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Played an open mic last night in Sutton Coldfield. Just the five tunes but we were given the "feature band" slot. Felt like less of an open mic at times and more of a "battle of the bands" situation given the quality of all of the bands on. Was really fun though. Bass was my modded Squier Bronco, and that was plugged (via fancy wireless) into an Aguilar Tone Hammer 700 head and 2 112 cabs underneath (as house amps go, that was the best I've ever used for sure). Footwear was Puma Suedes.

It was Jam Night last night. My band weren’t available so I was expecting to do a slot with a couple of the host band members and a band less drummer. Then at shortly after 5pm I got a call from the host band asking if I could dep for them as their bassist was ill. So “Yes”; shower; throw some tea down (the solid variety known as “dinner” across vast swathes of the country😂) and leg it to the venue to help set up. My evening consisted of: 3 songs with the host band, all of which I know fairly well and have played recently. 2 songs in a scratch band with songs called out on stage. I’d never heard one of them before (on stage instruction: it’s in C with a Mustang Sally vibe). The other one was Route 66 which I hadn’t played for 25 years and that was on keys - oddly I could remember the key. My slot. An excellent guitarist / singer who I’ve played with a few times before joined me. And a drummer that neither of us had met before, who was expecting to play a blues set (it wasn’t). Myself and the guitarist decided on songs at 5:30 (between shower and tea), hence the hastily made band name of “5 thirty” (think “The 1975” but in a shorter time frame😊). I’d never played “Long Train Running” but checked out the chords and listened to it a few times on the walk to the venue. Closing song with the host band. “Proud Mary” which I don’t think I’d played for 2 years - so a quick reminder of the chords on my phone, then on the stage to play. I don’t think my ears have had such a work out before. I’ve been doing a fair bit of ear training in the last year or so - they did ok last night. It’s not usually a Jam Night (more bands that have practiced and book a slot), but last night was - I really enjoyed it.

This weekend. Ziegler Winery! Sat, Sep 20 @ 3:00PM — 6:00PM Ziegler Winery , W3953 Winnebago Heights Rd, Malone, WI If you haven't discovered Ziegler yet, what are you waiting for?? Join us on the fabulous patio for a music and wine filled Saturday! Cedarburg Wine and Harvest Festival! Sun, Sep 21 @ 12:00PM — 2:30PM Cedarburg Wine and Harvest Festival, W63 N643 Washington Ave., Cedarburg, WI Join us for an early Sunday Funday on the MAIN STAGE at this years' Wine and Harvest Festival in Cedarburg!

Wouldn't work, part of the tone was the direct result of the gravitational field that was itself the result of the mass of the cab

TLDR: that isn’t equality, it’s noblesse oblige in progressive clothes. Ah, “punching down.” That ghastly little phrase, which sounds less like a moral framework and more like an instruction one might find in an IKEA manual for assembling an oddly-shaped ottoman. The idea, if you’ll allow me to paraphrase it badly, is that comedians should never make jokes at the expense of those with less power or lower status. Very noble. Very high-minded. Very - how do I put this delicately? - patronising in the extreme. We’re being told who counts as “up” and who’s stuck “down.” That isn’t equality, it’s a hierarchy disguised as virtue, and the moment you divide people like that, you’ve abandoned the very principle of treating everyone as equals. And here’s the obvious truth: people are equal regardless of job, money, or social status. A duke and a dustman may move in different worlds, but both are flawed, both ridiculous, both capable of laughter. To declare one “fair game” and the other “off limits” is to recreate the very divisions equality claims to abolish. Shielding people from humour doesn’t honour them; it quietly marks them out as lesser, as fragile, needing special treatment. I’ve met, in my time, any number of the allegedly powerless, and I’ll tell you what: many are sharper, wittier, and far more capable of puncturing pomposity than the self-appointed guardians of their honour. To exclude them from the rough-and-tumble of humour is to infantilise them. Shielding some groups from jokes doesn’t respect them, it sidelines them. It’s not kindness; it’s exclusion in a sanctimonious mask .

Deposit Paid, off to Andersons today , Just in case they manage to get these amps in as listed on time. I have to mention, this is NOT normal for me . I seldom buy new ('cos I love old valve amps ), But the confidence inspired by "Agedhorse's " helpful and informative attitude, and the design remit , that so reflects my requirements, Simply too hard to resist ! I have every confidence it will sound Fabulous. PLUS What a Looker ! Classic !

Update time: Necks are built and now just waiting for the logo decals before the final coats.

I had a 200MB for years, the original speaker expired and I put a replacement in that wasn't as good, eventually found I could get a Pyle speaker identical to the original so got that and it was good again. I eventually found I wasn't using it any more and sold it. Now I find that a tiny combo weighing just over my 10kg limit would fill my needs for some things I'm doing, and @Thornybank pointed me at one at Fair Deal Music. Dropped in there today, gave it a quick whirl (I'd forgotten just how loud they go), and took it away with me. Jam night tonight so that'll be its first outing.

Hot Covers are based in Carluke, Scotland. Not only are their products very high quality, their service is impeccable. I had an urgent need for four custom covers for the LFSys Monaco. Ordered on Monday - and they were here on Tuesday. So, definitely not made in China. As others have said, it's good to support what little UK-based manufacturing industry we have left.

Why have a missed this thread, I love talking about my band 😁 I'm in an original rock band called Felis Leo, we're a bit old skool 70s and 80s influenced with a heavy dose of AC/DC in the DNA. The three original members started the band 40 years ago in school but went their separate ways and came back together in 2017 at the start of their mid life crisis (none of them can afford Porsches so a band is the next best thing). They recorded an album, Life By Misadventure and a 4 track EP, Porn At Work before I joined. I left a function band in the summer of '22 and was asked to join FL around November time. Loved the music but wasn't interested in getting back on the bass horse at that time. The 2nd time they asked was a few months later but this time there was a caveat, they were playing a mutual friend's wedding and they were desperate 😄 When I started rehearsing they had lost their drummer too! This has become a running theme, since I joined there have been 4.5 drummers 😂 (and we used to rehearse near the full size Stonehenge). My first gig was the wedding. Driving away from the gig on a hot August night I stopped as something caught my eye, I wound down the window and watched two UFOs fly silently above me. I followed them for a while on my home and thought "you don't see this in covers bands". We do about half a dozen gigs a year and we've just played our first gig in Southampton. Since I joined I've been allowed to join in with the recording process as the previous bassist didn't 🤷🏻‍♂️. Since '23 we've only released the Butterflies EP and a Christmas single, Cold Turkey. There's a couple of new tunes that require recording, one of them is about Lydia Shears who was a local witch and great, great, great Auntie to our guitarist Paul. He hasn't inherited any of her shapeshifting qualities. Here's the last EP

Previously never been entirely convinced by the look of a tortoiseshell pickguard on a black bass but decided to give it a go. I like it a lot (and yes I wish the fingerboard was a bit darker).

Good question... Of course we looked at our legacy models, the first one was the Walkabout and the weight was one of the biggest complaints (and it wasn't a very heavy amp compared with say the Carbines). Moving up to the heavier amps, size and weight very much factored into the decision because our players placed this very high on the "wanted list". Back in the day, I did design a number of substantially sized, heavy amps like the GBE-750 and 1200, but these found their way mostly to those who were either touring with big rigs or didn't need to worry about transportation. The older models sales had fallen to almost nothing even before we released the first Subway model, was better for what our evolving player base wanted and had asked for. Listening to a large number of players provided a huge level of clarity here.

F**k it. Broke out the credit card and ordered one. This I have to try.

1979 was actually the best year in the 80s for music! So many great songs that year

Crisis…. 3pce original heavy rock since 1980….. we’re in the process of recording a new album “Homecoming”, which should be done by early next year. Three old men, pretending to still be relevant.

A bit of a Fender Jazz day today... I picked up a nice Alder/Rosewood 2014 Jazz Deluxe for a friend last night on my way home from the SW. I've been setting it up today, and it plays really well & sounds good, but what I wasn't prepared for was when playing it back to back with my Ash/Maple Elite, how much improved the Elite really was in 2016 over the previous Deluxe. It really is night and day. As folks say, the Elite really was peak Deluxe Series.

She's got a bit of an advantage to the rest of the world given her dad is Hovak Alaverdyan who is in the band Octavision with Victor Wooten on bass!

Well it looks like I will be able to come as the tummy tuck (AKA hernia repair) has worked well. At a recent Bash, I was given a load of faulty cables. I am in the middle of going through them and repairing them. If Mike lets me, I will take a small table and display them to sell. They will not have the lifetime guarantee I give with my bespoke cables, but they will be good spare cables and I will guarantee them for a year. There are instrument (2-6m) and speaker cables (0.5-1.2m). Where the current connectors are usable, I will reuse them, where they are not, I will replace them. Most of the instrument cables will have a straight plug on one end and a right-angled plug on the other. The speaker cables will have SpeakOns on both ends, either Neutrik, or Rean. Prices from £5-10. Of course, I will still be taking orders for any special cable requirements you have in the meantime.

John Giblin is probably my favourite fretless bassist and a huge influence on my playing, closely followed by Pino. Pino I feel has possibly a slightly better fretless voice but John Giblin has more melody which to me is more interesting. I also got to play a few of John's basses including this lovely fretless P-Bass.

I'd say that one is bookmatched... it's just the peculiarities of how the wood has taken stain/reflects the light. But I agree, if you can get a bookmatch on a Sire or even a sub-£200 Harley Benton, PRS should be able to manage it.

I think the Osmo Polyx products are absolutely splendid - but I have limited experience with their gloss formulas. All of that range is super-easy to apply and, in that you can always sand it off and start again if it doesn't suit, then probably worth a try. My reservations are that it depends just how hard the gloss version finally sets at. It is a modified-wax based product but, if you saw some of my satin results and tapped the finish as hard as you like with your fingernails, you generally would never think that. And bear in mind it is sold primarily for the rigours of home and commercial parquet and wooden floors. But whether the gloss version 'drags' on the fingers I really don't know. But - a small tin is cheap as chips and one of the easiest finishes to apply. It needs just a clean lint-free cloth and rubber gloves (just to keep the stickiness off your hands - trying to wash a waterproof coating off your hands is always a challenge ) and is pretty much fumeless - probably worth a try. If you do, my recommendation would be a single wipe, leave it overnight, another one, etc, and then leave it at least 2 weeks to really fully harden.

A friend recorded what was more or less a solo album 20 years ago, with a stong mental health theme. Under the name Fractured Persona several gigs were one to promote it, and it got a decent reception, if not huge sales. The band has been completely 'rebuilt' around Fritz, who started writing new songs with a guitarist, drum machine and bandcamp. There's now six of us and we've got nine songs ready for a first gig today, three from the album. Lots of creative freedom. The gig will include some 'interesting' theatrics! Vety different from my other bands!

All routed and slight comfort carve. Next stage will be black grain filler then Liberon Finishing Oil. Not sure whether to just fill the wenge or do the elm as well? I went with a 6.5 mm radius round-over for this one instead of the usual 12.7mm. I think I prefer the larger round-over bit rather than this one as it gives a thinner body overall

So I thought it would be interesting (decide for yourself how interesting!) to document the setup of a new band... Read on if you want to, or don't if you don't. I've always wanted to have an 80s covers band. Ideally I would be the lead singer and bassist, alas my vocal chops just aren't there. I tried once in the past to set up a band using people found on joinmyband and other sources and it wasn't a great experience but a valuable one. Earlier this year my main band, a 2000s covers band, had a hiatus and the drummer and I cooked up a scheme to do something as a side project. This is one of the big lessons I learned a few years back: work with at least one person you already know! Well, that makes bass and drums... I contacted a guitarist I was in a band with four or five years back, I love his style and attitude and we have remained friends loosely keeping in touch, he was excited to join in. In the middle of August we met up with a handful of songs to bash through. I found it a real struggle to sing and play, my voice was knackered at the end of it, but we agreed we had something that worked and if we had a singer and ideally a keys or sax player we could really have something worth progressing. I got too excited and advertised for a singer much earlier than I had wanted to. I got a handful of responses: a guy aged 28 who sings modern metal, a classic rock vocalist in a covers band id heard of, a female singer who recently left an indie band, and a lady who only wants to do backing vox as she doesn't want to fully commit. I have not yet met the singers, we want to get the songs tight first. But we have rejected two of them already! Now, the lost of songs we are working on is a handful of "male" songs and two "female" songs. The classic rock singer contacted me to say words to the effect: "you do realise that Holding Out for a Hero is written for a girl??? You know it's about a Man???" That told me all I needed to know about this person. Didn't say "hey I might tweak the words" which I'm happy with, just basically came across a bit old fashioned and hinted he could be difficult to work with. Luckily, the recordings of heard of his vocals weren't great so I was comfortable saying we had better fit singers already. Also, he didn't notice, or at least raise, that "I wanna dance with somebody" is also a female perspective song. I have no issue if a man or woman wants to change the gender perspective of a song, or keep it. But we had not at this point said we want a male singer, or we want a female singer. We just wanted a good singer and to do good songs, so we have a mix. Anyways, onwards and upwards. In the meantime we wanted to get the songs tight but also I kept hearing sax in a lot of the great songs of the decade so I advertised for a sax player. I got a great response from a guy local to where we rehearse who plays sax and keys. I sent him the long-list of possible songs and five mins later got a reply of "f me that's my childhood!" And I just knew he would do for us. This week we met up again and invited our sax and keys player. We also had a friend come along to sing so I could concentrate on bass and arrangements. Magic happened. We did two or three runs through of each song, had a ten minute break for a chat. We instantly bonded with our new multi-instrumentalist: a decent person, a proper musician, and he LOVES the genre. There are still details to work out such as better transition to solos, proper endings of all these fade out songs, but we were really solid and the keys and or sax just really added something. It felt special. We will meet again in a few weeks' time, now with a handful more songs that really prominently feature the sax. Our best candidate for singer isn't available until mid October so hopefully we can be really tight by then and ready for him. I'm getting quite excited about this side project! Playing with a drummer and guitarist I know really helps, and striking gold with a chap who plays sax and keys is just sheer good fortune. More to come soon....

You certainly have to be on your mettle. I was doing a run through, when Lady Ez popped her head around the door to ask if I wanted a coffee, as soon my brain considered the answer (which was in the affirmative), I completely lost the plot of the tune.

At the risk of getting overtly political, because we know how BC feels about that, this idea that we all left and right need to align and come together to take down *those lot up there* is well intended but futile. I wont come together with anyone whose views on certain subjects are diametrically opposed to mine. Subjects like racism or migration? I won’t stand alongside anyone who parrots the sort of claptrap we now sadly hear every day of the week from GBeebies. Am I in the same social strata as Dave the rascist over the road? Yes. Will I stand alongside him? Hell no. Not now, not ever.

I've spent some time yesterday and today, carefully commissioning the amp. I found a couple of screen grid connections that had somehow escaped soldering, so fixed that. The amp is working, in the sense that it produces output but I need to tweak the bias circuit as at present it's way too hot (over 200% of rated dissipation), even on the lowest pot setting and 180V mains supply. The over-hot bias is likely responsible for the hum I'm hearing (regardless of control positions). There is no audible oscillation when I raise the master volume, so the phase of the NFB connection is correct. I also used my oscilloscope to check for oscillation outside the audible range, and again there's nothing. I've done enough for today. Working on amps into the evening really messes up my sleep! A bit more work over the weekend and I'll be there.

I must dig out my two 1516 stories, one in which it broke the singer’s car, the other in which it created its own horizon rendering it apparently invisible to the human eye 👍

I’m doing ‘ My brother Jake’ tomorrow night, depping in a band with some friends. We do ‘Wishing Well’ in our duo too, always goes down well. What a talent Andy Fraser was, and so young when he recorded all the classic Free stuff.

I see Nik Kershaw whenever he is nearby, not too often these days, sadly. He is an immense talent. Saw him do a solo acoustic gig at Union Chapel which was a huge amount of fun. He started to introduce 'The One and Only' and thanked Chesney for earning him so much money, adding 'Mind you, Chesney is a bit of a w@nker' only to be joined on stage by him a second later. Very funny. Then they played it, fantastic. As an aside, Nik Kershaw did a tour with Go West a few years ago. Go West would play some tunes, then Nik, then both together - all with the Go West band (who are fab). They all seemed to be having an absolute blast of a time. There was a bit where they played one of the others' songs but in their own style. Nik played 'Missing Persons' and his arrangement was just stunning. It remains one of the best gigs I have ever seen.

I like the idea of a swap shop. Can I swap my cheap Ibanez GIO ultra shortscale for for a 62 Jazz please?

The clip says it was a "Lady of Soul" show, so I assume it was more about Aretha/female singers, and Stevie was a guest appearance for this song. There appear to be so many US TV shows like this where they have a house band and guest singers come on and off stage, so I doubt it would have been Stevie's band/Nate Watts.

Not the greatest of photos, but here are my Zon Legacy basses (one fretted, one fretless) That I used to own a while ago.

I spent most of the day in a local studio recording some of my own songs. My first time doing my own material and my first time singing in a studio environment. Very exciting, and very strange to hear myself in the headphones as we layered multiple vocal tracks. I also did octave mandolin and a friend laid down some acoustic guitar. I'll be back next week to do bass, once my bass is back from the repair shop.

I totally agree, trust is a big part of choosing gear for me, which is why I’ve ended up with amps from only two brands, Mesa and Ashdown, and cabs by Mesa only. Both Andy at Mesa and Dave at Ashdown have given me great advice also 👍

We were originally a 4pce, but the original bass player left. The remaining 3 of us are original yep…. I was the singer, but also took over on bass when the original guy left around 20yrs ago.

Definitely and I appreciate your insight. Personally I am not particularly active on social media and would not talk about this stuff with friends and particularly not with certain family members 😱 So I read comments on BC, the company intranet and BBC news pages to get some perspective about what people think and what they prioritise. I find it very useful to try and second guess the direction of travel. It appears to be off a cliff 🙂 economically i see no solution to inflation, debt or sluggish growth. powers that be are impotent and lacking in vision or mandate. culturally the polarisation is becoming more pronounced and zealotry is rampant in both camps. debate and acceptance of differences is becoming a lost art. the vultures are circling within and outside and the clock ticks. have a great weekend everyone 👍

I have 12 to learn for Monday. The last one I charted today (I was only given the list last night) was UB40’s Kingston Town, an interesting take on the classic root/five.

I have an HB Shorty with a Tonerider pickup and find it absolutely delightful. You know the score with these so I say copy and paste!

I always introduce it as a song written by Nik Kershaw we also do Wouldn't it be good both great songs

Thank you kindly 😼👍. Will check this out now ! Before I do , I must say that I need to get more symphony x. Imho they blew dream theatre off stage at Wembley in about 2007 ! I have the iconoclast album which I will have to listen to for first time in ages😌

Yup - it's tricky. This intersects in my day job all the time so I encounter it lots. For these specific examples: Ex 1: Yes, it definitely could by some because you have the dominant group - in this case white people who come from the colonial powers - picking and choosing elements of the colonised culture. The Beatles in India with the Maharishi would be a great example. UK comedian Nish Kumar makes fun of stuff like this all the time. Ex 2: No because the colonised are claiming the rituals of the coloniser. Ex 3: For the left: no partially because of the the same reason as ex 2, and partially because rap music and fashion comes from an oppressed group, the African-Americans. The issue becomes when middle class white guys do it. But then what about the Beastie Boys who were the children of well-known Jewish intellectuals and obviously have so much talent that they get a cultural free pass? Or Eminem, another huge talent who comes from the same background as most black hip-hop artists. Also: so influential that he too gets a pass. For the right: yes because their view of modern cultural thought is that white people, especially white males, are themselves an identity group under siege on all sides. Leaders around the western world have rallied to this cause and we saw 100,000 - 150,000 in London last week and to some of them it is an existential crisis hence the "Great Replacement Theory". "Political correctness gone mad," "censorship by the left," and "too woke" are common complaints from people on the right. Also, Brooklyn's Adam Yauch Park - named after the Beastie's MCA - is constantly being graffitied with swastikas and Yauch himself was a practicing Buddhist. You see what a Gordian Knot this is? A basic tactic that tends to work with 85% of the population: 1) Don't punch down, only punch up. (Although that got Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel cancelled and sent the MAGA faithful on a McCarthy - or should I say McKirky - purge of progressives in the US when they punched up. So this might not work any more.) 2) Be respectful. If you are clear that you are doing something with respect, not parody, almost everyone sensible will accept it. For now anyway. If these are annoying to you, don't shoot the messenger; I'm not saying that I agree with these. I am just trying to give examples that I have encountered in the professional world. I will say that all this is incredibly hard for musicians. Music has always been a sponge that relies upon being influenced by anything.

He ruined his name all on his own.

Just saw this. As someone who owned a Bass 400+ back in the day (probably the best-sounding bass head I ever owned), I love the look of it and I'm looking forward to trying one out. Now, how can I persuade Mesa to make a lightweight version of the old 1516 cab? @agedhorse How about a downsized version, with 1x12”, 1x8”, 2x5” and a tweeter, with lightweight neo speakers? With the proper Mesa/Boogie badges, not the Mesa Engineering ones.