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When it's a P-rick? Sorry - as you were...

Just got my hands on a rather splendid Washburn Chicago Series B-80 from around 1989 Superb condition with a very fetching Blue / Pink crackle finish, 2 band active, thru neck with a 'Stephen's Extended Cutaway' amazing condition Had quite a high retail price when new, I got it for considerably less I play in an 80s Rock Tribute show so its ideal www.that80srockshow.co.uk , although not everyones cuppa tea \m/ I can find very little about these basses .... anyone know anything?

Good evening, fellow bass humans. I'm Jam O'Malley, I play in a band called forest of fools, and we are a six-piece festival band featuring bass, melodeon, drums, percussion, vocals and sousaphone. We call the genre Jump-Up Folk, and it's a high-energy mashup of folk, funk, drum & bass and psychedelic. I play a Warwick Thumb BO 4, a Warwick Infinity SN 5 (tuned E-C currently) and occasionally acoustic and fretless if I get carried away... Mostly playing through a Markbass 15" CMD combo - 18kg! - perfect for trudging around muddy UK festivals! I've spent a while gawping at the incredible basses and wealth of knowledge on these pages and I'm excited to be a part of it. Much love, J

Best if just one of us suffers

She's no looker, that's for sure!

Appreciate the advice all. In the end I bought those Glowtech ones. Really easy to apply and work a treat. I bought a keyring UV light to charge em with and they worked great. They feel pretty well stuck on too. problem solved. As for "Why worry about seeing them?......" Why do you think?

That's great that yours was perfect out the box, was no problem tbh for me because I would be setting it up to how I like it and I do love cleaning my instruments as well. It is amazing just how well these basses are and how much bass you actually get for the money

Ooooh, I like that But then again I like fish fingers in gravy.

If this pedal will achieve anything, it will bring this young 'rapper' with his fistful of $1 bills a few more hits on his Youtube channel!

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? :-)

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.

Also message Ashdown to see if this is a fault they`re aware of, and if they can advise as to how to progress. I`ve found them excellent on customer service issues and having their advice to provide the seller with could be a real help.

Just gigged my Greenboy Fearless Dually 2x15 (built by Tricky Audio) - as always, very easy to load in and out of the car and roll through a crowded beer marquee (or pick up and waddle with for a while where needed!). A lovely tone from the Faital 400s, suits a P in a blues/rock/soul combo beautifully. But most importantly, the colour matches the bass

If you end up using just the Rumble amp sim, may as well save money and just get the Rumble V3! However the SVT and Bassman models sounded pretty damn good to me in the demos.

+1 for paulownia if you want lightweight. Check this out on eBay: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F332551617312 Although it looks more Explorer like than the TB it’s described as, nothing a bit of sanding won’t resolve for something a bit more ‘Bird-esque though!

The 500 will be loud enough for any pub/club gig when paired with an extension cab to get the full power I reckon. Never tried the 800 but it gets some love on here.

Thanks for the review. The comment of 'best in a band situation' was very informative. I have the studio 40 and not in a band. I am really enjoying the 'Rumble' amp sim on it. (Is it weird that a Rumble amp has a Rumble sim on it?) I am pressed between the Rumble 500 and Stage 800 when I upgrade and start looking for bands to join. Thanks again

The Fender Rumble 100 V3 has served me well. Can't fault it.

Good stuff. In all fairness an hour before visiting the shop I’d been fiddling with my MkIV Trace, so anything short of military grade would have felt less robust by comparison 😆

AFAIK the Hohners were designed to be contemporary licensed all-wood versions of the L/XL series Steinies (and the guitar versions). I briefly owned a fretless Hohner Jazz copy that was easily as good as a MIM Fender. Never owned a B series but I had a Jack for a while. Really good instruments, even if they did kind of "defeat the object" of the Steinberger at least in terms of construction.

If you're getting hum on an un-connected amp or combo that's another problem entirely - perhaps it's worth Portable Appliance Testing the amp to make sure there isn't an earth problem? Otherwise, a 230V isolating transformer may help...

Ground lift exists to disconnect the earths of connected equipment to prevent earth loop hum... So it doesn't actually disconnect the earth connection from the equipment, only from the return cable in an xlr in/out.

I like fretless basses. I fell in love with the sound of a Rob Allen 4 string fretless bass. It just sounded better than anything I'd heard before. So I bought it and discovered 2 problems. It was fretless and had 4 strings. Although I'm very set in my 5 string ways I'm sure I could have coped with either "issue" on its own but together I just couldn't make it work for me. I used it in the 2 bands that I thought would appreciate the fretless sound. One band leader shrugged his shoulders and said it was OK and the other said he preferred the sound of my Precision! So I sold it. I think the answer for me is a 5 string fretted Rob Allen, but that's a different thread.

I’ll just push him back in, one sec. *gnnnnhhhhghh* OK as you were. Admin stuff etc.

This is interesting, it's got me wondering about my Encore P. There's some history here: Including the comment on headstock shape that "Fender style ones were the earliest, made in India. They had another typical feature - square, boxy string trees instead of the disc shaped ones." That seems to nail yours as 1980s.

We have 2 x 12" RCF tops (700w RMS) and a single 15" RCF (700w RMS) sub, and although we're only a trio, it's plenty for pubs and weddings/functions that aren't huuuuge (300+) halls, with everything going through it. We've never been asked to turn it up, anyway... I'd agree about EQing for punchy bass, though - it's a whole different world from voiced bass cabs...

I have just looked and i don't have a picture of it all set up sorry! These are the LED cans: https://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_stage_tri_led_bundle_complete.htm Here are the LED wash bars: https://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_240_8_cw_ww_dmx.htm Disco ball thingy and moving LED can were bought second hand. This video shows the LED wash bars, but don't have anything with all of it in action

Cracking basses. The Ambrosia Maple (right) weighs 7lb, Bloodwood (left) weighs 12lb. Bloodwood doesn't float in water,that's how dense it is Though Steve-W briefly worked for Ovation Guitars he's always been involved in hillbilly music. That's his market, $200-$300 hand made basses,that they look hand made is intentional. Let's face it a $20K Fodera AJ would look out of place in North Carolina (median family income $48K).

Good point, and we might do in future. It's not a commercial pub, but run as a non-profit social enterprise community centre (and an excellent pub too), which was why were were there in the first place, and were happy to play to support them. I don't think we'd want to ask for free time at a time when they could otherwise have another band there paying for it, but we might try to negotiate something off-peak next time we play there.

If I was in a function/wedding band, I'd opt for no backline. Just a decent FoH & IEM. Much easier to set up & get everyone balanced properly. May be worth employing a soundy if needed.

↑↑↑ 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.

Here’s the revised shape I’m not entirely sure how the bolt on neck will work but I’m sure I’ll figure something out Just in case I doesn’t work out here’s another version

PS: Knobs ...and to finally finish off, some control knobs. I wanted something different to the usual Fender types knobs. These are Gibson style clear knobs and they look great! Done.

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'.

Not a single problem here I'm guessing. Are you wireless or have a long lead? Take a stroll out front during a sound check and listen for yourself and then decide if your bass is too loud or not. If it's OK out front, which is where it needs to be nicely balanced and you still can't hear what you're playing, you need to get your cabs nearer to your ears or perhaps tilt the cabinet back so you can hear it. Does the keys player have a busy left hand? Your band mates could be hearing that and blaming you. Is the guitarist stealing your frequencies? Too much bass on the guitar can sound an awful lot like bass. Do you cut a lot of mids? This can cause you to not hear what you are playing and to turn up to compensate. It's very unlikely that your gear is at fault.

6th form college, it was a “battle of the bands” (shudder) 4 songs, 15 minutes. Loved every second. Knew I wanted to do it forever.

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.

Excellent. Now to start looking for gig number 2.

This is gold dust Well done and I hope it keeps going for you

Well, its not good value if it doesn't work Having said that, I doubt it is an Ashdown amp thing specifically, things can and do fail when they are new, from all brands. I would sent it back as faulty, as it is faulty, describe the fault, that after an hour it cut out, so it cuts out when hot, then not accept anything other than a replacement or a refund if they can't replace. No reason you have to worry about how you approach it, if they know it cuts out after an hour they are either going to just send it back to the manufacturer (most likely) or test it for an hour (unlikely).

Absolutely this. I've had a five for a few weeks now and I find it much easier and more intuitive than the four. Having two full octaves over five frets anywhere on the fretboard has made it instinctive to root on the B string whenever I can. And it makes a huge difference to reading too - I'm trying to wean myself off tabs.

I had a really nice JJ jewel, which I used at work to take soul band rehearsals. It had got knocked over once before and had a hairline crack around the neck pocket. One day we were working on ‘performance’ and they decided I should demonstrate the Pete Townsend leap I was on about, which I promptly did. Upon landing, I felt the strings go slack and the body drop, which I caught. Looking down the neck was completely separated from the body. I put the dismembered guitar on the floor and the trumpet player asked me ‘Is it dead sir?’ When I confirmed i thought it indeed was he picked up his instrument and played the last post as solemnly as he could manage, the cheeky begger.

Bought a bass from jflesh and I'm very pleased with our transaction. I'd happily deal with him again. Many thanks Guillaume.

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

As Wilko Johnson once said "If you make a mistake, just look brash and the audience will think they heard it wrong"