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An almighty trip to the other end of the country for an Eagles tribute show in Newbury. Beautiful venue, and an appreciative crowd. Nice to bump into BC’s very own @alant!

YouCut_20250920_002834235.mp4 Bit of a late report but I can do that can't I? We played (Felis Leo) a gig in Southampton on Sunday afternoon. The band's first gig there and my first there in 11 years! I miss playing Southampton, I have fond memories of many, many venues there 😍😄 Ages ago a mate said try Music In The City, a weekend festival in various strange venues around Southampton. We got booked as the last act on in a place called St Michael's Vault. Turns out it's like an old wine cellar/jail/bomb shelter type place in the car park behind the Titanic pub! We got there early enough to watch a couple of the bands before us, turns out this festival is quite popular and well organised so we had a chilled time enjoying the bands. The sound in the place was terrible though and the volunteers were supplying free earplugs to punters 😂 When we got on stage we didn't have the crowd the other bands did but there was a few so we were happy. Those that weren't fam n friends actually were there for the duration, unbelievable with the noise we were making! Hopefully we'll get more gigs down that way, I've always enjoyed gigging in Southampton more than Salisbury (sorry Salisbury, you need to embrace your inner rocker self more 🤔). I wore me converse and the sound guy liked my ibanez sdgr 1205 bass.

Well... First, the chaos of setting up three bands well (solo singer plus band) using the same mixer with two guitars using the desk, a drum machine and an electronic kit. Somehow it worked, but the second band's guitarists did the "crank after soundcheck" thing which scared off a few punters and did their sound no favours. Their bass player (also the organiser) used my kit. Our set was as interesting as promised, despite Fritz doing his back in which made it a little tamer. In my labcoat I wheeled in the patient (we skipped the straitjacket). He shambled to the mic as Nigel the specialist delivered the narration. I handed Fritz an acoustic guitar so he could start his 'creative therapy'. He played the Fractured Persona song with us backing quietly. The first four songs I went fretless Maya P. As it cranked up the fourth song was pretty punky so over to fretted P and plectrum. Then back to fingers except for Kill the Klown, which featured a sledgehammer clown attack on our singer who reponded by chainsawing the clowns head off. The prop chainsaw was wirelessly miked up too We ended up doing our encore, largely without our rhythm guitarist who truned the volume down on his guitar and forgot. We knew some of the songs were memorable and it was surprising to see people joining in some of the choruses, so comfortable we weren't just a novelty show. Lots of decent feedback despite obvious first gig hiccups. Memorable for us and the audience.

I was one of the lucky ones who got my money back, after I posted a picture of his house telling him I knew where he lived. He even pretended to get the police to phone me to ask me to stop! What a whopper. Hope he gets everything coming to him, horrible f***er!

We stuck with USB-A for a reason... there are a variety of USB-A to 9V, 12V, 15V and 18V converter cords available for use with pedals, but also the USB-A to USB-C and USB-A to lightning cables are readily available and very inexpensive so you get the best of both worlds. https://lovemyswitches.com/usb-to-9vdc-power-cable/?srsltid=AfmBOopZVrbjs29mAccByIl4AMwGF66xRajKnUtln5fc-rE7Rd5RIkAR Yes, I write all the basic outline and structure of the manuals, and then I have a couple of our outside test players who help with the editing process. One is a very experienced aerospace mechanical engineer who writes operations manuals for NATO compliant equipment (the big stuff) and the other has outstanding communication skills combined with really good intuition. Both are also excellent bass players (I'm a somewhat-mediocre keyboard player), so the goal is a technically complete manual written and edited from the perspective of bass players, to be accurate, clear, concise, useful and free from the vomitous marketing babble that makes manuals virtually unreadable. Thank you for appreciating our efforts. ❤️ We figure that if you are going to pay for a premium product, you also deserve a premium manual.

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.

Need to get Danny sapko involved

PDN Stingray Neptune blue.

After a couple of recent gig mishaps with trailing leads changing my compressor settings mid-song, I've made a (prototype) acrylic shield today!

This is my Ibanez SR2600 Cerulean Blue Burst, which I became interested in after seeing Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention using the 5 string version. They are beautifully made and well finished with massive tonal options and what a colour finish........... To protect such an instrument I opted for the Warwick all leather soft case.

Modified headstock and added wooden logo

PA subs go as much as an octave lower than bass cabs, while PA mains don't have the rising midrange typical of bass cabs. Try high passing the desk bass channel at 60 to 80Hz, if it has that capability, or cutting back on the bass EQ if it doesn't, while boosting the mids in the 2 to 2.5kHz range. If you want to be more precise get this app for your phone. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dom.audioanalyzer&hl=en_US&pli=1 You can use it to see the frequency response of your rig. Play an open A and take a picture of the result, C weighting, slow response. Save it and compare it to the same test through the PA. Comparing the two will show where the PA EQ needs to be adjusted.

Today's gig was at the street fair in Charlbury, doing the usual jazz-ish originals. A strange gig as our sets were between those of singers/acoustic guitarists doing covers in the beer garden of the pub on the other side of the street. We could hear but not see them, so we had to be ready to go at the appointed time as soon as applause was heard, just in case they slipped another song in. They were similarly ready when we were playing. A video of some of our performance is available, though the intro was missed as the person filming was trying to move out of the rain. As the video shows, some kitchen sink/shelf units were out in the yard where we were performing - apparently the venue was undergoing some refurbishment. These turned out to be a convenient place to stash my bass bag and amp cover when not playing.

Just got this used today from Bass Direct and it's put a massive smile on my face. Not a Fender or Sire (which to me is a plus)

I’m going to invoke the law of diminishing returns 🤣

How do people know? They often don't, they just think they do. If you've got a cheap bass that sounds deficient it's not necessarily the pickups or the preamp that makes it sound deficient. It could be shortcomings in how the bass has been designed and built, the structure of the bass itself. If the bass is active and has a preamp you can bypass and it sounds markedly better when doing so that can be a sign that the preamp is poor or knackered, to use the technical term. If the pickups sound very weak or hum excessively or both then they might be either rubbish pickups and or faulty. Overall, if you play bass unamplified and it sounds lively and dynamic and if you then find that isn't reflected in the amplified sound that can be an indication the bits that produce the amplified sound are not up to the job, but working out where and why can take a bit of investigation and experimentation. Throwing money and replacement parts at an inexpensive bass won't necessarily remedy your dissatisfaction.

I've just been flicking through some of the videos for Total 80's. A lot of them have been blocked or are not public. One of my favourites is this one. It was taken by our guitarists daughter. It's a shame it's in portrait, but I'm just happy that it exists at all. We were gigging a lot that year and did so right up until COVID spoilt the party. Even then, after things settled, bizarrely, we were even busier post COVID. Literally up and down the country. Sadly the relationship with our agent broke down and we have now reverted to select local gigs which we manage. @Chiliwailer, I'm sure you've seen it before, but it's the purple Modulus in action. It remains one of my absolute favourite basses to play. I still have to pinch myself that you actually put it up for sale in the first place!! (yes, you still have first refusal, behind a long line of seconds 👊).

Not many people realise that, thanks to an oddity in the way the calendar is worked out, the 80s actually began in 1979.

Hokay, so to stave off the pangs of GAS (tho I'm struggling to find what I'm after (a really lightweight (<7lb) P)), and after giving my ancient gigbag a sniff (no sniggering, it's not an euphemism in any way), I decided to replace it. It's been used for more than 15 years at every gig now, and is showing the strain (as well as the stains) of a hard life. I found this on t'th'internet, and even though they're not cheap (£119 delivered), first impressions are very good. Here's a pic before I go any further: Not mine in the pic, obv - the giveaway to that is the mic; I have the dulcet tones of a donkey with a twisted ankle, and am completely at peace with that these days. Anyhoo, it's a joy if, like me, you happen to enjoy things being where they're supposed to be and having their own place. The two main storage areas have Velcro partitions (three at the top, six at the bottom) to customise the space, as well as two capacious side pockets, and there's a well-padded back pocket for a laptop/tablet. It sits upright, too, which is handy for packing/unpacking. It's actually smaller than my old backpack (a Wenger one), but I've got everything I use in there, including half a dozen cables, my Stomp, my Just In Case BDI21 (which is more totem than item, seeing as I've never had to use it - I think its mere presence makes other things keep working), power supplies, a 4-gang power extension, tools, batteries, strings, inears, wireless, etc, etc, and there's still room for more. It's a bit like a Tardis with shoulder straps... Build quality and padding is excellent, it'll be getting its first run out tonight, but I'm sure it'll make things easier. As mentioned, it isn't cheap, but I figured the last gigbag did hundreds of gigs over 15 years, so it's an investment.

You were lucky to have a Hohner back then, I started noodling a decade before you on a crappy Maya EB-2 with the strings at around 1 cm away from the fingerboard... 🤦🏻 And people nowadays are selling these pieces of shīt at silly high prices, simply because they were made in Japan... 🤢🤮

A pretty easy trial is to bypass the preamp. Then you can hear the signal from the pickups only. If there are hi-Z (passive) components like pots and capacitors between the pickups and amp, they also have an effect on signal and sound. Every hi-Z pot is a tone-like LPF that cuts highs. I would like to add that strings and setup (including pickup height) are also two important parts of the sound.

123 followers of this thread. If each person posts a couple of times (plus gives it a thumbs down), then maybe he'll take the hint?

Just keep posting this: Heads up: there are multiple credible reports that Mick (Michael) Mason from Leicester has repeatedly scammed people—mostly via gear sales on Facebook/Marketplace. Some documented points: He allegedly sold gear (e.g. a SansAmp pedal) and claimed “his daughter posted it” or “a mate at Yodel” would deliver—but the item never arrived. Buyers who paid by bank transfer were left out of pocket. He’s reported to have made threats, used false tracking details, and given evasive responses when questioned. There is a previous court case (“the caravan job”) in which he was convicted of fraud by false representation and falsifying documents. It resulted in a suspended sentence. More recently, Leicestershire Police charged a “Michael Mason, 55, of Glen Parva” with offences including supplying articles for use in fraud and pretending to act under authority of a court. He is due to appear at Leicester Magistrates’ Court. If you’re thinking about buying from him, or from “Mick Mason” / “Michael Mason” of Leicester, please Google his name + “scam” and check these news / forum reports first — people in the community have posted screenshots, tracking numbers, police reference numbers etc. Stay safe.

They’ll have their hands full if we all keep commenting

Can they be removed? I'll test it.

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.

When it comes to gear, especially amps, I like to be able to go with companies where I have a point person - I've been using Ashdown for so long mostly because I've known Mark and Dave for a long time, and I know that if I have any issues with anything that they've got me covered. Luckily their gear is good. Mark arranged tour support for me on a couple of occasions 20-odd years ago at no charge, and Dave has been brilliant when I've had technical questions about the gear. When I've flirted with other amps over the years, I've never felt like I had that level of support - I'm actually comfortable with the idea of using Mesa though, because we have @agedhorse here to speak to. Never underestimate the difference the personal touch can make. So thanks so much for that - you got a sale out of it!

We're primarily an 80s band, but we don't enforce a cut-off date of 31st December 1989 or ignore anything released before 1st January 1980. The earliest song in our repertoire is Suffragette City (1972) and the most recent is Take Me Out (2004). But they're mainly 80s - here's our full list: Another Girl Another Planet Baby I Love You (Ramones cover) Back On The Chain Gang Bohemian Like You Call Me Cars and Girls Chance China Girl Crash (the Primitives song) Dakota Dignity Disco 2000 Don’t You Forget About Me Don’t You Want Me Echo Beach Everybody Wants To Rule The World German Film Star Going Underground Hanging On The Telephone Happy Birthday (the Altered Images song) Heart of Glass I Don’t Want A Lover I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (Joan Jett rather than the Arrows) In Between Days Just Like Heaven Killing Moon Little Bird Long Train Running Losing My Religion Love Like Blood Love Shack Love Will Tear Us Apart Mandinka New Year's Day Perfect Skin Pretty In Pink Pride (In The Name Of Love) Psycho Killer Purple Rain Reward Rip It Up Running Up That Hill She Sells Sanctuary Should I Stay Or Should I Go Slippery People Somewhere In My Heart Suedehead Suffragette City Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This Tainted Love Take Me Out Teenage Kicks The Honeythief The One I Love There Is A Light That Never Goes Out There She Goes This Charming Man Town Called Malice White Wedding Whole Of The Moon

Hello folks Just thought I’d let you know that the new The Divine Comedy album is out today. We recorded this back in September last year at Abbey Road. There’s a bit of upright bass and the rest is pretty much all on the Wilcock bass I bought off the lovely @Old Man Rivajust before the sessions started. And for those interested the electric bass was always running through the Jad Freer Capo I bought off @Chadu25 too so the Basschat Marketplace has had a big influence on bottom end of this record! Hope you like it 😎 Simon

Not all of us can afford or justify expensive PA speakers/monitors, so I thought I'd share my experience of the cheap Thomann 'Fun Generation' powered speakers and invite anyone else to share info on other low-cost options. This is the 15" option, they also do 12" and passive versions of both. https://www.thomann.co.uk/fun_generation_pl_115_a.htm With refreshing honesty they rate them 600W peak/140W rms. I bought two 15" powered ones as cheap monitors. I regularly use one as a monitor and aside from not being suitable for putting my foot on, it's always delivered without fuss in many different situations. Thrre are two 'mic' channels with xlr and jack inputs. Annoyingly, line in uses phono sockets, but I just use the mic channels with the gain down (never had distortion issues). There's basic bass/treble eq, 90% of the time I leave these at 12 o'clock. I discovered the back plates with the amp, inputs and bt functionality are interchangeable between 15 and 12, passive and active. Just rewire the connections to the crossover. I swapped one over to make a 15 active and a 12 passive. That gives me the flexibility to use 2x12, 2x15, or one or two 12+15 pairs. I have used an active/passive 12" pair as PA for lectures with ease, and once or twice as a small pub-size vocal PA when our vocalist's Mackie powered speakers weren't available. It's not clear what the real world power of a single cab is - do you need the extension cab to achieve 140W or does that deliver a bit more? They are loud enough and the audio quality is good enough to be usable in everyday applications. I think the audio is at least as good as my 8" HH monitor. I would invest more if looking fo a small full-time PA, however. Despite the 'fun generation' name they are a different league to the cheap but similar looking 'party speakers'. I suspect they are sold with other name badges. Importantly they are robust, reasonably light and easy to use. Two powered 12s or even one powered, one passive would meet the basic monitoring needs of many bands for under £200, and they could save a small gig if your main pa goes down.

Wedding party. We played pretty old songs in the beginning while the audience was relatively young. I messed many details from simple songs because I couldn't hear a thing I was playing. But: second set was much better and the third one was really good. Mercy (that 3rd degree version) was an instant floor filler, and Disco Inferno was super. Humidity was probably +90, sweat sweat sweat. Maybe we sounded like Wet wet wet. One thing was unusual: the party was in time! This was third time ever.

Harley Benton do a Brian May "tribute" guitar, which is supposed to be rather good, and better than the official models if you don't want to be dealing with all the fiddly phase switches, etc. They also do a bunch of "tribute" Strat-a-likes, includng a Hank Marvin one in Fiesta Red with gold hardware, and a Dave Gilmour one in black, with white pickups. They're all pretty cheap on Thomann too. I've not played those particular HB Strats, but I've played one of their regular ones and it's a bloody good guitar for £150. Basically, you could have a decent collection of tribute guitars for some of the UK's greatest guitarists for under £500!

Look at the frequency response chart here, which is a typical high quality bass driver. Note the midrange that peaks at 2.5kHz. https://eminence.com/products/kappalite_3012ho#frequency-response

I'm sure Viv Wilcock would love these.

My wife says she's not lending me these again though! So I would have to invest in a proper acrilic heater!

I know what wood sounds like when I bang my head on a door frame. I wouldn't call it musical.

Not possible to say. It will vary from instrument to instrument (even the same make/model). No two are exactly alike. You'll just have to experiment to see what works for your instrument and gear. I would say there is unlikely to be a specific frequency, but a spread of them. The way they interact is important.

As Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols said, you don’t have to be best mates in a band any more than if in a football team, you still pass the ball to the best placed player even if you don’t get on with them.

Are there any people under 40 on this thread? I would love to hear their point of view.

Just goes to show that with genes and environment on your side anything is possible! Also growing up with all that awesome kit available in your own home - a far cry from the Hohner instruments into my stereo that I started with!

Report the YouTube channel and link them to the evidence they’ll take the channel down.

If this YTer is actively removing these comments I'm assuming he has researched the allegations... in which case he is implicit in covering up this scammer!

WTF is that toy bass doing within ten feet of you? Suggest you wash your hands and thoroughly de-contaminate

Another from our old set list and one we also recorded as a demo.

MFSB/Ojays/Soul Train band Jimmy Williams?

I was in the big time Saturday night at The Bend Theatre with the full Maple Road band.. Sunday we had an acoustic gig and back in reality. It was an okay acoustic gig. We were background music for an event sponsored by wine makers and vendors. Daryl