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I have been convinced that the most convenient travel bass is a Wingbass. So here is my new addition, with a poplar body and maple fretboard.

Just thought I'd put this up, I don't remember seeing anything in the rules to say civil engineering can't be posted, but I'm not going to diarise it here. Anyway the point was that after yesterday's talks at the MBB5, here's another example of it's probably not the right way to do it, certainly it's not the professional way, but it worked for me. Even civil engineering needs clamps!

We were in a similar boat and I’ve started to get a basic rig together. I made the classic mistake starting out thinking it was about lighting the band, so have two pole mounted 4 panel LED bars for either side of the stage. We leave them on a basic slow fade from one colour to the next, they’re the same brand so I just set them off at the same time! The best things I’ve bought so far are two LED bars for uplighting the the back of the stage. Thomann jobs, 70 quid for a pair. They make a huge difference, especially if you’re playing in a marquee or up against a white wall, the colour gets soaked up and it’s like you’ve got a screen behind you. I also have two single floor mounted flood panels hooked up to them, lighting the drummer’s silver kit (we call him Ginger Bacofoil) What I’ve since learned however, is that you light live music from the back, going out to the audience. Next step for us is a basic frame and some moving heads running on automatic. Thomann is amazing for lighting gear and it’s easy to carry, small and cool as well- gone are the days of Turkey basting bulb powered lamps. Obligatory photo of our rig in action (also highlighting how hard it is to keep leads tidy on a white floor!)

Here's a representative selection. The abalone is too thin to use with a bass, but too pretty not to keep in the tin :-)

I'm not sure how interested anyone will be in this cab but I'll offer it up for comments and questions in the hope that some of you might find it useful. At the recent South West Bass Bash I demonstrated just about the simplest way to self build a bass cab. I took 42 minutes from the first glue to a working cab, my aim was to demonstrate just how easy building your own cab can be. It was really just built for a demonstration and I didn't expect to use the cab much but it turned out better than I expected, so I thought I'd share the design. This cab is effectively the little brother of the cab I designed on here a couple or years ago, 14kg, 350W, 122dB and costing about£150 to build. You can find the information here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/227904-1x12-cab-design-diary The original cab was a 50l cab based upon the Beyma SM212 driver and designed to produce lot's of deep well controlled bass with a neutral uncoloured response, several people here have built versions of the cab and I've been gigging it for two years. My problem with the original cab has been that in rooms with poor acoustics there has been too much bass and I was tending to dial down the deep bass and boost the upper bass. It sounds great in non resonant rooms and out of doors but has way too much bass if you are shoved into the corner of a low ceilinged room. Since I had promised to demonstrate a cab build anyway I thought I'd squeeze the Beyma into a smaller cab which would reduce it's bass output but give it a 2dB boost in the lower mids/upper bass which I thought would help cut through in difficult spaces. UPDATE It looks like Beyma are about to pull the SM212. Coincidentally I've just been given a Beyma 12CMV2 to try in this cab, it has the same magnet but with a heavier cone, stiffer suspension and a new voice coil. It also has a pressed steel chassis and is considerably cheaper. The good news is that in this cab it actually sounds better. The bass response is basically unchanged, but one of the frequency anomalies of the SM212 has gone and there is a broad boost in output in the upper mids which makes the sound lighter and more detailed. I'm still investigating and haven't tried it at a gig for COVID reasons but I'm happy to recommend this speaker if anyone is thinking of a build. If I get more information I'll put it here. If you do fancy building one yourself then the panels for the cab are 2x 374mmx290mm, 2 450mmx 290mm and 2 450mmx350mm (all 12mm ply) the front baffle is set back 30mm to allow for the grille so internally the cab is 350mmx450mmx236mm. the ports are made of drainpipe/downpipe which is 64mm internal diameter 160mm long You should be able to build it from these dimensions and the video. thanks to WoodinBlack for filming this. I loaned the cab to derreybass who has written a review, many thanks to him too. I'll save a space under for the review and put up some more pics when I get my upload problems sorted. Thanks also to Mrs Scrumpy for lunch which is far too obvious in the video

If only there was a way to get virtually lag free use of my software synth patches ( or any of the multitude of patches of my daw plug ins etc etc) but triggered from my bass out on a gig and save the need for three different pedals to do a sub standard pastiche of said tones. Oh wait! What’s that Orange? The Teleport allows you to convert both analog audio signals (an instrument for example) to digital to be processed with the many applications available. Additionally, the Teleport gives you the ability to convert digital audio signals to analogue (through mixers, D.I. boxes, amplifiers, etc. £99 for said device!! https://orangeamps.com/omec-teleport/ Have I missed a thread on this or have folk just not been aware of it? Looks like it could bridge the gap for using the bass to basically trigger killer synth and more via a laptop/desktop/iPad either at home or live without fancy pick ups and such! Looking forward to giving one a go!

The Plastic Mojo Band played our first real gig this afternoon, and I thought it might be interesting to compare stories. (It's probably been done here before...) We came together as a workshop project a while back, which led to a friends-and-family gig in March with a few peeps drifting in off the street. Decided to stay together as a band, using a practice room over a local pub. The landlady overheard us and asked us to play this afternoon, clear that we would just be background noise - which suited us, as it took some pressure off. Apologised that she could only give us beer and food and not money - we weren't expecting even that! This a completely acoustic gig. (Yes, acoustic bass.) We started inside the pub, which has a decent piano, but the very few customers were all outside in the good weather, so she asked us to play outside, which meant that the keys player had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon but drink with his friends. (We did drag him up to play hand percussion for a couple of songs.) A new (very good) guitar player who we'd barely met. Our excellent lead singer couldn't be there. Luckily we're a blues band, and can jam most of the standards. We played for three hours (well I did, the others drifted in and out) making up most of it as we went along. We got a bit of applause, and we've been asked back, so we must have been ok. I've been playing om's and jams for a few years now, but it's still sinking in that for the first time I've played a gig that was booked by someone I didn't know, and thanked with food and beer. After 45 years of believing I'd never be able to play at all. I realise this will seem pretty pathetic to many of you, but we all have to start somewhere... So how was the first time for you? :-)

↑↑↑ Agree with this. I play weddings/functions and the FOH is 100% covered by the PA, so my only concern is the on-stage sound. Try doing gig with no bass amp, and instead put the bass through the monitors. What I did for a while to give me confidence was set up my bass rig as normal but then keep it muted. Therefore I did not have to worry, since I reasoned that if could not hear myself for whatever reason during the gig, I could just unmute the amp. But in the end, I never needed to. I have now sold my bass rig and just use a powered speaker monitor.

Well, I didn't do much this weekend as it is really hot and everyone was out wanting to enjoy their gardens without the sound of routers. Not that anyone else around here cares but I do. I did actually do a bit of sanding on saturday morning. The shed is almost ready, so won't be a problem for long Anyway, couldn't let the weekend die without any work, so I routed the pickup and neck from the template to the depth of the smallest router I bought (I think half an inch). Did the whole thing by router, what fun that is! Anyway, it is enough to see how it is going and enough so that if I need to change anything I can. The pickups fit well in the holes. A bit too well, ie, if I paint or finish it with anything then it won't fit any more, it is a little snug! Haven't tried the neck yet, but I believe that is a little snug anyway, because it is what I was most concerned about. Anyway, it now seems to be becoming a thing, slowly but surely.

Did four gigs this weekend.. first (Friday) was in the Cheyne Walk club in Northampton, hoping to see our regulars in, but Craig Charles was at the Roadmender, so our audience was thin. Saturday night was at Joes Bar in Higham Ferrers - big boxy wooden floored pub, but it got very busy so we got a pretty decent sound and the crowd loved it. "That Bloke" that you always get at a gig was dancing on the bar, completely off his face - almost fell off the bloody thing twice. Sunday started with a 4'oclock gig at the Desborough services club - out in the garden - loads of families - very hot, no-one danced, but it went down well. Then rapid tear down and dash to the Cuttle Inn in Long Itchington, near Rugby. Set up in 45 minutes including backdrop, lights, PA, Kit backline and had a great gig. 'That Bloke' here was a huge geezer who was trying to dance, despite him being totally plastered - he fell over onto our PA stack and almost brought it down (we were using a great sounding, but lightweight BOSE system with Sub cabs and an array of small speakers for the mid and top. Doesn't stand up to 15 stone TW*TS falling into them. That aside, the pub was packed and they danced and danced from the off. Despite being totally knackered after four two hour sets plus rig, derig and travel it was one of those nights when you could have gone on for ages.

Love the fade on the body! I’ve been speaking to Andy @ Wingbass myself lately. Really helpful guy who is pretty much willing to do almost anything I’ve suggested, which is very cool. I’m saving up...! edit: Saying that, based on the recent chat over in the ACG thread I may end up going the home grown route.

I always get the feeling that you are reading the words but not getting the meaning. I was trying to illustrate the point: focus on playing well and sounding good and you will open more doors than by just playing expensive gear. I bought that Wal for £700 but the price is irrelevant. Expensive strings (or anything else) are certainly not a prerequisite to sounding good but there are points in the scale of prices where "sounding OK", becomes "sounding good", becomes "sounding better". We all decide where we are on that scale, but my point is to try a little further up the scale and see if that brings benefits. Don't be satisfied with "OK", try for "better". If you do or don't find improvements at least you tried and you might actually end up sounding better than you did.

@Al Krow I agreed with everything you said until you mentioned playing through your MB Combo.....

It's easy to confuse the terms 'cheap' and 'inexpensive'. They are not, however, completely interchangeable. Cheap in price does not systematically equate to cheap in quality. The opposite is also true: higher cost is not necessarily higher quality. Just sayin'.

@josie how about a pic of what sounds like quite an amazing pic collection?

There seems to be a few sellers on eBay clearing these gigbags out at crazy prices, cheapest here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blake-Bravo-bass-guitar-case-New/253605991627?hash=item3b0c1854cb:g:6RQAAOSwgAJa50x2 Ordered one myself so will know what it's like shortly but does anybody have experience of them? From what I can gather they were a UK company supplying high quality gigbags but they seem to have gone out of business hence the sudden influx of bargains on eBay. Looks like a great quality gigbag with features and build quality you don't see on a £30 bag. No affiliation just saw something cheap and thought I'd share, don't blame me if it falls apart!

In our function wedding trio it's FOH/IEMs. Brilliant for load ins and outs, some of which can make a pub fire escape look like a bowling green. For example, we played Crewe Hall on Satdy night, and while it's a magnificent Jacobean Mansion, when Sir Randolph Crewe was building it he gave very little thought to the problems of loading in and out to a gig in the Long Gallery on the 2nd floor. You could have offered me any backline bass rig in the world for the evening, and I'd still have told you to stuff it. Politely, of course.

You've made me look up Wishbass - I can't un-see those now!

\Wayne's World!

My Schroeder 1212L/Burman set-up. Wish I'd kept the Burman gear, but it was incredibly heavy... Sounded (and looked) like nothing else.

As below, plus $40 to have the fretboard dyed from the 0-12th fret. Still debating the microPOG option as I owned one a couple of years ago for a day and immediately returned it as I wasn’t a fan of the tone at the time. Andy has said he would happily install an Aguilar Octamizer for me though! That’d be another couple hundred bucks on top... I’m thinking Aguilar or Nordstrand for the P-pickups. Leaning toward Aggy at the moment.

Picks are really for the extra brightness a pick adds when dealing with other instruments in the same sonic range. And when keyboards and synths really became a staple in music (late 60's onward) a lot of bass players opted to use a pick to cut though. I mainly use fingers but it because I lose picks all the time as well. I like using a pick and sometimes that is the sound the rest of the band wants. So I am easy either way. If up to me though I would use my fingers as that is what I like to do.

There a bit different....... but I like them!!

What a great name for a band! And you're an 8 piece (not 7)! What a fun gig you had in June last year (and some nice bass playing too!)

Looking good there scalpy.

I will definitely look at doing some mods, yours seems so versatile, but in the meanwhile I'll just play it every chance I get. The sound is good and it is the only 5 string I've got, so I need to practise a bit more on it. I played in through my Ashdown head with Markbass cab, both with and without octaver pedal and it just sounds awesome. I was also concerned about reaching the strings, due to the single cut design, but so far it's no problem.

Eurolite for the 4 panel LEDs, got a package with case, footswitch and stand, around £250 each. I wouldn’t get them again though, the stairville stuff is better, better autorun programs, brighter, and not as fussy if you want to use xlr cables instead of dmx (which I don’t have a clue about.) Can’t see the exact bundle doing a turbo search for the uplighters but there’s be loads of applications for something like this one- https://m.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_240_8_rgb_dmx_3_bundle.htm?o=31&search=1525705879

@scalpy - very helpful indeed, thanks!

Aye! You and your bloody tyres!!!! On that, My £3k Honda Del Sol got Falken tyres at £250 a wheel. My £25k Nissan QQ gets £75 no name tyres.

At MBB5 on Saturday Andyjr veneered what we think was a Paulogrady body. It offered no indication that he was cutting into it when he trimmed the veneer with a scalpel. There were a couple of places that got unintentionally scalloped. On the plus side, it is dead easy to dress out minor damage. It is feather light though. Probably about the same as Balsa. For these, I'd say a veneered top and back would be a good way to go. Y'bugger! You've got me thinking about a scratch build now.

Hey Mark - I'd say go for it! I've totally come round to benefits of having an active EQ as an alternative to purely passive and the s735A gives you the choice of either! And it's around half the price of a P35. Just did a quick trawl of the thread to see who's posted they have one. Well there are several guys who bought (and seem to love) their s734A with @hookys6stringbass describing it as being almost on a par with the legendary BB1200s (which lucky so and so - he also has!). The guys who bought the s735A are @jazzbass and @ChrisJaxon. Jazzbass got his back last Sept, so it would be interesting to see how he is getting on with his and whether he still has it. And Chris certainly seems to be VERY happy with his.

The only help I can offer is to check the planning regulations. Where I am, if it's wood you can build anything up to a certain height without planning permission as long as it's far enough away from a road. Brick built and planning permission needs to be sought and building regs apply etc.

It’s a slippery slope I think building is more addictive than crack!! I’d go for a mix of option 1 and 2 as you have a lot of choices for lightweight timber ie Paulownia, Swamp Ash, Basswood etc also semi hollow it and that would make it even lighter......

IMO we should all strive to sound the best we can. If someone doesn't care about how they sound then we are not on the same bass planet and none of my posts are for them. I used to play in a smoky dive off Regent Street. A horrible, smelly, bad sounding dump of a place. I insisted on bringing my Wal, and Ampeg gear rather than using their awful no-name combo. One night I was offered a gig in a pro band by the band leader, who had dropped in for a beer. That lead to touring the UK with good musicians and paid a lot of the bills. OK so you might not want to go pro but its a nice feeling and an affirmation of your bass playing if someone asks. I don't care where or what you are playing, you shoot yourself in the foot on every gig that you don't try to sound your best and play your best. And I had a set of DR's on my bass that night.

Four things in response on this beautiful bank holiday Monday morning: - when you put it like that, there's very little to disagree with! - putting £70 strings on a bass costing £210 is like putting tyres costing £700 on a car costing £2,100. Who does that? You don't put very expensive tyres on a cheap car. - Flea is awesome. Californication. James Jamerson was in a different league higher (and higher), still. - I'll have a think about changing my name by deed poll to "Bunkum" or possibly starting a band with that name; it's got a nice ring to it!

If you have wired this all correctly (it looks like you have) then the speakers are in parallel and the combined impedance is 4ohms. Well done by the way. I'm so pleased your cab worked out well enough for you to build a second. You'll be amazed at just how much that second speaker does for your sound.

There’s certainly an irony in a bunch of people on the Internet trying to help you figure it out by looking at their... screens! 😂

That's answered here... Your First Ever Gig..? ... Well done, and please stop selling yourself short; you're doing darned good, better than several here, and far better than anyone who's never even tried to play bass..! Keep going; onward and upward..!

No choice - long-standing RSI in the right elbow means I can't use fingers. So, you work with what you've got. This has led to an account with TimberTones and serious Pick Acquisition Syndrome :-) So many options in material - resin, wood, stone, metal - and shape - size, thickness, sharpness of the corners, thumb-groove or not - your sound can change dramatically with a change of pick. I've been using flat hardwood with my electrics, but for an acoustic gig today found a thicker, blunter-tipped, thumb-grooved resin pick was easier to play and got a better sound. Stone with sharper point for flat-wound strings (fretless). Ymmv, but definitely worth experimenting.

My first bass was a 5, and I completely agree with all said above about the hand-position advantages. My lead singer favours E, and it's easier rooted on the 5th fret of the B, plus you have an easy 5th below anything on the E string. Constance Redgrave (Spikedrivers) strings her 4 BEAD, and I'm thinking of doing that with the one 4 I love too much to give up. One of my 5s is EADGC, set up for my ex-band where a lot of the songs worked well with a high bassline. Again it's about position rather than range. I'd been playing above the 12th fret on the G, and it was much easier to move down the fretboard on the C.

If that’s the case, then get yourself the B7K Ultra V2! You will not regret it

I still love mine, I intended to upgrade nearly everything and so far I’ve upgraded nothing, I’ve not needed to. I gig it regularly and it’s a joy to play.

^ Thanks bud! Acoustics is a big subject and I didn’t really know where to start or what to aim for when I set out... so hopefully some of the detail above might be useful to other noobs. But yeah, it took quite a lot of faffing around - probably more than the industry standard recommendation for faffing around! - but it was also strangely enjoyable. ...I clearly need to get out more.

Hey Josh - thanks very much for taking the time to give me your thoughts. As it happens, I had an unexpected bonus from work, so the B7K Ultra is within budget now. However, I think I will take the time to give the EHX a whirl. Cheers buddy!

Playing at the Ska & Northern Soul festival yesterday in Berwick upon Tweed... while we're not exactly either fully ska or Northern Soul... but it went pretty well. I only got my hands on a little mobile phone video of one of our newer songs... It was fun. https://www.facebook.com/jose.d.heras.7/videos/10155999696566273/

It was a really good night; our last few pub gigs have been a bit underwhelming mainly due to largely apathetic crowds, despite our best efforts. It does get you down a bit so I think we all needed a really good gig. We play modern-ish rock and indie covers, stuff like Green Day, Foo Fighters, Muse, Royal Blood etc with a few oldies given an alt rock treatment, for example Addicted To Love. It’s all energetic stuff but I think on Friday it wouldn’t have mattered what style we played; I felt like the crowd were just up for a good night regardless. Still buzzing now!

That is quite right - there is a difference (although I would be strangely interested in hearing someone trying to play Whole Lotta Rosie in fives)...!

Update: Thomann have said I can have the bass repaired in the UK and they will just refund me direct