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Warning - this is a bit of a gush! If anyone's still trying to sift decent bits out of Glastonbury, please just fast forward to Skunk Anansie. Not simply a cracking British hard rocks band, but a highly talented set of folks with some real style IMO. I saw them last Sunday (for probably 3rd or 4th time) at the Engine Rooms in Southampton. It's a shed but really excellent to see a big band in such a modest venue. Cass Lewis is a very cool dude. All the Skunk material is peppered with compelling bass work and some outstanding grooves. But when you see him live it's even more impressive because he pulls off serious techniques with aplomb. It was a brilliant gig! Add to this the fact that he's clearly a smashing and humble bloke who I got to meet after the show. OK, this is hero-worship but imagine if all our favourite bass players were this cool with the fans?

Got one of the candy apple reds! As a frenchman, let me say - that's no "Sparkling Burgundy" 😁 And who in their right mind would carbonate good Burgundy wine anyway 🤣

I can now join this thread as I'm the proud owner of a BB414. First time Yamaha owner, I was originally after a low-to-mid range Squire/Fender P to mess around on but after spotting this for ~£150 delivered, I pulled the trigger. Couldn't be happier, neck is nice and slim and it feels great to play. Needs a setup and a clean so will be doing that before properly putting it through its paces. Has some cracks in the lacquer by the pickups but I'm not fussed about that all - in fact I'm dead impressed overall for the notes spent on it.

June update:

He should spend less time moaning and more time turning some screws. Why does he still have it? If it takes a rank amateur like me 30 mins or so of fettling to set up a bass then a "luthier" should be able to do it in less, I would think. If he can't dial in a playable setup then maybe the bass is genuinely faulty. It can happen. In that case then obviously it's back to the retailer with it. My answer to your question is to pay nothing and learn to set up your own basses. I find it quite theraputic, as well as empowering and keeps more money in my wallet so it's a no-brainer for me.

So after the terrible gig on Friday night, we played a mini festival gig at the Rose Inn in Wallsend on Saturday night. Not a huge crowd but they were friendly and appreciative and I only needed to turn up with my bass, as the PA and backline were provided. Left my house for the gig at 8pm, on stage at 9pm, finished by 10pm and home by 11pm after watching some of the last band's set. What a difference a day makes...

Hi everyone, This is just a heads up that I'll be closing the Guitar section on Basschat at the end of the week. Originally it was set up to try and seed some activity before shifting the whole shebang over to Guitarchat. But it's at the point now where we'd like to catch it before the transfer process becomes too unwieldy. Each topic will be vetted because of crosslinks and whether members who posted on BC in the Guitar section are registered on GC. The transfer of guitar topics from BC to GC will also be gradual and probably take months. If you have content you started that you would like ring fenced for transfer, feel free to post a link below. During the transfer, the guitar section will still be visible but I'll post forwarding links to GC for the sake of channelling interest to the right place. If you have posted on BC in the Guitar Section but haven't logged in at GC yet, please take a moment to do so. It'll help us make sure your posts will still be attributed to you when we're ready to start moving them. If you can't use your existing BC password to log in at GC, try doing a forgot password reset and up date your password to whatever your BC one is currently. Then you should have no problems logging in. Thanks in advance, Kiwi

https://www.loudersound.com/news/kiss-thank-austrian-fans-by-showing-australian-flag

After a week of waiting, my new bass arrived this morning - a Squier Vista Series Musicmaster, in shell pink. I've been after one of these for a while but haven't seen many turn up, and the ones I have seen have been overpriced, knackered, or both. This one was definitely overpriced when I found it on eBay, but I managed to negotiate the seller down to a more reasonable figure, though slightly north of what I'd hoped to pay. It's in good condition overall, with only one tiny chip on the rear of the body, and a couple of small dents. The seller said it had been "well loved", and though it definitely hasn't been abused, it hadn't been looked after. I had to take the whole thing apart and clean a fair bit of gunk off it. The frets in particular were in some state and despite my graft still need a bit more polishing to get the shite off them. I scored some very cheap D'Addario medium scale Chromes on eBay last week so it's been restrung with those, and just needs a set-up, which I'll do this evening. I've never had a short-scale before, unless you count a Bass VI, and it's great fun to play. It sounds very good through my Peavey Century. It'll be shielded and get a new Switchcraft jack later this week, and possibly a new pickguard as well. Pics:

Whippet - Devo

Like everyone here, I have gigged a lot since I was 17. Mainly covers bands and some tribute stuff. Now I concentrate on 80s stuff, both as a duo and occasionally a full band. I'm nearly 54 and have held down a full time job my whole life. I only play gigs I want to now. If the venue is dodgy/ rough etc I won't go back. I try to only gig once a week now, that way the gig gets my full energy, I sing all this 80s stuff and it's harder than you think Last weekend I did back to back gigs, both at venues I love. I was shattered yesterday because of it. I have 9 gigs coming up in July, mostly back to back at the weekends, it will be exhausting but fun. The duo is well paid, minimum 100 quid each, often free drinks too and we don't travel too far either. The band always gets minimum 75 quid each or it simpy won't play (as the duo is more lucrative) but the band has a couple of well paid things coming up. I don't need the money but my duo partner does as he is a full time muso (he teaches too). I mostly spend it on eating out at the weekends (lunch whilst walking my dog, Olive, with my wife) or general shopping. During lockdown 1, I thoroughly enjoyed the time off. Not loading, unloading, worrying about my voice etc. As I get older, I am enjoying what I do more than ever, because I am a bit choosier Rock on people😀

Having been there over the weekend working with a few bands, I'd say that the alternative elements are still very much in existence. There's so many stages across such a huge site, and unlike most festivals that are one big centrally managed entity, there's whole corners of Glastonbury operating in their own little independent bubbles. There's still the hippy gatherings, independent traders, weird and wonderful happenings in tiny tents, niche artists, debauched club nights, family friendly areas, and who knows what else. The mainstream TV coverage is focused on the handful of bigger stages with the more recognisable artists because that's what most people will tune in for. What I saw whilst dragging my tech box on the mammoth walks between stages was that there's a huge breadth of things going on there behind the obvious headline grabbing stuff.

I don't listen to much bass guitar for inspiration but generally prefer to transpose 'synthetic' bass lines I find on House, drum n' bass and trance tunes onto the b/g. While psy /Goa trance bass composed on Abelton, Serum whatever sounds simple it's deceptively tricky and knackering to play precisely on the b/g over 6+ minutes. Anyway, I was doing a search on YT when i came across this guy playing his own trance composition on bass. Very tasty IMO. Just the right amount of delay and a lovely tone

Whatever it is......... get one before it's instantly discontinued.

Me too, but it is a fantasy gig. And in my fantasy Jon Anderson is asking me how on earth I played that amazing bas solo in Ritual during the 77/78 Yes In The Round Tour. And then I wake up and I'm crammed into the alcove of the Duck and Grommit wondering how on earth I played the bass part of Mustang Sally so badly. 😀

Love how you've got all the pedals and board to be invisible. Must be a right shock for the rest of the band when you seemingly pull an effect from thin air!

Nearly done now...

I'm not really a fan of Skunk Anansie, but about 30 years ago I was looking around the Bass Centre and Cass Lewis was trying out the new TE gear that had just come in. I was blown away by his playing. I'd never heard someone that good. I managed to overrun my lunch hour by an hour just listening to him playing.

£150 delivered is a great price, well done! That looks well nice in white with the matching headstock. I would have been tempted myself but A) I'm aff it and B) when I do return to BB land I want an older model with a reversed P pickup. Enjoy!

First, ohmage is what you pay to The Ox. Speakers have impedance. Not only should you not use cabs with different impedance, you shouldn't mix cabs at all, with one exception, that being when they are loaded with identical drivers wired so that each driver receives the same power. For instance, that could be an 8 ohm 110 along with a 210, the 210 drivers wired parallel for 4 ohms. You'd have to be sure that your amp would handle the resulting 2.7 ohm load. Still, the best route is to use two identical speakers.

I have knocked this one up if you want to have a look at it. Much more interesting than I thought it would be. If anyone wants to redo this as a tab chart, be my guest. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/I-Wanna-Know-What-Love-Is-Rick-Will-Bass.pdf

I haven't worn trousers with enough spare material to flap since 1977...

Urine The Army Now ～ Status Quo

Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow ～ Nick Cave

Bill Black with Elvis 1954-1956. Playing in that trio with Scotty Moore must have been something special.

If we’re getting their looks and equipment, can I change my answer to John Taylor. That way, I’d be fighting off groupies with a sh*tty stick AND I’d own Bernard Edwards’ old Stingray! Win win! 😂

My choices are a bit mainstream, but I would’ve loved Bruce Foxtons job in The Jam. So many great bass lines in those songs. My other choice would be David Lee Roths Eat ‘em and Smile tour, for the chance to play with musicians of the calibre of Steve Vai and Greg Bisonette each night

I think sometimes people view Stingrays as a modern hifi bass and tend to treat them like it - but in my opinion they sound best with the bass and treble backed off (I. have treble at 30% and bass at 50%). Some of my fave stingray players have a mellow sound which cuts through the mix as effectively and surgically as a slapped bass. It took me a while to come to that realisation after growing up listening to RHCP and so forth. For me, the beauty of the Stingray sound is in the finer details, not it's out and out slapping sound it's usually pigeon holed for. I tend to prefer a 70s jazz for out and out slap. The Stingray sounds amazing with a smooth baseline with the occasional 'pop' thrown in. Perfect example at 2:35 onwards:

Adventures In a Yorkshire Landscape - Be-Bop Deluxe

I've seen them a few times over the years, was a big fan in their very early days and saw them at King Tut's in Glasgow in (I think) 1995, and chatted to Cass for a bit after the gig. Phenomenal player and a thoroughly lovely human being. Back then he was still 'that guy out of Terence Trent D'Arby's band'!

When I was 12 or so I made some sherbet dip at home (after seeing it on the tellybox). Took it in to school in a large sandwich bag to try to sell to fellow students. Got collared by a teacher half way through the day and marched down to the biology lab so they could run tests on it to check I wasn’t carrying about £10k’s worth of Colombian marching powder. Ah, fond memories!

Did that stand up in court?

Hardly gigged at all in months, hence few posts from me recently as they are mostly in the 'how was your last gig' section. Gone from being persuaded a few years back to join a 3 piece to do bike festivals in the summer along with my already existing band (who werent gigging much either) to being nudged into dropping the main band in favour of the trio which got quite busy then the pandemic hit and we've never really picked it back up. Main singer/gtr had a financial issue and late last year said after next months gigs he'd been advised by his accountant to keep a low profile so couldn't see it carrying on. I then worked out my priorities and decided I'd be jacking it in then as well. Subsequently the PA gear that the singer/gtr sold off has been replaced by new gear. I believe he unexpectedly came into some new money from a bereavement and he's constantly posting on his FB page about the solo gigs he's doing (he's always done this as a sideline but said he was getting very bored of it and preferred the trio). The drummer has now joined a second band as he wasnt happy with the low number of gigs, despite him saying how many gigs he could find for us, we've hardly done any biker stuff apart from 1 venue. It's become totally disfunctional and not remotely the set up I was originally asked to join (I was personally approached, didn't audition for it or was looking for it). In truth my personal circumstances have changed a lot since I joined the band (met a wonderful lady last year and things have got very serious very quickly, we're not kids so time is of the essence) and I really don't have the time for the band just now and won't be looking for a new band once I stick to my original plan and leave at the end of July. I think the other 2 guys will probably bring in a replacement and keep the band going in some form whilst predominantly doing their other stuff. The trio has become a sideshow and I'm not bothered about it anymore, time to move on. I will probably be moving over 200 miles away in the next year or two so no point commiting to any local bands at this point, maybe look around for something once I'm settled elsewhere with my partner.

Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa

Having thought about it, although I'd still love to do the Thunes gig with Zappa, on a more practical level, I would have loved to have had Gail Ann Dorsey's tenure with Bowie. That would have required minimal homework on my part and would have been a lot less stressful that the Thunes gig 😎.

Lev... Level... Le... No. Sorry. I just can't.

I would expect a decent tech to be able to identify the cause of the buzzing quite quickly and tell you what the problem is. This is simple mechanics, there is nothing complicated in seeing where a vibrating string is making contact with a fret. He should have been able to tell you what was happening straight away. That he hasn't, combined with the Indonesian jibe, would have me concerned greatly. A setup is a quick and simple process, with experience. If it needed more than a setup, he should have been able to tell you what and why, right away. If a brand new bass needed a repair, he should have told you to send it back under warranty. He's had it a week? Wtf is he doing?

I'm glad we're 2 pages in and noone's mentioned Level 42 yet.

With a strict rule on 2-band EQs.

Specific gig, Duke Ellington at Newport 56, backing Paul Gonzales on Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue.