Leaderboard

Fight all of them in a massive brawl, use as many weapons as is possible, I'd suggest swinging a ship's anchor around your head for maximum damage. Once everyone is sufficiently subdued tell them all it's their fault and that you're now going to take all their belongings and burn them in a giant fire followed by creating a commune where you are the leader and their families now live under your leadership. Or... just tell them honestly how you feel!

After years and years of GAS my search for the perfect bass is finally over! After years of playing, I recently got my hands on a 30-inch, 6-string short-scale bass. For the last seven years, I've loved playing and learning of a 6-string but struggled with the weight and the stretch of my 34 and 35-inch scales. The weight was really starting to take a toll especially when standing and let's be honest , there aren't many light weight 6 . After seeing posts about Eude's short-scale acgs , I was inspired to make the leap. I found a S martyn and bought it on a whim. I'm completely in love—it's so comfortable and incredibly light at just 2.7kg. I only regret not making the switch earlier.

Private party in Southend on Sunday evening. It was for friends of one of our singers throwing a party before emigrating to Australia, so lots of Australian theme decorations, hats and inflatables in the venue. The venue itself is called ‘The Lounge Club’, a beautiful jazz bar with a decent well equipped stage area (including hidden power outlets), great lighting and green room - we were truly spoiled. The club has a mix of jazz and soul acts usually, with a number of tribute acts, so it quite fun to bring some heavier rock to the place. We brought our own PA, but the club owner said we could go through their house system, so we just run a couple of xlr leads out of our mixer direct to their patch bay and let them control the volume. Said system consisted of two huge subs either side of the stage and a couple of large tops flown from the ceiling. Quite a bit pokier than our megreat 12” tops and single 12” sub. Personally, I feel it needed a centre fill, but apparently it sounded great further away from the stage. I think they were calibrated a bit on the bossier side (as proven when the DJ played music when we took a break and finished - almost painfully loud and you could feel the bass in you stomach), I had to run the hpf on our mixer up to 90hz to stop it overwhelming the mix - it could possibly have gone even higher. As such I was worried that my IEM mix would be lacking, but it sounded fine with the subs filling in the low end. First set was a little lacking in audience participation, but by the time we kicked off the second set set everyone was sufficiently fuelled for a proper party. Really enjoyed this one. Just looking out to see a large club full of dancers throwing balloon and inflatables around was a sight to behold. It reminded my of the good old Top of the Pops days in the 70s and 80s. We had some lovely comments and gave our plenty of business cards, including the couple who booked us who said we were better than the £5k band they booked for their wedding. We really ought to be charging more for these events. Hopefully the venue will be able to recommend us to anyone else who wants to book a rock, pop and party band! Next stop, this Thursday at the Cricketers in Southend. A double header with another local covers band, in aid of the RNLI. Should be an interesting night.

Urgh (Apologies... I know I'm in a rapidly diminishing minority)

If you don't own one of these, a Noble/Capo and a Cali 76, are you even really a bass player

Their horrendous levels of enthusiasm almost make me not want one. I do still want one though.

Am I really going to have to be the one? Ok. Which of the other band members has the most attractive spouse... Just sayin'

I've moved a couple of redundant basses over the last month and took a punt on this gorgeous Lakland 44-60. Cracking bass, first outing is rehearsal on Thursday 😊.

Ooh, I don't know about that. I don't usually like false overenthusiasm, but I can't help but like IMA. He's one of the few bass content creators I actually admire and can relate to. He's a proper working bassist who has a great ear for tone and loves playing with effects. And importantly, he's not flashy and doesn't make content to show off his technique, unlike a lot of other well-known bass content creators who don't seem to leave their house.

Something along the lines of, “Sorry guys, I’ve not been enjoying it for a while and I’d rather not string you along, thinking nothing’s wrong. I’d prefer allow you to find a replacement sooner than later.”

Loving my Sandberg TT Superlight, have now used it in both my classic rock band and my street punk band, radically different sounds for each and it delivers for both really well. And being a Superlight it’s so easy on my back & shoulders too.

Confession time - I also have a Danelectro Longhorn ( okay 29 and 3/4 “ scale) which is never going to leave me, so that makes 3 shorties really. I’m currently trying to reduce my bass / amp collection, and just concentrate on keeping stuff that gets used. ( Oh yeh, also forgot the Ibanez PNB14E acoustic - that’s 25”, and Fender Kingman 30”). 😁

It arrived yesterday. I had been looking for one for some time , but the market price for these is high , and I was hoping to eventually land a deal. Couldn’t pass this one up. I love short scale , hollow body basses , I’m a simple thumper at heart , and this is perfect. Very happy to finally land one. Love this bass.

So I’ve been looking at vintage fender basses as I’m hankering after one and this which isn’t vintage came up and was too good to pass up. Its a 2013 Fender American Jazz Bass in beautiful nick, lovely weight and sounds brilliant. I wasn’t looking for a Jazz but oh well 😂 The serial number amused me too, it ends in 6666. Had to include it in a photo with my AV60 Precision too!

Well there's a novelty, never come across that before!

I feel seen… 😳 Having said that I finally managed to get my hands on the MXR a couple of weeks ago and am totally blown away by it. It’s going to get a thorough rinsing on gigs. So easy to dial in and those presets sounds amazing right out the box. Have been chasing those sounds for years. Really couldn’t be happier with it.

Spotted this one on Reverb a week or two ago and it's been on my mind constantly. Killer looking bass, love the RG shape - hardly ever see it in bass but the guitars are just so timeless, reminds me of the 80s shredders. PJ pickups and a nice looking neck, Gotoh tuners too. It's got my name written all over it, and I'd already be thinking of buying it but for one fatal flaw. What on Earth is that finish? Glam went out of fashion almost 40 years ago! https://reverb.com/uk/item/89622765-ibanez-rg-bass-1989-feline-limited-edition

My gig this coming weekend will probably be a total of 8 hours and it’s only 30mins or so away. However, my longest ever from leaving home to getting home was around 46 hours! We were a southeast based band and did a wedding gig in Quimper, Brittany. It was an absolute blast.

Best place to put it IMO is in a cupboard somewhere and get on with life 😂

Tell them you will pick them all up on the way to the next gig, but don't. Then replace them all with new band members.

@mattpbass Insane right?

Eat cake in a controlled manner? That's not like you, you trying some new approach?

Go along the lines of ‘I’ve realised it’s not really for me’ rather than ‘I can’t see this going anywhere’.

Adults on scooters.

I've been a little neglectful of this thread whilst being away this summer... but the project is complete! Here's a few progress shots... Body stripped and prepared: Primed! Looking waaaay too blue! Ready for go faster stripes Stripes done Big chunk out of the fretboard... Seamlessly repaired... i can't even find it in person. New frets whilst we're at it. And here we go... she's done! Here she is with my other recent acquisition... a 1967 Hofner! I couldn't be happier... she sounds stunning and plays so well. The one I've been looking for for a long time! Going out for our first festival outing together tomorrow (Monday), if anyone is at Twinwood this weekend! https://www.eternal-guitars.com/... I can't recommend Dave highly enough. We've had so many geeky chats about the minor details on this, and it's turned out better than i hoped. His own instruments are stunning too.

QUOTE FROM IG: "I've had a handful of messages already asking about this, so I guess I can come right out and talk about it. Mike Watt has been using a couple of my pedals for a while now, and earlier this year he asked if it would be possible to smash everything together into one box for a convenient all-in-one box for gigging and touring. After considerable back-and -forth and several prototypes, The Watt was born. The Watt essentially combines the Single Slice compressor with the Finally v3 preamp/D.I., giving you a tube preamp, variable HPF, and compressor, all in a conveniently sized package. Currently there are only two of these in existence, one for Mike and one for me, but I have parts on order to build more. I wasn't planning on even announcing this yet, but part of Mike's testing of the pedal meant using it at a gig, and I guess the word got out. I expect to have these ready to go by the end of September 2025." Wild guess - not going to be cheap!

A while back, I found a hodgepodge with a Fender Roger Waters Precision Bass neck ‘deep in Wallonia’ for a véry good price, and I was already toying with the idea of adding a second P for a while. After some very intense searching, I stumbled on a dusty Italian webshop, where I found an Allparts PBF-CAR body (a colour that has been out of the range for a while). Then I started gathering some parts left & right, with the aim of creating a '64-'66 hybrid without breaking the back. A day with an assortment of screwdrivers, measuring devices and a soldering iron later, this is what came out. It's quite a fierce one. Where my white one with flatwounds sounds very warm and fat, this one sounds diametrically opposite: angry, fierce, raunchy and punchy. I'm happy with it... although I'm still itching for a neck with a veneer rosewood fingerboard, and that neck on a Slab66 body. With flatwounds on this one, and rounds on the '66. - Neck: Fender Roger Waters (44.5mm nut width, maple cap, vintage frets) - Tuners: Gotoh FB-30-LP (the full-size tuners with the large mounting plate) - Body: Allparts PBF-CAR (Alder. CAR with a silver-coloured undercoat) - Pickguard: Fender '62RI (stark white, not mint green) - Pickup: Fender Vintera II '60 (I was very surprised at how good those Vintera '60 P-basses sounded. The intention is to bake in a greybobbin in the future, but this pickup is also extremely good, much better than the Vintera '50) - Covers: Fender ‘Pure Vintage’ (I wouldn't be me if I didn't install measures to restrict playing freedom on my instrument, I just removed them for the photo-opp) - Bridge: Fender ‘Pure Vintage’ - Wiring: Homemade with CTS, clothwire, Orangedrop,...

I always had issues with wedding work. If you’re playing a pub/club/whatever, there’s a decent chance that folk have come to see you, or at least are staying to give you a look/listen. However, at weddings, you’re the hired help.

Yet another heartwarming, positive and helpful thread on BC. You've all made the world just that wee bit better for the OP. Well done folks, I'm honoured to be part of this community,

I get Jon Shuker to do any work like that on my basses - I'm sure that he compares very well with the Bass Gallery, as will several other of the top guys around the country.

I haven't had those but I am one for buying synth pedals and not using them, so this would be right up my street

I've had excellent cables from custom-lynx on Ebay. kenable_ltd on Ebay also do a wide range of cables at assorted quality levels - I've always gone for the higher quality ones and not been disappointed, and it's where I get my phono and 3.5mm jack leads. I also make my own (Van Damme cable and Neutrik/Rean connectors).

I moved in 2015 from Genz Benz to TC Electronic with an RH750 in a 2x10 enclosure and a pair of the oblong tubular 12" cabs. I have to say, it's never put a foot wrong and it's been toured all over Europe. It has an exceptionally clean sound and it continues to be my favorite amp ten years later. Nowadays I mainly use one of the MarkBass tilting 2x10 combos, due to the much lighter weight, but I have to admit the sound isn't a patch on the TC.

If I bought a HX stomp, a pinstripe MISO and at least one 3leaf pedal would that count?

I'm in that minority too 🤣

This absolutely. Then you can have something for the Most Acrimonious Band Breakup thread as well 😉

When I think of a snappy reply you are in so much trouble

I can certainly be the Chosen One to eat cake. I am being very specific here. I shall rise to the occasion and be the very best person who eats cake in a controlled and repeatable manner.

Tri-Bass and Quadwave. Let's see if the learning curve is any shorter with the four string. Rack synth is an old BassStation I.

Yep good wedding bands are expensive these days but it can be a very long day for a wedding band between setting up before the event and a lot of hanging about for the meal, speeches etc. I guess that's why they charge so much. Wedding band thing just isn't for me. My ideal gig is turn up, plug in, sound check, gig, paid, go home preferably 1-3 miles from home. 😂 Dave

Without wishing to state the bleeding obvious, if they are nice people why not just have a chat with them about it?

Yep Bingo used to be in our band, but then his number came up and he's now playing alongside Pino Coolada.

Our sax player tried using her flute once. It didn't really work musically and all me and the lead guitarist could do while she was playing was stand on one leg with t'other foot on our knee-cap Ian Anderson style. This was, of course, during rehearsal

The second gig of the weekend yesterday for Top Deck. At the Great Northern pub, Langley Mill in Derbyshire. A nice old pub overlooking what was an important meeting place of three canals back in the day. The so-called Great Northern Basin. We played outside on a raised wooden stage area. Thankfully with some shade. A jolly Bank Holiday crowd, that included several children. So, we avoided using some of our jokes.

Three (!) gigs this weekend Friday was the Cantina Band at the Vaults in Knowle for guitarist Steve's 50th. A good laugh, a decent turnout, Steve insisted nobody drive so we could all have a few drinks and who am I to argue? One of his daughters (14? or 15?) joined us on drums for 5 or 6 songs, she's really good! She made the mistake of knowing the songs and playing them properly, which really threw the rest of us. His other daugter (11? or 12?) joined us to sing A-P-T, which was great, she gave it loads! We also had a friend of the band on additional guitar so Steve could go and have a few (more) drinks. Mrs StingRayBoy came, she loved it which is always nice... I joined her on the "dancefloor" for the last song, first time I've ever smooched someone while playing. Played the Sterling -> small board -> Amp board -> Mark CMD 121p, Silver/Gold glittery Converse. Saturday was Azura (3 piece) at O'Neill's Leicester. Dep drummer (Little Nige) who's been gigging since I was a glint in the Milkman's eye, lovely bloke, great drummer. Good gig, bit seat of the pants, usual drunken rabble... one bloke thought we were Grandad, Father and Son (The ages are about right, to be fair), we played Happy Birthday to three people (all at the same time (Alison and two others whose names escape me)), we did 'I'm a hog for you baby' which Little Nige sang - great song and a ton of fun to play. First outing for my (Basschat purchased) LD IEMs which worked flawlessly - happily, the band use the same system so I didn't even have to set up the transmitter. Went for a wireless wander for the encore (Don't look back in anger (Don't judge me, it's a Saturday night pub gig)) which was an absolute hoot. Same setup (and footwear) as Friday. A good night, except I didn't get home until gone 3 o'clock. Sunday Afternoon was the Sax Pistols at the King's Arms in Cleeve Prior. How the BL finds these gigs, I'll never know... tiny little village with about four houses (and the King's Arms) It was a 'reopening under new ownership' type affair, a good few people there, we went down well, we played OK, we sounded pretty good. The whole band (apart from the drummer) use wireless mics, so there was plenty of strolling about, especially for 'Tequila' and 'Minnie the Moocher' which is always fun and goes down well. There was a Delorean there! (Weirdly, Mrs StingRayBoy had seen a different Delorean on the M5 about two weeks ago) Oh, and two blokes dressed as Spiderman (He's a web designer... he sorts out the bugs) and Superman for some reason. I went off charts for the first time, not entirely unsuccessfully. Played the Sousaphone, wore the same Converse. A good weekend!

Phoenix Rising! I had another full-gig dep with my old band at a nice pub in Gillingham (Dorset) on Sunday afternoon. I don’t think the pub's name (‘The Phoenix’) was inspired by my gently-reviving bass career, but who knows? Mrs G came a long as it was a 4-7pm daylight gig in the pub garden, on a very pleasant sunny day, with free drinks for the band all afternoon and a good crowd – whoopee! I took the H-B Mustang-alike along with my usual AG700 and Darkglass 2x12 through an Aguilar boost pedal. It’s nice how my set-memory sprang to mind after months of not playing bass, even down to those unfortunate (but thankfully occasional) bum notes. I unwittingly added a little street-theatre to the second set – the KB player uses a bespoke drink-glass holder screwed to his mic-stand. This works fine with normal beer glasses, but the pub was (for some reason) using stemmed glasses with a C of G was a lot higher than normal, and his drink-holder had a gap in its circumference neatly judged to allow the stem of a glass to fall through. During an enthusiastic bout of pogo-ing I managed to swipe the glass with the head of the bass, the glass fell through the holder and upended a good ¾ pint of beer all over and into the KB - cue some interesting electronic noises and a mild ‘bang’. The KB-ist started laughing, removed the KB from its stand then stood in the street pouring beer out of a vent in the side of it, left it to dry in the sun, drove home (nearby) and got a replacement KB – back on the stand after we had done 20 minutes as a four-piece to cover – what a trouper! Here’s hoping it dried out and just needed a fuse… I did my usual sax-set, we finished at 7.15, Ms G and I were back nursing a cup of tea and an upset cat (‘What time do you call this?!’) by 9.15, then we slept like whacked haddocks. ‘Yes’, I thought just before starting to snore, ‘this gigging is as exciting (and tiring) just as I remember it! ‘ ZZzzz…

We played a 30th birthday private event on Saturday. Our first ‘function’ as opposed to a pub or charity gig. Strange experience, especially before the crowd were suitably lubricated with booze. Lots of people standing around chatting and ignoring us, kids playing with balloons and running around. Quite disheartening in the early part of the evening, for sure. Some songs ended with barely a smattering of applause The second half was much better, with punters singing and dancing and plenty of raucous applause and cheers. Ultimately we got paid and a few pats on the back afterwards, and back home for midnight.