Leaderboard

Should turn the light out but need to chill for a bit with a JD. Just got back from Llandovery, about 1hr 45 minute drive, mercifully the vocalist has a new van and felt guilty as I've been driving him for months. Our gig got switched to another pub because of a wake. Limited space but we were a man down and managed to fit. Just. Staff were great. 45 minute first set went ok. Locals friendly but not very engaged at first. Second set people warmed up, especially after some Manic Street Preachers. Lots of positive reactions, handshaking etc. and I even got bought a beer (nice bring the one who isn't driving). Yes we had a few minor fumbles, but we haven't played without our rhythm guitarist for a long time and we did some long forgotten and ungigged songs. Had to compromise on tone as electrical noise meant I had to keep both pups on full (Flea Jazz). Affected guitarist too when he used his strat instead of LP. I got told to turn up! We have a rehearsal on Monday to polish up with our full lineup. A big gig on Sunday, our first in the big room at the Earl Haig (my favourite place to play - see previous post) proper stage & lights 🙂

It was a pretty great gig lastnight on the ska scene, first outing for the Sandberg VM SL - interestingly, I ended up playing it passively with a Sadowsky Pre and Tonerider Duke installed. The bass was light, but by god those Dr Martins were heavy!

Back to pub land last night for Glam Viva after a run of WMCs. A great lively pub in Brimington just outside Chesterfield, The Butchers Arms, a great live music venue. I was a bit under the weather as I’m on a short course of nasty antibiotics but, bucket at the ready we soldier on. Fortunately the bucket wasn’t needed and the good hormones lifted me. Got a compliment on my playing from a drummer in another band…..that’s the second time in ten years, I’ll try not to let it go to my head 😂 Sandberg Lionel into my usual Markbass rig and red/white/blue sequinned Converse Chucky Ts.

First one back for the new year as vox was away in January and we were a guitarist down, so there was a bit more space to fill but generally went ok. Good crowd singing and dancing so that was good. We had a rehearsal last Monday to clear the cobwebs and check adjustments for songs minus a guitar. I decided to run: bass->Anagram->Baby Sumo->Barefaced BB2 and with the Anagram di’d to the PA but got the usual amp and spare out anyway as I had a previous issue with the Baby Sumo (not repeated since) so wanted to be prepared. No problems last night and it sounded great in the wild and through my IEM’s. Massive cramping in my fretting hand in the last couple of numbers which was a trial and I ache this morning. Now I’m away for some r&r after a crazy couple of months at work, and I get back just before the next gig so will be going into that with no rehearsal and a couple of weeks not playing

Just done a lovely little solo gig at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. Quite a quiet night possibly due to the ghastly weather but it meant I could experiment with more subtle stuff and new tunes rather than competing against a really noisy crowded bar. A girl from the audience asked if I knew Jolene and could she sing it (she was really good too so that worked really nicely). Chucked in a bunch of new stuff too which went down well. And only got slightly soaked loading out. Happy with that. Gear: the usual Simon and Patrick SP6 guitar and soundhole pickup, Allen and Health desk and Mackie SRM350 speakers. Footwear by Clarkes.

Last night I was back in covers band action with Nine Lives at Wilsons in Aberdeen. Night got off to an odd start, when some people noticed me and the drummer getting stuff out of the car and asked "who's playing tonight". I replied "Nine Lives" and they replied "Excellent!" Had a joke with the bouncer that they must have us mixed up with another band. Anyway, the gig went well - it was a bit of an awkward setup because some people were in the bit where we usually put our stuff, playing darts. How very dare they! So there was a lot of shuffling stuff around while we set up. Still, we got set up and ready to go at the billed time. Gig went pretty well, had some very enthusiastic dancing in the first half. Second half dwindled down a bit towards the end, but we did a thing we've done on and off and played a softer song as the second last one and we had a couple of lovebirds up dancing to that, so it worked. Then blew the place to bits with Whole Lotta Rosie, along with my usual wireless walkabout. Never ceases to amuse and entertain people, and as long as people still get a laugh out of it, I'll keep on doing it, lol. Gear was the Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard, followed by the Fazley Hot Rod (the "Ratlet") with a Lace Aluma P in there because it was lying around and I was bored. Usual yellow and black amplification. Footwear was pink suede Vans slipons.

First gig of this year for Blues Delux at a regular local bar in Stirling. Sunday afternoon set finishing at 7pm, very chilled out as we were again playing to diners and people out for a quiet drink, so it's more or less a usual Sunday crowd. The gig started off quite ropey. First song it was obvious the levels were all a bit askew. Second song we had recovered the levels but for unknown reasons our guitarist played the song in the wrong key before stopping midway through to tune his guitar and joining in for the last verse chorus almost in tune. Then the bar staff came up to us as we were about to start the third tune and said there had been a complaint from a customer about the loudness of the band, and would we mind turning everything up!? So we did, and the rest of the gig was rock and roll. We stopped briefly to do a short acoustic set in the middle of the gig with our singer and guitar player on acoustic. Also got complimentary beer from the pub for the first time ever. Not sure what that was all about. Rig wise I'm in a really happy place at present. Silverstone II and a TE AH250 GP12 SMX almost sound as if they were made for each other. The dual band comp is I think the secret sauce that makes it all sound so good. Back up amp was a GK 400RB IV and used it on the second set just for the hell of it. Playing my Sadowsky a lot more recently and it also adds something new and good to the sound. To sum up, ropey start, but a rock n roll finish with free beer, and an early night. ☺️

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1961195121498875&id=1808464263 Overall not a bad night at our monthly spot. First gig with new drummer Paul. certainly has done his homework, great player. A little loud but has an E kit he’s going to use, hopefully.

Errr..... interesting !

First gig of the year, with the Zep tribute in Cottingham on the east coast. A bit rusty with a dep guitar player as our BL / guitarist is still out with serious back issues, but all-in-all a pretty solid performance. A decent crowd with 160 tickets sold and a great reaction. I didn't bother taking any pictures as it is pretty much the same rig as the last 60 / 70 gigs. I did note that the (very good) sound engineer (actually a husband and wife team) DI'd from the Caveman preamp / DI on my board rather than from the amp. Some do, some don't, but seemed to sound good out front either way. Next gig in Scotland with the same dep guitarist in a few weeks...

The dead spot is inevitable on instruments as it's linked to their resonant frequency and every material has one. You could add some weight on the headstock to move it further away so it won't annoy you, something like the (Fender) FatFinger can do wonders and it's easy to place and remove.

I've been a 'start flat' eq guy for the last four or five years, but I've started boosting my mids a bit. It's brought positive comments.

New incarnations for both boards. New songs keep giving me new requirements, so the big board has padded out, but I decided to finally get my head properly around the HX Stomp for the little board. Quite some time spent with EQs this morning bringing the Boctaver up to scratch.

My last gig was NYE. We don't have a gig until February 19. It will be my first gig at age 72. This stretch of no gigs is driving me crazy. Daryl

Short freebie gig playing an intermission set with the 7 piece jazz band last night that turned into an important learning experience for me. One of our members who is a teacher had organized a day long workshop for several school choral groups and due to a cancellation asked if we could fill a slot in the evening program and it went well and we sounded very good. I planned to use my Yamaha SLB 200 and go straight into the Traynor SB 112 combo that I have used many times either by itself or as a monitor with a line out to a PA. When I had it set in place and turned it on nothing happened, it usually takes 2-3 seconds to come on and has never failed before so I checked all the cords and used different wall outlets and still no action. Luckily the school had a bass amp I could use and it all went fine. Now for what I learned. If your amp has been sitting in a car in a parking lot for seven or eight hours with the temperature around -15C it will take while to warm up and come to life. I had taken it straight in and it was still cold but after I changed to the other amp I tried it one more time and stood like an idiot wondering why I bothered and then after about 10 seconds lights came on and all was well, it just needed extra time for the current to warm up the components, who would have guessed? Edit: Yes, I tried it this morning after it had been in my house overnight and all is well, lesson learned.

As promised, a few rough FM clips (please forgive the crappy playing). @Al Krow, the last one is especially for you. 😉 QM Bass 01.mp3 QM Bass 02.mp3 QM Bass 03.mp3 QM Bass 10.mp3 QM Bass 14.mp3 QM Bass 18.mp3 QM Bass 19.mp3 QM Bass 21.mp3 QM Bass 23.mp3 QM Bass 24.mp3 QM Bass 25.mp3 QM Bass 28.mp3 QM Bass 29.mp3 QM Bass 33.mp3

Sorry for the delay, I was going to take a picture outside, but with the weather we're having, water and electricity dont mix 🙃

Only if it's not pretending to be real. I use AI from time to time for posters. A pretty obvious one:

Did that come through reverb or through an email, make sure that who you are talking to is definitely reverb, not someone else.

Long horrible journey to Abertillery, a mining town where the average road gradient is about 45º. The local Blues club. They were a bit disappointed with an attendance of 80 people at £5 a head, which filled the place and we thought was excellent on such a grim nightn although the venue looked welcoming on a dark night. Bluesfire so LOTS of pa, lights etc. Played from 8:30 to 11+ with a raffle break. Nice little stage and great sound as good ceiling, carpet and plenty of bodies to control the sound. My rig has been sounding glorious since I just boosted a mids a bit. Could barely hear my voice in the monitor though. First time they've only used one sub and to my ears the low end sounded much better. We got a rapturous reception and were more free and improvisational than usual which was mostly fun and occasionally hairy. By the end I felt like I'd been beaten up, so the long slow load out and hour's drive in more rain were tedious. In bed at 1:45. Another gig tonight with Bendricks Rock nearly two hours away. Fortunately singer will drive. I see much ibuprofen in my future. I hope my body copes with this two month glut of gigs.

I wanted a better Midi footpedal than the M-Vave Chocolate so was looking around and stumbled over the PedalinoMini range of DIY pedals. You can see them here https://github.com/alf45tar/PedalinoMini The designer uses a small 32bit System on a Board, so similar to an Arduino, has done some very good software and it looked like it was well supported. If it's GitHub check how many recent releases it has, check the issues and see if the person responds and he does. So I ordered the parts from AliExpress for the 8 foot switch version and they turned up in less than a week. The LilyGo SoC is pretty good, a decent 1.9" display, wifi, bluetooth, what's not to like. I paid for the STL files ($14), downloaded them, printed them out on my 3d printer and immediately thought, I can do better than this. Simple things like he uses screws straight into plastic, this will last five or six fixings and then the plastic will shred and you have a case that has no means of attaching to the base. I also beefed up some of the supports, but to be fair, it was a pretty good design to start with. The instructions are very good, though the wiring diagram requires you to switch your brain around as you wire it from below, but the wiring diagrams are from above and below. Every single step needed to be tripled checked. The only major issues is that the shield you wire into is a point to point, so you then have to bridge the connections to the sockets. It's also very, very fiddly. However apart from one bit of wiring that’s almost impossible to see which joins two LED strips together, its pretty straightforward, but there's a lot of it and it has to fit into a small case. I printed off a mule to wire it into. As I got further and further into the wiring it got tighter and tighter. I then moved the mostly finished wiring into the new case I designed and printed in a rather nice Galaxy Black, basically black with tiny sparkles, who said glam rock was dead The purple tape is simple to hold the LED strips in place whilst I check everything is working. Once I'm happy, the wires and LED strips will be given a good seeing to with a hot glue gun. Somewhat suprising (as I'm a crap solderer), it worked almost first time. Only every second footswitch worked which seemed odd and not a soldering issue. It turns out I'd loaded the wrong firmware in and I think it defaulted to four footswitches rather than eight. Downloading the right firmware sorted that problem out. You need a Windows laptop to really get the initial setup done, but once you have the wifi connected, it works from a Mac and can be configured from there as it's on the wifi. The software seems very good, but I'm still trying to understand what it all does. I still have to put the battery and switch in, otherwise it is powered from the USB-C connector. A 18650 battery will apparently power it for 12 hours. It has wifi, bluetooth, MIDI over USB-C so lets see if I can make it all work with my ToneX and Mod Dwarf. You seem to be able to control a lot of things with it. For the cost of about £40 and one evening and one afternoon of soldering, it seems good value to me. I can't say much more until I've got it properly working. Rob

Hey gang.. Some of the longer-term members here might remember that I play in the house band at Sunday for Sammy, a huge music & comedy show that - until 2020 - happened every couple of years at Newcastle Arena. We've had some amazing guests over the years... Mark Knopfler, Brian Johnson, Trevor Horn, The Auf Wiedersehen Pet cast, Johnny Vegas, etc. But then COVID happened. And then nothing... until now! After 18 months of planning by an amazing team, it all happens again next Sunday. Two shows in one day, with a huge cast, it's a massive logistical challenge. I've been working on the songs in my own time for the last few months, and rehearsals start in earnest tomorrow. In the meantime, the crew loaded in to the rehearsal space today, and we (the core band) popped along in the afternoon to set up and do line checks. Here's some photos - more tomorrow! Two J's at the moment - both with flats. I might switch one for a P. FOH is set up in one of the dressing rooms. Monitors. My drummer pal. Guitar village. My hangout.

A thirty quid case off eBay? Call it an accessory and be done with it, I reckon. I like to have separate accomodation for all my basses too, I get it.

Friday evening. Getting over a cold (not feeling bad, just the runniest nose of my life, was like a tap on the front of my face). Was the first one this year and really good to be playing with other people. We ran through the usual set list and tried a couple of new numbers, one of them is coming together well. Was playing through a Blackstar 2x10" combo, 250w I think. This one was working well (they can be a bit and miss at Pirate) and it sounded lovely, especially with the Sansamp VT pedal - lovely bit of distortion. The ABZ is on Dragonskin+ and they suit me so well - lovely feel and good sound, well, too bright most of the time but the bass has a passive tone AND an active treble so really easy to dial in what I want for each song. I like a nice, toppy distorted sound when I use it.

I liked the MB gear i had and i have often thought about going back to it. My only concern was i couldn't hear it on stage but it always sounded great from the audience point of view and they sit so well in a mix especially if you have keys in the band. Must admit i'm liking the BF 212 cab as i can stand directly in front or even to the side of it and i can still hear it quite well. The Mesa cabs are good but not if you have to stand directly in front of them. The sound is thrown past you. Dave

You might be right, I get a softer but still punchy sound with Lionel which might be better in a pub situation. I tend to use a Stingray on club gigs, it’s a bit more in your face and carries better in awful WMC rooms. Ive often thought about looking at alternative amp/cabs but I just feel at home with Markbass.

Its nice getting a compliment at a gig. Its funny but i think the equipment you use makes a difference to what the audience hear. When i was using my VM4 into a SS head and my Mesa cabs i get comments. When i use the Handbox WB-100 into the same cabs i don't. I'm wondering if the SS or now using the TT800 have more edge than the valve amp and people just pick up on it. Valve amps have more depth of tone IMO but they don't have that fast attack or edge of a modern amp. Just a curious thought !!! Dave

Its unusual but I definitely dig it. Weird is good. U2 and Coldplay are what you get without weird and thats bad.

Definitely playing Schecter; he has the white one and a black one, both with the Hysteria circuits patterning. They sounded great, probably the best bass tone he’s had for a number of years now. Was a great show, their vocals were bang on and the production was immense.

I think the way I'm looking at it like this. First, maybe it depends on the image and how it's used. 2nd, I look at like this. A lot of us use cool lighting and smoke machines because it makes the band look good. AI depending on how it's used is just another marketing tool. I don't think we can fool anyone. I never look like this. Lol Daryl

Sure. We used this one not so long ago...

Personally, if the photos are obviously fake and a bit of fun, then that’s ok. I’ve done similar with my bands. No one is fooled, and it’s just a laugh. If things were done to look ‘real’ and trick people I’d be less comfortable.

Last night turned out to be a good one, despite having a particularly heavy cold that seems to be doing the rounds. I still have some in-date covid tests and it's apparently not, so on with the show. The gig was guest-headliner at a Metal 2 The Masses competition heat (playing while the votes are being counted and the judges are deliberating), so I swapped my usual 10-6 shift at work for the 7-3, got to the venue for 4 as instructed, sound-checked at about 6, nipped to Tesco for a picnic that I couldn't taste, and then just loitered in the dressing room until showtime at 9:45. I would have liked to see the competition bands but I was best off sat on a sofa with my menthol sweets and a bog-roll. Stage time came around fast enough, and although the drummer had been at the JD a little more than usual, he only made a couple of mistakes and I managed not to have any fits of coughing, sneezing or otherwise malfunctioning. There were plenty watching and all the inter-song noises were positive and enthusiastic, but the highlight for me was the looks on the faces of a pair of lasses down at the front. I may be wrong, but I got the feeling that they'd perhaps spent the night dutifully supporting their boy/friends in one of the more shouty-thrashy bands, so being faced with two corseted sopranos in an operatic-symphonic outfit at the same gig seemed to catch them off-guard; they looked somewhere between emotional and mesmerised ...in a good way. Packed up and tried to help as much as possible with loading out, but I was at the 'if I start coughing I'm not sure I'll be able to stop before I run out of air and keel over' stage, so I made my apologies and my exit. Had a gloriously rough night and now need to spend the next three days helping my lass to move house. Epic. Gear was my RB Streamer LX 5 -(G30)-> [XS-1 -> BC-1X -> VT Bass v2 -> BDDI v2] -> TC BAM200 -> Blackstar house cab, and it really sounded quite good from where I was stood so hopefully that translated to FoH. Noticed that I was getting some very brief drop-outs on the G30, which is very unusual for it in my experience, but I eventually spotted that it was happening every time one of the singers operated the switch on her radio mic. Will have to see whether it was a one-off or maybe a different channel will be less susceptible to issues. Took the Hardly Benton along as backup, and the one photo I was bothered to take all evening is of it...

I once took a banjo to a local luthier shortly before he died, and he snapped it in half and burnt the pieces. God, I miss him.

We have a very popular "how was your last gig" thread and a growing rehearsal one, but I can't see a studio one. It's a different beast and I am happy to kick start things. It'd be great to hear other experiences of where you are and how you got on. Yesterday, we returned to Mooncalf Studios in Wiltshire, for our penultimate session for album no. 3. Playing gothic original material, we usually record the drum tacks and keys on GarageBand, take them to the studio to upload and tidy up, and then add the guitars / bass / vocals. We uploaded the last three songs and recorded the bass and vocals. I used my Fender Jazz USA (2008) and my Squier Bass VI for the bass parts. I also got to use a Jerry Jones Sitar guitar that we had hired for the princely sum of one bottle of red wine. Oh, and I added a simple part on my David Bowie Stylophone. The sitar took a few runs. Mainly because I was writing the part whilst in the studio. The bass all went down in one take with no overdubs, across all three tracks. That doesn't always happen but it is nice when it does. I also did a few lead vocal lines, which went down pretty easily. We have three guitar parts and one of my vocal parts to do and the album is done. Anyhow, enough about me... who else has a recent studio session that they'd care to share?

I now have this in the diary - look forward to meeting all who attend

Sorry to say that new strings will make no difference. The Fatfinger does work and sometimes, so well, it removes the dreaded dead spot altogether. If you go the FF route, try different positions across the headstock as this can make a difference as well. I have three basses with dead spots and all were fixed by the addition of the FF. obviously, the extra metal will make the neck more prone to dive, but at least your bass will sound as it should. Goodest of luck.

Intrigued by their fret filing/crowning gadget. One thing I don't have is a good set of files and I'd only be using them for sorting rogue high frets anyway.

I have taken the brave decision to launch a new print and digital bass magazine for the UK market. I've been publishing magazines in my day job for 27 years and think it's terrible that we don't have a dedicated magazine anymore. We launch the mag officially at the Birmingham Bass & Guitar Show next month where we will have a small stand and giving away a sample issue (while stocks last) - we will then publish quarterly moving forward. Editor is Joel McIver who ran Bass Guitar magazine and then Bass Player so no cheap AI generated content here! Website is here You can subscribe via the website - our socials launch on Monday. If you are at the show next month come and say hello - be nice to put faces to names. The cover of our sample issue is here for your thoughts and comments.

Given some of the earlier comments I ought to say I'm not being critical at all just that you made an interesting point The theoretical maximum power of an amp is determined by the operating voltage, the power in practice by heatsinking. If you are buiding a 60V amplifier than a lot of your components need to be 60V rated particularly in the power output stage. Running at 30V saves you a lot of money. Most Class D amps are complete amplifiers in a chip though there are also class D driver chips where the processing goes on in a bog standard chip and manufacturers can add the output devices of their choice. Designing and fabricating the first chip is an expensive process but then mass producing them costs pence. Nearly all of the high power chips are manufactured as stereo chips and many as quad amps. Power is proportional to the square of the voltage and you can use a stereo amp module in bridge mode to get four times the power. The same chips are used in domestic hi-fi electronics and things like in car entertainment systems. If you have a car stereo with a sub it's probably running one of the 50W quad amps with two of the amps running each side and two others bridged to drive the sub. It was these chips that stimulated the whole 2.1 phenomenon. So there are a few manufacturers of these chips who make ones of the right voltage to produce 200W into 4 ohms given the limits of their power supplies and heatsinking. Guess what is in the Gnome ,Elf,BAM at their heart they are car stereos with a bit of bass orientated EQ. It's also how they can be so cheap. Bass amps aren't really a big market so a lot of innovation is piggy backed upon what happens elsewhere in the market especially at the bottom end of the market. It also makes sense for amps to go up in 3dB steps which is doubling amplifier power. So, 100,200,400,800 does make sense both for the bassist and the manufacturer.

Bought and sold a few, and am always searching/on the lookout for a good ray! You do get the odd nutjob seeing what Specials go for new and assuming their early 00s 2-band is worth 2k used, but generally you'll see standards at £1100-1500 (max) and Specials from £1500-£2000.

Most bass players are incredibly chilled people. We have to be. There's only so many drummers you can kill before someone starts to notice.

GMC are a small UK luthier supplier (one man show I believe) that makes everything in-house and they sell a very decent bass notched/straight edge combo for just under £40. https://www.guitarbuilding.solutions

Snoopy: 😁