Leaderboard

We had a great night with a great crowd at The Bend Theatre opening for Reverend Raven. We sold 230 tickets $18.00-$20.00. The place only holds 300. We played from 7:30- 8:30. I could tell from the sound check that were clicking on all 6 cylinders. I got mobbed in the lobby as I was leaving.lol Daryl

Last night in a Boston pub, 1st dep for Kloane, an 80s+ covers band. Was apprehensive to be honest because, though I had depped twice recently with most of the guys for their soul big band, these songs were mostly brand new to me: I'd never attempted these basslines before, even at jam nights or learning at home. Out of 30 on the setlist, 9 days to learn 25 of them. I had a feeling they wouldn't mind if I used a tablet as an aide and it turned out to be the case - it was a bloody useful crutch. I don't know how I'd have fared without it, but on some songs I'd have been not got the starts right and missed some of the many breaks, interludes and specific endings. Most of the recorded tracks are fade out, but I had their backing tracks the vocalist uses on his solo gigs and I trusted the band would follow the structures, which they mostly did. Had a few unannounced key changes which totally threw me for more than a few bars as I was trying to desperately transpose in my head whilst keeping the groove going 😱😎. Pay wasn't the best, but we all get the same and this is the first that's not been cash No rehearsals, just straight in. It's nice they trusted me for that. I'm not even a semi-pro, so this has been a challenging but huge learning experience - and on the night a lot of fun once we got going. Hopefully I'll get called in again. In the meantime I plan on learning these songs properly!

I played a gig as a dep bassist in my mate's band last yesterday. I had 2 weeks to learn 32 songs most of which I hadn't played in any form before and a third of which I'd never heard before. It was at a rugby club where a local derby match was being played so the prospect of post game rowdiness was high. And it was in a smallish marquee on a day when winds and thundery showers were forecast. We set up in the morning, pre- game, during several heavy downpours and the water was running into the marquee under the sides and across the band area. There was only staging enough for the drums so when I got there everything else had been placed on beer crates, duck boards and in the case of the keyboard player, an old door. I was stood on the upstream side of the band area and only had a couple of old rubber car mats for my pedalboard. Fortunately the stage had enough room for the Trace Elliot cabs, which were only for monitoring anyway as I was going through the main PA. In the gap between set up and gig I was able to go home and make a mini riser for the pedal board and a folding duckboard for me which I deployed when I got back for the soundcheck. The anticipated rowdiness wasn't there and we kicked off at about 5.40pm, playing all the way through to 7.30pm when the crowd started making their way home after an all day session. I managed to get through all the songs with few 'creative lapses' - the drummer reminded me when to come in on one song and there were a few fumbles on transitions between choruses and middle 8s. We had a full tent of dancers for pretty much the whole gig and best of all, no river flowing across the band area. Kit was my Hohner Jack into a Sine HPF, MS60b (for noise gate and tuner only), NUX Sculpture compressor, EHX Bass Clone, NUX Voodoo Vibe and into the desk via my Ampeg SCRDI, with a signal to my Peavey Minimax 600 nto apair of TE 1X10 cabs, one angled for the drummer the other angled across to me. The original plan was to take a split from the SCRDI into my Behringer P1 monitor and via radio to IEM. But one of the cables in that chain was playing up and all I got was crackles and blips so I gave up on IEM, retaining the earphones as ear protection. As it happens, the monitors were good and I could hear myself nicely. After rejecting the idea of wearing wellington boots as being a little out of character with the rest of the band, footwear for the evening were a pair of black shoes, brand unknown. Morning set up. My pace is stage left. Duckboards

Charity beer festival at the Shirley British Legion this weekend, Friday and Saturday, and quite busy for me. Friday evening I did Hey Joe with the first Chris, then it was the band to which I've been recently recruited with one and a half rehearsals for an hour. Quite a lot of jamming occurred, the audience liked it. Definitely needs a lot of tightening up. Then another hour with Graham and Tony - Graham had sent me the song sheets but I hadn't looked at them properly and missed the "capo 4" on Eight Days a Week. Sat that out as I couldn't transpose it on the fly, coped OK with Come up and see me (capo 2) and something else with capo 1. Saturday I was there for the latter part of the setting up and ran through some songs with Paul, then did the first half hour with Rick and nine short 60s songs, half an hour of rest, then half an hour with Annette where I sat out a Smiths song due to confusion over chords and capo but did the rest. Another hour and a half of rest, then back with Annette and Chris the sax for half an hour, and then I played guitar with Mrs Zero singing for another half hour, then straight on to an hour of blues with Tom and Tony. Shouldn't blues be restricted by the Geneva Convention to a maximum of half an hour at a time? Half an hour of rest, then one that had been sprung on me, playing bass for Paul and his two lady friends on ukes and guitars. Then half an hour accompanying Blind Young George. My old band played next for an hour but didn't include me, although I sneaked in for their encore. I think I played about 70 songs over the two days. Gear was Sei headless fretless 5 -> Lekato/M-Vave wireless -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> HH bass combo, footwear was the usual Caravelles. Blind Young George really is blind, and 14. Very talented. And I do have a music stand because I can't learn 70 songs that quickly (only needed it for one of George's songs though).

Oh, more importantly, it's finished! I'll take some better pictures tomorrow when I have some daylight, but here's a decent enough shot of the completed bass. I think it looks rather nice, and it sounds good as well. I've attached a quick bit of noodling, recorded direct into my interface with no tinkering. It's neck position, both pickups on, and bridge position. I've since raised the bridge pickup a little, so it should sound a bit less feeble. Untitled.mp3 Thanks to @Chienmortbb for being willing to part with this project bass, @PaulThePlug for his Hohner/Steinberger knowledge and @Jackroadkill for his 3D printing work. Also, special thanks to the cheap white-and-orange beach towel/workbench cover that stars in many of these pictures. My mum bought from a Leclerc in Brittany during a family holiday about 30 years ago, and it's only recently occurred to me that I have no idea how or when it ended up rolled up in a cupboard in my house.

Back at The Plumbers Arms in Huddersfield last night. We usually end up really cramped there because there's football on and they don't move the tables for us, but this year we made a point of asking for the space so we had maybe another square half-metre to play with. Hey, every little helps! We were due to go on at 9, but while we were setting up we were asked if we wouldn't mind going on at 9.30. We grumbled a bit but there wasn't a lot to be done at that point so we said yes. We wondered why since the place was quite empty, until our singist did some sleuthing. It turned out that we weren't going to be the only band on last night. We were told that another band had come up from Wales to watch rugby, and were going to perform for free around our sets in exchange for a free room for the night. All very enterprising but not promising for getting us out of there at a reasonable hour. The band in question were a vox & guitar/sax duo from Anglesey doing covers to a backing track, and while I appreciated their technical competence it wasn't really my cup of tea, though I watched a few of their songs to show support and was pretty much the only person who applauded any of them. To be fair they watched the whole of our second set and their singist/guitarist said some extremely complimentary things about us afterwards, including that we should be doing a lot more gigs and he'd set us up with some on Anglesey if we ever fancied it! We didn't have our usual crowd there as they were all either busy or ill, and so the place seemed really quiet, and actually emptied a fair bit before we started which had us fearing we were in paid rehearsal territory, but people came and went throughout and there was always a good dozen or so in the immediate vicinity of us to keep us a bit interested, although applause during our first set was very hard to come by even though everyone seemed to be enjoying us. Out second set is livelier then the first so there were a few more people getting involved, helped by the arrival of part of a wedding party, including the father of the bride who wore a very natty red suit and a porkpie hat and who, along with one of his mates, created probably our first and only ever mosh pit (albeit quite a tame one) during Teenage Kicks. I didn't think we'd get any calls for an encore but we did, and so we didn't end up finishing until nearly midnight. A swift pack up and load out later I was home by 12.45, where at the request of my 8yo I slept in the living room on a pair of stacked foam mattresses that was Not Comfortable while he slept on the sofa, so I got hardly any sleep and am a fair bit broken this morning. Didn't get any photos because I forgot, but I used the Sire V7 - Elf - Two10S combo again that sounded ace. Shoes were black Converse Chuck Taylor Hitops.

Depping gig inside a church for a wedding near Hinckley. I was worried about the acoustics of playing in a place with high ceilings etc but no problem at all. The audience were really up for it with lots of dancing, plus one guy who came up and sang a couple of songs with us (I think he knew the singer 🤷🏼‍♂️). Good catering too courtesy of a pizza oven thing out the back. Winner. Took a small rig of just one Markbass 2x10 cab, a LM2 head and a Yamaha BB604 bass. Pared down the effects board to just a tuner and a compressor gaffer taped to the top of my amp head.

We graced a huge sports bar last night. Palpable sense of menace in the air, drunken, broken nosed, tattooed football fans wandering into the playing area to chat with the singer during songs, people asking for Pink Floyd tunes (we're an Irish band, whistles, mandolins, cajon etc) and one guy offered to take over as our bassist. I nearly let him.

Just got in after an excellent, but LOUD, gig with Katy Hurt at the Hogs Back Brewery Hop Harvest festival. Weather was changeable and literally 15 minutes before we were due on the heavens opened, but thankfully the rain stopped and the sun shone for our entire hour set. The lineup was eclectic but cool, naturally there was great beer, the crowd was superb, and the sound (onstage at least) was great, (except for the loud bit 😆). We played well on the whole, my ACG/Elf/Two10 rig was sounding mint, Gab played a blinder and Katy was in fine voice. Really enjoyed it, just wish I’d put my earplugs in…

We did two this weekend, both with good crowds and we played out of our skins - it's renewed my enthusiasm a bit.

Proud owner of my all original Mustang from 1973. Bought it from the first owner and sounds the absolute business.

Returned to The New Inn in Buckingham last night. Not as busy as has been but still a reasonable amount of people who seemed to enjoy us. Landlord and Landlady were very complimentary. Our singer had a bit of an off night as she had had a tooth out the day before and was on some pretty strong medication. Will be back there next year.

Is that why we had a power cut yesterday!

Two nights, two gigs. Had some mega-feedback from the double bass so emergency jumper was called in to sort it out.

I don't think I could ever face the tension of going on stage to play that many new songs, good on you for having the ability to succeed and the nerve to try. I've played a few Rugby Clubs over the years and never had a hint of trouble. I mean they are riotous and drunken but good natured and a lot of fun. I don't think rugby is the game for you if you are going to be a **** there's too many people ready to put you straight and the game takes discipline. Some of our best gigs have been rugby clubs. Sports clubs generally are a good gig.

I took my board to bits at the start of the summer - and partly laziness and partly not really needing much more this is what I’ve used the last few times … it just works

Last night's gig report later. For various reasons I haven't played with the blues band for months. Just got a setlist and have to learn several songs before I leave at 2:30 for the gig. Hopefully a couple are straight 12 bars...

had a little sort out and switch up as I fancied bringing my Tyler back can’t wait to dial this in later tonight

As reported in a previous thread, back in 2012, I visited a relatively new Nash dealer: Westside MI in Denmark Street, London, (a shop that has sadly since disappeared, like so may of recent times). My aim was to see, feel and hear for myself just how good Nash basses were. I have to say that I came away a little underwhelmed after trying out a couple of Precisions and Jazzes. Whilst the finishes were very good, the feel was generally okay if a bit on the heavy side, but none of the basses I tried that day had the resonant sound of my two Fender Jazzes. It was an interesting visit, and I came away satisfied, in the sense that I had tried them, and could tell myself that at that time, Nash basses were probably not for me. But I have never forgotten them........... Wind forward 13 years and I have just travelled back from Bass Direct at Warwickshire, as the proud owner of a Nash 52 Precision (Butterscotch Blonde) which sounds amazing. Whilst at Bass Direct, which was my first visit, due to the distance, I received a warm welcome, with plenty of time to "try out" a number of Nash's including a PB 55, a PB 57, and a PB 63 as well as the PB 52 which I settled on. My feeling was that the Nash basses had come a long way from my trip to London back in 2012. Of all the basses I tried, I would have been more than happy to have brought home any of them with me. I settled on the 52 as it had great feel, super sound and just looks so cool. My thanks to all at Bass Direct for making the experience so good and to Bill Nash for making some superb basses. Ad Multos Annos!

Saturday: Fortunate Sons (not a tribute) at Barry Football club. Someone asked me 'where are you from?' I said over there... I was born a stone's throw from the far end of the stadium. First half I was a bit rough... still recovering from a brief visual migraine, no headache but leaves me washed out. By the second set I felt better. Stuck in a few little fills of my own, some of which madevthd guitatist crack up. Keyboardist is a lapsed bass player (😯) which meansvhe doesn't compete with mycfound so the mix was excellent. Monitor with my own mini mixer worked well. Good numbers, lots of dancing, lots of handshakes afterwards. Sunday: My first Bluesfire gig for months and the setlist had evolved a bit. New songs but not complex, three or four we hadn't played begore, but I had gone through earlier. A few key changes but only one that I didn't get tipped off about! I know blues isn't everyone's cup of tea but we have very wide idea of what goes and on many songs there's space for improvisation. I found being away from the band playing other stuff gave me some interesting/unusual ideas. We felt the break got us out of a rut and we were paying more attention to each other rather than playing from habit/memory. Had chances to get up the dusty end too. An encore was demanded so we did a randomly arranged Superstition about 30% faster than normal. At one point I was slapping the riff from Play that Funk Music... strangely it all came over as pretty tight. Audience was a bit thin due to torrential rain, but all three of us were on fire and we played a good two hours. Felt shattered afterwards but in a good way. Same gear for both gigs. Unashamed Fender lover. Sound was great IMHO. My udual cheap quecha trainers as they are the best thing for my dodgy ankle (podiatrist and physiotherapist approved!)

Mostly wiring and electronics stuff today. I started by sawing the old broken tabs off the front pickup and installing the replacement baseplate suplied by @Jackroadkill. As this isn't going to be a visible part, I didn't bother doing any prep or refinement here other than cutting off a corner to accommodate the cable (which was in a slightly different position to where it was on the baseplate) and using a soldering iron to press some threaded inserts into the plastic. With that done, and the 3D printed surrounds sanded and lacquered, I started putting things together. I don't have any pictures of this, because anyone who has ever wired up a guitar will know that the process is extremely annoying and requires intense concentration. I did it without burning myself, and only had to desolder the whole thing, make a cup of tea, and start again once. Which is good going.

Maybe a Zoom B1-4? Can typically be had in good used condition for < £60. As well as being a neat multifx, it includes a very useful tuner, drum machine, looper and headphone out.

Maybe for some... I'll confess I have a collection of 'boutique' basses. The collection as a whole, as well as each of them individually do bring me joy. I enjoy playing them at band practice, I enjoy switching between them, I sometimes just enjoy holding them and spending time marvelling at the skill of the person who made it, I also enjoy them as playable 'art' hung on my studio wall. I play them at home and each of them has been gigged more than once. A few I've had made specifically for me (Binky and a few ACGs) and some I've picked up here and elsewhere for a 'good price', so should I ever need to liquidate them, I could. It's each to their own, but I very much enjoy my basses, and I don't consider them purchases due to me 'needing' them. Though my personal 'wants' in a bass are: • 6 string (7, 8, 9, 10 also fine!) • Active • 24 frets • Through neck • Wood top There isn't a HUGE number of basses that offer those specs and are genuinely 'good' from my experience (Cort A6 is perhaps an exception) so I've found my sweet spot within the boutique basses world. Nowt wrong at all with a 4 string Harley Benton P-Bass, they're great for the price point, but they don't meet my personal bass 'wants'. There' are definitely others in my camp, don't write us all off as pretentious just because we like something different! 😋

Righty, I'm back from a week's holiday on the Devon coast (lovely) and ready to put the finishing touches on this project. In my time away, the lacquer has had time to fully cure. So the first thing to do was the both tedious and nerve-wracking process of wet-dry sanding the bass to get rid of all the brush marks and runs. This is always a fairly scary process, as you just have to keep sanding (constantly checking things) and trust that you applied the finish thickly enough to be able to smooth out all the imperfections before you go all the way through the clearcoat somwhere. If you blow through it, particularly if its in a very visible spot, you essentially have to just throw up your hands, do a lot of swearing and start the whole process again, which can take a week or two to cure. It's maddening, but I've gotten pretty good now. No issues with this job. Here's what the bass looks like now – I've sanded and polished and polished and polished and polished and polished. I then applied the shielding foil to the control cavity and added the ground wire before attaching the bridge (with thurst bearings fitted now, thanks for @PaulThePlug for the recommendation). I boiled the strings and gave it a rough set-up for intonation and action. No electronics yet. One of the great advantages of headless basses (especially double-ball end ones) is that you can string them up and de-string them over and over again without any problems. I've just spent the last half an hour or so playing it unamplified and it seems pretty damn good. No fret buzzes, and it's really surprisingly loud even with just the wood for resonance. One thing that has thrown me a little is just how chunky the neck is – I'd taken measurements and so I knew in theory that it was a big boy, but I was still a little taken aback when I got it in my hands. It feels more like my dad's 70's EB3 than the jazz and stingray style necks on my custom basses. I'm assuming I'll get used to it in time. Even with the chunky frets, the action could probably go lower than its current position (with the saddles decked on the G and D strings decked) with no fret buzz. Not that it isn't playable now, probably low enough for most players, but I'm picky. I think I can file the bridge saddles down a smidge without problems. Tomorrow I'll prep the 3D printed components from @Jackroadkill and put the electronics together. My plan is to put a basic vol-blend-tone circuit in it for now, and then replace it with something esoteric, filter-based and active down the line if I like the general sound and playability.

An Eagles tribute show in Richmond, North Yorkshire last night. A fun gig as always, but notable for being in one of the oldest theatres (c.1788) in the UK.

New venue for us at The Winged Horse in Basildon. Pretty much your usual community pub in a busy resential estate, with an array of lively, colourful characters. We were also joined once again by one of our dep singers, Hazel, who did a fantastic job once again. Initially they wanted us to set up in the main bar area, but there's barely space for a duo, let alone a 6 peice band, so we set up in the secondary room. It did however mean we had to compete with the football on the screen in hte main bar. Nevertheless, we played well and had a decent crowd who came through to watch, sing and dance. Only real downside is no body told us it's payment via "Just Pay", not cash. So that's that's going to take a while to come through. Oh well. Next stop, The Sarah Moore in Leigh-on-Sea.- about 15mins walk from my front door.

Yep, agreed. The original colour is still visible under the control plate:

Thanks Dave, We didn't do so well last time we played The Bend . We had something to prove last night . Daryl

For the most part that has been my experience too. Rowdiness may have been the wrong word and I didn't mean to imply a negative, just a lively audience which may have distracted me from my crib sheet 😀 But there was one gig (as a duo a few years ago) in a local rugby club where it was a nightmare - no separation between us and the dance floor, we both got covered in beer from the constant and energetic dancing with beer glasses in hand, broken glass everywhere, people grabbing microphones (I'd managed to switch mine off at that point) and while there was no actual violence, it wasn't a pleasant atmosphere.

Did yesterdays gig with zero rehearsals, setlist changed around and some called out in different keys. Was a good workout. Turns out the guys are all pit players and have been doing this for 20 years so lots of eye contact and trying to fit in. Sounded good and some great players. A lot of fun (and £250 so pretty good).

They need to pay you to do some YouTube content - Sheffield's version of IMA...

Yes Sly & Robbie I think

Being relatively new to this depping lark, one thing I have noticed is that I have spent more time learning the actual bass part to the songs, rather than working out my own versions which I do with my main band. I have always been someone who thinks that a covers band (but not a tribute act) should be bringing something new to the set in terms of arrangements so that there is an identity to the band regardless of the actual songs played. To me this includes tempo, instruments, solos, fills etc and I try to personalise the bass lines within the context of the song. I think that in some ways this has made me a little lazy in terms of learning parts as I can always use my philosophy to fudge over difficult bits. But over the last couple of months I've done a lot more depping and I've made a point of learning the original parts, as regardless of the way the band plays the song, the original version provides a good starting point and usually a reference should things go wrong. In preparing for dep gigs, I think I've become a better bass player and certainly my self confidence in being able to play the proper parts has increased. That in turn has given me the confidence to take on the depping roles.

Last saw one of these being played at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Drummer: We are sounding pretty tight even with this dep guy. Guitarist: Listen to my playing, I'm on fire! ...as usual. Singer: Something is off somewhere, just can't quite hit the notes. Punters: This band sounds great. Bass player: Must keep smiling, Must keep smiling. 🤣

Looks like a (compromise) version of my onboard patch management idea may make it into the next public release too. The compromise is actually a bonus as it will run in the global menu, which means it won’t eat up memory from the main app, which in turn will leave space for other later improvements. Some real quality-of-life improvements coming in the next update that address most (if not all) of the things people are saying give the MXR Bass Synth an advantage.

Especially if he had brought his own bass

Great write up - felt I was there 😉 . For some reason I thought you were going to be on grass/mud! That's a nicely positioned drain. Well done for going home and improvising solutions to the keeping things dry problem. That's a ton of songs to learn, I feel your joy and pain. I like your "creative lapses" phrase and promise to give it back once I've used it!

Superb Daryl. Love those kind of venues and a decent crowd too. And using a proper bass rig this time too. Happy days sir. Dave

Scott's Bass Lessons Scott Arrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

All Ai. I’ve sent it off to a local luthier to see if I can make the build happen 👀

Just got this Nash PB52.......

Bold to assume we have a spare 50p after buying all the pedals we have.

Were you watching us last night. 🙂

I had one of those gigs last night with a Tribute band and same thing, some different keys as the singer was also a dep, different arrangements,starts, endings etc. Kept me on my toes trying to guess what and when the breaks would be and how the songs would end. The most uncomfortable was that many of the starts were different to the original records which you only discover when you start playing what you know and it turns out that they don't start like that anymore. Makes starting the next song an anxious moment. 🙂 But overall it was a nice gig.

I would be surprised if there weren't previous transcriptions of this but, in celebration of the album's 50th anniversary, this is the complete Mike Rutherford bass part for the title track of the Genesis masterpiece, 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway'. Tougher than would would expect and all done with a pick. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway-genesis/

Usual process for me is to cut the songs out in the morning from the recording of the night before that I make when there's a reason to (a new band, set or drummer etc) and I have to say I'm cringing at my playing on the 2nd set opening song, Happy Hour - I'm playing it a semi-tone out, the first 3/4 🫣😥🥴. My mind was convinced that the MD had given us all the correct band key (A) on the setlist, when in fact they all were ignoring it (except the new dep) because they always play it in Bb. Looking at the setlist later I realised that the MD had written down the band key was A, the original was B and the difference was -1. A clue. At the time I knew it was off within the 1st bar, but kept going, wierdly my ears half adjusted to the discordance, but I knew that something was wrong and tried to figure out the right key whilst keeping the pattern. Stopping for a few moments would have been better. Painful lesson. Note to self: trust my ears, not what I was told and find the right damn key PDQ!