Leaderboard

So a recent NBD occurred, I was in the market for P bass, when a fellow in these very pages was selling a Tobacco burst BB1024. As I used to have a 1025,I know how good these are, at getting that P tone, so got some old Tomastiks put on. I've made a couple of cosmetic mods, in that I've had a lovely Tortoise Pickguard made, and added some Art Deco esq knobs. It has a similar vibe to the newer BB models only with IMO a more elegant Guard and body shape. Just waiting on some pickguard adhesive tape,as I don't have a drill,I can then fit it properly.

Saturday's gig was in a very professionally set up marquee at a holiday camp from 3pm - 6pm 1st set was pretty busy but the marquee emptied at 5pm when we began to smell the whiff of BBQ fuel as lots of people hopped it to get the dinner ready. Troopers that we are we played through till 6pm when lots of people came in to tell us they'd been sitting outside in the sunshine and loved the band. A strange day. We've been asked back to play a night time slot at their Sept festival so we must have done something right.

Not last night but Thursday, we played at The New Cross Inn in SE London. We headlined, was only my third gig with the band. We didn’t sound check, just went on stage with not even a line check just plugged into the provided amps and set our sounds (Sansamp very helpful in this situation), then went for it. As we were headlining we’d put 2 new songs into the set, with only one rehearsal, so I found those a bit difficult structure-wise, but they went ok. Being mid-week it was very sparsely populated but we played well and got some good applause from those who did attend. I’m liking this band, there’s a relaxed attitude to it that I’m not used to, and which is quite welcome. It is a bit of a culture shock though and at times I find myself biting my tongue a bit but I remind myself that that’s how they’ve operated for years and I wanted to join, so keep big mouth shut & chill.

Rather than piggybacking onto the threads of others, I thought I really ought to create my own about my own musical journey. For bass, I'm in the local Rock School franchise playing with the adult learners group. I have a lesson one week and the jam session alternate weeks. Bit of a hiatus with lessons due to tutor being on paternity leave... but he's back this week. I already know all about GAS - you're talking to someone who is into astronomy, hi-fi, photography... before we get to music and I have two viols, 2 cellos, 4 saxes, and currently 4 (soon to be 5) basses... I've been able to read music (bass and treble clef) since I was about 12. The viols mean I have to read alto and octave treble clef; cello means I have to read tenor clef as well.I've got G6 theory and I'd like to get G8 done. I started singing lessons in my 30s and have sung in various sizes of choir since then. I have performed in probably several hundred concerts over the years. Some have been major concerts in big concert halls. I've performed at Philharmonic Hall (Liverpool), Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), Symphony Hall (Birmingham), Royal Albert Hall (London). I've also sung in about two dozen of the UK's cathedrals. I'm not in a choir at the moment as I'm retraining to sing tenor instead of baritone - I hope to join a group in the autumn. I started cello and sax in 2011. I joined local community music groups straightaway as I know how important playing with others is. I'm working on G6 for sax and my teacher says I'm around G7 on cello. Currently, I play cello in two orchestras. For sax I'm struggling to find a wind band near enough that meets on a usuable day that doesn't conflict with other things. I do play sax in a small ensemble which I run, but it only meets once a month. Although I bought my Fender back in 2016, I really struggled to find a teacher I got on with and it was only just before lockdown hit that I found someone I got on with. It's not that I'm difficult (honest! 🤣) but a lot of people who put themselves out to teach beginner bass players find I start asking questions they can't answer... The pic is me and my cello a couple of weeks ago at my first concert since late 2019... The orchestral part of the programme was the suite from Peer Gynt (Grieg) and a medley from Lady be Good (Gershwin). A bit different from the Blitzkrieg Bop at Rock School...

A very decent Friday night crowd at a East End venue, lots of voices joining in with the songs and a general good time being had by all. At one point from the stage I saw through the window what I thought was punch up outside. It was infact people dancing and pogoing in the street..!!! Never had that before…

Not me personally, but it was embarrassing for the band as a whole and the drummer especially. It was my first really good band back in the 80s, at our very first gig... we were a rocky-synth-pop band, sort of Duran with more guitars I suppose, and we had an intro tape... an ethereal synth piece with a bass drone, which gradually rose to a crescendo and then four clicks as our cue into the big opening of our first song. Unfortunately the bass on the intro tape used to cause a massive sympathetic rattle from the snares on the drummer's, errm, snare drum, so to avoid this he disengaged the snare strainer to drop them away from the head. And then forgot. Yes, you can see what's coming can't you... the intro rises to its crescendo, four clicks and BLAM the big dramatic intro, drummer hits his snare and instead of a gunshot "crack!" it goes "BOING!" like a timbale. Drummer realises what he's done, fumbles to re-engage the strainer and thankfully we are only treated to a couple of BOINGs before normal service is resumed. Alas the damage is done, and our big intro sounds more like "what if A-Ha played samba?". Thankfully the rest of the gig was an absolute belter, but it took a while for the drummer to live that intro down.

In the early 90s we were going to play a gig at (iirc) the King's Head in Fulham... We were told that a number of record company scouts were specifically coming to see us as we'd somehow built a bit of a following. So we rehearsed like crazy, tight as a gnat's etc, and on the night someone had the bright idea that we should have a few beers so we might be just that little bit more stage-showey. About 6 pints later someone sparked up some serious grass reefs, after which we were all a touch spacey and drunk. So in order to alleviate this, some other bright spark brought out the coke, which we imbibed freely before going on. Needless to say, the whole band was completely Merded - falling about, out of time, unable to see properly and so playing everything wrong. But what was worse, being full of Executive Powder, we thought we were playing brilliantly. We weren't signed, and no record company scouts came to see us again! A valuable lesson was learned...

Saturday 10th December 1994 (I still have the tour poster) at the Angel in Nottingham, my Bath based sleaze rock band (the last bastions of the old days that had been otherwise killed off by grunge) hit the town. We didn't know what to expect and showed up to what initially looked like an old man's pub. We were backstage still nursing hangovers from the previous night(s) and our roadie came in to say the audience all looked like us. Thinking it was a wind up we initially ignored him but he said they were asking for me personally (I used to run the mailing list). I went out front and he was right - we'd pulled our biggest crowd. People started buying me drinks and I spent the first part of the evening ligging at the bar. We came to go on and made an entrance walking through the crowd as our intro music played. It was a highpoint of my musical career at that time. I was definitely feeling the effects of a few too many beers. We walked onstage and I noticed my BV mic was considerably lower than my skinny 6ft3 frame. I staggered up to adjust it and promptly fell off stage before the first note! Low slung bass thankfully unharmed. It got the biggest cheer of the night! Against all odds, we actually went down well but I don't think I recovered from my muppet moment.

Last night was a very dusty barn in deepest Somerset. A fun night, despite the super live acoustics.

Things sent to test us - rather stupidly I left it perched between two chairs while I went to find some string to finalise the bridge placement. The dog then knocked it off 🤦🏻‍♂️ leaving a large, unsightly - and most importantly unsaveable - gouge between the pickups. My own fault really. Couldn't bring myself to take a picture! Ummed and ahhed about letting in a piece of contrasting wood and making a feature out of it, in the end I knocked up another pickup cover to cover both routes, and routed the cavity for it - rather happy with the outcome!

For those decades I was out playing in variety bands, and didn't listen to UK radio. I consider myself to be a (modest...) musician, and could name no bands from that era, either. On the other hand, I could reel off a list of certainly 50, maybe more, classical composers, most of whom I listen to and appreciate often. Not everyone attends clubs, discos, raves, parties and such. My own listening, at the time, was either my own, and my groups', compositions, or West Coast acid stuff, Brazilian sambas, 'typique' music from the West Indies and African tribal stuff. I cannot name one single Japanese band, either. The World is a very wide range of stuff, and UK 'indie' is only a speck of what's out there.

Being a fan of affordable pedals, I often take a punt on what looks too good to be true. Disproving the lazy cliché 'you get what you pay for' has long been an obsession of mine and would you know it, I've gone and done it again. With multiple applications the GEQ is a staple for many a bassist, whether thickening up a tone sucking drive, turning a run of the mill amp into a Trace Elliot, or just tweaking my overall sound to suit the idiosyncrasies of a room it's a great thing to have. Things I might have been expected to find: cheap case with tacky finish, horrible addition of hiss, very little obvious alteration to my sound, noisy controls, flimsy controls and a bit too big of a pedal. Instead it's silent, has all the key frequencies covered, the metal case is beautifully finished and the switch gives a satisfying clunk. The sliders are no more or less flimsy than any others and it's really compact. Oh and this new pedal was 23 quid delivered!

This Pedulla MVP-5 has been my #1 since I received it in 2014. It just sits well on my hands. Excellent craftsmanship! 👍

Practically perfect in every way ;-).

Last night was a late one. We don't follow football, so the final didn't cross our minds until we arrived to set up at 7 to find the pub full & waiting for kick off, and told "Oh yes you'll be going on after the football". So we set up and settled in for a long night... and then that was delayed so we ended up going on. Eventually went on sometime after 10:30 and played through til midnight using the two sets as a guide and swapping stuff as we went. Fair few stayed, but it certainly thinned out after the game ended as it did. Slightly harder work for me as we were a guitarist down, and I was in charge of the PA on my iPad - though that was pretty much a set and go affair. It has been quite funny seeing a couple a FB posts today from people who came to the pub for a band and were whizzed off that they got football 🤣 Previous week was a blast with another outing with my first ever band from 44 years ago reliving our selection of punky power pop choons. Hells bells we used to play stuff fast. Seemed to go well generally, if confusing the heck out of some of the regulars of the venue more used to the more usual cover band fare

1. The strings are how much? I recall weighing up whether to buy a set of EB flats for £60. Peanuts! A used set of Spirocores for £110 now feels like a bargain. 2. That neck. When Precision players talk about ‘baseball bat’ necks they’re having a laugh. If a P bass has a bat for a neck a DB has a drainage pipe. 3. The pain. Blister-callus-blister repeat. Numb fingers, numb hand. Back ache, neck ache. 4. playing in front of the mirror to check left hand position can send you slightly mad. 5. DB’s don’t bounce. Drop an EB and you get a bit of mojo. Drop a DB and you get a £££ repair bill (if you’re lucky). 6. Age is all relative. Look at a 1969 Fender and think ‘wow, that’s really old’. Look at a 1950s Czech DB and think ‘well at least it’s relatively new’. 7. There’s a lot less GAS. Got a DB with a pickup and you’re sorted. Secondhand DBs appear in the for sale section at a fraction of the rate of EBs. I should be due for a new DB in about 6 years. Maybe. 8. You have to hear notes instead of learning shapes. Wait, all those EB patterns I spent months learning are redundant? Crap. 9. DB’s are portable in the same way telephone boxes are portable. 10. I absolutely love the sound of the DB… so much so that points 1-9 don’t really matter.

TU-2 > Cali 76 > RC Booser > BB > Pork & Pickle > Anadime Chorus > Chorusaurus > Lush Puppy

We were just finishing my first ever gig, at a youth club, and the singer said, "We'd now like to do the last number". All the lights came on and the caretaker was walking up the room saying, "I wouldn't bother mate. They've all gone home!".

Saves hacking down Ebony trees. As it happens, i'm getting a Richlite fingerboard neck built in the Build forum by Andy https://www.richlite.com/collections/fretboards

18 With a Mullet ～ T̶ᴇ̶ɢ̶s̶ Pete Wingfield

I didn't say I was proud of it, nor did I say I was ashamed. It is a simple statement of fact. I see no need to keep up with the current fashion.

You've never heard of U2? I'm looking to build a nuclear bunker, are you finished with the rocks you've been hiding under? They seem to be impenetrable!

I'm only a few years younger than you and IMO that opinion is nothing to be proud of if you call yourself a musician.

You did or they did?

The jack socket on my Warwick broke in front of a packed Royal Albert Hall audience. Swapped to a Geddy Lee jazz in seconds and all was ok. Never played a Warwick (or the Albert hall!) ever again.

At last, a post I understand!

Last minute gig via an agent (phone call at 4pm, on stage around 8.30 with a 90 minute drive). No info other than it was a pub gig. No problems, we were doing them regularly at the time but we were all working so it was a bit of race to finish, gather kit and head off. We turned up a little later than ideal and set up in a rush. Only after we'd got everything ready did we really notice the crowd - the usual suspects for the kind of pub we were in, but they were very well dressed. We started with the pub set (I don't remember most of the set but it would have been pub rock/blues standards). After the first three or four songs, there was no response from the audience - none. We weren't that bad so in true professional style, we carried on, trying different styles, slow, fast, medium, quiet, loud. Eventually we were getting a little half hearted and polite applause. At the end of the first set, we decided to do our rocky version of 'Knocking On Heaven's Door' (starts off like Clapton, ends like GnR but fast with a really nice guitar solo). In the past it had never failed to get an audience reacting and usually positively. Except when you play it at a wake. The landlord told us during the break - our agent had forgotten to mention it. We took a longer than usual break and the second set went down much better as the beer had been flowing for a while and the ties had come off. By the end of the night it was like regular gig and we managed several encores.

I mean... look at it. It's a technical marvel.

Being rather well fuelled of the amber nectar I fell over on stage once whilst performing like a rock star. Taught me a valuable lesson that, which was stand still then you can drink bucketloads.

My newest edition to the collection is this beauty! Bought blind online and must say I'm impressed, it has a ridiculous tone that is so clear and cuts through so well. My only gripe is that the neck is quite deep up towards the first few frets especially compared to my lakland, but a minor issue 😁

Well - this was booked quickly, I reached out and got a great basschat response… thanks to @mr zed and @Dankology we now have a full lineup for Sunday 26th June. So - Please come down to witness some Basschat magic. The Dog Inn at Belthorn, Sunday 26th June, 2pm-6pm. Beer/BBQ and Bass players 🤣

My 80s Alternative / goth duo played on Friday, just locally on the road I grew up on. Last time we were acoustic so we decided to bring the full band with our electric set, drum machine and sequenced keys. We walked in and some of the locals starting saying "Here come the professionals!" Assuming they weren't comparing us to Bodie and Doyle, it was a great welcome. We did a really solid set and returned later on with mandolin / mandocellos to back the country guy. A great night.

If it were me I would have a luthier do the cutting for you. It's not a time consuming or expensive job for someone who knows what they are doing.

My suspicion is that not hanging around posting on internet forums is one of the essential secret weapons of the successful busy working bassist

Washburn Taurus t14

If you look closely, you can see that sanding line is a slight bit lighter, but for most observers, well, I don't think they would see it. Just need to let the blend coat fully dry over the next few days and it can be shipped back to @evan47

Almost 18 months with a Helix Stomp now... These are my reflections and experiences: 1. Ease of use. It's easy to use IF you invest the time getting under the skin and seeing how the presets are made up and experimenting with all the different variations on some effects, like the autowah which can do each vowel sound with either an upward or downward inflection. I find the PC editor more intuitive than editing on the pedal itself. Still, I often cannot be bothered to get out the PC and connect it all up. I wish they did an app for connecting. 2. Presets. I mainly use the presets as my starting point and then bring other effects in and out by footswitch as I need them. I tweak some of these to suit what I'm playing. Generally I find the presets pretty good and I'm happily gigging with Del Sol as a default sound, adding on drive or fuzz as needed. 3. Wah? I could never get an external expression pedal to function as a wah so had to buy a wah pedal. Almost every previous multi I've used had a built in wah pedal and I knew I'd miss that on the stomp. I don't use a wah much but when I do I want it to sound good. 4. Synths. I play covers and we try to add a lot of detail to some of the more well-worn songs, so for me that means synths to replicate sounds off the original records a lot of the time, or to cover up for missing backing parts. I had to buy a Boss SY-1 and add this to the pedalboard, and use an expression pedal for it. Since then Line6 improved their synth offering but I've not had much chance to play with that yet. I've not found a good OC-2 type effect yet either. It's really lacking here for me, but I guess not for the majority of their market. 5. Switches. I had to buy external switches. This 1 box solution is far from it. The more I can talk myself out of buying additional pedals, but I got rid of all my pedals to buy the helix stomp. My board now has: Harley Benton tuner/mute; Line 6 helix stomp; Two button footswitch for the stomp; Boss SY 1 synth pedal; Expression pedal for boss synth; Wireless receiver; AMT Bass Wah; Calibe power supply for everything except the Helix. 6. Downloadable patches and stuff... I paid for a package off Sigma Audio and that was.... Ok. I don't think I use any of their settings actually!! I did for a while but not now. I paid for a Trace Elliot IR too but unless I do any recording I can't see me using that either. I've had mixed experience with downloading free patches off the Line6 forum and Dr Tone. Dr Tone stuff is not suited for me on the basses I play or the style of music. Some of the free ones off the Line6 community have been ok but again I'm not using any of these live. I'm sticking with the tried and tested presets with my tweaks. Overall is it worth keeping...? Well, I can't spend my time buying pedals to discover they sound nothing like the demos or they don't interact well with my other pedals. Or buying pedals for a song then never rehearsing or gigging that song again. So the Helix has saved me there. I would like to try the Boss and Zoom multis but I don't see a massive improvement there either. Yes, they may address some issues but then there's the whole learning curve to go on again. What does the Helix do better than any individual pedal? Hard to say. The only answer is variety. It has so much more variety than individual pedals. I cannot say it's a better preamp than any of the preamp pedals I've had before, except it has so many more options. It can do all my guitar stuff too, which is a bonus, so it's not a bass specific pedal. Would I upgrade to the more expensive Helix stuff? Only if I got a stonking good deal secondhand and even then it would be a push. It's the learning curve again, and knowing I'd need to add one or two other pedals. Would I buy it again if it were lost, stolen, or most likely damaged by a punter spilling drink on it? No. There's more choice now than there was 18 months ago, I'd probably go for the Zoom or Boss multis out of curiosity on what I've missed out on and hope they suit me better. Or maybe even the Pod Go as it has wireless and wah built in.

Thanks Greg! I'm really pleased with it, smoother P tone than the 425 I have (it had rounds on) so suits the thumpy flats. I do prefer a pickguard for a more Fender vibe, these BB'S are so much better value though. Massive thanks to @AndyTravis for the loan of his template and general Bass advice across the board!! Love ya man 😁