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Continuing my post-midlife crisis 'straying from Precisions' period, I couldn't resist this absolute stunner over the weekend. Just... look at it. It's a 1998 model, and was actually the L-2000 they used in the catalogue that year. A couple of honest dings here an there, but otherwise spot-on. I'll be gigging it on Friday.

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. ❤️

So, that is how it went to Heiko, and it came back last week, but I had to do my part of the job, as we agreed that I'll do all the reassembly. It's now fitted with a brand new BassLab/Richter 3 bands with variable mids preamp, the mandatory Richter status LED between the Delano SBC 5 HE/S pickups, some new ETS knobs, a new output barrel jack, a set of Dunlop Straploks instead of the usual Schaller ones, a new Gotoh battery box, the BassLab identification brand that was removed/missing on the bow, the official side "dots" with the F-clef at the octave on the front, a new "bracing" for the top, a new zero fret, some repairs in the carbon that were needed and the pickups support correctly glued as well as the ETS tuning system put the right way round with the correct screws (check the photos). It's now tuned E to C; the action is very low going from 1.2 to 1.5 mm at the octave with the perfect neck relief; the playability is, of course, amazing and the tone is really huge with a kind of permanent reverb, even dead flat or in passive mode, and becomes immense when you start using the 3 bands EQ with variable mids preamp. It's also hyper ergonomic and very light at 3.445 kilos. The colour is the official Maserati Yellow. It took around 5 months to Heiko to finalise the resurrection of this extraordinary instrument, but it was worth it as it's almost as new, even if it's a very early model without truss rod or serial number, so from 1998 or 1999. Enjoy, and especially @Dazed!

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S. Watch this space!!

So last night I told my band (The Spacewasters) I’m going to be leaving and they’ll need to replace me. Since I did my lower back in a couple of years ago I’ve just not enjoyed pretty much everything about gigging, aside from the actual playing, as it’s just made it difficult & painful. I see an osteopath and we’ve got it pretty much as good as it will get but the strains of gigging just too much. I did feel sad on the way home as I’ve really enjoyed being in this band, the music is great, the lads are a good laugh and the relaxed manner in which we do stuff has really suited me. Had some great experiences too - recording an album at Boz Boorers studio in Portugal the main one. Not walking away tho, until a replacement is found I’m still there, my intention is to just not be gigging next year. Now just need to write a hit single so I can retire on the publishing…..

I’d pay 6k if it made me play as good as him 😁

Well as per my other thread I’m now winding down gigging, but: The Spacewasters - original material, garage punk/rock I suppose. Been going for 20 years, I’ve been with them since 2021. 10 gigs a year approximately, obtained usually by people asking us to play. Used to be only London-ish gigs but now stretch to south coast, plus a few overseas. Knock Off - original material, street punk/Oi. Started 2013, I left 2019 but am back standing in for the rest of this year. They were doing 50 odd gigs a year, all over UK and Europe but have scaled back a bit to concentrate on less but better gigs, these usually obtained by being asked. Thunderkunt - instrumental classic rock covers, a non gigging band, a bunch of old mates we rehearse every few weeks and have a laugh, and play some ridiculously complicated riffs - 70s drugs must have been strong maa-an!

This seems like a good place to put this video, Freddie is such a great player

It's absolutely nuts. Bonkers price. Hard pass.

Finally getting round to updating the studio, I've been doing it piecemeal for years and the cabling has gotten scruffy, plus I need to move some rack units around to make room for some new kit. Having a new rack unit built to house the amps and storage, and adding 2 new units to the upper racks, an RND Master Buss Processor and an RND Master Buss Transformer, a second Shelford will eventually be added and the UAD X16 will go into the side rack. I foresee an extended period of cable wrangling in my immediate future...

Glad someone on here got it Rob and your health to enjoy it

Quite a useful comparison here: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/mxr-bass-synth-sb301.1673883/page-5#post-29152996

It is! Its great, pretty much a Moog MF101 with a few more controls and a board friendly footprint.

Ive always thought it makes sense for the band members to call the final shots over the monitors. After all, they are the ones that will be using them.

I’m one half of Deadlight Dance, Wiltshire’s darkest boy band! I guess we’d be filed under 80s goth. Nick and I met in a Sixth Form goth band in 1989. We did our first gig together and have been friends for over 35yrs now. Here’s a one minute showreel of our greatest hits. Deadlight formed over lockdown as we thought we’d have a jam when restrictions eased, to see if we could play the old songs properly. It just grew. We decided to write together and wound up signed to Ray Records with an album out. Last count, we’d been streamed in 75 countries. I appreciate it’s not rivalling the big bands but it’s not bad for two old mates just having a jam when the restrictions ease! As to the question of originals or covers, we do both. We booked an old Saxon Church (is there such a thing as a new Saxon Church?) in 2023 and recorded a covers album of the songs that first inspired us. We made a short film about it. We can go out as the “full” band with our backing tracks we wrote or chuck some quirky folk instruments into the back of the car and go out acoustic style. I did the numbers on gigs and it really varies. It’s usually at least 20 a year but it has been much higher. We get gigs whenever the Batphone rings.

Earthbound AD. Female-fronted original metal. Based in NY/NJ, USA. Been playing with them for 6-odd years at this point, we put out an album a couple of years back and have been recording tracks for a new EP. We're pretty much a band consisting of immigrants - I'm from the UK, Mark, our drummer, is Indian, and Joe, our guitarist, is Guatemalan! Only Jackie, our vocalist, was born in the US! Haven't done much gigging as of late due to one thing and another, but hopefully going to throw ourselves back into it on the back of this EP release. Here's a live vid from a gig we did at the end of last year. EDIT: New track, "Ashes Of Paradise", now out on Bandcamp - will be out on Spotify, Apple, Tidal, etc in the next day or two: https://earthboundad.bandcamp.com/track/ashes-of-paradise

Thanks Martin, I’m staying with my non-gigging instrumental classic rock band which rehearses once every few weeks, so yes will be keeping my hand in so to speak, similarly I find it great fun. I’ve also got the rest of the year standing in for my old band but it’s only 5 or so gigs (very decent ones though).

I wish you well Lozz As you know I packed it all in last year and sold up. Do I miss gigging ? Not at all as I think I’ve had the better years of gigging and it felt sad but very right to retire from it. I now own a couple of nice guitars and an Orange Combo amp and I jam with my old band buddies once a month on a Saturday afternoon! More fun than late night gigging for a few quid ! Im liking being back on the guitar but I do think fondly of playing bass. In your situation perhaps keep your hand in minus the gigs as I’ve done and being with your buddies jamming is as good as any gig in my opinion Wish you luck bud 🎸🤟

I'm not blaming you - I just have a different idea of what I'm prepared to pay for any bass, and these surpass that level by a fair order of magnitude.

No argument there, honestly on most gigs people really cant tell what bass you are using. A playable bass isn't a price item, I am happy to play my OLP or my Shuker or my Ibanez - hugely different price points. over christmas I played my Aliexpress acrylic bass, its not as nice to play as it is really heavy and the pickups aren't great, but it plays and it lights up with LEDs and people notice that much more than the sound! I buy the expensive basses for me, because I like them but if I didn't care about that, there is no gig I couldn't have done without a sub £200 bass and a sub £200 amplifier / speaker.

In the copper colour, it was on a Portuguese site. I found the owner before the copper edition and thanks to him and Heiko, we were able to date it: October 2000, so one of the last without truss rod. Here are the four colour stages, pickups and preamp modifications of this bass from 2000 to 2025.

I have one bass I actually use and an endless procession of others that attempt to topple the king!

Happy to get the ball rolling... My current band is LA Mixtrax. We formed as a four piece (female vox, guitar, bass and drums), at the start of 2022 to play pop / rock covers from 1960s to current and initially were doing mainly pub gigs, but seem to get a healthy dose of function gigs in the diary these days, which are both better paying but involve a significantly bigger time commitment. We're based in London and will be averaging around 60 gigs a year for this year and last. Our pub gigs are generally London but we will travel further afield for function gigs. The current line-up has 3 different lead singers, each of whom we think are great and each bring something different to the party, with the 'backing band' being more permanent. I'm band leader for my sins. Probably the best place to hear us in on Insta- LA Mixtrax, which seems to be a main focus for our social media effort these days. In terms of getting more gigs - the starting point was having some half decent gig footage from our early pub gigs to share with new pub venues, and then investing in getting a showreel done a couple of years back to help us get function gig work. I'd personally say this is a 'must have' for function work - there's a huge amount of very slick competition out there and a showreel is pretty much all a potential client booking you for their wedding or milestone birthday party has to go on. I'd love to get us tighter and better sounding over the next couple of years and increase the proportion of function gigs from around a quarter of the total that we're currently doing.

Who's the American guy who looks just like Pino and happens to play like him also? 😄

Me, tbc

Those are also over-priced 😄

There are a few versions of the Zodiac. The Zodiac EXP was the entry model. It has a 20 fret neck unlike the other models which have 21 frets and just the split coil pickup. Mine was the red one in the centre. It's a decent P-bass, not too heavy and has a slim jazz bass style neck. The next version of Zodiac was the BXP model. Those have the same slim neck but with 21 frets and a jazz single coil added to the bridge position. Very nice basses. The alder body keeps the weight down. Choice of pickups allow for use across many styles, it shines in a classic rock setting. Finally there was the Zodiac De Scorpio, signature model for the Megadeath player. Mine are pictured either side of the red EXP. One can be forgiven if thinking that Megadeath connection meant a bass designed for 'Thrash' but that is not the case here. Ellefson did not want a carbon copy of his own bass, instead he wanted his name on a bass anyone could use and something he would have wanted himself when starting out. He chose a standard BXP Zodiac and asked for a mirror PG as a nod to Phil Lynott, the addition of Seymour Duncan pickups was a Peavey marketing decision, something Ellefson thought unnecessary. I'm of the opinion the EXP is good to get started playing but the BXP will not only get you started but stand you in good stead for many years to come. I'm an unabashed fan of the Zodiac BXP 😎

I know it's harder for some folk, but at the end of the day we're the entertainment. It's our job to convince people that they're having a good time (and hopefully to buy more drinks etc). If that happens then everybody wins and we hopefully get rebooked. For me that starts with looking like I'm enjoying myself. I'm lucky enough to be able to gig as a hobby, so it's supposed to be fun, otherwise why would I bother?

So that’s why they’ve not been making FLs for a while 🤔

I'm a big advocate of self-sufficiency, at least up to a level of doing basic setup (relief/intonation/action) work. Setup is personal - and it's really not difficult. Of course when you get into territory like what is being discussed here, it's player's choice if they want to stretch themselves and learn these other skills. Me personally I do all my setups, I'm OK with the electronics if it's not too taxing, replacing hardware is fine, and I'm currently at the grinding back ratty fret ends/knocking down proud frets kinda stage. Mostly using improvised tools, because I'm a cheapskate.

Have you developed British understatement She pretty much nailed that and so did the band. I wonder if Led Zeppelin recorded through that mic would have sonded an awful lot better? She's a lovely person too, she thanked the bassist first If you are playing with people like that no-one is going to notice you smiling, and it would be a shame if anyone upstaged her. Just wind her up and let her go.

It’s like a very cool banana!

Looking forward to Sunday 👍

Set your amp gain to desired level (before peaking), bass to about 1-2 o'clock (until it sounds rich and full), and treble to 2-3 o'clock. Mids all flat. If you find it's too scooped, add a tiny bit of lower mids to fill out the centre. That's the amp sorted. Now set the onboard preamp to just a smidge above centre on the treble and bass, then leave the mid control in the centre. That's how to get the best out of a Fender 18v preamp. An active P&J should have quite a thick, but slightly "plinky" sound, as the split coil and jazz pickup slightly cancel each other out. And yes, the standard Fender strings won't be helping the sound at all. I usually tear them straight off and replace them with Elixirs. They give a much cleaner and richer sound with more sustain. Failing all that, I'd have a look at the PJ set from Lollar. They've always been the best sounding replacement pickups to my ears.

£2500!!!!! Blimey! There'll need to be £2000 worth of £50 notes stuffed between the wood plys to get me to buy that! 😂 🤣 (And another £500 stuffed in both the neck cracks! 😂)

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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

Gig last night was a little two hour, two set, Thursday night soiree. Everything went ok and it was free from any technical or equipment issues. The pair of G4M 1x12 powered pa speakers bought used for less than a ton nearly a year ago as a stop gap when our previous singer left with his EV’s continue to provide sterling service, and have more than paid for themselves. They aren’t hugely powerful but 1x12 + horn seems an ideal configuration for pub gigs. It’s only vocal, saxophone, and kick going through them. First time out for my new LFSYS Silverstone II cab, and also first gig with my newly restored Trace Elliot SMX head. Both worked perfectly and the clarity and sound quality were quite astonishing. I used my Sadowsky M/J for this gig. If there was anything to be noted for after gig discussions, it was that the second set started to get a bit jazzy rather than blues and perhaps a bit louder than was necessary. Both the guitarist and drummer were suffering from “The Guiness Effect” by then.🤔 Venue was Baker Street in Stirling, not the most spacious of venues. The band name seems to be sticking now as Blues Delux( for the last three gigs). Must admit I prefer the Sunday afternoon shows at this venue rather than late week nights. It also rained tonight, and the venue was late advertising the show. So it wasn’t a big crowd we played to, but they seemed to enjoy it. Everyone was happy, the band all enjoyed themselves, and we got paid to boot. I’ll take that any day. I believe there was video footage but it's not available yet. That maybe a good thing😊