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The now re-issued 2020 Midlands Bass Bash. 4th of september 2021 Held at Doveridge village hall - Sand Lane, Doveridge, DE6 5JQ You're welcome to arrive from 12:30 and we've got the venue until 17:00 5 pound entrance fee on the day - any profit will be donated to a charity of Basschats choice Covid testing, mask wearing and social distancing will be encouraged but will, ultimately, be down to individual choice

I have an Electra VS4 (old shape) and can confidently say it's worth every penny and then some. Mine is pretty flawless. I've recently sold my California VM5 but still have my Electra VS4 - I don't feel like the Electra is a worse bass in any way at all, hence my guilt-free sale of the VM5! Mine also happens to be super light and sounds glorious to my ears. Ive had it modded with a passive tone knob on top of the existing stock 2 band EQ. Also had the neck finish taken down from the original gloss to a more preferable (for me) satin matte feel. It's currently my only 4 string and I can't fault it!

Alan sent me a pic to finalise pickup positioning. This has 6 string pickups on it so look slightly oversized but it gives you an idea of where Alan’s at. I’m unbelievably excited by this, my Finn 4 is my go to bass and this is going to make a superb sibling.

I'd advise against a bass that doesn't inspire you to pick it up and play.

Always amazes me the shock and awe I’m greeted with when I say I don’t follow football. My lad does and obviously that means he plays in a team. The parents all discuss the ins and outs of the premier league that week while the lads play and I genuinely have no input. Mrs T has become quite the follower (which is nice, good that we join in with his hobby) and I must admit it eventually boils the fluid in my eyes when it becomes the sole topic of discussion...I’ve slyly got him into WWE wrestling (pulled all of my 90’s WWF figuers out of my mums loft) just so there’s another topic - not because it’s any good. But there is an assumption you’ll just love football if you’re a bloke. And there is a train of thought that it’s ‘wrong’ not to like football. My eldest daughters mum was a mad Manchester United fan, when I met her extended crowd I was asked who I supported “nobody, don’t really follow football...” ‘what’s wrong with you, are you gay?’ A genuine conversation - so many flaws in the response... Anyhow...I often defer to this

Hi, Intro Post. I’m Alan. I’ve had an encore bass sitting in the corner of the living room for over 12 years. And I never really liked it. So I’ve never learned to play it. A slightly drunk late night eBay purchase a few weeks back saw the addition of an Ibanez SR300E iron pewter. I got it for £60 so I wasn’t expecting anything special. It was and is, mint. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’m visiting my poorly dad. My little sister is one of those annoying people that can pick an instrument up and learn it to public performance standard in a couple of weeks. Flute, sax, guitar, piano. You name it, she can do it. I love her to bits..but I do wish I had 5% of her abilities. Anyway, under a pile of clothes and hats, an unloved, dusty, grimy, sticky and in places a little rusty. A Squire affinity P bass. I’m guessing about 2007. That’s come home with me. I still can’t play. White stripes, game of thrones. Stand by me. You get the picture. But I’m having fun. Flatwounds on the Squier. Black beauties on the Ibanez. I even put some fender roundwounds on the encore. (It’s still horrid) my living room is looking good. But there is space for another bass. And I’ll be buying one when and if my ability ever deserves it. Or not. I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with what I have. But there’s so many pretty instruments out there thanks for reading my waffle. Al

You evil, evil man! 😄

Trying the 3d thing - haven't go the hang of processing them for facebook yet though:

Alan; he doesn’t hang around does he...

I suppose it depends what 'doing the job as well or better' entails. It's unlikely that anything that isn't a Ric will do the job of being a Ric as well a Ric would do it. In terms of looking like a Ric there are fakers out there that could do the job of looking like a Ric as well as a Ric but not better than a Ric In terms of sounding like a Ric one could perform a spectral analysis of a Rick's output and tweak one's tone with a graphic EQ to resemble that of a Ric, or retrofit a Variax unit. This might get one very close to the sound of a Ric and - depending on one's rig, modeller or plug-ins - might sound like a Ric. So, yes, there are alternatives that might adequately simulate a Ric's appearance and sound without necessarily doing a better job. But they couldn't reproduce a Ric's inherency of being a Ric. Too much information. Going now.

On Saturday, playing a dairy farm in the middle of the plains of Emilia Romagna in northern Italy, during the soundcheck we lost all power...we went outside to see bits of tree flying around - we'd been hit by a tornado!!

Maybe not at first, but if that's the style of play that you like then there's definitely things you can take from his playing, such as using a pick and playing up the dusty end of the fretboard. 😉 If that's what inspires you, aim for it! Nailing the riff for Love Will Tear Us Apart will give you a huge buzz and is more fun than learning scales (which you do need to do too BTW 😬) It's a great bass line and is pretty straight forward. Also worth noting, this guy is an excellent player and is using a Washburn Taurus, a £250 bass! -

I split with my missus a few years ago and the resultant legal bill resulted in me having to sell quite a few really nice instruments. Once I made the decision that many had to go, I found it quite liberating, to be honest. I still miss some of them (a battered but very playable Stingray and an irreplaceable PRS EB spring to mind) but life goes on. I still have my old ESP 400 Series, which is the one I truly don't think I could do without and remain a bassist, as well as a few others. Now that all that business is behind me, however, I find myself browsing the For Sale section as a potential customer again thinking "Ooooh that looks nice!", digging the same old hole for myself 😂

I've just received a custom pedal from James and wanted to let everyone know what great service I received from him. Originally, I just wanted a simple A/B switch with volume control, but with an added tuner mute. James said no problem and sent me a design and quote. Then I realised I could add in the EQ switching for my Little Marcus amp to reduce clutter on the floor at gigs. Again, a revised design and (very reasonable) quote sent through in a matter of hours. Pedal arrived today. Looks terrific. Kudos to James and BOP!

I’m genuinely not sure what my views are on this, so forgive me if it’s an incoherent rambling of stuff and nonsense. Inspired by the “Bass for beginner” post by @Ant1972… There are fairly regular posts on the forum from new bass players asking advice on what’s the best first bass for them to buy. The advice given is generally pretty unanimous, seemingly unarguable, sometimes a little contradictory but certainly always all well-meaning. I’ve noted that the general consensus is (but not limited) to - buy the best you can for your budget; choose one of the bigger brands (and best models within that brand); try lots before you buy; get a good setup; choose a comfortable body shape; avoid basses with neck dive etc… Then, to a lesser extent, new players are asked to consider (among other things) - what style of music they want to play; what is their ambition as a bassist (bedroom to rock star); what style of bass do they prefer (modern or vintage); what tone are they trying to achieve etc… Finally, there’s the potentially contradictory advice about - do/don’t emulate their favourite player; choose active/passive; choose short/long scale etc… To musicians with a few years’ experience under their belts, that all sounds like good, solid and sensible advice. After all, if you were starting to play from scratch now, that’s exactly the advice you’d give yourself. But… I recently saw a clip of Rio Ferdinand talking to Man Utd academy players about a young Cristiano Ronaldo, who he said, would endlessly practice stepovers with “mad” weights attached to his ankles. That got me to thinking… Consider, if you will, the Sea Turtle (bear with me, there is a point to all this)... Baby Sea Turtles have an exceptionally hard start to life. First, they have to break out of a shell and dig themselves out of a deep sand pit. Then they face an epic journey (well, epic for a baby turtle) across the beach, avoiding predation, to make it to the sea. Where they face more predation and will, in all likelihood, die. Obviously, the reason Ronaldo practiced with ankle weights so that, without that extra weight, his feet would feel lighter and be able to move at ridiculous speed, bamboozling defenders. Adult Sea Turtles really do have to be the fittest in order to survive. Now, my first bass as a 14yo boy was a 1980’s Marlin Sidewinder Precision copy. Looking back, it was pretty awful. It had a big fat neck, terrible balance, high action and bland tone. But it was all I could afford and I played it almost every day for a year. My next bass was a brand new 1990’s Aria Pro II. Now I had a bass with a slim, fast neck and low action. It sat on the strap with really good balance and compared to the Marlin, was an absolute breeze to play. I found that (although I didn’t realise it at the time), because my left hand was so used to doing all that extra work of holding up the neck and pressing hard on the strings, I’d developed a natural hand speed, finger strength and increased stamina which helped massively as I developed as a bassist. Unfortunately, I had to quit playing just as I hit my stride at 18 (long story) and by the time I started again in my late 30’s, all that was long gone. But anyway… If, as seems to be the consensus, the high quality of new, cheap instruments is a relatively recent phenomenon, I’m led to wonder if musicians who are now in their 30’s and older would have also started with cheap and nasty beaters, so would have had to overcome the same hurdles and as a result, developed the same core strengths. So, finally, to the point! Is it actually a benefit (or even an essential) for a new player to start off on a low-quality instrument? By having new players avoid the inadequacies of a beater, are they actually missing out on a key stage of early development which could potentially delay or even harm their growth as a bassist, particularly of the arguably most important fretting hand? Are beaters actually and in fact, the weights on Ronaldo’s ankles? Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Hi, the EVO-FX5 prototype is almost finished; Audere Audio Classic preamp installed & this time the knobs are also installed... cleaned the bass & took off the plastic film from the scratch plate! I’m very satisfied with the results & the first serial FX5 is on it’s way....

I have eight basses - each one is different in its own way, as soon as I think I haven't played this one for a while - perhaps I'll move it on, I pick it up and I'm right where I was when I bought it.

Ah lovely stuff. If those were mine they'd be going nowhere...fast!

I think there's a Thunder !a on ebay for under £100 currently.

He was a big influence on me too. Saw him playing with "The Light" quite recently - really enjoyed it. Think he had a Yamaha bass then? His old Rick copy was a Hondo, I think. It apparently went missing some years back The first brand new bass I ever bought was a Westone Thunder Jet - I saw Stuart Morrow with his Thunder Jet on TOTP, playing "Great expectations" .... and bought my Westone on the strength of how good it sounded, and how cool he looked playing it My old Thunder Jet has been owned by a pal of mine for many years since I sold it to him - and he still loves it I saw him playing it last year, and it still sounds great (though it's a bit battered now) I meant to add to someone else's thoughts on here, about buying an old 2nd hand Westone - there was one recently that was very cheap, and another which was free - just donate something to a charity! From a very decent BC member. A second-hand Westone is another great option But of course, they're getting on a bit and may need a little attention. Given the money I've seen them go for, and the build quality - you could grab a real bargain

Hooky is a huge influence of mine and an inspiration in many of the basslines I write, he has a big history playing Yamaha basses, from memory his chosen weapon was a Yamaha BB1200 bass, I know he appears using a Rickenbacker (or copy of) in the Love Will Tear Us Apart video, just to save you a world of pain, in my honest opinion that style of bass looks far better than they play (yes I know some will disagree) if you are tempted you have to try one sitting down AND standing up with it on a strap! Enjoy playing up the dusty end, it brings very different dynamics to a band especially if you have a keyboard player to hand who is happy to fill in the low end duties whilst you play the lead bass parts! As Hooky is a big influence to you, can I also suggest a listen to Stuart Morrow on the first New Model Army album (Vengeance) it is full of hooky type riffs and runs which he played on a Westone Thunder Jet (very similar to a Thunder 1A mentioned in other comments above)

Consider buying second hand - you can pick one up for under £100 which is probably what you'll get when you sell in a couple of years. Also consider the BB range - a used example is well within your budget.

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but there was a good reason that Rob Halford used to dress like he was going to a gay BDSM dungeon....

At least it shouldn't suffer from neck dive with about 3 feet of the body behind the bridge

Remember that this will be your first bass - stick around here long enough and you'll have many more!! Seriously though, most of the best entry model basses have been listed above, also if you manage to come across a Westone Thunder 1a in budget, grab it!!. Do a bit of homework and contact your nearest BCer and see if they'll accompany you. Make a list and pop down to your local guitar stockist and try anything that you have on your list. Don't be cajoled into buying something that the salesman says is good but you haven't heard of. For example, a few years ago Sue Ryder (yes, of Charity shop fame) were selling basses - initially well regarded but it soon became apparent that the frets were soft and wore over time... I blame @AndyTravis for starting me on Yamahas but there are a few very nice examples currently available on ebay for around £150 - contact Andy for more advice if you decide to go this route. If you're ever near Hatfield, get in contact, you're welcome to try the low end stuff I have.

No....

I'm in a function band playing everything from Alexander's Ragtime Band to Uptown Funk I use a Zoom multi-effects pedal, but I only have two patches: one for upright and one for bass guitar. The bass guitar patch has compressor, amp sim, slight overdrive, and a high-pass filter. To be honest, I only added the compressor last month and I haven't noticed any difference - the only reason I know I have it is because I just checked my settings for the purposes of replying to this thread If you lose volume up the fretboard are you sure there isn't another cause - perhaps an instrument setup or stage monitoring issue? I use every note on the bass guitar at some point (I think Sir Duke hits the top fret) but I haven't come across this problem. My basses are nothing that special - a Squier VM P and a Yamaha BB.

"Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"

I play in a function band playing a wide range of songs. I don't use a lot of effects, only on 4 or 5 songs, mostly Synths or maybe an Octaver. I use a TC Spectracomp and a Zoom B3. In my opinion the Zoom does a great job for the occasional effects user like me and is great value for money.

Funnily enough, I've had the exact same conversation. My response to the idiot in question was "Well you're the one who gets excited watching men in hot pants and knee length socks chasing each other around a field" The idiot in question went so red with rage that I thought he was going to explode but he just ended up walking off. Just as well as I thought he was going to beach slap me

I’ve had lot of cheap basses in the time I’ve been playing. my current go to gigging bass is a Squier affinity. I’ve had a few, some better than others. Stick to the Indonesian ones with open tuners like the one I pictured, any I had with closed tuners were bad. the pickups on affinity’s are ok for beginning but not great. I put a Dimarzio in mine and it is the best sounding bass I own. Also really light which my back appreciates after a couple of sets. i had a Yamaha RBX374 for a while, great bass for the money and I have and would happily gig it. Solid, great value bass. Ibanez basses are a great shout, I have a Talman and it’s a corker for the money, really well built and looks great, can pick them up new under £150, RichTone music has some good deals recently. the pickups are not bad but dont compare well to the Dimarzio in my squier so I’m going to upgrade the pups before I gig it again but they are ok. its heavy with a chunky neck. i also have an Ibanez SRX which I recommend thoroughly if you find one. Good sound and look sweet. the best bang for buck I ever owned was my Harley Benton PB50. i had the older one with a Wilkinson pickup which I stopped out for aseymour Duncan quarter pounder but the Wilkinson was better so I swiped back! the current ones have Roswell pickups which review well. Ridiculously good bass for £100 new which sounds great, plays great and will hold its value, should sell used for £80. Chunky and heavy but solid and nice to play. Big thing is your shortlist is bang on, you won’t go wrong with any of the ones you’re considering.

I do a lot of fucntion gigs and I have gone down this road of buying pedals to recreate sounds, help fill out the sound when a client doesn't book a full lineup. I eventually played one gig with no effects, just a tuner. Did not miss the effects at all, in fact it was much more fun solely concentrating on playing bass and enhancing the songs musicially. Haven't looked back since doing it. For me , effects are more usefull in a creative situation where I am writing/performing original material... or if you REALLY need to have that sound. Also, I found the temptation to go full on Tim Lefebvre in Uptown Funk or great... and rightly got some looks! haha

yep, I bought one of these and it's very nearly as good as my MIA P, just one word of warning, I bought mine new and the set up was awful, basically it hadn't had one, so if you can't do your own, that may need factoring in as well, don't know what other cheap basses are like. But if you're right handed there's loads of second hand stuff out there and if you decide it's not for you, you won't lose much money on it

Research may have been a headache, but IMHO you've managed to nail it. Yamaha: secure buy, whether online or in shop. The cheapest one will serve you well (I suppose that is a TRBX-174). Ibanez: secure buy for the right models. Ask BC. IMHO, comparing with Yamaha, they were not competing with Yamaha at all for the cheapest models, but competitive from roughly 250 or 300 quid. Squier Affinity: have not tried one that I would actually buy, even when priced well over the cheapest Yamaha. Squier Vintage Modified offered some very nice basses, but had to be tried in person. Squier Classic Vibe long was a safe buy even online, but I now read that the new ones are less good - dunno how much less. I mention these more expensive ones because it should be easy for you to find a 200 quid used one that is a few years old. If you want to buy online, I'd say that from your list of brands, I'd buy a new Yamaha or a used mid-price Ibanez or Classic Vibe, but taking a fellow BC-er along to a shop would probably widen your possibilities. Good luck!

Paul - I totally love that. Gonna be my 'thought for the day'! I replaced a rack that could hold 5 basses for one that could manage 7. But I somehow managed to not get rid of the 5-rack!! Schoolboy error.

My old band played at the party to celebrate the Sportster's birthday at Gaydon Motor Museum a couple of years ago, organised by the HDRCGB and one of the magazines. Good crowd, fun gig.

Best episode so far imo. Nice interview, more of those please! Nice work guys.

This is utterly sacrilegious! Any devout, self respecting Christian bass player should know that the bass line to The Steve Miller Band’s The Joker should be played under the verse of Lord I Lift Your Name On High. and Paul Oakley’s Because Of You (There’s a place where the streets shine) works perfectly as a pastiche of Alright Now by Free!

https://classicandcoolguitars.co.uk/portfolio/sandberg-vs4-red/ Tried this over the weekend... wasn't really into some of the more modern Sandbergs but this one is a beast. Sorely tempted...

NBD for me! I picked up this VM4 from the classifieds earlier today, It's a 2013 so the body shape is more traditional P than my newer VT4 and so a little heavier but I really wanted to give a MM style pickup a go.

Ended up in Birmingham....the shop had the one i wanted despite being told a few days ago they hadn't....the rest is history....i'm happy....and skint

Agreed on the brands you listed plus those Greek added. I’d also add Vintage to the list. Quality of instrument far, far better than the price point would suggest, on their Icon range at least.

soooo much great bass to be had for £200, again quite jealous of the fun you'll have finding the one.

Welcome Ant There are very few bad basses anymore. All the brands you cite make very good basses which will be very usable as a first bass. Most can be picked up for around the £200 mark. You can also add Spector, Sire and Warwick to your list. Check the "For Sale" thread for well kept examples rather than risk something less looked after on ebay/gumtree. TBH I'm a bit jealous of the discovery aspect of trying new gear. Bit of advice? Post your location so that any BCers who are local can help you out if needed.

TBPH, there's been nothing much for me at Glastonbury since 1971: Melanie Quintessence The Edgar Broughton Band Pink Fairies Terry Reid Gong David Bowie Hawkwind Arthur Brown Brinsley Schwartz Fairport Convention Family Traffic A well-lubricated Marc Bolan put in non-musical appearance, fell offstage and totally wrecked the bong I'd spent weeks making. Luckily Steve Hillage was around to dole out some privet and keep everything cosmically smooth. Great times.

Festivals are my idea of hell, both as an audience member and is a performer. If I was on at Glastonbury, I'd want to helicoptered in 5 minutes before I was due on stage and out again the moment the last note of the encore was finished. Having said that I wouldn't mind seeing the Cure, but I won't be going to Glastonbury to do it.