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I suppose it's that time of year again for the classics:

yeah - sanding finished and just got it first coat of oil (of about ten apparently) so ... in next 3 5 month I guess. no idea. (its gonna have a Darkglass pre amp with dual coil in wooden covers)

Fixed....😉🤣

So the question is would this knock someone out of the running??

I don't know anything about their basses but I think when I was a Student in the early 80s, I used to eat their boil-in-th-bag curries.

Well, it wasn't last night, but on the 30th November. We, Verdant Rupture, did alright on our debut gig. Went rather askew in the last song (the one about the lesbian suicide polycule*) and needs some drum reworking to fix the issues. Playing the song written in Sheffield General Cemetery, that's about the SGC, in the SGC was a thing of beauty. I'd post the link to the livestream, but the sound on that was very not good because no one was monitoring it, unlike in the room and on stage - both of which were decent. *Keira and I choose interesting subject matter.

£99 on Andertons. https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-meatball-envelope-filter-pedal/?search_query=behringer meatball

all the answers are good. The thing is that you really don't need to oversize. The resistance of the cable is going to be close to zero because you are dealing with a really short length. As to power handling you hve to remember the speaker is playing music not continuous current. Most of the time there is little or no signal and any note you play decays quite quickly. It's normal to think in terms of a duty cycle of 15-20% but that is allowing for a considerable safety margin, under 10% might be more 'real world' use so 20W for your 225W speaker would be a more reasonable rating. The voice coil of your speaker is wound with hair thin copper wire only slightly thicker than the strands in your cables and that doesn't burn out in normal use. Like @Stub Mandrel I use a couple of cores from any mains cable laying around most of the time, even 1mm lighting cable is plenty big enough. The reason speaker cables use thicker wire is to keep resistance to a minimum on longer cable runs. That's not relevant for the 40cm wire inside the cab.

I have in the past dismantled a GK 200MB combo, and the speaker wires on that are really thin - what I would think of as flexible hookup wire. And GK probably know what they're doing (although personally I wouldn't go for anything that thin, I use whatever spare mains lead is knocking around).

The choice of Klingon bass players across the galaxy.

Best? Without a shadow of doubt, it's the LFSys Monaco. It's not just a cab that I like, it's changed how I think about backline and what the function of backline is. The Monaco changed the narrative completely for me. So many people have commented on my sound since having the Monaco and it's not the character of the cab that’s doing it, because it's FRFR, it's how it disperses the sound and enables you to be heard. Yes, it's light, it's compact, it goes incredibly loud and drowns out a vigorously played drum set, of course it does and these are features that we’ve come to expect over the past 15 years or so from high-end boutique cabs. It nails all the modern expectations but what’s different about this, and what puts it apart from anything, is how it does what it does and that is the feature that makes this such a good product. The construction of it is also top notch and beyond that of comparable UK boutique builders. I absolutely love these cabs and they've changed the whole gigging experience for me; I can now hear the detail of what I’m playing all the time and don’t have any of that mid wash out that sometimes makes playing notes guesswork. I've got 2, and together, one horizontal and one vertical it's like another dimension as @stevie demonstrated at the SE Bash recently. Worst? Nothing, really. If there was, it would have been returned.

When me & my mates used to go to the greyhound races I always used to bet on whichever dog you could see taking a dump at the side of the track, figuring it would be lighter so should have a better chance of winning.

No “worst” and no contest for absolute BEST for me - my Sandberg VM4 in Marley Blue bought in January. I just love this bass. In fact, it’s pretty much kept both my Wals securely tucked up in their cases all year. In fact, it’s so good, I’ve got a Superlight on order which will hopefully make it onto next year’s thread!!!

So I have umming and arring for a while between one of these and a Sadowsky MetroExpress Modern 5 for some time now, watching prices and seeing if any offers popped up. The GB5 Modern was listed at around £1200... pricey but I was tempted. GuitarGuitar then had them for £999 - oooh, that seems a good deal but a Sadowsky is only a little bit more... Hang fast Carl... you never know what will pop up on the Black Friday deals... So, I keep looking, thinking something might pop up. I think I prefer the Sadowsky but the spec and hardware is better on the Cort. Then on Thomann, Cort GB5 Modern at £666 - pull that trigger Carl! Arrived Friday but have only just had the chance to unpack and play as I was away over the weekend. What a great bass and for the money - hipshot ultralites, Nordstrand big singles, Babicz bridge and Mark Bass preamp, it's amazing spec for that money. Add in a lovely loooking thing and a good quality gig bag to boot and it was an amazing deal - A very happy punter! I had read about some QC issues with these but this one is all good, no blemishes or marks and compared to some other basses I have had, it's light as a feather. I can see this as a mainstay for future gigs! Anyway... enough gloating... here's some pics...

Beyond the end pin stand for my EUB (tier 2 fair at best) I have bought nothing you can actually play. This means at least 2 years without any new instruments. What is wrong with me? 🥺

It's rare you see craftsmanship like on https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267506220110

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping it's a sleeper hit. Picking it up tomorrow so fingers crossed for a good 'un.

That third photo gives me the creeps ! Looks like mutant arms

Also interested in the answers. Asked a bloke in a music shop about a file set 20-odd years ago. He said it was cheaper just to pay for a set up. 50 basses later… 🤦🏻‍♂️

I had this bass made for me by Martin in about 1995!

I don't need that sort of negativity in my life........

I’ve found the Boss WL-20 perfectly adequate for the last 10 years. No need for transmitter pouches, it’s built into the unit. Battery life even now is over 6 hours. Range is excellent and it’s pretty good at choosing a frequency that won’t clash with other systems in use by your band mates. The only “feature” I have found in one band, where one of the guitarists uses the same unit, that they can connect to the wrong receiver, if you connect at the same time. It’s easily fixed: one of you repeats the set up procedure and they chose different frequencies. It won’t fit into a Strat style jack socket though.

That puts it into perspective!

A buddy of mine was telling me he didn't like the chunkiness of the beautiful flamed and birdseye maple neck on his Stingray. By chance I have a Stingray with a thinner Status Graphite neck that looks a bit out of place on my honeyburst Stingray, so I offered to switch them. I don't have any photos of the red Stingray before, but I think they both look phenomenal now:

I think @itu is right. A standard 9V battery can't supply huge amounts of current, and between any losses in the step-down circuit and the start-up draw of the pedal it probably can't cope. You can try it from the 9V pedal supply, that ouught to be able to handle the startup current. If that doesn't work then it may be the lighter circuit is a problem. A 9V-5V converter is only a few quid on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-Module-Transformer-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B09B829DL9 It's also designed for the job. If none of that works then an alternative could be to use a USB power bank as the 5V supply, strapped under the pedalboard.

You can get colour matching wax filler that you melt into the holes, like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325271292000. I used it when I was drilling new pickup screw holes on a bass and carelessly went right through, and the repair is completely invisible.

I have developed a new habit since I retired 18 months ago. I say yes. Someone invites me for a walk? Come to a concert? Visit a friend? Go shopping in Asda with Mrs Dinger? Go to a meal with 30 people that i don't know? Yes. At most, it is 2 hours out of my life, and it makes people happy. And often, it makes me happy too! As Steve Cropper reminded us, Time is Tight.

It's this kind of dedication that makes Basschat what it is

Same for me. They moved a bass in a gig bag from down south to up north and it arrived in perfect nick. It was a few days between arranging and pick up and the price is higher than other services but I paid for peace of mind and I got it. The insurance levels are really good too.

I guess that was me 🙂 I've used them 4 times (2x bass + 2x cabs) and every time went perfectly, no hesitation to recommend them. Not fast but reliable and safe.

My gig was slightly overshaddowed by some medical even that I won't go into here. We were playing at a very local to me pub, that we used to play at a lot and hadn't played at this year, ever since they booked us for new year a few years ago and then promptly forgot about. Anyway, management changed so played there on saturday night. I got there later than I would normally, normally get there an hour and half early to setup, but I was later than that, so when I turned up, the others were on hand to unload my car which was nice. For some reason it seemed a mostly quick setup (maybe because I had less time), and apart from finding a plug, that they had moved all of, a pretty easy one. Did a sound check, remember one feature of that pub is that it has shiney walls, shiney floor, shiney ceiling (a long way up) and shiney beams everywhere so remembered to turn all the reverb on the desk down (which you do and the band still say 'can you back the reverb off a bit' - 'its completely dry'). Bass and guitar sounded good and the sax projected - the sax player found an issue with his new nux sax sender, the unit charges in the case, the case was fully charged, but when you put the unit in the box, you have to press a button to tell it to charge, and he hadn't, so it was dead, but he got 40 minutes of charge before and charged at half time and no issues, seems a bit of a stupid design. I played the ric, but for some reason the output seemed a bit down. Gig mostly went ok, my dwarf crashed at one point when I was changing things, which leads to its most annoying feature, crashed it carries on as before but you can't change anything (its like the front end crashes), but unplugging it and plugging it in takes about 30 seconds to boot up and be ready, and the band picked that moment to not have much of a break between songs! I also for the second time ever (the first time being my first time with the previous band) forgot to do the 3rd verse of 7 nation army. As we didn't have any rehursal time we decided to just do the one of our christmas songs we remembered, the easy one, and still messed that up a little in the middle, but I dont' think anyone noticed that. anyway, crowd were unusually (for that venue) enthusiastic, and it was a good night from a gig point of view. Due to aformentioned medical issues, I had to rush out but not before hearing the singer talking to a woman who was trying to outbid another pub on us playing next new years eve!

My final show of 2025 was also a debut at Devizes’ White Bear, a famously haunted 15th century coach house. Dubbed as “The White Bear before Christmas”, our visuals guy had declined doing a Jack Skellington type poster design due to copyright. I admire his principles. Having lost our other regular payer, I had high hopes to make this a good show. The vibe was very friendly and our hard push across all of our social media platforms paid off. Loads of familiar faces showed up. I did a walk around prior to going on, giving out band badges. I was playing mandocello, my Precision bass, mandolin and guitar. We decided to dress extra smart to make it more of an event. Nick’s legendary 86yr old mum came down to support us (again) and told me afterwards that we just get better. The landlady was extremely happy and said the whole pub was blown away, even the people in the back bar that I wasn’t convinced we’d win over. We have a couple of super fans who have been to the last few shows who showed up. It looks like we’re back for our 2026 album launch in the spring. A definite success.

The Old Inn in Littlethorpe is tiny. We're used to squeezing in there so have learnt to travel as light as possible. The Stingish bass was back out. I think I prefer the simplicity of a 2-band EQ. As you can see it was a bit cramped. The night started a little bit quiet but soon got much busier. In this place we nearly always have people encroaching or knocking the mic stands as they pass by. However I can heartily recommend the fluorescent pink duck tape! It kept everyone at bay. I don't think most people consciously noticed it but it was quite amusing to see the effect.

I had a bass collected by Lenspeed when I sold it on here. The purchaser arranged it, and everything went to plan. The chap that collected was really nice and explained they do a lot of moving of expensive guitars for an auction house. If you go on their website I believe it explains prices for fully insured shipping. Probably the only company I would consider for £800 +++ instruments. Single Guitar Delivery from just £55 - Lenspeed Logistics https://share.google/qkd6eyxpC2fGs5uhX

Last night (just), played with Nine Lives at the Pittendrum Bar in Sandhaven - a wee villiage near Fraserburgh. Unfortunately, it wasn't very busy, maybe 15 folk in at the peak. The apologetic barmaid told us later on that since they had booked us, a bunch of stuff got organised in the "big smoke" of Fraserburgh which may have contributed to the lack of bodies. It was probably for the best, because I was far from my best. Having had only 4 hours sleep and basically waking up to go to the gig (work's Christmas do the night before - don't ask), I was so tired that as well as making a few pretty horrible flubs, I forgot to hook up my extension cab - did the whole gig with just the 250W combo and single speaker. Didn't even notice until packing up time when I couldn't figure out where my speakon>speakon cable had gone. Bloody hell. This dopey so-and-so played the Neep One followed by the DeArmond Jetstar (the wonky boi) into a single Markbass CMD combo sitting on top of a completely ornamental New York 121 cab. FFS.

Played with our 9 piece 60's band SHOUT! Last night in a pub called The Spateston Inn in Johnston just outside Glasgow. Busy night with punters and a Christmas night out from a local supermarket! The guitarist thought it was very funny seeing them in their ''civies'' and was tempted to go up and ask where the bacon was....We just about fitted in and lucky for us our keyboard lad was given the night of to see Madness (The band not the illness!!) So....8 band members stuck in a corner whilst the resident DJ had much more room and plenty of tables! He played for about and hour,we did an hour then were off for another hour! Far too long a break and we had to endure ear shattering techno (down with the kids man!) music! Good night had by all,nice buffet I recommend the egg sarnies! SHOUT! Higher and Higher..mp4

The 7-10 gig at Rockfield Music & Media went pretty fast. The place was packed. I don't know where all these people come from considering the place sits out in the middle of nowhere. Our performance was just ok. We had some good moments along with a few sloppy ones. I got lost in "Jolene". The dep drummer showed some improvement. The provided rig was fine. However the XRL out was not functioning so we miced the cabs. I wasn't able to get any decent pictures. Daryl

Last gig of the year with the Andy Wales Band at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. Busiest I’ve seen it in all the times we’ve played there, tho thankfully a massive crowd of really rowdy chanting lads moved on elsewhere before we started yay. Good few friends and family of various members were there which is often the kiss of death in my experience but not so. Went with Elton’s Step Into Christmas which mostly worked (complete with surprisingly fiddly bass part) and also chucked in Green Onions and I Am The Resurrection in tribute to Steve Cropper and Mani respectively. I was wedged against a pillar unfortunately so tried to lean on it nonchalantly from time to time and attempted to look cool. I wasn’t having a great day up to then and was a bit narky so it was nice to have two hours of leathering my bass onstage to get it all out of my system. Cheaper than therapy. Gear was the usual Markbass Traveller cabs and LM3 head; pair of Yamaha basses, various pedals, Mackie powered cabs and Allen and Heath desk. Footwear by Converse. Tea by Twinings.

That's a word to add to my vocabulary, although I suspect I'll never have cause to use it.

So true. . . .

I attach my transmitter to my strap in a Heistercamp transmitter pouch. it's top top quality and a lovely thing. https://www.heistercamp.co.uk/product/transmitter-pouch/

Here is a fancy series IV Jaydee:

I had the same problem in quite a few venues with BF cabs (2 X TWO10) all as recently as this year. I can empathise too as there were people who just didn't get it, told me to turn up, asked me if I was deaf, or just ridiculed the situation and didn't take it seriously. I don't experience the problem at all since moving to an LFSys Monaco. I can hear myself, the band can hear me and it'll go as loud as I'll never need. There's no unmiked drum kit that will be louder than my rig now, and if the kit has mics then my amp will be DI'd along with it.

I always think rhythm first, note second 👍