Leaderboard

Boxing Day gig for The Bonnevilles at the Anker Inn in Weddington, on the borders of Nuneaton. Rather empty when we started - and it was an early start, at 6pm. We had a guest singer to do the inter-set break - she's become a regular fixture at our gigs, through doing open mics that our BL runs. She used backing tracks off her phone until the last song, when we accompanied her for "Creep". The second set had rather more of an audience, with a few of them dancing. Our guest singer came back on towards the end of our set to do "Sweet Child O' Mine". It was during that that I noticed that my wireless was showing battery low, so while she was getting back off the stage (it might only be 15cm high but it's a real stage) I switched wirelesses. Then we had a couple more songs, and into the final one, "Tulane". We were about 3/4 of the way through when the guitar cut out. The drummer and I carried on playing, singer carried on singing, guitarist was going over his pedalboard and amp trying to find the problem, singer did the band introduction for all of us, and then, just after he'd introduced the guitarist, the guitar suddenly burst back into life (guitarist told me afterwards he had no idea what had happened, it just started working again) and we finished off. Antoniotsai dragon 5-string -> Lekato and M-Vave wirelesses -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. The usual Caravelle memory foam trainers.

Really wasn’t looking forward to tonight, but it turned out way better than expected. We were told that 44 tickets had been sold beforehand, but clearly some folk just turned up on spec and I counted about 70 bodies. A promoter for a local event came to see us, stayed for both sets and seemed genuinely impressed. A couple of senior moments, as ever, but mostly on point. The last time I played this venue I couldn’t hear myself and had a good old moan about it on BC. Some bright spark (on checking, it was@Beedster ) suggested this set up, rather than stacked, for potentially better monitoring: Absolute genius! Whilst not crystal clear, it was near enough - I thank you 🙏 way of the future. As you can see, it was my usual Phil Jones rig, Maruszczyk Elwood L fretless plus pedals (mini Pitch Black, Sadowsky SPB2, MXR M87 & Tech21 VTDI). EDITED for set up credit.

Quite local pub last night for an early evening gig (or 7-10). Setup and found I forgot the iPad so dashed home to get it, seeing as I had already setup everything. Looked like it was going to be a quiet night, there were actually 2 people in the room when we started! Luckily after a song, another group of 6 people came in and then some more afterwards. By song 5 it was actually pretty busy, although it is a fairly small room. The drum kit lights had broken so I put my aliexpress bar light across the front and it worked really well. All in all a good gig and the last we need to do christmas songs for!

The Cricketers in Westcliff last night. Not a bad night at all considering it’s the Saturday after Christmas, the weekend before payday, and miserable weather. It would have been nice if it had been busier, but we had a decent enough, appreciated crowd (including my mum who’s flown over from Spain to stay with us over Christmas who rarely get’s to see us play). The lovely Hazel was stepping in Jenny’s shoes with co-lead vocal and did a great job as ever. It was also my first one since Halloween due to afore mentioned shenanigans. I was a little apprehensive at first, and indeed a leading up to the gig and whether I should do it or not, as I need to avoid getting ill, considering I start radiotherapy in a week's time. But I've felt a little niggle in my throat like something's brewing for a few days, so doing this gig wasn't going to change anything. If I get a cold, it won't be from the gig. Besides, I'm being mindful of who I mix with and obsessive with hand sanitizer! It was a good job I didn't do last week's gig, as half the band had the lurgy at the time! Set up and soundcheck was painless and we played well - I was quite chuffed with myself considering I haven't played in earnest for a couple of months. The end of the night after our planned set had finished got interesting. People wanted a Xmas one, so muscle memory got me through Slade that I hadn't played for 12 months. Then improvised our with through 'My Girl' and 'Don't look back in anger' that we'd never played before. You'll be plaased to know I turned and faced the corner in shame during the latter whilst playing it. The next gig is at the same venue in a month's time. I'm still aiming to do it if I'm well enough, but after that, it's in the lap of the gods.

Think I'm in the club now, GAS was cured within 24hrs. Got this in a local trade and a bit of cash from me. It's pretty much pristine, no doubt I will ding it very soon. It came with Chromes fitted and as much as try I find flats too sticky with my sweaty mitts. I think I may have to sand the glossy neck too.. again, too sticky. May change the tuners for ultralights as there's quite a bit of neck dive, additionally I think it's now my heaviest bass at 7.9lbs so may shave a few ounces with lighter tuners. Now strung with Bootsy Dr’s this thing has stolen the Fonk from Old Gregg for sure - digging the tone right now 🤩

Hi all, I've been a long-time low-end lurker and finally have something to share. I have a bit of an obsession with photographing bass guitars in places they definitely don't belong (like an abandoned basement for fruit storage) This one here is a close-up of my Fender Japan Mustang Bass CIJ - The lighting in this basement was too good to pass up. I've actually started documenting my basses and these "strange places" over at my website because I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Curious to know if anyone else here does on-location shoots? If you want to see all the basement photos, here's the direct link: https://bassesinstrangeplaces.com/bass-journeys/the-old-orchard-basement-storage/

Got a C4 again from @d_g Hooked it up with my MIDI and mapped out my fave moog/synth presets. Definitely missed this pedal and I actually find this better now than the mxr bass synth after using it again. Sustains longer before it glitches out and feels good responding to my attack. Latest update on the Neuro app is more intuitive and presets sounds better than before. I find this a better workflow for me than cycling through mxr’s 8 presets. It’s still a great pedal though.

Never say never Daryl, I was playing post-punk stuff before joining a Glam band. Joined as a dep for 6 weeks - still here 9 years later

Well, I've had "the discussion" with Mrs Rocks. "Our house isn't big enough for a double bass." We do live in a very small 2 bed bungalow, and I have already crammed 6 electric basses, 3 electric guitars, 2 acoustic guitars, 5 GK amps, 2 Barefaced cabs, and a vintage Fender Bassman 50 head and 15^ cab into it. I can see her point. Rob

Mmm, a Waluszyczk.

Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Do not need cheap green dot-board Jazz. Repeat to fade...

You may have an idea of how you sound, but a looper is very good tool to reveal details from your playing. Instant playback, cheap units are really cheap.

My signature sound is to play everything slightly out of tune and out of time.

Having recently bought my Dingwall John Taylor bass (and not really having a gig for it) I've started to learn my 80s duo stuff but on the bass. It would be fun to swap between guitar and bass on some gigs ( the bass line on Rio is particularly good) I've decided that I should do some of this stuff more authentically and play using fingers and not always with a pick The guy in my 80s band is a music teacher and awesome bass player and he's putting together a short video of how he plays with fingers stuff like how to keep the volume the same between different fingers Also he says to keep the nails on your plucking hand short so they don't pick the string Anyone else got any more tips for me on this, (keeping the nails short is a great tip)

I've been tempted. For £63 with the discount code, it seems rude not to, especially when I sold a guitar recently and there's another bass I've been looking to sell! Let's see what turns up. Should be here on the 2nd. https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/electric-bass-guitars/fazley-outlaw-series-judge-plus-green-electric-bass-guitar-with-gig-bag

I've bought a couple of knock off Fender Jazz/Precision necks in the last year, but have never gone the whole hog with a completed guitar. I'd sold a few books pre-Christmas, had a little surplus and decided to take the plunge. I've always adored the original Gibson Futura shape (with the split headstock), so pulled the trigger on this: So long as the body and neck are OK, everything else is dispensable. Gawd help me.

FTFY edit: and you’ll save on heating costs

Toss those g-words, and you have plenty of room for a DB. You shouldn't play them anyway.

Who would put up a photo of themself instead of what they're selling? https://ebay.us/m/nKtjEs He's obviously trying to make a sale outside of ebay, so I won't be surprised if the listing disappears.

No, you can do all of the input gain and waveform stuff too! Start at page 73 of the manual.

I would say that my signature sound is a bit of fret buzz, which you would normally assume to be poor fretting finger placement, but is actually fully intentional, and notes that sound like they are wrong, but are really just an edgy interpretation of the song. Not easy to do unless you rely on not doing quite enough practice....!

Mark at Classicandcoolguitars is a UK dealer for Sandberg, may be worth seeing if he can help on this?

Keyboard players who lean heavily on the lower keys are the worst. It turns everything to mud. They're supremely guilty of playing what sounds best when they're alone.

You were lucky. In the 70's I had a small glockenspiel and a plastic four string guitar. No wonder I've got behind with cable technology.

..and while I agree promoting such admirable thoughts is the purpose of this forum, sadly new gear is seldom the actual answer!

The first three were Meriden Bonnies, the last three were Hinckleys (plus a Scrambler 900 which is part of the Bonnie family). I improved the electrics on the old ones by putting silicon bridge rectifiers in to replace the dodgy originals, and once I seated the pushrod tube seal properly there were no leaks.

I don't expect it to be easy for a moment - but like any learned co-ordination - singing whilst playing, left/right hand independence whilst tapping or playing a keyboard instrument - practice & persistence will surely open the way. I would recommend as large a clearable practice area as available, ideally with walls already in need of replastering, and using a bass that is as close to expendable as possible - or already headless. And please make certain all & any wandering pets, children or partners are either excluded or appropriately restrained. Do consider this to be a disclaimer refuting all responsibility for any adverse consequences arising from your personal decision to follow my entirely baseless and untested 'advice', should you choose to do so. Good luck!

I only found out about these guys the other day when YouTube highlighted one of their Shorts. They’re coming to Dublin at the end of January, ticket acquired. 🤘

I’ve found the issue. The black wire on the battery compartment has become detached. It’s far too fiddly for me to solder, but at least I now know what it is and it’s not a major problem.

The full "Super Fly" album by Curtis Mayfield is now available as PDF download on the main transcription page. Happy new year! https://basslessons.be/transcriptions-list.php

L-R Fret wire radius tool. Used to put a radius on fret wire before installing the new fret. D’Addario String Cutter Fret saw with gauge. It’s for cutting fret slots and the gauge stops you going too deep and ending up with firewood.

To be fair to these Fazley basses (I haven't seen or played one), a thousand pound bass will probably come will strings that you'll want to change and in need of a set up. I'd have no qualms in buying one of the 4/4s if I needed it as a bass I just don't need to worry about. If something started to fail then you don't have to worry about professional repairs as it will have virtually no resale value, just glue it or screw it yourself and carry on playing. They probably won't sound the best but for live playing you'll most likely be using a pickup and it won't matter anyway. It'll have 12 months warranty anyway so play the hell out of it and any major issues, if any, should arise in that time and you can get a refund or replacement.

These are Chinese made and, as people have said here, will need new strings and a setup. At £200 that’s doable. I usually recommend buying a bass that has been sorted (like the one I sold). A 4/4 is marginally bigger than a 3/4 but there’s no real set size for DB (I have two very large 3/4s, I’ve owned a 7/8 and a 4/4 and there’s little in it).

In case you didn’t know (many already do), I highly highly recommend putting “Thrust Bearings” onto your tuning screws….. it massively improves the tuning accuracy and ease of use. Many already know, but in case you don’t, it cost a couple of quid, and is a game changer.

Well there you go, that perfectly demonstrates 'One man's meat...'! LOL I keep the finger nails on my right/picking hand at a length whereby I can use them to affect the sound but not so long that I can't change my position and use the flesh. Sometimes I also play the string below the one I am playing almost percussively with Ghost notes (I'd never analysed or even thought about it till someone asked me how I do it), a DB technique in a way; some tutors would find this an anathema to 'proper' bass playing but it works for me.

It's probably worth knowing that Celestion measure their Xmax differently to most other manufacturers so the 'true' level of excursion for comparison with other brands will be something comfortably above the 4mm they quote. Xmax isn't a hard limit, the speaker will go on producing an output without endangering itself beyond Xmax. The magnetic field extends beyond the magnet but weakens as you get further from the magnet. For the speaker this mens that the speaker begins to struggle to follow the signal accurately and it starts to distort. Xmax is an attempt to put a number on the linear part of the speaker's output. At the frequencies we are talking about, below 100Hz, you probably wouldn't notice 10% distortion. The old fashioned and harshest way of measuring Xmax is just to measure the voice coil and magnet gap; 16mm and 8mm in the case of this Celestion. That leaves 8mm of movement with the coil inside the complete 8mm gap and Xmax of 4mm each way. The other ways of quoting Xmax are to measure it at a specified distortion (often 10%) or to do a 'predicted' Xmax based upon the speaker's geometry, adding a bit of extra Xmax to allow for the extra bit of magnetic field beyond the gap. Both these figures will add excursion and to be fair will reflect real world behaviour. You can guess that marketing prefer a bigger figure. 18-Sound don't have details of how their Xmax is measured on the data sheet but I supect it is calculated with a bit extra and more generously rated than Celestions.

A lot of what you said make sense but as bassists that run our band’s PA some of this is out of the question. For example I don’t run any outboard and the AK CQ20 does not include multi and compression and even if I would like to, I would not have time to set up a multi-band compressor. I have found that some of the factory pre-sets, especially for male and female vocals are great starting points, and in an ideal world we could all run a sound check with pink noise even before the “live” sound check. So what are your absolute basics?

Enough said

No matter what bass I play, or what head, speaker or combo, my signature sound is exactly the same.... flat, boring and uninspiring.... Guitarists love it

As I understand it, you have a degree of recourse if things go awry; Paypal dispute etc. I have seen a few posts from people who've bought the same model from the same seller and things are generally OK. End of the day, it was only £200! I can hang it on the wall.

Just me, the BL has downsized to a Speed 400 from a T120, the guitarist is a former biker but I think it was mainly two-strokes. In the other band, Dirty Roses, two of us have Triumphs - it was three but the guitarist sold his T595. Still, I've got two Bonnies and have had four previous ones so the average Bonnie ownership across the two bands is 0.75.

The only one I’ve found that let you do stuff like binding parameters to input levels or oscillating waves was the MOD Dwarf. The Dwarf was way deeper in what it allowed but with a significantly steeper learning curve. The Dwarf also allowed you to do crazy stuff with its CV system allowing to set random value generators and stuff like that.

I was lucky and got one of the rare Bass Synths for sale here in NL. It's still in the post so I'll probably receive it by Tuesday. Can't wait!

I don’t see it as cowardly (necessarily). Part of being an adult is to know which battles you can win, which you might win and which you definitely won’t, regardless of moral right or wrong and so walking away from #3 Blazing screaming rows don’t benefit anyone.

I saw this Atelier Z Baby Z over on Talkbass, when doing some research before @DanDoesBass claimed his bounty 😄 This is the one that stays in my head @Ritsugamesh