Leaderboard

Our gig Saturday night was expected to be a bit of a muted affair, due to a range of other events happening in the area the same night. While we did lose a few of our usual following to these, it turned out to be a busy night after all, with plenty of new faces (and future followers). These included one bloke who I know from our village who never knew I was in a band, but had us recommended to him by the postman who regularly attends our gigs. Also there was someone I'd not seen since leaving school! Gig wise, the usual two 45 minutes sets of the British 76-82 punk classics - first outing for Stay Free by The Clash was a bit wobbly but well received! Played my shortscale LP Junior DC custom bass through the Orange Terror 500 and twin Isobaric cabs (lurking in the darkness with it's one glowing orange eye!). The Samsamp Geddy Lee YYZ pedal put a touch of damaged/overdriven speaker cone effect into the sound for authenticity, while the usual Dr Martens black safety boots (health and safety at all times!!) kept me the right way up all night! Next one is in a marquee at a scooter rally in a couple of weeks.....

Saturday Night party gig in New Wellington Newmarket. Rock Covers Trio - apart from drunks knocking the boom of the mic stand into the singer/guitarist mouth and teeth several times, overall a very good night, 50+ people, great crowd couldn't ask for better. I'd decided to go back to a P bass (reverse, no tone pot) after stints using my Dingwall ABZ and G&L Trib M2000, turns out simple is best for me, also went back to the Keeley Bassist compressor after using a UAFX 1176 and struggling with all the extra knobs and choices! Raised the crossover (Sine Effects X24) point for my drive from 680hz to 800hz ish and I was very pleased sound wise, my P has the D'addario EXL160BT 120-50 strings tuned to Eb, still plenty of tension and plenty of "heft" through the Tecamp Puma 900 + BF Super Twin set up. Still getting used to filling out the mix since going down to a trio line up.

Sunday afternoon gig with the covers/original band at the Red Hart in Bodham. We were meant to be playing outside in the beer garden under the newly completed covered area (nice job) but the governor was worried by the forecast of thunderstorms and the likelihood of the rain being driven under the shelter (guess there are insurance implications). It was decided we should play indoors in the dining room but needed to wait until the end of the main service before setting up. I have been to jams and open mics in the dining room and wasn’t too impressed with the acoustics, so I was a bit apprehensive, especially as we had come equipped for playing outside. Fortunately, our drummer plays an electronic kit, so we can turn him down 😀. I had my two LFSys Monzas driven by a Blackstar U700, with a MB LMIII as standby. Basses: Guild Starfire 1 and a custom made P/J shorty. In the end I only connected the top cabinet and the guitarists just used their amps, with only vocals, drums and keys going into the PA. Somehow we managed to get a good sound, according to friends who had come to watch. I had the master on the U700 so low it was almost off but apparently could be heard throughout the pub: testament to the amazing projection of the LFSys cab. Unfortunately, waiting until the main service was over meant that we lost 50% of our audience and instead of a full beer garden, we ended playing to about a dozen people, with some leaving and new arrivals taking their place. The governor said he would normally have a full beer garden but the weather forecast had obviously kept the punters away. We were supposed to do a three hour stint but ended up doing an hour and 10 minutes for the first set and almost an hour for the next two sets. This was largely because the audience was appreciative and we decided to see if we could get through every song on the set list (bit of a paid rehearsal). Despite the temperature dropping it was very humid and with 5 of us crammed into the end of the room, it felt like a sauna. Anyway, we got good feedback from the punters and the governor has invited us back, so not a disaster. No pics: I must remember to take some next gig. Footwear: trainers to cope with being on my feet that long.

Saturday, at the annual Folk in the Woods. It’s the inaugural event of the week-long Ripley Music Festival. It takes place at the Waingroves Community Woodland, a lovely area reclaimed from a coal mining site and managed by local volunteers. My covers band, Top Deck, finished off the day playing 7pm - 8pm. Back line supplied, so I was able to travel by bus with just my Mustang and a few bits. Any money raised goes to the upkeep of the woodlands, so no fees for anyone. However, it was free drinks and food for performers. I got a little bit confused by the paths walking back through the woods to the main road and bus stop. 🤪🍺

I was rather bemused when my son told me there was a pedal-sized parcel for me today. I knew I hadn’t ordered anything as I’ve been having to tighten my purse strings due to impending major change of circumstances. I was therefore completely taken by surprise to find this incredibly lovely gesture and gift when I opened the box: Folks, this was totally unexpected and unnecessary, nevertheless I want to express my profound gratitude to the anonymous benefactors who were kind enough to do this. Thank you! My faith in humanity has been given a much needed boost after the kicking it’s been getting lately. ❤️

Late report... you'll see why. Saturday's Bendrix Rock gig at Penarth Ex's was memorable for all the right and wrong reasons. I help organising/publicising gigsat the club and it was where we had our first gig so I put out a press release bigging up our dinosaur connections. It got taken up by a local paper and I heard stories it was being talked about. Expectations were high but we were down to a four piece. Indeed the drummer and lead guitarist handwrote two setlists of what we could do after setting up. We also had our mascot for the first time. Around this time I got really dizzy while setting up some simple lights. Tried rehydrating but was so bad when we soundchecked with War Pigs I expected the rapidly expanding audience to disappear. This was unusual as people normally arrive at quarter to nine. We had lots of new faces arriving from eight. I did recover a bit but wasn't 100% right through and had a nasty wobble and nearly fell backwards playing Saturday Night's all Right. We went down a storm. Right through the first set we got not applause, but cheering. We played War Pigs, Paranoid and Crazy Train (we had to from our list) and this went down well, of course, but so did everything else. We finished saying we literally had no more songs (our current full band list is about 10 longer). But after several minutes of chanting and roaring we gave in and our singer said what do you want us to repeat. They all shouted "Muse". Fortunately it was Uprising not Hysteria! I turned up the sub on my octaver and you could see the audience's glee when I shook the whole building. Don't say people don't notice bass. It took longer to deal with all the handshakes and well wishes than to pack up. Several people said how much better we were than our first gig. I've been to literally hundreds of gigs there as it's my local club and I can honestly say it was as packed as I've ever seen it and the best reception I've ever had for a gig. People spilled over from the 'Music Alley' into the lounge, but were coming in to join the dancing. We all agreed this was why we gig, and we donated a modest bit of our fee to the raffle for the stroke association. I packed my gear, dropped it to my partner's nearby house and walked to the pub, feeling a little wobbly. I joined her and friends but managed no more than a sip of my Inches cider when the bar stated pulsating and swaying. She walked me home (I was crashing into walls and generally swaying like a drunk). I didn't get to the loo before the first 🤮 I ended up on the floor for three hours, my brother came over as we were told four hours for a priority ambulance. They got me downstairs somehow and I was lying in the porch contemplating how to get to his car when the blue lights appeared after less than an hour. Cutting it short, it's probably severe positional vertigo. I puked so much I had to go on a drip but thanks to the wonderful NHS and lots of pills/IV, I am recovering and hoping to go home soon. Waiting on a cat scan to be sure it's not a brain injury. So good and bad! I gave the Performer an outing. It sounded glorious. This really doesn't give an impression of how full it was.

Finished up at the bluegrass festival this afternoon in very heavy rain. Full 5 piece band and we had a good rehearsal before our set and then found out it was shortened to 30 minutes instead of the normal 45-55 minutes. Not much playing and a two hour drive each way. Yesterday we played at noon and the band was in good form and we were very tight and did a beautiful version of Seven Bridges Road, the acapella part was wonderful four part harmony, a good set and the crowd enjoyed it and our leader and lead vocal was back in good health. Usual festival set up, Czech DB with Nux wireless into Traynor amp and DI to PA, excellent sound guys and we sounded good.

Did a really lovely gig by the seaside near Swanage and, as well as a large fee, was allowed to order anything form the menu, which included this £70 lobster. Would have been rude not to!

2 outdoor gigs in North London for me yesterday. First gigs on bass for quite a while. First was at the Heath street festival in Hampstead. Nice stage and good sound. I had my new preamp with me but didnt use it at either gigs. First gig was with an Ampeg combo. Really nice sound. Quite tempted to get one at some point. It did rain a bit but that didnt seem to deter the crowd and we were covered. Second was in a private estate in Highgate. We were supposed to have a proper stage but it turned out to be a Gazebo with a small raised playing area. No side protection at all. Of course, the heavens opened up as we were approaching to set up. Again, backline was supplied so this time i used MB 3x10 combo. I had planned on using a preamp with this, but looking at the extension socket, filled with rain, I decided I wasn't going anywhere near it. Again, decent sound, which did surprise me as ive never been a fan of MB cabs. Highlight was when the sound guy turned the supplied Tube driven guitar combo on and a firework display emerged out the back of it. Apparently due to the tube being hot, a tiny drop of cold rain had shattered the glass. Guitarist ended up going DI from hisHelix Stomp. We had a really good sound though. Thoroughly enjoyed both gigs. What also struck me was how easy it was setting up. Never needed any effects, didnt even miss not using a preamp etc.

Did our monthly duo gig yesterday at The Sun Inn in Beverley, usual request format. Plenty of people in, including one table of folk from Ilkley and another from Sheffield. Probably the most requests we’ve ever had, with some nice stuff we haven’t played much, or ever! These included ‘Can’t take my eyes off you’, ‘Change the world’ ( which I love), ‘Let it be me’ , ‘ Dakota’ ( which I’m starting to dislike a lot now…) and then for an encore Albert Lee’s ‘Country Boy’. My guitarist partner was on fire in this, despite us losing the delay repeats at one point, and with no drummer to blame too! A very jolly gig in a great venue, with a lovely audience and some dancers as well. Used my Sire U5 into the Rumble 500, which has more authority than the 100 combo I’ve used before. Next one there is in late August, so looking forward to that already.

Busy weekend, after a while of not doing anything. Had an hour slot at a local festival, Party by the Parrett, and got the 6pm slot which was nice. We had played a wedding and a party at the venue, and the guy that run the club liked us. Very well organised (stocked fridge back stage and everything) and handily the two main sound guys were the guitarists friend and one of the guitarists in my other band. We had argued a bit trying to get the set list down, we had been asked to do mainly rock (there was a more poppy band and a ska band on after us, so we stuck to the rock mostly) seemed to go down well and we managed to get it down to 1hr and 3 minutes, so went over a bit, which messed stuff up a bit but not too bad. We had quite a few dancers . My guitarist / sound guy did a video from the side WhatsApp Video 2025-07-05 at 18.45.55.mp4 Today we played a pub, outside, on shingle which is a bit of a pain for getting dust everywhere and trying to stand your drink up. Also not good for wasps (or well, good depending on if you are a wasp or not!), back to the normal 2.5 hour set. To be honest I wasn't really feeling it as my hand hurt for some reason but it went well with only a few notable mistakes, like going to do the organ backing section of Brick in the wall, and not realising I didn't change my patch from the backing track of Baker street (which is like a bell), which was quite amusing. We had a request for timber which we hadn't done for a year or so but the singer couldn't remember how to play it! Glad to get back to work tomorrow for a rest!

I must be really boring using the same kit every gig 😂 Sunday afternoon/evening at the White Hart in Melton Mowbray. It was a little bit quiet, possibly due to the Grand Prix, possibly due to being very close to Leicestershire schools breaking up for the summer. Still, we had a decent crowd, plenty of dancing and pointing phone cameras - although not by me because I forgot. Sir Duke was much better for its 2nd (and 3rd!) outing. We also had some great feedback - "How on earth do you make that sound with just 3 of you?" made me smile. Then this morning from a chap that comes to see us a lot, talking about our Mackie SRM450s which only have the vocals going through them, the rest just backline... "Morning Danny, great gig yesterday. Just again realised how perfect your PA setup is. When you first started, I thought it could do with being a bit louder, Ian said what a perfect sound. Later on I went to the toilet, I listened right from the back of the room for one song. I could hear every note and vocals were absolutely crystal clear. And it was still loud enough. Have to say it now, but even in the barn at Barkby, with all Micks expensive gear it wasn't such a nice sound. The harmonies just somehow didn't seem as good. A fantastic job of entertaining us last night as always, let the boys know! Take care." Always nice to hear that kind of thing, especially as we only ever do a line check. The landlord was telling us about a recent band that took 4 hours to do a sound check - sod that!!! 😄

Thanks to @stevel my quest for a Aerodyne has been fulfilled. A cracking bass in as new condition and good to meet a fellow Basschatter.

He has limited movement in his right hand because of the needles and pins (ah).

Cool weekend of gigs. Friday night playing bass with Superbad at the Sapcote Social Club in Leicestershire. Really good turnout, lots of dancing and good sound. Saturday night playing bass with my own band (the Andy Wales Band) at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. We were all knackered and it was a bit ragged and “seat of pants” at times but still plenty of good bits, a decent crowd and some righteous noises were made by all. Gear for both gigs was a Yamaha BB604 and little Markbass traveller rig. Then Sunday, helping our local village guitar teacher with his twice yearly gig for his students (including my eldest lad who’s just discovered Nirvana). It’s quite inspiring to see the youngsters grow as musicians over the few years we’ve been involved. The biblical rain from the morning thankfully stayed away all afternoon and it was a lovely outdoor shindig in his back garden, with me providing the PA and bass gear, being a general helper and being roped in on bass for one song. Gig below from Saturday night and Sunday afternoon’s gigs.

Had an absolutely banging gig today down in Poole at Country In The Park with Katy Hurt. We opened proceedings and had an absolute blast. Interesting moments..: I didn’t read the set list so was almost caught out by the first song My (Dunlop) strap lock popped out during the first song so I ended up having to improvise til I could sort myself out (embarrassing photo below) Cris, playing lap steel/acoustic guitar/mandolin kept stepping on my lead so I couldn’t wander the stage as freely as I’d been trying to do. Ironically I drove home via @franzbassist to pick up his Rockboard Tree 3.0 so I can have a bigger board to fit my wireless receiver… needed more forward planning on my part! But on the whole, an absolute blast of a gig. Very hot, very fun, and I hope we made some new friends. Shoes were the lo top Soul Cals again. Me pretending to play djent when the strap popped out: The whole band just having fun:

On the mend. thanks for good wishes.

I know it might seem boring to post your kit every time but there are so many posts from so many different people that i often can't remember who uses what so i enjoy that little reminder from those that add their gear list in their post. Just adds a little bit extra to a post IMO. Dave

Update: I have now got the bass how I wanted after living with it for 18 months. The Babicz bridge is gone, good design but grub screws kept working loose on the saddles so this has been changed for a fender Himass bridge. I found the stock pickup very unbalanced across the strings, the E string sounded great but the others less so and this has been changed out for a Geezer Butler EMG….what a brilliant piece of kit and I’m very happy with the bass as is now.

I play all my ridiculously expensive gear on all my gigs. That's most of the fun of having it! Although I do think I look like an asshole showing up with my 535 (and Vigier Excess backup), big ass rig and high end board. But... it makes me happy and I absolutely play better/easier on the gear I use all the time at home... so I'll keep looking like a corksniffing jackass. Also from a guy on the manufacturer side of things - we make em to be played!

Had a great day. 12 hour drive each way so it was quite a trek. Tickets were still available on Ticketmaster on the morning of the event and these were not showing as re-sales. I did notice a surprising number of empty seats. My weekend away was a retirement gift from my children so I did not have to delve into the budgetary aspects of the trip (other than parking and some fast food). I have read some reviews bemoaning various aspects of it but I liked the variety of bands, the quick turnaround times and the general vibe. Live music doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun. An unforgettable gig.

We played the fabulous Richard Jefferies Museum in Swindon. A beautiful setting with what I thought was a respectable crowd. I flew back from Spain yesterday so we hadn’t really rehearsed. I think we have it in the bank though. A varied crowd from 3-87yrs old and the under 10s all helped us pack up. Luckily, the other half of my duo is a teacher so he was able to coordinate them so we had no breakages! Everyone was super friendly and it was certainly one of the more memorable gigs.

Got mine. The 1st 4 pre sets are worth the £300 on their own. Really easy to use with tap switch to change presets . I’ve been waiting since the 80s for these sounds. TE told me it couldn’t be done! Well done MXR !

That's a full detention for you Valdemar 🤣

I laughed at that a lot more than I should have......

Too slow? Luxury, I dream of too slow!

We had a full band rehearsal yesterday to get ready for Worcester gig on Friday 11th... The part-band rehearsals really helped - everyone is now more receptive to what the others are playing, and as a result we're tighter and a bit heavier. Guitarman, however, hadn't learnt some of the intricate widdly bass bits I do which would have sound awesome if we both did 'em, so we decided he'd just emphasise the beginning of the phrase in one of the songs leaving me to have a number of mini solos... and in the other one where my busy line does a sort of double time syncopation with the vocals he does just muted scratchy stuff which further emphasises the rhythm. So a bit of a win! Just hoping drum-man doesn't start every song far too slow!

I think when I finally get my hands on one, I’ll have to dial up the same presets on the FI4 and post a comparison.

If you consider the actual history (rather than the press release version) of what Sabbath has been as an institution and, indeed, as a business then it's a bit harder to get sentimental about them calling it a day. There's been an awful lot of water under that bridge and the four original members are far more business associates than friends. I'm really glad it went so well, though. It could easily have been an ignominious end for one of Britain's truly great bands. If you asked me what was the most influential British band of all time I would say the Beatles. If you asked me who was the second most influential I would say Black Sabbath. Look at the worldwide popularity of heavy metal/heavy rock music year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation. Sabbath made that mould, and no one has ever bettered them.

Beautiful Basschat x

These are two great records. Chuck Rainey is the sound I want and the notes I wish I could play. Just a super player.

I got a Mod Shop Jazz. It’s great. Sure, it will be disappointing if you’re looking for a tailor-made spec, but seen as a modern take on the old ‘custom colour’ options of the 1960s it’s pretty good. Price isn’t a huge markup compared with list (no dealer discount, of course). It took more or less as long as they said it would to arrive, no hidden costs and build quality was as good as I’ve seen on a Fender. I’m happy.

Original Funky Drummer!

For a set & forget compressor the Keeley Bassist is a good option. No bells & whistles, just does what you’re after very easily. Drive - well to add in a tad of drive I like the Ampeg Scrambler, as it has a blend you don’t lose low end and it just adds that bit extra to the sound. I have this on my Ampeg SCRDI and use it to just remove the clean sharp edges of the sound.

That's 200 transcriptions since I re-started everything on January 11th. Next big target, the 1000 🤪

They look a bit like the wavy Grover's they used on 4001's. Could it be an old 4001?

Blockbustarz Glam covers at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. One of my fav gigs to be honest. Sound check went well and everything sounded great. Then for some weird reason i started to struggle to hear the bass out front. I had deliberately kept my on stage volume low and assumed the SE was on top of FOH. Unfortunately i spoke with my wife at the end and she said she struggled to hear the bass at times. I'll have a word with SE next time we play. He was experienced a deep feedback ring that we couldn't identify and maybe he's dropped the bass FOH to help and possibly forgot to turn it back up. My wee fingers are aching tonight as i automatically play harder when i'm struggling to hear myself. In future i'll be setting my stage volume to suit me if FOH are just gonna turn me down. I always set my stage level to balance drum levels. Other than that we had dancers from the get go. Only sold 40 tickets but a lot of walk-ins which the owner said was pretty normal these days. Ended up reasonably busy when we started and the audience remained. We had folks up from Galashiels and some came over from Livingston to see us so we have a fan base out there 😂 2x1hr sets or thereabouts. 2 encores which was nice. Odd thing was we had a crowd of Goths in and they were loving it and dancing virtually every song. At the end while loading car I overheard one of them say he's not danced that much in ages and loved it. So that was nice. It was an 80-20% ticket deal tonight and we did OK with that as we usually do. Back again Sat before Xmas which is always a fun party night and very busy. Usual gear :- Sandberg VM4 Shure GLXD+ wireless Keeley Bassist Comp. Handbox WB100 Barefaced 212 cab Loving this bass cab. Its lightweight and easy to lift but retains so much depth and the wide angle dispersion means i can clearly hear it if standing right next to it. Only downside is i always find 12's lack the mid punch of a 10" speaker but its still a superb cab and i just need to tweak my EQ abit more. I am loving the tone i'm getting with this rig. No more distortion when i play slightly harder now since i dropped the P pick up a touch on the VM4. I can still trigger it if i dig in really hard but i'm trying to play a bit lighter these days to save damaging my wee fingertips on plucking hand. All in all a great wee night and the Pizza from next door was pretty good too. 50min drive home on quiet roads and a nice wee toasted pancake and coffee and now time for bed. Night night guys. Dave

The unofficial Colin Grigson signature model, congratulations!

Blimey, Stub - hope you're back in action soon, old chap.

Copied from an old one. We've dropped a few and added a few. 1. White Room Tony 5 count G 2. Wishing Well All Em 3. All Along the WT Tony Bb 4. Devil Woman Rory Dm 5. 20th Century Boy Mark Am 6. What Is & what.... Nick A 7. Remedy All F 8. War Pigs All Em 9. Crossroads All Am 10. Crazy Train Neil F# 11. Simple Man Rory C 12. We Gotta Get out..... Mark B 13. Hungry Like the Wolf Rory Em 14. Black Night Tony/Neil Em 15. Paranoid Mark Em 16. Rock n Roll Tony Am 17. Fire and Water Rory A 18. New Sensation Tony & Mark Em 19. Heroes All D 20. Pressure and Time Tony Em 21. Sympathy for the Devil Tony E 22. Gasoline Rory Bm 23. Sex Bomb Mark C 24. Hysteria Neil Am 25. Dakota Rory Em 26. Motorcycle Emptiness All Em 27. Sex On Fire Rory E 28. Saturday Night's Alright Rory G 29. Crazy Little Thing Called Love Rory D 30. Superstition Tony Em 31. Everlong Rory, Tony D

It would need to play & sound utterly sublime to justify that price tag for a bass in that condition. I get mojo, I get roadworn, I get "has lived a life", but that bass looks as if it was used for target practice. For grenades.

Maybe we could genesplice him with our drummer who starts to fast to get a drummer who starts at the correct tempo.

Indeed - that sounds like the sort of bollocks that Chat GPT regularly comes out with, just enough to seem reasonable but not enough to actually make sense.