Leaderboard

Bit of a late report, but I was like a burst ba' yesterday. Saturday night, played at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh with Nine Lives. We'd had a few weeks off and I was struggling to get myself in the mood, ngl. Just felt "off" - didn't help that we got set up in good time so there was about half an hour of hanging about, punctuated by people coming up to us and generally getting in the way, which was its usual irritating influence and I think I let it get to me more than usual. Thankfully, once we got going, the cobwebs were shaken off and I got right back into the actual business of performing and hopefully entertaining. Played pretty well, a few wee bloops but nothing worth anything more than pulling a funny face and having a laugh with the drummer about. Also threw a new song into the set for the first time (Foo Fighters - "The Pretender") and it went really well, both from a playing perspective and audience reaction, so looks like it's a successful addition. Gear was the Burny LSB-80 followed by the Reverend Triad into the cubes of doom. Actually, I was really pleased with my sound, especially with the Triad - just used series combinations all night and it fair punched a hole in the air!

Loud. A bit too loud tbh. Katy Hurt was booked to play the Country Roads festival in Southampton; a bit odd for a festival at the end of October but thankfully we were under a massive marquee just outside the Southampton Guildhall so the cold and wet weather didn’t dampen the mood too much. Organisation was pretty … lacking. In the 48 hours preceding the event we had 3 different arrival times/stage times/set lengths, and when we arrived for our soundcheck at 3.30 were told in no uncertain terms that soundchecks were not on the cards at all because no-one had told or prepped the crew for anything 😕 The “green room” was a tiny tent outside the main marquee, hemmed in by a giant concrete bench, and the “backstage area” also doubled as the fire escape, except the marquee flaps were tied together and they led to metal fencing which was all bolted together. This “backstage” area became a nightmare as we finished and the next band were prepping; it was carnage trying to get off stage with our gear as they were setting up theirs in this tiny space and also trying to get onstage whilst our guitarist was still packing down (always a bugbear - f**king WAIT for us to be completely clear). Plus the floor was soaking wet so we didn’t really want to put our gear directly on it. Anyway, organisational issues aside, we managed a loud, raucous 45 minute set (which we’d been told by the organisers as we arrived was 60 minutes…) and, on the whole, had fun. Katy’s acoustic kept feeding back and the onstage volume was blisteringly loud but overall actually I had a good balance of all the instruments. We sang, rocked out and enjoyed ourselves, then ate our token free hot dog and left 😃 Photo to show the daft “VIP” area directly in front of the band which meant all the crowd behind the barriers were miles from us and a bit annoyed they couldn’t be closer…

We did a ticketed charity gig last night at a local music venue. It was our gig, our singer organised it all (the venue also helped masses). As we're still a newish band, this was our 6th gig, it was a bit squeaky butt timeas to how many would turn up. In the end we were absolutely chuffed to get a decent number there. And a great crowd they were as well. It was a really cracking night and we raised several hundred £s in the end. We had support from a former band mate of mine, who did a great solo set and went down a storm. We're all still buzzing I think.

Some things in life you know are bound to happen somewhere along the road, you just don't know where, or when. Today was that day for me. By sheer luck everything aligned: the instrument itself, locally for sale, within budget, generous tax return which sweetened the already more than fair deal, and a feeling of "If I don't do this, I'm going to regret it massively later". So, since today I became the proud 2nd owner guardian of a September 1966 P-bass. Fully original, including the case, except the missing bridge cover, and some filled holes where someone installed other tuners, but the ginormous Klusons 546's cover those up very nicely. In a very, very good condition (buckle-rash the size of a coin), frets at de-facto factory condition, slightly faded red, but still plenty present,... And that patina, that's something you can't fake (nor the smell). Rather lightweight, very resonant, a bit neckheavy due to those tuners and the very light body, it has that extremely pleasant 60's C-shape (wide, but thin). It has the newest additions that were introduced in 1966: Indian Rosewood fretboard, a 45° bevelled pickguard and the wide frets. Made by the same people that made the early 60's ones, using the same methods, and virtually identical materials... just under a different contract. It has seen some action, but it was also very well babied and cared for. And given it's a '66, it's an absolute growler. There's something about '66/'67 basses that gives them more raunchy punch compared to 1965 or 1968 onwards. And if it's good enough for James Jamerson, it's good enough for me! Going to install an old set of LaBella's tomorrow, see if I can reduce the action a bit. Also: going to thin out the heard a bit. Given I've now got "the original", the "American Original '60s" may leave the premises, my Jazz Bass as well, my 500/1 that hardly saw any use, maybe the EB3, although: that's so quirky I might just keep it. But with this, I kind of arrived at the end of the line.

I was reminded of this thread and thought I'd do an experiment over the last few days. A side by side of the OC2 and OC5, focusing on the -1 octave solo'd (does anyone use any other part of this pedal!), both at home via a small combo, and in the rehearsal room with a powerful rig, and both solo'd and in a mix. To start, I should point out that my OC2 has the -2 octave disconnected, which boosts the output volume to the pedal. Side by side with an unmodded version, there is zero tonal shift to my ear, but importantly this makes the -1 octave volume absolutely identical to the OC5, overcoming the usual volume dip these pedals suffer. Having them at the same volume really helped this experiment. I should also note that this is a made in Taiwan OC2, that needs the ACA adapter (12v, which is then knocked down to 9v in the pedal) - Note on this at the end. Also note that the OC5 was set to Bass and Vintage modes (which replicates the OC2). I'd like to give special mention to the fact that in poly mode, with the -1 octave solo'd and the Range knob set to 'lowest', the OC5 is a useful tool for some sub frequencies if you play it as though it was a mono octave pedal still, for those who don't want to destroy the building with a Dod Meatbox. The rest of poly mode is, IMO, very meh, but that one trick is a nice addition. So, the comparison... Here is what I did. 1. Side by side solo'd at home via Markbass MicroMark combo - focused on tone and noticeable latency. 2. As above, but into multi effects - OD, fuzz, envelope filter etc. to test how they played with other pedals. 3. Both of the above steps in the studio via a Markbass SD800 and Schroeder 1212L (LOUD). First without the tweeter, then with the tweeter dialled up - solo'd with three other musicians forced to close their eyes, listen and give me feedback. One of them was a drummer, so you can disregard their thoughts 4. As per the previous step, but in the context of a track with drums and keys/synths. 5. Absolutely everything above, in both active and passive mode on my bass. Here are my/our findings.... Latency - Absolutely no difference at all. In fact, I sat and played a few lines with my eyes closed and had others change the pedals so I didn't know which was which... and feeling wise I couldn't tell them apart (again, remembering that I am talking only about vintage mode on the OC2... in poly mode, yes, I can feel the latency). Tracking - Identical. I've seen lots of folk say the OC5 tracks better, but under a microscope and with clean playing, there is no difference at all. If the OC5 does track better, then my playing style doesn't allow me to highlight it. Both track down to an A on the E string without too much issue, and can track lower if you're very careful and don't mind the additional artefacts in the sound. Tone - When solo'd and studying the sounds very closely, the OC2 has a 'tiny' bit more breakup on the lower notes/E string when you dig in. It's so minor that I had to check over and over to be sure I was hearing it. Aside that, neither I, nor the other folk could tell a difference between the two, with a focus on my playing style, I was able to circumvent that extra breakup. Also note that without the tweeter on the cab, this difference was inaudible. I should note that it's not a pretty overdrive, it's just digital clipping and not something I'd ever 'want' to replicate. Now we're talking ears, not a frequency analyser - and that's what matters - what we all hear. I like to think I have decent ears (former mastering engineer), but I am in no way an authority. To me, however, it was impossible to tell them apart aside that very close study Literally identical on the A-C strings (I play a 5, strung E-C). Active vs Passive - compared to each other, the OC2 and OC5 sound and respond identically to the passive setting. In active mode, the very slight breakup we mentioned about the OC2 on the low E kicks in with a slightly softer playing. I play soft any way, so I had to force it to make this happen. I usually use the bass in active mode and nothing about this test would make me want to change it. In fact, I'd say the active output form the bass actually helps the tracking of both pedals a bit. With other pedals - The response and combining of them with other pedals was identical, it even made noticing the OC2 tiny low end breakup impossible when it was run into any kind of drive, filter etc. The feedback above was unanimous from all (only I can comment on latency), no one could hear a difference at all and in fact, I'm the only person claiming there was a touch more breakup in the sound on the E string. After a few hours of this questionably pointless experiment, here are my pros for both... OC5 Easy to find at a reasonable price. Nails the OC2 sound with zero latency. Has other options, even though you'll likely never use them, but maybe for that one song. Still under warranty if you have an issue. OC2 People think you're cool because you use an OC2. Extra bonus test - I also tried running the OC2 at 9v, even though it needs 12 via a power supply (these ACA ones still use a 9v battery or can run on a 9v if you daisy chain it from another pedal, which is odd). I did this because I know many people out there do this without realising that the ACA version needed 12v and have come to voltage starve their pedal for many years. Aside the dimmer LED and drop in volume, which many folk thought was just the way the OC2 was, this introduces much more noise and breakup into the tone. Being honest, it's still totally usable, and for anyone that accidentally got used to using an ACA OC2 this way, the difference in tone between that and an OC5 is quite notable (and wouldn’t surprise me if this was the cause of some claims of the two being audibly different!). While the voltage starved OC2 doesn't sound great to me, it does 'add something' which is very artificial, which I can see people liking it in its own right. That is, of course, not the point of this comparison though. So, which one stays on my board? The OC5, but only because it's easier to replace if someone spills beer on it. I could happy pop either on there and no one would know the difference. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Of course you're going to get a lot of replies along the lines of 'it all depends on...' and they won't be wrong. Golden rule obviously, rehearsals are not for individuals to learn a song, that should be prep work, so much as learning how to play the song as a band. Lessons learnt, I always would record rehearsals on a small Zoom H2n in the middle of the room and give everyone a copy on an SD so they could hear how badly they played and hopefully everyone would come to their own conclusion as to what needs working on. Easier that musicians come to that conclusion themselves rather than be told.

IMO rehearsals are not for learning songs, but getting the arrangements right and topping and tailing the songs. If you're paying for a studio the band has to turn up knowing the material. Play with guys who don't need to be told.

Probably not much of a highlight Dave. But remember as a single guy and not much of a cook, it was a big score for me. Lol Being a smallish intimate party, we didn't bring much production. I will say for a small intimate party our manager did a nice job with the lighting. Daryl

Matinee gig at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden - 1pm - 5pm. Confirmed my belief that there's a reason gigs usually start after 6pm. Also, was recovering from a bout of covid, so spent most of the afternoon wearing a mask and keeping my distance from everyone. Also, spent our set having to concentrate extra hard to remember my parts courtesy of covid brain. I brought my GK Fusion S 800 and my recently purchased GK 4ohm 4 x 10,which sounded immense. Other bands were lovely and we made a few fans. Overall, probably one to forget though.

Pub gig in Peterborough. Kind of the classic small pub gig…no parking close by….check, stuck at the end of an already small room….check, next the the ladies loo so you have to move out of the way…check, PA speaker on top of bass cabs…check, footie on even after we start…check,loud, social but uninterested crowd…check. Added plus to sit on the floor because no chairs are available during break…. played well though, and very pleasantly surprised with my sound through the elf.

Also don't forget to run the cable in the right compass direction to get the best sound. Depends if the copper was laid east/west or north/south when it was made. Also check the moon phase, you will find it makes a clearly obvious sound difference. I had a some speaker cable and changing how it lay so it aligned with the Feng Shui in the living room made such a difference. I also only play the bass when I am orientated NW now because of this. Ask the retailer for the cable direction and orientation information. All the retailers have it, but they pretend they don't and tell you it's nonsense. You need to keep asking, if you went into the shop with a special hat made of Bacofoil, but make sure its shiny side in and not out, that immediately tells them you are special and can be trusted with the truth. Trust me on this. Let me know how it goes Rob

This was very common with Fenders, especially from the 70s that were not thought to 'vintage' until relatively recently! I've got my 78 P bass on a stand next to me right now. These days it has a Badass bridge, a different p/up, new pots and (I think) a new nut. It's also had a re-fret and the back of the neck now has a satin finish. The only original things left are the wood, the scratchplate, the knobs and the tuners, which still work great. It looks, sounds and feels like a 70s Fender, just it's had a few tweaks over the years to ensure that it plays and sounds how it should!

Nice weekend all in all - Friday was a local charity gig. Nice little five piece with an old friend and his son and daughter involved too. Sadly, a total 'Guitard's valve amp setup was far too loud, so we just did the usual backing right off until he realised he couldn't hear us due to his own row! Nice evening all in all, although was a little broken after three hours' playing! Saturday was a Duo job in a large club in Stoke-on-Trent. Club land can often be depressing and I've not worked the clubs for a long time, but this was a nice and welcoming one. As a complete contrast to Friday, it was a joy to play quietly and we had folks up and dancing all night, right from the start of the evening. We also used no monitors this time and had the system behind us. (Sometimes tricky for feedback issues), but it sounded really good. I hate monitors. These two jobs were also a good opportunity to road test my recently acquired GB Spitfire, which I have to say has punch and tone in spades. Dig in a little harder and it's metallic-like punch is like a hammer hitting an anvil! Noice 😎

This looks like a completely magnificent project. I hope it ends up sounding as formidable as it looks! Bill makes a very good point about cable nonsense. I'm reminded of an event I worked on a few years ago at the opera house in Covent Garden. It was aimed squarely at obscenley rich people, and one of the featured attractions was a display of insanely expensive hifi. The mains blocks they plugged into were a sight to behold. Massive curly mains leads going into twenty amp powercons plugged into these amazing looking six gang plug boards with power conditioning and martindales built in. All of this apparently really helped the transients on the bottom end, the noise floor, etc etc etc etc. I followed one of these cables behind the set flats, where it was daisy chained into a white plastic four gang which was obviously bought from a pound shop. 'What tangled webs we weave', I thought.....

Not sure if that counts as irrational

I left my six string Unicorn Artist to Christian Olsson, Unicorn himself, this summer for a total electronic makeover. I bought the bass second hand, loved it, but disliked the electronics the previous owner had demanded. New higher output split coil "reverse P" pickups as well as serial/parallel switching on each pickup. Also, a 5 way rotary switch with different capacitors. As icing on the cake, the bass also got balanced output. All passive circuit. I also brought my "Mean Green Machine" , my Purist 5, to get the same electronics and switching done. Christian is truly the Master of arts... I also commissioned a new fretless 5 string Artist; it'll be ready in February 2026. Christian with his own personal bass, yours truly with The White One... Master at work... Here is the White One after upgrade... ...and a close-up where you see the grain of the quilted maple top under the thin layer of white. Pickups are capped with ebony, and knobs are solid ebony too. The fingerboard is really brutal; heavily quilted and roasted maple... Close-up of the pickups...

I’ve encountered problems from both sides on this: One bassist took 20 minutes to put her lead and bass into her gig-bag. That’s 20 minutes out of the 15 minute changeover, putting me under pressure to get set up swiftly shall we say. On finishing a gig immediately the next bassist was up on stage unloading his gear. My rather frank “the sooner I can get to my effing gear the sooner I’ll be out of your effing way” was both effective and motivational.

A similar tale here. The ‘73/‘74 Jazz I’ve had since the early/mid 80s has had five different sets of p/ups in it - the originals, 70s cream coloured DiMarzio, first generation EMGs, a sourced set of ‘74 p/ups, and currently a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity. The original owner was responsible for the first two sets, and I’ve piddled around with the rest! I took off the tug bar and covers (as most people did at the time) and left them in a wardrobe at my mum’s decades ago. She then had a clear out and they ended up at the main Coventry tip! The original case is long gone too. It’s been played to within an inch of its life, and I still love the thing as much today as the first day I had it…

My Overwater Original 5 string used to belong to @BigRedX and is indeed fitted with the filter preamp although sadly this is a bit temperamental at the moment - probably due to me removing it to fit a John East Uni-Pre then reinstalling it when all the chat started on here about Wal’alikes and filter pres. It’s also a 36” five string with an almost piano-like B string. The pickups are the later Kent Armstrongs under wood covers.

I’ve had my ‘72 jazz since ‘82 and played it continuously since in some very smokey stinky dives. The natural finish and maple neck have consequently aged well. Other bits have not, and the original pickups went in the bin years ago. The wiring and pots followed not long after, before vintage collectable was ever a thing. Aftermarket pickguard replaced the cracked original, and hides very rough routing where some monkey tried installing a P pickup, before I bought it. Not sure where I threw that. Probably the same place the original plastic nut went. However I do still have the original tuners and bridge saddles in a box, replaced by ones that actually work. As do the Fender vintage 70’s pickups installed a few years ago. Plays and sounds nice but realistically it’s a Frankenstein.

On the basses I have with through-body stringing I always use it. Not for sound, or string tension, but to make sure those darn ferrules don`t fall out and get lost!

Personally I like the tones of Simon Gallup (The Cure) and Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy era), and both helped shaped my early playing days.

I once bought a Sire V7 off someone on FB marketplace. In the course of the short conversation he called me Pal bud Dude Buddy Bro Man Lad Mate. Irrational I know, but I didn't like that at all, he knew my name.

There was a divide between bass tone on British and American-made music. With UK artists it was brands like Wal, Jaydee and Status you were hearing regularly on records, and ubiquitous Trace Elliot amps and cabs for live rigs. In the States it was more Steinberger, Spector, Alembic, and Fenders always had an enduring popularity with American players. Gallien Krueger amps and still plenty of SVT's about in the States. If you listen, there was huge variety within that modern '80's sound.

permission to add a certain mr tony levin to this list.

We rehearse at a volume whereby we can hear ourselves properly. We're not a loud band anyway, but it's important to actually hear what's going on. We also set up in such a way that we can all hear each other. In the round, generally. We usually run the sets and then do new songs. We don't add new songs constantly. I guess the number of years we've been doing this also helps. No superfluous noodling or tapping, just straight to work. Sometimes a curry afterwards.

Beware the for sale section, there be the dragon that is G.A.S.

I must admit, I have found that any amp works for a DB as long as there is an FDeck HPF between the bass and the amp. It smooths things out and you can nuke the boominess. A Vong doobrie https://schalltechnik04.de/en/instructions/vong-filterung- would also do a cracking job.

Israelites is a great tune. It prompted me to remember Liquidator which I love as well. Thank you.

Looks lovely. From that bottom picture, it appears to have the ghost of Kung Fu Panda within it as well. Maybe that's what gives it the oomph?

Yep good point. Not sure i could sit in that section. Dave

Blooming heck mate, that blew my mind…. And there I was thinking terms like phat and heft had this covered 😊

And that huge empty section... move the vips to one side and bring the audience within 6 feet of the stage and you could drop the volume by 10dB too.

Evri. as an organisation.

My old vinyl Hawkwind album warriors on the edge of time has a track called the demented man on the cover, but the inside of the actual record says ‘the demented king’ . Dunno if they are all like that but still enjoy listening to it. Used to love playing the album with a few cans and smokes back in the day… x

It's amazing how much can be missing and it makes very little difference. I saw a video once on YouTube (so clearly doing my own research and am now an expert in this) about a American who kept removing bits of his electric guitar to see the effect. Most of the guitar had gone and he was down to strings between two tables and pickups. Being realistic, had he cheated, I simply don't know, I do know that my 3d printed guitars sound to me, fine, a slightly different tone, but I suspect that the cheap pickups may have something to do with that. I have zero wood in the body of my 3d printed basses and guitars. I try to use a decent wooden neck, a decent bridge and decent electrics but that's it. I don't spend a fortune (or even a large amount). At the SW Bass Bash 2025 @Phil Starr did a great blind listening test with a range of speakers from a 6" to a 15" in various cabs. They all sounded very good but the 8" was very well liked. Perhaps somebody should organise a blind listening test of a range of basses at a bass bash, I have no idea what the criteria would be but it might be interesting to hear. I'll happily put my home made basses in. Rob

I saw the video of this on your IG and wondered what was going on with the seated bit in front of the main crowd. I’d of felt so awkward if I was sitting in that bit with a big crowd of people watching over my head! Sounded good though 👌

It helps to remember that there are no right or wrong answers here. Each to their own. I have both active and passive basses, and I enjoy playing all of them.

….and often mistaken for fretless, testimony to his lovely fluid playing

We have a really good band leader who is pretty smart. We only rehearse 3 or 4 new ones at a time and he will always expect us to have learned them. It’s good because we pretty much always will. Doing this means we only rehearse once a month. Helps that we’re all music teachers and a lot of the work we do is on arrangements. If stuff needs to be worked on then we’ll do a dedicated session to focus on certain things. Works really well.

Get away driver ?

Mick Karn, Pino, Alan Spenner on Roxy’s Flesh & Blood, John Giblin, Geddy, Derek Forbes.

Saw them live around 1980 - superb Back to the OP, I know Mick Karn and Pino are the obvious contenders, but my favourite has always been Barry Adamson's bass tone and playing with Magazine. Ovation Magnum 1 with aforementioned chorus and compression.

Neither do audiophools who spend a fortune on oversized cables that don't do anything other than depleting their bank accounts. 😉

It's far larger than the wire in the voice coils. 😎

Well, I've pulled it to check. D140F with the orange frame. Reconed, but with paper dust cap. I've fired it up tonight, and it's got a proper old school vibe going on with a P bass with flats. My wife is not convinced however. Rob