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A double report, because I was lazy last weekend. Last Saturday, played with Nine Lives at the Grampian Bar in Torry, Aberdeen. First time playing there. It wasn't very busy - maybe 15 folk in at any one time. Thankfully there was a table of folk who stayed for most of the gig and were well into it, plus my best mate came down for the first half and Mrs. Neepheid joined us later on after an earlier social engagement. Still, it was one of those when you wonder if the pub made any money at all. Gear for that one was Yamaha night - the SB500S (even in its unfinished state having only a bridge pickup) followed by the BB1200 (which I forgot to photograph, oops). Amplification by Mark Bass as per usual. Fast forward to last night, Nine Lives again and back to a favourite haunt, the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. Gig didn't get off to the best of starts - while the drummer and I were loading our gear into the pub he suddenly realised that he'd left the mixing desk at home - he had changed cars in order to service the brakes on his usual motor and left it in there by mistake. Thankfully he only lives half an hour away from the venue, and we were mercifully early, so he bombed it home while we set up everything around the missing mixing desk so it would just be plug in and go, debagged his drums to save a bit of time there etc. Despite all that hoohah, we still somehow managed to be ready 10 mins before kick off. And it was a cracking night! Maybe because it was a pay weekend, the pub was busy and we had plenty of dancers and singers enjoying the tunes. Much better night than last weekend, that's for sure. Played well, some bloops but easily recovered and acknowledged with winks, smiles and funny faces. I played my Epiphone Mike Dirnt signature G-3 the whole night - sorry, backup bass, but I was just having too much fun with my new toy. It's a bloody terrific bass, a joy to play and sounded immense - cut through the mix like a knife in all pickup settings. Had a whale of a time playing it. Usual amplification.

Our first time playing at the Gate in Hugglescote. It looks like they have entertainment fairly regularly, but not with bands with a drum kit. It was a bit tight, so much so that the drummer sat on the bench instead of his stool and had no room for a floor tom. That made for a few chuckles on the occasions he forgot and hit on thin air 😂 I never find it fun having to move every piece of kit six times while setting up, like a sliding tile puzzle. A bit unusually for a Saturday night pub gig they wanted us to start at 7pm. As we expected it was a little thin on the ground when we started but soon got busier. The Rumble had to go on the bench. I don't normally have it up high like that, so it made for a different experience and I tried not to be too self-conscious being able to hear every little thing. A good night was had. Some dancing. A lot of compliments, and it turns out there were quite a few musos there too. Most importantly my black DMs looked great, having polished them this morning 😂

I played out at a local pub called the primrose in Leeds last night. It's a night where they put on five bands and so we got a 35 minute set and feels like a Leeds rite of passage . There was an old Peavey bass amp provided but I took along my rumble 500 and I was glad because the sound from the peavey was pretty mushy and muffled. I took my sire V7 because I find that it gives me a nice crisp tone without being quite as in your face as a stingray. The music in our band is funk rock so I need something that this going to sound nice when slapped. I also just got a boss me 90 b on Thursday and so I had set up a load of patches because on one of the songs I switch between a clean sound and an octave pedal and then distortion and then octave and distortion. I had foolishly added a bit of envelope filter to the clean octave sound and when I played it at gig volume it was definitely a bit too much top end. Oops, I'll join the me90b discussion later on the appropriate thread... The first band on were a very tight rock band with a female singer, bassist playing a p with flats very nicely. Our set went pretty well with the usual issues with speeding up when we get excited and the guitarist struggled a bit with his guitar dropping out of tune all the time I think next time we need to get the guitar out of the case in advance so it can get used to the temperature in the room. The PA was a bit muffled though which doesn't really work for the hip hoppy lyrical delivery and my partner said that when I spoke through the microphone she couldn't make out what I was saying so definitely the PA was just not quite right. Shame because we have been practicing three part harmonies for a while and I think they probably got lost in the mush. I also tried a Bluetooth wireless set up my dad lent me and it worked great. The band after us were a four-piece metal act called 6 foot under with a fantastic front man and really talented musicians, in particular the guitarist who had that trait of sounding amazing but looking like he was barely moving his hands. I'm not really into metal at all anymore but I appreciated their musicianship and the show. They even gave out Yorkshire tea bags with their qr code on it! All in all a fun night out, just a shame there weren't that many people out to listen.. I wore my altra lone peak trainers as always.

Hometown gig in a converted church that I've played before, nicer onstage sound than previous times. A few mistakes but a well received generally enjoyable gig. I've used a Peavey vb2 810 fridge for my last 3 gigs, this one and the 2 previous tour supports we did. The fridge was purchased for the usual blue book £100 for a non Ampeg 810: it's the 3rd 8x10 I've owned and I maintain that despite science going in the opposite direction they can be a good, cheap viable solution for certain situations. Obviously it wouldn't have worked when I was doing pub / club covers and probably not ideal for everyone. When I found out the bookings we had this year I either had to get an additional 2x12 neo GK cab or go on a different tangent. I flogged the GK and bought the fridge for half of what I got for it...I can rethink things in the future if needed. Fair to say that the 810 with the GK head is like a 3.5 litre v8 ticking over and never gets shouty; the volume is at the volume of the drumkit ( I'm enjoying playing with a more energetic drummer after playing with a sedate one for a few years) and one guitarist plays big chords while the other plays a bass 6. So I need to really ground the music, giving an illusion of being an octave below the bass 6. The tilt and roll drill with the fridge is pretty workable too, I struggle more with 4x10s tbh. My first gig with LaBella flats. Not wild about them on their own but great in the band mix, really full and consistent. The higher tension seems to work well too, nice to play.

This afternoons gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band was a charity event in Boness that was sold out. We've played this venue many times for charity events, retirements, birthdays and are back again Feb 2026 for a 60th. The guy was at the gig today. Start time was 2pm and we literally had dancers on the floor for the first song and that lasted all the way thru the afternoon. Couldn't have asked for a better audience. When you get a lot of women out for a Saturday afternoon Xmas party they just wanna have fun and they did. The few males that were present also up dancing with everyone on the floor for the last few songs. The new Xmas songs went down a treat and we played well. Had a few hiccups with the PA where it cut out on occasion. Looked like he was running the powered cabs too hard. He decided to leave the subs in the van and just go with his JBL full range cabs. In future we'll always use the subs with them. He notched down the bass and kick drum volumes and i boosted my amp volume to compensate. Still sounded great tho but that solved the issue for the 2nd set. Decided to use my Sandberg MarloweDK for this one as the event was billed as a Xmas event so we went with the tinsel and a more Xmas look. Marlowe sounded excellent thru the Handbox WB-100 and BF212 cab. First time i've used this combination in the Glam band and i was very pleased. Sound guy also commented that it sounded superb out front. Some older ladies wanted to book us for 2027 for a triple birthday party but its a bit too far away to be taking bookings so we asked that they get in touch middle 2026. All in all a good day and home for 7:30pm via the Indian takeaway. Few pics of the stage etc appeared so that's all i have for time being. Dave

Warmoth custom neck baseball bat rpofile, ebony board and bound, Allparts bound body curiously relic'd by previous owner.... Dimarzio PAFs, Gotoh Lollipops, Kiogon circuit, LaBella DTs. It sings, first rehearsal in anger tomorrow evening 👍

Well the run of excellent gigs came to an end last night. A club gig that doubled as a members event. The audience was our age demographic but dancers were few and far between. Maybe they were saving themselves for the upcoming festivities. However onwards and upwards to next week when we’re back in pub land for a new venue on the outskirts of Chesterfield.

Electric Soup, 90s and 00s indie classics, hence the yellow bucket hat you can see poking out at the back. No car-crashes, good fun gig. Punters were sat at tables due to where we had to set up in the pub, but we had people dancing at times at the back. The BH800 worked well with the tone prints meaning I didn't have to take 2 extra FX pedals. Shuker 3 -> Getaria wireless -> TC Electronics BH800 -> Orange 4x10 isobaric cab (+ DI from amp into PA for FOH volume control). Footwear, maroon creepers.

Eagles tribute gigs for the last couple of nights. First, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. It's a gorgeous hall with a lot of history. House PA, extremely good engineer, great lights Best of all, though: 800 people in... on a Thursday night! Hats off to the promoter. Last night was a lovely theatre outside of Whitehaven. A little more cramped, but another very enjoyable night. I used my new (but not new) 1996 MIA Jazz RI, and it's a Bobby Dazzler. Love it. The only downside was the van breaking down as we left Whitehaven. I finally got home just before 5am 😅 💤

Hey gang For a while now I've been on the hunt for a J to use on my Eagles tribute gig. I picked this up a few days ago, and - ever-wary that you don't quite know what a bass really sounds like until you've gigged it - after a couple of shows I've happily torn the plastic film off the pickguard. It's absolutely lovely. Light, resonant, even across the neck, and sits perfectly in the mix. A nice smooth top, with a lovely growl when you slide and dig in. Happy days.

We were back at the Queens Arms in Brixham last night, which is one our favourite pubs to play and we are the landlords favourite band. We set up quick and it sounded good, but later we were told the guitar was too quiet when it was fine at first. A combination of up on his amp and bit more in the PA along with a subtle equaliser tweak sorted it. We were playing quiet well and having a good gig, but there were some moments. A few caused by our singer with one particular strange one. At the end of the second chorus in Go Your Own Way he carried on and then me and the guitarist both went into the ending so we completely missed the middle section. Lots of looking at each other wondering what went on, but we laughed about it as we alesys seem to play our way our of problems. A good size appreciative crowd, and some people I haven't seen for a while. Next gig is NYE at a different pub. Usual rig, which I've photographed close up. Got some good feedback on my sound from a fellow bass player and their friend.

So an update on this bass, after tinkering around this week getting it set up as I like earlier on this morning I played it for about an hour and a half, just along to fave songs on YouTube and when I put it down I was absolutely buzzing, I’d enjoyed playing it soooo much. Safe to say I consider this was a good purchase.

This turned up in my RSS feeds this morning and might perhaps be of interest to people here: https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2025/fretless-bass/

I appreciate bassists are deconstructing their basslines and Peter Hook may have made his own unique contribution to the music scene but honestly there’s not an awful lot to deconstruct is there. And I don’t know what I was supposed to glean from last night’s effort. I was hoping perhaps I could recommend this series to my non bass playing chums to show them what it’s all about. The odd glimpse of Jamerson and King helped a bit but otherwise no. Tonight’s episode may be a bit better.

I'm lucky to have a dinky little box room to tinker with things and practice my bass parts. I'm feeling smug as I've just finished setting up my almost-but-not-quite John Wetton tribute bass, which I put together a couple of days ago.

I've really got into the U-Bass world this year, I now own a fretted and fretless. I personally would like to see a Ubass specific place to go in our gear section, like we have for double basses etc, as any U-Bass threads do get lost in the usual traffic stream. There's many different ukulele basses coming onto the market now and also string choices, designs and their development are getting more comprehensive month by month it seems. I use my bass ukes more than my bass guitars and upright at present simply because I have them always at hand. In the car, in work... they are so good for on the fly ideas and practise. Every bass home should have one! Maybe there's enough of us now to warrant the creation of a U-bass sub section (I know that there's at least a few of us lurking in our diminutive closets 😄). Just a thought for the Basschat massive (especially the mods 😘) @ped @Kiwi @Woodinblack Thanks, Miles

No it isn't, it's stripey...

Exactly, quite an ignorant statement to make , I could name many reggae bass players that I’d guess a lot of people wouldn’t know, it doesn’t make them ignorant, it’s just something they’ve never looked into or it’s not their genre

Must admit Uke idea alone didn’t grab me but Uke/ABG combined would be good I think, it might not only allow those already playing them a space, but encourage others to give them a go 👍

Do you know the name of every bass player in bands that you don't listen to? What a ridiculous thing to say. I don't even know the name of every bassist in bands I DO listen to.

Why can you not believe that someone hasn't heard of someone? Even as a bass player I don't know the names of most groups that I didn't have much interest in, and some that I did. I have heard of him from being on here and people talking about him, but most people of most groups I don't know so it seems reasonably likely that the majority of people wouldn't have heard of the bass player in a group that had a few top ten hits and a handful of more top 40s. I mean showaddywaddy had twice as many hits (including a number one hit) and I have no idea what their bass player is. I could probably name about 4 or 5 bass players from 80s groups at most.

I got excited about a new Gallien-Krueger in-ear amp for a moment 😀

Friday lunchtime in a central Bournemouth church. We do it twice a year and share the retiring collection with the venue. Church has a regular audience for the music and we add to it - have had 100 folk before but 65 was just fine given the season. The promoter got up to sing on Mojo Workin’ and we played two encores. One of which debuted Time Is Tight. Love a bit of Booker T… Gear: Flea Jazz (currently in ‘for sale’ section), GK MB200 through Barefaced Two10.

Maximum use of space. Though now I look at a picture I see wonkiness, and I need a right angled Jack adapter to access the non xlr output of the microbass. Gigrig on the underside for power. Tuner is always on so that the guitarist can see what note I’m playing :).

Gosh we can all be very precious about this. Any programme aimed at bass players would have a pretty small audience. This is a programme aimed at a wider public who have more than a superficial interest in music. The songs mentioned are generally not technical, but are ones someone aware of 'bass' (many 'music lovers' aren't - sorry to shatter your illusions) would appreciate as being part of their success. And, to be fair, a 'great bassline' is one that lifts a song beyond the everyday. Of course MY list would look very different, but this programme doesn't target me. I'm just grateful for a programme that will, hopefully, rause awareness and understanding of the role and potential of my chosen instrument and the people who play it.

Just got in from my last Spacewasters gig as a full band member (I will be depping for them next year for one gig). Was at The Milton Arms, Southsea, Portsmouth, supporting The Witchdoktors (great band btw). The Witchdoktors provided the backline which was very decent of them, we only had to provide cymbal stands, so made for an easy gig, our drummer drove so all good there. We played well and went down well, though it wasn’t as large an audience as when we’d previously played there, even on pay day, maybe people holding onto cash for Xmas. I played my JMJ Mustang through an Orange Crush (I think) combo, which sounded very nice. Footwear was DM Chelsea/Dealer boots. And now back indoors, well I hurt all over, really reinforcing that my leaving is the right decision, a real shame but I’ve had 4 great years with the band, am so glad I joined them for those years.

We've had reports in about an individual using multiple accounts approaching buyers in the market place after they've made an enquiry on a thread. The scammer's method is to reach out via PM with some information about the seller (who it's likely he has no actual connection with) then invite further conversations with that friend via email off site. Then, while impersonating the seller via fake email, offer to take a deposit which is never seen again. He seems friendly and has certainly posted on here to give off a friendly and laid back vibe but he is exploiting the trust and goodwill on here. We can't emphasise strongly enough that you don't reply to anyone claiming to know a seller, don't email any email address they provide and for anyone who is thinking about putting deposit down on any item in the market place, please use a form of payment that can be easily reversed. A reminder is below to advice already offered by members 15 years ago to avoid being ripped off. Also, if you are contacted by anyone else in the future with an invitation to continue the conversation via email, please flag it immediately with either myself or woodinblack. Thanks in advance for your help.

Hard to know what icon to put on that. I hope everything goes right and you aren't put through the mill too much on the journey to recovery. Keep gigging and share your stories.

Using my extensive knowledge of vintage instruments I can tell you that the neck plate was made in Japan sometime before 2025.

This is my office. Spot the pedalboard!

That is a bit of a stretch, I'd have thought Joy Division etc. occupy a pretty small niche in the wider scheme of things, while the only New Order song anyone is likely to recognise outside a very particular age/race/location demographic features a sequenced synth bassline. I think we all tend to overinflate the general importance of our own influences and heroes. Someone replied earlier saying they'd not heard of any of the bassists I'd listed even though it included one who played on the global best-selling album of all time, plus another who played on the bestselling jazz album of all time. Again though that seems perfectly reasonable, there's an awful lot of music out there and what we grow up with tends to dominate our perception.

We're in the same spot. Having to look out new venues for 2026. Clubs especially are finding it difficult selling tickets and turning a profit. What we don't want is playing the same venues too often as people get fed up seeing the same bands too often. We're also considering venues South of the border which are relatively easy reach for me. I'm 1 hr from Carlisle on M74. Newcastle also an option we're looking at. We had a few venues contact us last year from as far down as Brighton but the distances just weren't justified for one gig unless we charged silly money to include accomodation. Dave

Maybe I was hasty in confining the removed no-name far-eastern jack socket to the bin. I am now offering it free of charge with all washers etc for pickup from South London, or for the cost of postage. PM me for details. This represents an exceptional offer for anyone who enjoys living on the edge and would enjoy the frisson of anticipation in not knowing whether their bass will work when they plug in to play a gig. Will it last a lifetime, or will it fail next week? We have no way of knowing! *May not suitable for basses used with strap locks.

I thought I'd add some comments about this bass, as people might be interested. Received it the other day, after it being on order for months... My history with Bongos: I've owned a 5-string HS 2008 model, a 6-string HH 2009-ish, and I currently own a 5-string 2019. I prefer the 2019, mostly for the lightweight tuners and other subtle improvements. I actually started playing Bongos because of the ergonomics: Several things about their design have significantly reduced wrist and shoulder pain when playing. To some extent, it combined some elements of the tonal power of my old G&L basses, with the lighter weight and 24-frets of my Ibanez SR Premiums. Two things I really don't like about Bongos (5's, especially): The close proximity of the G-string to the edge of the fretboard (I made my own nut to slightly improve this). Yes, technique obviously can mitigate this, too. The lower 'horn' digs into my thigh, and is quite painful to play seated. I tend to put a leather strap between bass and leg when I practice, to mitigate this. Everything below assumes you already appreciate the Bongo, both in terms of sound and aesthetics... Why did I consider this Sterling Bongo? Mostly just curiosity. Plus, I do want a lightweight and ergonomic 34-inch, 5-string bass that I could just leave set up with a high action, as a different option to my main Bongo. Initial impressions: It certainly looks like a Bongo. It weighs around the same. The paint quality is ok, but feels a bit cheap to touch The same is true of the neck, although I've never been a big fan of the feel of roasted maple. The frets are poorly finished at the ends, with sharp bits that have already sliced my hand. However, the frets also aren't rolled quite as much as my 2018 US model, which makes the G-string feel further away from the edge of the fret (there's more actual fret under the string, as it were). Talking of things that are actually better than the USA Bongo, the lower horn doesn't dig into my thigh as much, because it's not rounded to a point, which spreads the weight out just a little more: Note, the same is also true of the headstock, where they've not really bothered rounding-off the edges of the 'point'. This means that not only is is still highly susceptible to damage, it's now usable as a weapon. Moving on... The neck dives like Tom Daley with an anvil tied to his ankles. I've had the machine heads off, and they weigh around 90g each. For me, it would be essential to reduce the overall headstock weight by around 140g, which I could easily achieve using lighter hardware. This would improve the balance and significantly reduce dive. The sound is quite disappointing (as expected). The lack of Bongo pickups, and the 4-band EQ, both result in this being a very different sounding instrument. Unfortunately, not only does it sound different, it also sounds quite cheap, and reminds me of a pretty nasty Traben bass I had once. I've not played any other Sterling models, but I understand the pickups and preamp are standard on some Sterling Ray models, so YMMV. The overall feel of the bass is just a little feeble. It might just be the tonal issues playing with my head, but I'll swear that it doesn't feel as nice under my hands. The frets and fretboard both feel a bit cheap under my fingers. This all around reminds me a lot of the impressions I got from the Strandberg Boden Prog that I tried a few years ago... a somewhat feeble and gutless instrument, of questionable build quality and playing feel. At least this Bongo is only £999, although I reckon any Ibanez or Yamaha of similar price would be a better overall package. In all, I think it's the kind of thing you should only buy if you really love the Bongo shape, but don't care about how it sounds or feels to play (this seems slightly counterintuitive to me, as many people hate the look but like the sound). I'm left wondering if I should return it, or if investing around £700 in improved hardware and electronics would make enough of a difference. £1700 is around what I paid for my USA model on Reverb, but they don't come up very often! I hope this was all helpful to someone. The headstock point:

If this hasn't been a problem in the past then it wasn't your gear, it was the room, although a 4x10 arrangement doesn't help. You'd be better served with a pair of 2x10, stacked vertical, to get the upper drivers closer to ear level. At the very least your 4x10 should be tilted back and/or elevated, otherwise the directional mids that are the source of clarity are passing by you unheard.

That's unusual for you guys @martthebass. Sometimes it happens and like you said, just move on to the next one and enjoy the festive gigs cause Glam is always a fun Xmas party night. Dave

Save space by putting the jazz combo under the desks. It would also stop them raising their instruments and so stop spiralling, which as we all know “is jazz” ** ** attention jazz-fans : please watch the Motown documentary film “The Commitments” before flaming me with posts along the lines of “jazz is just so much more than that” and “thats country jazz, we don’t play that around here”

According to the Schecter website (very comprehensive!) the Jeff Loomis JL-7 is fitted with a two-way truss rod. When you talk of a shim, I'm not sure what or where you mean. Basically, with a two way, the trussrod bends independently of the neck and works by bending in the horizontal slot in the neck. As such, yes, there is the tendency for the nut end and the heel end to dig into the bottom of the slot as it tries to straighten the neck. Generally, the neck obliges before it actually damages the wood, but if it is a particularly stiff neck, or if you are trying to adjust with the strings under full tension, it might well. But there doesn't look like it has done structural damage and so, if you are able to get the relief you need, I wouldn't worry about it (but do remember to loosen the strings before you tighten the rod )

New music/computer room. I'm already worried I haven't got enough space.

2026 is my only hope.... For now, I am so far Out that I am coming back In the other way round....

Sad to hear that - been there myself and only just now got out of it. Why not start an off-topic thread with your skill set stated ? Maybe someone here knows something … maybe their employer is hiring, which did actually happen to me this time.

Wouldn’t let me type before - no idea why. Good gig last night helping some mates out. they’d agreed to the gig then their bass player moved to a different country so I stepped in. Learned 10 songs, played 7. wasn’t my best performance; first time going ampless and I was a bit thrown by that. sold out Gorilla in Manchester, the main band were half our age - it was like looking at a sea of my daughters mates 😆 Felt very old.

Just got back in from depping on a gig as part of a big fundraising evening for a blood cancer charity in Leicester’s Winstanley House. Lovely venue, huge room. Pretty late gig, starting at 10pm, but people were still up for a dance and it was pretty lively. Got completely lost in the dark trying to get out (I’ve only lived in Leicester for 20 years….) and was gonna find a McDonald’s on way home but it was super late and I couldn’t be bothered. Gear was my old vintage P bass with its new Labella DTB flats, thru the usual Markbass traveller rig and pedal board. Flatwounds have been the sound in my head for a while for this sort of material and tho I took a BB bass with me I only used it for the final song. Footwear was by Clarks. Black jeans by M&S.

Send it back I reckon. It sounds like you've invested £1000 into something that you don't love and aren't going to pick up and play much. You'll instantly lose at least £400 if you flip it in a few months and investing a further £700 in it makes no sense at all to me as it will still not be a real Bongo.