Leaderboard

Well that was bloody awesome. We got to the Earl Haig early, to find two big projector screens up for the rugby, but didn't affect us setting up. Used their (big) PA with our desk, spent a lot of time with everything miced up (me post-preamp DI'd). Sounded awesome but with the stage volume was comfortable with no earplugs. About 20- people stayed on from rugby and we had at least 120-, maybe 150 people in. It can feel a bit empty on a Sunday sometimes, even with a crowd, but not today. Lots of musicians and music lovers in, including my brother, some of my friends and members of two of my other bands. First half, mostly straight classic rock, so no dancing but rapturous reception. Brief beak, then second half, still rocky but some more danceable stuff, so dancing from about 1/3rd through. You'll get the gist if I say our encores were War Pigs and Alive, and the song that got the most comment was Devil Woman. Afterwards, people were queing up to shake hands and say how much they enjoyed it. We did get (very gently) told off for going 20 minutes past curfew 😁 Baz was taking photos, so I expect some awesome shots in due course. Devil Woman.mp4

Our gig on Friday was a road trip from Lancaster/Morecambe up to Stockton On Tees in the North East. "Blues At The Bay" blues club. On paper, it looked like a 2 hour drive when I booked the gig, but Friday had other ideas, SNOW! Lots of back and forth on group chat and we decided to leave much earlier with a plan to go via Settle/Harrogate/A1. At the last minute I checked the route (I was the last pickup in the van) and the A66 had just re-opened, so we decided to go our original route. Stopped for a brew at a farm shop halfway and still arrived early. It meant we could have a leisurely setup before going off to eat before the gig. The gig itself was super. House PA and monitors, very intimate venue with just a 40 capacity, but it was sold out. A very appreciative and respectful audience. I understand that they often film their gigs, so I'm hoping for some good footage in the near future. 2 x Barefaced One10's, GK Legacy 800, '73 Precision. Rob

Well....Back in to The Bungalow on Friday evening and first night of a Mod weekender. Great venue to play! Always a well stocked beer fridge in the green room! A couple of members down,one of the singers was on holiday and we recently lost our keyboard player and also his replacement! To lose one is careless...two is....something! We also have the drummer handing in his notice as he has changed jobs. Decent turnout for a Friday and we seemed to go over pretty well! Sound guy had issues with the bass amp,DI would not work,so he stuck a mike on the cab,then the thing cut out on a song in the second half. But we made it to the end! Jack Flash!.mp4

Audience video (James East) from Facebook, our first encore. A few fluffs but I hope it gets across sound, energy and excitement! 🙂 Baz took over the lights and got a bit over excited! Waer Pigs.mp4

Sounds like a good gig Dave. I've got my first 2026 gig Thursday night at The Fox Town in Mequon. It'll be a half hour commute. I'm not sure if I'm driving or riding in the van. It's an upscale bar / restaurant that does a fantastic job with local bands. Nice room with a very nice stage. We'll be providing our own sound. We'll bring minimal lighting and smoke. The place has a built in crowd. This is our second gig there. Last time the place was packed. Daryl

I have no doubt at all that a Serek or a Wilcock would be sublime. But having a tragic history of expensive = better, the joy of the NEWPORT is that it was as cheap as chips. It is entirely functional, the finish is exemplary and the neck pickup solo'd just delivers. All for £230 on ebay. The seller had put a deeply weird custom pickguard on it which looks like something I would have designed when I was 8. That is not a compliment. But this does not matter becaue it was cheap as chips.

Gear: Sire P10/ Fender AVII 1960 P ---> Lekato WM80 ---> main effects were SpectraComp on Captain East, Joyo XVI (for Uprising), Mojo Mojo, 80s Ibanex Chorus, LPF ---> Orange Bass Terror ---> GR Bass AT121 slim.

Friday night I had a last minute (8 hours’ notice) dep with tribute band Dire Streets, at Chipping Sodbury Town Hall. I’ve done quite a few rhythm guitar deps with them over the last few months, but I hadn’t looked at the bass parts for a year, so I took my iPad and read the dots where necessary.

You weren't far wrong 🤣 It's taking a while for me to pull myself together, not helped by having to be at work in my proper job at 8am this morning. Ouch. So.. yes. Matty Healy! Sting! Lewis Capaldi! The latter two were closely-guarded secrets, and genuinely took the audience by surprise. The bad news: they did self-contained performances that didn't need the house band, so I didn't get to play with them. The good news: they were amazing, so I didn't give it a second thought. We did two shows, each around 3.5 hours long (it isn't just music - there's comedy and that too.). We opened the show with Chris Rea's 'Let's Dance'. As well as being a bit poignant, it also captures the essence of the show and fits the band line-up perfectly. We had loads of dancers on stage, and it was a real high-energy start. From there we went into a reel called Rakish Paddy, again with the dancers aided by a quick costume change. After that, Cuddy's Cave, a beautiful musical poem... it's a love letter to the region by the wonderful Nev Clay. Over the next few hours we played songs including December 1963, I Can't Make You Love Me, Always a Woman and Hit the Road, Jack. It all went swimmingly. Of course our special guests grabbed all the headlines, but that's fine by me... the charity is going to benefit massively. Need to sleep now, 'cos we're doing it again in 2028. Here's a clip of the finale:

A new one from Don

I'm really sorry to hear this, but it's super helpful to see honest feedback, so a heartfelt thank you for posting it! Unfortunately the drawback of and being effectively a one-man business* and making everything entirely by hand is that we do need to charge a little more than some other business models do in order to cover our labour costs. Just as a bass made using hand tools will take more time and therefore cost more than one made using a CNC machine, so does a scratchplate. For anyone interested, here's a short video showing how we make each pickguard by hand As it's mostly just me here, at busy times (over xmas and new year in particular) I do have to prioritise making scratchplates over responding to emails- however, we do have a direct order form on our website now, so the old system of needing to message us directly to request a price is obsolete for all but the most awkward of jobs. (Basic modifications are free of charge when ordered via our builder) Despite setting up the order form, I still get a vast number of emails and quote requests a week, but also need to actually fulfil orders, so it can be a difficult balance to strike during busy periods! However, I do personally respond to every single email and enquiry that reaches me as soon as I am able to. The advantage of making everything by hand though, is that in addition to being able to make pretty much any shape imaginable from over a hundred materials, we also offer a 'perfect fit guarantee' and are always super keen to rectify any errors where possible. @three -If you haven't already, please do get in touch if there's anything I can do to correct the 'not perfect' bits you mentioned 🙏 For anyone else interested in giving us a go, we do offer a one-off 20% discount to BC'ers- just drop us a message via our website for a price A typical bass pickguard from us will currently set you back around £55-70 plus shipping, (pre-discount), lead time is approx 10 working days once I have both payment and your original guard/template(there are no standard guards!) Appreciate this is a bit of a long response, hope this is helpful..! Huge thanks also to @Buddster for the kind words! Cheers, Steve *just for clarity- Jack's Instrument Services and Tiny Tone are separate companies- Tiny Tone was set up in 2020 to handle all pickguard orders separately- this way Jack can focus on his luthier work at JIS, and as his sole employee at TT, I handle all pickguards, pedals and wiring here.

Yep - Our first ad was the London/Los Angeles "postcards"-type ad. Memorable indeed! The Lane Poor bass was certainly something different! But hey, it was the 80's!

First gig of 2026 with the Glam band tonight. Another 60th birthday for a guy that's seen us quite a few times in same venue. We seem to do a lot of private parties in that particular club. Birthdays, Retirements and charity events. Anyhow it was the usual birthday party audience. The birthday boy loved it and the audience who were mostly younger age group than we're used to just got pissed and then danced away most of the night. Don't think we filled the dance floor at all tonight but we had dancers up for most songs. 2 x 1hr sets. Had issues with PA sound tonight at one side of the stage. My side was relatively ok but we were getting a fair bit of feedback and then i realised the PA guy had put his bass bin and mid cab on the front of the stage and thereby causing a loud deep drone thru the first set. It was quite bad and enough to trigger feedback thru the mics. At the break i had to tell him to turn the bass bin on that side either off or down a fair bit to see if it helped. It worked a treat. Sound was excellent 2nd set with very little to zero feedback and no deep drone noise. Overall it was a good gig and a good rehearsal for next weeks gig at The Ferry in Glasgow. We've been trying to get in there for a few yrs but they wanted us to do a support first for £100 plus food supplied. We've always knocked it back. This time it was a mates band that had to cancel and they put us forward for it. We originally said no because we were offered same fee as mates band but i had no idea they worked for that little a fee. Guy from the venue called me and asked if we could come down a bit nearer to what they would pay other well known Glam acts. I agreed on a fee to get a foot in the door. Looking forward to that gig as its a good one to get on your gig list. Loading up at the end the snow came on so that was a bit scary at times over the higher ground. Strong winds meant i had to unload the car via the garage back door as front door comes down if wind catches it. No pics or vids as yet. Dave

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.

On another side note i've just joined a blues rock band from Edinburgh area. They've seen me play with the Glam band so no audition required they said. They were just happy to get me the BL said. Guitarist is a mad Gary Moore fan so that should be fun. They seem to be aiming for that Eric Clapton, Cream, Gary Moore style of Blues Rock which can make for some nice interesting basslines. Dave

Some of the basses which have been considered niche designs since they were introduced post-millennium would have been accepted with open arms back in the 1980's. The MusicMan Bongo and Status Streamline, for example, would have flown out of the shops and into the hands of bass players keen to be seen embracing modernity, both in terms of sound and design.

Infection appears to have spread from bassic.de 😃

Good question. Spec sheets are simplistic guides for what an average designer might expect to achieve when designing around it, but there are a lot of specs that are not on the spec sheet because they become more application specific and depend on the skill and experience of the designer in order to exploit more performance. For example, one of ICEPower's older module families did not specify 4 ohm BTL operation and in fact warned against it, yet in spite of all the other manufacturers who had no first hand experience with the platform (and end users with even less knowledge and experience) expressing their doubt and prognosticating that it couldn't possibly work, that the amps would blow up by the thousands, I developed a pair of simultaneous technique that we at Genz Benz/KMC received a patent for that allowed this module family to work without any issues (performance or reliability) into 4 ohms BTL. I worked with the engineers at ICEPower to validate the design (so that our contract could include ICEPower's warranty of an off sheet application), and we built close to 10,000 amplifiers using this technique and have had way LESS issues than other manufacturers attempting do do this their own way once they ran into the patent. These amps are now approaching 18-20 years old, and through my factory service program I replace maybe one or two power modules a year (less than 2% of amps serviced under this program need new module). This IP transferred over to Fender when we were acquired, around the same time that Fender introduced the Rumble V3 series. This is similar to how we obtain a 2 ohm rating on all of the Subway 800 models, 2 ohms was an off-sheet application that required design validation in order for the modules to be covered. Again, well over 10,000 amps with no problems. This is not accidental success, it's the result of understanding to a very deep level the underlying technology. Making a mistake in this sort of application can be very costly, in fact it can ruin a company, that's why we analyze and test and test and test... I typically use the 10% THD threshold in most of my bass amp models because there are elements and techniques that I use in both the preamp and power amp circuits to emulate various aspects of pre and power tube performance. Since tube circuit performance generally includes the addition of harmonic components (the particular harmonic series that's generated varies depending on what's being emulated, the pre and power tube emulation is different too), these added harmonics show up in the output measurement as THD. Most players seem to prefer somewhere between 5 and 20%THD when driving their amps hard (towards rated power), so I chose a mid-point value that represents the average player's sweet spot. This agrees with the experimentation we did when using a Bass 400+ and allowing a group of players to drive the amp where they felt it was in their sweet spot, and it was all in the same 5%-20% range. This is exactly why there is a notation in the specifications that the THD number in the rated power spec includes preamp AND power amp, the rated power is with full context, it can't be separated out.

The madness keeps on going! Vigier Arpege IV, 5-string Features of Series IV: bolt on neck, single bridges, 18V-electronic, separate 3-band-EQ per(!) pickup, super thin neck

Ziricote & Sapele Stingray – Currently Behaving Itself The ziricote drop top on the sapele Musicman build is now fully routed, drilled and shaped. Yes, I did point a router at expensive, dramatic ziricote. Yes, my blood pressure went up. No, nothing exploded. Pickup cavity, control cavity, neck pocket, ferrules – all in. It behaved far better than I deserved. It’s been hand-sanded and treated to Liberon finishing oil and the grain has absolutely gone full “look at me”. The ziricote is dark and moody, all swirls and drama. The sapele back is sitting there like the sensible mate in the group chat, warm and classy. It’s now hanging up to cure properly before the next stage. Once the oil’s hardened off it’ll get shellac, then gloss nitro. Because if you’re going to do dramatic, you may as well go full theatre lighting. Neck-wise, this one’s getting a gloss yellow maple Jazz neck. Proper vintage tint. Against the dark ziricote it’s going to look like it drinks espresso and judges lesser basses. This one’s shaping up to be classy with just enough menace. No rushing it. Let it cure, build the finish properly, and avoid any “character building” mistakes. More soon once the shellac goes on and I inevitably start overthinking something.

Got a good gig coming up this weekend Daryl at The Ferry in Glasgow. Not the best paid but its a venue we've tried in the past and got offered a support slot for silly low money and we said no. This was originally a friends gig but they had to cancel and offered to put us forward for it. When we heard what they were getting paid we initially said no. The venue then called me and asked if we could compromise a bit to similar Glam bands and we decided to give it a try. Its an old ferry that used to cross the Clyde and now converted as a venue. Not been in it before but friends that have played there said its pretty well run gig plus you get free food and drinks after sound check. Only downside is we have a Status Quo support band so that'll be interesting as we don't usually have support bands because of the costume before we go on means we can't arrange the stage when they've finished. The venue have taken that into consideration so we'll see how it pans out. Dave

Decision made on the ziricote / sapele build. After a lot of back and forth about whether to clear it in nitro, I’m keeping this one natural. It’s currently in the process of being oil sanded through to 3000 grit, and once fully cured it’ll be finished in a satin to mid-gloss wax. The ziricote has so much natural contrast and character that burying it under heavy gloss just didn’t feel right. And the sapele back is starting to show some lovely chatoyance as the oil builds — that subtle shimmer when the light moves across it. The neck will be glossier, so there’ll be a deliberate contrast — tactile body, slick playing surface. Still in progress, but I’m liking where this is heading. MGCS – Made to Play. Built to Last.

There are 3 Slabs with consecutive serial numbers, this being the first of the 3. the 2nd one has a Birds Eye maple neck much the same and was down as an Exhibition bass and is documented within the BM book. JE had the 3rd one. there's a 'before, during and after ' diary of the work carried out - And a hand written letter from the deceased previous owner. Doesn't stand for much for authenticity but certainly the facts add up with what is stated within it. I've had a few vintage guitars and basses- im not a dealer nor an expert but I know enough to walk away or buy, and with that and the above it was enough for me to pull the trigger I would have preferred one in original condition.. maybe next time.

@Happy Jack I think you need to work on the footwear. Exercise/walking trainers are letting the side down. Fortunately I have done the research for you and found the perfect pair (and in the sale too). You can thank me later

Well, my dye arrived, and me rubbers (gloves) so I've been bizzy, and its Black'er than a Pit Mans Boots, 1 coat applied, might do another before the masking comes off....

Thank you for your kind comments, ped, and I appreciate you taking the time to watch! It was such an amazing era, I was compelled to tell the story (I'd love to hear other 80's bass experience stories from all over the world.) 😀 Yep, Vigier is definitely a significant piece in the story. I always enjoyed seeing Patrice and Lina at NAMM back in the day. Great basses, killer tone, feel and lightweight! BTW, I'm currently working on my next video, which is a series about The Bass Centre in L.A. The first video will be the origin story which (of course) begins in England and includes Trace Elliot, The Bass Centre in London and SO much more!

Steinberger L2 - the only bass I have never owned that still torments me. I even had the catalogue in the mid-1980's. What I didn't have was enough money to buy one.

I love my MXR bass envelope filter blackout edition

Screws are #4-40 x 1 1/4" (it says in the EBMM parts description). https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A2-ScrewBolt-PhilFillister-UNCoarse0.1120.html has them 1 3/8" long which would need cutting down slightly (for which a nut would be highly advisable, put nut on first, cut bolt, take nut off so it reforms the end of the thread). Edit: Head description is Philips Filister, thread type is UNC.

Caps will go pop any day now, no doubt.

TC Spectracomp. I much prefer it to the big box Cali, FEA Opti and many other super expensive alternatives.

I quite like that. Different colour would be nice, but I'm not really fussed about aesthetics if an instrument plays well. I'd probably bin the Ibby preamp as well and put something else in. Headless on shorties makes so much sense - the string clamp means that just about any string can be used - on the older slant fret one I had I got TI flats to work properly with it without them coming unwound. Care is needed, but it's do-able!

Some simple Charlie Haden; the tune 'Let's Say We Did' from the 1990 John Scofield album, 'Time On My Hands'. Beautiful tune. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/lets-say-we-did-john-scofield/

I got my L2 Steinberger in the early 1990's - I thought I had made it!!!

That is because you are correct and I am slapdash. OK, I have been sucked in to this world. I bought an Epiphone NEWPORT with Roto Tru Bass strings on it. SUCH FUN!!!!!!! I need a 5 string though. I just want a NEWPORT with a wider neck. And I do not want to slide in to Wilcock territory. I am sure they are very fine indeed and I do not begrudge them their price tag. But the NEWPORT is doing it for me as it is. I like the aesthetic. I am on to a complete non starter here, no? I looked at the Ibanez Talman. I am not digging the visuals like the NEWPORT. As if to prove it, here is a Wilcock which would do all I wanted. https://thebassgallery.com/collections/all/products/wilcock-mullarkey-v. But.......................................

I have the GR2 on my board I’ve played through but I always come back to this. I also have a Haz Labs filter but I’ll probably be moving it on. It’s great but takes up a lot of space on the board.

New experience for me last night. Depped for a Showaddywaddy tribute act, performing at one of those big retirement complex places. Not quite fully booked but a very decent crowd and we got them on the dance floor. I've always gravitate towards rock/pop/soul/funk so Showaddywaddy was a bit of a tangent. I enjoyed the challenge of learning 34 songs in a couple of weeks and the lads did a good show. Pleased they had a spare Teddy boy frock coat for me to wear so I looked the part 😎. Deceptively difficult, those Showaddywaddy tunes with all the stop-starts, stabs, false endings etc. I used my 2003 Japanese Fender Jazz, markbass LM4 head and energy 2x12 cab. No food or drink provided for the band other than water and coffee 😞

very good. The decade I took up the bass. I remember lots of that gear coming out, it was an amazing time

Birthday party function gig with my brother’s band - his first gig since finishing chemotherapy last week. None of us were quite match fit, having not played together since before Christmas, and the first half of the gig started very early (7.45pm) to a modest audience. After a very long interval and buffet, the second half started around 10.30pm but the audience were much more up for it - dancefloor was full and it all went well. I’d taken my big rig - Markbass STD102HF cab and Traveller 2x10 stacked, my old precision bass and a Yamaha. I’d really wanted to use my brother’s old red Squier P Bass project bass that I’m slowly working on, but there’s some earth buzz I didn’t have time to sort. Footwear was some sort of Ben Sherman Chelsea boot I bought 10 years ago. Beer by Peroni 0.0%. An hour’s drive home with light snowfall swirling about on the motorway. Bed o’ clock now tho.

I bought a Monaco a few months ago on here and last night was the first gig I've had since playing bass. It's a venue we play a few times a year, so I'm familiar with how my bass rig usually sounds there. It's a social club and we're a band of drums, bass, two guitars, keys and a singer. There's a raised stage in the corner and I'm right in the corner behind the keyboard amp and one of the guitar amps. The PA is vocal only, so all the instruments heard front of house are coming directly from the back line. We never sound check, so it's a case of suck-it-and-see. I'm using the cab with an Ashdown RM800 evoiii and a few pedals. Origin Effects compressor and the Origin Effects DCX bass for some extremely slight grit. I used a MusicMan Stingray Special for this gig. Right from the first song I was impressed by the separation and clarity of the sound coming from my rig. I've not experienced that with my other cabs. I was standing right next to the cab and could hear it perfectly. I enjoyed to overall sound so much that I didn't touch any settings on the amp or pedals throughout the whole 2 hour gig which is unusual as I usually tweak a couple of things as I go. I was worried about whether I was too loud, but it's impossible to tell what it sounds like out front without a soundcheck. I wasn't sure if the clarity of the bass sound was giving me the impression that it was louder than it usually is. So I just stuck with that volume and enjoyed myself! I am very impressed. A fellow bassist said it sounded great and was asking about the cab. He said he was thinking of buying one, so I gave him the website address.

First coats of clearcoat today which is toning down the red nicely.

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. ☺️

I'm on holiday and so have been giving this 1985 Aria Pro II Laser Electric 'Heritage' a bit of an overhaul. Despite playing around with the pickup height I still can't seem to get the bridge pickup to sound less thin and reedy. The neck pickup is really good, but when the two are combined the bass sounds a bit compressed. Anyway, aside from that, this is a very nice bass.