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So new (to me) bass day, a rather nice Sandberg SL. Been looking for one for a while due to back issues and when I saw this up for grabs, in my favoured black/black/maple it just had to be. Just played it for about an hour and even without being set up as I like, and without my favoured Elixirs (currently has Elites steel rounds) it’s simply a dream to play. Not usually a fan of matching headstocks but I think it really suits it, plus - and shows my levels of OCD - it matches our guitarists Ibanez like this so I’m more than happy. I’m giving up gigging so this will be used at home and with my non-gigging classic rock band, this 6lb bass will make 4hr rehearsals a lot easier.

I just had the extraordinary pleasure of a phone chat with Dave Green. I left him a note on Ashdown's webform, and received a pretty much immediate reply of 'Give me a call let's chat'. I think I learned more about tube amps in 10 mins than I have in the previous 25 years, and also had at least three belly laughs as he described the logic underpinning his choice of EQ curves for the tube amp in question. Sdaly I had to take the girls to the edntist or we'd still have been talking! What can I say other than thank God there's still guys like Dave and businesses like Ashdown. Many thanks Dave, hope to be buying some more stuff from you soon 👍

The main board (that I got told off for posting last time!) has finally been upgraded to a + version of the Shure wireless, really do appreciate that auxillary input. I've also got rid of the overhanging xlr cables, making everything much neater. It's now 100% balanced using the EBS flat trs cables for all 3 cable runs. My analogue board has had the overdrive switched back to a TC and I've managed to squeeze the OC2 in as well. This doesn't really see much use these days, but sometimes I like a simpler thing if I'm recording or whatever.

Okay, so I picked the bass up this afternoon. First jobs already done. Flats gone. Elixir 40-95s added. Black Scratch Guard added (and former single coil rout inspected). Mute kit turned the correct way around and general setup completed. So what we have here is a really light weight Natural Velvet 1995 Stingray 2EQ with an OBP-2 Preamp, but the HS Aguilar pickups have been replaced with the original MM humbucker. Sounds huge and plays wonderfully, barring some small extra adjustments. Oddly enough, the second control, which I presume was the blender still has an effect, despite the Single Coil pickup having been removed. It gives three distinct sounds between the centre detent and the two extremes of travel in the rotary control. It's almost as if the 'blender' is splitting between the two banks of the humbucker, and the central point makes them cancel each other out very slightly. Is this possible?! (I didn't do the rewiring. It was done by my mate's tech who previously owned the bass.) Anyway, the obligatory pictures now it's home...

You might have to hold your horses. theres a band meeting been called. I’ve obviously raised some valid concerns and I don’t really want to leave. i wont lie - ive not been in a great mental space recently so maybe the band has copped for it… i dunno:

Yes, we both believe being helpful supporting products (and especially when problems arise) is a big part of running a business. It’s part of our culture.

Did some changes, took back Big Muff.

BC right now...

A quick shout out to Thomas at GuitarGuitar Epsom. excellent to deal with, super helpful and they have a first rate tech there, and you get a meeting with him to get your set up done before you leave recommended

When I was doing the educational music trust thing kids would get promoted up into the next difficulty ensemble and many would be very nervous. Sometimes it was quite a jump even when there was a 4th part for their instrument. Always told them to start just playing the root on beat 1 of each bar. Do that for 2 or 3 rehearsals. Then play whatever the right note was for beat 2 and so on Building their confidence until they filled the gaps. Didn't matter if it took a couple of weeks or even a term. They were counting right and adding in the notes as they got confident. They got to feel like they were joining in properly even if they were only playing 1 note in a bar. Funny how quick progress is when they are having fun and not feeling like they are making mistakes.

I scored a neck on Amazon and got some discount for... reasons, meaning it was less than £40 posted. It arrived yesterday and it's... surprisingly good. No ratty fret ends, truss rod works, it's a bass neck. LOL, what's going on with that stripey skunk stripe? I like it! Also over the weekend, I made a new cavity cover (or at least a template for one) Made by hand only with hand saw, surform and sandpaper. Took a while, but it fits pretty well - better than some factory made basses I've seen in my time.

Hi, fellow basschatters, My wife and I are downsizing so some things just gotta go. What we have here is a no brand Baby Grand Piano that has been in our possession for over 20 years. It has brought endless joy to our family but it sadly wont fit in our new home. It's in relatively good condition, although some of the keys are chipped at the edge. (youngest son was the culprit some 18 years ago or so.) It also comes with a piano stool. We don't want anything for the piano but you will have to arrange your own transport. Collection from Fleet in Hampshire and we have to have it gone by the 6th August. Thank you, Pete

You've got me digging my TC Mojo back out. I had been going with a DIY JPTR Jive for some colour but just tried them together and I think it'll be staying this way for a bit.

I have done this too 2 x ebay necks and one from Aliexpress of the two I've fitted both nuts were cut well and they set up really well I'm going on a Crimson guitars course, to learn how to refret/ level and set up etc and will take them along to level the frets (but I don't think they need it, they play great) I've got some unknown bodies from an auction and used one. Turned out ok Bought Northwest guitars own brand tuners and bridge and a tonerider pickup, it gets gigged in the U2 tribute I'm in

Nothing intrinsically wrong with Fender basses, but why would I buy one when I can buy one of these instead?

You know what, that is a really good question and, on typing the post, I'd completely missed that very obvious point! What the hell was I thinking? Did I really only bring one? Which is very odd as I had two matching Tobias 6ers and a gorgeous Status fretless 6er for that band too. The screws breaking happened, but where was my spare? 🤯 #AgeRelatedMemoryLoss lol...

I've been working on a pedalboard for the last ten years on and off that allows me to play two synth lines simultaneously, one manual and one arpeggiated off the first note in each bar sampled by a modified EHX Freeze pedal. The idea was mostly inspired by this Freemasons track: This is what synthbass is all about for me. Bombastic, pumping and jubilant. When I had the EHX into the Moment Machine and then arpeggiated into the C4 AND a manual line through the FI, I wore the biggest shit eating grin in decades. It worked so long as I could time the sampling to grab the right note, otherwise I wouldn't have been persisting for quite so long. A single pedal that could achieve all that with tap tempo (ideally without needing to press a button to sample every bar) would be a god send.

I stopped gigging a couple of years ago and have been slowly clearing out all my stuff ever since. I’m now down to my last bass (a Ric 4003 that will never be going) which I use for noodling and a bit of home recording. Logic plug-ins are okay but I do like recording audio direct and doing minimal work on it in the DAW so, after much research I’ve just got an MXR M80 DI+. It was a toss up between that and the Sansamp and in the end I was swayed by an Amazon price of just £150 on the M80. I’m very, very impressed. Deep and rich and sonorous - and then i hit the “colour” button and it’s even more so. The distortion is okay - not really my sort of thing anyway, plus i have a new-to-me Ampeg Scrambler on the way to do mild overdrive duties - but the core sounds I can get from the EQ are excellent. Of course, i’ve now started to wonder whether i shouldn’t get a cheap, second-hand P bass to complement the Ric….. and so the GAS starts again!

I don't think anyone who uses tab doesn't also have a recording of the song(s) in question from which they can get the rhythm. I'm of an age when very little pop or rock music was written down in any format and if it was, it was normally wrong. Therefore I'll usually work things out by ear as I always have done. IMO if a band wanted me to play a baseline exactly as it has been recorded then they also need to supply me with tab, notation or a recording of just the bass line. Otherwise they will have to make do with my interpretation of the part, which will be close but might not be 100% accurate.

Revisiting here, I've sanded the finish off the back of the neck. It was just about ok originally, but I'm no fan of high gloss neck finishes; they get a bit fudgy over time. Much better now (well for me). @prowla was over a few days ago and gave it a thumping.

For me the standout Ozzy performance is War Pigs on the Paranoid album. I can still remember the first time I ever heard that song on my record player when I was ten years old. My nephew bought that album on vinyl recently and he's thirteen. That's a time gap of going on for fifty years and he's into Sabbath just like I was. Black Sabbath are still the best to ever do that style of music. No one can get near them, even after all that time. Ozzy might (quite understandably) have been a bit shaky at the final gig but the rest of them were still a formidable unit. As far as I'm concerned they are one of Britain's greatest ever exports and something to be proud of.

Although the photo isn't quite square, the saddle peaks look normally staggered to me. Nice score, BTW, I'm suitably jealous.

Yep I agree that’s the place to start Raise input gain until it’s too gnarly and start off with flat EQ and mid selector on 800 and go from there Shouldn’t be any crackles or odd noises coming from the pre amp tubes and enjoy its glory !

I just set it flat and tweak to taste

I can't imagine performing without my strap on. Always make sure it's secured tightly

The Ampeg PF50T is worthy of consideration. I have one they are fantastic and a real bargain at the moment on the used market 😎🤘

Ok, I'll admit to making a rookie error. It may have even been an album launch show, I can't remember as it was 25 years ago this happened. I had my wide strap, I had my well known brand strap locks and everything else meticulously installed and set up. Our band were a well oiled machine and were able to overcome most things going wrong in a show, as was the case this time. The screws that used to come with strap locks were woefully short (I am sure you can guess what came next...) So, I sought out a couple of long screws that had heads small enough to fit in to the strap buttons so that the straplock mechanism still worked correctly. Come the night of the gig, our drummer counted off the first song and with an enthusiastic leap in to the first note, the bass flew away from me with the same energy. I'd.... used.... brass.... screws 🤦‍♀️🙈🤦🏻🤦🏻‍♂️🤦‍♀️ I played the rest of the gig on a bar stool that as if by magic appeared next to me mid song!

I had a bit of a revelation at my uncle's funeral last year that sometimes when someone dies, along with the grief there can also be a genuine celebration of a life well lived, someone who played the game and won. I think Ozzy definitely falls into that category.

Here is my doom machine I built a year ago. It's a Squier Sonic Bronco in Tahitian Coral, heavily modified and personalized, strung with Ernie Ball Bass Flats 2801. Such a fun instrument, easy to play and great sounding. And I think the customising work I've done made it quite a looker, too. Work done: - Swaps: Pickup to Seymour Duncan SCPB-3 "Quarter Pounder" (I had to attach an additional ply of MDF with threads to the bottom and add springs to make it adjustable) Tuners to Gotoh GB11W Nut to Tusq XL Bridge saddles to 3-slotted vintage ones I had laying around (don't know the make) string tree to Gotoh TB54 string retainer knobs to Hosco HK-MKF - Add-ons and personalisation: Fender Vintage Jazz Bass pickup cover in chrome custom order vinyl wrap on pickguard and headstock custom 12th fret "marker" done with ultra-thin vinyl wrap and GitD tape Fender Strap Blocks in Daphne Blue

if you're gonna feel dirty, a telecaster makes it worth it

As so often happens with high-profile people perceived by the wider public as hedonists, effectively Ozzy became a stuntman for excess and intoxication. I think a lot of the shock about his passing is based on the common assumption that, despite his obvious frailty, he was more robust than ordinary mortal men. By the time of his death Ozzy and Sabbath were household names and fully embraced by the mainstream media, but I remember when Ozzy and Sabbath were a cult band and hardly ever featured on TV ect in Britain. That was the real Black Sabbath and the source of their legend. In an age where rock stars could get away with behaving badly, Sabbath were a bit more dangerous than most, albeit that they were mostly dangerous to themselves. Never mind The Osbournes, I wish someone had made a reality show about Ozzy's life back in those days. It would've been the most interesting documentary ever.

Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you! I noticed that too - the mute springs appear to have been put on back to front. One of the first jobs I'll be sorting, as well as the new black scratch guard which has now arrived.

Yes, as above, the chords seem to be G, D and Amin, so any notes from those chords will fit. You can see the chords changing from his hand positions, so just watch and listen, and you'll soon 'hear' what you're seeing. Try it, using the video, and listen to what notes you play fit best. Top tip : just play notes on the beat at first, and all will become clear.

I don’t really form emotional bonds to celebrities as they’re just normal people like you and me, but I always had a soft spot for Ozzy. My first big gig was Ozzfest. Great introduction to rock and live music. Seemed like he had a good life and a happy family. Isn’t that what most of us want?

Would the band not be interested in some pro vids to use for advertising on social media and to get gigs. Sometimes you need to fork out a bit of cash for the band. Even a good mate with a Go-Pro or Zoom could do the job. I've found some phones have a weird sound system that focuses on vocals and drops the background noise and when singing stops the guitars and bass volume comes back up to normal. Not sure if that's something you select on your phone ? Dave

It's hard to find gig video and pics of us ( Maple Road). I don't think anyone in the band except me has any interest in pics or video. It's too bad because we have a theatre gig coming where you could shoot some nice footage. Daryl

More rain. After I'd cleaned all the glue and torn fragments of wood out of the neck pocket (not a process I took any pictures of), the first order of business was to reattach the various pieces that meet at the neck block (by that I mean the solid piece of timber inside the body that the neck is glued to, not sure if it has a proper name). The top was still securely attached to this block, as was the right-hand side piece. The back was completely detached from it (along with having parted from the top 15–20-cm of the sides) and the left side piece was detached as well. I think these splits had their origins in one of the historic neck-smashy incidents. Like, they were violently snapped off the block then, and either no glued back into position or not glued back well. The steam might have separated an earlier repair, but I don't think those repairs were more than surface-level. I used a long thin scraper to clean the surfaces inside these splits and then lashings of titebond (injected deep into the joints with a syringe). I considered hide glue, but I was doing this indoors during the winter, and really didn't want my house smelling of boiled hoof. I know titebond's not traditional for proper luthierie, but I figured there should be some leeway if you're working on a plywood bass that looks like it was dragged behind a car. Here's a picture of the clamping arrangment for glueing up the side piece. It also shows the cleaned up inside of the neck pocket, with no more manky glue. I held off on glueing the veneers and patches into the pocket until after I'd closed everything up and got it secure. This second picture was taken while glueing up the back. You can never have too many clamps. I have at least twice as many now, but there's always room for more. I also noticed while moving it around that about a 30-cm-long section of the top had come away from the sides at the bottom of the bass. I again used scrapers to clean this out before injecting glue into the gap and clamping. Some of the more knowledgeable readers might be wondering how I kept the sound-post in place through all of this. The answer is that I honestly don't know. I forgot that it wasn't glued into position. Kindly it obliged by not falling out despite all the bashing and squeezing and shifting around. I didn't remember it was there until I was stringing the bass up weeks later.

How can people be so callous? So then @AndyTravis, when's the err... the erm... ya know... the err red Jack Casady being listed? Just curious, no real reason. 😉

Just make sure you don't end up like I did. I quit my band after 12 years... Now I have a Telecaster and a guitar amp. I feel dirty.

Picked this up from Bass Bros end of last week, I did trade in the G&L Trib M-2000 and a few pedals towards it, but will be paying my dear old Dad back the rest. 1992 4001V63, in great condition for its age, I was a bit concerned about the small amount of tail lift but it doesn't cause any issues playing wise. Wanted a Rick for a long long time they have such a distinctive sound and look so cool! This one plays lovely, the neck is nice and slim. Only pic I have so far:

Stuff arrived! However, the paint isn't quite as smooth as I'd like it, so there's a little more sanding/painting to do first.