Leaderboard

Outside under a gazebo & windy. Down one guitarist - not a problem as we have managed as guitar bass & drums plenty of times before, and evolved out of a band yonks ago that was just that - but guitar was having problems with his TwoNotes pedal switching that gave him a load of alien abduction moments in the first couple of numbers, but we soldiered through and all in all a good afternoon. No IEM's for me but you work with what you have for those gigs. Back to full strength and the usual PA next week. Reasonale crowd up dancing and singing by the end which is always nice. Vocalist again said to me "Your rig was sounding awesome tonight" ... and I have to agree. Had to push it a bit more as no PA support, but a nice twangy growl.

And here it is!

The FrankenJazz - Geddy Lee Jazz body, Status neck, Audere Jazz pre, Hipshot d-tuner/extender Line6 HX Effects - I was going to sell this but have started using instead of the bigger pedalboard where space is limited. Rochester compressor always on, a couple of synthy patches, flanger, chorus and a switch for a 6db boost that I managed too step on instead of the chorus at one point 🤦‍♂️ Darkglass Microtubes 500 Barefaced BB2 with the horn at about 50% and stood on the amp case Most of it hiding behind me and our youngest ‘fan’, one of our drummer’s granddaughters

Second gig in two nights, this time a solo acoustic guitar/vocal job at the Organ Grinder in Loughborough. First outing for my 1999 Simon and Patrick SP6 into which I’ve taped a Seymour Duncan Woody pickup. Over the last few months I’ve eradicated various gremlins from my rig (noisy power supplies, dirty pots, annoying buzzes etc) and I have to say tonight felt like the best guitar sound I’ve had on stage. Full and loud without being harsh, and lots of dynamics. It was cooking. It’s a really loud resonant acoustic guitar even unplugged, so being hunched over it inches away from chiming, ringing notes and broingy, bitey chords was a delightful experience. Flask of earl grey carried my voice through the gig (just about). Which also gave me the chance to tone down the volume, swap pick for finger style and explore some softer singing (essentially to keep my voice intact for longer). Some good results from doing that actually - will try to remember for next time. For now, bed.

Today saw the birth of a new bass: The Brooks EXB-4-SA A semi-acoustic Explorer shaped bass with 4 strings. - Mahogany body. Two large tone chambers - Quilted Maple top, bookmatched - Three piece Mahogany set neck. Glued in - Cherry Burst finish. Dark Mahogany back and sides - Pearloid binding - Ebony fretboard - Pearl position dots. Aluminium ring in 12th position - Jumbo frets - 34" scale - Buffalo horn nut - Babicz FCH-4 bridge. Gold plated - Spokewheel double action trussrod. Titanium - Lace Alumitone Bass Bars 3.5 - Pure Tone output - On-on Toggle switch - Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners, Gold plated - La Bella Flatwound Low Tension strings - Weight: 3.2 kg (!) I'll post pics of the build process in separate posts below

Looks like a Vox Symphonic Bass to me. https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/vox/bass/

"You've got five seconds to look at this Warwick 6-string. Then draw it from memory."

The old school approach is better. Only two words needed for your endearing bad mates:

As a fretless player as well, I play a lot of melodic bass lines around the 10th, 12th, 14th frets on the D and G strings so I need a lot of clarity for these melodies to be clear. I use two rigs, a LM IV through a Barefaced Two10 and the Warwick Gnome Ipro 300 through a TC208. The latter is a beautiful rig, crystal clear, small and lightweight. The only reason I didn't mention the Warwick head is I can't remember how silent it is but I'll check tonight and let you know. As for my other rig, I totally understand what you are saying about MarkBass, I found the MB cabs to be exactly as you describe and got rid of mine when I had them some years back for those reasons. The heads however are super transparent and clear and I do very much like them. You'll notice a lot of electric Jazz bassists use them as they are very transparent. As for my Barefaced Two10 cab, its quite old school sounding so I'm looking at changing it for a LFSys cab. As an example of my style, this is the sort of playing I do so you can hear from the start after the harmonics intro I am playing a lot of melody which needs to be super clear.

I'm in the midwest of the u.s. now. Been making noises in the seclusion of my bedroom on and off since the 90's with a bass (and guitar). Only a few years back even got a proper bass amp, an Ampeg BA112 v2. Then a lil' Hartke HD25, and recently an old Peavey TNT 160 that has seen some things, and then more things. My basses are modest, a Harley Benton Beatbass VS that I've crudely rewired the control panel, and an Ibanez TMB100. Zoom B1 Four for effects. I just really like bass lines, played fingerstyle preferably.

I still have my 1986 MIJ Fender Precision that my Mum and Dad bought me for Christmas, in 1986. My first real bass. I don’t use it anymore but I can never get rid of it. It’s the only bass I have ever kept and whenever I open the case, all the happy memories come flooding back. It’ll go to the grave with me. Such a precious and irreplaceable thing 🥰

A lot of it is down to who you know. Teed Up have had the advantage of contacts that Steve, Ray and I have built up over the years. That said, many of these venues have long since disappeared. The more established venues seem to deal with the same nucleus of people, and so you get the same old faces appearing at festivals. You could try wearing a hat and walking on the tables. Seems to work for one act!! Europe is the place to go, for sure. Teed Up have played over there a good few times and the gigs there are pretty much alwas better. As long as you travel with your gear there are no restriction, as seemed at first. Of course, how do you break into that market? It's a tricky one. I would love to have the contact details of any agent in the UK. I don't know of any (feel free to PM with any anybody knows!!). Having something you can send out is always going to be useful. We recorded a CD a while back, and a live one is in the final stages of production (the new XR18 makes the process of recording simple). There's always Monica at Boogaloo. They do a good weekend and you are well looked after. She'll let you know what's needed. Some expectation of a crowd would help, of course.

Sent the dimensions to my mate in Thailand who has cut the shape, now sending it off to the anodising shop. Looking forward to showing everyone where we're actually going with this!

Practice until the bass line is totally automatic. Don't be tempted to imbibe any Dutch courage before you play. Afterwards is fine. If you do end up making a mistake, remember to turn around and glare at the drummer.

Two very different gigs this weekend! Friday was the Dysfunctionals 3 piece at the Spread Eagle in Polesworth (Imagine if Tamworth had a frumpy, less glamorous sister). It was one of the smallest places I've ever played - we were wedged inbetween the pool table and the door to the toilets... ROCK 'N' ROLL! It was so small, we couldn't bring all our stuff in (We have too much stuff, especially for gigs of this size, but I digress) so we had to unload the cables and stuff we needed outside and bring them in by the armful. Yay! Little Nige on drums again, always a pleasure but sadly not a long term replacement for the previos custodian of the sticks. Setup was a nightmare as the stage bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets was about the size of an Altoids tin (Altoids Smalls, not the proper ones) so every time you turned round or stood up you'd clout into something. All set up (we had to grease Henry (BL) up to get him out from behind the keyboard) waited around for a bit, went on to about six utterly indifferent punters... the best we got was a very vauge smattering of applause between songs. At half time, a bloke collared me and said how nice it was to see a Bass player smiling... I can't imagine why anyone would think all Bass players are miserable sods (unless they've been on Basschat for more than seven picoseconds). I didn't have the heart to tell him it was more of a rictus grin. Second set was slightly better, a few people came in from the room next door, danced for a verse and a chorus then buggered off again, by the end the 'dancefloor' (the bit in front of the bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets) was packed (it only needed about nine people to be packed) and they enjoyed the last three or four songs, so... that was fun. I joined the dancefloor (TBIFOTBBTPTATDTTT) for the encore, which went down a treat. Pack up and load out was even less fun than load in and set up as the stage bit between the pool table and the door to the toilets had somehow shrunk *and* there were drunken arseholes valued audience members in the way... I would have thought that after the fifteenth "'scuse us... sorry... can we just squeeze through there...?" from chaps with enormous flightcases they would have got the message and gone and stood somewhere else, but alas, no. Mrs StingRayBoy came, she very much enjoyed it. Played the Jazz for a change (inspired by a thread on here about Jazz Basses) -> there wasn't enough room for my little board so I didn't bother -> secret weapons board (wedged onto a shelf) -> MB 802 -> PA. Wore the peach pink sparkle converse. Satuday was depping with the Manchester Ska Foundation at a wedding (Debbie and Andrew) in a marquee outside a pub somewhere near Macclesfield. Arrive at 430, setup was slightly (but not much) more fun than Friday as we had to drag everything through the audience who were sheltering from the rain... there's eight of us and they're all used to it, so it's usually a pretty easy setup. Soundcheck went down well (!), first set at 6 o'clock, we went down a storm. Marquee was packed (It was raining out), everyone loving it, dancing and singing along... fab! The happy couple had their first dance to 'It must be love', which was lovely, the bride's married name is Brown, so 'Sally Brown' (Bad Manners) became 'Debbie Brown' - cue much hilarity and everyone joining in. They fed us (Meat & Potato pie and chips) at half time which was most welcome. Second set was great, a packed marquee (still raining out), all loving it. One of the wedding guests (A very drunken young lady who looked like an AI-designed sex worker (denim thomg, boob tube, knee-high leather boots, cowboy hat)) spent the entire second set haranguing the trombone player, wanting a go on her trombone... so obvioulsy there were lots of blowing/shiny horn/get your lips on that type jokes... hilarious. (The trumpet player let her have a go on his trumpet at the end, but her lips were too big to get a sound out of it.) Played the P -> secret weapons board -> MB 802 -> PA. Wore the cow print converse. Two sets of relentless uptempo ska on the LaBella DTFs took it out of my fingers which I've never really noticed before... I must be getting old. Finished for just after 8, packed up by 9, back in Brum by 10:37 for a cider and a conversation about Lindy Hop with my Stepmum.

I agree. It's the old addage, dont practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong. Makes things alot easier on you when it comes to the day of performance!

Hello Bass Chatters, Could anyone offer advice on how to stop nerves when going on stage for the 1st time please? I have only ever played in front of 3 humans and a cat... 😂 Only playing one track at my brother's memorial gig (Nick Smith - doctor_bass) 💚 But don't want anxiety to ruin my tribute to my beloved bro. Answers appreciated by 6th September. Gig is the 7th, at noon. Cheers Blondy 🎸

Happy 1st of meteorological Autumn A very tight call for August , 1 vote splitting the pack, and with what looked like me giving that vote, congrats to @Chiliwailer, now on a double, seeking the elusive hat-trick I guess, Anyway, back to the business in hand , with the chosen image for your delight and delectation, he explains... "Autumn is coming in with it's stunning sunsets, so given that my photo-choosing creative mojo has dropped under the horizon here's a nice pic that even has some Northern Lights, sea, stars, rocks, and a pensive dude for your muse..." ✅ Entries must be <5 minutes and recorded between now and the deadline. ❌ No illegal samples, copyright infringements or other snide goings-on ❌ No Bagpipes, Please, I think they would suffer from the magnetic radiation and sound a bit off. ❌ No voting for your own entry. We'll know. And we'll shame you.. Deadline-wise, we will go for Midnight on the 24th September ... Which in reality, means teatime on the 25th. A line or two of blurb as usual for the vote thread will be super duper smashing lovely. Good luck, Have fun must dash , Victoria Coren Mitchell is holding a pose for me in the kitchen .

I don't normally contribute to questions like this, I'm not a user of exotic amps and tend to go direct to PA at gigs and use in-ears but I do have a Monza as my back up and a couple of micro amps so here's my 10p worth. The Warwick Gnome and the Trace Elf 130W into the Monza give me plenty of volume for medium sized gigs and as a stage monitor for the whole band. I don't play full throttle bass for a rock band but that isn't what you are looking for. Either of them fit the easy fit criterion. The Gnome in particular sounds hi-fi a really clean sound, the Trace is more err... Trace, with a good dollop of midrange suckout. A really appealing sound out of the box but not neutral. As it happens I also have the Bugera BV1000M. I wonder what "Hi fi " means to you? For me it is that clean open sound, not overwhelmed by bass or worse the boost around 120Hz you get from underdamped speakers. It should also sound light and airy. My initial feeling with the Gnome is that it was just that. We did some frequency response measurements on these amps and it turns out that 'hi fi' and flat aren't the same thing . The Gnome has a quite pronounced boost at higher frequencies and the low bass is largely absent. The Bugera has an almost flat response with the tne controls set flat but sounds 'neutral' rather than 'hi fi' to my ears anyway. On my amps the fan is quieter on the Gnome thatn the Elf. DI on the micro amps is post though so not ideal for you. The last thing is the Monza, it's got a great horn and driver and is crossed over really accurately. It's also designed for you to hear those mids and tops with the clever radiation pattern. Are you just hearing sonds that were therebefore but inaudible from your playing position? I wonder if you could just filter out the unwanted high frequency elecctrical noise and let the Monza concentrate on giving you just the bass sounds you need from that wonderful mid range

How about deliberately not matching the wood? Cut the piece to a triangle like a piece of cake, and paint it in the same high gloss black of the headstock. If you were to take the patch through to the front the black insert would tie in nicely, keep it invisible from the front then it's a private joke for you.

Every time I've preodered something I've seen this happen, definitely learned my lesson there! Could be a pattern though, as the last time it was Thomann and the Quad Cortex, I ended up cancelling and buying from Andertons instead.

The guitar looks like a Vox Super Ace https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/vox/1963_Super_Ace.php

I want someone to buy one of these for me!

That might have been SoCoDi Music. They were originally in The Friars, from the early '70s on. The name was a corruption of South Coast Discos. I think they moved to Castle Street around that time. Kennards Music were in Northgate, opposite St John's Place. I had piano lessons there for a while. It's now an Indian Restaurant. Reggie Forwood's music shop was on Palace Street, for classical stuff, and Judd sold instruments, records and other bric a brac there. It's where I bought a Futurama bass and my vinyl copy of Back Door's first album.

I would also add that having some video and an online presence helps. Don't underestimate live stuff on YouTube. A promoter I know that used to book bands for the non-main stage pub circuit at big blues festivals makes sure that he watches the first video that comes up on YouTube. He says all he wants to know if the band can play, can get an audience and can play to that audience!

It means we're full of cr@p and not ashamed to say it.

Currently testing an update which adds portamento for audio-triggered playing.

I had a revelation on Friday/Saturday I've been struggling the past few weeks with my IEMs. I didn't realise they were the problem, I thought my hearing was to blame. Everything seemed too loud and my in ear mix wasn't working It dawned on me after Friday night's dep gig that the seal wasn't very good I changed the comply tips, I've had the same ones for over a year All of a sudden, Wham! Perfect seal and a near perfect mix at Saturday's gig I am so happy

Eye contact with the band members can help you relax, and keep it simple.

Thanks @Linus27 - I've never been a fan of the MB sound, but it could just be because I've only ever heard their combos or cabs which seem to make everything sound muffled (at least to me). The Nano certainly has the features and portability. The biggest challenge I'm finding when doing youtube amp research is having to listen to a constant stream of slap demos - it gets wearing really quickly!

I use that old Marie Kondo trope all the time - does it spark joy? Being in a band should be an enjoyable experience, not a chore. Even if you like the people and the sounds you make, if the thought of doing any kind of work for the band (practice, gigs, social media, whatever) doesn't make you feel good, then it's time to go. And that should be a good enough explanation too - it doesn't spark joy.

I maintain the 6 string/s made for Tye Zamora is the "weirdest" Fender, doesn't remotely resemble anything else they've ever produced.

We noticed that in a recent Youtube video of someone singing to backing tracks, the pool table wasn't there, and we were rather hoping it was gone forever as we're back there on the 10th of October. So it hasn't gone then. At the risk of triggering you, and for the benefit of the masses, this was it when we were there last. There's a door to the toilets just to the right but they can also be accessed via a little passageway so we just stick our gear in the way. There is a vast array of fans hanging off the wall so at least you keep cool. Don't forget, they've seen me gig there several times with different bands, so they might have assumed that all bassists have the same facial expressions as me.

Never mind the guitar, what about that bloody case? Marvellous! 🤣 Actually Gardner Houlgate auction house had one of these up for sale a while back. It went for £500 including the wooden case like yours. It’s a mid 70’s Antoria Gemini-4 Model 2407 double neck. Strat / Jazz bass with rosewood fingerboards, Made in Japan.

And after endless checking an fine tuning of the neck fit, I glued it in All of a sudden it looks like a bass... Fine tuned the pickup cavities I stained the top. Yellow first And red for the burst effect After many coats of clear and sanding in between, I applied the decals Shielded the controls cavity.

Filled the gaps underneath the fret ends with a mix of ebony saw dust and wood glue. The shifted my attention to the body. Routed the tone chambers. And routed the controls cavity Routed the profile for the cover The bookmatched set of quilted maple was thickness to the desired thickness of 4mm by my wood supplier. And when that was done, I sawed the triangular "F"-holes. Ready to clamp the top down onto the chambered body And when that was done I cut out the outline shape and routed it along the template (sorry no pics)

Depping gig at Ashby Road Sports Club in Hinckley last night. Was particularly pleased to try out the bitsa P bass I’ve been working on for the last few weeks - from what I can tell it’s at least partly an oldish Squier Affinity. It sounded great. Not “vintage P bass” great but much in the same ball park and very usable indeed. I was planning to upgrade the pickups but tbh it sounds fine as it is. Weirdly my IEM sound was terrible - everything was just distortion which was so distracting I took them out after a couple of songs. Half time I swapped the lead, the batteries and the headphone amp itself, and reduced the volume of the mix coming into my monitor channel. But it still sounded awful - I suspect I may have blown something in my IEMs! So ended up playing without any monitors and just using the onstage sound, just like the old days. Good gig tho.

Back at the Queens Arms in Brixham last night. Its a cosy corner for bands, and our drummer had recently bought a smaller kit consisting of 18" bass drum (down from 24"), rack & floor tom. It really helped fir us in and sounded good to. We did a tribute to Ozzy by playing War Pigs, Crazy Train & Paranoid together in the 2nd set. There was a large group seated in a corner who were really enjoying it and were in fine voice singing along. My usual rig of StingRay 2eq, RM500 & BF210. My Skechers are starting to show some signs of wear, but are comfy and I don't wear by best pairt to gigs. We played well and had a good night.

John aka @chienmort tested a number of amps at the SW Bash Bash a few years ago. The Veyron was one of them. It had a completely flat frequency response, which is at least half way towards a transparent amp. I still have one and don't find the fan loud, although I think some may be louder than others. It works well with the Monza, I can say, and is the bargain of the century in bass heads. The amp I actually use is the Trace Elliot TE1200, which is superb - and does the 3D/projection thing very well. I know @Clarky has a Monza and a TE1200. Maybe he'll chime in if he sees this. The Trace is a bit pricey, unfortunately, and probably not as portable as the OP is looking for.

It’s such a hard thing. To make it worthwhile you need to buy the goods at cost. So you’ll need to be VAT registered. Then you’ll need to ensure they’re well built, work well and you have a customer service policy in place. If you’re selling goods commercially you have responsibilities to the buyer (and the taxman). You could build a few and then sell them online here, but personally I can’t see it being worth the effort.

That sounds like it. I did turn it off

Poor Fender. Hated for being stale, hated for doing something unique.