Leaderboard

Following on from the various threads about how you started playing and what's keeping you playing I thought I'd see if I could find and the oldest photo of me playing bass. And here it is: There a date, 1978, written on the back which means I'm 17, and you can tell that punk rock hasn't really reached Loughborough yet! The bass isn't mine, but one borrowed from a school friend for the purposes of doing some home recording. I didn't have a bass of my own until 1981. I like to describe this instrument as being made by someone who had once been shown a photo of a Fender P and then had to recreate it from memory using just what was available in the spare parts drawer of the local musical instrument shop. This is also probably the closest I've ever come to playing a "Precision" bass. No idea what song I'm playing other than it is likely be something from our "concept album" on the subject of Nature vs Man vs Nature. Compare and contract with this photo taken last week of me on stage at the Twisted Firestarter gig in Manchester: So what are your oldest and newest bass playing photos. Add them to this thread. Don't be embarrassed!

1st one. Channeling my inner Zal Cleminson at a 6th form college gig (about 1976, I think). 2nd on. Reunited with my ex Pretty Things colleague Dick Taylor (on guitar) at the SoL Party earlier this month. Singer is the ubiquitous (very) Alan Clayson.

Oldest (don't remember the date; that's our singer playing my drums at the time. It's an outdoor 'on the pavement' 'Fête de la Musique' event in our local town...) ... Latest..? [Shock-Horror] I'm 'playing' a recording for a past Composition Challenge. No, it didn't win, but was fun trying (until I tried to get up..! )... Embarrassed, me..? Nah..!

So, Bought this on a well known selling platform a few days ago. It was a warehouse find, and was reasonably priced. Received a call from the seller after order placement to tell me the neck was unserviceable. Just happens that I've a spare Fender 70s neck here, so I gave an offer for everything, thinking I'd fit my own neck. Well, it's arrived in 1/2 hour ago with the original neck. It's fine. Like, it plays lovely. The electrics are pretty crackily, but I'll fit solderless controls / pots that I have lying around. So I really don't know what the craic is with the supposed knackered neck, but I've scored this for a very, very good price. Feeling lucky today, as I've always been after a Fender with block inlays. Cheers

Haven't got any photos of early Weeds with borrowed Gibson short scale... But I do have Barf Roco stuff from around 1987-8. I no longer own the babydoll nightie as that was forcibly removed during the gig by singer and guitarist. luckily I had a codpiece on. Then a couple of weeks ago at Rebellion:

So first we have me in The Shout, prob 88/89 Secondly we have me in The Spacewasters 2022 (I do have later pics but they’re pony, so this one gets the outing)

This first one is a couple of weeks ago, a band called Heores, new wave, mod , ska and punk. I'm depping here, nearly 57 years old The 2nd one is from 1988. A band called Roadhouse, we did literally 4 gigs a week for 18 months till I left. I was 20 in this band

Brave, brave Sir Robin

1996, first gig, which was a RHCP tribute, I was 18. Last pic is actually the last time I played through an amp 😢, jamming with a drummer mate in 2020.

Over in the thread about acrimonious band splits, I was talking about the band I was in where the guitarist just upped and left after a gig. Here's a pic of that band, and it's the oldest pic I have of me onstage (there's probably a few more that I have as actual photos, but this is the oldest one I have on the computer ) - this is from around 1997, and that's me on the left. ...and this is a more recent one from a year or so back, playing my trusty Sei.

First one is a rehearsal with a bunch of school friends circa 1973. The bass is a 1964 Burns Jazz……I still have it! Second one is from earlier this year……….rocking a fretless P in a café bar.

I hope you don’t mind me reviving the thread. I’ve had a set of the Pino flats on two basses, so I thought I’d give a little feedback from my experience. I’ve tried a number of different variations of flats on my Fender CS Sean Hurley precision, trying to find the set for it, but always found myself in the Goldilocks predicament: too much tension, not enough tension, too bright, bad intonation, etc. I’d tried Chromes, Elites, Thomastik, La Bella (stock on the Hurley), Fenders, Ernie Ball Cobalts, Ernie Ball Group Flats, and the newer Ernie Ball Group 2.5s. The set I eventually settled on were the La Bella Olinto Signature Flats, possibly as the gauges matched the Thomastiks PowerBass rounds I use on other basses. Nice tension, maybe sounded a little more roundwound but still a nice thud. Not long after I settled on the Olintos, I saw that the Pino sets were going to be released. I’m not a lover of EB strings in general, and I really didn’t like the cobalt flats, so you can imagine my joy when the Pino Signatures were a take on the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats…. Curiosity got the better of me, and I bought a set of the Extra Light 38-98 to pop on my Geddy Lee Jazz. Well, I took to them instantly. Although they were lighter in tension than what I was used to in a flatwound set, more ‘bouncy’ than loose, they were a joy to play. I was surprised by just how much warm/rich bottom end they had and how the top end still sang and sustained when you played a harmonic. I found them nice and balanced tonally across all strings and they possessed a ‘played in’ feel as if they’d genuinely been on the bass for a while. I was so impressed, the next morning I took my Hurley bass to the shop and took the Olintos off (😬) and put an Extra Light Pino set on. Now, after a truss rod tweak, I have the set for the bass. It has all the characteristics as above on the Geddy but then it has ‘that sound’ when you dampen the strings with the side of your hand or engage the Hurley’s mute. Long story long, I was really concerned they would be a gimmick (and the recent feedback on the EB John Mayer Signature Silver Slinky’s we’d had didn’t fill me with optimism either) and it would be another set of EB Flats on and off in quick succession. However, I’m pleased to say that I was wrong to think that and for me, with or without Pino’s name on them, I think they are worth the money. The silk wraps are a pretty colour too. Apologies for the War & Peace post! (A little OCD may have kicked in while stringing up the Hurley)

In my teenage incarnation, Our band had a disagreement over the tempo of a Santana song we were going to cover. After much heated disagreement, I rolled the drummer's snare down a four-flight, stone staircase. The end. Probably the best tempo it had kept for a few months.

In another thread a forum member mentioned a band finishing with "everyone remaining chums". While I applaud this band for its maturity, I don't think I've ever had a band finish without never talking to at least someone again (which I fear says something about me...). My least amicable split was when we accidentally dropped a flight case on our singers tambourine that she referred to as her "instrument". In penance the guitarist and I went to a music shop to buy her a new one but she didn't like the sound. Thus followed an argument along the lines of "but they all sound the same"... "no they don't"... "well you don't have to play it because it annoys everyone anyway"... etc. and the nickname "Jingle Bells" being coined. I think we only lasted one or two more gigs! I'm sure others can better this!

My first gig, probably 1987. My most recent gig photo: Inspired by @Wombat and his replica pose/playing style, it seems my left hand technique hasn't changed much in nearly four decades! Another shot from the recent gig:

One of the first gigs I played in around 1980 I think, Polesworth Working Mens Club. Last gig I played, charity event for Capital 1 in a big tent in Nottingham somewhere around 2020.

Yet another example of a Drummer having bad timing...

Oh dear... My apologies to all who have provided excellent advice here. I should have absolutely, most definitely, acknowledged your kind responses in a timely fashion; but as such I have not. I shan't provide explanation as to the why, but I will stand here and take my licks for the poor showing of forum decorum. *screws tippy-toe into floor and looks coy* Sowee... To update all on my endeavours. I took all your advice - plugged things into the correct places, turned things on in the correct order, turned volumes up, then down, then down a bit more... then the vocalist shouted at me and I turned things up a little. All in all everything works great! Had a quick bit of a flashing DDT clipping light issue on the PA which was easily resolved with some trial and error on which input was to blame. Of course it was the lead guitarist! But we've settled into our new space really well (bar the single-glazed wooden framed windows that I swear will fall out eventually) and everything is working as expected. The drummer is most pleased after years of only being able to practice for 3 hours once a week, half the time of which was setting up and breaking down the kit, to now having a permanently set up kit and the option to pop in whenever he wants a practice/jam 24 hours a day! So thanks again for the tips and stuff. I did inwardly digest all of them and all advice provided is appreciated greatly. I will now await a good berating on BC etiquette. As penance I will also pop along to a very old thread discussing my bricked Microtubes 900 with a recent update to the positive!

1976. 15 years old with my first bass. Made by Gary Nava, school mate (now makes bespoke instruments for people like Matt Bellamy). 2024. My last gig before retiring from live bass duties.

1st is from '78 - earliest picture on my i-pad. 19 at that time 2nd is from June this year, making me 66

Right. The paint has mostly cured now, and I've taken the masking tape off to reveal the final look. I still need to do the clearcoat, but the only thing that will change from this look is the level of shiny-ness. I decided that I was going to lean into the description "poor man's Status" that was often applied to these basses when they were new. It looks a little wonky on the front because the pickup routs are slightly wonky. You can't tell once the pickup surrounds are in place though. If you look closely you can see a thin (like, less than 0.5 mm) line of barbie pink on the edge of the masked off area. I'm not sure whether to keep that visible as a little in joke to myself, or to knock it back with a little bit of red sharpie.

Singer texted the band on the day of the gig to request we change the key of a song. No one replied, no one said anything, nothing got marked on any sheets. Come the song we managed to have everyone (apart from the drummer) manage to play in a completely different key to everyone else.

This and the passive Warwick are going well. the Free The Tone EQ is such a cool pedal

I've accidentally fallen back into a live electronica project, which is something I didn't think I'd ever do again. As such, I have been able to dig out some classics again, like my SL-20. Sounded so damn good last night. Can't wait to jam with this board again! Full run down for those who care about that kind of thing.... PedalTrain Jr Max (with risers along the top). All cabled with EBS gold flat patch cables. Powered by a Cioks DC7 + 8 Expander. Signal chain... Input -> Boss OC-5 Octave -> Horrothia Teeth Mk.1 -> Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler -> The Really Good Pedal Co. Funky Puppy -> WMD Geiger Counter Pro -> Horrothia Type One -> Mr. Black Gilamondo -> Dr. Scientist Tremolessence V3 -> Boss SL-20 Slicer -> Dr. Scientist DUSK (black out enclosure) -> Source Audio Nemesis -> Keeley Bassist (used as a hard limiter) -> TC Electronics PolyTune Mini2 -> Output I'm kinda hoping that in the I can slim this down and do less stuff/hand over more sonic duty to the keys player, but for now, I'm rocking the full tool box. Generally happy with everything here, though I'm considering swapping out the Funky Puppy for a Mastotron and Prometheus combo. The FP is utterly awesome, but the controls are sooooo sensitive to different input levels that balancing it to various pedals before it is a constant challenge. I'll see how I feel after the next session.

c1979 local charity gig... Aug 2025 local charity gig... A theme going on that isn't just that I have the same bass on???

Sei flamboyant 42"

The 2 best B strings I've played, I own. A Vigier Excess 5 and a Spector Euro LX 5. I'd give the edge to the Spector if you twisted my arm. Only have GAS for more Spector's now... Honourable mention to the Stingray 5 I had in the late 90s which had an OUTSTANDING B string. I've tried a few including custom builds from Shuker and ACG, Dingwall AB1, Fender RB5, MM Bongo, Lakeland, Sire... None were awful but I'm coming round to the idea that stiffness of the neck is rather more important than scale length to a good B string.

I was once recommended to a local singer who was putting a band together to do some gigs in support of her ‘upcoming’ album release. I met the singer and she seemed fine and so were the songs and i agreed to do the two local showcase gigs she had booked. Anyway i learnt the basslines as per the recordings and turned up to all the rehearsals to discover she didn’t know the arrangements and wouldn’t take helpful advice from me or other band members whom like me learnt the stuff. Things were changing every session to the point of us all being confused. I decided i would honour the two gigs and leave after the second gig. As expected the the first gig was dreadful (She thought it was fantastic) and the audience were as shocked as we the band were when her vibratio ad-libs sounded like a strangled turkey. Second gig was worse, and in the interval i told the drummer i was leaving immediately after the gig. Which I did quietly after the last song with a blow by blow analysis of my reasons and she marched off in a huff. I then went to cool down and got talking to a punter and told him i had just left and the reasons for it, then he told me the singer was his wife!!! Bit awkward but nonetheless before the end of the following week both the guitarist and drummer had quit. A few years later i was compering a stage at a music festival and her new band were on my list do I gave her the same respectful intro as the other bands and then stood in front of the stage with my other half where the singer could clearly see me and enjoyed watching them squirm through their absolutely dreadful out of tune set with the knowledge that she could see my reaction and knowing I was right. Since then a couple of mates agreed to do gigs with her before hearing her and regretted it.

Reviving this old post as part-penance, part-information sharing To paraphrase the saying: Good things come to those who... give up trying to fix something and leave it in a corner until they speak to a guy at the gym. Having not got anywhere with the red tape involved in posting an item for repair to the Netherlands, and briefly sticking my head above the parapet a couple years later with another request to Darkglass support to which they couldn't help as the model wasn't produced anymore so no stock to repair was available, it turned out in the end that the answer was staring me in the face for years... another persons face in fact! As it happens a fellow gym-goer's father is a retired electronics engineer who mastered in sound engineering (or something like that) and likes to tinker with old amps, speakers etc in his now perpetual free-time. After four painful years of having to stare at a very expensive doorstop this chap spent 10 minutes looking over the board, 2 minutes googling, and told me to buy this > ICEPower-700 Exactly the same board as is in the V1 MT900, just available from somewhere else. Popped the blown one out, fitted the new one in, and gave it a go. So happy to say it hasn't skipped a beat since it got fixed. Performs just the way it always did - although it now plays second fiddle to the V2 MT900 which is in the main rig I always make a point of running the V1 for a good portion of a rehearsal just to make sure it can keep up and that there's no other issues waiting in the wings from it's previous idiot-borne demise. Double bonus is that the new board comes with a 2 year guarantee! Hopefully, if someone else is unfortunate enough to have suffered a similar issue they might happen across this thread and find the information useful.

A band I was the co-founder of somewhere in the early 90s played a few gigs. The guitarist/vocalist got rather sweary between numbers at the last one, and the drummer (who could well have been given an offer by another band so there could have been an ulterior motive) said he was leaving because Steve was too sweary. Our viola player was leaving anyway. Steve then rang me and asked me if he was too sweary, and I was rather non-committal. I went to the rehearsal studio soon afterwards and saw a notice from him saying he was looking for a drummer and bassist who had to realise that there was ONLY ONE BAND LEADER and it was him (we both wrote songs for the band, it was about 2:1 him to me). He did get another set of personnel together and they're still going. Their website has biographies of each member, and in his it says he did the folk clubs as a solo act. Rather a lie, as he and I did them as a duo. At least it was the inspiration for a song I wrote called "Revisionist"...

I've mentioned this before on BC, but I once left a band by going to the toilet during a rehearsal and escaping through the toilet window. There's more to the story, but the crux of it is that I ran away in the least dignified way.

Go and find one then. The night is still young!

I just like spending lots of money on more instruments than I need.

My mates and I wanted to start a band when we were at college. I was left with the choice of bass or drums. I had nowhere to put a drum kit, so bass it was. Bass was the first instrument I'd ever picked up and to this day I cannot play guitar. That's not, I can play a bit but not good enough to play in a band, I literally cannot play and have never played guitar. So bass it was and still is. I did have a long break from my early 20s to my mid 30s where I didn't play at all. I'm glad I got back into it.

I've told this before ages ago but it's my fav band breakup story so here goes... We had a song where the lyrics before the solo was 'call out my name'. The drummer and I had developed the habit of calling out 'w@nker' at this point, the vocalist not being our fav person (the reason at end of story). Well, on this occasion it's gets to that point in the song, I shout out said word with more gusto than normal, the drummer decides for some reason not to join in and the band goes unexpectedly quiet at this point. Much to the amusement of the audience the vocalist lunges at me during the solo while I try to keep playing the bassline and fending off the attack with the pointy end of my bass whist running around the drum kit as far as my lead will allow. At the end of the gig the vocalist just walks straight out. Apparently he stormed off in a huff but as he always left straight after the gig and never helped pack up the gesture was lost. He never returned and I, unfairly in my opinion, got the entire blame for the episode. The band didn't survive after failing to find another vocalist.

Was with a girl of questionable morals who bedded the singer in my band. So I broke the singers nose. I think that was a pretty acrimonious split. I dumped her too. Then shagged her best mate. seemed appropriate at the time.

I did indeed paid for them. I’m just in the fortunate position of being able to pay trade pricing instead of retail. I was trying to be helpful and provide context of what I had previously tried and a light hearted reference to what is an expensive pursuit of finding the right string in the Flatwound world. 😕

Our new single "Adore Me" is out now on all your favourite streaming and download sites: Bandcamp link

The drummer in our band gave us notice that he wanted to leave because we weren't making any money; he had previously played in covers bands and made a few quid every gig... So we got in touch with an old mate who was between bands, he was very happy to be asked to join, so we told old drummer who was pleased, and we agreed that our next gig would be his last. On the night of that gig, while we were on stage actually, we got an email saying we'd been accepted for Rebellion. And old drummer threw his toys out of the pram - accused us of knowing in advance and forcing him out, then stormed off and immediately unfriended us all on FB as did his wife and daughter. He's recently re-friended me, wants to know how everything is going with the band, possibly in the hope that everything's worse without him. Which it isn't - different but not in a bad way, in fact better in some ways, and slightly worse in others... Still, life's too short for ridiculous grudges!

I've done a quick look over my morning tea. I'll stick the results up below but before I do can I ask what you want to get out of this? If it is just a cab that is an Ashdown and sounds like an Ashdown then contacting @Ashdown Engineering is probably the way to go. They'll probably provide you with a couple of 8ohm drivers at a reasonable price, the cab will retain it's value and it's sound. @Stub Mandrel's suggestion is a good one and I'm happy to help you set up WinISD if you get stuck. It's free and it works If you want to go ahead with a mod then it's a question of what you want to get out of the mod and how much surgery/woodwork you want to do on the cab. If it has a tweeter you might want to look at the crossover too so it could be slightly more complex than just re-tuning the cab. So this is the initial look at a pair of Celestion Pulse 10's in a 100l cab tuned to 50hz. For comparison there are two other more 'normal' responses in smaller cabs. That's partly to illustrate what we are all saying about the cab being 'a bit big' for the Pulses. Interestingly for a nerd like myself the response in your cab will be almost exactly that of an Extended 3db Bass Shelf/EBS-3 response which is a 'thing'. You just need to know this is the result. The bass shelf works well for bass guitar as the lower frequencies get reinforced by any hard surfaces near the cab but you just need to know that this will happen when you swap the speakers. Green your cab with the Pulses 100l tuned to 50Hz Blue is maximally flat SBB4 resonse in a 65l cab Red is a more typical commercial cab response in a 45l cab

There's more than one model on that page - the default one is £7 but looks like it's just an LED light with facets, the lasery one is £17. I've just gone mad and splashed out very nearly a tenner on https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007714100673.html

My legal team have advised me not to contribute to this thread.

Was in a band a few years ago. It became apparent that our set was beyond the vocal ability of the singer. After a torturous gig in which he murdered a few rock classics I sent an email to the band suggesting that it may be time to revamp the set and get some rehearsal time booked. Never mentioned the duff singing at all. In all fairness he was ok on about a third of the set. I got a message back suggesting that the band had played that set for years and were in no hurry to ditch anything. Also I was told don't reinvent the wheel and if I wasn't happy,I knew where the door was.... I sent one word back....SLAM!

Hold my beer........🤣

Just a bit of an update, and a huge thank you to everyone who commented or reacted. With just one gig in the diary and with a regular venue switching to an agent, we have called time on the band. The singer started off a little defensive (as you would expect) but did see that it was right in the end. He admitted that some gigs completely wipe him out and he has good and bad days more generally. We all wish that it was not so, but to carry on (in front of 'strange' crowds) would expose him to criticism (and possibly even ridicule) and that would be far worse. We will bow out on 7th October. More importantly, we are parting as chums. Thanks again for the support people have given. This is a remarkable place - and this is demonstrated so often here.

I had a combo which had a speaker capable of taking more power, so I took it to a gig to use as a second speaker connected to the head and main speaker. Connecting them up in a hurry on a dark stage, I managed to connect the main amp output to the combo amp output. The bigger amp fried the smaller one, and I ended up playing through another bassist's rig because I could not work out where the burning electronics smell was coming from. David

Belated thanks for the replies. After restringing an acoustic the other day in my lap, it moving about all over the place, and not having enough hands to keep it still whilst holding strings down & winding pegs, I decided that even though doing a bass is nowhere near as fiddly, I never want to restring like this again. I’ve just received the Hercules HA206 folding cradle. The quality of their stands made me want to try this. Whilst I’m sure the solid block ones are good, I like the fact that this folds down flat for storage. I was hoping it wouldn’t feel too flimsy, and I’m pleased to see there’s enough weight for it to seem pretty sturdy. It has little rubber non slip ‘feet’, is height adjustable and has the nice black & yellow colour scheme of their stands. Wish I’d done this years ago! Also ordered a smaller winder for acoustic / electric tuning pegs, I have the wider combined winder / string cutter for bass pegs, which is very cumbersome to use on smaller tuning pegs.

Definitely makes me feel like a shortarse.