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Still buzzing from last night's gig with Nine Lives at the Harbour Lights in Peterhead. Yay, a stage! Yay, a sound engineer and house PA! So we found ourselves in the unusual position of being ready to go about half an hour before show time. It was pretty busy, certainly the busiest I remember it being at this particular venue, there seemed to be a constant, but varying level of 30-40 folk in the bar at any one time. I worried that we'd be a bit rusty, being the first gig since the beginning of December, but we played really well, a few minor bloops here and there but nothing showstopping. And boy did I feel frisky - I went on three wireless walkarounds during the gig (or was it four?). General shape throwing/posing on stage and I'm feeling pretty creaky today. But all in all, cracking night, got some great comments and chit chat with a few of the punters. Had the obligatory drunk guy thus: Punter: "Can you play some Metallica?" Me: "Sure, in a couple of songs" ... *band plays Enter Sandman* ... Punter: "You said you'd play Metallica!" Me: "Umm, we did?" Punter: "Aww, I missed it" *I shrug* Well, we're not going to play it again, are we? FFS! Anyway, apart from that, cracking night, loads of folks up dancing, a new song in the set went without a hitch, got some great feedback, got paid (and got told that we could up our price next time), reduced load in/out due to not having to provide PA. Just all kinds of good really. Gear was the Cort Curbow then the Ibanez ATK into the usual toan cubes (which weren't doing that much, mostly just providing the feed to the desk, had a wedge in front of me)

I played a charity gig with the Hulla band last night at Rhossili village hall (that's right on the windy end of Gower and last night was very windy). It was in aid of Brain Tumour Research (organised by someone whose daughter has recently been diagnosed) and well attended for such a stormy night. The hall has a proper stage but as a thirteen pieces, we manage to fill the space of most stages and tonight was no exception. I was stage left as usual but at least I had a small off stage area that my headstock could fit in. The set was a mix of rocky stuff, a bit of C&W and Stones songs, requested by the organiser. Pizza and drinks were supplied for the band, which was very thoughtful as we had an early setup and little time to eat. Lots of dancing, some tears at the speeches, more dancing and some dodgy (but great) audience singing. We had a 'mare during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' when, for no obvious reason, the arrangement went jazz on us and I found it hard to get back to some kind of normality. Later, the singer/guitarist jumped off the stage (about 3 feet) and as he landed, the battery pack for his wireless guitar setup fell off the strap and bounced across the floor. He was set to solo and instead I had to fill in the gap with some bass runs while the crowd picked up the pieces and handed them back to him. That seemed to clear the jinx and the rest of the set was fine. The inevitable 'one more song' chant led to an extended encore and a later finish that we were expecting but everyone stayed to the end and I was home by 12.30. Kit last night was my Fender P Bass going through the Behringer TU300 tuner (I can't get on with clip-on tuners) and my Behringer BDI21 which fed the desk from it's DI and my IEM from the jack socket. I was trying to keep things simple as I knew there wouldn't be much space on stage. Footwear was a pair of black no brand boots.

Just back from a great night at The Brook, Southampton with the Phil Collins tribute, used my newly acquired yammy TRB5P.we got about 400 in tonight which was pretty respectable i think. Always go down well there and last night was no exception. 😊

Opened and closed the main stage with a couple of tributes at Rock The Gardens at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. First run out with a Japanese Faker I picked up recently, great gig to kick off 2026!

Just putting this in a few of the relevant places… in a few days I will have a few of the ‘latest and greatest’ preamp/DI offerings (Mantle, Luce) in my studio for at least a few days, plus a bunch of the classics and a few wildcards. I’m going to recording a few comparison clips in different contexts, mostly for my own curiosity but also as a resource for anyone who would find it useful. If anyone has any particular things they’d like to hear feel free to make suggestions!

With my thanks going to @HeadlessBassist for agreeing to collect this from Rotherham and meet me at Membury services (mentioned positively in the 2019 Gavin and Stacey here is a 1981 Aria TSB 550. I have only ever seen one other fretless one of these in this colour and it belonged to Frank Allen from The Searchers. Undergoing some TLC as the truss rod is seized atm So 3 in 1 oil into it and fingers crossed I can sort it 32 inch scale and MB 3 pickup

Always loved the RB Duo 2.1 board but hated the lack of a patchbay like its bigger siblings. Did some modding, don’t have a decent work area available so it’s pretty rough but the wonky cuts will be hidden. Gonna finish setting it up later 👌

As per the 'rules' - i.e. pics or it didn't happen I bought this used Fallout Tribute bass from an Ebay seller a couple of weekends back. Some of you may have seen my post about set up, but no one replied and t'internet wasn't a lot of help; G&L seem pretty light on technical info, and very good at regurgitating the 'Leo's final and best designs' mantra, which may in some way have been responsible for/indicitive of their demise. When I received it it had a very high action and round-wounds on and whilst it played ok it sounded very clanky to my ear, which my playing emphasised 😄 So I fitted a set of very used long scale D'Addario tape-wounds, which went on okay and lowered the action and adjusted the intonation to suit and now I am well happy, tamed it nicely so the single coil sound is pretty much Fender, just with higher output, and less tone variation, and the Parallel and OMG sounds are different and usable. PO/Tech/G&L ? had already recut the nut nice and low, but hadn't thinned the height at all so the high strings are buried, but that can wait till next time the strings come off. I gave the fingerboard a clean and a light oil, nice piece of rosewood. I did try and buy the last new one that GuitarGuitar had at the Epsom store, but I couldn't get them to budge on the price, or admit it was on display; it didn't get discounted for xmas or January online, but week after NY someone bought it (or it was disposed of otherwise) - I bet it finally got cleared out on an in store manager's special deal, as they need to make space for new stock post NAMM. One question for the hive, has anyone found a gig bag that isn't full size that will take it, the Gator XL guitar bag that takes the Mustang is too short as the Fallout is that bit longer overall with the slightly neck-ward bridge placement and the slightly longer headstock.

So I answered a JMB ad last week for a bass player - seemed interesting with an emphasis on funk n soul, with a female vocalist, so I was thinking Jocelyn Brown, Dawn Penn, Colette Kelly maybe, yum! I responded also mentioning that I played sax. The guy replied that he already had a bass player (a friend, who’d’a guessed, so why advertise?) but would like a sax player as well. So he sent me charts for ten tunes that they were rehearsing, mainly by male not female singers, very little solo sax, a few with brass section stuff, alarm bells already ringing but I invited him to my place one evening for a chat and a guitar plus sax tryout. It soon became clear that a) he was a very reasonable guitarist but b) he had very fixed ideas about what and how much sax he wanted in each number, eg one 8 bar solo in Moondance in a five minute number, and a few chorus punches in the Graham Parker version of Hold back the night where the original had a three piece brass section riffing all through, you get the idea. I played him some video of what I’ve been doing in other bands, where the sax was used more, but got nowhere so I stopped the session and told him that I didn’t think they needed a saxist, I couldn’t justify 50 mile round trips for rehearsals playing just a few notes with no gigs in the book, and BTW why did he advertise for a bassist if he already had one? Answer came there none… thing is, I took up bass two years after the sax because I’d learned that while bass is pretty essential in a band, sax is a optional extra that needs a careful curation of setlists to get maximum value…grr! Was I being unreasonable?

When we took the gig it didn't register that it was Burns night. I arrived first to find a very loud piper in full flow on the stage! We therefore had a slight delay getting the kit in. The plate of haggis, tatties and neeps with whisky sauce while we were setting up was very nice though. We are not a Scottish music band at all, but we did play a few songs by Scottish artists or fabricated tenuous Scottish links to the songs we did. I don't think we upset too many of the folk in tartan, although one guy did ask if we could play properly. When we said no he just said "Ah, crack on then" 😂 The place was quite busy and very hot when we started around 4pm. It was a bit of a relief that it thinned out slightly as it went on. We were all starting to flag a little by the time we finished though. The trusty Stingish bass and Rumble were in action again. I also gave my Solovair boots a run out for a change - not quite as comfy as my DMs yet though, so I'm glad to be at home in my slippers now 😜

So this week: Couldn't make the Friday practice so just worked it out on the fly Used IEMs for the first time in a service Drummer used electric drums for the first time Tried a new router as monitor mix wasn't working (and it only sort of came on line) Used an ipad for the music for only the second time Had a keyboardist leading who seemed to make up his own basslines as we were going along Was probably the hardest I've ever concentrated on a Sunday morning - only got lost once in five songs!

I'm an ex-Barefaced user. I had 4 over the years. My experiences are well documented on BassChat. I've moved on. I've applied a lot of my professional skills to the "what" of the desired outcome. I should have done this years ago but it's like cobblers' shoes. In work (I was a product manager for a big engineering company for the best part of 30 years) when developing a new product, we always tried to establish what users were trying to achieve, not what they want. In terms of bass players, they need to be able to hear themselves clearly and easily in a live environment. There are various solutions including IEM systems, which is disruptive tech as far as bass cabs go, but there's still very much a need for the individual bass amp to be heard in the room. So, bass cabs are still a need. Often users don't really know what they want from products and it's the product managers that need to determine what the product needs to be to meet the needs. I thought in the past that, "I want 10" drivers because they give me this..." and I couldn't have been more wrong, the level of ignorance involved in coming to that "requirement" defies belief. What users actually want, though they sometimes don't realise it, is easy portability, the ability to hear what they're playing in various situations and rooms easily, enough "volume" to keep up with other instruments (drums usually) etc. The constraints that then shape the product are price, size, availability of tech etc. For those of us that attended @Phil Starr 's speaker/cab demo at the SE and/or SW Bass Bashes last year, we've seen and heard first hand the whole "I prefer 10s" or "I only use 15s" fallacy in action. That demo just kills the argument about driver size preference and turns the conversation to which sound do you prefer, not which is your favourite size speaker. Then there's the array fallacy, "I prefer 4x10s". No you don't. What you have is experience(s) where a particular 4x10 has given you your desired outcome, or seeing Billy Sheehan using Hartke 4x10 cabs has coloured your thinking. What you need in reality is the sound you consider to be a pleasing tone clearly audible to you while performing. What pulled me away from BF? To start, product quality was a factor. I've never had anything where the tolex comes away and shrinks so easily; unacceptable on any product but inexcusable on a premium priced product. And the 10" BF cabs just didn't work for me in a gigging environment although they often sounded great out in the venue. The BT2 was pretty good but lacked something. I've now settled on a cab that gives me exactly what I want. I don't care what size driver it has, it does everything I want it to beautifully and brilliantly. It's light, compact, built like a tank and looks very professional. Comments and feedback from other people on the sound are always positive and I'm playing better because I can hear myself clearly all the time. The more we think about outcomes and less about specifications, the better products will get and the sooner you'll get what you need.

https://musictech.com/news/gear/groove-thing-music-buttplug-namm/

Anyone heard of Aristides guitars? I first came across them when I went to see Caligula's Horse play at the beginning of last year. Sam Vallen wasn't playing his usual Musicman JP7 and had this incredible looking/sounding red sparkle thing... T'was an Aristides. These thing have really piqued my interest, they've just made a 6 string bass, it looks pretty tasty. Their build technique is really interesting too, worth a look! Also, the things they build are quite out there! The below is a 9 string, headless, fanned, fretless guitar! And this, the 6 string bass I mentioned. Cool stuff indeed. Darkglass preamp with 3 Nordstrand fatstacks, now that has to sound savage!

The IKEA Meatball has a muddy, almost 'wet' sound and is most definitely not suitable for metal. It's most interesting feature is that you can plug the input and output jacks anywhere on the body of the unit. I should add that my example was quite poorly made (I suspect the materials have something to do with it) and the casing collapsed the first time I tried the stomp function.

If we look at the way Barefaced markets the products on the website, you can see that it's getting away from being led by driver size to a bigger degree than many other manufacturers but is still led by 10 and 12 in the names of the lines, 12XN, 10CR, it's still spec-focused rather than being completely led by what it does for the user, although the copy does focus on what it delivers so in that respect it is progressive. If you look at LFSys.co.uk it's entirely focused on what the product does for the user to the extent that whether it's a 12, a 10 or ceramic or neo gets put in the specification not the "reasons to buy". The Monaco delivers everything I need for most of my user cases. There are applications however where a different solution could be better and that's where it over-delivers. A 5m x 4m rehearsal room with 2m ceilings? Something much smaller would be the perfect answer and that's where the Monza and Goodwood come in and the small BC-build cabs that are based around an 8" driver. They aren't using 8" drivers because the 8" driver meets the tonal requirements, the 8" driver meets the technical requirements of loudness, size etc at a target price. Cab design/architecture has moved forward so much in the last 15 years and both these brands have done a lot in that respect. I'll not say I'll never buy another BF but for now, for me, my use cases and objective comparison there is a better option.

I can tell from the tuning machines and tort pickguard that the pictures show a real pre-CBS bass and not a custom shop. For that price it will be a scam. I'd guess the real Andrew from Middlesbrough has had his account hacked. He does have decent feedback, but only as a buyer. There are none for him as a seller. The scammer is probably abroad and has set the price at $5000 without using a UK located VPN, hence the odd price. There's no way someone who has bought 22 items on Reverb would not know a realistic price for this. If it looks too good to be true, it is.

There's a heavy metal band that insists on having everything on stage set up in *exactly* the same way at every gig... they're called OCDC.

100% Pete. I started going just after covid altho i've been an on/off gym goer over the years but this is the first gym i've stuck at 3 times a week. I started light with the weights and would start at 8 reps and work up to 12 reps. Once at 12 reps i upped the weight and back to 8. Its not always about how much you can lift either. The technique is more important with slow negatives offering more benefit than simply rapid up/down movements. I went for 2 yrs just doing my own thing in the gym but needed to move it forward and took on a PT for 10 sessions (2 1hr sessions per wk). Did that every 6mths - year just to push us and learn correct techniques. Then started taking classes in ABS training then HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) currently doing proper weight training class and body sculpt class. Two different styles of training in the gym. I don't struggle so much lifting PA cabs or kit these days and not out of breath when walking up stairs or even just lifting heavy objects. Went from just under 15st after Covid to 12st at the moment. Dropped from 36" waist to 32", from a Large T-shirt back to a Med. I'm now wearing same size clothes as i di in my 30's. Not bad for an old guy at 65. Dave

Just putting this in a few of the relevant places… in a few days I will have a few of the ‘latest and greatest’ preamp/DI offerings (Mantle, Luce) in my studio for at least a few days, plus a bunch of the classics and a few wildcards. I’m going to recording a few comparison clips in different contexts, mostly for my own curiosity but also as a resource for anyone who would find it useful. If anyone has any particular things they’d like to hear feel free to make suggestions!

Had a VERY close call today. Went to A-Strings to buy a strap button (essential repair) and a set of strings (consumables). Took my brothers... Played two really nice basses, either of which I would have been happy to bring home, an Epiphone EB3 and a Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. The latter was set up really well and was actually a delight to play, especially fingerpicked like an acoustic guitar. The EB3 needed some work on the nut and action, and the neck pickup was weak (it could be raised) - but the mudbucker didn't sound muddy, just rich and lots of girth 🙂 So with one brother determined to get me to buy one and the other not exactly trying to dissuade me, I thought hard about this thread and a rather obvious timber join on the Bass VI.

I bought this lovely self build Jazz from @briansbrew recently. It has a genuine Fender Jazz neck and 70s style Fender tuners. The neck has a lovely played in feel. The tuners are great, they really hold. A lot of my other basses I've owned I've always wondered how it could be flat and sharp at the same time when tuning...cheap tuners. The body, an alder jazz body from North West Guitars. I love 3 tone burst with tort. Seymour Duncan pickups, a push pull switch on the neck pickup volume to go between series and parallel. And a great Schaller bridge. It's a lot of bass. It's only the 2nd bass I've bought where when I've played it I've thought, yes this is my bass. I took it to practice on Wednesday. I find the neck really easy to play, and I just love the tone in combination with my amp and cab. So yes, result!

Thanks Dave, I still can’t do much but I’ll take that any day of the week compared to where I was 2/3 years ago. Pain free and pretty decent mobility, if that’s as far as I can go will suit me.

I would say the only reason they harp on about the 12 vs 10 is because they clearly state they designed the 10 like a more old school driver and the 12 to be as high power, clean and flat as possible.They could have done that the other way round but this is the way they’ve gone and that’s why there is a distinction on their website. IMO it’s not the same as Ashdown (for example) saying a 15 is for the lows and a 10 does mids and highs better. But totally agree that we have to go towards the “what value does this bring you as a player” rather than “you need 15s for low and loud” type spiel

I've also just switched to IEMs and this weekend had one of the best tones I've managed. I think having a really good DI might be quite important - I was going out of my Genzler Magellan pre with a little bit of EQ tweaking to taste. Also, something I don't think anyone has mentioned on this thread yet (although I haven't read all 87 pages), walking around a venue with IEMs around your neck seems like the equivalent of walking around a hospital with a stethoscope in terms of how people treat you!

If @Stub Mandrel comes, then we can legitimately change the title to the "The NW, Scotland and South Wales Bass Bash and Petting Zoo 2026". We're very inclusive here. So far (I think) we have attending. Attendees @rwillett - A couple of 3d printed basses or guitars, this will encourage me to finish my next two off. A couple of 8" Basschat cabinets. Might be interesting to try these with other peoples amps. One is quite loud, not quite finished the other one so not sure quite how loud they go. Since I'm about 100m away, I might bring anything or everything. Might even bring and setup a 3d printer if people are interested. If there is any interest and you need something thats more than a few hours to print, let me know well in advance. @neepheid @Frank Blank @Stub Mandrel - TBC @zbd1960 - TBC @ead - TBC @ossyrocks @lee650 @80Hz @peterjam - TBC Lots of TBC's so hopefully we can firm up on numbers. So as you confirm, please add any equipment you might be bringing and update this. I'm also going to add in a list of "would like to...." so people might be encouraged to bring things... Would like to @rwillett Love to play some older basses to see what they are really like preferably with some old school valve amp heads. Would also love to play around with some amp modellers (I already have a Mod Dwarf and a ToneX) to see how they sound in comparison.

Reflections on a sad year, a roaring fire and a warming dram Oh, yeah, failed in the bass-as-baritone-sax experiment. But, hey, you gotta try things out!

Love that finish - very rare & something I've only seen on TSB550s - apart from this, which might be a refin for all I know. Not sure but that & black might be the only solid colours Aria used on through-neck body wings.

...still, there's bugger all on TV anyway, so here it is all done and dusted. This fella has had more than enough of the ol' hooch. The shine has gone from his marvellous moonshine days and too many hangovers and trouser accidents mean that the firewater has got to go down the plughole. Two guitars, one bass, artificial drums and one crap singer. Mixed up and spat out by the triumvirate of Wavepad, Audacity and Ableton.

Shortly to be followed by the Ernie Ball Sterling Session Series by Sterling by Musicman

You’re correct in this. I couldn’t wait so grabbed a set of Chromes off Amazon. Hopefully I’ll love them, if not there will be a set for sale very soon 😅

Well, a few days ago tbh. Acquired from a Basschatter very local to myself. Overwater Hybrid Custom 4. Well pleased 😊

And my contribution this month: A mystical glass of whiskey, with a quite oriental side effect : 3rd take, played on my LTD B4-JR, 28.5" scale length, tenor bass, tuned in A standard tuning (as in the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning), directly into my handheld Zoom H4n recorder, and only edited through a simple Wav editor.

Filter is only ever going to go to MIDI note 36. Accent can indeed modify ADSR depth via the flexis. It’s covered in the manual. (I use this in some of my patches.) Up to the current firmware, the FI transmits MIDI only on its own channel so all external synths must be on that channel. (In the next update, you’ll be able to set separate internal and external channels.) You’ll need to enable MIDI output on each patch. It’s only enabled on the first four factory patches by default. This is covered in the manual.

There’s one in the USA I see for just over 15k that looks like the same one

I'm tempted by the PBM. I have some informal gigs coming up where it would be really handy to have a gig-bag-sized amp. It's pricier than others like the TE Elf or the Warwick Gnome, but I should probably put my money where my mouth is and support UK businesses trying to actually make stuff. It also looks like it could be used to hammer in nails or defend against bear attacks, which might be handy.

Haha... that ought to be added to the IEM megathread.

Lovely bass. Could definitely be bluer though.

Thanks. And appreciate that not everyone does. I still prefer my CD collection and talked at length with Chris on the night about having something physical Vs the convenience of streaming. YouTube so you can enjoy them?