Leaderboard

Our first gig for the duo ( since our annual break ) was yesterday afternoon at a local vineyard, playing for a 60th birthday party. Great venue set on the edge of the wolds, overlooking the Humber estuary. Only about 40 guests, and a surprise do for the birthday lady so we played ‘Happy Birthday’ as she walked into the room. Not many requests, but the family were big Fleetwood Mac fans so it gave us a challenge to sort some keys out for a few of the female led vocal tunes, some of which worked and the odd one didn’t! Still, some dancers towards the end of the afternoon so we just kept the well known material flowing, along with the sparkling wine which was delicious! Used the Fender Kingman into my Rumble 100v3 combo, more than adequate in rather lively room - barn like with bare wood everywhere. Home by 6pm, well paid / fed / watered etc. We have 3 more gigs this week, so back with a vengeance!

How was your gig last night? - Mixed. There were good bits and terrible bits as I'll describe. We were playing the St Lucifer 10th anniversary gig and the only band in the lineup that didn't include previous members of St Lucifer. There was a last-minute change of venue due to the place we were originally supposed to be playing being flooded. Luckily an alternative venue could be found so we were upstairs at Gulliver's on Oldham Street in Manchester instead of underwater at Fuel The Music. Apart from having one of the most inconvenient load ins ever - from a narrow street with double-yellows both "sides" so we do get everything out of the car in double quick time, set up and sound check went smoothly. For a change the sound on stage when we started playing was the same as when we sound checked. Everything was going brilliantly with plenty of people in the audience dancing and singing along to our better-known songs. Then during the penultimate song the drums on the backing track cut out. No error messages on the computer which is what normally happens and the track was still playing and outputting MIDI data, just no audio to the PA. We played through to the end of the song without drums which got us an extra loud round of applause, but after that it proved impossible to get the audio to work again. Time was tight and after two unsuccessful attempts to make it work we had admit defeat and not place our last song. Really gutted, especially as up to the point where the backing failed it had been going so well. There were at least two people who'd come from Nottingham especially to see us play and we felt that we'd let the audience down. Of course now I'm back home the backing plays fine with no audio cut outs. Still extensive testing to do before our next gig on Saturday at The Berliner in Beeston as part of the OxJam festival (BTW I've started a thread about it in the gigs section and if any other Basschatters are playing it would be great for you to add your venues and playing times to it). In the meantime here is a collage of photos from the night including one of us while everything was still going well:

At the Sarah Moore on Saturday night. The 'performance area' in this pub is rather cramped for a band of our size, but as we were a man down (Liam, our co-lead singer was unavailable), it meant I had the opportunity to move from normal 2 square feet stuck behind a guitarist and move up front next to Jenny as I was doing the majority of backing vocals. And I have to say, she did a fantastic job covering both her and his songs, including a couple she had never sung lead on before. This was the first time I used my new Darkglass Anagram outside the house. I decided to tempt fate and leave the Helix at home. I needn't have worried, as the anagram sounded great; besides, the pub is only 5 mins from home, so I could have gone home to get the Helix if I needed it (and I keep a Sonicake Boom Ave in my bag just in case). I still need to tweak several things with my presets and get midi control from Bandhelper up and running. Pressing two footswitches simultaneously to change presets is not the easiest thing to do. But I really appreciated the much smaller and lighter unit by my feet. This will be very useful in tight venues. EDIT: I forgot to mention. My tone sounded fine in soundcheck, but in our first set, my bass sounded muffled and lacked definition. My initial thought was it was due to using the Anagram, and perhaps it wasn't EQ'd in as well as the Helix, so I quickly added some high-end EQ with the Anagram's global EQ. It was only at the last song of the first set that I realised my bass' tone control was rolled nearly all the way off. Doh! I'm sure I'm not the only bassist in the world to have done this and not realise the obvious. The gig itself went well, but the pub was a bit quiet. I put this down to being the last weekend before payday, and the month after, many people have had expensive family holidays. But the manager was very happy with us and hoping to get us back next year, lease pending. Next week, our regular overseas stint at Starr Sports on Canvey Island.

Friday was with The Bonnevilles at the Gate in Sutton Coldfield. It's a pub on two levels - last time I played there we were at bar level, this time (as a few times before) we were at front door level which is a metre or so lower. It's OK for space. All went well, most of the punters stayed there and there were a few dancers in the tiny area available. Fortunately the singer (with the PA) and I managed to get parking close to the door, it's not a great place for access. Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato wireless -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Caravelle memory foam trainers with socks. Saturday was with Dirty Roses at the Wheatsheaf in Atherstone. There is a reasonable amount of space there (though I should have got them to put the pool table at the side rather than the back). Load in and out is crap, you have to find somewhere close by on the street to leave the car and then get the gear through a narrow passageway leading to the rear of the pub. Gig itself went OK - did seem a bit fraught at one point as two big blokes (I only came up to their shoulders) seemed to be squaring up right in front of us, but someone cooled them down a bit and separated them, and they were back to being besties an hour later. It's one of those transient pubs where people move on, and by the end of the night the audience had dwindled from about 50 to about 20. And I forgot to take my glasses and my phone - fortunately the only small writing I have to make out is MIDI IN and OUT and I could manage that, the other small (and faint) writing is "Transmitter" and "Receiver" on the wireless and that's now labelled with a big "Tx" and "Rx" that I have no problem making out. Same gear and footwear as last night. No phone so no photo from me. David Bailey quality photo from the drummer.

We played a charity gig last night. Furthest one from home (about 1.5hrs). 40 min set in a town hall. can’t say it was mobbed but it was pretty fun. Used dark ray into my QC and the sound guy was chuffed. Random amp onstage for DI (which was set flat). Some weird screaming from my IEMs and my guitarist seemed to lose his guitar in his mix. We haven’t figured why… Overall, happy!

Made a show reel and demo of my compact pedalboard. No talking or tweaking, just a quick showcase reel and went through my dialled core presets: 1. Chadu Super-P: Core tone tailor fitted for my Dingwall SP1 which gives me my dialled Slap tone, tube goodness for that warm fingerstyle and gritty tone if I want to use a pick and get dirty! 2. SoloSphere: For my ambient and fun solo needs. With quirky names, you’ll get what I mean: Pitch Please, Wet Dreams and Funk You. . Intended for Church, Pub gigs and bedroom jams. My best iteration at the moment. I enjoyed filming this!

Famous last words

When you turn your spare room to a drying/curing room using an eBay clothes rack and some hooks lol

Last night's rehearsal was meant to be the first sight of our 'Country' set list for a dedicated Country & Western gig to raise funds for the hall we rehearse in. As usual, the band leader kept the list secret until about an hour before the rehearsal (annoying but not insurmountable) and we turned up only to find that he and the sax player had been called out on an RNLI shout. They are both members of the volunteer crew for the local inshore rescue boat and for gigs they are listed as 'unavailable'. For rehearsals, which take place in the hall about 300m from the lifeboat station, they are on call and it's pot luck whether they go out or whether they are covered by other volunteers on a first come first sent basis. But the show must go on, as they say, so we made a start with me singing 'John Henry' and 'Achy Breaky Heart', the trombonist singing '9 to 5' and one of the Uke players doing a sterling version of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky'. We also tried 'Man I Feel Like a Woman', not on the list but one we all through should be. They worked surprisingly well. We kept getting text message updates about the ETA of the BL and sax player but it became clear that the rescue was taking longe than expected (sea conditions and lack of light) so we called it a day around an hour early. I used a recently acquired Squire PJ through my recently rediscovered Laney Digbeth pre amp into the desk. The two idiots who got themselves cut off on a tidal island, despite signs showing the tide times and repeated warnings from the local Coastwatch volunteers as they set off, were rescued safely thanks to the actions of two lifeboats crews (6 volunteers in total).

The word over at Talkbass is that Fender has bought/is buying G&L.

.. would you use the structure or any of the notes of the original?

Sorry, folks. I've been ill for over year...almost shuffled off the old coil...but am back playing again, but nowhere near the level I used to. I'm actually using this book and one by John Patitucci to get my fingers moving again. Mel Bay tell me the book has sold very well, which is gratifying. It's amusing to be learning from my own books! @Natasha Glad to know my books have helped you! As for your question: Almost all the book is below the 12th fret, with just a few of the more modern pieces venturing higher. Only one, I think, goes above the 17th fret. There's plenty there to keep you occupied.

Even Billy Sheehan is getting in on the short scale fun. Took inspiration from you @ped 😅

Athens - Gagarin205 November 15th

Next Hurtsfall gig is OxJam Beeston. We're playing at The Berliner at 3.30pm. Wristbands for the whole event are just £10, but all the venues are free entry before 6.00, so if you don't want to stay late it won't cost you anything although the organisers would like it if you made a donation. If the previous years are anything to go by the whole event is excellent and well-worth supporting. Also in the past serval other Basschatter's bands have played so it could be an opportunity to catch up with some of us in real life!

Bass demo finally out, and a decent one to boot. It sounds pretty darned good to me and obvious use as both a pitch shifter and an octave pedal. Well done (again) Boss!

Seems Gear4Music have actually done something with the Eden brand. There's a whole new range of amps and cabs called the Novatone series. They look good, and they're very keenly priced. I particularly like the cabs - the rounded corners are very reminiscent of the old Nemesis stuff. No idea how they might compare to the old World Tour heads or D-series cabs, but it's nice to see that they've actually been given some attention. This is more than Marshall ever did with the brand! https://www.gear4music.com/Bass_Amps/Eden?page=1

New ABM-600-EVO IV For me via @walshy Very pleased with it.

That's one for the climate change sceptics!

If Fender has bought G&L, based on what happened when they acquired tacoma, my guess is they probably want the original Fender factory. Maybe they'll move the Fender custom shop there and G&L will will be made offshore only. Gaining back the preserved office/lab where Leo worked would be a bit of a bonus for their story.

I recorded two albums with John Burns and he showed us all the tracking sheets and studio stuff from the album. Lots of stories!

Stupid. They could make 18 if they only used four strings per bass!

As Robin Williams said, "everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about, so be nice"

if only it had some wood , 4 strings , normal scale and a headstock

After Friday's gig, I was hoping for a better one at my local club. I went with my usual Bass Terror/AT212 rig and decided to use my effects and my Fender Performer, which hasn't done a full two-set gig since the early 90s. Minor glitch... the power socket on my hpf had failed. Got a glorious tone, and exploited the capabilities of the Tbx more than in the past. We started messing round with killing floor (I had to look up the bass riff) and used it to soundcheck. Attendance was a bit low at first, but perked up for the second half. Apparently a big birthday do in town took away a chunk of the club regulars. But we got a good reception. We played well, I enjoyed the world of difference between flats and last night's skinny Roto 66 40-95s. Inspired me to some creative fills. Encored with Walking by Myself then Al launched into an unanmounced extended version of Killing Floor which turns out to be quite a workout with that burst of sixteenths in nearly every bar when played at breakneck pace. The Precision got the night off. My rig, again... Afterwards my partner said 'that was the first gig I've really listened to your bass all through the gig', and had a couple of compliments, which was nice 😁 so back on track.

We played at a village hall last night. It was a ticketed beer and cider festival. We had great fun. Everything went well. We set up quickly, got the sound right, played really tight and we performed really well. It was a good confidence booster as we've had a couple of wobbles lately, but we were on it last night. I'm absolutely done in though 🤣

Last night was at Bridgeness Bowling Club in Boness with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band. Played it last year and the organiser booked us that night but last night wasn't so busy. Apparently there was an all day beer festival on in the town but still busy enough to have a decent audience. We had scattered dancers up from early on but the floor fillers didn't happen until the drink kicked in. We even had a group of "young ladies" celebrating a 21st birthday party so that helped the party move along. First gig in 5wks and i expected us to be a bit rusty but all went really well. My usual gear :- Sandberg VM4 MarloweDK (back up bass) Shure wireless Keeley Comp. Handbox WB-100 BF 212 cab Jamman for sound effects samples thru a GK MB200 as a pre-amp direct to PA Last night i was mainly wearing the blue outfit for first set and purple for 2nd set with my trusty old platform boots. Using our new PA guy last night again as we hope to use him every gig next year to save us a lot of work. Next gig end of Oct. These long breaks are a nuisance as my plucking fingers are a tad aching this morning. Dave

Move to a different part of the country

Very interesting development.

I'm in a Zep tribute band, so I kinda should know these things!! EB77?? Do you mean pre EB? I'm not sure that you can exactly replicate these things, but that is not to say that old guitars are necessarily good. Certainly the pre EB Stingray that I played at @walshy's display at the Leeds Bradford guitar show was extremely nice!

I think for freelance professional musicians, especially studio musicians, a large part of the value in owning one is being able to offer a genuine vintage instrument to their customers, regardless of whether it's better/same/worse than a modern instrument. Also they are insured and tend to appreciate in value, maintenance is deductible, so in many/most cases will make be a sound economic choice. PS I am in the camp that thinks there is some magic in an instrument that has been played a lot beyond the feel of it, and I think some of the work done on vibration treating instruments bears this out.

I've done charity gigs that I've been paid for and I have no problem with free charity gigs, as long as we are not being taken for mugs. So far I've never met a band that where playing in other bands was forbidden. I've been in a couple who insisted their gigs came first, but that was understood from the outset. Back in the day, when I was on a retainer I did more gigs with the pub band than I did with the main band. The drummer was also in a second band. As long as we were available whenever the phone rang, it didn't matter what we did with our "downtime". I wouldn't have anything to do with someone trying to control when, where and with whom I played.

What a legend, RIP