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I actually interviewed Rod for a local newspaper while he was on site. It was hard getting him to open up about the work, when quizzed he said he didn't want to talk about it. Then he said he was only joking and proceeded to explain the house building process. Foundations to begin with and apparently the first cut is the deepest. He said they were making good progress due to the dry weather, I asked if he'd ever seen the rain, to which he replied he'd had to start wearing shorts as his legs were always hot, some guys have all the luck I thought. He asked if I thought his hi-vis vest made him look sexy, ooh la la. I told him he wears it well. I had to leave it there as Rod had to wake up a co worker called Maggie to catch a train downtown to get supplies.

Spent a lot longer than I should have stripping down the neck today. Made a right old mess!

Hi everyone. Got together with @warwickhunt, @cd_david and Tim yesterday for a bit of a plunk and natter. Here's some pics.

Pretty much made my mind up to return my Anagram. The UI is great but, to be honest, I don't spend a lot of time creating and tweaking patches. Once I create a patch that's it done. So the benefit of the great UI is minimal for my use case. I don't use any amps or cabs in my patches and they are one of the big selling points of the Anagram. If you use amps and cabs it's definitely worth a look. There are only a small amount of FX pedals most of which are distortion variants and I don't use distortion. That leaves a few pedals of interest to me such as chorus, octaver, compressor, etc. The octavers are excellent but the chorus is underwhelming as are the compressors. The two things that convinced me to return it are the poor compressor implementation, I can't believe they gave it that beautiful screen but didn't bother to find space for compressor metering and the terrible supplied PSU which causes mains hum forcing the use of a secondary PSU or a USB supply which means you can't have it attached to your computer while powering it. I have contacted Darkglass support through two different means regarding the mains hum but have still to hear back from them. There simply are not enough fx options of good quality for me and I have low confidence that a company of the size of Darkglass will have the software development resources to improve this any time soon. Please don't take the above as a total negative view as I am clearly not the intended user for the Anagram. If you use amp, cab and distortions this pedal will have a lot to offer you.

A bit of wet sanding then 6 more layers of lacquer. Getting flatter, but I was a bit cautious with the sanding. More tomorrow.

Rob was true to his word and delivered the bass exactly on time so I could put it all together, with help from Julian Mullen, and gig it the same day! IMG_1990.mov

Good god, one of those Mullard valves in working order is worth money on it's own and a working Treble and Bass....... Please don't take it to just any old repairer, this needs proper restoration and the choice of components used will affect the value of the restored amp, so money saved on a cheap and cheerful fix is going to be money lost. I'd be hoping to keep the amp and speakers together. Any sixties band is going to want that look. What a find:)

Not a bad night. Worked through arrangements for two new numbers, one new, the other just as a change of style. The new one took a while but it was all good stuff to sort the ending and work through arrangement of links between verse, chorus, etc.. Then we were looking for a different way of finishing the set for the next gig - landlord (who plays) has the occasional sideways comment of 'always the same songs'. There are certain standards, but we do change the set around and regularly add in new stuff, added to which the guitarist writes the sets and keeps track of what we play and where so things change around. We have, however, been running through variations of: Don't Stop Believing, Don't Stop Me Now, Final Countdown, Living on a Prayer for a while now. Works well, and all bangers for a crowd up for a dance and a sing but it's good to mix it up sometimes. Difficulty is shifting stuff around the set like that in 1) finding equivalents to replace them with, 2) adding some intros; and 3) if they are being moved back in the set not peaking too soon...sticking them into encore options seems a waste. So decisions, decisions that ended up with a suggestion of finishing with the newest song we'd been working on near the end of the evening and quickly sorting tweaks for intros. Runs the risk of falling apart putting it there as its first outing or just being met with blank looks and a killed evening, so fingers crossed!! Good news was that the Tokai Hardpuncher that I acquired recently was bang on it. Sounded great through the studio's Ashdown head / Eden cab combo. Great solid fundamental tone with lovely zing and bite on top of that. It's slightly strange that after years of active 5's I have come back to loving my first J (albeit a FrankenJ with an active pre) and now a P copy with noiseless EMG's. Hipshot d-Tuner/Extender now added to both as I love those.

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

... is absolutely not required to replace me as the bass player in long-standing covers band The Junkyard Dogs. Based in Harrow, we've been going a long time (since 2010 in this incarnation) and the line-up has changed occasionally. As part of a serious refresh, I want to move sideways onto keys which of course means bringing in a new bassist. My God-like ability on bass is totally non-existent so any competent player would be perfectly capable of stepping in. We play essentially the hits of 1965-85 so there is no requirement to slap, tap or sweep, and very little call for relentless disco octaves everywhere. Getting all chordal on our asses or playing jazzy bass solos is pretty much contra-indicated. If you can sing then that's a bonus, but not a requirement. If you can play another instrument then that's also a bonus, but not a requirement. We currently play around 20 gigs a year but we're looking to gradually ease back up to our natural home, which is c.30 gigs a year. We go out for £250-£300 a gig, very occasionally £360, so this time next year we won't be millionaires. We try to rehearse every week (usually a Thursday but we can be flexible), not so much because we feel we need to but because we're a friendly bunch who enjoy each other's company. We're all in our 60s but - yet again - that's not a requirement. We have our own excellent rehearsal facility in Sudbury Hill, close to the Piccadilly Line, but for gigging purposes any incoming band member must have their own gear & reliable transport. If you're not up for this yourself but you think you might know someone who'd be a good fit, please feel free to pass on the details. https://www.lemonrock.com/junkyarddogs https://www.facebook.com/junkyarddogslondon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTdLOzCAQkvIfkFdnhTLP4Q

Another fascintating video into the world of an in-demand show bassist at the top level. Ian King covers his gear, preamps, settings, mics for his double bass and a discussion with the show's audio designer. It's not that Overwater bass though, he's got a cool grey one, maybe with a maple neck (?), with black metalwork. The tone he has is fantastic and his playing sublime.

These days, it seems quite a popular deed, so here is mine. Music Man Stingray EX, ebony fingerboard, originally 3EQ preamp. The latter is now replaced with a 2EQ M05400 (once again, thank you very much @Hellzero). The treble pot is C500k. Strung with Ernie Ball Extra Slinky 40-95.

I didn't realise how quick that I'd get the bug, and start building a collection even before I am 'gig ready'! I have played a standard guitar on and off for 30+ years, and this year I have started to learn the bass. I'm in love 😁 A mixture of face to face local lessons and also Youtube and as much practice as I can manage (in between work, family etc ..) The 5 string Squier J Bass plays Another Brick in the wall beautifully with the low b. The Yamaha BB434 is just a treat. Gorgeous tones, as is my Epiphone Thunderbird - a beautiful instrument and produces the right low quality sounds. My Ibanez is a light, narrow neck, which suits my hands really well. Thanks for having me!

Wrong, Chris, it was the opposite, the frets were getting back and forth in the neck/fretboard thanks to a lever. There's was also the Neuser NFS with switchable sitar like saddles allowing for a fretless tone. And the two custom orders Leducs basses, half fretless / half fretted vertically for one and horizontally for the other.

I really f***ing wish someone had said it to me the day I joined BC 🤣

MobileSheets Pro user too. I can highly recommend for Android. Very low cost, huge range of features and customisations to get what you need. I've been using it for all my charts for a couple of years and other band members who need one and have seen mine have got it too. I like that I can import PDFs and Images on my fast phone, then do a two-way sync with my tablet in seconds. It works with my page turner has night mode etc. It also excellent documentation and a large active user base (has it's own helpful forum). From my phone (for convenience for this post, when playing I use the table)... Song view (easily filterable to find the songs you want) Setlist list view Setlist view (top song is a PDF from a bassist I depped, the bottom one is a PNG image I added)

Here are ten of the best houses Rod Stewart has built. Number six will shock you.

Listen to the man. It's a very long time since I had to calculate the size of a heatsink for a power amp but every component in your amp comes with detailed notes about the heat produced and needing to be dissipated. Look at the back of any 70's/80's power amp and you'll see huge finned aluminium heatsinks and these had to be carefully calculated to keep the internal temperature of the power transistors down below the temperature at which they would fail. You now have more power packed into pocket sized amps and thought the class D amps are more efficient huge amounts of heat have to be handled by those tiny fans. Every step from the internals of the component to the surface then across the surface to the internal heatsink and out to the fan has been calculated by someone. In a way dropping a new fan into an amp is like dropping an engine into a car, have you checked that the transmission, supension and brakes are up to the task of a bigger engine? Without the calculations I think the question is "do you feel lucky?"

I wouldn't take it to just any amp tech. You want a proper enthusiast.

Next ... the Bunsen Honeydew bass. With 'meep' onnthe headstock...

Finally mine should arrive Thursday

You’re all approaching this from the wrong side - fill in the bit on the pedalboard “p”! You’re welcome 🤣

Also some new RST Zebra limited ones

Evening again. Have just posted in amps section about my dad's old amp here are pics of bass/guitar any information from yourselves would be amazing Ta very much.

This is exactly the principle of a sitar saddle just as I mentioned it in my post above. 😉

That's a very nice bass and the seller's inviting offers so given the rarity I'd go in with a cheeky £1800 if I was in the race for one of these 👍

I had a very similar experience although in my case it was more down to the fact that my parents really didn't approve of pop/rock music. Had they thought otherwise I might have ended up with a Rickenbacker or something with a John Birch logo on the headstock. I ended up making my first electric guitar in the woodwork shop at school when I should have been studying for my A levels and was brought home at the end of the school year as a "fait accompli" much to my parent's disappointment. My first bass was bought out of my university grant money and still required that I eat frugally for month. When I finally had the kind of disposable income needed to fuel my musical instrument habit I went mad and spent a considerable amount of money on a fully equipped home studio and all the toys required to fill it. Most of it's gone now, but as I said it took 50+ years to properly scratch that itch.

Finally got these back in stock, still haven't had chance to try one though

Loving the Venture Series, really versatile amps, sold loads to customers using them for a whole host of different situations

I'm in my 60s now and I've never let my age get in the way of playing the music I want. Up until the end of last year I was in 2 post-punk/goth influenced bands, both of which I joined when I was the same age you are now. I found one through a JMB ad that I placed. I was specific about the sort of music I wanted to play and the level of commitment that I was prepared to put in and that I expected from the band in return. It took almost a year to get a reply, but it was exactly the sort of band I was looking for and is the band that I am still playing with, albeit with only one of the members that was in the band I when joined. The second was a band that I was a fan of and was following on Facebook, so when they posted that they were looking for a replacement bass player I got in touch. For this one because the band was reasonably well-know within the genre they had several other people interested and there were additions held. I was the one chosen and the only reason I'm no longer with them now is that I decided to concentrate on the other band when the singer announced he was calling it a day. In both cases that fact that bands already knew who I was (my previous band had done gigs with both bands in the past) I think was an advantage when it came to auditions etc. So while you are looking go out there and and see some gigs by local bands playing the sort of music you want to play and get networking.

There's no harm in looking and while there are plenty of things I might like to own I don't actually need any of them. Having said that, it has taken just over 50 years of buying and selling along with several advancements in technology that have rendered many of the instruments I wanted when I was younger irrelevant, to get to this point.

These don't really come up often for sale. Last one I saw was from a dealer who was looking at close to £2,000. I would have thought for a private sale it would clear somewhere in the £1,600-1,800 allowing for some inflation. It really depends however on how much you want it, it's definitely a bass that you want to snap up when you come across it if it feels right. I have been keeping an eye out myself for a faded sonic blue one and they just don't seem to get sold!

Ahh! Happy Days! I had a G18 C. 100w Green Back in a home built cabinet. I gave it away to a fellow Basschatter. It sat in my den for over 30 years and was rarely used. I bought it from Tottenham Court Road, probably from Lasky's. Around about 1966/67, I carried it home by hand (in it's big box) on the underground, bus and pavement to Hornchurch. Even after all this time my arms have never regained their original length! That circular wood plate or a piece of 4 x 4 was the stabdard way to brace the loudspeaker and the rear panel. Check out the "Recommended Amp Techs" part of the forum under the "Repairs and Technical" sub-forum. Best of Luck.

This'll be my last post. But in the scenario above where someone is already getting electric shocks possibly due to a faulty amp, removing the earth from the mic wire is NOT an acceptable solution. If the fault is in the guitar amp (or the supply feeding it), removing the path to earth means they are still building potential which can easily be earthed through another path, like a different mic or some random bit of stage kit or touching someone else who is earthed. Especially dangerous if it's one where the potential slowly floats up over time. The ONLY safe solution is to stop using that guitar amp/supply. Hum is not necessarily a sign of serious danger. However, an electric shock is a damn good indicator (nylon trousers notwithstanding). The point is not that the fault is definitely lethal, but that you don't know it isn't

Spitballing here - after what is hopefully the final flatting tonight - an ultra fine Sharpie, then remaining clearcoat over it?

That was a bass lesson in itself. No stretching to reach notes, a lot of hand movement, even notes, totally relaxed. Ian shows how it's done. Loved it.

I geddit! It's the ultimate multi-purpose bass. You can play wuffly DB lines with the Novak MudBucker, Classic Rock with the Precision pickup and never dare enter the dusty end where you run out of frets, and if you happen to be the second coming of Jaco, you've got the fretless section for some fanatical runs and general slidy soloing... It's the OEM Fender GAS Killer! Every bass you can imagine, all rolled into one!! Verdict: Nah... I'll take nine of the £1400 chambered Blu DeTiger Signature Jazzes and one Laura Lee Jazz instead, please.

Holiday with family in the Forest of Dean, Dave. All good.

A lot of effort (and some expense) goes into making an efficient and quiet cooling system. Cooling is a system, not just a bunch of parts thrown at the problem.

Everyone is going to be rooting for you. Just getting up and being there is an achievement everyone will appreciate. The moment you start playing you will be too absorbed in the moment to worry. Nerves and excitement are not negative emotions they prepare you. Afterwards you'll wonder why you worried and be grateful for having such a special opportunity.

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

And here it is!

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

Today I got stuck heavily into the cosmetics. Headstock: Still some wobbly bits to sort out (the white neep logo was NOT fun to paint - very fiddly) Also made a start on the French polish - this is the first layer - I guess I just build it up until it more or less matches the surroundings... Not all good news though - there is an area of damage and discolouration on the bottom of the body. Turns out this must have been where the bass was sitting on the shed "floor" (ie. the ground) and i think moisture has gotten in there - thankfully having to fight gravity as the bass was upright. Unfortunately, this area is basically Swiss cheese - the little holes are me being able to push a cocktail stick in with minimal force... It's not structural, but I'll have to decide what to do about it. The obvious answer would seem to be cut it out back to good wood then glue in a patch, but I have no idea what wood this body is made of...

Another fun day of basses, brews and biscuits (fig rolls and ginger snaps for the curious) 😋 A few from my phone.

We always take plug testers to gigs after a dodgy connection. Cost £15 or so and easy to stick in the gig box. https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/socket-testers/cat7910008