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I was doing a gig with the blues/rock band yesterday We only usually do one a year but the BL decided to do a warm up gig in what was a great venue but. They've taken the carpet out 3 Guitarists stupid Bose PA right behind me I had my ACS custom moulds in and by half way through the 2nd set it was hurting my ears The guitars just kept turning up and up During a dreadful rendition of Heroes by Bowie I signalled to the BL that I couldn't hear and it was too loud H e wound the song up early and I said I'm done. It's loud, it's hurting me and I walked off stage I'm not a diva but I actually feared for the hearing I have left I'm still fumimg this morning

I would have walked at ‘blues/rock’, or if not then, then definitely at ‘3 guitarists’! 😄

9AM start for me yesterday to pick up the guitarist and a bunch of gear, then a long drive through constant traffic to Blackpool. A bunch of jobsworth's checking the gear at the load in bay which is unusual for Rebellion. One lad stopped me "I need to put a tag on your hardware case" What's the point of that? "It's a security measure, it shows that it's been searched" Do you want to search it then? "No, I trust you, you don't have any drugs in there do you?" No mate, the drugs are in my other bag 🤷‍♂️ Then the stairs. So many stairs. All the way up to the Opera House to play our first set. It's such a massive stage and they barely even line checked us. The sound on stage was abysmal. They had the guitarists' amp modeller clipping so it was just a horrible fizzy mush. We struggled through but seemed to go down really well. I've seen some footage since and the sound was fine FOH so they must have had separate feeds on the guitar. Very reassuring! After that were more stairs up to the Almost Acoustic stage. So many stairs. For this "acoustic" stage, the only hard and fast rule is "no bass drums". I'm sure I've posted on here about this before but my work around is to put a mic in a tupperware tub and hit it with a standard kick pedal. It's so weird that they prefer to plug in this contraption than mic up an acoustic bass drum, but it is what it is, and we've done it loads of times before, so we cracked on. This room is a nightmare for sound. A very distinct slap back echo on everything. It's OK when I'm in charge of the groove but when the guitarist is on his own it can put him off. Anyway, once again, we seemed to go down really well Lots of new fans, sold loads of merch, and had a good laugh. So many stairs on the way out. Then the lift was broken at the carpark. I was on the top floor. My legs would like a rest now Ace to see @Leonard Smalls sounding tight AF, trousers in full effect!

We did one, where the head lining band provided the PA and sound engineer. It was so loud I did the gig with my 19dB ACS IEMs and 30dB ear defenders over top. That was the last gig I did with that band. When the headliners came on they turned the levels up, and even outside the venue it was too loud to not have hearing protection. Me at the gig, looking p***ed...

After our Rebellion afternoon gig went and watched @cheddatom 's band Headsticks - they were, as usual properly excellent... So following some refuelling with pizza, tiramisu and double espressos we carted our gear 200m to the Washington pub which was surrounded by punks watching Year Zero (decent band!). We schlepped everything (actually, twas only Raph's bass amp, our instruments and cymbals) through the throng, set up and proceeded to play. And we made far fewer mistakes - slight speed errors here and there but starts, stops and changes were perfect. Good thing we'd had a rehearsal at Rebellion earlier 😁. All seemed to go down well, folks jigging about and no complaints when I did unnecessary slap'n'widdle solos. Which was nice! Gear and clothes exactly the same as earlier, apart from provided big Ashdown combo that sounded pretty awesome once I'd tamed the feedback. And the rest of the band went to watch Bad Manners in the Strictly Ballroom while I had a Glenfiddich 15yo in the hotel bar...

Think you made the right choice, if volume is painful whilst wearing ear protection then that’s way too loud.

Saturday we played our much-hyped (and I mean much-hyped, I don't think as much effort has gone into promoting a gig since I've been a member) gig at The Hop in Wakefield. Our guitarist Jen is a local to the area (three of the others are all from over Bratford way) so had been going mad with excitement for the last month and there had been a great many posts on "the socials" including from her employer. She had gathered a huge list of shout outs that she wanted to do but which we had to quite sensibly curtail - I made the point that with the amount she wanted to do we may as well ditch the set list and just do shout outs! The venue was reasonably compact but a nice size, and the stage was a decent size. It was a warm evening so we managed to get the AC turned on above us, but it was pretty useless and so it was a pretty sweaty one. I decided to go with my Sire V7, Ashdown ABM and the trusty Barefaced cab, with the Elf on standby just in case. During soundcheck everything sounded OK but the on-stage sound during the gig was very hit and miss - there were a few songs where we were relying on some sequenced drum tracks to keep the drummer in time, and thence to keep the rest of us in time, but there were a few songs where he could barely hear it and so we went a bit wrong on a few occasions, notably during the bass solo of Club Foot where I made a right hash of things. For the most part though things went pretty well, playing-wise, and our newly-prepped track Shout was amazing to play live, as well as giving me a chance to break out the Mooer octave pedal I got for Christmas! The atmosphere in the venue was absolutely tremendous, and playing issues aside one of the best gigs I've had with the band. Our guitarist's husband even went so far as to say he thought it was the best one he'd seen of us. People were up and dancing and singing right from the start, and the number that did so only increased through the night. We played two encores and left them wanting more - I was at the bar getting a drink afterwards and two lads were talking to each other about whether we were coming back on or not, and were disappointed when I told them we were done. My next door neighbours came to see me and looked like they were having a great time, possibly too great as they left immediately after we'd finished. We'd priced ourselves as low as we'd normally go to get the gig, but from what I was told they took almost well over double behind the bar what they'd normally take on a Saturday night. We hope we'll be invited back after that, and we'll definitely be pushing for a bit more in the way of fee. It's an Ossett Brewery pub, and we were told that they would pass on our details to others owned by the brewery, so fingers crossed. I think someone from another pub may have been in that night because we got an enquiry over Messenger during our mid-set break. Hopefully this will lead to us getting a few more diverse gigs for next year.

If you're wearing protection and it is that loud, then that is seriously wrong. People need to take this more seriously. I'm extremely wary of loud environments, which is why I have an app with an SPL meter on it. OK it's not 'accurate' since a proper reading requires measuring distances etc., but it's a useful guide.

It's done! I went to the Mech Engineering Workshop at work today, because I needed some help to get a hole through from the new pickup route to the cavity. Yes, they had a sufficiently long drill bit to be able to enter from the neck pocket and drill through, into the new route then onwards and into the bridge pickup route... Bridge pickup is foam suspended, so the foam will simply deform around the chunky multicore wire. After that, it was pretty much just a case of wiring it all up. Except it wasn't - because there were a few wrinkles in the plan (isn't there always?). First thing I learned is that the T-40 pickup, while splittable, doesn't give you access to all four ends of the coils - it only has three wires plus a shield coming out of it, so all you can do is series/single by shunting one coil to ground. So I had to change from a three way mini toggle to a two way. Then gotcha 2 happened - the new switch had less of a threaded section on it than the previous switch, so out comes the drill again with the forstner bit to remove a little more control cavity to make the new switch poke through the top of the guitar enough. With those little issues out of the way it was just a case of wiring it up... Quick tap test on the pickups made me suspect that the pickups were out of phase when both engaged, so I swapped the wires of easiest one (the bridge pickup). Then I tested it for real. IT WORKED! I am delighted with this mod - I've had to learn a lot of new things, and I hope to never have to route an already finished bass ever again

You did the right thing, well done. I’ve recently left a blues rock band, mainly because the stage levels were ridiculously loud. Gigs which should have been very enjoyable were becoming significantly less so for me, and my hearing is far more important.

I picked this up 3 weeks ago locally to me, on the way to a ska gig (used my regular bass), then used the Roscoe the next night at a function band gig- thought it’d be more fitting. It came with black sticky strings, so put on some others and gave it a decent clean up. There’s no doubt that it’s an absolutely superb bass, but still unsure if it’s for me or not. The 35” scale on it is unnoticeable really, but the 18mm spacing, weirdly is (I’m so used to 19mm). So the jury’s still out on it for me.

Don't blame you in the slightest.

Two more days were spent filling the exposed ends of the fret slots with lacquer, which is a slow process of dripping stuff in with a pipette and then filing it down. After that I was ready to start painting in my newly aquired (from Argos) spray booth/greenhouse. I was a little stumped by how to hold an instrument that has no tuning peg holes or neck pocket to use, but decided on a big M-10 eyebolt through the jack socket hole. And here's how it looks as of right now. Don't worry, this is just the first step in what will be a fairly elaborate finish.

A good friend of mine is in a rock band, it’s not really my kind of music but it’s good to see him and watch him play as he’s a great bass player, but unfortunately I’ve stopped going because they are so loud it’s uncomfortable

Just starting to assemble parts. The thrill of the chase. @neepheid knows what it is. Shhh!

Funny you should mention that... Straight DI - tone 100%.mp3 In order: T-40 pickup (series), T-40 pickup (single coil), both pickups (T-40 series), both pickups (T-40 single), original bridge pickup. All 100% tone control open. TC Electronic BH250, pre EQ DI, straight to interface.

If it's not a band where you can have a sensible discussion about things like volume, then it's not a band to be associated with. I was approached to join a band that I'd seen play live a couple of times and politley turned them down because they always played way too loud.

Smart move. Leave them to go deaf and don't join them.

Today I tackled the sloppy, oversized problem that is the neck pocket. In a super janky, homespun way, of course! A few days ago, I said that the neck angle (for string alignment was just right with a small piece of veneer at the open end of the neck pocket, so I made that official and glued a small piece of veneer up there: Super janky! To add to the jank factor, I used one of those furniture repair/touch up pens to try to disguise the top of the veneer... Then I got to the yawning chasm which is the right hand (treble) side of the neck pocket. Aye, that's the edge of the neck. Ouch. So I spent quite a lot of time cutting, shaping and gluing veneers to the offending area (a 2mm thick then a 0.6mm thick) And did the same cover up job with the touch up pen. And now the neck pocket looks like this... Real luthiers - look away now - heh, too late! So, a final check of everything with the fake strings... It's far from perfect, but it's a damn sight closer to what it needs to be. From a distance, no-one will know. I think I'm ready to fit the neck now. Still have to decide what to do about all that spare material - but I know I'm putting off the inevitable which is that it'll probably have to be routed off and the offending area refinished. Yay!

I am privileged enough to have commissioned a new build with Overwater. My first was a Scott Devine Signature in 2014. This one will be a headless Progress with some custom options. I like a 16.5mm string spacing and Chris has been able to source a Hipshot bridge/tuner system for it as their own bridge/tuner is specifically 18mm spacing. Bridge pickup will be 30mm from the bridge and a flat back to the neck, which I find very comfortable. First pic through is the face wood, quilted mahogany. How good is that going to look with a finish on it?

I saw BB King in a big venue once, he was playing through a tiny little amp beside him on the stage (couldn't see what it was but I'm guessing an old valve amp, 20w or something). The amp was mic'd up. No effects, just guitar, lead, amp the size of a shoebox, and his guitar tone was incredible.

The best compromise is the use of small valve combos, 15/20 watts is usually fine for a band. There has been a growing number of these being made in the past 20 years or so, negating the use of 50/100 watt heads and accompanying 4x12 cabinets. Also powersoaks and attenuators can help tame loud amps to a certain degree. (Vox AC30s are renowned for being louder than many a stack though, so the general rule is that stuff is as loud as it sounds I guess?).

With the revolution in digital modelling over the last decade there's just no need for guitarists to play through maxed out valve rigs anymore. It may be 'authentic' but it's always been problematic in smaller venues and these days there are better solutions. A lot of stadium filling rock/metal bands have made the switch so there's no excuse for blowing out the windows in the Dog & Duck trying to hit the saturation sweet spot on a valve amp.

While I was looking for a decent Audiovox pic, I came across an interesting luthier who appears to have created a range of contemporary Tutmarc designs from a Leoless alternate reality! Liking the one in the middle...

Good call. Should've hit them with one of these:

Your ears will thank you! I don't understand why people still think it's clever or impressive to be painfully loud - especially given how easy it is to be loud these days with modern equipment. Unless you're at a Sunn O)))) gig, I don't imagine most audiences enjoy it either.

Reminds of a rehearsal with a band I just joined... I just stopped playing during it and sat on my amp, waiting, until they noticed it. I told them they were way too loud as I couldn't even hear myself and they replied "Hey, it's stoner music!" I simply replied: "Farewell!" and I left. We remained friends, but they all are deaf by now... So good move and decision @police squad !

What price are you seeing? According to Andertons, they'll be £999 here in the UK. Honestly, SBMM can just eff off with their UK/EU price hikes.

We had a gig in a tiny tiny pub. I'd gigged there before. It's a pain unloading as the pub is in a really narrow street, not much wider than a car itself and the set up area is compact 🙂. Despite me warning the rest of the pub's quirky location and size, or lack of, they were still a little gobsmacked when they saw the reality 🤣🤣 We had a fun gig, lovely pub, lovely crowd (I say crowd in its loosest term considering aforementioned size), we played well and will get asked back. Result.

We've just done the first of two gigs today... We had the 1350-1420 slot at Rebellion Festival Arena. We played there two years ago and the sound was awful, boomy, feedback and generally horrible. So now they've put the stage facing across the room, and it's now the best sounding room at the Festival! For the first time in many years I went directly into the PA from my Helix. Our other bass player used the supplied AmpegSvt and Fridge. As a result, he was happy with trousers flapping indistinct mush, and I was very happy with a slightly slappier JJ Burnell-esque tone which suited my far too many notes style. We played ok, a number of mistakes due to nerves from our two new members and also a serious lack of rehearsal, but I shall eventually beat the songs into them good'n'hard. However, audience of 2-300 seemed happy (we were up against 4 other bands in the other Winter Gardens venues, plus the Typhoon and Red arrows flypast at Blackpool airshow. Afterwards we didn't get a kicking, and even sold some merch... Gear- Sandberg Basic, Helix, PA. Shoes - TUK zebra creepers. T-shirt - original UKSubs Another Kind of Blues from about 1978-9.

Wow that must have been very loud if it was too loud through the ACS customs. I have the 26db ACS customs, and sometimes find the fit isn’t as tight towards the end of a gig, which makes them not quite as effective. I tend to now only take them out when I am in the car and all packed up due to loud music/DJ playing after the band has finished and are packing up etc

Some people are just dicks

If it was too loud for the members of the band, imagine how the punters felt.

Most of the deaf guitarists I know are in denial. They wouldn't acknowledge they have a problem if you paid them. A couple are wearing hearing aids as well. Their hearing is obviously shot they're still playing way too loud.

Quick and dirty Fuzzdog kit from a couple of evenings ago, not my finest work, but probably the quickest I’ve done. Mr Creosote (Phat Phuk B clone). Bodged the germanium a little (socketed and legs cut too short), but it works fine after a mild breakdown about the LED not working. Will swap the germanium at some point so it’s more solid in the sockets, but yeah, sounds nice. Si

My 65 Jazz. 100% original with the exception of the body rout, the pickups, the electrics, the scratchplate, the tuners. Ok, so the body and neck are the original bits, just not in original condition. 🙂

Absolutely the best live guitar sound I've ever heard was a Les Paul through a Marshall 2x12, 18 watt Bluesbreaker-type combo. Apparently they were made for the old catalogue market many years ago (this would have been 40 years ago anyway). Just a volume and tone control. Just a gorgeous rich sound with loads of depth and beautiful sustain.

Many years ago I played with a very good guitarist. He did a lot of recording and West End theatre work, and got every tone of every guitarist at very sensible volume levels. He was using pedals and his amp properly. It was a treat playing with him.

And guitarists wonder why people think they are egocentric.

True, but you don't even need to go digital. Modern multi gain stage amps can give virtually any sound you want at any volume. If you desire speaker distortion, rather than amp distortion, use a lower power cab and cane it.

AF9 is a brilliant envelope filter! Not sure why TC never did a filter model - it would make the Plethora a potential all in one solution for me if they did.

What did the punters make of it?

I bet the neighbourhood dogs were going mental!!

That’s exactly the combination that made me leave my band! AC30s are killing machines.

I would hate to be put in that position but yes, good call. There have been a couple of bands where my decision not to accept an offer to join has been based partly on their excessive volume.

For those not knowing it, it's the very first electric bass, an Audiovox Model 736 Bass Fiddle, invented by Paul Tutmarc in 1935. I wrote a mémoire about the subject that I've been putting here countless times...

I thought you'd like it.

Hi Andy I think you'd be crazy not to consider the LFSys options. I have the Monza which is gong to be the cleanest sounding cab on the market. It's streets ahead of the Barefaced 110T if what you are looking for is uncoloured sound. I've not heard them yet but there is a newer 10" Blue Line cab from LFSys which is lighter to carry and a little cheaper but won't go as loud as the Monza. For me the Monza is the Swiss army knife cab that does everything I'll ever need but you might not need that headroom. I think @stevie is still offering a discount to BassChat members. If you want to hear one then let us know where you are based and someone will probably invite you along to try theirs. If you are West Country based you'd be welcome to come to try mine.

Re Cranes of Cardiff - I miss them too. Cardiff seemed to have a lot of guitar or music related shops in the past. But there is a hidden gem, right near the centre..... Former deputy manager of Cranes, and manager of Cardiff PMT, Mike runs a great 2nd hand guitar & motorbike shop "Motomusic" check them out. (A seemingly strange mix, I know- but I've met people from the world of motorbikes who also think he's a true gent). Mike is an absolute gent, and pleasure to deal with, and they often get really nice rarities popping up. Another positive story, is the rise of A-strings music, just north of Cardiff. They are currently expanding their shop, and moving to a much larger premises in Treforest industrial estate. Fingers crossed, and all the best to them. MotoMusic https://share.google/QjwzYcwGkcElBL6ii

I’ve owned one and I’ll be honest, once the thrill of owning something so old and cool passes you’ll likely get bored pretty quickly with it. Mine was a nice little curio that sat on the stand and looked pretty but that’s pretty much it. A lot of these vintage guitars are like fine art, I can appreciate its aesthetics and value but I have no need or desire to own it (anymore). I’m happier with the modern US stuff and I reckon you should be too.