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Last nights gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band in Cambusnethan Miners Club. Was sold out with 200+ tickets sold. Not an empty seat in the hall. It was crammed full. Mostly women in the audience and a mixed age group too. Looked like a few Xmas party groups in. Dancing from the first song all thru the full show. One pair of dancers dressed for the occasion were literally dancing every song of a 2.5hr show. They were on their feet more than us. 🤩 The atmosphere was literally electric and it makes you feel better and put more into the show. The singer was on top form with his audience participation. Not bad considering he drove there straight from work. We had so many people chapping our dressing room door to have a chat and thank us for a fantastic night. Was quite over-whelming but still nice to hear. Sound was incredible from our Sound Engineer And PA guy who is now our new permanent 6th band member. People that saw us there 2 yrs ago said the sound was much more full this time around and you could hear the difference between backline and full PA use. Feed back was sensational with many requests for contact details with the venue wanting to book for next Xmas too. Another woman that asked if we would play the club she manages as she was so impressed by the band and the show. This was a club i played back in early 80's. Similar sized Club too. She's adamant she'll have us booked for 2026 and was so complimentary. And she made a point of telling me she was teetotal and sober so that sounds promising. Will see what else comes out of it all. Tonight at The Dreadnought so hopefully will see the same reaction from the audience tonight. We're already booked in for next Xmas so no worries there. Think this is 4yrs in a row so far we've played the Sat before Xmas. My usual gear Sandberg MarloweDK - Shure GLXD wireless - Bassist Comp - Handbox WB-100 - BF 212 cab. Dave

Great first show of two this weekend at the lovely Trading Boundaries venue in East Sussex, fairly local for us. Roy and Rob the sound guys are great and always do us proud. Fantastic sound out the GB Spitfire /puma/LFsys Monza set up. Very receptive audience as always, nice not to have to break everything down, just take my basses home . Looking forward to tonight’s one now . Happy Christmas everyone! Xx😊

As soon as it appeared on the BassBros socials I had to have it. My 2nd birth year Rickenbacker. Fireglo…..but I kinda feel it’s not actually fireglo but maybe Autumnglo?! It’s a lot darker and brownish to what I’d expect a fireglo to be (pictures show it lighter than it actually is) Either way I love it.

Finally pulled the trigger on a BB last weekend (BB 5000)!

This pic I took captures the colour better. also…my perfect 3 bass setup 😍

I've been looking through the lists of Hofner players people have shared on here, and there's something that I think is worth saying. I'm not sure if I know how to say it though. TLDR: I think it's entirely possible for lots of popular people to have played a company's instruments over the years without the company itself ever having been popular. To elaborate, like all human-made things, basses are imbued with a certain aesthetic and cultural value by the context in which they're made, the market they're made for and the times they are made in. The Hofners of the 1960s were the work of a company playing catch-up. Hofner were a maker of traditional musical instruments trying to respond to public demand for modern electric basses and guitars. They knew the old world far better than the new one, and so their designs were a curious compromise between traditional instrument aesthetics and the Cadillac gloss of contemporary Fenders. To the aspiring rock stars of the time, therefore, Hofner – and other similarly positioned makers like Framus and Harmony – were always a bit lame and old fashioned. My dad, I think, is pretty typical for the era – he started playing around 1970 on a Framus Star Bass that he couldn't stand. He hated the way it looked, the way it sounded, the crappy bridge he could never get to intonate correctly, the sky-high action and the cramped broomstick of a neck. As soon as he'd saved up enough money, he went out and bought a second-hand Gibson EB-3 (sadly passing over a late 1960s Jazz in the process ...sigh). Thing is, instruments don't spoil like milk. They stick around, and as they age and the cultural context around them changes, they start to acquire different connotations, to be imbued with diffent values by the people who play them. An instrument like a Hofner Club Bass would have been far from cool when it was new, but by the late 1970s, when Tina Weymouth picked one up, it's very uncoolth had made it into something quirky and interesting – an outsider's instrument for an oddball band. I believe the vast majority of Hofner players (Sir Paul excepted) that have been mentioned in this thread didn't start playing those instruments until they were already old and discontinued (or at least the designs were old and unfashionable). Playing a Hofner has often been a kind of contrarian statement, a way to look different and to imply a degree of nonchalance about one's craft – playing an old, cheap instrument as a way to suggest a degree of arty unprofessionalism (putting yourself far distant from Stanley Clarke and his Alembic). If Hofner tried ramping up production in response to one of these high profile players, the cool factor would vanish. Those instruments were only cool so long as they were uncommon and forgotten. The moment someone starts actively marketing them to the cool kids, they would immediately become uncool again. Hofners were popular, but I don't think Hofner themselves ever really were.

The latest iteration of my gigging board while I was experimenting with adding a noise gate yesterday. I bought that Donner to prove out the concept and it does the job. I'm not sure what a high-end bass-specific noise gate would give me but am willing to learn. The big change with this board is the addition of a second compressor. I play about 50% of the set with a pick, the other 50% fingerstyle and previously was only ever happy with the compressor for one or the other. I also tried comp off for fingers, comp on for pick and just couldn't get a setting I was happy with. I then mocked up a dual comp patch in the HX Stomp and reached a point where I was happy switching between pick and fingers. If you use 2 comps, you quickly learn that the two "stack" so you need to think about ratio settings. Signal path: Spector with EMGs and LHZ Haz-clone into: Front End: 1. Korg Pitch Black Bass Tuner. Brilliant, accurate like nothing else I've got. 2. [sfx] Microthumpinator v2 I've had one of these on/under my board for about 15 years. 3. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Pick Attack) Switched on for when I'm using a pick. 4. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Sparkle) A tone/EQ-shaper that I've got really attached to. It works nicely with the Spector/LHZ and is always on. The filters on these are very good and allow you to keep your low end intact. 5. Origin Effects DCX Bass (Overdrive) Dirt. These boxes are so good and have such a nice range of drive sounds that it made sense to snap up a bargain when it presented and get another. I love these as dirt pedals, so versatile giving warmth and breakup right through to smooth fuzz that reminds me of the SansAmp DP-3x. Effects Loop 6. Aguilar Chorusaurus v2 (Shimmer) I've been through a lot of Chorus pedals over the last 20 years. This one is the winner. You can see that I use quite a subtle chorus. I use it a lot. 7. Origin Effects Cali76 Bass Compressor (Always On) An utterly marvelous compressor. 8. Noise Gate We'll keep an eye on this and see how it performs in the wild. The board is a D'Addario expanding one and I use a Pedalsnake to run power and signals through the loops. A future addition could be an Emma Discumbobulator v3. We'll see how the set list evolves.

May your days be merry and bright.

I’ve have a replacement from Peach now that I’m happy with (though it did have a few issues I had to fix😬🤣). It sounds better too, it’s around 30% louder and has a fuller bass even though the pickups are lower so I think the other one has a preamp/pickup issue. My argument is they should never of glued those bits of wood together and sent it out of the factory. Guitarguitar will likely have a Cort account manger they can push back on stuff like this and get their money back, if that happens enough then Cort will have to improve their standards. For basses that they can’t get an acceptable match on, it would be better to spray them a solid colour, I’d of probably preferred that anyway.

Left my choice of best bit of bass gear to something quite late in the day! I've been on the hunt for a one-stop multifx that could take the place of my pedal board for a monthly pub residency I need to get to via public transport. I wanted something that was a step up from my trusty little Zoom B1-4, but wouldn't break the bank and was decently portable. I've spent a few months pondering alternatives - there's a lot of excellent and often really well priced multi-fx's on the market! I came close to getting one a few others, but none seemed to cut it for one reason or another. Slightly out the blue I was recently offered a used Boss GX10 from a fellow BC'er, which is a more budget version of the Boss GT1000 Core which I have on my board and I'm a big fan of. Whilst less powerful in terms of processing power than the Core, it does have a few features that make it great to use that the Core (or indeed the ubiquitous Helix Stomp) lacks e.g. colour touch-screen, built in sturdy expression pedal that can be easily assigned to patch parameters e.g. to boost volume or change the tremolo rate. It's a big step up from my old Zoom B1-4 and seems to tick a sweet spot for me. Although I bought it as "travel" multi-fx with the intention of using my main board for most gigs, the GX10 has really got me thinking whether it could actually become my main board by itself?

So these arrived in the post this morning. ACS Engage Classic custom moulded IEMs. Tried them for fit and they’re perfect. Will try them with my bass later today, but no chance to try them in anger until the new year.

To be fair again, they're also a business and while I can see the O/Ps point of view - that's an ugly bass - if they keep picking up the cost of returns on that basis they will make a loss on the sale. Personally if I were the OP I'd either suck up the cost of the return and ask for photos of the replacement, or travel in person to the store, which may or may not be possible.

Not ideal perhaps, but the lobing you get with a typical HF above the LF driver arrangement tilts the HF output downward too. I first saw/heard it done by Henry Kloss in his office at Advent. He used a pair of Advent speakers per side, the upper speaker flipped upside down, creating a W-T-T-W alignment. This was in '72, two decades before another colleague of mine, Joe D'Appolito, perfected the M-T-M speaker.

I always said I prefer the sound of a vintage electric bass and your MM might be the oldest ever!

I love my 1990's 2eg 4 string Ray. Initially I had the week G string, but fixed it by adjusting the pole pieces too. I run it on full bass and 70% treble. Some light eq settings on my amp to suit but always a low mid boost. It cuts through the mix of our 3 piece band where the guitarist likes a muddy bassy sound. I get a lot of compliments on my sound and our drummer says it's the best sounding bass he's heard on stage. The neck is just right for me and it's such a joy to play.

I am finding it a bit bonkers that people are spending Paul McCartney's kids inheritance to save this (failing) business. As far as I know, he bought his Hofner basses in the '60s and despite the free publicity they've had for the last 60 years, I don't believe he's been offered, or they've made, a signature model. Now we've got people suggesting he bail the business out. Why on earth would, or should, McCartney do this? This would like Chris Squire bailing out Rickenbacker or @cetera rescuing Spector.

Looking forward to 2 sold out gigs this weekend. 1st at Cambusnethan Club in Wishaw area with 200+ tickets sold. This was actually where i had my wedding reception back in 95. Wife's Aunt was Bar Manageress so we got a great deal. 2nd at our Fav venue the famous Rock Club, The Dreadnought in Bathgate that have been booking us every year for past 4 yrs and already booked for next years. Always a great night and always a total party night. Both within 45mins from me so that's a bonus. Got our PA guy doing the hard work at Camby Club and PA is supplied at Dreadnought so no heavy lifting this weekend. Life doesn't get much better than this. I tell a lie - i pick up my new car on Sat morning 11am. A lovely Subaru Outback that has more loading space than my Volvo V90. The dealer suggested i take the demonstrator home and load my gear in to make sure 100% that they fit rather than relying on measuring it at the dealers. This is one seriously exciting weekend. Dave

Wondering just how wierd I am for having these issues over inanimate objects.... I've got a beautiful Sandberg TT which was a 10 yr anniversary gift from my wife. It's amazing and I delight in it every i play it. Feel very lucky to own it. But I've recently bought a Sire Z3 as something cheaper to use in less salubrious venues and as I'd fancied sampling the stingray-ish vibe.... and I bloody love it. Massively exceeded all my expectations and I just love the sound. Got a gig tomorrow where there's no reason not to take the Sandberg, but I really want to use the Z3. Genuinely feel a sense of guilt about it. Anyone else feel any qualms like this?

Ha ha yep I do the same. I find joy in playing cheapy basses even though I know my “better” ones would be great. Sometimes I just love the chance to play seven shades out of a cheap bass on stage and making it work for me. I do feel bad when I leave a bass at home as they are meant to be gigged. First world problems tho eh

A bit of semi-interesting stuff is the design of the Altec A-7. The woofer horn had two purposes. One was increased sensitivity in the lower mids, but the other was to time align the acoustic centers of the drivers. The aligning procedure was to wire the HF driver reverse polarity, feed the speaker with a sine wave at the crossover frequency, then slide the HF horn on its sled atop the cab back and forth until the SPL reading was at a minimum. That placed the acoustic centers of the drivers correctly. Swap the polarity on the HF driver back and it was good to go.

Just made a video with my latest pedalboard iteration. Reduced to a minimum...for now. I'll see how it develops from here

1. Yes. 1a. Why not use a USB PSU? 5V is much closer to 4.5V than 9V is. 2. If you're going to be cutting the wires, mark one of them with a sharpie both sides of the cut BEFORE cutting, then after cutting determine the polarity using your multimeter. However, as the LEDs are diodes, they should be fine with reversed polarity.

Phase shifts like that are normal, and don't matter, as you can't hear them. The dip and shift in the crossover region could be polarity related, the only way to know is to reverse the tweeter polarity and test again. It could also be time align related, which can only be fixed by moving the tweeter to get the acoustic centers of the tweeter and woofer the same. The shift at 100 Hz is probably port related, possibly indicating port tuning at 100 Hz. The 200 Hz dip could be from floor bounce. The best way to take measurements is outdoors, well away from boundaries, taking two measurements. The first is ground plane, with the mic a few cm above the ground. The second is with the cab on its back, the mic suspended above. This measurement will have a dip where the wave reflected off the ground meets the front wave at 180 degrees, the result of the baffle being 1/4 wavelength from the ground. The two are spliced to get the final result. You can do it in one step by digging a hole in the ground, putting the speaker in facing up, back filled with the baffle flush to the ground. It's how Roger Russell of McIntosh used to take measurements. When you take measurements 1/6 octave smoothing is preferred, as that's the limit of what you can hear.

I guess because this is a bass forum that the discussion is about bass and electric bass in particular, however for me when I think Hofner I think high quality acoustic instruments, particularly cello’s, violin, viola etc.

Worst was a project to use a Laptop and virtual Bass effects along with a MIDI controller for live stuff...it never worked out, I spent ages faffing about with doing technical MIDI control software stuff and making presets for Laptop virtual Bass effects instead of actually playing music, it didn't work live as I still needed pedals for tuner and foot switch MIDI controller and also needed the Laptop and audio interface, it was overcomplicated and wasn't musically inspiring (in fact it took away time I could've been playing instruments). Also I can't sell the software second hand to recoup any of that cost. Best is a Viscount Legend One 73, it sounds great and has reinvigorated my passion for playing keys (and ignited a new interest in Funky Hammond type Organ stuff). Something that opens doors to whole new musical interests must be a good thing.

Its been a while since I posted here so I'm due an update. StingRay. Centre stage. My main bass. Fender Squier. My practice & back up. Aria Pro2 SB600 fretless. Sterling by Music Man Sub Series. Peavey Milestone 3. Ashbory.

A height gauge for mice?

Diary clashes. I'm in 3 gigging bands. 2 of them are with the same guitarist and drummer. It's taken over 2 years but for next year I'm starting to get diary clashes. I go by the gig that's in the diary first is the one that I honour. Even if like the NYE gig, the one I'm missing is paying more. A lot more. Lucky dep!

Is the plug on your cable genuine Neutrik? There are some truly poor knock-offs about that fit badly. If not, try a real one and see if that improves matters. Those on the amp look genuine. They are good for many thousand insertions (ooer, etc). I've never had one wear out. You might also check the connections in the plugs are good. Just unscrew the locking collar and you'll be able to get inside to check.

Nice!

Yes it is a Washburn XB 500.

Is it a Washburn?

No tapping out rhythm on the arms...

TBH, I think @cetera is propping up the Spector business!

Females don't suffer from male weakness. She's had two kids. Don't know about you but I was 9lb 3oz at birth; that's "too heavy" for most fellas on here 😀

I did the same on my board! Works a treat and very handy.

Personally I’d just pay the return postage, mark it down to experience and get looking for another bass

Best was the Warwick I always wanted to pair with my equally 90s Trace Elliot stack, and gave me an excuse to try out five strings again (purchased from another forum member). To be fair there is an element of never buying something you have longed for as it doesn't quite live up to expectations (it feels a bit fragile compared to my Stingrays), but I'm enjoying the five strings: Worst was a GP12 head that we still haven't manged to fix despite working through the circuits, and I paid about £50 more than I should have for it... but I'm hopeful we will get there!

It's used to be the C8 app and was bloody complicated to use. I think it's been discontinued or renamed. You had to create a job, get it authorised by the manager, do the gig and then get the manager to sign it off. Then wait to get paid. I wasn't a fan as it depended on the manager being efficient.....

Not a signature model... but they did do this for him - (it's probably hanging off some lamp post nowadays)

alone - Heart (enola reversed lol)

I have the very same head and I'm a big fan of it. I keep toying with the idea of moving it on but every time I gig with it, I'm super happy. Its punchy and the tone shaping is versatile but even running it flat sounds great. I've also tried the MarkBass Little Mark Tube 800 and that sounded really nice as well.

I reckon so. A quick search suggests that it is a Washburn Bantam XB-400.

I agree. And I've gigged two cabs many times where the lower one is just a shelf. At the SE Bash recently we did a non-scientific "test" with one Monaco vertical-mounted on top of one horizontal. We walked around the room listening to just the vertical and then did the same with the both plugged in. It wasn't particularly loud but it was very revealing with that dispersion going on. @stevie will be able to explain it properly but what I got out of it was that now I'm playing in a band where I need to use backline to fill the room, I'll be thinking more about this and probably taking both of them with me just in case. I know one Monaco is amazing but the pair with one turned through 90 degrees was like another dimension. @cetera and @Wolverinebass were there when we were doing it.

Talk about getting everywhere - this was from BBC sports personality of the year last night!

Of course. But one need not be an arborealist to know that maple and walnut will have higher density than poplar and spruce, while luthiers know which species give them what they, or their customers, want. Also of course. One disadvantage to high density wood is weight, so to keep the weight down you need to go with some measure of hollowing out the body. Mine I made of all rosewood, neck through, with the bouts made in two pieces, each hollowed out to about 6mm thick. This gives the high density advantages of bright tone, tremendous tuning stability and almost endless sustain without being too heavy. I like the looks of it too.