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I'm playing Glastonbury 2025, I have 4 gigs lined up, playing with Andrew Maxwell Morris. Wednesday 25th: Toad Hall - 17.10-17.50 (40mins) Thursday 26th: Mandala Stage - 14.00-14.45 (45 mins) Friday 27th: Open Arms - 12.00- 12.45 (45 mins) Small World Stage - 14.10-15.00 (50 mins) I so can't wait 😁

Singist hits some loud shit in our Odelay gig, went great, could have been better, could have been worse, Beck has said the same about his own gigs

A bit late, but Thursday's Jam Night was good. We were on shortly after 9 followed by the band I depped for the previous Saturday (Matt Guntrip and the Roadsters). Matt and said Roadsters hadn't heard us play before. A few of my mates also came down, some of them for the 1st time The pub manager told the guitarist he'd had a few people asking about us and offered us a Friday slot if we want one. So I guess we either played well, or played songs people liked, or both. My 1st Granddaughter (and also the neice of the drummer), was born on 4th May. Hence I managed to get this one on the set list. Intro to the song was along the lines of "Can you guess her name. No. No. No. Well there's a clue in this song". violet

A couple of little changes thanks to @tayste_2000: Swapped out my 3Leaf Enabler for the Shiftline Olympic MkIIIs on the Nano, powered by a Cioks Sol, running the Olympic and OC2 at 12v: Swapped out my MXR Studio Compressor for the Diamond Bass Comp Jnr on the Nano+, powered by a Cioks DC5, running the Diamond at 18v: That is all for now 😀 Si

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/music-donation-to-thomas-deacon-academy-to-ensure-much-loved-peterborough-bass-player-nick-smiths-legacy-lives-on-5190446 Just wanted to share this article from Peterborough today, our local newspaper. Ally and I visited the Thomas Deacon Education trust to donate some instruments and equipment. It was exciting to start the NSFT! 🎸🙏💚

Hardest album we've played, best gig we've done

I'm playing 4 gigs at Glastonbury 2025 with Andrew Maxwell Morris. Wednesday 25th: Toad Hall - 17.10-17.50 (40mins) Thursday 26th: Mandala Stage - 14.00-14.45 (45 mins) Friday 27th: Open Arms - 12.00- 12.45 (45 mins) Small World Stage - 14.10-15.00 (50 mins) I so can't wait 😎

OK then no singing here then , definitely Ibanez 6 string through waves GTR 3 stomps , lots of compression and a lump of reaper reverb, simple EZ drums , some vocal 'ah' sounds off my digi piano, some keyboard synth with a waves GTR3 backwards effect, and ME with a bit of re-pitch adjustments, all done in Reaper with a splattering of Ozone 8 to put some life into it .

Well I can tell you exactly what I'll be playing and it's not very interesting or original 😂 Fender Japan 60's Classic Precision with LaBella Deep Talkin Flats. Sansamp BDDI, Ampeg Opto Compressor, Boss or MXR Octave and TC Electronic Tuner. Boring but a solid workhorse setup 😂

My band SHREDS. is playing the Slugfest In The Park festival in Wales on Friday. Our very own 'Thrashmaster -- Burnt to Shreds.' hot sauce will debut there, so if you're attending please drop by our merch stall to say 'hello' and grab a bottle!

Might as well make Bass playing as comfortable as possible: Those Zoom pedal displays are small, something like the Boss GX 10 is much more readable. And as already mentioned - get a lightweight Bass (and amp/cab). 'what does it weigh?' is a cliché question when someone puts up an advert selling a Bass without saying the weight, I think most people that do gigs/play standing up eventually find it quite an important consideration. Manufacturers seem to have realised this and there is quite a good choice of lightweights now. There's a slight 'back in the day we didn't question the weight of a bass' attitude sometimes....yeah, but people also smoked in pubs, didn't wear seatbelts, had asbestos and lead around the house, and probably have bad backs now!

Well, thanks again for all the collective help /advice. I have a jazz trio on the go, currently using a mix of electric fretted / fretless. I've depped on a few gigs for a couple of rockabilly bands using a '76 Jazz whose DB players have damaged themselves (building site related injuries). The other band is a 6 piece function covers band which is irrelevant here. I do need a setup, strings and lessons but have sorted the correct height of the bass and stance sorted out for myself. All the best 👍

You are Dr Who and I claim my £5. ...

250??? 250 !!! That is a score and a half! Looks to be american made, The R logo and serial would put it in the 80's for certain. All the switching options and knob design all point to the USA as well. I would put the pictures and details onto the BC rich Junkies page on facebook. There are people on there that could tell you what the builder's wife's cat was doing at 7 minutes past 3 there Thank you for sharing dude!! I look forward to seeing it on FB

So, following on from my earlier post with the electric bass board, some goodies arrived this morning from Anderson’s to complete the meagre double bass / EUB board. Everything I need and nothing I don’t 😎

The spring is free, but my fee is...also free.

As above, would need to know the use case. But I would get a D’addario xpnd, wire it with the B7K (though I’d personally go for something from Sushibox or a DG Element) at the end, with the board slightly pulled out. This will give you enough space on the main board for Tuner - Comp - MXR BOD and 2 other pedals of your choice (C4/Aftershock 🤷‍♂️). Get to the gig, slide the board open stick the stomp between the B7k and the other last pedal. That would give you more or less all the functionality of everything I’m seeing here in a very compact easy to carry setup.

So having decided that I'd like to set myself the challenge of having a go at fretless, and wanting to try before I bought, I looked at what was around on the cheap end of the market and my local music shop (I say shop, I suspect it's more the owner's retirement hobby and gear museum/hangout, with incidental music teaching space attached) had this, so I dropped in and had a look. Internet research suggests it was made in the Samick factory in 1994/5 and will have originally been fretted. The defret job looked good to my non-expert eye, the body and neck felt comfortable, it wasn't too heavy, it sounded OK unplugged - considering it had flats of unknown provenance on - and made a good range of tones plugged in to the shop Trace combo. The action wasn't exactly low and I noticed the G string bridge saddle was as low as it could get, but I figured a bit of setup attention could probably sort that. Oh and a previous owner had decided to replace the output jack with an XLR. Anyway though, I decided I liked it, so two hundred quid plus trade-in of a Marshall MB15 I no longer need and it came home with me. Closer inspection and plugging in at home and the imperfections started to look a lot more imperfect. I realised the intonation was badly out and the bridge saddles didn't have enough adjustment (away from the neck) to get it anywhere near right without reaching the string end wraps. And there was a huge amount of interference pickup, which only almost went away when I turned the tone control fully clockwise, which corresponded to maximum treble cut (??). Inspecting the cavity again, the wiring I'd thought looked passable in the shop now turned out to be a right dog's dinner. I started to feel I'd got a dud on my hands. Maybe I should have gone with the safe-but-boring Squier Vintage Modified 4-string that guy in Ashton with the leather sofa had on Gumtree… But then I took delivery of a set of lightly used Elixir stainless roundwounds courtesy of cdog, and went through the setup as I swapped them on, and everything started to make a bit more sense. Intonation came right in a more sensible place and I had to raise the G saddle a little to cure a rattle on the top end of the fretboard, which left the action still a bit higher than I'd like but definitely playable, and the rounds are easier (or at least more like what I'm used to) than the flats. And I've ordered the parts to screen and rewire the electrics and return it to a normal jack socket. So I'm a happy bunny after all. And I do think it looks rather smart in the black. I reckon the fretboard may have lifted a little bit at the top end, so once I've played it a bit more I may get an expert opinion on whether a bit of work would improve the action, but I'll leave that for a while as I'm planning to stick to the fretted until my next jazz jam in a couple of weeks, then play only the fretless and see how quickly I can get used to it. My own intonation is currently at the 'surprisingly good, but still terrible' level so some practice will be required.

Thanks for that @SuperSeagull Mine still has the same functions to the controls - but I think I'd prefer the arrangement you have, with 2x vol and 2x tone. I definitely prefer a passive bass. Only once did a battery fail on me at a gig... but it's a lasting memory. It was quick enough to fix at the time (I usually carry a spare battery) but a pre-amp fail - ooh, that's a scary thought for a live gig, even though I'm sure it doesn't happen often.

I'll try and catch you on Thursday!

Absolutely each to their own, yes. Just to be clear though I was not setting any conditions on bass ownership. If someone has an expensive / rare / irreplaceable bass that they don't want to take out, it is a decision entirely for them. I'm just thinking if I don't play something (home or live), I personally can't justify keeping it - I don't have the spare cash. And sadly, my holidays aren't even fancy! 😸

Thank you!

It took me quite a while to appreciate Haslip. That changed after transcribing some of the Gino Vannelli tracks. I should finish my Yellowjackets transcriptions...🙄 Thank you for the transcription(s)!

I can see the headline now: "Shortage of bassists in Aberdeen after they were all press-ganged into working on a galleon....."

This doesn't really make sense. A passive bass doesn't have detents either, would you say the range of detent-free travel on a Precision tone pot means you can never get the same tone twice? A two band Stingray has bass boost only, along with treble cut and boost. The way I set them up was to use the grub screw on the knob as a marker. For the bass knob, turn it all the way down, no boost, and have the grub screw pointing straight up, from the playing perspective. Then you know when it's flat and, if you boost, by how much. For the treble knob, I move it to roughly half way, then set the grub screw pointing straight up, from the playing perspective. You're roughly flat, at that point and it's very easy to see whether you're cutting or boosting and by how much. Very simple. FWIW, I would set passive basses up the same way, the grub screw pointing up when the controls are up full, i.e. flat, not cutting. That way you can see very easily how you are set on any bass, passive or active whether you have detents or not.

In this instance, any switch or contact cleaner will not work. Those tactile microsites are sealed and do not work in the same way as a traditional electro-mechanical switch. There may be a need for some lubricant in the actual stomp button to keep is moving freely. As @Phil Starr says, you can experiment with foam or felt pads between the springs and the switch, but be careful. Firstly, the switches themselves are not that robust and secondly, too much pressure may lead to the switch being activated permanently, as though your foot was always on the foot switch. Use the rubber end of a pencil or even a cotton buds to make sure that the switch itself is still operating correctly.

This is what motivates my preference to using passive, and my comfort in using my P bass as well. Once everything is turned up I feel like all the knobs just 'make' me fiddle with them! The Stingray I previously used really confused me as well, with no centre detents available on the eq knobs I genuinely didn't know where 'normal' was. I guess I'm just trying to avoid being a bass-luddite and want to get the best out of my gear but I suspect I'll probably be keeping the passive mode selected in the long run.

Nice to hear Foulds is still going. It's been 10 years plus since I was last in Derby. Is sound control/rattle n drum still going? Edit: Just read the thread. Yep glad to hear they're both still going.

I teach above Hippo/R&D, both great independent shops run by owners who care about what they are doing.

I'm not sure exactly how long I get from a full charge as it's never gone from full to empty in one sitting, but it's a lot more than one hour, maybe five or six hours. When I practise it's usually for about an hour to an hour and a half and I get a good few sessions out of it before it needs charging. Kind of intrigued now as to how long it does actually last. Mine is the mp-2 rather than the pro but I can't see there being that big a difference.

Oh, I'm out, it's getting far too nitpicky in here. All playing is equally valid, regardless of who's doing it, where it's happening, whether or not it's for monetary gain, what time of day it's happening or any other stupid variable you'd like to throw at it. I don't care any more. Some of you have made this thread unbearable. Go play a bass or something

Absolute bargain. Definitely (maybe?) a US model. High quality bit of kit. Congratulations!

If I start fiddling with anything irrelevant over sound, I need to stop gigging. I use whichever bass is suitable for the gig. It may be possible a meteor destroys my bass (and me), but every instrument is meant for playing.

Congratulations on the offspring!

For those interested, there's this perfect device, called Keith McMillen Batt-o-Meter, which can test batteries inside an instrument or pedal, outside them and even self test itself, which means it was really well thought. Not very expensive and, to me, worth the price. You can get it for £24,4 GBP from Thomann (and others): https://www.thomann.co.uk/keith_mcmillen_batt_o_meter.htm Here is an old review:

Unless these people are working 12 hour shifts/7 days a week they have little excuse for not having time to practice. I have a full time job, a young family, a critically ill Mother and doddery Father....and still manage to find time to practice for a new theatre show, a theatre show dep, a local covers band and other occasional deps/wedding gigs. Not meaning to sound like a martyr, but if you are serious about your music you FIND the time... for practice, rehearsing and gigging!

Acoustic duo gig yesterday evening at a local pub - birthday party for a friend’s wife. We played in a room at the back of the pub which used to be a brewery, with a flagstone floor but very uneven. We both spent all the gig balanced precariously on stools with one foot on the ground, not ideal but no alternative. I had to put wedges under our PA speakers on one side to prevent them from falling backwards! We did our usual request format and had some good ones. Because there was no room for dancing it meant we could play more slow tempo tunes, including ‘Sweet baby James’, ‘Rotterdam’ and ‘Let’s stay together’. Bad planning meant the buffet was served during the start of our second set, but we ploughed on regardless as we were due to finish by a certain time. Didn’t seem to matter, and we went down well so all good. Load out in the rain but meant it was quick! Got two more gigs this Tuesday and Wednesday, then a week off, phew.

Saturday night was in a school hall playing bass for the local concert band and it's 25th anniversary concert. Was good fun but a total sweat box, especially when the band committee insisted we all walked on stage in full uniform - ie shirt, tie, trousers and heavy band blazers. Luckily the jackets came straight off when we got on stage.....

Hurtsfall played the Nottingham Craft Beer Festival in Sneinton Market on Saturday. If you are not playing covers these events can be a bit hit-or-miss and on top of that we were the last band playing that day, so we didn't really know what to expect. Sneinton Market is currently the "happening" area in Nottingham where all the interesting independent shops are situated in units in the old market buildings. On arrival we discovered that the beer festival had taken up the whole of the Avenues area and was entry by ticket only. However to allow people to still use the shops you could get in but didn't get a wristband which was required in order to buy beer. As performers we all got wristbands but I don't recall being asked to show mine before being served. There were two stages - one outdoors where unfortunately the performers seemed to be mostly ignored and also had to compete with all the other music - there appeared to be at least one DJ set up on every avenue, and the other in The Grove where we were playing. Probably the most convoluted load-in so far this year. There was only one entrance and some of the avenues were blocked off half way along the length meaning that getting all the gear to the venue involved not only negotiating all the beer festival attendees but also doubling back on yourself to get around all the blockages. Certainly not as easy as the last time we played at The Grove when it was possible to park directly outside the venue. Thirty minute turnaround between performers, whilst someone played on the other stage. No time for a proper sound check, set up, just one verse to make sure we could hear everything in the monitors and a couple of minutes to get changed and then we were on. Luckily there was nothing "miss" about this event. The venue was packed (that's not that difficult as it is really tiny) and it appeared that quite a few people had come specifically to see us play. Cue dancing, singing along to the songs and cheering in between. We even got our first proper encore. I'm a firm believer in both bands and the audience have to deserve an encore. None of this coming back on stage just because a couple of your mates have shouted "more". We were technically past the live music curfew but the sound engineer said do one more and so we did. Even sold some merch afterwards although at this sort of event you don't really expect to. Load out was much easier as the festival was over by the time we had everything packed up and we were able to leave by a much more direct route. As usual here's a couple of photos: Next gigs are on 10th July Supporting Miranda Sex Garden at Rough Trade in Nottingham, followed by Goths On A Field festival on Saturday 12th.

Sorry for late reply , been busy. I recently took the amp off and serviced it. I took an old Halfords bike carrier apart. Cut it to the desired length, swapped the locking mechanism around so it works as a stand. I put some prosecco cork stops in the tubes to protect the carpet. It hold the old school Peavey bass combo, about 31 kg. It's not a pretty stand but the combo conceals it.