Leaderboard

Last night we had our first stadium gig. 80,00 screaming fans, helicopter in and out, 50kw PA, individual dressing rooms. Then I woke up from my pre-gig nap. It's true we were in a stadium - the Swansea.com stadium - but sadly all the rest of it was fanciful daydreaming. Last night the Hull band played in support of the annual 'Big Sleep Out' event, raising money for the local homeless charity drop in centre, Matthews House. We've been raising money for them for years and we regularly play with their choir so they asked up to do a short set at the event, in which folks get sponsored to spend a night sleeping out in the open. We were due to play in the stand overlooking the pitch (the pitch itself was strictly off limits to all) but Storm Claudia put paid to any open air performance, and instead we played in the main concourse under one of the stands. The audience was limited to the people who were volunteering to sleep out, the choirs and the staff and volunteers who were helping out on the night - about 200 in total. Swansea City football club were sponsoring the whole event, hence the venue. We were due to play for about 30 minutes; the choir kicked off the entertainment and we joined them for three songs before carrying on. We ended up playing on longer than expected as the audience kept asking for one more song. Well, you can't say no to the punters. Eventually, the stadium's own noise curfew brought us to a stop. Great atmosphere, dancing, singing along etc and more than £42,000 raised by the time we'd finished playing. And no, that wasn't money paid to get us to stop. We used the stadium's events PA but our own desk as we are a 13 piece and we brought our own sound engineer. My kit for the night was my Squier PJ into a Behringer pedal tuner (I just can't get on with clip-on tuners) which also acts as a mute and my Ampeg SCR DI. Straight into the desk as usual. Outfit was geared towards remaining warm and black boots completed the look. Highlights for me included dedicating and playing the song 'Heroes' (already a favourite) to the folks staying out overnight and dancing with the choir leader at the back for our encore of 'Hey Jude'. The Matthews House choir The stadium. Ready to soundcheck Mid gig

After 24 hours of continuous rain we were not surprised that turnout was a little low at the Bricklayers in Sharnford last night. Especially given that the pub is next to the river. In fact as we left the landlord came out to fix the last few sections of the flood barrier in place! As usual it was a tight squeeze in the corner. It was great to play at a lower volume though as we could hear everything and had no sacrifice of tone. The guitarist took his Mesa Boogie but had a tiny little Vox amp plugged into the speakers rather than using the Mesa amp - much easier to get a decent tone without volume. Well it sounded good to all of us anyway. As I said, a selective audience but some of them had travelled quite a distance, which was appreciated by us. We even got some up dancing (ok, it was the WAGS 😂) I don't often do vids but this one isn't too bad, even if it is me singing!

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.

We had a good night last night.

Here's mine!

This is a 6SL7 tube, the ones in a B15, so that pretty much confirms it!

It landed today!! Plays great, lovely neck and sounds awesome. 😎👍 Here are a couple of bad 'artificial light'pics in my studio. Better 'outside' ones to follow when the cloud/rain lifts....

Here is my new part bass I finished recently and which make me proud of: Warmoth body, Musikraft neck, nitro paint, Fralin splitcoil. The design, paintwork and the printing I made with the help of my wife. Enjoy it!

May his next turd be a hedgehog. Onwards and upwards 👍

Shit happens, send them back, get a replacement set, sorted 👍

... and player. Recycled a crisp set of LaBella Deep Talkin' 0.045 flatwounds (a mere 12 years old, so virtually new), ordered a set of full-length neckpocket shims, and spent the afternoon dialing the thing in. Pickguard shrinkage meant that the pickup sits VERY firm in the pickguard, but with some strong thumbwork, I managed to raise them a bit. I was kind of fearing it would have a "ski jump" at the heel of the neck, as notes chocked out above the 14th fret, but the shim and a gentle nip of the trussrod made that go away. It was already a good sounding bass, but with these minor interventions it became one of the best P-basses that I ever had. She demands hard work and perseverance for it though 😅.

Digitally printed direct over the body: MOV_3133.mp4

Sounds great. However is he an all round fit for the band? We auditioned an excellent guitarist a few years ago. The audition was great. However, before he left. He said, " I just want to play" then went on about not caring about money and said he'd play for gigs for 50 bucks. We decided not to go with him. He didn't fit the band model. We don't want the guy that will gig for 50 bucks. There are other bands where that mind set would be a better fit. We're also not looking for the guy that just wants to play . If we were to bring in a new band member and if he/she asked me how to fit in, here’s my answer. 1. We don't rehearse, so don't broach the topic. 2. Don't make song suggestions. 3. Don't make any type of musical suggestions. 4. Show up on time for sound checks with working gear. 5. Have decent improvisation skills. 6. Be interactive with us on stage. What to expect. 1. You'll perform with pro sound and lights. 2. You'll have at least one gig per week. 3. You won't have to play late night bar gigs. 4. You will be paid in cash prior to every gig. 5. You'll make more money than what your use to. 6. Nobody will comment or make suggestions about your volume, tone or playing. We're not for everyone, however our band model has worked for close to 20 years. Daryl

Royal Blues (originals Americana), at The West Hampstead Arts Club. It was either a bus ride for 3 stops from Kilburn, or a 10 minute walk. What Google maps didn't say is that the walk was uphill 😖 (and it started raining). We were a support band, second out of three. Soundcheck at 6, so of course we were soundchecking at 6:45 (Showtime 8:15, actually onstage nearer to 8:45). It's a small venue, 30 punters make the place look full, which was fortunate... The sound person was great, onstage balance was good, and FOH sounded good according to punters. The 2 new songs debuted at the previous gig were included and went down well. Ibanez UB804 -> Getaria wireless -> DI. Footwear - maroon creepers. This was the back of the stage. In front of the drummer and myself was the guitarist, lead vocalist, and 2 backing singers.

Just grabbed this Sansamp Bass DI from @tayste_2000, one of the OG ones with internal trim pots. I’ve played with Sansamps at gigs and used them in the studio on occasion but never owned one. This thing is great, it’s got a lot more clank compared to other newer models I’ve tried, while I loved the OPUS, I wanted something which didn’t add as much colour. Doesn’t disappoint!

That's only because he's posted in the wrong sub-forum. Should be in the Theory and Technique section... https://www.basschat.co.uk/forum/31-theory-and-technique/ Which IMO should be listed above General at the top of the forum and not 4 page scrolls down on the phone.

Yes, the WD-800 will fit, but because it's 2" less deep you may need to fabricate some hardware. The width and height are identical and they share the same rack ears as well (the current WD rack kit mounting holes are slightly smaller than the old Walkabout, but can easily modified to work with either the WA or WD). The specific caution is because the WD is a lot more powerful than the original WA, I would recommend ONLY using it with the 8 ohm version of the cabinet, and set the amp to 2 ohm mode to scale down the power to 300 watts into 8 ohms (still more than the cabinet can handle but with the HPF set to about 40-50Hz, and the damping set to high, you should be ok).

Latest development

Could I just say how refreshing it is for someone to ask a question about actually playing the bass.

It's here 🤩

Great advice there Daryl, really sets out how the band operates and would be great guidance in helping a prospective new member decide if the band was for them or not.

Bass players are exactly the same as any other group of people. Some of them are tw@ts.

I'm not a huge fan of the Sandberg tone from my VM4 but i always get a tone i like at almost every gig. When i hear vids posted later it sounds pretty good too. Doesn't matter what amp or rig i use i can quickly get a decent tone from it. Its the one bass i can always rely on. I've taken other basses as a back up or used the first set but something's always missing and i revert back to the VM4. I've tried Fender P, J, Overwaters, Godin but i'm never truly satisfied with them. I also find the VM4 the most comfortable bass to play on longer gigs whether its the weight or just the feel of the neck its amazing. I did like the MarloweDK tone with the punk band tho and once again that was my fall back bass and now my back up for the VM4 with the Glam band. Its just so easy to dial in a good tone from a Sandberg VM4 without tweaking the amp. Dave

The majority of the music I release is subscriber-only on Bandcamp (huge thankstto those of you who are subscribers ☺️), but a couple of times a year I make things public and my most recent one has been out just over a month. Called Amsterdam, it was recorded there (all except the opening track), and as with everything of mine is all one take, unedited improvised tunes. Enjoy! https://stevelawson.bandcamp.com/album/amsterdam

So, are we all agreed that the UK plug/socket design is the best on the planet? Good.

I received a Kala U-Bass for my birthday this year. Acoustic with internal pickup of some kind. It really is awesome. Having a much fatter sound than my bass guitar, I use [it] on those days when my back is too bad to contemplate lugging my double bass to a gig or practice session.

Wow, this fretboard looks beautiful!!! Congratulations for your adquisiton, I hope you enjoy it a lot. With the time I hope you explain your thoughts about the bass in a concert, rehearsals, recordings...

It went well, actually. Took us a little while to find our groove, but once we settled in things came together nicely. A few bits still need tightening up, but overall it felt like a solid rehearsal and a step in the right direction

Never quite understood why - as the commercial makers do - sticking a jazz bridge pickup on a precision makes it a PJ. It's just a modded Precision. Anyway - mine isn't. Just finished nailing this together. It's a Frankenstein based around a Squier PJ body and a new Fender 70s Jazz neck. I found some SDQPs on eBay. Got a Hi mass with some Amazon vouchers I had given and for the princely sum of £3.54 got a vintage pearloid pick guard off Temu ! Every hole lines up perfectly. I shielded the inside with slug tape from the garden centre and rewired it so it's vol/blend/tone. It's far more the love child of a Precision and a Jazz than most. Not a great pic but it does have Milly eating a scrambled egg in it !

I love muting a bass sound, so I bought myself one of the new Ernie Ball Noodle Mute. Here is a sound test I made just now, comparing it with the non muted sound, as muted with other muters...

I'm in.

Its a shame that there isn't a more powerful (or at least more core'd version of the dwarf, as they had stopped the ModX near the end. And a better display but however good it was, I don't think that most people were ready for that level of flexibility. I do feel if they had made the software development environment a bit friendlier, they would have had a lot more of a headsup in the market.

Hello everyone, My name is Ryan and I joined basschat! I've been playing bass since November 2024. After I bought a electric guitar and noticed my fingers kept touching multiple strings I remembered that I loved to play the bass in highschool so I bought a bass guitar and amp. This was the right choice because I absolutely love playing it! (If I have time because I am currently studying automotive engineering) I mainly play blues and rock. I play a Squier Precision Bass with DR-legend flatwound strings. I hope you know me a little bit better now. :⁠-⁠) If you have any questions, let me know.

Seems like the sort of thing a guitarist would do

Yeah you can imagine a ‘64/‘66 switch or something like that.

Whe. You think about it QM asked about this pedal and they said it at least a 2yr development cycle but that’s not to say it was already well into development. Looking forward to hearing the demos of this one and just had a couple of pedals sell and a refund from Thomann!!

Yeah thats what I asked them on insta and they liked my comment so looks like they've listened which is mighty news

Pretty sure the format will be the same, though would be nice if they have taken onboard the feedback about that and adapted the format.

Communication. Have a non-rehearsal band get together and talk it through. Better to get it out in the open and remain friends.

Some nice new updates added recently, most notably to the sequencer.

I’ve owned both, and no it isn’t

here's the latest version of my pedalboard, all inside the MOD DuoX Every purple line is an audio path, and every blue one is MIDI. It's one in (though it could be stereo) 6 out (three stereo pairs). The parallel audio paths include an ambient path that's all reverb/delay, one that's all pitch-to-MIDI, and one that's glitchy weird sh*t. it's all controlled via a Keith McMillen Softstep and Quneo, the MOD Footswitch and two Dunlop mini expression pedals. The only additional outboard at the moment is a Dunlop volume pedal, a Dunlop Wah (alternate between the mini bass wah and the Justin Chancellor), and a Nordstrand Starlifter.

Another jazz one rescued from my Sibelius folder that time forgot. Ray Brown playing very simply (for him, at least) on an F blues, almost everything sits in half position: Full transcription here: Ray Brown F Blues transcription

Facebook has its uses, but yes - anyone who thinks it can replace a traditional forum is kidding themselves. Far too difficult to navigate for any sort of long term retention of the information compiled in a page, and frankly these days far too full of all sorts of horrendous hate speech and other filth... I use it very sparingly. The FB Purity browser plug-in makes it much easier to deal with. I now have a go-to page which has *only* my actual FB "friends"' posts on it, in the order they are made, and all there. Similar links for groups and pages I use. Filters out all those endless sponsored posts and ragebait FB sends you. I only have to glance at the site on my phone now to see how much better it is with the plugin in place. Next best thing to FB being replaced by some sort of social network that isn't run by horrible people pandering to the worst of humanity.