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May I just say, I’ve been here since 2009 and in that time, I’ve met some amazing people with quite a few becoming firm friends. I’ve bought great gear here without any hassle, sold gear without any hassle, and engaged in great conversations about all things bass. What a great space to share with so many likeminded folk. Thanks to all who frequent this place. I just wanted to acknowledge how valuable this place is. Cheers ☺️

Hi everybody! this is my first topic and i hope to not do mistakes! I'm from Italy and since five years i follow this great and fine Bass forum. I've known some Basschat members and do several business with them overall about Ken Smith and Fodera basses. I play doublebass in Gipsy Jazz Quartet ensemble and hard rock / blues in Trio ensemble. I'm very happy to introduce to You all my head bass, self assembled! Specs are: - Alder body with hand pyrographed "dead tree", true-oil hand finish - MIM Fender P51 neck with brass nut and Fender D-tuner - Dimarzio Relentless neck pickup with volume pot and series/parallel bobine selector) - Dimarzio relentless middle pickup with volume and passive tone pots - Stereo/Mono output selector - hand satin bridge and bridge cover It sounds very powerful with huge lowend and round highs. I use with my Helix Stomp for emulate Billy Sheehan sound and many other vintage style of sound since old P to Gibson EB0, Hofner style sound and many other with effects or in dry mode...

I can address this specifically. ICEPower did have some IP that was stolen by (ultimately) a Chinese fabricator and they counterfeited one of their modules which cost them a LOT of money (ultimately in the millions of dollars US). The investment in developing this technology at the level that ICEPower (and other major players) have done is staggering and it's simply not right (morally or ethically) to take away such protections from any company developing their own IP. For those of you that might suggest that ICEPower goes after the Chinese company that stole the IP, you must be unfamiliar with the "their country, their rules" concept of business. It's almost impossible to be successful, the loss is both real and unrecoverable.

Had 2 of the shorties out at two gigs at a bikers rally at the weekend. They performed well, a bit concerned when I found the Mustang had fallen over into the scaff posts behind me mid-gig. Amazingly not a mark on it and no effect other than the D being out as the fall must have hit the tuner. On a slightly connected note, can’t believe I saw a Mikey Way Mustang up for £900 on UK Reverb yesterday......mad.

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.

At the end of the day Stub, if the audience enjoyed it then you won. I used to beat myself up on mistakes I made on gigs, these days I just think 'I covered that up well'...

Today...

She's A Mean Woman B B King

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.

Just got back after exhibiting at the guitar show in Brum after it made it’s return this year. Really good day out and I thought you’d like to see some selective bass highlights..

Love gigging, love the buzz, before, and after a gig, the band locking in, the power of the bass and drums, the whole band nailing it, taking a step back sometimes and listening to the whole band, and individual musicians, that I respect, and thinking, this sounds superb. Of seeing the audience dancing, the applause, the friends you make, the camaraderie, amongst your band members. There is so much I love about gigging, I've been doing it for over 40 years and I still love it. I don't love unloading my gear at 3 o'clock in the morning when it's pouring down, on a freezing cold night in January! But surely that's a small price to pay, for some of the best times of my life.

The Fatback Band needs more love around here particularly for loads of Johnny Flippin's great basslines. Here's possibly my fave tune of their's although TBH there are many. I never tire of this ever 👉

Home on the *Range* - Gene Autry

'Can you remember the first time you sang in public..?' 'Yeah - that was about two years ago in a pub...' That's got to be the dictionary definition of a meteoric rise, especially when you consider she was (and is) pretty much unique.

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.

Forgot to post a pic of the most important honorary member of the band from the weekend. She drew more attention back stage than any of us and was a seriously laid back dude.

Eh Up Mi Duck festival up near Doncaster on Saturday night. It's a small festival but the revellers were plenty rowdy! Absolutely crazy mosh pit, loads of singing along and dancing, good pay, and beers in the van for the way home

Kate Bush is a genius. She was so original and had some fantastic musicians play behind her she pioneered a lot of experimenting in the studio mixing odd ethnic instruments And was one of the earliest people to use the Fairlight in her music.

The Cave in Paisley Glasgow with the punk band last night. Love playing this wee pub gig. Start at 6 finish at 9pm and home for 11 after stopping for a kebab. Audience always up for it and a great night was had. Dave

Car crash. People losing their way all over the place. Audience loved it, we had a painful but honest sit down afterwards.

I might as well confess it is my amp that broke, I've never said that Markbass make unreliable gear. I dropped the amp off a stack (well someone else knocked the stack over) and I was unlucky. What I question is the business practices involved and the attitude to consumers along with the environmental implications. I'd make a comparison with car manufacturers. They've been trying to create a situation where you have to go to a main dealer for everything. New models come out with special tools needed for even basic maintenance and the diagnostic software is only made available to licenced outlets who have to pay huge fees to get properly updated. Parts only come in major assemblies and aren't repairable at component level. Certain models now are only 'sold' through lease schemes. Within this there is an attempt to create a monopoly situation where the manufacturer has total control of their product and the consumer no rights. Their policies also mean they control end of life. If they control the cost of parts and repairs then they control the point where the cost of repair is greater than the used value of a car makes it uneconomic to repair. The same thing is happening with mobile phones, security updates for most Android phones are generally only for two years according to a recent 'Which' survey, coincident with the end of the contract periods for most people. Apple do a little better. We all know the printer ink scam, buy a printer for £50 but get locked into a model where the profit comes entirely from the sale of inks with extensive measures to make the provision and use of third party inks difficult. The environmental costs of a throwaway model for consumer goods are extraordinary. Just the manufacture of a mobile phone creates over 80kg of CO2 according to 'New Scientist' plus the cost of mining for the various rare earth and other metals used in their manufacture. I can't believe much less is involved in an amp (class D or otherwise) The EU is currently legislating to make repairability a duty for manufacturers but in the end it is our attitude to this which will make a difference.

Odd gig Saturday night. Had to wait until Liverpool v Spurs finished so didn't start playing until quarter to ten. We had loads of new songs to try out before a massive gig in two weeks but this meant I forgot and messed up loads of the set staples. Loads of issues with volume (staff telling us to turn down even though we were as quiet as we could manage if you didn't want a drum solo all night) and a strange room for sound. Very small audience sat still in chairs either chatting and reacting a bit to the start of a few songs or staring intensely at us throughout. Started to feel ill through the set and just couldn't wait for it to be over. FInding the positives: we got a rubbish gig out of our system before our next which we want to be perfect; I have a greater focus on what to practice for the next two weeks.

A new bass is born! I proudly present the Brooks Thinline Telebird. - Two piece Swamp Ash body. Half hollow - Two piece Swamp Ash top. With f-hole - 7ender P-bass neck with Pau Ferro fingerboard - Sea Foam Green top. - Artec Mudbuckers - 34" scale - Wide travel Thunderbird bridge plus tailstop. Chrome - Pearloid pickguard - Tortoise binding - Hipshot Ultralite tuners. Chrome - CTS Volume pot - CTS Tone pot - 5 way super switch - Chrome flat top barrel knobs - Telecaster jack cup. Chrome - Rotosound 66 Swing bass strings 45-105 - Weight 4.1 kg Wiring by BQ Music: • Neck humbucker in series • Outer coils as humbucker in series • Both humbuckers in series • Inner coils as humbucker in series • Bridge humbucker in series Pics of the entire build process can be viewed here: https://www.enkoo.nl/brooks-thinline-telebird.html #brooksbass #thinline #TeleBird I also made a demonstration video of the Brooks Thinline Telebird. This bass really sounds amazing. Very responsive. Hard to catch the real sound with my limited recording devices...

Wide Eyed and Legless ～ Andy Fairweather Low

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

Played at an awesome venue in Burton on Friday night- Burton Elite Venue : The Ritz. First Gig where we were supplied with in house PA, and a sound guy, and he did an awesome job of making us sound good! Ticketed event, and there was just over 120 people there. We played our asses off and did pretty well, if I'm honest! We got great reviews from the owner and sound guy after the night, so hopefully we get invited back. I got thrown in the deep end for the last song- we played an oasis song that the entire band had played before in their previous bands, but not me! A quick check of the tab, and managed to pull one out of the bag 🤘💪 The other band members have all done some session musician stuff in their 30 year careers, whereas I'm certainly catching up, having only played for 5... Playing with those that are better than you though really does make you better. It's pushing me hard! Anyways, filled the dance floor in the second set, so happy days.

Here's my storage solution. The aluminium case I got from Maplin some time ago to house another amp. Fits the Rootmaster, footswitch, mains cable and speaker cables perfectly. Think it was about £25 and was filled with cut away foam. The footswitch isn't an Ashdown one. I checked with Dave Green and the footswitch is pretty standard make/break across tip/sleeve and ring/sleeve so I got this Neewer one, an NW-202 and it works a treat. It was £14.99 from Amazon. I didn't know if the led's would work so disabled them.

For clarification, only the bit of MDF came from the skip... NOT my beloved Marshall, before anyone starts with the funny quips about putting it back!...

Scorpio's View - Lalo Schifrin

Bob Daisley is a fine bass player; the price is way out of my league, though.

The days of vertically integrated producers has diluted over the last decades. Prevously, companies received rawe materials at the front end of the building and finished products popped out at the back end. Under one roof design, marketing, manufacturing and sales coexisted. Today most companies out source many elements of their processes with complex supply chains to meet their market demands. Companies concentrate their core competency in-house and leverage the economy of scale offered by contract manufacturers. Modern manufacturing processes of surface mounted devices and SOC devices require prohibitively high capital investment and most bass amp companies are unable to justify such a return on investment. Consequently they focus on design, sales and marketing. (Apple do not make any of their products companies like Foxconn manufacture for them). Bass amp companies drive hard bargains for the exfactory prices of their amps when out sourcing the whole amp build. Some amp companies assemble the key components and carry out final tests, package and shipping. Key components such as SMPS , power amps etc should be easily accessible for board swop out but the cost will naturally be higher than the cost of a line side sub-assembly. Individual packaging, shelf storage, handling, shipping, taxes, profit margin all inflate the component cost. BUT they should be available at reasonable prices to allow repair of the finished products either at a franchised repair centre OR competent repair person.

I love it too. Many many years of entertaining people. The longest time I've off since 1987 was Lockdown 1. I now only do the gigs I want, it's even more fun that way. And so far will have done just over 50 this year (if nothing else changes) Yesterday afternoon's gig (sunday btw) was awesome. Lovely people having a great time

The string tree needs longer screws, it needs to be quite high up and the original screws are not long enough, so still some parts hunting to do. But the longer barrel jack finally arrived and electronics are now done. Battery clip is not perfect either, but it functions, maybe I will later turn it 90 degrees.

I've still got my first LM2 from early 2007, an F1 from late 2010, and an LM800 that I want to say is maybe somewhere between the two but it's not here to check. I'm yet to experience an issue with any of them, but if/when I do then I'm resigned to giving them a WEEE responsible send-off and remembering the good times. If I get 10 to 15 years out of a lightweight £500 amp with no more servicing than blowing the dust out of it, then I'm genuinely alright with that. Of course you don't have to be alright with it (that's completely your call) but for all the other benefits they offer me, I am. In that moment at a gig where your amp won't turn on, though, I don't think it really matters what class it is and whether it's repairable or a total loss - it matters to me that it fails safely (I don't think anyone has suggested thus far that one class of amp is any more likely than another to fail in such a way as to present a hazard) and that I have the space and weight capacity in my gear bag to pack another one that's able to take over with minimal fuss. Also, it's very nice to know that your amp can be fixed after the fact and that the manufacturer is ready and willing to help, but everyone singing the praises of great service departments are also tacitly admitting that their gear developed a problem or failed in order to require that service. My personal experience to date means I can't reconcile the idea that amps which have failed but proven to be repairable are better than amps which haven't failed but repairs of which are widely accepted to be uneconomical.

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.

The point I was trying to make was that, in my experience, if a Markbass, unit goes faulty you are in for a hefty repair bill. Only one authorised service centre. This does not always mean there is a problem. Music Tribe (Behringer et all) also have a policy, like Markbass (one that I believe is illegal), to withhold all service information form anyone but the Authorised Service Agents but at least the Beringer Service agent is as helpful as can be, subject to the constraints that Music Tribe hold them to. Its not about whether it does go wrong, rather that if it does, it is uneconomical to repair.

That was my goffik era. The Mission and stuff.