Leaderboard

Sounds like you’ve made yourself a reggae cable , can you let me know what you did 😁

I can absolutely help with your question, lowdowner. I was fortunate enough to acquire Pino’s 79 stingray fretless sunburst backup bass, direct from Pino on commission via bass gallery a good few years ago. A magnificent bass in all respects. Sadly, it failed to endow me with any godlike chops or groove and unbelievably, when recently sold on, my ownership was not deemed sufficiently relevant to be mentioned in the gallery’s online description, only the former keeper’s.

But you have to live with these political decisions, no matter how deep you put your head in the sand.

My latest additions…. First up a beautiful Roger Waters sig. The B/W/B plate was already fitted to the bass (I have the original single ply black one too) but it’s now also sporting a Gotoh 201 bridge, chrome flat topped knobs, a Kiogon loom and my favoured Custom Shop ‘62 pickup. It sounds superb and plays beautifully. The big, chunky necks on these really do suit me. Next, as I had a Status P neck loitering in the corner of my man cave, I snapped up this first series Squier Classic Vibe body in Sonic Blue (the holes for the bridge have been redrilled to take a std BBOT). Again it sounds great and plays really well straight off the bat with no neck adjustment, shims etc required. Ordinarily I would’ve put a black plate on it by now, but I think it looks great as it is. I’m loving the colour contrast between the neck and the body. All in all, very pleased. 😁

Finished finally.

Played the intonation game with some old strings. Before that, I also cut the nut slots. But the nut came out kinda ugly, I'll probably make new one later. Works now for setup testing. Had to reposition the bridge. It was not terrible, but 5mm further to the rear leaves me with more adjustability. And when intonated, the saddles land nicely along the middle area of the adjustment. Before: After:

What do you think?

The worst night playing covers you don't particularly care for beats the hell out of sitting in front of the TV, or most desk jobs.

It would be nice to be able to say 'you heard it here first'...................

Log-arithmetically 😂

The satisfaction of performing well and making an audience happy is indelible, a song you don't like is over in 4 minutes

Am a RHCP fan, but will give this tour a miss. Ticket prices are nuts, particularly when going to these large venues, where IME the chances are I will end up watching the gig on a large screen. Prefer to see some up an coming act in a small venue, having a few beers with some friends. More affordable and more enjoyable IMO.

I have two more great Warwicks, a surprisingly good Harley Benton P bass and an 80sfretless Ibanez Roadster that fit that description… Honestly, even if I don’t want to, at least one of those has to go. I’m just waiting for the Yamaha to confirm it really will be that one that will rule them all. I’ve been authorised by the seller to use some of his pics here. So this 5 kg of japanese craftsmanship is what I am waiting for:

I needed a fiver set of double ball Steinberger/La Bella. They all were out of price in the EEC. So, I contacted Mark at BassDirect and he did the Brexit maths. I paid £35.42 GBP shipping included for the set, so far so good as I'm supposed to simply pay the 21% of VAT for these goods. The next day I got a message from the Belgian post asking me €27.93 Euros (£23.57 GBP) as customs fee clearance !?! Not Mark's fault for sure even if the declared value was a bit too high at £40 GBP (shipping fee must be included in the declared value, but it was a grand total of £35.42 GBP), but the "you'll pay the same as the VAT is deducted" slogan you see everywhere is a total lie as you have to add that delirious administrative fee and VAT on everything. Some companies like ToneRider, for instance, give you a real all included price and work with couriers instead of the post, which is better and safer price wise. Thanks Boris is all I can say.

All is restored https://www.nme.com/news/music/simon-gallup-confirms-re-joined-the-cure-3071612

How can you hear "Darker"? Shirley that describes a visual effect? Crumbs you Egyptian Gods are something else obvz!

These topics are too tempting. I had one of these earlier this year and moved it on as it wasn`t getting used. After reading this topic again, I spotted a s/hand one in Richtone Music for £270 with a case. Got it bought and it arrived looking almost as new. There is a lot of space between the bridge and pickup and I have a MFD humbucker kicking about so a trip to Strung out guitars may be in order. But going into the studio on Monday night and will hear how it sounds with the band before modifying the bass.

I think it’s a very good idea, Ray. Ignore @Teebs, he is a very silly man and would not know a good idea if one stepped in front of him and slapped him around the face with a floppy haddock.

And here is the problem; you think it doesn’t really matter. But to some people (Paul S obviously, and certainly others) it obviously does matter. And mocking somebody because what matters to them just doesn’t matter to you seems, well, “ridiculous…..laughable”. 😉

No can do I'm afraid , you definitely lose something with split singles IMO. Been a bit difficult here to make comparisons as only the Fender wears roundwounds. Two with tapes have standard singles . Common ground would be the three with TI flats , snag there is the standard single is a ceramic Peavey . Much as I'd like to claim my massively over wound Bloodstone custom is the best , in truth it's Jess Loureiro's 51 split. Could be the age of the strings or the pickup height , might just be the arrangement of the scatter wind . Whatever it is , the Loureiro sounds fantastic. Still sounds a bit polite compared to the Fender mind but fantastic all the same 😀 @Bassfinger The Bloodstone at 28mm is 9mm taller than a standard single coil.

Think we’ve all been in a band with that guitarist……

I'll do sound clips when I get the chance. It sounds okay - no massive bottom-end unsurprisingly, but very usable. The construction is a bit shoddy - I'm no joiner as I pointed out, so won't be going into mass production, but I'll draw up scale plans & hinstructions if anyone is hinterested.

That looks like tonewood to me 😁

It's a good job you're not playing for money then as you'd get your marching orders fairly swiftly for refusing to play songs by a particular artist. I really don't understand this 'hate' of certain music. I can understand not liking artists; I think a few would agree that Liam is a bit of an acquired taste, but refusing to play any Oasis? The songs of theirs that I have played always go down very well indeed. Happy punters = happy hackenbacker. I've not played any Shadows material, but I'd to. I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm not a fan of Marc Almond, but I've played several Soft Cell songs over the years. There might be the odd occasion where I would argue the inclusion of a song wouldn't work with the band configuration or fit in with the existing set, but a refusal because you don't like it vs. everyone else being up for it? You've just got to put your big boy pants on IMHO.

Natural for me.

I agree. I can't imagine anything more depressing than being forced to play something you hate, when you're in a band to make music for enjoyment. Why would anyone do something they don't enjoy as a hobby?

It very much depends on the reason you're in a band. If it's financial, then I'd just get on with it. If it's just for fun and playing the songs is not fun. Then I'd reuse to play them. This was a constant bone of contention in my last band. I flatly refused to play anything by Oasis, or as the guitarist at the time was insisting, The Shadows. There has to be some kind of compromise, but there are certain songs and artists that I can't stand, and I wouldn't be willing to budge on that, unless there was money involved. Then it's just a job.

Have you actually tried learning any of the stuff you don't like? I've learnt loads of stuff that didn't float my boat musically, but they have been fantastic learning experiences and some really great bass lines. I doubt there are many cover bands where every member is happy with every song. AHA, Prince, Abba and Marley sounds great to me.

Swapped out my Bright Onions A/B switcher with a Providence Dual Bass Station, which meant a 12V power supply was needed. Added a GigRig Supanova to provide this, and tidied up the wiring underneath at the same time.

And with my A width neck 71 Precision

Stcky Labella is sleeping with the fishes. The Post-It Mob got him.

There's a simple, folkloric solution to this common problem. Crack a hazelnut and the sound of it cracking will awaken the spirit goblin who guards your house and he'll restore the top end. Give it a try and let us know how you get on.

We had that at Ewood Park (Blackburn Rovers). Big corporate five a side tournament on during the day. Bar was packed as we set up but the moment we started everyone buggered off home. By the time we played 'I think we're alone now' it was true!

If the crowd are up dancing and singing along, I'll play anything! It only gets depressing when you're playing stinky poo tunes, and the crowd is flat!

And this is the most important sentence in the whole thread for me….

As usual, there seems to be a lot of not understanding that people play for different reasons going on here. Some play for the buzz, the roar of the crowd, all that stuff. Some play for their own enjoyment. Some just enjoy the act of playing, for its own sake. Some need to play things they like, to feel like they can relate to what they’re playing. Some play for the money. For many -but not all - it may be a mixture of these things. Just because it might not match your personal outlook doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Speaking personally, I like creating and playing original music. It’s the creativity part that interests me most. If I’m playing live, obviously it’s nice if the audience enjoys it, and in my current band they seem to far more often than not. But that’s not why I play. If they didn’t like it, it makes no difference to me, other than that it would then become more difficult to get gigs. But then gigging isn’t the be all and end all either for me. As long as I’m writing songs, recording and playing (which could just as easily simply be rehearsing) I’d be happy. The only person I’m actively trying to please is me. Of course YMMV, and that’s fine too. If I was playing in a covers band I would hope to reach an agreement as to what songs we were happy playing. If I couldn’t do so, I’d probably find another band where I could, or indeed form one with like-minded people. As others have said, there are millions of popular songs out there. Surely you can choose enough songs that are both popular and that you like to make up a set? Of course in a scenario where you’re joining someone else’s cover band and having to fit in with them that may not be feasible, but that’s your choice to accept that or not.

I saw Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium. The sound was terrible, for the support acts it was dreadful. That's probably the biggest rock band in the world and they didn't sound great. Best venue I go to for sound quality is the Fleece in Bristol, capacity of about 300, brilliant sound, never more than 5 seconds from the bar and they get some awesome bands. Killing Joke at the Fleece was probably the best night of live music I've ever had and it cost me £22. Dave Grohl should have stayed in Killing Joke.

How you've described the Ampeg is exactly how mine performs. It does sound great but the boost in the lows is spot on. I think one way to simplify it is I no longer need a head for playing rock but a head for playing Jazz. Will certainly check out the Genzler and the Gallien Krueger MB500 head as recommended. Thank you.

I've only ever played in covers bands. I love playing with my current band and being with people that I really like and wouldn't have met any other way. I've a few friends from previous bands that I still meet up with regularly. I get a lot of joy from playing almost any song when the band gels, that out of body feeling when the music seems to be coming from somewhere else. Most of all though I love an audience, love to see people having fun that I'm part of providing. For that I'll pretty much sacrifice musical taste. I've absolutely no problem with Summer 69, Mustang Sally, Sweet Caroline or any of the others we all get asked to play. There are so many pot-boilers it brings down the cost of learning a new set list as in the end you'll know half the set list of almost any covers band. I've no time for other band members who are constantly whining about having to play things the audience love. I'll freely admit I'm a musical tart, but I do enjoy turning tricks. I'd never listen to this stuff willingly if i didn't play the songs. I freely admit to never having heard 7 Nation Army until I was asked to play it but offer me a room full of middle aged men playing air bass and I'm your man. There is a balance however, there have to be a few songs you want to play, and a few for each of the rest of the band members, our drummer wanted to play Nancy Boy/ Placebo. God it's boring for the bassist but he loves it so it's a small price to pay. I'd stick with a band playing fun songs longer even if I didn't get on with some of the band and i'd put up with a 'lesser' set list if the band were getting good gigs or were good musicians. I don't need the money fortunately but it's also lovely to get £2-3,000 a year for your hobby. So, I reckon I'm lucky if I like 25% of the set and I wouldn't listen to any of the songs by choice but the deal is sweet and I'm not selling my soul, just a few hours getting each song together instead of watching trash on the telly.

Or even better, the original ones :

Add a Vocoder and it'll be an utter bastard.

I stopped going to big shows because of companies like ticketmaster buying all the tickets before they go on sale and reselling them for several times the price. I just refuse to give in to them. I'd rather pay £20 - £30 for smaller shows and still see some awesome bands who often put on a better performance

I know nothing but I hope the answer looks like this