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At rehearsal last night i took my usual barefaced/Orange rig and set up as usual. In the corner of the room was the rehearsal spaces house rig. I plugged in directly to see what it was like, straight in without my cali76 and SV bassrig. WOW!!!! It sounded absolutely massive. Tight, deep and that genuine kick to the chest. Absolutely stunning! I assume most of it was the cab (a big 1x18 peavey) which would be completely out the question for me gigging but it just reminded me that with all this lightweight technology we definitely seem to have lost something. And here it is in all jts glory…

From past experience, it doesn't matter what you use, it's getting band members to actually use them.

We did a run through with a dep drummer for this coming Sunday’s gig. It was pretty awesome! The guy had plainly done a lot of homework and had a great feel. Police & Thieves had the most solid ‘one’ I have played to and could have happily played it for hours. Adding to that, he managed to swing Town Called Malice rather than the usual bashed out ‘four on the floor’ I have endured over the decades; another delight to play to. Given our usual drummer’s patchy availability, I’m hoping we might work with this guy some more. Prior to the rehearsal, I was feeling like packing it all in, but I’m feeling somewhat enthused now.

After two very late night finishes on Thursday and Friday at a couple of our pub residencies and back home in the small hours, which included having to deal with one of the venues that had hitherto supplied the drum kit not having one anymore, but not bothering to inform us(!), we had a real treat Sunday morning as the course band for the Hackney half-marathon for our fourth year. 8am arrive to set up and then 25,000 runners streaming passed over 2 hours which we played solidly without a break - so a bit of a marathon for us too! Made doubly special for me by having my daughter participating as a runner again this year. A complete blast and a great atmosphere! A little insta clip here to give you more of a feel for the event.

Not rehearsal as such, but my first bass lesson in years. Really back to basics stuff ("Down on the corner' anyone ?) with the intent to remove some poor habits that are going to cause problems. Just being super-accurate with everything. Also hammer-on and pull-off which are new to me.

A pfffft sort of gig Satdy night up in Blackburn (and a single vital road closure added 20 minutes to the nearly-an-hour trip there), mostly empty pub ("Oooo, you're up against Eurovision tonight") and apparently a complaint later that the drums were too loud. I'm not surprised; the pool team is apparently the big thing about the pub, so they can't move the table, it having been professionally levelled or something, so we were in front of it, with a big chunk of empty pub behind us that had more natural reverb than a church. Tricky to keep as quiet as they wanted, but ironically the half dozen drunks in there were deafening before we went on in their conversational volume, literally shouting at each other while all sitting round the same table. They buggered off at some point, as did most other folk, but hey. Didn't help that I'd been out on the bike for a 130-mile blatt in the sun, and that took it out of me (I seem to recall riding a big bike was a lot less physically demanding when I was 21), so I hit the Energy Wall about half ten. Anyhoo, earlish finish, and we got paid. Last minute dep call for hosting a jam night in Tyldesley last night, which was good fun, tho I was the soberest person in the place by eleven (with a 25 mile drive home to do), and we didn't finish till pushing midnight. Used the QSC 12.2, but it was wayyy too much, I need to look at the EQ settings for a less bassy, more focused preset for using a foot from you on a small stage. No inears, my ears are singing today. 😐 Light Sonic P, Stomp, inears/QSC. Green Sketchers for both gigs. Edit: Checked yesterday, and I was using the Bass Amp preset on the QSC, which isn't my favourite; had a faff about with it, and there are presets with less really low bottom ends which would have been more appropriate for a small pub gig with a raised floor (I'm not a fan of a ton of real lows; they're too much trouble to separate from boomy mud). On the other hand, for the gig the weekend before outside in a field, the bigger bottom end was very good. I guess I just don't use it enough to have got used to switching it about.

Two gig weekend this weekend. First was an evening gig at a local working mens club that we do a few times a year. Better than it sounds, it has a good stage, easy load in through the back door and a generally attentive crowd. I think numbers were a bit down on normal, but with quite a lot on that weekend around here, its not really that surprising, but the crowd were good, sound was good playing the spector for the first half and the #1 ibanez for the second half (to give my shoulder a break, the spector weighs a bit!). Went back to stereo IEM, and after taking my X18 in the house and going through it I found that the reason it didnt work well the last time I tried, Aux 5&6 that I was using for the IEM output was tied (for some reason) to the main output rather than bus 5&6, which is why adjusting them made no difference. Also I had fed the output from a multitrack I had recorded another time through the mixer again so I could offline concentrate on what I could do with the vocals of the singer - people have always complained he sounds muffled. I think I got it a lot better and he was really happy with how it sounded this weekend, in fact for the first time he said maybe it was too loud and clear! Noone complained they couldn't hear him. Sundays gig was an ourdoor pavillion, one of those venues that in the sun is fantastic, and in the rain is cramped and not so good. It was sunny so loads of space and everyone was in the mood for music. Setting up was easy, the cars are parked just on the left of the building on the grass, the bar part on the right and the crowd goes on a long way to the right in front of the bar. However setting up there was a panic as the original Evox PA on the left of this photo wouldn't switch on - we fiddled around, swapped leads etc, and nothing. In the end while I was looking elsewhere the guitarist and drummer noticed that when you rocked the pa forwards the power came on, and went off when it went back. so we moved it to be on one slab and put beer mats to make sure it was level and it stayed on for the whole gig. That si this weeks job. Didn't want to do the whole gig with just one evox 8 and there wasn't enough time to get home and get something else. Tried the soundcheck, my bass sounded terrible.Playing my Orange OLP, it was a summer day, that is a summer bass. Unfortunately there was no bass and it sounded weedy. I know it wasn't the battery as I had tested it during the week. Fiddle round, boosted the bass on the bass, and it sounded a little better, figuring that maybe a 10" speaker and Bam200 into the PA wasn't good enough for an open air (this is what I use all the time now), then I spotted it - the Bam200 as it is so small it lives in the gig bag, the bass and middle were fully anticlockwise, the treble fully clockwise, they just move in the bag. Put them all at 12 and suddenly I had a bass again (too much, turned the bass on the OLP down) The audience were in party mode and despite us doing exactly the same set list as saturday night and quite a few people from the previous night in attendance, they were really enjoying it, as did we. We have introduced 3 new songs in the last gigs, and they went well, I only messed up on some of the ones we have been playing for ever! So for info on the photo, that is my position on the right, microphone stand with iPad and sample pad (for pianos for 'In the End'), pedal board - mod dwarf, 12 step, critical mass vocals, going to the bam200 on the gnome 10" feeding through that line of wires to the PA (xlr from bam to mixer and jacks from the sampler and keyboard output of the dwarf to the mixer). The other leads are right speaker and ethernet from the mixer to the X-Control surface on the stand. This morning I woke up and feel like I lost a boxing match - too old for this shit!

I just added a transformer to the preamp so the balanced output is working now too. soundsamples will follow soon now!

Strings? Luxury, when I were a lad.......

Had a decent one breaking in our new guitarist and drummer... It's made me realise that some of our songs are quite complicated and not easy to learn, especially as guitarman doesn't know music theory. While some are just a straight-ahead thrash, in the others I have to show what "this bit goes down chromatically in major thirds" or "emphasise the diminished fifth" means. And one song has ten different sections... But luckily he's got a good ear and plays instinctively. And new drummer actually listens carefully to the bassline and vocal before committing to a beat. As a result, drumming is funkier, guitar punkier and a bit more metal which I think will be a Very Good Thing!

Careful, someone will be along in a minute to tell you that on the basis of the technical specifications of newer and lighter cabs you're wrong, an old 18" speaker can NEVER sound good 😃

We were back at The Queens Arms in Brixham on Saturday night. I managed to bag a parking space right outside, which is unheard of. Another good night with an appreciative landlord and crowd. During the break a guy came up to ask me about my rig as he didn't recognise my Ashdown RM 500 evo ii and BF 210 cab, so we had a chat about them. He was actually a guitarist and did recognise my stingray, and was very complimentary on my sound and the balance with our guitarist. 11pm finish luckily, so no too late arriving home.

I absolutely love my LFSys F1 range Monaco cab. Sounds phenomenal.... Looks like @stevie has now released his new more 'wallet-friendly' BlueLine range. Go give them a look.... I'm sure they're wonderful! https://www.lfsys.co.uk/bassguitarproducts

Your current Celestion isn't all that bad, but the port is too short. It should be 13cm long, which will give better lows. The driver xmax is very short at only 2.5mm, which limits it to 50w before reaching the excursion limit. If you're not have an issue with distorting lows it doesn't much matter, but if you are that's the likely cause. Going to the Celestion FTR15-3070C with 5.5mm xmax would cure that. You also want to see if the cab has cross bracing and wadding inside. Fender was notorious for leaving out both.

I use my 1001rb all the time. But it's just for the stage. What goes out to the house is completely different from what I hear on stage. Daryl

This one for me this coming Sunday afternoon.

Change the click bait thread title.

22/05/2007 here And likewise the most expensive decision I've ever made (and in part your fault Nik) I think I've spent less on houses

L I still really love those old Hartke 4.5XL cabinetss. They had a very specific tonal chracter to them, which, down low wasn't even remotely FRFR, quite the opposite. Up at gig volume, the low end bloomed as the cones started moving some air and the peak in the treble region really helped the bass sound to cut through. Further more, considering the cabinets had a scoop in the mids, there was always plenty of room in the mix for guitars and keys too! At 45Kg each, and that my needs have changed considerably, it's unlikely I'd gig with them now, but I wouldn't mind having one in the giant studio space I don't own either.

Gotta give some credit to those old Hartke heads too which just consistently deliver the goods.

Have you had a TalkBass-based personality transplant, or something? 🤪

"I'm not dead"

I’m often blown away by the various expertise of BC members on certain subjects, but @Bill Fitzmaurice is another level. Amazing knowledge.

Maybe someone should invent a new one, maybe call it Cat Herding?

MTD, Spector

Back after a week off, Nine Lives at Wilson's in Aberdeen. Dunno how this one's gonna go - it's the day of the Scottish Cup final featuring Aberdeen and Celtic. So, being a sports/football bar in Aberdeen either it's going to be party central, or (more likely) either dead, miserable or fighty. Wish me luck!

Missile Toe and Wine - Cliff Richard

2468 Mortar Way - Tom Robinson

Lad? Luxury, when I were an Australopithecus... ☺️

Could be. The lead guitarist in one of my bands was struggling with intonation on his PRS. After many visits to the luthier, they decided it was the fret height PRS use combined with his string gauge and the strength of his grip. He went up a string gauge and tried to use a lighter touch. It improved things a lot but occasionally I think we sound a bit chorusy. Nobody else notices but it does make me check my bass tuning a lot.

If you hover over your username (or go visit your profile), it's in the URL before your username - https://www.basschat.co.uk/profile/16-neepheid/ for example - me == #16. You are #32. We are old.

Currently having a MK2 5 String being made for me . Mark has been great in keeping me informed of the progress of the build and range of certain options (control knobs) etc . I’ll post some pics when I get it

A great drummer can change the whole feel of a song, for the better.

I think I know the one you mean. That area of the UK has had a lot of gear (not the same seller IIRC) that has piqued my interest recently and only distance has kept my wallet safe.

Will most likely spend my lunchtime looking for another HA3000 on eBay now FFS.

I’m in agreement, I’ve liked all of the lightweight setups I’ve had, all were great but whenever I’ve played through an old school rig I’ve noticed a difference, and one that I’ve preferred.

Stuart Zender - Forgotten but not gone

We need to make it obligatory when starting threads about musicians, especially of a certain age, to include in the title: ""Famous Person's Name Here" - not brown bread"

So did I...

Me likewise.

It is. We're just being nice.

I am astounded how many of you report 'out of tune syndrome' ... I thought it was just me.

Man, I clicked on this post, thinking he had passed away. Good to know that he is still alive 😊

Cabinet technology not so much, but driver technology for sure. You may be able to greatly increase performance replacing it. I can make recommendations knowing the exact internal dimensions of the cab and port. An 8 ohm cab is best, allowing you to use two should the need arise, although with a 100 watt amp it probably would not.

In a bizarre twist of internet fate, I saw Supergrass this weekend, exactly 15 years to the month after they reformed! What a prediction! Superb band, Mick Quinn is one of my favourites.

that's what i thought also ...

I had this at a rehearsal last week, with one band, didn`t happen with the other and was using the same bass. I did check the intonation at the weekend just to make sure and all was good. So I now think it`s the guitar in the first band needs a set-up.