Leaderboard

I succumbed to my urge to get a jazz…and negotiated a significant discount from list. It comes with ashtray and pickup cover. I was surprised to find a CoA in the case - i thought that was a custom shop only thing. I haven’t told my band yet but I’m looking forward to their reaction at the next rehearsal whenever that might be….i suspect it’s not black enough for them.

My final gig of 2025, with the Elton John tribute, at Bibi’s in Leeds. The usual matinee and evening gigs, both really well attended with the audience up for singing and dancing. Its a long day with travelling and a gap between sets so I came prepared and had a nap in my car between sets. As ever, plenty of good food, good vibes and a lovely way to round off my year musically. The usual rig of P bass and Yamaha basses (for the different 70s and 80s sounds), Markbass Traveller cabs, Little Mark II head and effects board. Just about managed to cram it all, along with the drumkit (and drummer) in my car. Long live old Volvo estates.

I got home at 8:30. It was a good gig. We sounded good ,had a great crowd, good food and the dep drummer was pretty good. Daryl

Just got home from what, in my opinion, was our best gig ever. 2 lots of hour-long sets at an old-timey inner-city pub here in Brum that has outlived the new developments around it. Proper small room crammed to the rafters with paying punters and it was party atmosphere all evening. Played up until about 11.57 and then had a quick break for the ball drop before finishing up our set. Had an absolute blast. Rig was Fender MIM P Bass > Tonex One > DI Box > desk. Footwear was Dune Chelsea Boots which have shredded my feet up but looked the part.

Great fun NYE job , officially my first gig as a full member, been depping for them over the last year here and there . Storrington West Sussex . Appy new year folks!

My take on 'elf on the shelf'... I sold my Orange Crush 25B this week and replaced it with this Elf 110 combo 😁

We've done this New Year's Eve Eve gig for a few years now and it's always a sell-out. It's in the small village of Twyford and seems that most of the villagers were there, probably for the excellent buffet! I'm glad I took the day off as we do it all again tonight...

Quite local pub last night for an early evening gig (or 7-10). Setup and found I forgot the iPad so dashed home to get it, seeing as I had already setup everything. Looked like it was going to be a quiet night, there were actually 2 people in the room when we started! Luckily after a song, another group of 6 people came in and then some more afterwards. By song 5 it was actually pretty busy, although it is a fairly small room. The drum kit lights had broken so I put my aliexpress bar light across the front and it worked really well. All in all a good gig and the last we need to do christmas songs for!

The Cricketers in Westcliff last night. Not a bad night at all considering it’s the Saturday after Christmas, the weekend before payday, and miserable weather. It would have been nice if it had been busier, but we had a decent enough, appreciated crowd (including my mum who’s flown over from Spain to stay with us over Christmas who rarely get’s to see us play). The lovely Hazel was stepping in Jenny’s shoes with co-lead vocal and did a great job as ever. It was also my first one since Halloween due to afore mentioned shenanigans. I was a little apprehensive at first, and indeed a leading up to the gig and whether I should do it or not, as I need to avoid getting ill, considering I start radiotherapy in a week's time. But I've felt a little niggle in my throat like something's brewing for a few days, so doing this gig wasn't going to change anything. If I get a cold, it won't be from the gig. Besides, I'm being mindful of who I mix with and obsessive with hand sanitizer! It was a good job I didn't do last week's gig, as half the band had the lurgy at the time! Set up and soundcheck was painless and we played well - I was quite chuffed with myself considering I haven't played in earnest for a couple of months. The end of the night after our planned set had finished got interesting. People wanted a Xmas one, so muscle memory got me through Slade that I hadn't played for 12 months. Then improvised our with through 'My Girl' and 'Don't look back in anger' that we'd never played before. You'll be plaased to know I turned and faced the corner in shame during the latter whilst playing it. The next gig is at the same venue in a month's time. I'm still aiming to do it if I'm well enough, but after that, it's in the lap of the gods.

Boxing Day gig for The Bonnevilles at the Anker Inn in Weddington, on the borders of Nuneaton. Rather empty when we started - and it was an early start, at 6pm. We had a guest singer to do the inter-set break - she's become a regular fixture at our gigs, through doing open mics that our BL runs. She used backing tracks off her phone until the last song, when we accompanied her for "Creep". The second set had rather more of an audience, with a few of them dancing. Our guest singer came back on towards the end of our set to do "Sweet Child O' Mine". It was during that that I noticed that my wireless was showing battery low, so while she was getting back off the stage (it might only be 15cm high but it's a real stage) I switched wirelesses. Then we had a couple more songs, and into the final one, "Tulane". We were about 3/4 of the way through when the guitar cut out. The drummer and I carried on playing, singer carried on singing, guitarist was going over his pedalboard and amp trying to find the problem, singer did the band introduction for all of us, and then, just after he'd introduced the guitarist, the guitar suddenly burst back into life (guitarist told me afterwards he had no idea what had happened, it just started working again) and we finished off. Antoniotsai dragon 5-string -> Lekato and M-Vave wirelesses -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. The usual Caravelle memory foam trainers.

This '77 beastie dropped down the chimney.

Santa brought me some Pino Palladino Signature Smoothie Flats, I might have to buy another bass now to put them on 😁

Last gig of 2025 went to a large WMC, nice and local too! It was a ticket job and fully sold out, we had reservations as flu is still rife but we were happy to see a rammed club full of enthusiastic punters. 3 sets instead of our normal 2 and the obligatory Auld Langs Ayne, we were knackered at the end but it was a cracking night. That’s it for us Glam Lads until the 10th of Jan when we hit the Lion in Cas Vegas. A happy new year to all youse in the BC gigging fraternity.

"Have you improved?" - one of the stranger questions I've been asked. It turns out he thought we had since he last saw us. Anyway NYE proper (we played last night too) was a great night. The place was rammed, plenty of dancing. Mrs Norris even had a couple more glasses of prosecco than she would normally drink. The small stage extension I was on made for an interesting sound. (Photo taken during drum solo) The place had apparently not been as full since covid. Fabulous night, lots of nice comments and compliments. Have a great new year!

Just home from the dreaded Hogmanay gig. We have to do this as a 3 piece as our keyboard player always spends NYE with his extended family and fair play to him, I’d rather spend it with them too. Not a terrible gig, always interesting playing with more space in the mix, but I do miss the keyboards. As ever, some idiot insists on trying to speak with you whilst you’re playing, always a request that you can’t/won’t do. However, this was balanced out by a nice guy, who was interested in my bass (he was a guitarist, it turned out) and he looked up my bass, a Maruszczyk, while we were playing. Who says bassists never receive any attention? Anyway, we played OK, although the drummer is really starting to become clumsy (lack of home practise I suspect) and the groove often takes a break in these instances. The thing that gets me is the amount of folk repeatedly going to and from the toilets, with only moments spent in there. Who are they kidding? Perhaps they had bad colds, but I suspect the red nostrils were courtesy of Colombia’s finest marching powder. I’m not a prude, but a little moderation wouldn’t go a miss. Glad it’s over, only 365 days until the next one. At least it was an easy drive home. Rig as per Saturday’s gig earlier in the thread, with the side by side setup, which worked a treat again. EDITS: OK, maybe it was because I was tired (I wasn’t) but just read my post to find numerous autocorrects that made it seem that it was me on the illicit substances. ‘Have to’ became autograph () but more amusingly, groove became ‘groom’ .

Ours was quite good. A slight goof as we get this song tight. But were having a lot of fun....

Really wasn’t looking forward to tonight, but it turned out way better than expected. We were told that 44 tickets had been sold beforehand, but clearly some folk just turned up on spec and I counted about 70 bodies. A promoter for a local event came to see us, stayed for both sets and seemed genuinely impressed. A couple of senior moments, as ever, but mostly on point. The last time I played this venue I couldn’t hear myself and had a good old moan about it on BC. Some bright spark (on checking, it was@Beedster ) suggested this set up, rather than stacked, for potentially better monitoring: Absolute genius! Whilst not crystal clear, it was near enough - I thank you 🙏 way of the future. As you can see, it was my usual Phil Jones rig, Maruszczyk Elwood L fretless plus pedals (mini Pitch Black, Sadowsky SPB2, MXR M87 & Tech21 VTDI). EDITED for set up credit.

My birthday and Christmas fall within three days of each other and I was gifted this Retrovibe by the fam as a joint present for both events after me seeing it in Bolton and commenting on it to Mrs ead (not by any means as a hint; as a few of you know I'm selling my basses these days due to arthritis). Having been in touch with David it seems it was one of 8 made in this colour around 10 years ago. Absolutely immaculate although the pickups are apparently not the original fit items, so I will probs restore the right ones if I can find some. Interestingly it's a 33.25" scale and has the push pull on the bridge tome control.

Last gig of 2025 and the first gig for 2026 with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam band last night was another SOLD OUT gig for us at Airdrie WMC. 2yrs in a row at this venue which is rare at this club. 2 sets with a stop at 11:45 to 12:15 to bring in the bells in our traditional Scottish way. Dancing from the first song showed great promise for the night and we were not wrong. The floor was packed for a lot of the songs with dancers on every song. Great atmosphere the full night with a stream of requests in first set. I think we had a total of 6 to mention those celebrating anniversaries, birthdays etc. Best dancer of the night went to a guy who seemed to be on the floor from the start and even gave us his full Alvin Stardust impersonation and was rewarded at the end of the night with one of our T shirts. After midnight we went back on for our final 3 songs and had requests for more. but the club was closing. Loaded up the car and managed to get home for 2:30am, coffee and a biccy and then beddy by bo time knackered having been at the venue from 3:30pm it was a long day. Thought i would give the Godin Shifter PJ bass a wee run out and boy did it sound amazing thru the Handbox WB-100 / BF212. Nice deep tone with the sharp mids cutting thru the mix, it was the perfect tone IMHO of course. All in all a great night of party fun. Dave

We had a bonus gig today. Given that we are a Blackmore's Night style renaissance-folk-rock band, the chance to play in this genuine Tudor manor house was irresistible. 2 hours of ballads accompanied by octave mandolin, interspersed with seasonal tunes on recorder and tambourine. We have an invite back, and we've also agreed in principle to use the location to record videos for our forthcoming album of renaissance tunes & ballads. The venue: The owners suggested we play by the log fire and so we did our first ever acoustic set.

Ok, New Year’s Eve gig with Electrik Soup last night. We’re a 90s/00s indie classics band, and we were at The Hare & Hounds in Claygate, nice to get out of that London for a change. Kick-off was 9pm, but we had an early load-in because the venue was doing a three-course dinner. I gave the vocalist a lift and we got there around 5pm; rest of the band were already in with kit and PA set up. I got my bass rig up but couldn’t soundcheck until later. Fortunately, we had a band tab, so some complimentary food was very welcome. No booze for me though as I was driving. I was using my TC Electronic BH800 bass amp with a SpectraComp in one of the Tone Print slots, honestly, how good are they‽ Great definition across all notes and it really cut through nicely, even with 2 guitars. Punters drifted in and out earlier on, but it started filling up properly around 9. First set got polite applause more than anything. It was the acoustic set that really warmed them up, and then we absolutely stormed the second electric set. The Guvnor had asked us to give the usual “get your drinks in” announcement at 11:30pm as the bar shut at midnight. We finished the last song with about 20 seconds to spare before the countdown, then went straight into our own take on Auld Lang Syne. Started off mellow and ended in a raucous thrash 😁 Audience loved it. Loads of nice comments afterwards. We played really well overall, no major mistakes. A couple of intros got extended, but the band just rolled with it and no one would’ve known it wasn’t intentional. Load-out was brass monkeys. First time this winter I’ve had to scrape ice off the car windows. All in all, cracking NYE gig and a great way to see the year out. Gear: Shuker 3 → Getaria wireless → TC Electronic BH800 → TecAmp 2x12 (upgraded speakers). DI to PA from the amp. Footwear report: blue ASICS trainers.

Behold my collection of vintage Peavey basses! I’ve had most of these for a long time now but I’m moving into a stage in my life where I no longer play in a band, or gig at all. So realistically I no longer need these. Gulp. I’ve sold so much of my collection over the last few years, to buy things to use for home recording. Somehow these keep avoiding the cull!! those who’ve seriously trimmed down on their collection of splendid things… did you regret it?!

Hi all, I've been a long-time low-end lurker and finally have something to share. I have a bit of an obsession with photographing bass guitars in places they definitely don't belong (like an abandoned basement for fruit storage) This one here is a close-up of my Fender Japan Mustang Bass CIJ - The lighting in this basement was too good to pass up. I've actually started documenting my basses and these "strange places" over at my website because I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Curious to know if anyone else here does on-location shoots? If you want to see all the basement photos, here's the direct link: https://bassesinstrangeplaces.com/bass-journeys/the-old-orchard-basement-storage/

I got a strap with pictures of Fred and Sybil on it ❤️

I found a good deal on one of these locally and couldn’t resist snapping it up. Love the blue - looks great in person and on camera! It just took a little setting up to get it playing well. Sounds good too but I have a spare G&L MFD P pickup I’ve been itching to get into something.. hmmm 🤔 Apparently these were made with laurel fretboards, but this particular one looks dark and rich unlike a lot of the dried out stuff I see. Would these be considered Classic Vibe tier instruments? Happy New Year to BC!

NYE dep gig with Backtracking at Bob Carter Centre in Drayton (Norwich suburb). Ticketed do with buffet etc. Sold out but quite a few non-shows due to flu/Covid/Colds/indifference. Touch and go whether I would make the gig as I was in hospital until the evening of the 23rd with sepsis. I only got released on virtual ward, so amused my bandmates by doing my vitals during the intermission between sets. I admit having to check my blood pressure and oxygen saturation between sets was a new one for me! Very enjoyable gig with people dancing from the first number in set 1. Organisers actually provided a room to leave our cases, gig bags, etc and a room to change! We also got first dibs at the buffet. No stage, which was a bit weird but plenty of space. I put bright green gaffa tape on the floor round the band area and it worked as a barrier. Nobody crossed it, except at midnight for the odd random kiss from strangers! Anyway, the punters seemed to love it. A full dance floor and several encores. The BL said the organiser had asked if the band could do next NYE. Think I might get a return dep for that too and the money was good. In bed by 2 am,so not bad for a NYE gig. No pics yet but will post when received. Gear: Maruszczyk Elwood 4a 32” and Hartwood Satellite with DiMarzio DP145 Will Power mod, Ashdown RM800, Blackstar U700 on standby, 2 x LFSys Monza, Soundcraft active monitor, Peterson Strobostomp HD, Boss wireless. Two LFSys Monzas proved to be total overkill: sound man had me turned down to about 9 o’clock on the master and my DI was just going to the monitors. Black Chelsea boots as trying to look smart.

Twenty years ago today, pretty much to the minute, I started playing bass guitar. I went up to my daughter’s bedroom, picked up her bass and practice amp, guitar lead and teach-yourself book, and carried them all down to my study. Plugged it all together, tuned the bass, opened the book to Lesson #1 and started. Just like that. There’s a back-story. Obviously there’s a back-story. As a pre-teen, my daughter was one of those annoying people who could learn any musical instrument without any apparent effort. She was also even lazier than me and would abandon said instrument as soon as anyone suggested she put some work in and get really good. By the time she was 12 she had already been through flute, piano and guitar and then she announced that what she really wanted was to play bass. So I tole, I dun TOLE that girl, I’m getting fed up with this and I won’t keep doing it … if you do the same as you always do then I’ll come and take that bass and I’ll learn to play it myself. You know what she said? “Yeah right, Dad, like that’s gonna happen.” So she played the Badass off that bass for a couple of months (Blink-182 and Green Day, mainly), then put it on its stand and abandoned it. That would have been about October of 2005.

Here is mine ... Eberhard meinel ❤️

Pretty much all our gigs are carbon copies of the ones before. The usual mix of uninterested pub goers, drunken tosspots and thankfully a few who appreciate half decent live music to make it seem all worthwhile but mainly nothing much to report here! So our NYE gig was a at a sports and social club in Warrington, new to us so no idea on what to expect. A sold out ticket event of 200 mixed aged partygoers so it was going to be a mixed bag of reactions. Probably not going to be everybody's cup of tea but heyho. Understandably started a bit subdued but it was a good (polite) crowd. Second set improved and just got better and better. We played well, PA was great and was well enjoyed by all with some very positive comments. The best gig I've done for about 15 years I should think.

TODAY’s THE DAY FOLKS!! Come get your EARLY NYE PARTY started with us at Precinct - Tap & Table!! Doors open at 3:30 and show starts at 4! It fills up fast and seating is limited so don’t be late!

I might have just bought this and some labellas 🥳

My signature sound is to play everything slightly out of tune and out of time.

Just back from my NYE gig. Awesome 😎 Will write more later today. Happy New Year y'all 😁

I’d fallen out of love with pop music in the mid-80s and simply stopped listening. Until my daughter started playing ‘her music’ in the car on long drives, I’d never heard of Nirvana or Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Lenny Kravitz or … or … or … But that’s OK. I’ve spent the last 20 years playing almost exclusively the music of 1955-85 and I’m really very happy with that. I haven’t yet played my 1000th gig but it’s getting closer – two or three more years should do it. It’s hard to over-state the impact that Thursday afternoon was to have on the rest of my life. I didn’t have a clue at the time, obviously, but that decision to go up to my daughter’s bedroom led to a new interest and obsession, an entirely new friendship group, a divorce and a re-marriage, early retirement and a new career. Oh yes, and Basschat.

Shaped, sanded, black grain filler and first coat of Liberon Finishing Oil.

Final 2025 dep gig on lead guitar with a pub covers band. Ticketed NYE pub event with family members on the guest list. All went really well and had to remind myself that a lot of the gigs can be grim with a really late drive home. Looking forward to 2026 with at least 3 happening band projects!

Thanks Dave, I think New Years Eve gigs are " slam dunk" for most bands. For me the fact the dep drummer did a good job was a huge relief. I'm looking forward to doing more shows with him. Our band leader thinks he's a good fit for the band. They think he has the right stage presence for the band . He just needs to do a few more gigs with us to get more familiar with the songs. Tips were generous an extra $125.00 for everybody. We don't do this but a punter walked the tip jar around the room. We also give some of the tip money to the bar and wait staff. Happy New Year ! Daryl

Think I'm in the club now, GAS was cured within 24hrs. Got this in a local trade and a bit of cash from me. It's pretty much pristine, no doubt I will ding it very soon. It came with Chromes fitted and as much as try I find flats too sticky with my sweaty mitts. I think I may have to sand the glossy neck too.. again, too sticky. May change the tuners for ultralights as there's quite a bit of neck dive, additionally I think it's now my heaviest bass at 7.9lbs so may shave a few ounces with lighter tuners. Now strung with Bootsy Dr’s this thing has stolen the Fonk from Old Gregg for sure - digging the tone right now 🤩

Thanks for everyone's help, it has been super helpful and I do really appreciate it. As a side note, my daughter has taken up bass and as a first bass, I bought her the HB Mustang and I am super impressed with quality of it, it is a really good bass for the money, in fact way better for the money than expected. So I'm going to take the plungexand buy the HB MV-5PJ. For just over £200, I cant really go wrong as a tester into the world of 5 string bass.

After a rethink on moving on the H90 and a recent Bassrig purchase, this re-jig is working out very well.

Yes. Yes, I do.

I got a new wallet. Which will never have any money in it as long as I play bass. There. That’s bass related.

Setup for 80s covers band gigs in pubs to big halls (400). 2 recent gigs with it and it performed as well as expected (better than me 😂). My first big board and I'm pleased that the effort to route into a patchbay at the back helps operationally (19" audio rack panel with d-series cutouts, am waiting on the TRS module, hence the temp solution). Only two effects pedals! 😆. The rest is wireless bass receiver and IEM transmitter, battery, headphone amp and tuner. It can be totally wireless without the XLR FOH feeds (bass out, band IEM in) when I use a pair of low latency 5.8GHz instrument dongles to reach my amp. The pedal switcher has triggers that I use to control the presets on the MB301.

I had this on an Alpher bass:

We collected it in November but today I'm finally allowed to play the [1990s] Trace Elliot stack my partner bought me. AH300, 1x15 and 2x10. 😁 Edit: and on Boxing Day we took it apart and fixed the light-up front panel!