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First gig with a new singer last night for Nine Lives, at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. It was a good gig! Our new singer has put a lot of work in to get the songs together and she did great, if she was nervous she didn't show it. I'm really chuffed with how it all went - change is always difficult for all concerned but we all handled it like champs. Pub was lively, maybe 40-50 folk in there at the peak with plenty dancing and 1 face plant that someone is definitely going to feel today! Kit used - the Soloking's first live outing (which also did me proud) and the Yamaha BB1200, all into a Markbass Mini CMD 121P IV plus New York 121 cab.

Great night last night, not too busy, at the Horse & Jockey in Lanark. No rehearsals, just straight in and only fluffed ne song (Dakota, as I play it in a couple of bands and play different structures). However, a load in, gig, then load out, after not having gigged for two months, has taken it out of me and I’m on again in Wishaw at 16:00 today. Nothing since the start of February and then two at once. 🙄

Last night we (Public Service Announcement) opened the Undercover Festival at the Holroyd in Guildford. Set time was 6.10, so we fully expected to play to an empty venue - wrong! Great crowd which just got stronger through the 30 min set. Great stage sound, and the band played a really tight. We gave a really good account of ourselves, feedback from the crowd was superb and we sold a good amount of copies of the new album. Very happy band this morning!

A poor picture of my 73 A neck bitsa. An A neck is where it is at.

People who know me know that I like my basses designed before 1970, with 4 flatwound strings and not a battery in sight… so when this popped up locally for 2nd hand Squier Affinity-money I had to jump on it. A 1993 Ibanez Soundgear SR885BK, made in Japan at FujiGen. With the 2 AFR-J5 pickups and the 3-band EQ with variable midrange swoop (I think they call it the Vari-mid), afaik the only year they came in this combination. Decent bit of kit with Gotoh hardware and a very fast neck. Good enough to give it a try.

This month is a bit of a milestone for me as it marks 50 years since I first picked up a bass. For a while before I’d being trying to find a musical instrument that I actually enjoyed playing. But for Christmas 2023 I acquired the albums ‘Quadrophenia’, ‘Band on the Run’ and ‘Innervisions’, and with John Entwhistle, Paul McCartney and Stevie’s left hand for inspiration, for my 16th birthday I got a bass, an amp and a ‘how to’ book and never looked back. For a while I was very serious indeed, but then motorbikes, and then family, came along, and my bass sat unloved in a corner of the spare room for many years. But about 15 years or so ago, I got the bug again, and I’ve been in your typical dozen-gigs-a-year dad-rock pub covers bands ever since. And loving (almost) every minute. I guess that there are many others on Basschat who could tell a similar story. Think I’ve a couple of years left before I’ll have to quit regular gigging as age catches up on me, but I plan to make the most of it!

More than happy with my TBII from '64 in Inverness Green.

But he isn't here as a company rep talking about the products, in general he is here as someone talking about amps and amp design in many threads with some valuable insight. Obviously if people start talking about the amps that the company he works for he is going to talk about that too, but that doesn't make him a company rep. Really? There is nothing at all condescending in that that I can see, it appears to be a statement of fact. Like people drive round in Range Rovers and go on about them, and I don't get it, so the only valid answer to that is that maybe they aren't for me, which doesn't make them idiots, it just means it is not my thing. Some people spend thousands on a fender P bass, when you can get one for a couple of hundred, I have tried both and the only valid answer to that is maybe they aren't for me. Just because something offends you, doesn't mean it is offensive.

Thank you to everyone who took time to watch this and especially for those who left nice words. Yes, it was cold! We're a funny pair - I am always cold anyway and Nick will walk around in a t-shirt saying "yes, it is a bit fresh" after listening to me moan for ages! His comments on folk were interesting. The electric side of the band doesn't have that link in such an obvious way. He always raved about folk music growing up where as I had inherited an interest in country (and later Americana) from my mother. For me, it was dropping that influence on the folk instruments and approaching them as a rock player that helped develop my style and give me more confidence.

Oh my goodness - I've only just heard this news about Nick. Like many others here , I had absolutely no idea about his battle with cancer, which yet again, has taken one of the good ones far too soon. I am truly shocked and saddened... Despite never buying and selling basses from each other, I had plenty of comms with Nick over the last 18 years or so, which were always a pleasure... He was a gentleman through and through and his kindness was only marginally secondary to his love of music and basses, I'd say. Sending my sincere condolences to his wife and family. RIP Nick - you are, already, very much missed! 😥

I'm fortunate enough to have a man-cave/studio/office daaaaaaaaaan the bottom of the garden, so naturally have rammed it fully of crap. Does mean that I can blast through the Marshall VBA at full volume or smash the drums to pieces without anyone hearing/caring! Usually though, it'll be an ACG 6 of some sort through a Helix and into an Epifini UL901 and Bergantino 410. 👍

Masking the fretboard ahead of level/crown/polish of the frets Masked and coloured with a Sharpie then a couple of passes with the levelling beam to get an idea of how much work I will have to do. Once I'm happy that the frets are level the tops are re blacked before recrowning. The idea is to leave a thin line of black down the middle of the fret. Levelled, crowned and sanded up to 800 grit ready for polishing It's one of the more tedious parts of the process. I'll polish them next week.

I doubt you're going to be happy with anything other than an actual '64 T-bird. They'll get everything physically perfect and it'll be "nope, it doesn't smell like someone smoked several thousand Senior Service next to it, and my wallet is telling me that I haven't spent a five figure on a bass - something still doesn't feel right..."

I'm depping on bass with this band on Friday night in Brum. The band do a mixture of classic reggae and UB40 covers

I'm playing on this one with Gévaudan in Bradford in 5 weeks time - 10th & 11th May. 2 stages, lots of heavy and the highly emotive 40 Watt Sun closing it all off. Should be a good one. Tickets: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Bradford/The-Bradford-Underground/Ruination-Festival-2024/36487274/?fbclid=IwAR2Kp8_RAMAVIUP0Rur5JrMHW3Yk6RADHTX9E5OkggXtTDxMP6Ok5k-mdxw Thanks ✌️

Quad Cortex into a QSC K12.2, Boss Bass Chorus on an FX loop. Also my rehearsal rig. Also my recording rig with a Shelford Channel as a DI.

Unplugged for me, just a bass. Either my Stagg short-scale acoustic bass or whichever electric is out on a stand. I don’t use any effects or pedals and I live in a very quiet house, so it’s fine for me. The only time I switch an amp on at home is to check things are working before a gig.

If I want to make a noise I have an Ampeg Micro CL set up. Just for the hilarious visual joke really. Generally I have a small usb mixer plugged into the pc and practice with headphones.

@Salt on your Bass? - my personal experience is I've loved my Mesa M6 amp - its put every other D class amp I've had to shame and it's clearly a quality product, although it's a hybrid class A/B rather than class D, I believe. It's actually just been taken off my hands, as I'm no longer using backline for gigs these days, by a pro bass player for a very decent price (£900 plus P&P), which is not too shabby for an, albeit well looked after, 10 year old amp I bought back in 2014 and have used pretty much every day since - its value no doubt helped by the current scarcity of supply in the UK. On the price point discussion: there's plenty of stuff that's not going to be in any particular individual's price range - I'd love a Wal bass, but I'm not forking out £5k+ for one! You could well argue that a Harley Benton does the job equally well and, in the right hands, it likely does. But surely that's not the point?

This is the Basschat motto.

I don’t get this fawning over a company rep talking about the products. While probably more experienced than I he/she will be biased towards that product, especially the new ones they want to sell. That’s natural and there is nothing wrong with it but it has to be taken into consideration. And the line “maybe these aren’t for you then” from the rep when someone says something negative is incredibly condescending and leaves a sour taste. I have seen this exact line trotted out by many companies in different walks of life (cycling, autos which I have both been heavily involved in) and it’s always to describe things which are overpriced for what they offer. I don’t know if it’s a USA thing but to me it sounds like “you are too poor or too stupid to own our stuff”.

If something is unique and offers something others do not, some people will buy them and there is nothing wrong with that. The Mesa Amps that @agedhorse designs are fully featured, arguably better featured than any others. I would love to try one but I cannot justify the expense. As a weekend warrior, it would take a year to earn enough to pay for one. I could afford one, who needs a funeral fund anyway? However I will not. As a big RHCP fan I stupidly thought that I needed a GK rig. I flipped in in less than a month as I could not get on with it. Everyone’s opinion is valid but if someone none is happy to pay for a Mesa, so be it. Finally, it is rare for a manufacturer's representative to post on BC and @agedhorse often adds wisdom and clarity to the discussion about amplification, with years of experience to back it up. I am glad he is willing to post on here.

Several... Lord Lucan Yvonne Goolagong Lyme Regis Janet Street-Porter Tony Gubba The Larch Archbishop Justin Welby Ali Bongo The Galloping Gourmet Finsbury Park Delia Smith The Bakerloo Line @Teebs Maigret Faith Brown Jeremy Thorpe Kendo Nagasaki Lloyd Grossman Lloyd Bridges Lloyds Bank Keith Floyd Charlie (from Charlie's Angels) Vangelis Liberace

Okay folks, thanks for the input….and here’s the result ! Real nice condition, just a few marks on the back and strangely a nick in the bridge but that’s easily replaceable if want to.

Take 5 minutes for a story about a very fine chap. Before the start of the pandemic I ordered a Moollon PV having been in Seoul to visit YJ and Andi Roselund at the Moollon workshop a few months before. I was really taken with the PV's tone. So the Pandemic hit and after working in a factory building respirators for the NHS through most of it I then lost my job. Not good karma. Sadly having paid my deposit I wrote to YJ and Andi saying that I could not afford to continue with the purchase and I heard no more. A few weeks later I saw a red PV up for sale and thought no more of it knowing I could not afford another one. 2 1/2 years later I got a message from Andi saying that YJ had not sold the bass it was still there available for me... Jaw dropping moment. They never got the email and YJ hadn't sold it - he kept it for me. What other maker would do something like that? I had in the meantime managed to get myself back on my feet and could complete the sale. Last week I took delivery of the bass I ordered three years ago. Delivered in pristine condition and sounding like a complete beast. I'm overjoyed to have this bass. I thought I had lost it and out of the kindness of YJ I do. What a bloody awesome bloke - unreal. The bass BTW is staggering, the low end is so deep but articulate and the higher register is thick like a short scale. Its ridiculously good, and oh the colour.. Red............ Red...... Red........

You don't see many of these about! It has Humbuster pickups. 🙂

Given that the purpose of this post is musically related I’ve put it here, if it needs to go to Off Topic fair play. It seems that I’m developing arthritis in the knuckle on my left thumb. Ok, nothing I can do about that however my playing style has pretty much always been heavy pick & hit hard, picked up equally by being both a punk player and starting out (like many of us I dare say) with an amp not powerful enough so digging in to get the volume. So the purpose of the post, well I don’t want this to develop in my picking hand so am dropping to lighter picks and lighter playing. Who knows if it’s already lurking or not, but I’m going to make the changes in the hope of keeping it at bay for as long as possible. Fortunately the thumb issue isn’t too bad as it doesn’t really affect the way I play too much. So another one of those getting older/making changes things, much like the realisation that ear-plugs are def worth plumping for. For us musicians if our hands & ears don’t work, well not a good place to be.

😎

I changed to EB Slinkys which don't feel as harsh the OE strings. I do have flats on a lot of my basses though. A strip of pickup foam tidies up the nasty sharp cut ends as well. Oh, the pickups are fine for my purposes.

I don't understand the question. What is 'home practice'? 😉

Gorgeous !

Stir It Up - Bob M

Changed my mind! I want this one. Don’t see many with an A neck and the tone is perfect. https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/bass-guitars/products/1974-fender-precision-bass-black

Can the can - suzi q

I once went for a curry with Kylie, she got upset when my rice turned up and it wasn't quite right there were Tears On My Pilau

To continue the red and tort combo - Chris Seldon Ranger 434

Not sure I get that reference, Steve.. 🤔 There's been a lot of mention in this thread about how a bass players primary role is to 'play (or support) the song' , which is an assertion I pretty much agree with. But equally, as a listening, creative musician, you also have to 'play the band' as well... Only my opinion of course, but I think Entwistle's style and approach to bass playing and creating bass lines, played the band context he was in perfectly. His playing next to Keith Moon's, created something different, something that set The Who apart from other bands.. Not dissimilar to JPJ and John Bonham in Led Zep, for example. In both cases, those two rhythm sections had a unique approach that elevated the band's music beyond the norm, and beyond others - hence why we still talk about them today. Doesn’t mean we all have to like it, but I personally respect that level of creativity and ambition. On a similar note, I'm a huge fan of James Jamerson's playing. And his approach was something different as well - for example, the bass line on 'What's Going On' is a masterclass to me... But I think it's fair to say that what he played on that song isn't what 99% of other bass players would have played on that it.. Yet, it's (quite rightly) celebrated as a work of bass playing genius... Just my 2p worth of course. And there are loads of renowned bass players who 'I don't get', or like, or care for. But what I would say is that there's always something you can learn from those people that helps improve your own playing, or musical creativity, even just a little ...

It looks like it'd be good for quidditch