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I'm tempted to start a thread called "How was your five gigs last night?" as we played a Shuffle in the village of Aldbourne. We did it a couple of years back and it was something of a mixed bag but the theory is six bands rotate around the village performing sets at the two pubs, two cafes and a club. The immediate downside is that I wanted to see a couple of the other acts but couldn't as we were playing. My duo expanded to a trio as our original drummer from 35yrs ago was dusted down and brought out of retirement, catapulting us back to Sixth Form 1989 / 1990! He even messaged to say his mum would cook for us before we set off. Bless her, well into her 80s and she catered for our dietary requirements! We'd driven down to Southampton to rehearse with Mike and it was a great day, in terms of sound and effortlessly cool company. We've all mellowed with age and are all much more self aware with age. This is 60% of an old Sixth Form goth band and as it is the internet, I can pretend that the three of us drove about in Mike's Lotus! First up was the Post Office cafe. I actually had my wedding reception there back in 2016 so it felt good to play. I had envisaged nobody being there but it was mobbed. It's a tall order doing 5 venues in an evening so I elected myself as chief whip cracker and we got on with our set. We opened with Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart before busting in to two of our own songs. We ended on The Cure's Just Like Heaven and a darker take of The Weeknd's Blinding Light. I could hear the nerves in Mike, and more surprisingly Nick. Plus I had a couple of people pointing at me and pointing up. That said, the video I saw on FB (set to friends only) sounded better than it felt. One bloke complimented on our original songs and said he couldn't believe how intelligent the lyrics were. I said "that's all on Nick, he's bright - he has O level Woodwork!" We deliberately had a two mandocello and a snare drum (dampened by a tea towel) set up, with two small Boss three pedal pedalboards to allow for easy travel between venues. We moved on to The Crown. Last time was a very frosty reception (a couple of rungs down from needing chicken wire!) and we'd not been back. This time we were totally on it and so were the crowd! It was mobbed and we went down well again. We had to stop the audience from chatting as we tried to leave as we didn't want to hold up proceedings but it as all very complimentary. We moved to what had been our second home, The Blue Boar. The owners are moving on and you can tell they are giving up. The PA suddenly looked tired and there were no leads and just one mic. The previous act was more mainstream and we walked in feeling like we'd be following the returning hero. A few people immediately left as she finished and I thought it might be a comedown. However, it started to fill with different people as we started and we did a fair set. This was the one set, I played less than my normal high standards. I'll say it was the worst show of the night but on balance I was happy with it. One thing I will say was it was a really interesting reminder of how much pedal settings need to vary between venues. My overdrive was screaming out at The Boar but barely audible on the same settings back at the Post Office. Funny how the room and the PA can make such a difference. *obviously, I adjusted accordingly! Anyhow, we arrived at The Forge, which was the second outdoor gig. I am yet to source a pic for this (I'm sure you'll all live!) but for me this was my favourite show. I thought we'd hit our stride here. With the exception of the Boar, all had on hand soundmen (basically local musicians who helped us set up). A great set. Finally, we finished at The Club. We did an extra song of Rain by The Cult, which we'd first played together in the very same village 35yrs ago. I noticed Mike's drumming was just slightly dipping here but he'd done so well on balance. Honourable mention to the two old school Swindon goths who came out and followed us around all five venues! Sorry for such a long post but it really was an amazing experience and an amazing night. We ended by returning to the Crown and hanging out with all the acts.

We played the Vulcan restoration trust beer festival again this year. Firstly it’s the coolest venue - a hanger with a Vulcan bomber front and centre, nice size stage. The crowd are sat around tables and are a bit reticent to leave them to have a dance, but we did lure a few up, at least! The sound on stage was terrible to the point that I didn’t enjoy the gig at all, and Mrs Buccaneer said my face was displaying subtitles that demonstrated my displeasure. However watching the videos back we sounded ok out front, so I’m far happier now. We ran short on time and had to cut the set a tad, but that meant we finished with Paranoid - and in our first gig since Ozzy’s death, that felt apt. Rock against Leukaemia in Ipswich next week!

Just been sent this from the guitarist’s Mrs. HAD to share! 362f7dfd-4677-4d30-a584-2f38199e1aba.mov

You know, everyone, I absolutely adore reading through this thread. Seeing how everyone goes about gigging in their different ways, with so many different bands and styles on offer; I even enjoy the reports of gig by bands who play genres that I wouldn't play myself, because there's always something to be learned. Seeing what you lot get up to at your gigs is a real highlight of my (usually) weekend, and I wish I was out there gigging again. Thanks very much for sharing your experiences with the rest of us!

Another Everly's & Friends Live Tribute Show last night. This time [relatively] close at Warner's Holme Lacey near Hereford. But... Due to a mixup with diaries, we arrived to find we had no drummer on site. Mass panic ensues, and I managed to get an old teaching colleague from my Gloucestershire days to step in, arriving in 1.5 hours, who learned the whole set in his car, making notes on each song (full two hour set of Everly's, Buddy Holly & Jerry Lee Lewis) after setting up and pulled off a blinder. Phew! I seem to be the 'on the fly drummer trainer' for that show. 🫣

Runnymede Live, Victory Park, Addelstone. It only took 2 years but Electrik Soup finally got around to doing a gig! The phrase 'herding cats' was invented for this band 😆 Outdoor gig today, fortunately the weather was good. We were the first band on at 12:45pm. Set consisting of mainly 90's indie and Britpop (hence the bucket hat). One of the guitarists forgot to bring the bass amp, so I used a Warwick Gnome belonging to the other guitarist, just as a DI. It sounded really good, with a surprising amount of 'heft'. On stage monitors were plentiful and although we didn't have a sound check the on stage sound was sorted by the third song, and FOH sounded great according to the punters I spoke to. I only took a clip on tuner, which died as I was tuning. All I needed on an out door gig 😖. But Shuker 3 is awfully resilient and tends to stay in tune regardless of environment. So I got away with it. Gear: Shuker 3 > Airbridge wireless > Warwick Gnome (DI) > FOH

A little while ago the Japanese Spector distributor ordered a very limited private run of Spector Euro CST's in a beautiful desert island finish over poplar burl, with an ash back, maple fingerboard, abalone inlays, EMG X pickups and the Darkglass Legacy (Haz-copy) preamp.... The finish blew my mind but I never thought I could get one. However, 2 bass sales and a very lucky timing (this bass was included in a shop 'sale') meant it actually became affordable. Cue the fantastic Danny Stewart at Bass Japan Direct who obtained the bass for me, checked it over, dealt with any declarations and couriered it to me in record time..... And here she is.... Just absolutely stunning and less than a 3rd of the price of a US custom equivalent! I think I'm in love!

First gig with this tonight The Policed It sounds amazing and a great crowd Couldn't be happier

Back from playing Dorset Chilli Festival. Was a great day and some lovely food. Recommended.

Played for my Neice’s and nephew-in-law’s (is that a thing?) wedding yesterday at the beautiful Creeksea Manor in Burnham-on-Crouch. Keen readers who may recall I had a particularly painful experience at last week’s gig will be pleased to to know this one went much, much better. You may also recall that last week was challenging due to personal reasons, and I have taken steps to address them. As I was part of the wedding party for the day, I had to leave the other load in and do the majority of the setup. This massively helped me, not just my time being involved in the wedding celebrations, but also relieved some of the pressure I’ve been feeling lately with band stuff. So by the time the band had to make themselves scarce whilst the guests sat down for the wedding breakfast, most of the work was done. Just a case of plugging in my gear and a couple of mics afterwards, and a quick sound check. Everything was still dialled in from last week, so soundcheck was quick and easy. The reception was in a huge marquee, with a permanent DJ booth at the head of the dance floor, meaning the band were somewhat crammed in the corner, but still more space than we’ve had in some places. Usefully it also meant the soft drapes caught errant reflections and sounded great “straight out of the box”. Although it was quite a warm evening, somehow the thunderstorm the weather reports promised amounted to no more than a rumble and a couple of minutes of drizzle - but you could feel the mugginess in the air! Hazel, our dep co-lead singer for the night, did a fantastic job, and worked the crowd well with Liam, our other singer. At one point, they both got into the crowded dancefloor, getting people to join in on Parklife, which was a particular highlight. Another highlight was the bride’s brother singing Teenage Dirtbag (with my wife doing the girls' bit in the middle). When the bride first asked us if he could do it ages ago, I didn’t even know if he could sing. Turns out he can’t, but he’s very enthusiastic! Thankfully, he was in time and more or less in key, but moreover, he loved every minute of it, and the crowd lapped it up. Two hours of rock, pop, party and cheese later, we were done and knackered. I received a number of compliments from guests, including people who hadn’t seen us play before but had heard good things. So I’m glad we didn’t disappoint. A couple of people even said they were glad they had a good band as the DJ was rather lacklustre. Most importantly, my Niece and new Nephew were over the moon with their day and evening, and I went to bed feeling a lot lighter in mood!

Well I think I've peaked today..... I saw another of the old GR410+ cabs come up for sale, didn't think I'd see one again.... So it's now mine! The one I took a punt on a few years ago is by far the best sounding and most powerful cab I've ever used, and I've had some GREAT cabs in my time! I present the 1400w 8x10" GR Bass stack of doom! 😈 Overkill? Yes. Fun? Absolutely! 😎👌

Here's Rob Mullarkey playing through the bassline he came up with for a Jordan Rakei track called 'Moda' To me his touch and feel are exemplary, and not just on this track, but just about everything he's been part of. Enjoy!

Granted they were out of order, but in their minds they were expressing respect. I think the family probably didn't mind. Ozzy sure didn't. Showbiz innit?

Sorry to be the pedant, but they are not Hercules Hangars, this is a Hercules Hangar:

added a diy noise maker from holy island it can run of the two solar panel but one of mine is faulty, but it has a back up 9v super simple sounds weird which is what I want

Just a little old-school board i put together using spare parts...

Busy evening. Got home and fitted the new pickup ring to the pickup - fit great first time, except the pickup height screw holes were a bit tight but they pushed though OK with a little persuasion. I decided to get stuck in and make some more progress, so I got down to dismantling the bass. Found some interesting things: The channels which the bridge saddle grub screws sit in are actually stamped into the bridge plate, proud and so there are shallow channels routed into the body to accommodate them. # Wonderful documentation - separate date stamps for body (Sept 1998) and neck (Oct 1998). Anyway, after unearthing some hidden treasure, I made my plan: That's a lot of wood to get through (about 47mm)! Body clamped securely in the bench vice. But I wasn't ready just to gung ho so I grabbed a scrap bit of wood for a test run. I deliberately picked one which wasn't much bigger than the 20mm bit so I could see how good my aim was. Turns out my aim is pretty good. Also checked that 20mm was indeed big enough to accommodate a jack socket. It is. Time to take a deep breath and drill for real this time. As you can see I did deviate a bit from the original pilot hole, but not in either of the directions which would matter. The drill did wander a little at the beginning when it was trying to break through the finish, hence the white mark on the bottom edge. But by the time I got to this depth, my drill wasn't making much progress. So I decided to stop there (about 10mm short of breaking through into the control cavity) and simply enlarged the old pilot hole a little to allow space for wires to come through. Jack socket loads in from the outside. A tad unorthodox, but hey, it's an unorthodox bass! Done. As luck would have it, I found a "football" jack plate in my spares box. So that saved me ordering one. Made a couple of pilot holes (using the hand drill this time - had quite enough of power tools for one day!) and fitted the plate to the side of the body. Last of all, I moved the jack socket properly (as in desoldered it, moved it to the side and reconnected it - which would not have been necessary if I had gone all the way through with the forstner bit but it's a small price to pay for sanity etc. Now there's a hole free in the top of the body for a pickup selector switch. But that's for another time.

Like it or not, it's Ozzy's time as a reality TV star which made him the odd cultural icon he became. His life & passing would still have been massively celebrated within the metal community, but there would have been very little of this blanket coverage if he hadn't been all over the telly with his catchphrases.

I unashamedly love Reverend as a brand. Both their basses and guitars just look so cool and and great twists on classic silhouettes. Plus the build quality and pickups are great. Even though I don't own one, I reckon it was time to start a fan thread so people can post their basses (and guitars) if they want But the colours, man the colours. Just always doing something a bit different. Today is no different. A few new releases and I'm a fan of all 3 of the basses.

Longshots in a pub carpark in East Manchester this afternoon. Bass player with a Capri Orange P and a fridge. Respect!

I guess they're hoping for more footfall.

If the keyboard player cant maintain discipline and stay out of the bass players way then nail a plank across the two lowest octaves of the keyboard

Must be a new signature prototype - Greg Norton, formerly of Husher Du:

@SteveXFR I've replaced all the preamps in mine with LHZ-03. When gigging I run everything turned up full except on a couple of songs (Under Pressure and Bohemian Rhapsody) where I roll the treble to halfway. I'm never chasing a tone, never have to worry about trying to be like a safecracker getting the knob to the exact right spot. For me, Spectors are a one trick pony, it's the best trick in the world and the pony has wings. That's what I want; repeatable, reliable tone that is always there. I found that I'd get a useable tone from a TP but would lose it if the knobs got moved. The way I run now makes it easy to check the knob position on the fly. And the LHZ has centre detents making it easy when I do need to adjust.

Or you can use this tool, if you're doing it slowly, it will be very good: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264935588930

🏜️ desert island finish is accurate. Gorgeous!

You don't need to give me an excuse to show off my korinaburst Triad. It also has a Freeway 10 way switch fitted, for the standard options on one bank, then various series/parallel options not normally available. Pretty simple fit, visually undetectable, very elegant mod (works by tilting the blade switch up/down to access the two banks of options).

+1. The original SVT had drivers with 1mm xmax. That's why it took sixteen of them to handle the SVT head. You can find ads from 1969 showing the SVT head with two SVT 810 cabs. As driver technology improved the need for that many drivers lessened. Today you can find tens that are the equal of eight of the original SVT drivers.

This is really exciting times for us We have taken on a much bigger unit next door to relocate all of our stocks of accessories, basses not on display, used amplification etc, making picking a packing a lot easier and more efficient. We are also taking on another full time member of staff and introducing new processes to make things a lot more customer orientated/focused. All in all it will be a MUCH nicer place to be with some comforts too, we really hope you love the changes guys and look forward to seeing you soon

The "lost" bass that finally showed up two days ago is out on tour with Tom Petersson now. It got its maiden flight in Atlanta yesterday. And I see Tom decided to mount the pearloid pickguard that I put in the case with the bass.

I’m afraid ‘bulky in the mids’ rather accurately describes me!😁

It’s actually the guitarists wife, if you read back. However I think I may have found the solution to the @Bluewine dilemma regarding videography… alternatively she might fancy a trip to Scotland?

She’s a very smooth walker to judge by that first minute or so. fine choice of tune, sir

There's something magnificent about old tools, a mate of mine found one at a boot sale, and a few years later has a collection to rival some bass collections! Thanks for the advice, some jobs require the combination of high attention and effort and low speed 👍

Of course, had your brother in law been using a slightly bigger suitcase, he could have subsidised his trip by bringing another XB driver back from Texas for an X-Men sideburned bass player who would happily pay for his time and physiotherapy after carrying back a heavier suitcase. Ha!

As a bass guitar driver, it’s very limited. Some of this can be overcome by using multiples of this driver (410 and 810 for example)

Hydrasynth Explorer top, modal argon 8x and my old but solid studiologic sl880 keyboard . Picked up an alesis sr18 drumbox yesterday.

I don't know - reading the posts from both sides, I don't see anyone being covered in glory here.

Tidied up a bit on here, I think that maybe part of this should continue as a private conversation while it is being resolved

Yep, that's the exact same one.... best finish of them all imho...

Wow, that looks absolutely stunning 😍 That's how the CST is supposed to look like! I think I had the same bass on my watchlist but our never-ending house renovation project kept me from going for it. Enjoy 👍

Agree, for me it was about 80/20 neck/bridge that got me where I wanted to be.

When told "Pre EQ only" I just say "Sure"..... then send it Post EQ. I then get the usual "Your bass sounds great"... 🙄🤦‍♂️🤣👍