Leaderboard

It has landed! After the unfortunate situation where yesterday's postman had to take retirement on medical grounds (mainly due to him not being medically alive for his gross failure of duty), today's replacement postman handed me a package hoping to placate my all consuming thirst for distortion pedals. So, here we are. The smallest pedal I've ever seen with so many controls. Plus my new rizla box. Maybe. Thanks to Darren for sorting this out. Will be having a play later today after I get my alibi sorted for yesterday with my legal team.

Photos....

When we set up to play in a pub, the people who are there have chosen to be there. They could have gone somewhere else, but this is where they want to be. Some (a few, a very small number) are there specifically to see us, some are there to check out the music because it's a music pub, and some are there for all sorts of other random reasons. Once we start playing, those punters who don't like rock music will leave. Those punters who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also leave, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those punters who DO like what we're doing will be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here". By the time we play our last set, the people in the pub will have self-selected to be only those who actually like what we're doing, and who will respond to the music ... dance maybe, or sing along, or at least applaud after each song. The gig is far more involving for the band, far more fun for everyone, far more likely to bring repeat bookings. ************************************************************************************ When we set up to play in a club (Social, WMC, whatever), the people who are there are always there. Most of them cannot imagine going somewhere else on a Saturday night, and if they do their friends will ask where they were. They are there for the venue and to see their friends, and the music is almost incidental. They sit there with their arms folded, staring at us, and daring us to entertain them. It's THEIR club and we are the intruders. Once we start playing, those members who don't like rock music will complain. Those members who don't like our particular brand of rock music will also complain, but not so quickly. Meanwhile, those members who DO like what we're doing will NOT be texting or phoning their mates and saying "great band on tonight, you should come down here", because the club is Members Only. After the first set, one of the members (almost invariably a guitarist, allegedly) will buttonhole a bandmate and explain in enormous detail what we are 'doing wrong', advise the lead guitarist and the drummer to play louder because no one can hear them, and then disappear into the smoker's paradise for the rest of the evening. After the second set, there will be a 30-minute hiatus while everyone pretends they've joined the Jarrow Hunger March of 1936 so that they can get excited about the Meat Raffle. Have these people never heard of Sainsburys? By the time we play our last set, most of the people in the club will be sitting grim-faced and glowering their sense of entitlement at us, waiting for us to finish so that they can return to playing Abba on the jukebox (last Saturday it was Phil Collins!). Those who actually enjoy what we are doing and want to dance will be intimidated off the dancefloor by the drunken poseurs trying to throw shapes while playing air guitar, and stumbling into the PA. The club gigs are well-paid and the venues are usually excellent ... big stage, loads of power, built-in lightshow, etc. But in truth if I never play another club I won't miss it. Silvie and I do all the gig-getting for my main band, and we have already decided not to bother with clubs at all for 2019. Life's too short.

Well, since completing the holy trinity bass collection of Jazz, Precision & Stingray that trinity may now have to be broken as i decide which one to sacrifice for my new addition. I've carefully negotiated with Mrs Raslee to keep hold of what I've got right now whilst I work through the honeymoon period - maybe she'll forget ahem!. I have always liked Warwick basses, they just feel right, perfect adjustments and always a quality build. However, I was never overly keen on that phallic top horn on the Corvette styles I previously owned. I vowed one day I'll try the Streamer and today was that day. The stars aligned in space, the sun shined on my wallet, Bootsy was on the one, Trump had his mouth closed and my wife was seemingly on good acid (or at least she must have been on something to have supported the purchase) - and better still Mansons in Exeter had a used Streamer Stage 1 and a LX both in natural (preference). So after engineering the trip to Exeter rather than another fricken National Trust jaunt i plugged the yummies in, also tired a Manson bass too whilst the wife and little ones went off shopping. The LX as expected had a lot more growl, dare I say harsh compared to the S1. I decided right away a no on the Mansons bass...nice but pricey and the tone sounded a bit thin to my ears. Then I tried the Streamer S1 and I was really taken by the versatility of tone on tap, further still it felt astonishingly lovely to play and was a nice weight too, not really owned many neck throughs before either. Both the LX and S1 were nice but the S1 was the clear winner to my ears ....so I text the wife to tell her 'I love her'. I have not researched the build year yet but if feels probably mid 00's or later. Played for the last 3 hours and I'm kicking myself why have i never played one of these beauts before...right now I love it.....of course it could be the honeymoon period...but it is good, very good...in fact I'll end this NBD here....

We are a London based Singer/songwriter Guitarist,Bassist and Drummer Who are seeking second Guitarist's to start an original QUALITY Pop Rock band. When i say pop i mean in the good sense of the word with a difference. We are Looking for pro/semi pro musicians from 19 upwards Who dare to dream and believe in what their doing and would want to stay in the band and are looking to push hard and get ahead IDEALLY FULLY COMMITTED PEOPLE I am looking for a Lead Guitarists or Rhtyhm Guitarist with (Energy,Style,Stage Presence,Charisma and possibly own Gear Bv even better) who know their instruments like they know their prick lol who are really creative to help in the creation of new material however if you are a guitarist who can play well and tick all the boxes but is not that creative you may still be of use :-0 !!IMAGE IS IMPORTANT!! SO A GOOD LOOK IS REQUIRED OR A KOOL QUIRKY MUSICIAN LOOK IT ADDS WEIGHT The music is as important also We take musical influences from across the board including :Kings of Leon, Guns and Roses ,Lenny Kravitz , The strokes, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Biffy Clyro , Foo Fighters, The Cure , Black keys, Michael Jackson ,Motown , James Brown, Queens Of the Stone age, Queen , Beatles, The who, Rolling stones, Led Zepplin , Artic monkeys, Jimi hendrix, Linkin Park, Bring me the horizon, Janes Addiction etc etc. We are open minded and down to earth, We have lots of written material and are VERY SERIOUS and if you write or have any other contributions they will be welcomed however (JAMMING IS ALSO A GOOD WAY OF CREATING NEW MATERIAL AND TAKING THE MUSIC IN A DIRECTION EVERY MEMBERS OF THE BAND IS HAPPY WITH) We are looking to make modern rock so We are looking for like minded people who want to move fast once everything is together :-0 !!BUT ARE PATIENT AND WILLING TO TAKE THE TIME TO BUILD MORE QUALITY MATERIAL !! WE HAVE SONGS TO LEARN READY TO GO OUT AND PLAY WE LOOKING TO BOOK SHOWS ASAP (HOWEVER I FEEL STRONGLY IT IS IMPORTANT TO CREATE MATERIAL AS A BAND THAT CAN BE ADDED TO THE SET LIST SO DONT THINK IT WILL BE ONLY ABOUT THE MATERIAL WE HAVE BUT IT GETS US OUT THIER PLAYING AND MOVING FAST ) NUMEROUS INDUSTRY CONTACTS (If your interested you can send me a private message) (Please send a visual/audio of yourself playing and any social media links) PS. Although We are taking this seriously. Getting on and having a laugh together is just as important as making the music. NO BIGOTS your Boring And Strictly No TIME WASTERS you're useless lol. CAUTION (If you are really busy with work or busy with life or Any other reason which will stop you from giving 100% then this is not for you ok its a sacrifice of your time and effort at the best of times so its more than just a hobby for us

B2ADB looks like some odd Soundgarden tuning 😆

85/86 I was writing songs with a guy who was an amazing singer but had difficulties with various addictions which had more or less brick-walled a promising career for him. We were taken under the wing of record producer who was well known up here in Scotland at the time and he bankrolled a proper full scale studio demo. He then hawked the tapes around various record companies and Polydor was the keenest. So he and I went down to London to meet with the record company. In the office, the A&R guy was going crazy about the songs - "This stuff is perfect for the States", "Fantastic Songs", "Great Singing and playing" etc. etc. As we left the meeting with hugely positive vibes, we held it together until the lift arrived and as soon as the doors closed, my producer friend was punching the air with delight. He had a lot of experience in the business and reckoned that a lucrative deal was virtually in the bag. Two days later, Polydor call him up. "It's XXX XXXXXX singing, isn't it?" was the question. Unfortunately, my singer's reputation for drug use and related unreliability cast a large shadow and the idea was dropped instantaneously. Fast forward about a year and I'm earning a crust playing for various cabaret acts. One is a Drifters tribute act and the promoter/ manager has the habit of bringing to the UK former stars of Motown or whatever who's careers have slid somewhat from the heady days of the 60s. One of these is Ben E King. As we're a Drifters band, we are chosen to back Ben E. for a tour. It all kicks off inauspiciously in the usual way for those things at that time with a smashed windscreen in the tour van in the middle of the night driving down from Scotland to the Isle of Wight- the first date of the tour is the end of season party for the staff at some holiday camp. That wild weekend was a story in itself but the tour went on at equally salubrious venues for a while till one day Ben got a call during the soundcheck. No mobiles - he was called away to the telephone. When he reappears, he says that apparently, due to the recent release of the Rob Reiner movie Stand by Me, his song of the same name which we open the set with every night has just gone to No 1 in the Uk charts! Suddenly, we're part of a 60s revival tour and are playing to packed houses in big venues that you've seen on tour schedules by the big bands - Liverpool Empire, Colston Halls, Bristol, Edinburgh Playhouse etc. Talk about 15 minutes of fame? Then Ben went back to the States and that was that. These two episodes in their own ways are my nearest misses but what the heck - I've now been playing the bass and gigging regularly since 1973 and I'm still going, still learning and still enjoying it!

I have seen many advertisements of this nature over the decades and they really have absolutely nothing at all to do with forming a working band. A cursory analysis of the content reveals that the advertiser's true (if unconscious) purpose is to find some friends with a common taste in music and politics, and a desire to 'have a laugh together'. And - as in a lonely hearts ad - he'd like to see a picture of the respondent. Really, all that stuff about "dare to dream and believe in what their (sic) doing and would want to stay in the band" is the 19 yr-old male guitard's equivalent of "cosy evenings by the fire and looking for a long-term relationship". IMO, a band of this nature "rehearses" often but without direction, talks a lot, has loads of hissy fits about who likes who better and seldom if ever performs in front of an audience.

I know what you mean, Mick. I`ve been racking my brains deciding what basses to keep/sell, and have finally made my decision, being the three US Precisions that I have that have no mods at all, plus a Vintage Tony Butler Sig Precision as backup. I`d been thinking of different permutations, colours, value etc, and then realised I was looking at it all wrong, simply which do I like playing the most should be the question I needed to answer.

And lastly, this. One of the most haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard. The intro section (0.00 - 0.25) conjures childhood memories of strikes, IRA bombings, plane highjackings etc and the end credits section from 0.26 sounds like the music they’ll play when Armageddon comes. And on that cheery note...

@intime-nick?

Update time. the rather rare stack knob PJ-Ray! now with a Nordstand J blade in it as well.

Right....to keep this topic going here's another one....this time with a Moog inspired bass solo over the outro (3mins ish onwards)...again all thoughts appreciated! This is just an OC2 - all wet signal 1 8ve down. A bit of compression & EQ on the DAW after recording. Its not the finished article just a decent demo at the moment! If it was live I'd use a boost pedal to bring the volume up a bit and of course some compression to keep it fat! Dinosaur demo with SYNTH BASS & solo.mp3

I have a Behringer 8500 and bass vocal range, it works incredibly well for me, especially as every other Behringer product I have come into contact with has been awful

Wowsers! Thanks everyone. You've definitely all given me some food for thought. Like I said, they are my best mates. I know they appreciate me and it's only this small issue relating to gear that is on my mind. Forgot to mention, our main sound engineer is also the bass player that quit, resulting in me getting the job. He used an amp and no in-ears. As a result, he used to turn up loud so he could monitor himself as well as doing sound on the fly. Slight 'pot calling kettle black' but I know he was just doing what he had to. He's a good guy. I think the main thing I'll take from everyone's advice, is that I was hired for good reason and I should own it. You can't please all the people all the time.

Nuremberg - 1993. To answer the question - no!!

Here's my black Thunderbird

It sounds brilliant. Ray spacing and neck, with Precision sound. While I enjoyed the EMGs I had in it (and the abuse for installing them) the Aguilar 60s pickup is lovely. Unexpected benefit- with the EMGs it weighed 9.2lb. Those are very heavy pickups. Now it's only 8.4lb !!

I got a half page in Bass Player magazine this month. What a hoot! I think I did the Q&A about ten months ago...I reckon half that gear and rig has found new homes now.

In terms perhaps more easily understood: A working man's' club is a bit like a New York Mafia social club without the Mafia but with bingo, meat raffles and dodgy live acts. In terms of atmosphere, layout and audience it might resemble an American Legion club. WMC: A possibly unrepresentatively young and diverse gaggle of punters WMC: That's more like it

I'm in what we have here is a random composition attained by preloading some drum patterns and instrumentation onto the keyboard , choosing a style for it to play in (C&W with a little seg in the middle to ID it) and then choosing a chord sequence for it to follow. The random bit comes in as I chose 3 chords all a semitone apart and changed them on every beat , except the little country bit in the middle, this put the 3 chords on a different part of the beat each time around until 12, I think, I couldn't work that bit out ! Still , it seems to work , but may of benefitted from shortening a touch , but I was in the groove playing it and couldn't find the way out of it enjoy

Peavey T40?

It's probably more to do with what you want in a bass tone has changed over the years. Also, you obviously have way too much money to waste on high end instruments. i will send you my address and you can send the ones you have not played for more than 3 months to a deserving home. Mine.

Hard Times?!

Squier Classic Vibe 70's Precision and Epi Vintage Pro Thunderbird.

@Lantis ...... fair play Douglas

I see this as positive news. Yamaha have a track record for delivering quality products. This isn’t a Gibson buying Trace Elliot situation (or Gibson buying anything frankly). My prediction is that the US Heritage line is kept as is and the construction of the non US SVT line is vastly improved.

I'm in the second biggest Scrumpy'n'western band on the planet. As soon as the biggest scrumpy'n'western band on the planet retire, I'll have made it....

Nice one! I remembered first time my band from Uni got in Sandman and I was chuffed. But Bass Player is one for the kids/grandkids etc. Enjoy it

Well done, I enjoyed reading it and was pleased to see a Brit featured.

The trouble with Halifax (like neighbouring Bradford where I live) is that there is loads of musicians but relatively few gigs. I would say that you would be better living in Manchester or Sheffield if you want to establish yourself there. There is still a big audience for live music in Manchester and Sheffield, but not so much in Leeds. The north-east is certainly worth considering - they love their live music up there! Hebden Bridge is a nice place to live (if you can avoid living on the the flood plains) but not especially great for a musician, apart from one great club venue in the centre of the town.

Progress on my bass from this timber

Interesting to see everyone setting them differently so it’s not just one setting that works. Half the fun of a new pedal is playing it on its own then intergrating into a board/rig

Such a shame. Electro was where I bought quite a lot of stuff, as did many of the bands in my neck of the woods. When my band was looking to buy a larger PA, one of their guys drove 90 miles return journey with two rigs in their van for us to demo side by side at our rehearsal rooms. They set both systems up and let us find which one suited us best, which we did. One of those shops that you felt good after buying something from, knowing that you’d got a fair deal and would have chance to return stuff if it didn’t work out right for you. Hope John and all his staff are okay , and thanks for being there all those years.

Yes I saw these come up on their FB page today, the Fretless is very rare! I think the price is for the Bass only and the GR77B is being sold separately for £395 . The Bass is solid, good passive tone , well made , I was told it was Ibanez built. The synth side of it was fantastic at the time , but to be honest the tracking was not brilliant at the low end and a bit of lag. I think Midi Guitar app on the iphone tracks better. But it was always fun to have a big Roland Bass pad blasting out. It was a pain to gig , I only took it out to gig a couple of times and the floor unit quite big and you need a second amp for the synth. I used to run the bass through a GT6 so got some crazy sound out of that combination. I always wanted a G707 guitar to go with it.

No, really..?

Great cafe/restaurant there too, the lady who owns it is lovely, really friendly, and the grub is amazing

I think it's Lee Sklar who has a "producer switch" on his bass that does absolutely nothing, but if he gets the shout that something isn't right with the bass sound he flicks it in full view of said producer and invariably gets the nod...

In the very early seventies, I had the look. Lots of hair, 27" waist and sprayed on pants ( as in trousers, not Y-fronts) I auditioned for T-Rex (drums) and got a second audition. Unbeknown to me, and all of us at the auditions, Bill had already been approached and had already recorded a few tracks. Anyway, obviously, I didn't get the job. My then wife to be however, still maintains to this day that I lost out because I was too good looking for Marc Bolan to have on stage with him. Well that's her story and I'm making sure she's sticking to it 😂 Probably did me a favour really as I suppose he could've offered me a lift home at some point.

I started on the headstock too, using a printed Mike Dirnt signature template. I’ve started with a hacksaw with a new blade, this is going to take some patience as the progress here is the result of twenty minutes hacking away. I’m thinking of an alternative method; I’ve put out the call on Facebook to see if any friends have a bandsaw I can use! I won’t go into detail on this but here as it’s more for Build Diaries.

I’ve stripped the bass down, in readiness of reshaping the headstock, and in doing so the budget nature of the bass has truly revealed itself. The fretboard appears to be bare wood, with a satin finish on the back of the neck, and the headstock. It might have a finish on it, but it’s very, very light. That’s no problem, I’m going to add an amber tint anyway. A lot of the screws are screwed in at angles, instead of straight, and the tug bar was screwed in with screws that were so short it just pulled off. No big deal, there’s a reason why this is cheap as chips. Most disappointing though is the mess I found when I removed the scratchplate. I was between replacing it with a white one or just removing it altogether. The latter option is a no-no now that I’ve discovered the gouge and the fact that the photo flame paper ends with an abrupt edge. I think as the sum of it’s parts the PB-50 (or my PB-50 - others might be better) is a great, budget bass. Underneath the hood it’s pretty shoddy, but for £85-ish it hard to justify any major complaint.

Did the DE Scorpio not have SDs has standard?

Or a chrome bridge and knobs. The “all black” look is a bit too rawk for me...

Not sure if I posted this here or on TB, but here’s my 76 Thunderbird

final (and much simpler) version of the REAN connector retaining block. no screws & no clips this time - just a one-piece printed part attached with 30mm wide velcro