quad Cortex is finally going to include both the amazing Cory Wong X and Parallax X plug-in, following today's announcement. I use the Cory Wong X daily and I've wanted the compressor and SSL desk model in the QC for..well, ever! Next I'm looking forward to seeing the Archetype: Petrucci X ported in too, my other daily driver for teaching, writing and recording.

I replaced EHM big muff with Ampeg scrambler.

It’s Dood- he the kind of guy who doesn’t queue to get in a club…

He’ll have lent on his fame and skipped the line the rest of us peasants are in.

Did some rough basslines this evening, using garageband for a project I'm helping out with. Relatively small room with lots of gear in so I took the Squier Jag SS. Acquitted itself well.

Mine looks like this, it took 20 years of chasing to find this very one.

Very advanced notice, but as Weeds haven't played in public for around 9 years I thought I'd mention it... Complete with psychedelic and electronica support and 60s oil projection! Tis in Chester, btw...

Just added neodymium button magnets on top of the jazz pickup pole pieces, which I poked into their holes. Makes up the huge volume difference.

I was fortunate enough to play in a band with the great Paul Thompson for a while.great player and a great bloke.

I'm pretty confident that I could design an aesthetically pleasing & functional 15-string bass, within the significant constraints of the design parameters imposed by that specification. I am similarly confident that it would be fitted with eleven strings that were never touched.

As much as it would be nice to play along and say its because they know me, its for ma job; I'm going to give Anagram a thorough review and video for y'all! but yeah, they know me 😂

I think JG played on Love is the Drug, absolutely epic bass groove.

15? You need to try a theorbo.

15 strings, if running tuning at standard intervals, is pointless. I had a 13 string bass made for me some years ago, the thickest string was a G#00 that resonated at 18hz, so right at the very very lowest range of human hearing. The highest fret of the sharpest string was right at the top end of human hearing. It also had a near unplayable fanned scale of 41" to 24" to make the strings actually function correctly. It was a bit of an experiment, and while it technically worked, going beyond 13 string is a pointless exercise unless you're using alternative tuning. Binky, my 10 string bass, is however right at the sweet spot of utterly ridiculous, completely awesome and totally useable! For those that haven't seen it, this is Binky (and my 8 string Conklin!)

It's an original feature, but it's not systematic as you can have notched on the treble side, notched on bass side, notched on both sides, and not notched at all tuners. Furthermore, these types of tuners can be mixed. The interesting thing is that, thanks to these notched tuners, you can narrow the dating to the pre-CBS era, if they are squared notched tuners.

Anyway, here's my new pedalboard...

Status Groove Basses. Best neck profile for my hands. Massive regrets selling mine. Never see them come up. All that aside….great to see Dave Grohl playing drums again. 😂

There's been a bit of a development. I was talking to a band a while ago but it all went quiet. Yesterday I heard from them again and they sent over some new material and it's really good. I'm going to give it a good go, write some bass parts and see how it goes.

Greetings! picked up the bass last month and @Deep Thought recommended this page as I have recently fell into a band and I’ve been bugging the fella about equipment. I’ve a couple precisions, a squier sonic and a Harley Benton PB-20 (initially as a back up but lately I’ve been using the HB more often) Currently looking for a head & matching cab that can keep up with my fellow bandmates so I’m keen to see if basschat can help. A bit of a backstory: I’m part of a 4 piece band called “The Blinders” with myself on bass along with 1x Guitarist, 1x Keys, & 1x Drummer of course. We were originally just a small jamming group in which I had originally joined to play guitar but recently it was decided we’d be a band so I have stepped in and decided to handle the low end side of things. I am after a head & cab that’s suitable for pub rock which doesn’t bring the bank to its knees (mind you I am after a good quality set so understandably I’m not trying to budget too much!) if anyone could advise and help out? Many thanks in advance !

Quality player

Always better to have put it on backwards in the first place, than to wake up the next morning with it all the wrong way round and no recollection of why.......

Gary Tibbs' bass line on Trash makes me fall in love with bass again every time I hear it, nothing special technically but perfect for the track, what bass is all about 👍

Any bass in left handed. 🤨

I like the Monaco yellow.

Going small this weekend while waiting for my Anagram which has been delayed

Next step was obviously a body and neck. I decided to go '70s for a couple of reasons - I always liked the late '70s 'S' series basses, which most other people seem to think are the very worst in terms of Fender QC, but I really like the aggressive tone. Hence, I decided to go ash and maple. This is very much a tribute to the era rather than something 100% accurate - so although I managed to get a northern ash body (from Guitar Build), it's a '60s version without the channel cut between the pickup cavity and the control cavity. It'll all be under the pickguard anyway so no problem there. I went with one piece maple for the neck. I pushed the boat out a bit and ordered from Musikraft in the US. Allparts and Warmoth don't do the correct 7.25 radius on their repro necks. It's currently in production, not sure when it will arrive. An era correct decal has also arrived.

I've had a look at the published specs of the RCF 912 and the FBT and they're fairly similar. Both bass drivers have 2.5" coils - so they're what you'd call 300W cabs in a non-hyped world. The RCF has a pressed steel chassis and ceramic magnet and I reckon the FBT is the same - otherwise they would mention it. This is budget PA, not high-end. The FBT compression driver has a 1.4" coil, while the RCF has a 1.75" coil, which puts the RCF ahead on points. However, the horn is likely to make more of a difference than the HF units. RCF horns are normally excellent; I can't comment on the FBT horn, as I can't find any photos. The kicker for me is that the FBT has a plywood cabinet, as @Phil Starr has pointed out. I can't stand the "boxy" sound of plastic cabs personally. It looks like they're close. Price and weight are similar. The five-year warranty is another plus point for the FBT. I can't see any downsides for either cabs at the price, although the proof is always in the pudding.

It’s over there, between the land and the sky!

This is what my uncle used to say. Lovely bloke, terrible ringmaster.

Cast around for open mics. I've encountered a wide variety of them, from being almost the youngest and rockiest there at one to being the oldest and folkiest at another.

No, Watt. James Watt. ☺️

They're going to have a hard time selling that. It just looks knockoff to me. Also, have they ever heard of staging a photo? Sure, I'll come pick this bass up from you, even if I don't get stabbed I will probably contract ebola or something. Bloody hell!