Leaderboard

Private function in a cocktail garden in Hereford. Pretty fab night all round, small crowd of lovely folks, paid well, easy load in, good sound. All good Outdoors, but under cover and a pleasant, balmy evening. I used my new bass and was very pleased with it. It’s been a bit of a nightmare situation, but almost sorted. I might post about it soon, it’s pretty damning for a well known bass specialist retailer. Sadly the video was shot using a potato. VIDEO-2023-10-07-01-31-13.mp4 VIDEO-2023-10-07-01-29-00.mp4

Arrived in the post yesterday Upon closer inspection this morning I noticed a ding near the input jack. The package on the outside was seemingly undamaged, so not sure where the damage has occured! The bass plays really nice is a great weight and has the best sounding open A string I have had on any bass I'd really like to keep this one. I sent the retailer a photo of said damage, lets see what they propose. I remember sending a slightly damaged acoustic guitar back once and the replacement they sent out never sounded anywhere near as good Thought I'd share.

Just bought the CTC Ti-Me Delay, man it sounds lush. Like a carbon copy on steroids

Not a rehearsal but an audition on Thursday for the backing band of a young lady singer songwriter. The songs I was given to learn were demos, so the band were still kicking them into shape during the audition. I played fine and contributed the creative process, which seemed to be well received. Haven't heard back yet though. I've got another audition with a covers band week after next.

I’m a pedal obsessive, enjoy putting boards together, and collect pedals as well as use them. That probably puts me in the category of annoying pedal users but it’s something I really love and I’ve met some great people in the bass community all over the world because of it. The boards I put together are used for home recording so have to be fully functional - I’ve seen plenty of boards that look amazing but I’m not sure how easy it is to play a board consisting entirely of fifteen boutique synth pedals - but don’t necessarily have all of my favourites on. I used to have a big board of favourites but deconstructed it when I was moving last year. Since then, I’ve made a board of minis to see whether I could recreate my old big board in small format, a board of Broughton pedals which does basically everything I want a gigging/practice board to do, and most recently built a board with a lot of my favourites on again. Given how much I enjoy messing around with pedals I’m planning to put another themed board together and a couple of crazier boards with some of the collection pieces on. I always enjoy seeing the posts on here though seeing the different boards, seeing what people are using them for, and battling crazy GAS.

England, consider yourself invaded...

Well….. that’s Saturday sorted The Fortess, with its freshly fitted Aguilar OBP-1 is immense. What a fabulous thing it is now. Massive output, 18v, two band…. simple but extremely potent. The Streamer Standard on the left is equally fabulous, but in a LO-FI old school way. Low output, but such a lovely tone….. I’ve informed Mrs Rayman that I require a Streamer Stage One for Xmas.

So, I put the strings on, they seem to be spot on, I also checked with my lovely carpenter level tool that I use for all the wood work, and it was right above the saddles, sorry I did not take the picture, but the final is below with a lovely Irish Blue Sky in the background!

So as I think I threatened earlier in this thread, today I’ve finally had a chance to reinstall the Overwater filter preamp in my Original series five string. I had removed this to install a John East Uni-pre as I felt I couldn’t get a tone I liked out of the bass in comparison to my John East J-Retro equipped five string Overwater Jazz. However, recently I’ve been playing a lot of passive bass (both fretted and fretless) and I’ve come to realise my tonal tastes are changing away from the deep dark bass I had tended to favour since first putting a J-Retro in a Fender Jazz five string many years ago. The preamp went back in without much of a fight, and initial impressions are that there is now a boat load of tones on offer. Control set is master volume, pickup pan, and two filters which work in parallel across both pickups. I’ve had a little play and I’m looking forward to giving it a good run through later. Oh and I’d forgotten how good a 36” scale low B sounds 😎

A wee update on my bitsa P; I didn't get on with the Road Worn neck so when @Studio GC put his Classic 50s Precision neck up in the Marketplace earlier in the week, I snapped it up. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer glossy necks to satin. It's also a better fit in the pocket than the Road Worn, so nice and snug now. The gold Fender anodised aluminium pickguard didn't quite fit round the heel so it's got my old JV pickguard on there as a temporary measure while I decide what to put on it, though I don't hate it as it is now. As ever, the true colour is hard to capture in photos, it's still much more pale than the pictures suggest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Looks like they're back in stock (now at £262), let the frenzy recommence... 🙃 https://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_squier_40th_anni._p_bass_dr.htm

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (otherwise known as A1 Music in Preston), I spied hanging on the wall a newly-released Fender Classic '50s Precision in Honey Blonde with a gold anodized scratchplate and maple neck, and fell in love with the look. At the time, it was way too spendy for me, plus I didn't think my small hands and stumpy fingers would be able to cope with the 44.45mm nut width anyway, so I left it where it was, but never forgot that look. Fast forward to September 2023, and *that* thread about Thomann and the Squier 40th Anniversary P's. The Vintage Blonde version obviously caught my eye, but after umming and aahing for a while, I decided to hold off ordering one until after we'd got back from our week away in Norfolk. Of course, they'd all gone by then, but a quick bit of online research revealed one in stock at GAK - more expensive than Thomann, but available - so I bunged my order in immediately. Then of course, I came across all the horror stories (mainly over on The Other Place) about dodgy QC on some of these, so was equally excited and worried about what might actually turn up. Turns out I needn't have worried - the body is decent enough (there are slight differences in colour / graining visible through the finish, but this is mainly on the back, and more apparent in photos than it is to the naked eye), the nut and fretwork is all neat and tidy, no loose / stripped screws, the pots are smooth (as has been noted elsewhere, the tone control is way more progressive than that on any of my other basses), the neck joint is tight, weight is nice at exactly 8lbs, setup was spot-on from the factory (though I have raised the action a bit to taste), the satin neck is a delight, she really rings out acoustically, and sustains for days (almost). I had originally intended going for the full '57 vintage look with threaded saddles, bridge cover and G-side tugbar, but I think I'm going to leave her as she is, a lean, mean, rockin' machine (or whatever the Kewl Kidz say these days) - all I've done is swap the strings for my preferred TI Jazz Flats. Unfortunately as the band is currently taking a complete break for four weeks, I'll not have chance to give her a full workout just yet, but she's definitely a keeper. And so, onto the obligatory pictures...

Charity Ball at the Midland in the city centre last night, about 350 posh frocks and black ties...5:30pm soundcheck, 10pm start time (I went home and came back), which then overran (if there are two things in this world stone cold guaranteed to overrun, it's wedding speeches and charity raffles), pushing us out to 10:30pm and then 10:45pm start, luckily the organisers took the last 15 off our running time, so we only played an hour for the full fee...the downside was that GMP had decided to keep the parking suspension for the Tory party conference there (which had all finished on Weds) running till 9pm tonight (why?), so you couldn't park within at least a 1/4 mile of the place. I spent 30 minutes driving round and round in ever-increasing circles until I eventually found somewhere, at £12.50 for 4 hours... House/3rd party PA and engineer, but his monitors were tiny, good job I'd bunged the Rumble 12 in the boot, so I used that to monitor. All good, even better the load-out was fire doors 10ft behind us, we fetched the cars and were out in 10 minutes...

Thursday night wedding done. Mad thrash getting set up and the organisers had some flash mob dance tracks as surprise for the happy couple we had to play over the PA, but all was good. Dep guitarist put in some work since Tuesdays rehearsal and was ok. No horns so the trimmings were on tracks but crowd didn’t seem to mind, in fact they were really up for it especially considering it was a mid week do. And we had to stop by 10:30 so home before midnight, result! Human mirror ball singer included in photo for some variation.

For some reason all the local bands are 1 person down this weekend - you might have to stand in? 😉

Godzilla ～ Blue Oxter Cult

big in japan - tom waits

See, I'm looking (again) at the viability of the HX Stomp as a small, easily portable "kitchen sink". It seems to be incredibly popular among the bass community, so perhaps it's a good road to travel down. To be fair, for me, it's more (these days) needing tonal variations rather than effects. Deep vs twangy vs reggae vs rock kinda variations. Thanks everyone for the stunning insights and views. Just what I was hoping for

In response to the above. I used to put together a ‘catch all’ board but it ended up being huge and cumbersome. As I play various different styles with different acts, each have different requirements (even depending on venue). I’ve ended up with a few smaller boards that I can rearrange when needed. Sometimes I just need a tuner, sometimes I need the kitchen sink so I’ll take a Helix stomp/other multi fx. Often there is no backline or I’ll be on IEM’s so I’ll have to take a DI/Preamp. It’s all horses for courses. Last night I had backline provided and had a few points in the set where Octave, filter and a bit of OD would be enhance things, Hence cobbling together the above for the night. That rig sounded awesome, the Mini Q is seriously underrated! As to if it’s the new ‘norm’ I can only speak personally and say it is for me. I’d imagine though if I just played in a single band I could setup one board and be done with it.

It's the red one that's whispering 'buy me'!!

That's a nice bass, but a nasty ding. They need to offer a substantial discount for that, let's hope they do. At least you'll be ahead in the worn mojo game.

That must be really disappointing, but I suppose if they refund you the difference vs its B stock price, that could be a good buy.

Ouch! I don't think I'd keep it with a ding like that, that's more than just a small chip or mark. Somebody dropped that then sent it out anyway hoping the person on the other end didn't notice Edit:extra word removal Edit 2 : (didnt want to clutter up the thread with my crap so i stuck it here)why do I find these so damn attractive now, I never liked the colour before, but the whole thing together ❤️

Sweet Gene Vincent - Ian Fury + B/heads

Generally, I measure these 34 inches (864 mm) scale distance from the nut to the place where the D saddle should be, which is more or less what you're doing. It's not a rookie question at all and you were right to ask it. Also check the parallelism with the neck to be sure the bridge is correctly centered.

Don't try building rockets, either. ...

Personally, it's about having the smallest/simplest set up for each application. I play in two bands and occasionally dep in a third. Each band has a different style and while one (The Hulla) is a 13 piece with many different instruments, the other (The Rip) is a trio and the dep band varies in number according to the whim of the BL/singer but usually includes backing tracks and a female singer. For 'The Hulla' I need a simple, 'traditional' sound for an established setlist of mainly 60s and 70's easy listening covers, with a few rockers thrown in and some more modern tunes as requests. I use a simple board with tuner, chorus and pre-amp and go straight into FOH, using in ears to monitor. For 'The Rip', which is currently finalising the set list of 70s and 80s rock with a few from the 90s, I need a bigger sound to fill the space when the geetard goes off on one, so the board includes flange and phase as well as chorus, octave and a couple of drive pedals and is intended to go through a backline amp. I also have a floor mounted midi pedal for triggering a synth. The depping band tends to play a mix of more modern songs and for this I tend to look to the simple board, adding a filter and compressor. The pedals also change according to the songs - for example The Hulla has just introduced a couple where I want to try using a delay and volume pedal for a swell/held bass drone. If it works, the board may expand a little. I often swap individual pedals to experiment with different makes of the same effect. I've always done it this way so for me the 'board for xxx band' is the norm. I have considered a 'one size fits all' set up, but it would be large and complicated and would definitely not meet the smallest/simplest criteria.

It'll mangle anything you point it at! Ah, just googled that. No, not a Kutzall branded one. I got it off Amazon. https://amzn.eu/d/5HRNomn

Fickle as it sounds ,I agree the look of a pedal is also quite important (to me)

It was his cousin, Charles Haznovoice.

I guess taking out a smaller board means carrying less gear and a much less expensive board to replace should anything bad happen. I only have the one project at the mo but if I was doing something folky I’d be leaving all my snarly aggressive drives at home!

A rather long time ago (1970's) I was working with a pro band and our agent decided it would be perfectly sensible to book us to play Aviemore Ski Centre in Scotland on the Friday night and then to play Barnstaple in Devon the following night. This was in the days of paper road maps and 65mph (flat out) Transits. None of us silly kids in our flared trousers and platform shoes had noticed just how far this journey was until we checked out of the hotel at Aviemore on the Saturday morning - sat in the van, got the road map out and realised we had a 600 mile drive ahead of us. I seem to remember we arrived at the gig about 9pm. Still played, though 😵👍 So silly !

I think it’s more a case of so much saturation in the effects market people are constantly looking for the next thing rather than objectively using an effect because of the sound and sticking with it. It’s de rigeur to chop and change pedals, the case designs have become as important as the sounds they make, you’ve only got to look at some of the boards on this thread to see people are as taken by the way they look as much as/if not more than the sound. With such a bewildering array of pedal choice nowadays I think people find it hard to stick with something in the long run. And building a board and maintaining it is as much of a hobby as playing judging by the size of some of the boards on this thread. I’m not judging at all, each to their own and if that’s what floats your boat then go for it.

With the absolute clarity of 20/20 hindsight some of the things I have bought didn't work out as planned. All now filed under 'stuff happens' and, frankly, small beans compared to some of the other blind alleys my life has taken. Life is too short and precious to spend it mired in regrets. Apart from seller's remorse over the Yamaha SB-35 I should never, ever have sold, of course 😂

I'm going to ask a fairly simple question, for which I'm sure, there'll be myriad answers.. I've used pedals for years. I've had huge boards (3 chorus pedals for 3 settings) and tiny (my current iteration). I see a lot of "tonight's setup for a funk gig" or "put this together for a rock covers gig". I guess my question is this: is this a new norm or an old concept, to put together a board based on the application thereof, instead of a board with one's favourite effects? Genuinely interested to hear your points of view.

I use EA amps and cabs (now discontinued) EA micro head is 500W at around 3lbs while the 10" cab with a neo driver is pretty light too. I never really need much more but if I do I have a 4 ohm 12" Whizzy Cab. They were the best for double bass for some time. In fact their iamp 350 head is still considered one of the best amps every made for DB (heavy though)

If running late is that predictable you should build it into your fee in the form of per 1/4 hr extensions to the agreed engagement. A performance for 1 hr 10pm to 11pm becomes 10pm to 12am with a +1hr fee tacked on.

This Saturday October 7th 5:00 ! Maple Road Old Falls Village Park Beer Depot N96W15791 County Line Road, Menomonee Falls WI Blue

I'm picking up this '85 Yamaha BB1100S on Friday. An 80s fretless? Better dig out the octave and chorus pedals. 😁