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On Friday our Blues band opened for an excellent Eagles trib at The Ferry in Glasgow. Ultra busy so what could go wrong? I've been with them since 2015 and it's a really tight well rehearsed band. Anyway, I stepped up to sing the 2nd last song which I've sung dozens of times. Carnage! 1234 drums and instruments totally out of time as in different song out of time. Stop smile and start again. Same result. Eek. Third time I kept singing through the cacophany until we reached verse one and it finally gelled. No doubt we'll reset the song at our next rehearsal. Such disasters seldom happen but wow. If C@rlsb3rg did onstage disasters.

We packed the Conny at Thurmaston - standing room only, so happy with that. Plenty of dancing going on too. We even got complaints from staff who were on a night off, but had to help out because it was so busy 😂 I have pretty much settled on the Stingish bass as it's now just so comfortable to play, and I think I prefer a 2-band pre tbh. The Rumble v3 500 combo certainly isn't going anywhere. Even the black DMs are getting to be standard gig equipment. Just the one gig this weekend. I quite like a slower start to the year after all the December/Christmas/NYE rush just gone.

First gig of the year last night. Bluesfire at the Bush. Couple of mates of the guitarist and the drummerxs brother in, plus several familiar faces. Free pint of Guinness. Had a 'bucket' of sweet potato fries 🤗 one day I'll get there early enough to sample their pizza. Experimented with a bit of mid boost, and I got positive comments on the tone. AVII, Orange Terror and AT212 slim. A good gig but I had the wrong inserts in my earplugs for the first set, so took them out after two songs. Used the right ones for set two. Made a few fluffs but nothing too bad. My technique has improved a little recently, made a few changes to what I play. Got a couple of compliments 😁 Back at 1pm 😴

Played the Bungalow in my home town of Paisley last night. Weather was a bit miserable and we weren`t sure how many tickets we had sold prior to the gig. With pre sales and on the door we sold it out so the venue and us were well happy. It`s a great small venue, drink isn`t too expensive and Kev the soundman is a cool guy who used to work in the Hard Rock Cafe in Glasgow, one song and the soundcheck was done. I used my Greco P bass prob for the last time live as I have a US P coming next week. The only downside to the gig is I had done my ligament in my knee and the rhythm guitarist had one of his many knee op`s on Xmas eve so I had to sit down at one point whilst he stayed standing for the whole gig, both our knees are bloomin sore today but we got the gig done.

Just back from playing at the (mostly) annual Let’s Play Bowie tribute gig at Leicester’s International Arts Centre. My first gig of the new year, this time as part of a multi-band afternoon gig, playing bass on a six-song Bowie set (Ziggy Stardust, Starman, Moonage Daydream, Boys Keep Swinging, Andy Warhol and Queen Bitch). The gig was a sell-out and nicely full by the time we played just before 5pm. Lovely to play a gig where someone else is sorting out the sound (very good it was too) and I just turn up with a bass and a cable. Took my red/tort Squier Bitsa P bass project strung with GHS Precision flats. Provided bass rig was a Markbass LM2 into an Ampeg 2x12 (I think). I got to catch up with other local singers and musicians, one who had brought his genuine 1971 P bass for the gig, which was splendid. UPDATED with the last two pics of my actual band. What a brilliant afternoon out and a lovely thing to be part of.

Here’s my new, much simplified board. The Original Effects pedals are amazing, and with some more tweaking the HX One will give me all I need effects-wise. My trusty Rockboard power bank means no need for a mains PSU, but I have a connection tucked away if it’s ever needed. Patch leads were made up by me using high quality Van Damme cable and good quality jacks. Tuner>Cali 76>DCX>HX One>Amp The DCX is set to EQ mode, and really does just make things sound better. The footswitch bottom left is to move up or down through the HX One presets; I’m working on just using drive, octaver, chorus and an envelope filter.

Needed a small light bass ( 23" scale) while recovering from an op and this seemed to tick all of the boxes. It's pink and a bit sparkly, has a roasted maple neck and comes with a nice gig bag and all for £200. I bought it from gig gear, the fit and finish were great and set up pretty spot on. I'm going to try a Tonerider Duke pickup in it but the stock one was fine for the price. Well done Ashdown.

My gig on Thursday at a local social club saw Otis Jay Blues Band play to an audience of just 15! Storm Goretti didn’t really disrupt Bournemouth, but the combination of strong publicity and gusty wind kept people at home. Never mind, we have been rebooked for April. And we got some good practice… some photo ops too. So an ill wind didn’t spoil everything.

One advantage of having a speaker with mounting points is that other things can be attached. I've put two side panels on the Mod Dwarf, they just slip on and off, so nothing permanent, so that sits on the top and the Gnome on the back of the cabinet It's all quite secure and I'm a little surprised how neat and tidy it is.

Indeed, I did make that Telebass a while back!! Thanks all for the kind words about the basses I’ve built. I’ve not built anything for a while but am starting to finish off projects, including the fretted twin to Franks semi hollow bass. Pictures will be posted in the build diaries. Cheers all!

I have one, and love it deeply. It is thumpy, particularly with my TI flats, but I use a high pass filter/splitter to get acceptable brightness... I also added a 'bridge' pickup to get tighter tones, and now it's a monster.

No, the quality at the bottom end of the price scale has improved dramatically, squeezing the top end because it's already the "best" and has nowhere to go.

Given that’s the case and with you being in metal bands I’d be tempted to go BEAD. Loved my time playing in that tuning for a few years.

Guys and Gals - it's a bit of fun! New IEMs are part of PA, so T2 fail under the rules which are quite clear. But so what? If you're pro or semi-pro then buy what you need to do the job to the standard required, but accept that the challenge is as written and not really aimed at you. It's at those of us <ahem> who like buying stuff because it's interesting/fun/cool/collectable or whatever but we don't need it and really should be practicing instead. @SimonK If your church has just gone IEM and you need to buy a Behringer P1 then it’s still a fail, but nobody here will excomunicate you.

Very sad about your friend, but nice to have a memento like this. So yeah - these are thought/assumed to have been made by Sakai Mokko but like most things vintage MIJ, particularly regarding those manufacturers active in the 60s & fading away in the early 70s (which is when these were from) it's unclear & sometimes contradictory. These turn up with a million different names (& no names like yours, & my guitar version) one of which is Sakai, although there's reason to believe Sakai Mokko the manufacturer was gone by '71-ish which about when these first emerged. Like other 60s brands that became well-known domestically (like Teisco & Guyatone) the name may have just become a headstock brand - there's reason to think this as the Sakai name appears on mid 70s instruments known to have come from Moridaira. That's further complicated by the fact Moridaira also operated as an importer/distributor and even used their own Morris house-brand on instruments that are assumed to be from Sakai Mokko. It's very confusing. And I can make it even more so, if you want. Or even if you don't... Look - it's Sunday, I have important things to put off so you should probably make yourself a brew & strap in... That cool/weird German-carved SG body isn't exclusive to these - it also turns up on a late 60s thing called an Excetro - made by Teisco Gen Gakki. TGG was set up mid-60s as a manufacturing subsidiary of Teisco to make necks/bodies, but after Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, TGG continued independently as an OEM manufacturer TGG went bust around 1970, so what looks very much like the same body on a different instrument from a different source could be for one of two reasons. Or three. Or random combinations of the three. Or something else altogether that I don't know about. Leaving aside the fourth (and arguably most likely) reason, No.1 is salvage. In the febrile 60s & 70s Japanese guitar industry, manufacturers came & went all the time, and those that went bust would typically have quantities of unfinished components lying around, which would simply get sold off. So a year or so later an existing or new manufacturer - maybe Sakai, or Moridaira, or whoever - sticks out a bunch of SG-ish guitars built on old Teisco Gen Gakki bodies. Or reason 2 - someone liked it & made a straight copy, or perhaps the TGG fire-sale included all the templates & tooling for making this design, which it almost certainly would have. Right - anyway - possibility No. 3, Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai - the manufacturers' collective with their parts-book system of ordering, where customers could choose components & have instruments assembled to their spec. Not so likely IMO as they'd need to have a huge stock of these bodies, considering these SG types were around for maybe 4 years, sold all around the world with a plethora of brands and 50+ years later, still turn up regularly. And that's it really. You won't get drivel like this off AI, I can tell ya. Pickups in the bass are Maxon bass humbuckers - they may have a serial on the back to give a date for the bass, if it's pre '72 they won't as it looks like Maxon introduced seials at some point in '72. The knackered nut's an easy fix as there's a zero-fret, meaning it's just a string guide, and I'd recommend not just whacking the 22nd fret into the empty slot - necks taper & unless you cut it to length you'll make a mess of that nice fretboard binding, and have the mother of all rough fret-ends to boot! Wonder how much a tech would charge to stick in a replacement & give the remainder a dress/polish?

Genuine story: I have a mate who plays in a duo around pubs. The name of the duo: Grey Hair and Nae Hair.

So is a bass guitar 🫣

If anybody is interested in a grab handle for their cabinet, I brought two of these from Blue Arran but decided to use side handles instead. https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=ADH3424 They were only £2 each so its not worth trying to sell them. If anybody wants them I'll post for free. Rob

Brain: hey! You remember that REALLY irritating song from the late 70s, the one you absolutely loathe and detest with every fibre of your being? Me: don't. Just... don't. Brain: you know, the one that went 🎶laa de-daa, dum-dum-dum🎶? Me: please, please don't. Brain: 🎶laa de-daa dum-dum-dum, laa de-daa dum-dum-dum🎶 Me: nooooooooo Brain {3 hours later}: 🎶laa de-daa dum-dum-dum, laa de-daa dum-dum-dum🎶 Me: *sobbing*

As a Mac user I always wonder why others need to have the dock turned on, quite large, taking up valuable screen real-estate at the bottom of the screen. Especially as in Logic you would be able to fit another two tracks on the arrange page without needing to reduce their size (and being able to fit more tracks at a sensible magnification is always a plus IMO), and I doubt whether you dropped out of Logic at any time during the day, and even if you did it's generally easier to switch between open programs using Command-Tab. On my set-up the dock is arranged vertically on the right-hand screen where it is out of the way and not taking up valuable pixels on my main screen. If I'm using a system with a single screen like a laptop the dock is permanently hidden.

We gave it a good go today. Started at 9.30 (me) and we set the drums up and @Dankologyarrived around 11 as planned. 3 full tracks, aside from embellishments and vocals. decent days work - finished at 7.30pm.

Well after about 6 years amp-less just using a powered speaker and Helix Stomp/couple other DI pedals, i recently moved house, bigger detached no neighbours to worry about so decided to treat myself. After much deliberation decided to go for the Laney as it ticked all the boxes for features I wanted. It came down to The Ashdown studio stack or this. very very impressed, the Amp is not dead the King returns, straight out of the Box all set at 12 sounds amazing on both channels couple tweaks and got the sound i want. I was worried 500w would be too loud but getting great sounds at lower volumes with plenty to crank if i ever need it. Real amps are just so responsive (or at least this is) I had to pinch myself my playing (even after 3 weeks off on holidays) was just so Dynamic. Sounds and plays just like you think an amp should. Real amps vs Modellers could be a separate threat.

Just wanted to introduce my bass in case there’s any interest! I bought it 14 years ago after searching for a USA made Lakland in the UK - unsuccessfully! I was on the verge of importing a new 4 94 from the USA when this popped up on eBay from a collector in Chicago. It’s a one off 4 94 made by Ed Reynolds from parts supplied by Dan Lakin. Ed was luthier consultant to the fledgling Lakland operation. It has a chambered body, pre-CBS Jazz pickup in neck position, Seymour Duncan MM in bridge position, nitro paint finish (lots of dings!) and fabulous neck. It’s been my go-to bass since I bought it and I love it, though very few bass players I meet in the UK seem to know much about USA Laklands, let alone a one-off like this!

Guitar player friend messaged me on Xmas Day, said he'd got his hands on a mutual friend's bass 🙂 Seeing as our pal hung himself in 1999, I was both glad and surprised to hear a bit of his gear was still about. Was even more surprised when I was told it should be with me 😲 Got another message yesterday telling me to collect it 🙂 Old Japanese Gibson copy, think it may be a Sakai Mokko. @Bassassin care to give an opinion ? Neck is straight but it's missing a fret. No sound bar a loud hum, pickup selector switch is goosed, I see one failed solder joint in the cavity. Won't be doing any fault finding, it's easier to replace the electrics. Can't see the pickups failing but I've a replacement set in a drawer. Nice wee fixer up job but I'd rather my pal was still with us 🙁

Yeh exactly what @MrDinsdale says, so for example there’s guy done DCX Bass captures - he’s done all the example settings and a few others, so you can select any of them to use if you download them. I just guessed how to do it, but it’s super easy. Basically go to www.tone3000.com and download the NAM files you want, they’re zip files so unpack them first. Then connect your Anagram to the computer and the DG suite etc, then go to ‘Asset Loader’ then select NAM or Neural uploads - it’s next to the IR tab which is what it opens up to when you select asset loader. Then it’s just ‘select files to upload’ and you go upload the NAM files you’ve downloaded to your computer. They all upload as Amps by default but you change it to Pedal or Misc - the reason this matters is when you select a Neural Amp block there is a 4 band EQ with 2 x mid frequency selection), Neural Pedal has input/output Bol and blend (the most useful control on the whole pedal for me), and Misc just has input/output vol. It’s really intuitive, and super easy to do - and this is from someone who had a Stomp for 6 months before actually learning how to do snapshot mode properly 😁 you really can’t go wrong,

Problem sovled - the Jazz was sounding 'thin' and lacking definition more than anything, probably due to the £8 set of Warwick Red Label 40-100 strings I threw on it. It's now got a new set of Elixir 40-95s and it's got all of its proper fullness and rich tone back. Much better! Beware cheap string sets... 🤦‍♂️

It isn't a perfect bass like you'd expect from a US Fender either. The body is rough in places, the frets could be polished and there are a couple of small dents on the neck. I'd have sent it back if I received even a £200 bass like that. But it's super comfy to play after a just quarter turn of the truss rod, sounds good, holds tune and resonates really nicely. I just want to pick it up and play it a lot, which is the sign of a good bass to me.

That could be the nicest piece of wood ive ever seen! Not even remotely jealous 😂😂

Also one of the reasons I wouldn't want that (regardless of being wireless, but if I wasn't), I need a real physical volume knob for partually to adjust as I go along, but mainly because at some point towards the end of the gig, our singer will somehow select the most tone deaf and loud woman in the audience to screech into the microphone with him, and I need to be able to kill that instantly!

I think we’re starting to realise the reverse, the expensive stuff ain’t what it’s cracked up to be 👍

Well, try willpower first, then try fear of ridicule. That's my backup coping strategy

I suppose I'm saying there is something in between. which is probably not particularly helpful The main thing that you want from a bass cab is that it is rigid and strong and as airtight as you can get it. In this case the cab is going to be portable so it would ideally be lightweight and tough enough to take knocks along the way. Already you have to compromise, lightweight timbers are almost always softer than those with more densely packed fibres so even in an ideal world there are choices to be made and probably no simple 'right' answer. Plywood is a man made material, there are lots of variables in it's manufacture. The species you use for the plies can vary and wood itself is a variable product between trees and even within a single tree there can be variation in the wood. Then you have variations in how the wood is handled and the resins and glues used to bind the plies together. There are British standards for the glues used and the resistance of the cores (based upon European Standards) and grading for the quality of the face veneers A-D commonly B-BB where B is the best face but not perfect and BB is meant for the inner surface often with small patches but still good enough to take a paint finish. The last ply I bought from B&Q was graded B-BB. The thing is there is such variation most of us won't try to specify. Often the better grades are only available in large qualtities so you aren't going to be able to specify. I have some block board in front of me with tropical hardwood (FSC) outer veneers 1.8mm thick. Three 8x4 sheets cost me an arm and a leg and had to be supplied by my timber merchant as part of a much larger order. These were for some furniture btw not for cabs. The reality is that unless you want to spend a fortune and hours searching you are pretty much stuck with the ply supplied by the big sheds. If you buy hardwood ply which is grede 2 or 3 (exterior grades) then you are going to get a reasonable quality product. I've got mine from Wickes over the years as I can go in and sort out the best sheets in the pile. If you look along the cut edges you can see if there are a lot of voids and if the edges are separating or splintering. Honestly I doubt if you would really hear much difference in the completed cab. I know a couple of people here who have made a cab with softwood ply I shudder to think about it, but they built a cab that worked. So my advice is to buy the best ply you can find, be aware of the gradings but don't agonise if the choice is down to take it or leave it, you can still build a great cab. Probably the lower grade is ging to affect the finish more than the sound of the cab.

Well done selling out the Bungalow. Nice one @jezzaboy Look forward to seeing some pics of the new P bass when it arrives. Dave

Im Jaco and so is my wife

One featuring the fretless work of either John Giblin or Pino Palladino. I'll go with Fish's Vigil in a wilderness of mirrors with John Giblin, although I'd also be tempted by a Paul Young album.

And out come the wolves by Rancid Matt Freemans bass is what takes the songs from good to amazing.

I’ve been following this thread since New Year’s Eve, mainly looking for reassurance. January gigs can feel like a leap of faith at the best of times, pubs are usually quieter, the first week (and first full week) can be especially thin, and then there’s Dry January doing its best impression of a killjoy. So it’s been genuinely heartening to see reports of decent audiences turning out. That gave me a bit of optimism going into my own gig last night, of which I will post about later 😁

On the way to achieve my complete short scale transition, by offering a sister so my Sire U5: an Ibanez ehb1000s is heading to me. 😎 This duet will be my #1 arsenal from now on.

You can only laugh sometimes. As long as it doesn't become a habit 😂

IEMs are not (solely) ear protection. Ear plugs are ear protection - and definitely allowed. The choice to go IEMs is the equivalent to the choice to go wireless, as far as I'm concerned.

Told you it wasn't AI though... 😆 Dang 4 stringers... always trying to change the past...

Thank God.