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Created as a contrast to the 'I Hate Gigging' thread, in which some of the comments I find utterly depressing, I would like to think that the majority of Basschatters do actually enjoy the gigging experience. I get that there are some that cannot deal with getting up in front of a crowd or prefer to make music behind closed doors and that's fine, but let's leave the hate out of it. I for one certainly wouldn't do a single gig that I wasn't looking forward to. I don't understand why people would, unless of course they have to for financial reasons. Through 40 years of gigging, I cannot recall a single date that I haven't looked forward to. There have been a few that I've been a bit nervous about for one reason or another, but in the main, those days are long gone. There have also been a few gigs that once I've arrived at the venue, it has become clear that it was not what any of the band were expecting which can be a bit of a buzz kill, but I think we've all had a few of them. For me, gigging is about putting smiles on people faces and getting them moving. I don't do it for the money (although it's a nice bi-product) and I certainly do it for any kind of adoration; it's just a great thing to be able to make people happy and then leave feeling like they've been entertained for an evening. I'm not saying I wouldn't find it a strain, but I would be out every night if I could. Let's hear it for the love of gigging.

Very overated. Most soundman are absolute bass hating ladyboys. Only one step up the evolutional ladder from wedding dj,s 😉😂😂😂

I too love gigging. Been doing it pretty much continuously for over 45 years, nearly 30 of them in a full time capacity. Strangely I’ve even enjoyed many of those gigs that were purely taken on to put food on the table, and can only remember a small number which were true car crashes. Like others have mentioned, I see playing bass as a group activity, and wish I’d started playing it sooner - my first few years of gigging were as a guita*ist, which I was competent at but not as good as many other players around me. ( I’m no virtuoso on bass either, but am what people usually term ‘a solid player’.) Even on those days when I may be not so keen on driving up and down the country in our band bus, I never lose sight of the fact that those people who come to see us play actually pay my wages, and also how much it means to them too. That alone makes it all worthwhile for me. If there was no audience then I doubt whether I would continue to play bass, probably choosing to amuse myself playing guitar and piano very badly.

Great weekend at the NADB bikers rally just outside Knutsford. Played Friday and Saturday nights in two different marquees. Bikers love their glam rock and despite a few technical niggles with power on the first night we all had a great time. Took two of the shorties, Fallout on the first night and Mustang on the second. Can’t wait for the Farmyard rally in June.

I love playing live, at its best the stage is my happiest of happy places.

Love it. Well and truly back into it after covid. Out every week now (except when I’m away in June) until new year! I don’t have to do it. I want to do it. 😃

Personally, I can’t find any other reason to play bass than to play live. I’m in now way criticising those who love to shred at home but, unlike guitar or piano, there’s little enjoyment in it. That’s why I’ve taken to playing guitar at home, and the byproduct means my bass playing is better.

I found that it was the first forty years that were the best, and even now, when the rare opportunities come up, I look forward to it, as long as I am able, and allowed, to coil up a lead or two to help out at the end. Fond memories of a totally empty dance hall, on the evening that the first discothèque opened a couple of miles away. The old lady with her broom chasing out the lads that had started fighting. The guitarist, Michel, taking over Gégé's bass to show him how to play 'Sir Duke', but using a banana, the 'discussion' with the BL as to how to play drums for Stones numbers, the 'British' way, the tour bus stuck in a snow drift, and that time all the tyres had been slashed. Clearing a wedding 'do' with a rendering of King Crimson and Saucerful Of Secrets, as a drum-keys duo (wildly applauded...). I had heard the expression 'Sex'n'drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll'. Rock, every time? Drugs..? Saw 'em about oft-times. But when does the 'sex' kick in..?

Funny how peoples perspectives differ. Mark Radcliff interviewed her when she had been off the radar for ages. Its in his book Thank you for the Days. He said he was surprised at how ordinary she was, no airs and graces and even cooked him lunch. There was no "Get your people to arrange things with my people" type of thing. He spoke with her on the phone and arranged to meet at her house. Rang on the bell and she let him in, then apologised for only having a quiche from the freezer. Nothing was off the agenda and no publicist or management present.

Seasoning The Son ～ Terry Jacks

If I used only the guidance on Basschat to inform my buying decisions, I would be playing a 4-string Precision with flatwounds through some valve monstrosity (no effects) into an Ampeg fridge. I'm rather glad I'm independently minded. As regards listening comparisons, I recommend looking for reviews of hi-fi speaker cables and experiments in double-blind listening tests. Even more revealing, look for reviews of digital interconnect cables (USB and HDMI), for example https://www.whathifi.com/vertere/pulse-d-fi/review

Great pub gig with dep singer Usually dep myself but did 15 gigs since March while they find a bass guy Rocked the place

Great 2nd gig with the new band. The Rose and Crown in Elmsett….good crowd, played well, free drinks!

So I’ve been on a bit of a quest, and last week yielded these two fine basses from my fave 2013-16 range of Fender US Standards, a 2013 from our very own @vincbtand a 2014 from the ‘bay. Match very nicely with my fave 2015. All that was needed was A-String Retainers and Hipshot Drop-D Extenders. The 13 gets the gigging band, the 14 gets the classic rock band.

I love gigging, but have found that I need to get the right balance. My last band was pretty full-on, gigging most weekends with sometimes gigs both Fri & Sat, and these gigs were all over the UK and in Europe. Whilst it was great I just wasn’t getting enough rest & recuperation time. So I’m now in a band that does about 10 gigs a year, which suits me much better.

I played my first music, in front of punters, for over two years last night. It looked like it might never happen, as the singer of my main band had some serious health issues over lockdown, but she's feeling much better now and ready to Rock n Roll again. I'd been rehearsing with other bands but they're not quite ready to gig yet (if it ever happens). It was great to get up and turn everything up to 10 (well actually the gain was probably on about 2). We ended up playing everything about 3 times it's correct normal speed (I think the drummer was a bit nervous).

50 foot Queenie. PJ Harvey

Traditionally the bass is the bridge between the rhythm and the chords. There's nothing wrong with that. Tradition is a good thing, but bass doesn't always have to be pigeon holed. If you're any good you make your own boxes and if you are even better you make boxes irrelevant. It's all up to the player.

We played at The Wrecking Ball Arts Centre at Hull. A long drive and a load in upstairs but what a lovely venue. Downstairs is a record shop/bookshop/cafe with lots of vinyl. Upstairs is a 100 seater venue with small bar. Nice sound due to heavy drapes all round. It's fitted out with a top quality PA and a young full time sound engineer who really knows his stuff. We played without a support band (Vambo have been with us on most of the dates) and it was nice to stretch our legs for over two hours. I had a change and used my GK MB500 instead of my Bugera. Achieved a nice tone with a really solid bottom end, not sure if it was the amp or the raised stage/PA but I'll try the same set up next week. Sound was excellent, had a decent crowd and despite being a man down due to illness we had a great night. The Bullingdon in Oxford next Thursday and The Boston Music Rooms in London on Friday bring the tour to an end.

Urine My Heart - Rod Stewart

So I'm feeling good today. I bought this bass in 2013. It had the original parts and I had a "professional" replace the pickups do the setup. I get it back and the e string barely made sound. The intonation was off and the strings were fretting out. Frustrating and still largely unusable I decide to find a second person to fix it in 2018. He tells me to buy the wrong bridge. Installs it incorrectly. Still have the same problems. 2022 I go to basschat and a group of very friendly and helpful people encourage me to do the work myself. You all helped me figure out my bridge position, find the right bridge for this short scale, encourage me that drilling a few holes isn't so tough. I also took it upon myself to install a new pickup. Let me say, I feel very proud of myself for being able to do this but I wouldn't have even tried if it wasn't for you guy. A very special thank you goes to @Downunderwonder for all the encouragement and advice and being there throughout the process. Also @Woodinblack for encouraging me to rip out the wiring and start from scratch. You helped me figure out how to use my multimeter and I learned how to solder as well. Not to mention how to fill holes with toothpicks. The bass is working now about as perfectly as I could possibly ask for. Intonation is great. I'm not sure about the string height yet but it plays well. The G string is a little offset on the bridge pickup but it picks up the sound pretty decently. If I really wanted to I could maybe move that pickup I little toward that direction. The only thing I want to consider in the future is mainly aesthetic. I was hoping to find some paint to match to do some touchups. I was also looking to get something to do about the exposed cavities. Maybe I'll take a 3d printing class in the future and design something to fit over it. I don't consider myself a handy person but right now I'm trying to learn. So thank you to everyone who participated in making my bass what I wanted it to be in 2013. For something a luthier wanted to charge over $300 I did for myself with a soldering iron and a new bridge and a lot of support. The old wiring The new wiring It goes to 11 now 🤘🤘 I had Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into the Fire" bass line in my head all day so it had to be the first thing I played when I finished. Here's a sample of what the bass sounds on the different settings. The first three are demos of just the bass straight into ableton. The last three I'm running the bass through a Rusty Box pre-amp before sending it to ableton.

This post isn't me bragging that I can play a lesser instrument, it's an observation that sometimes a change is definitely as good as a rest and I wondered how many of our die-hard bass players had ventured out of their comfort zone to play other instruments. After 42 years as a gigging bass player I decided a new challenge was in order (tbh I was feeling a bit jaded with the gigging scene etc). Now I can strum pretty much most songs that I do on bass and with 2 mins prep I can busk through known tunes; as a result I decided I needed to get out and see how gigging a new instrument might inspire me. This all coincided with my wife deciding at 52 years of age that sitting at home wondering what it was like to gig live, needed acting upon (she can sing and has always sung around the house/with friends). As such we formed an acoustic duo 'The Jack Doors Duo' and set about learning sh*t. Established in 2 weeks that I could knock out 50-60 songs, refined it to 30 and got a gig... that is after the quagmire of amplifying an acoustic and getting the best from a small PA etc. The gig went well last night, teething trouble with rogue frequencies on the acoustic and plectrum choice (yes, you only find out at the gig what will/won't work best) but felt good. Must have acquitted ourselves as we were asked if we could do every 6-8 weeks. I have to say that the main point was that it is a very different experience to be the backbone of a band playing bass and supporting the overall band, as opposed to being the sole musical source for a performance. Lots of variables to consider, leading to various considerations for improving my performance and the equipment... now if only the log in to Guitarchat actually worked, I could start buying different sh*t.

Today...

Most claims made in the HI-Fi cable world are preposterous at best and many border on fraudulent IME)

after midnight - jj cale ps great track above- been listening to esbjorn svensson trio a fair bit and their album “plays monk” is brilliant.

That’s great though! Its obviously reputation 😉 We seem to have a lot more parties this year, I guess people catching up from the last 2 years of staying in. Started taking bookings for 2024 weddings now. 😃

I got the MB4 in black. Aside from one slight sharp fret end the finish was excellent. It was easy to set up the action. I like mine medium-low rather than super low, tonally its better and it aids doing hammer ons and pull offs, so I never tried to get it low enough to show any issues that required a fret dress. Not stuck mine on the scales but among my basses its just on the lighter side of average. Wilkinson tuners makes tuning easier and improves tuning stability, obligatory Warman pickup adds a bit of depth and grit to the tone, and it all still left me with change from £150. A good looking, eminently playable, and ridiculously good value bass. Slap on a Squier badge and give it a silly name, and people would pay £350 for one and think it good value. A great bass in its own right, or an inviting platform for budget tinkerers. It's a hit with me. Never had a PB20, but as a modding platform it looks very intriguing...

Yes, it's really weird that this year is busier than the few years immediately before the Big C. I'm also getting a fair bit of dep work as well. I'm not quite sure why this is happening, but I have gigs with 3 new bands I've not played with this year, plus some Ska dates. I have by no means gone out of my way to seek these out, they've just fallen in my lap, so I guess quite a lot of bands are busy. Either that or a lot of bass players have given up gigging 🤷‍♂️

I asked a friend for ideas for how to reshape the headstock of my PB50. He suggested using an angle grinder with a velcro sanding pad and various grades of abrasive. I would never have thought of this and had no idea of how well it would work, but as he had the necessary tools and offered to do the job, I took the neck over to his place yesterday and he had a go. I think it came out really well. I just need to do a bit of hand sanding and it will be ready for refinishing.

Yep, my name is Lozz and I have a ‘burst/rosewood/tort Precision.

As with most music, Kate Bush totally passed me by at the time. I somehow got my hands on a greatest hits album round about 2000, and it totally blew me away. There's not many artists I would consider to be truly unique. I'd never heard anything like it.

I saw Kate Bush on TOTP singing Wuthering, as her first single, and that was that. I bought her first 2 albums, and was blown away by just how intricate her song writing was. Plus that unique voice ( marmite ) and the talented musicians playing on those albums. But, those first 2 albums is where it ended for me, because i didnt like anything she wrote after The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Having said that, re. Kate Bush the woman, she could have the top off my egg any day, from the day i first saw on her TOTP,... bad voice, diva , foul, whatever. I dont care.

Ah OK. I had a Two10S and a One10 for awhile. I thought it was a great small footprint rig. Nice sound, enough volume and easy to move around. A couple of years ago I decided to stick with the 12's and sold my Two10's. I still have 2 One10's and was thinking about getting another and resurrecting the idea of the 310. Two of my amps can manage 2.67 ohms, so I might give it a go.

This is spot on. There's not many manufacturers of anything that publish full design schematics that would allow others to copy their products or elements thereof. Electronic components and printed circuit boards are relatively low cost but the labour time/cost of properly diagnosing faults and then swapping out the correct part(s) is the expensive bit. We shouldn't forget that the repair tech needs to make a living too, so there is profit to include also. I would estimate to open up, diagnose, dis-assemble, replace failed part/assembly then test, re-assemble, pack and return even the simplest job would take between one and two hours labour. Add modest material costs and profit and it's not hard to see where £200 comes from for an out of warranty repair. No one is making a killing fixing old amplifiers.

For me Oasis is where music went to die. 😆

Pretty much every band I have been in from start up, that had the intention of gigging, jammed out in the initial stages to test the waters, find a groove, develop a style and so on. I would have thought that to be the norm. A good jam session can bring to the surface interesting ideas and creativity that are necessary to write material that is required for gigging. In my experience it is part of the process Rehearsing for up to 12 months with guys who come up with excuses after excuse to not gig, surely would be the exception. It hardly takes that long to suss out such a guy, be he dishonest or otherwise. It should be apparent in a matter of weeks and can be dealt with one way or another. I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that I would feel its ok to rope people into a project under false pretences. That would be disingenuous and plainly dishonest. I assure you I strive daily to be neither. People coming together, be it a band or otherwise, will have a degree of unpredictability, together with having to rub up one another for better or worse. In my opinion dealing with someone who is not showing their full hand, is part of lifes lessons that can lead to one's flourishing and wisdom. The only soul being destroyed is that of the person who is being deceitful

Sound "persons" can be a hit or a miss. I've had some great ones and some disastrous ones. I liked the comment about them being one step up the evolution from a DJ. That to me is spot on for most of them but i've had a few that were bass players themselves and the sound comes out brilliant with a great balanced mix with nothing overly loud. With ex DJ's the bass gets lost and even our guitarist has picked up on it during sound check and corrected it. Dave

No it is not. I once played bass in a band purely for the purposes of rehearsing tunes knowing that gigging was extremely unlikely. It was about a mental health struggle that one of the members was going through and keeping in touch with his playing helped so much in his recovery. Stage fright was a trait he had even before his mental health struggles. What is incredibly soul destroying for you can be incredibly empowering for others. We are all different and exist in different sets of circumstances. We ended up doing a few gigs for friends and family. It was the making of him. Everyone benefited. Hard work for him but worth every minute of it.

I think we know what you're interested in! 🤣 In the last 5-6 years I expect you to pop up in any thread about Ernie Ball basses saying how you think they are great in some way or the other. I'm not sure that positivity is much different really to other long standing members not liking something.

I think it's aimed at anyone who hasn't worked out how to get the best bass sound. IMO there are a lot of those around at all ages and levels of playing. The simplest things are always the most effective. Good advice to everyone.

Shaved. Wait, what was the question?

Like sisters.