Leaderboard

Hey gang! Short version: Got a '71 P. It's in amazing condition*. B neck, 8.8lbs, balanced, resonant. It's a stunner. Long version: It's had one owner before me - an ex-pat Glaswegian, and professional bass player, who bought it new from a shop in Hamilton, Bermuda(!) in 1971. He was the resident bassist in the house band at the Princess Hotel on the island, and gigged it for decades. I suspect he may have used it to back some massive stars over the years, as it was a big venue on the circuit (no provenance of this, unfortunately). He returned to Argyll in his twilight years where it remained in its case, until he sadly passed away last year at a ripe old age after living a remarkable life. His family decided to sell it on, and I'm the lucky recipient. As you can see, it's incredibly clean. From talking to his family, it sounds like it never really left the hotel. Also in the case was a manual (with the purchase date, store name and price - $315 - handwritten on it), some REALLY old guitar cables, his strap and a back of old tortoiseshell picks. There's a mark on the back of the neck from a guitar stand, which I think will come off. There's also a sticker on the back with the hotel details on it.. I think I might leave this on, but I'm not sure. One of the tuner screws has been replaced. In addition to that, it looks like it may have had a refret at some point but I won't know for sure until I've taken it to be looked over by the legend that is Dave Wilson. Dave will also be looking at the mystery of why the bridge appears to have been moved to the 'E' side very slightly - I really can't see a reason why. If there isn't one, I'll ask him to shift it back. He's also going to pop the pickguard off to check the wiring, pots and pickups are original. It's been used so much, maybe something has been replaced, but hopefully nothing major. All-in-all, I'm VERY happy with it. It's getting gigged tomorrow night before it goes to Dave's. 🙂

Right... just heard back from Dave. He's quick! The bridge has been moved to where it should be. Setup is done. No refret necessary... the original frets live to fight another day! The board is Brazilian rosewood 😃 He took the guard off and is under the impression it's the first time it's ever been opened up. For that reason he didn't feel the need to dig the pickups out. The pots aren't stamped on the bottom but I suspect they are stamped on the side as is sometimes the case. He didn't check, but if I'm feeling brave in the future, I'll open it back up to confirm. I'm in no hurry, though! The 'burst has barely faded compared to what's under the guard. I definitely think it's lived most - if not all - of its life in the dark. Heading off to pick it up shortly...

Hi, We (Bassbros) are a registered business/ physical shop, not sure why you'd think we're out to scam people but understand there's a lot of individuals doing this sort of thing. Just to be clear also, we were contacted by the OP and asked to purchase his bass. Believe me it's more sketchy us paying random people money before receiving a bass! If it's someone we have worked with, etc before it's a different story. There's plenty of feedback to go off on the internet and here. That being said it has to be something both parties are confident with so if you're worried about it then best to leave it or come up in person when you can. Thanks Will BassBros

My little 80s style Goth duo did a full 2 hour set at The Blue Boar in Aldbourne (also known as The Cloven Hoof in the 1971 Jon Pertwee era Dr Who episode The Daemons). Being local, we absolutely filled the place (& beer garden!) I thought it was the best we've ever played and we now have the next studio session fully paid for as a result. The kids dressed up gothic (my 5yr old niece does a mean Wednesday Addams)! I played bass (obviously), mandolin, tenor banjo, bodhran and a bit of vocals too. Couple of free drinks and my good lady made us a chilli for after. I think even Mick Jagger would have been jealous of this one!

Picked it up from Dave's earlier. It was fab before, but now...what a difference. Action now is on a par with my other '71 which is my reference action. In fact, it feels identical. It sounds significantly different though - my other one is much mellower, possibly due in part to the re(over)wound pickup. The new one is more present and acoustically resonant. Different sides of a coin. The foams seem to be in good nick - plenty of height. I've actually asked Dave to lower the pickups 'cos that's what I prefer. Before I forget, here's a pic of some of the bits it came with. The manual (which has the sale details on the back... $315), the original cable (which seem to go for silly money in their own right 😮), the previous owner's strap, the sticker with contact details that was removed from the back (Dave managed to remove it leaving a barely noticeable discolouration), and one of many celluloid tort picks. I feel like I've been passed a torch (and I'm not talking about the flammable picks).

Here's my main big gig rig... I split the bass signal in the Helix, left being an octaved guitar effect and right is an overdrive bass sound. Both go into separate channels in the dbx compressor then into the stereo Crown amp with L signal going into the 2x10 and R into 4x10. I'll send the separate split signals to the PA as well. If it's a smaller gig I'll bridge the Crown and feed it from the BBE pre amp with Helix inputs being centred. Works quite well! I'm tending to gig with the ACG Recurve...

Aye, so... I've just been up to drop it off with Dave Wilson. He's had a look at it and... we're still none the wiser as to why the bridge has been moved. It's actually a little crooked in its new location, too - I guess good luthiers were in short supply in Bermuda - so he's going to sort that out. It's a shame the bridge has been drilled, and a couple of new holes have been added to the body, but you can't see the new holes in the bridge. If that's the only major mod in 53 years, I'll take that as a win. In other news, I thought it may have had a refret, but turns out it hasn't. As of now, I still haven't seen under the 'guard, but it looks to all intents and purposes like it's never been opened. We'll see. Dave's going to open it up, take some shots and put it back on before that celluloid gets any time to shrink. Incidentally, when I took the neck off, it felt like it had never been opened. Hard to explain - just the look of the screws, the seal at the joint, etc. I'll never know for sure, though. What we can conclude is that it's spent almost all its life in a dark concert hall. The body has so much colour in it - it's rarely seen sunlight. Best bit is though - I gave it a run out on Saturday night, and even before any tweaks it sounds and plays wonderfully. Not a great showcase for it, but...

I've been using a small pedal board for a while with my Rock project, but my fusion band has a gig in May, so with a few additions I'd post the big one again 🤣 For this Band I'll be using an 82 JV Squire jazz and a Yamaha BB1024 Tone Enhancement section EBS Microbass 2 - A/B box/ Preamp/DI/ Overdrive/ headphone amp and Effects loop. very useful bit of kit and great quality sound. In the loop I have all of the effects, so I can use them through the Headphones. I use this live as an A/B Box and set the eq/drive sections to be as flat as possible, Channel A is clean but with the tube sim and bright engaged. (From the EBS link jack) - Donner Deluxe Mini tuner- kept losing the Headstock thing and got fed up of asking the the Keyboard player to give me an E 😂 Sadowsky BP2 preamp - mostly to add Treble and bass to the EBS channel B which is a drive channel. I have the Drive a zero and mids set flat, it's a darker but quieter sound. The Sadowsky equalises the volume difference. FEA Optifet - my favourite compressor, so much control and a great tone. Depending on the internal switches, it can sound like a Cali76CB (not as bright) or a fat Diamond. The sidechain allows the lows to breath. I have it set at its cleanest setting. JPTR FX Jive Reel Saturator - great little pedal thst just adds a warm Thickness to the tone when set low. The three switchable Diodes provides OD/Distortion abd even a pseudo Fuzz with silicon switched in (reminiscent of a Mastatron) BOSS LS2 - splits the signal after the comp, so all effects have compression beforehand. Has two seperate lines of FX that I can switch between or run in parallel Loop A - general effects. Aguilar Octamizer - great versatile and fat sounding octave, the filter and tilt EQ makes it useful. This is used for parallel octave, or switching between different octave tones. EBS Bass IQ - this is a great sounding filter!! Lots of variation with the modes and simple to use. Not as fat or resonant as some, but has a great tight/clear filter tone that cuts through really well. EBS Dphaser - As above but a funky, swirly,fat and very cool Digital Phaser. I love this thing Loop B - Synth Channel Emma - Okto Nojs - Octaver and synthy Dynamic Fuzz in one pedal, can be used individualy or combined for Dirty synth tones. Source Audio C4 synth- had one of these before, with a posh midi thing, only used 6 sounds in it 🤣 Synths/octavers/filters/phasers allsorts in here, but just sticking to thd six sounds this time 3 Leaf Groove Regulator - Spencers original (and to many, his best) lovely subtle sounding filter, which is fat organic and funky. Works great as part of a synth setup. Source Audio Gemini - Every type of Modulation available. I have Chorus/Flangers and Phasers built in. Works great adding Chorus to the Analog/Digital synth sounds I have available.

Can I join the gang? 🙂

I've always had a similar horrible noise. Class D, hybrid, tube amp - always the same horrible noise. Swapped to FRFR and a pedal, yup, same horrible noise. It's just my playing

My wife and I rescued a four week old abandoned kitten out of some bramble bushes by the side of a railway track. We named her Roxy Music, can’t remember what we were thinking. But she is still quite feral and weirder than peak Brian Eno. Also she’s French so she doesn’t have a fake aristo accent like Bryan Ferry. She doesn’t seem to like it much when I sing “Saveloy” to the tune of “Avalon” but then nobody else does either. It’s probably too late to rename her now. Apologies for the cat related Roxy Music thread derail.

Yes, let's keep believing everything we read, and keep on stoking the culture wars, shall we? In relation to J&W, they are brilliant, but very much of their time. When reading it is very jarring to come across terms which are today unacceptable to use in society. According to the papers, the (limited) alterations include "numerous racial terms [which] have been either cut or altered both in character dialogue and narration in the voice of Bertie". None of the terms altered were in any way pivotal to the plot, and, if you're really that bothered, no doubt the original editions will still be published, or there are millions of unexpurgated second-hand copies available. I'm sure you were just as outraged when Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry didn't use the terms in the television adaptations? No? Funny that.... To address your second hyperbolic question, there is a profound difference between fiction, and historical fact. Literally no-one (apart from a few cranks and nut-job deniers) are even suggesting that society should "Destroy and get rid of all Nazi history? Films, books, witness testimony...The Camps??" and to suggest that is not only wrong but also pretty offensive. But hey, if it keeps the Tories in power, it's worth, it, eh @greavesbass?

I'm sure this is on Basschat already, so here goes. Me and the wife are huge fans of a photographer called Gregory Crewdson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Crewdson); his work is highly stylised/detailed/large format and when the photography is displayed the canvas size is large - maybe 6x8 feet. Typically his work is like this: We were at the Beneath The Roses exhibition at the White Cube in Shoreditch and the photo below was in the exhibition (not wishing to see my post deleted I've browned out the nudity in the shot, but if you want see what's under the brown, it's easily findable online). The detail was so clear that you could make out the names on the prescription bottles on the dresser as Nancy Johnson. I'd just started a new band and we used Nancy Johnson for the band name (which was kind of amusing as we were four blokes).

Stay at the same volume and get the band to play quieter. The old school method.

...but this isn't just another FSO.

Hey Russ, this one effectively put an end to my quest of a 5 string superjazz. I got this 5 years ago, still have it and still regard it as one of the finest crafted instruments I ever laid my hands upon Atelier Z M-265

Excellent evening at Friars Inn in Hemel Hempsted. Clint has thrown everything possible to turn this pub into a venue - and it shows's. Backline is provided, so I just plugged in my bass and bass butler into venues amp and was good to go. Stage sound was best I've ever had - could hear absolutely everything. We were paid the second we walked through door, each given a generous amount of drink vouchers and we were also fed - we've never been looked after so well. We were support to XSLF (who were brilliant). We went down very well, didn't sell a huge amount of merch, but signed a few set lists and event posters which was a compliment to be asked, but signing things for people weirds me out!

I was very much in the "seventies good-eighties bad" camp when it came to Roxy Music. That came to a grinding halt when I was asked to write a piece on the "Avalon" album for an online magazine. The band that recorded that record is a completely different one (in approach and ethos) to the one that recorded "Roxy Music" in 1972, and once you appreciate that, you can start to enjoy "Avalon" for what it is. My favourite Roxy album will always be their debut, but "Avalon" is a great piece of work. Just in case you're interested, this is how I tried to defend the indefensible... https://www.popmatters.com/roxy-music-swan-song-avalon

This popped up in a thread on the fleabay a few days ago. I put it on watch and deliberated while doing some research. It’s a 70’s model 450B fretless. Going through many old forums it looked to have its original Schaller tuners original engraved picks ups (mighty mites?) and seemed in relatively good nick throughout the finish, knobs, switches and covers. there’s some marks but it is 40+ years old. I took a punt when no other bids dropped and lo and behold it arrived a few days later in a decent box I had a quick noodle and it sounds great, the pickup heights were all over the place but are sorted now and the action seemed a little high but I stripped the neck and there it was, the shim from thick tape plus it seems someone used blobs of something that set to lift the neck. I’ve removed it and the action is fine and it’s playing lovely. I’ll strip it properly the weekend and give it s good clean and service but my punt paid off and apart from having to replace the wooden pickup surrounds (we have a 3d printing shop at work) I’m well chuffed

We'll try to convert him to the dark side. 😎

If I want to hear a song exactly the same as the album version, I'll listen to the album. For me music should be art and repeating the same thing for 20 years isn't art. Sometimes the live variations work, sometimes they don't but at least it adds interest. I saw Smashing Pumpkins live once, they played everything exactly like the records and it was pretty dull, they looked bored as well

Hi, I'd like to come please. I don't post much on BC any more, but was co-organiser of the first Midland Bashes some years ago. I may bring my Wood&Tronics Ergon 5 string and Glockenklang Blue Rock head/BF Super Twin cab. Also I know of at least one and maybe two others coming. One I can't remember his username but he says he's bringing some gear. The possible is my guitarist mate who liked the sound of the day.

This! Metallica’s first four albums are just perfect. Seasons 3-8 of the Simpsons are just perfect. Everything since then has just been a shadow of what came before. Both are great examples of something legendary truly losing its way.

Absolutely, rounds all the way on the JMJ! It didn't sound too bad with the stock flats, and I say that as someone who doesn't really care fort flats, but once I fitted some rounds it really came to life, much more clarity and definition without being bright or shrill, and it still have those thumping lows. I'm not one for a Marcus Miller high end but it just sounded a little suffocated with flats, but rounds open it up to a more full range tone.

Yeah, "back killers" maybe, but I didn't see anything Stingray Killer about the one I had (which was very nice, but a real boat anchor).

Don’t forget flares, a pair of Lionels (Lionel Blair)

Sandberg short scale bass, VS4 is the P version, this is my just acquired fretless

Im pretty sure the technology will be at a point within a few years to allow driverless cars to collect you from home and take you to your destination safely. Your own car will be able to drop you off at the shops and go park itself. At which point we will have achieved the same results as trams and horse drawn cabs did over 100 years ago but with more congestion and less people employed. Progress is remarkable.

Working with young people, music is as popular as ever. They use the internet differently to us and I think it's safe to assume they don't want to spend their free time talking to a bunch of so called boomers! I'm okay with that, we get the last laugh - they'll all wind up like us!

It's this sort of nastiness that doesn't help encourage them..

Posts like this are definitely underrated

I'm pretty sure that Jon Anderson said that he just liked the sound of certain words so I don't think that many Yes songs that he wrote the lyrics for are about anything in particular

That looks like a regurgitated pizza at 2am on a Saturday morning. However much it costs it's too much.

This is my 1974 Jazz Bass - it belonged to my friend Jimmy Davidson. Jimmy bought the bass used in late '74. This was the first bass guitar I ever played when I took an interest in the instrument. Jimmy showed me the basics on this very instrument. He gigged it solidly, but sold it in the late 80s, which he really regretted. His wife actually tracked it down a few years later, and managed to buy it back as a surprise gift for Jimmy's 40th birthday. He continued to use it thereafter. Late 1999 he felt rather run down. Tests at the docs revealed that he had cancer. Within a few short months he passed away in February 2000, leaving his wife, and two daughters, Emma and Laura. Carol, Jimmy's wife, called me to say that Jimmy had wanted me to get his bass when he passed away. I treasure the instrument, but even now, 13 years after his passing, I can't play the bass without thinking, "this is Jimmy's bass". It's still too raw. so, in order to ensure that the bass is being used, it has been loaned out to various musician friends, such as Paul Turner (Jamiroquai, Annie Lennox, etc), Brinsley Forde (Aswad), Pino., etc. Its currently om loan to Rob Harris (Jamiroquai) You can see / hear Rob using the bass here: