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Thanks to @Paulhauser for giving me the heads up on this stunning limited edition Spector Euro CST! Ordered and paid for last night and due next week... 1 of only 6 total made in this colour (3 x 4 string & 3 x 5 string). Ash body with Poplar Burl top, Ebony board with Abalone inlays, black hardware, EMG X pickups and DG Legacy preamp.... and that beautiful Purple/Black finish... 💜🖤

do you ever get the feeling that the best bass you have ever played is whichever one is in your hands at any given moment?

And it is worth mentioning that apart from me costing @cetera some money this below cost ME some money and heading my way next week 😉

Any by The Jam, Bruce Foxtons bass playing is both melodic and high in the mix.

I can't comment on whether it handles a 5 as I' don't use one. But I can't see any scenario where this cab wouldn't work. It's a cab I expect to keep forever (famous last words). However, there have been small gigs where it has not been the most appropriate cab for the job, and I've used my One10 for those so far. Occasionally I have felt the One10 to be not quite enough, so I've ordered another one. Hopefully by Christmas I'll have all the options covered, 1x10, 2x10, and 3x10 depending on the gig. I love the sound of Barefaced 10" cabs. Rob

Darwin enters into it as well. The human ear is most sensitive in the frequency range of the human voice, the midrange, critical for communication that can be heard over background noise. That's especially important when the wife is calling you to dinner. Men who couldn't hear her calling were in big trouble when they finally showed up back at the cave, leading to a highly shortened life expectancy. As for damage, we are most likely to be hearing damaged by high level midrange. That's the reason why 'A' weighted sound level measurements, which filter out highs and lows, are specified for acceptable industrial noise levels. Most of us have experienced this. It's why after playing a set at high levels it seems like the volume has gone down, in response to which we turn it up. That can be a vicious cycle. Ask Pete Townshend, although his response is likely to be 'Sorry, mate, I didn't hear the question.' 🤫

This Way Upp by Upp. Stephen Amazing had every justification for choosing this monicker.

To expand on my original post. In my current band, I use a 30" Eastwood Hooky 6-String Bass. Our band doesn't have a guitarist so myself and synth play alternate between playing the melody and bass parts:

I've been dreaming of picking up the double bass for a long time, but had been writing it off for various reasons. So imagine my surprise when my wife organised this for a big birthday this week! Currently renting for a few months to see if we can live with it, but I now can't imagine a world without DB... it's so addictive and rewarding! It seems playing cello as a kid, and fretless bass for a long time has helped get me started, but there's so much to learn!

I love this one: https://yamahaguitardevelopment.com/2023/10/26/yamaha-guitar-development-custom-shop-amos-heller/ Exotic top bb! They could certainly do more like this as a production model.

I’ve gone for a shrunk down one compare to you beast of the board! This is for double bass in a psych / blues style. About 50 minutes from trying it out...

Well, our very own @Kiwi is doing his graphite neck thing, there's Klos, who are making Modulus-esque basses and replacement necks, Modulus and Zon are still going in the US, and the Germans like Bogart and Clover are still offering graphite necks on their instruments. Supposedly Mike from Zoot will soon be joining the graphite club. In terms of using alternative materials, there's also Aristides out of the Netherlands, who make guitars and basses out of something they call Arium. No idea what's in it, it's some kind of reinforced resin.

Some great bass playing by Dee Murray on a live Elton John album called 17-11-70. It was recorded when they were just a trio (Elton, drums and bass) in America really early on, so no big Elton hits yet, but some really fiery, tight interaction of the three instruments with plenty of room to explore.

You know what, as limited and expensive as it is, I think it's really cool. Status are winding down, Ken Parker just passed away. Wood and screws is all well and good, but we're seeing less innovators so we should appreciate what they are doing just now. Maybe someone else will pickup the carbon fibre/graphite mantle in the near future....

Ozric Tentacles - Live Underslunky. Zia Geelani's bass playing on this album is kind of my ground zero. Peak Ozrics line up (imho). A corkin' live album.

Oh wow! Nate Navarro putting it through its paces... What an interesting bass. Sounds great.

I picked this up cheap because it's in a bit of a state and I felt sorry for it. It's not a particularly common bass around these parts, so I figured I could get it back to being hale and hearty again. It's pretty dirty - the tuners are green in places and I had to wash my hands after stringing this bad boy back up - boak! But that's just dirt. The main issue with this bass is the neck pickup. The coil windings have been... interrupted shall we say. Thankfully most of the coil is intact, the break is pretty close to the beginning/end of the coil so I'm going to try to unwind it slightly back to good wire then solder it back up and see if that works, failing that I guess I'll need to get it rewound. A wee project for the weeks ahead. Its mostly cleaning and polishing, the pickup to attempt to repair, and maybe some finish repair on a couple of nasty chips in the neck finish. Dunno if it's worth a build diary, so I'll probably just document my progress here. FWIW, the remaining pickup sounded pretty decent in my wee Laney 30W combo in the office here. For all the dings/dents/scuffs/scrapes/lacquer cracks, the bones appear to be solid and it feels quite nice to play. I think with a bit of work this will end up being a fine counterpoint to my BB1200.

I just looked at the DFSchat forum, and they have a topic called sofas on the bass.

@Terry M. Seeing this as a production model would be lovely 😄 and as previously mentioned a run of BB3000 models. Possibly a few more finishes on the current BB line. Would it improve sales? No idea but I guess that's a gamble all Manufacturers take?

I think that's absolutely the case, I sadly have neither

Those albums with great bass performances that have gone un-noticed… ”God Shuffled His Feet” by Crash Test Dummies. Yes, maybe you can’t stand “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”, but Dan Roberts playing on this is album sublime - mostly fretless from what I can hear, high in the mix, and very tasteful indeed. Give it a listen. Carry on…. 😎

My go-to in these types of threads is always the Pat Travers live album 'Go for What You Know'. The bass playing of Mars Cowling is nothing short of astounding - I'm still trying to nail some of his parts 46 years later! The rest of band aren't too shabby either, elevating what otherwise might be seen as pretty standard groove based blues rock! The 1972 Donny Hathaway Live album, featuring Willie Weeks on bass, is pretty good as well...

I stopped in the early 90s for about 5 years. I’d been in 2 bands since the late 80s that had been trying to make it and both experiences had made me completely fed up with music. In that 5 year period I hardly bought any music, wasn’t that bothered about listening to it either, only went to a few gigs if that. But the bug bit again, guitar first, bought myself a Strat, from then on pretty much been in gigging bands ever since, guitar occasionally but bass is my home. And it’s my hobby, what I do for fun and to chill. I’m glad I picked it up again, I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would, but I needed those 5 years off.

I stopped playing for close to 20 years between 1985 and 2003. I had far more success and status in the former, far more joy and satisfaction in the latter 👍

Yes I agree, the footprint is relatively small. However, when our drummer sees the Three10 with a vintage 400RB on top, his eyes light up and he sees it as an opportunity to hit a bit harder. So I take a rig commensurate with the size of the room, and it keeps the drummer at a reasonable level. It's odd, I know, but you haven't met our drummer (he's a great drummer btw). The first time I took a One10 instead, it was amazing how much quieter he played.

Anybody listening to music in the 80's will remember the loudness control on their cheap hi-fi. The magic button that made our music come to life, they are still around often with exotic names like Psycho Acoustic boost. The loudness control worked because it exploited a couple of simple bits of human biology. The same bits of biology that make any bass amp or speaker with a mid scoop fly out of the sales room. It's the sound we all love practicing at home but which sounds s**t when we take it to a gig. So to understand it on the graph a couple of simple bits of physics and then some biology which will hopefully help people with their eq. So Physics first: sound pressure levels are measured in decibels and are a measure of the sound's energy, how much the air is moving, kind of. It's what is measured by a sound meter and we use it as a measure of sound volume but it isn't reall a measure of how loud something is. Loudness is measured in Phons. The Phons are only the same as the decibels at one frequency 1,000Hz which is right in the middle of the mid range, sort of. Sounds at low frequencies or very high frequencies just aren't as loud for us as at 1,000Hz but at 3,000Hz they sound even louder. If you want hou can play with this online Here To understand the graph look at the 80Phon line; at 1000Hz it is 80db. Run left to 100Hz and it is 90db. To sound the same volume you need an extra 10db which is 10x the power from your amp/speaker run up to 7kHz and it is again 90db to get the same volume. The graph kind of shows how you would have to set the graphic to get the same perceived volume at 80 phons. As a bassist though the thing to notice is that the settings at low sound levels are different to those at the highest levels. At the quietest you'd need 70db of boost to hear any 20Hz sound at all. At 100phon you'd hear it easily and only need 30db boost for it to be as loud as it is at 100hz. This is where biology comes in, our ears and brain work together to give the most useful sounds. it's a really clever and subtle system of signal enhancement with genuine survival value. There are lots of quiet bass sounds our body makes, the rumbling of our gut and the grinding of our bones as we move. Imagine moving around the savannah's with the sound of our last meal drowning out the sound of something that want's us to be it's next meal The sounds we hear best are the dip in the curve 2-5kHz which is vital for understanding speech and screams and cries. Loud bass we need, it means something exciting and dangerous is about to happen, a large animal, falling rocks or something powerful and dangerous. The reason we like a mid scoop becomes apparent. by having the mids lower it sounds like the bass and treble are louder and you get the illusion of your bass coming from a much louder amp. When you turn the amp up to gig volumes you need a lot less boost to bass and treble to get the sound you crave. Loud bass is exciting, an adrenaline rush. So finally we get to bass guitar. Average gig levels are around 100db (as measured on-stage at Glastonbury a few years ago). 80phon is more like pretty loud music in a domestic setting and for sake of argument I'll say close to practice levels. From the graph you'd need around 15db boost to get 100phon at 50Hz and at 80phon you'd need 20db of boost for the same effect. That's 5db difference in the bass between gig and practice levels compared to the mids. So to take your carefully set up tone for the gig you need to turn your bass down 5db at 50hz or the mids up by the same amount to maintain your tone. Given that the mid scoop is often around 5-6db you've pretty much always got to lose it before you play at gig levels. This isn't the only thing you have to contend with at gigs, room acoustics and the other band members come into the equation too but you have to expect to re-eq when you turn up the volume for a gig to balance your bass and midrange. You'd have to do it for the highs as well except that there is very little hf coming out of your pickups. Cymbals through a powerful PA though......definitely the wrong sort of adrenaline!

New Model Army - Thunder and Consolation. The band was a trio at the time (with a violin player coming in on a few of the album tracks) but the interplay between bass and drums is exceptional. Sounds like a P bass with a pick cranked up loud, locked in with a really “busy but good” drummer. Try “Family” and “The Ballad of Bodmin Pill” for starters. Inspirational stuff.

That's one, University of Salford is another. That was quantified by Bell Labs, which invented the dB, as in deci Bell.

I have a Darkglass Microtubes X Ultra - it processes the lows and highs separately - Compression on the lows, overdrive on the highs. Sounds immense and can get plenty filthy if you want it to. They're not cheap, but there's a mini version which I think is basically the same concept.

One of these keeps coming up for sale near me; I think the seller takes it down if it hasn't sold within a couple of weeks and then puts it back up again a few weeks later. I've been tempted a few times, they look cool.

Yamaha Guitar Development (their custom shop) do a fair amount of one off models for their Artists. Some cool things and ideas that I would love to see for sale, but Yamaha don't seem to have that as part of their business model https://yamahaguitardevelopment.com/

I have never tried this pedal myself, but it has "Filth" and "Dirt" knobs. So, maybe worth checking out.

That’s a fine collection there

It’s like being dad to toddlers

Yes, lots. Gretsch G2220 for me. Cost me £245 from BassBros. Has £100 of Gotoh hardware on. It’s my #1 now and helps pay my mortgage. Sounds and feels so good to me that it made me sell my Vintera Mustang.

Thanks for the advice My bones are mended. Got a call from the doctor last week after an X-ray and it's healed just fine, and I can put strain on my shoulder as usual. I was looking for a new strap because the metal plate is still on the bone and it's still sensitive. I have bought a Slinger strap a few weeks back, that was designed for your right shoulder and that works perfectly!

Check out the OKKO FX Motorbass pedal. I don't know if it's what you want, or need, but it's meant to be instant Lemmy.

Good job - life is always better with a bigger Trace Elliot stack! Re the badge on the 15, lots of people who like this orientation took them off because they didn't like the badge on sideways (I do, and then hook them back on). I suspect if you look closely at the grill on what would be the top right in the picture above you may see some signs of it being removed. If the logo on the 2x10 is riveted on this will be a very late example of these cabs, possibly left over stock from when they went to Peavey. Although I haven't got this specific head I'm pretty certain there wasn't a black light. Instead everything green will fluoresce under black light. I bought some very cheap black light strips from ebay when I did my cab project and they make the amps look awesome:

If you want to try anything on top of a clean bass, use a X-over and push the higher frequencies with some dirt pedal(s).

Bi Carb - sprinkle liberally then leave for 24 - 48 hrs, then vacuum out Bi Carb should absorb the damp and associated smell.

I have always been a kind of introverted teen. And fact that i came back from 6 years of life in french Guyana in my birth country when i was 15 years old, i was completely disconnected from french life, "codes and rules" that were driving teens by this time. A lot of them even didn't know that french Guyana was existing. So I was like an alien for all others at school and they were all aliens to me too. That made me more introverted, living in my dreams. Then few years later, with one of very few friends i've had, we decided to start playing guitar. (Our fathers had each an old beaten guitar they didn't used since their teens ... ) And this first contact with an instrument has been a changing life day for me. I never stopped since. Started at 18 years old; i'm now 53. One of my two bands sank in july. The other one is like a zombie: sometimes he's living few days for one or two gigs, and then go back in the grave for 6 months. But i don't wait after it to stay in the game: I took a lot of pleasure and fulfilment by simply playing my bass. Noodling, transcribing, learn some ways to play to improve my musicianship. All is good as soon as i can play. It's my best medecine, and my fuel for life. And plan to continue until my body stop me.

That finish really is special!!

My regularly-gigged MIJ Fender Mustang. I like it because it is light, sounds great and is easy to play. Had it for about 8 years. Unintended benefit of a short-scale: it takes up less room on a tight stage. I occasionally get out the guitar it has replaced; a 1978 Ric 4001, play it for a wee while and then put it away again.

As it's raining, I thought I'd look at speaker corners. I brought some from a supplier and they are thin and weedy. So thought I'd design some of my own. Also the front of the speaker is slightly different to the rear of the speaker and a different design would benefit here as the baffle is recessed. The back speaker corners are more traditional These are all 5mm thick and around 60mm x 60mm. Other sizes may be done if enough interest. Mmmm.... after looking at the still printing one, 60x60mm may be too big. Its chunky Happy to print them out for free for a suitable donation to the North West Air Ambulance. I'll post pictures when they are on the speaker. Thanks Rob

P.bass now delivered and apparently in one piece. Buyer happy. That's the important bit. Now on hold to Royal mail to see if they can confirm the combo is actually where they say it is (and has been for 10 days) No doubt I'll be cut off before they answer.

A few pics. @Manton Customs Double neck Uke! Ortega stand. Idiot playing bass badly on the ACG stand. Yolanda Charles making it look easy on the Sandberg stand. Steve Lawson - a very different sound. 20250301_140524.mp4 Unusual bass at Absolute Music. Really nice to play, yours for under £2k. This wasn't even close to being the most expensive guitar at the show. (I didn't see it, but there was one at £85k!)

Here's the old logo in a proper resolution, too.