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I’ll jump in on this too. I’m 61, and I’m still fronting an original heavy rock band, the same band I joined in 1982. Were recording a new album and it’s sounding absolutely awesome, very pleased with it, and live were better than ever. My voice is still holding up, and young people who come to see us love the stuff, it’s old school, like their dads listen to, and it goes down pretty well. THAT SAID…….. a month ago, my best pal lost his battle with cancer. He was 59 and an amazing metal guitarist. I helped lower him into the ground to the sound of “Where were you?” By Jeff Beck. In January, my mum died. No great surprise, but still, you know. In February our drummers wife had a heart attack and died for 10 minutes. Somehow, they revived her and she survived, but unfortunately with severe brain damage, so he has his hands full looking after her. The band, keeps him sane. My point. If you’re young and you’re reading this, be all you can be. Take nothing for granted, don’t waste time being miserable, do the things that make you happy, with the people that make you happy, play music, love music, all music, and most of all, KICK ASS. If you’re old and reading this, all of the above also applies to you, x2. F*** getting old.

Thought I'd found my board's final form, but then the Bassrig Fifteen dropped, I realised I have no need for two drives, and I decided I preferred the Julia over the Analog.Man (probably going to sell it if anyone's interested). It does leave one loop empty, but it'll be a guest loop or.... something.

SD quarter pounders PJ pickups, multitonal gotoh bridge, Schaller tuning heads, a matte black s/plate … and black volume / tone knobs what do you guys think? Enough mods for grunge/rock/punk covers? 😁

This one is primarily, but not exclusively, aimed at those of us who are in the mellow autumn of our years. The partner of our vocalist and band leader had a stroke last week. She’s likely to be in hospital for another few weeks and is likely to need lots of support when she gets home. Consequently, and rightly, we’ve cancelled everything band-wise for the rest of the year. Onwards, we’ll have to see how things go. So, while you are able, do that gig, join that band, buy that bass, climb that mountain. Whatever you want to do, while you can. And, prompted by a recent thread, don’t stick around in that dysfunctional band hoping things will improve.

That's the point I'm trying to make in a round-about way; there's a slew of bass players now who are famous for being influencers on YouTube, not playing on records that you hear on the radio or doing gigs ect. They may or may not make recordings and do gigs, but if they do then not with successful bands or artists that most folks have heard of or enjoy. Some of them are very good players, some of them are pretty average players but good at YouTube. Jaco Pastorius burst onto the world stage just short of fifty years ago because of his playing with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report and as a solo artist on his self-titled debut. That's some entrance. Contrast that with today. There's high profile bass influencers who have their own signature basses from high-end manufacturers, their own signature strings, merchandise ect. They've never played on a hit record, been in a successful band or done very much except having a social media profile. It's a lot easier to wow fourteen year old kids watching YouTube than it is to impress Joe Zawinul, let me put it to you that way.

We love playing at the Crew in Nuneaton (downstairs from Queen's Hall if you're familiar). It's a rock bar and they like it loud, so we properly rocked out. It's a great atmosphere with guitars and posters on the walls and ceiling. Hot again too. It took the Stingish bass again, but have a hankering to fetch out my Sire P7-5 next weekend for a bit of P-bass goodness. It's been a while. A couple of malfunctions: my amp overdrive footswitch needs rewiring, and a riff run that I've messed up two gigs in a row needs practice!

I'm with you mate, the old saying (think it was Lily Tomlin) "The problem with the rat race is that even if you win it you're still a rat" seems relevant? The whole space seems to be full of adults acting like children when sweets are being handed out at a party, trying to shout "Me, me, me" louder than all the other kids, the whole thing pretty much an absence of style over an absence of substance. If I've got time to kill I play music or listen to recordings of people who play music 👍

U OK hun?

Apologies if it’s been posted already (I couldn’t see it), I just came across this livestream the V&A museum is doing next week, it could be an interesting talk https://www.vam.ac.uk/event/G35XKBemdL/beauty-of-the-bassline-livestream

I think it was Mark Twain who said something like "Ageing......a privilege denied to many" and it strikes a chord with me. After a couple of years illness I was fit enough to return to work by which time I'd asked myself "Why?". My wife is 11 years older than me so leaving retirement to 67 meant that she would be 78! We looked at our finances eg: what we spend and any savings (piggy bank and down the back of the sofa!) and decided it would be a good time for me to retire. There wont be any world cruises or Porsches in our future but we dont care. We'll be able to spend OUR time doing things WE want before any health or age issues restrict us. Everyday I appreciate that I'm doing something not everyone can and that if I NEED to go back to work in the future I will. I'm not sure whether to tell people "I'm retired" or "I'm on my gap decade" 🤔🤣

I have just bought this one, for a great price, used: Should have it by the end of this week.

First of all I think it's probably the room causing a particular problem. I think we've all experienced that and I share that opinion. However I'm seriously worried about your hearing. I use a single modest Celestion 10" cab quite frequently as on-stage monitoring and it's plenty for my needs, it does have a horn too though which helps articulation. Those four Celestions will knock out 130db which is easily enough to damage your hearing and that Crown amp is no weakling either. I would seriously consider in-ears, you might not like them but being so hard of hearing that you have to give up gigs altogether you will hate even more. It comes to all of us in the end and some hearing loss may already be part of your problem. As to your problem you need to boost the mids and cut the bass. The bass is where the room resonances are and the fact your sound egineer was struggling with the kick sound says there was a problem in the room. On stage you'd also be hearing all the lowest frequencies from the PA which are omnidirectional, just as loud behind as they are in front. With the PA probably louder than the stage levels you almost won't need any bass at all from your amp. I suspect you were close to the PA? I've gone as far as cutting all the bass below 120hz by 24db/8ve before now. Look to boost 200-2kHz as Bill suggests. Also look to get something designed to get the mids to your ears like the LFSys Monaco which has the horn rotated to project a vertical rather than horizontal plane. It might also be worth wearing ear plugs, they do muffle the sound a bit but at the sound levels you were operating at tiny muscles in your ear contract to protect your hearing, just lowering the sound levels might help you get enough information to follow your own playing. Counter intuitively you might hear more with plugs in place

Insight(?) into our creative process 🤣

This thread is such a worthwhile read. Life events can take you (or your significant other) at any time without warning. I have had a TIA in the last 10 days, luckily I seem unaffected - the double vision at the time was an experience not to be repeated. It is good reminder that this is not a practice run

I picked one of these up in the black friday deals on Amazon for just over £50... game changer for me. Simple, effective and when combined with downloaded NAM files, as good as I will need to send a decent signal to FOH. I don't do a lot of FX anyway, but have ordered a chocolate plus for further control so I will be able to navigate patches easily and switch a chorus on here and there. I downloaded an EBS NAM file and a GR Bass cube NAM and they sound very close to my ears. I now have a the GP5 with chocolate plus going into a HB Magnum DI as my FOH board. Total cost about £90 for a versatile setup. Previously had about £700 worth of pedals on a board I just wasn't using. Now, a new bass and a £90 pedal board and I don't notice a dramatic loss in any way. Very happy!

I'm using an LFSys.co.uk Monaco. 60 litres, 14kg, 600w. It goes very loud and you get plenty of low end. There are other spec LFSys cabs available and using a pair of 10" Monza or Goodwood cabs would give a very versatile rig. Remember that these aren't "normal spec" drivers and the cabs and x-overs are high end and designed specifically for delivering what we need as bassists by a bassist that spent his career working in that field. We're rapidly moving away from the 10" drivers sound like this, 12" drivers sound like that mentality of the past. Some of us attended a blind comparison of speakers/drivers recently and the results were very eye-opening. My amps are barely ticking over at stupid volumes through the Monaco in decent sized venues but the most important factor with these is that you can hear yourself beautifully from any angle because the dispersion is so wide and high. Edit: Worth adding too is that next month I’m starting playing with a indie/rock covers band that does quite a few decent sized gigs with just a vocal PA and uses backline to fill the room with sound. I have absolutely no doubts that my single cab rig will be more than adequate for the job and would be ample for much bigger rooms. This video from last weekend (outgoing bassist’s last gig, not me btw) gives an idea of the venue size played with just vocal PA.

Get a 2nd hand GenzBenz Neox212.... or a new LFSys Monaco. Both can be used on their own and will likely sound louder/better....

Yes, a proper rock venue. I’ve not played there for a few years but remember it well. I think there was an additional performance space upstairs too? Oh yes, Queen’s Hall. I’ve just reread your text.

Just had a decent Bendricks Rock rehearsal. No new stuff tonight, just turd polishing ahead of Saturday. Got a nice tone from the Squier40th Anniversary P. and added a few extra flourishes.

Old but still amusing:

I’ve met Danny a couple of times and chatted a bit online. He’s a really nice lad, a pretty decent player too and his Instagram stuff is funny and at least a change from the stuff that’s normally stuffed down your throat on the daily. He’s easy enough to avoid if it’s not your bag but kudos to him for making a living from all things Bass/BEHS

Agreed. I've made a not-altogether-good reputation for myself by walking out of a number of bands over the last 10 years, either because our 'vision' didn't align or because they proved to be just not good enough (IMHO, of course). Some of my current bandmates are surprised at the way I do this, perhaps even think I'm a bit of a loose cannon. Me? I've never lost a moment's sleep about it. I walked away from a very well-paid job four years early, not because I don't like money but because I was well aware that those four years were (at that moment) the best remaining years of my life. The same equation still applies. I'll be 69 next month (no, I can't believe it either) and I have no interest in allowing anyone or anything to waste the best remaining years of my life right now. Use them or lose them.

Thanks for the good thought but I'm definitely going to pass on this one.

I was about to buy the Jaydee when I noticed the lack of a serial number on the headstock. Bass Bros said this was because it was a prototype but I'm not prepared to buy something that effectively has no traceability.

Another barefaced BBII and Reidmar 250 head. Sounds a great combination though the head sounds compressed. The amp and single cab make a nice lightweright rig. When I get some time I plan to compare the two cabs with my BTII.

...he says shouting on the internet 🙂 !!!

So important to do the things you want to do together - I have the reverse situation, I am 67, other half is 55. She is going to get out this year, we have things to do I just describe myself as a 'man of leisure' although I have had plenty of work from when I made myself redundant and took early retirement.

Whomever awarded that 2020 player of whatever award must have exactly the taste I have come to expect from such things. It's a horrific tone (he's playing a Chowny so no surprises there), but it's exactly the kind of burpy cod jazz crap that should have been burned after the 80's. Say "Behs" all you want Danny, it's still insipid 70's lift music from The Towering Inferno. To quote the great James Coburn: "Don't think that just because you and Colonel Brandt are more enlightened than most officers that I hate you any less. I hate all officers. All the Stranskys, all the Treibigs, all the Iron Cross scavengers in the whole German army." That's how I feel about Internet personas, influencers, youtubers who do clickbait titled videos and worst of all, those who pretend to care about who they're interviewing but get things so amazingly wrong that it shows they've just not done their research and can't be bothered. We live in an age where being great at self promotion and shouting about it is better than having any form of groundbreaking talent. Sapko and his ilk are just the symptom, not the cause.

One tip is not to have bright lights pointing out at the audience from the stage. It makes you difficult to see. If you're going to have lights for the dance floor, have a good think about their location. If lights are to light up the band, they need to be at the front, as high up as possible, down onto the band. Side fills are ok, but they will put the band into silhouette if there's nothing from the front. You're not a disco, people want to be able to watch you.

I have exactly the same combos and echo your comments 100%. The 100 is unbelievably light, the 500 still manageable and both are fabulous things!

Hi all, Having a play with a yamaha 734a this week. This has been on my wanted list for probably 10 years, or at least since they came out. Very distinctive look and cool. We'll, after 2 days I can say I love it. Granted it took quite a few hours to get used to. There is SO much tone control it's unreal. The passive p tone is absolutely perfect, yet the passive tone control (the treble knob when in passive) helps you dial it to perfection. Flick it to active and you've a whole lot more tone to dial with. Turn it to rear pickup and it's lovely and growly. Thinner and tighter. Put again either the tone control or active eq allow you to move to your taste. Personally I start at either end of the pickup selector, dial in a nice sound then move the pickup blend to either make it warmer and fatter or thinner and tighter. Works a treat. The bass is nice and light. It also has a lovely shallow neck. Both making it easy to play. This one has emg pickups, did they come as standard?

So, thought I leave this here for anyone in the future looking for an answer. I contacted EMG directly, but they were closed for thanksgiving, so only got a response back. They told me, that the culprit in here would be MM pickup, rather than P. Was advised to swap green and red cables on the MM connector. Using a needle you can release cable pins, swap places and connect back. Out of phase issue is fixed and it was a fairly quick and simple thing to do (had to ask my wife to use her little fingers to swap the cables, hehe) Attaching some pictures if explanation isn't clear enough. Picture 3 shows them using a screwdriver to flip the locking mechanism up. Cheers!

"Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink. The years go by, as quickly as you wink. Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think"

It was and because we're both on special diets from our gym it lasted 2 nights and that's us sharing. 😂 Dave

Just get a set of cream covers on those SDs (to match the fretboard) & that'll be sorted. 👍

😆 We're going to be doing a bit of that ahead of our New Year's Eve gig.

A non scientific test. Pink noise from YouTube thru tablet into Origin Effects Bassrig 15 into Midas MR18 mixer with EQ bypassed. 1. Pedal off / bypassed. 2. Pedal on with cab SIM OFF tone controls at 12 o'clock. 3. Pedal on with cab SIM ON tone controls at 12 o'clock (mid position). 4. Pedal on with cab SIM ON tone controls at 6 o'clock (full).

Normally I'd agree there, but...the SP212 isobaric configuration means that while it has two twelves it only has the output of a one twelve. A proper 212 will give the OP what he needs, save the SP212 for those gigs where it's enough on its own.

If you need a second cab the best advice is to get another one the same as the cab you already have.

I really like him, he’s an antidote for the world of social media bassists and musicians in general. He’s carved a niche out for himself, and fair play to him for managing to do it. Musicians have a bit of a habit of taking themselves too seriously and he’s doing a good job of injecting a bit of fun into things without any of the pretence. Like it or not social media as a platform for musicians is going nowhere, so why not someone like him.

Every time I see him I can't help but think about this picture:

Little Feat - Texas Rose Cafe

The intent (at least my intent) was to go beyond the Bass 400+ with changes and feature set that make more sense to today’s players. I asked hundreds of players what they would like to see different on a reimagining, what features are now considered important or essential. The variable HPF was at the absolute top of the list, but so was the pre-post switchable DI, aux input, headphone output, and somewhat surprisingly the USB power port. Size and weight were also a common wishlist item. Some of you here participated in that TalkBass thread and poll, there was a remarkable degree of agreement too.

And mine....

Genuinely fascinating! Wonder what they chat about?