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His signature bass did inspire me to make a Bitsa. I don’t know much about him as a player though. I did weaken in the end though and went active with a John East EQ so more of a Ray/G&L combo. Has anyone tried a Joe Dart. I like the idea of a single control?

Surely the video was tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriously? That said, Vulf are better skilled as musicians than comedians.

Not at all sure what could possibly be in that box that's just arrived: Well - you could blow me down with a feather! :

Fender Mustang Bass, crafted in Japan sometime between 1999 and 2002, sporting a Fiesta Red finish and an aftermarket brown tort pickguard.

Board rewired and switch programmed for my first band rehearsal since March 2020 tomorrow!

Yesterday was the first gig of the year. The BB1025 was fantastic 😆 Here is a phone video from the gig. The bass sound was DI from the Bergantino to front of house. Use 🎧 IMG_1548.MP4

Colin Moulding.

You have to remember that Joe Dart plays in a band whose most interesting album was ten tracks of silence.

Yeah, then they left the vocal track in. Big mistake.

I would like to offer up the often forgotten Stuart Morrow as having delivered some awesome bass lines, all done with a Westone Thunder Jet as a weapon of choice!

Started to roughly improve the profiles of the wings prior to gluing to the neck, I want these as rounded as I can get them however the lower horn has a sharper point which I really like, it'll make sense later on! Another check to make sure I'm not taking too much off prior to glue up! Started tapping away on the upper horn to start the weird taper down to the neck con cave feature most single cuts have! 40mm bowled down to 20mm will take a while but this is a start! Felt like I had enough of the bottom wing down to get it glued on, it will help me decide where I want the scoop on the upper wing before I glue that on too, I don't have so much a belly... Rather ribs... They need a tummy scoop too! That's it for today though, got a Chinese on its way (2 hour wait mind!!!) And me and the missus have lots of Fargo to catch up on! Thanks for looking!

It SimS to be a pickup. 😎 I'll get my coat.

Marathon - Rush (only those of a certain vintage will get this)

Some might say 'honestly rated'... no transient power, music power or instantaneous power nonsense that's used to double or more the power of (say) class D amps. Plus they put out their rated power with minimal distortion unlike many cheaper amps. I can say Trace Elliot kilos are heavier, though.

Metal Box - Jah Wobble That is all.

The bloke in 999. No idea who he was but nice bass parts. ‘Feelin alright with the crew’ springs to mind

I can get that tone on my bass Joe, and can do without your rather dismissive attitude towards active basses. All I do is switch the 3rd switch from left down, whilst the far right one simultaneously is flicked up, then turn the middle knob 45 degrees towards the front pickup, and keep the knob nearest to me slightly sou-sou-west facing, the main volume knob full on and the “semi active” pull knob is pulled up, or is it down...hold on no it’s up and the 3rd tone knob is off and middle pickup is “in phase” with the thingy dial, no, it’s not, it’s the parallel rotary dial switch that is moved 3 clicks towards my moustache, I think, but definitely while using .90mm rubber/foam custom hybrid plectrum. Nailed it Joe 😝 loser.

And to add to the Elrick love, here’s my NJS5 which effectively replaced the bass I sold to @Al Krow, because black: Effectively the same bass, but with ‘Jazz’ aesthetics and the switches on push/pull knobs. Si

I've never really been that impressed by technical prowess on any instrument. For me the most important thing is the music itself. People producing music I like inspire me to carry on creating my own music. People producing music I don't like also inspire me to carry creating my own music in the hope that maybe mine will be popular enough to displace them from public consciousness.

No More Heroes - The Stranglers

The first bass I ever played, an Aria pro II SLB PJ (which actually belonged to my missus) was a lovely black one. I've very recently re-joined the club with the newest addition to my herd. Not come across this brand before, but I'm completely blown away by it:

Why not just wait and buy the bass you actually want instead of buying something you clearly don't want?

This. As most here will know, I’ve owned a couple of dozen Rics from all eras and have played, at the very least, several hundred. I’ve also owned Seis (5?), Alembics, Wals, Jaydees, early Warwicks, old Fenders, new Fenders, a Pedulla and countless other things. In my 40 years of playing I’ve tried to play pretty much every bass I see, just in case it’s great (at least up until recent years when I pretty much know what is going to work at a glance). What basses do I still own? 2 x 1972 4001 basses and a custom made copy of my main one for dodgy gigs. Many people don’t get on with them, which is fine, but bear in mind often they’re coming to them from playing a completely different instrument, or simply don’t like what they’re about. I learned to play on one so all the things that many find weird I find normal, and vice versa. I love the ‘classic’ tone (almost all of my favourite-sounding players have played Rics), I love the looks, I love the necks (except for the period where the 4003/4004 necks became pretty big). I prefer the necks on my ‘72s to anything else I’ve ever played (except possibly my old ‘71 21 fretter) but the profile is different even from ‘73 Rics, never mind all the other variations over the years. They do vary a great deal; no two of the ones I’ve owned have been the same in feel or sound, and to be honest of the hundreds I’ve played I’d say only a dozen or so were really very similar to each other. So in a nutshell, if you find you don’t like them (although you really need to play a lot first), you’re not missing anything. If you do find you like them, then you maybe have been missing something, which is exactly what I’d say about every single bass on the market. And everything really. Books, films, foods, clothes, whatever. No one else’s opinion really means anything unless you know they like similar things to you (or hate things that you like), you need to try them and see what you think. One other thing, as CV said, I don’t tend to think they work that great with modern rigs, so that’s something you may need to bear in mind.

Norman Watt-Roy But then you figure out that playing isn’t a competition

Would have loved to see the magic band. Major influence on my guitar playing a long time ago. As a counterpoint, I Just remembered one of the most encouraging events when we played on the same bill as Isaac hayes and he came up to us after our set and said 'I really dig your music man'. Having the approval of black moses was mind blowing and gave us encouragement to keep going.

I don't think I've ever seen anything which discouraged me. Great music and musicians make me want to play. Crap music and musicians make me want to play too, just better than they were 😀

I'm guessing you have seen Duck Dunn's awesome rendition of 'Sweet Home Chicago' in the Blues Brothers film. This is the scene where Jake and Elwood escape from the police and the song goes on for a good seven or eight minutes! Duck Dunn is playing all over the fretboard but still manages to hold down the bottom end and stay locked in with the shuffle groove. I have made a Youtube video where I pull apart some of Duck Dunn's bass line and extract the riffs and techniques that you can use in your own Blues bass lines. I have resisted a simple 'teach yourself to play Sweet Home Chicago lesson' as there are loads of those already on YouTube. But I try to distill the essence of Duck's bass line and give you something tangible to take away. If you are wanting to get ideas to help make your shuffle Blues bass lines more interesting then check out the video. You can also transfer some of the walking lines to your jazz bass lines too.

Their third album, the sublime Empires and Dance, has some great bass from Mr Forbes. The whole album sounds like it was built around the bass lines and sequences. One of my favourite albums of all time…

Would you call earlier Simple Minds New Wave? Derek Forbes basslines on this album have always been some of my favourites... (And he apparently played bass on Kirsty McColl's New England so he's period correct)

As a young man Growing up in Birmingham in the late 70’s & 80’s i found that we were far more integrated than we are now, I attended more than my fair share of ‘blues parties’ usually someone’s house and they could last days, occasionally you got lucky and some huge house in Handsworth or Moseley might have a sound system. steel pulse were rising stars but this one track and certainly the video that goes with it takes me back to good times

Trojan on BD's website? Well, my HitmanPro does not show that. TBH, the only danger coming from BD's website is that it is costly to visit (i.e., spending money on new basses) 😉

It's been about for a while - surprisingly, with little interest...

It is, well spotted! Knobs: volume, pup blend, 3 band EQ. Two switches: mids f selector and active/ passive. It does sound fantastic - maybe I'm still on honeymoon with it, but I've not really been able to put it down since getting it a couple of weeks back. The kicker which, I know you will appreciate, is that it's just 8.4 lbs. I wouldn't have had the confidence to get one new, but a 2 y/o one at used prices and set up perfectly with upgraded pups and played-in by someone as capable as our own @Sibob was too tempting to resist. Zero regrets in doing so - I'm a convert!

I don’t actually think Mr Dart is a loser. It was supposed to be a joke, an observation on passive v active, etc blah blah blah. But I guess if you have to explain a joke, then it’s clearly not funny. Gordon Bennett..!

Ta. Yep found a Stingray neck and had to get a home for it. Finding Musicman parts is tricky and a bit costly…

I don’t really understand the concept. If I come across somebody who is brilliant, be it as a writer or player, I just find it inspiring. I’ve never thought “I can’t do that, I may as well stop”, in any field. I’ve seen it happen though. A friend, who was an excellent guitarist, fell apart the first time he heard Yngwie. He became obsessed with him and eventually gave up playing because he just couldn’t play like that. The great irony was that the more he tried to play like that, the further away he got from what he was good at, which was more of a Lindsey Buckingham via Neal Schon thing. It was really sad to see.

And here's Peter's Zoot Funkmeister 32" 4 string body now routed and ready for it's sealer coats before applying the final colour.

Cant say I am keen on the crater pattern on it, should have just made it one colour

Or Canterbury

Hang on...is that dog made of Wenge??

Maybe the battery ran out on his active bass?

I've owned and loved a couple of Harleys, but never wanted to touch a Rickenbacker. I kind of get your analogy, though, both appeal to niche markets and are subject to scorn from the mainstream.

Yeah, but be VERY careful Otherwise before you know it you'll be tempted to play entire songs an octave down 'cos, all of a sudden, you've got some lower notes at your disposal, followed by finding that you can actually play a fair few phrases more easily across the fretboard rather than needing to perform a merry dance up and down it...it will all end in tears. 😁

I'll be video reviewing one of these fine lil beasts very soon. It's sat on my desk here at the moment! Oh and another cool lil dude from Barefaced too, for another review!

I'm holding off on changing the title until I've got the deposit down for the hall (should be in the next week or so).

Which is why I'm blaming you for my latest purchase...