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I've been very quiet on here recently, for various reasons, but the main one is that I've been building, and learning to run a music venue! I run a recording studio, and my mate runs rehearsal rooms, all from one building in Stoke. We've built up a decent reputation over the years. There was one bit of the building we didn't have, and that was a garage, but last year the mechanic upped and left, and the landlord offered it to us. We spent countless hours turning a dirty old garage into a spanking new venue and I'm super proud of it. Please check it out if you're looking for live music in Stoke or The Midlands, and obviously get in touch if you'd like to play! www.rifffactory.co.uk https://www.instagram.com/rifffactoryuk/ The bar: Opening week: The garage:

I don't normally do these type of posts but it's been a good number of years since I owned something with such a wow factor. A few weeks ago I had an incident that left me without a working bass at a gig. Luckily I was able to drive 10 miles down the road from the venue and borrow a bass. It was an unusual one that I hadn't heard of before, built by the Bass Workshop and it was a simple P bass with one volume and no tone control. Now I've been a Jazz guy for quite a few years now, in between the odd Stingray or Sterling. I've always wanted to like p basses but could never find anything that I liked. I now found myself in the unusual position of having to use a bass that I'd never played before, with old strings, no tone control, badly needing a set up and not even close to what I had brought to the gig - my Warmoth/Status Super Jazz with EMG JX pickups and a 3 band EQ. I found that I really enjoyed playing it. I think that I had missed the interaction of digging in and getting a more gnarly sound. It didn't matter how hard I played the jazz, it always sounded good but I couldn't get that digging in clanky growl that I could only get from passive pickups. That set me thinking so I decided to get my Squier 40th P bass out of the box, set it up and took it to the hogmanay gig. Absolutely loved it. I had one of those rare moments where the sound was amazing, not quite 100% what I wanted but close. I decided there and then that I'd like to get myself something special and maybe keep the Squier as a back up bass. I only had one prerequisite - it had to be white. After much searching I found a Japanese imported special edition 60s P in white pearl at Fender Fever. Anyway, it arrived today and I have just taken it out of the box and it's even more spectacular than it looked in the pictures. The rosewood board is so deep and rich in colour. It's probably the nicest rosewood board that I've ever seen that wasn't on an actual vintage 60s Fender

First gig of 2026 up in cold Manchester at Band On The Wall, was ace. Surprising number of people showed up for a two day mini-Americana festival celebrating the 10th anniversary of the bigger Buckle And Boots festival held at Whitebottom Farm near Stockport. Katy Hurt had a 45 min slot on Saturday evening and we played pretty well I think (save a few little fluffs from yours truly). It was LOUD onstage but actually very well balanced. Bass was my ACG TKO, which interested one fan to the extent that he’s contemplating commissioning one purely to hang on the wall…! Rig was house-supplied TC Electronics something with an Ampeg cab, so I just used my Digbeth pre for the FoH and to sculpt the onstage tone. We had a blast, got back to Katy’s house around 1.30am and now I should probably get out of bed 😆

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.

Hexham Abbey last night - last gig of the year for my Eagles trib, and our first 'Unplugged and candlelit' show. As you can imagine, it's a spectacular location with 'acoustic challenges'. We're lucky to have an amazing engineer - we kept the volume down, had speakers all around the audience with delays, and apparently it sounded spot-on. Lots of new arrangements, and I'm continuing to wean myself on to IEMs, so it took me a couple of songs to fully settle into it. I used my usual Handbox head, my 66RI Jazz, and my little TKS cab, just to move a bit of air around the back of my legs. It's been a great year for this band. They're an absolutely champion bunch of lads. Looking forward to a mix of electric and acoustic shows in 2026. \

Did a bass swap before the New Year and picked up this Aria SB 1000B re-issue. Always wanted one and was a little scared about picking up one of the older ones reading so much about them having pick up problems. This one is a joy to play, love the ebony board and the low pass filtery type pre-amp. having the 2 octave neck is also nice. Weights in a fairly comfortable 4.4kg. Hopefully I can get to use it in anger... Got practice next week, think I'll take it along. Anyone else out there got one of these?

That’s right that’s right that’s right that’s right …🙂

Well, after weeks of deliberation I finally caved and have absolutely no regrets. MusicMan Pino fretted signature (I have enough fretless basses). This sounds immense with the flats, probably pop some rounds at some point. It is an expensive piece of kit but I can justify it. Cracking bass 👍.

Those are super cool basses. You know when you can tell something plays well just by looking at it! Folllowing on with the basses on the carpet theme here’s my herd - I tried to take a picture like yours from above but I couldn’t get high enough! I’ve got the Musicmaster (fretted) pretty bang on, setup wise, now. Labella flats (.050 - .110) and some truss rod fun and it’s playing really nicely.

I missed my second-ever gig on Saturday for reasons explained a couple of weeks ago. Some of you asked to be updated, so today is as good as any. I had a CT Prep scan on Friday to map out the affected area for radiotherapy and give you a few pretty tattoo dots (my first ever tats - not that I wanted any) so they can line you up in the machinery consistently every time they blast you with radiation. Radiotherapy and oral chemo start on Monday, 5th Jan, so at least we get to have a relatively normal Christmas with the family. In the meantime, I need to make a few new habits in preperation of a 5-week, near-daily slog of hospital visits. I need to hydrate more, and turn up to sessions with a full bladder - so I'm trying to drink a pint of water first thing in the morning (easier said than done) and keep a water log with an app. Using hand cream daily, which I've never had to before, to mitigate the chances of neuropathy. And my diet has to change again to low fibre and low gas (to avoid trapped wind), which will make for a boring few weeks of food, certainly a challenge for a couple of food lovers such as me and my chef wife. Good news is we have a gig next week that I fully intend to do. I just need to be sensible when it comes to mixing with people. The last thing I need is to catch a cold the week before starting treatment.

May your days be merry and bright.

I'm going to try to do gear abstinence next year, so I thought I'd have one final swatch at FB marketplace. I was instantly reminded how dangerous it is when this bad boy appeared for a very keen price (complete with a Hiscox Liteflite hard case) and on the right side of England for my purposes. I decided to carpe that diem. 9 hour round trip, but it was definitely worth it. Basically unusued, the only issues were that it was a bit dusty in places, and there was some goop on the headstock where a clearly disintegrating stand had been cradling. Managed to get that cleaned off - it hadn't stained the finish, yay! Gave it a fret polish and oiled the fingerboard and gave it a good old setup. So, how is the "Stingray killer"? Good, as far as I can tell in headphones. My favourite finish for these basses would be Soda Blue, but this natural one is growing on me in its elegant simplicity, and the black pickguard suits it very well. But that's it! No more! I will be striving to make 2026 a fallow year in the gear acquisition stakes, so I guess I was getting one final hit in before the lockdown. FYI - no Stingrays were harmed in the making of this. Merry Christmas to me (and everyone else!)

Last nights gig with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band in Cambusnethan Miners Club. Was sold out with 200+ tickets sold. Not an empty seat in the hall. It was crammed full. Mostly women in the audience and a mixed age group too. Looked like a few Xmas party groups in. Dancing from the first song all thru the full show. One pair of dancers dressed for the occasion were literally dancing every song of a 2.5hr show. They were on their feet more than us. 🤩 The atmosphere was literally electric and it makes you feel better and put more into the show. The singer was on top form with his audience participation. Not bad considering he drove there straight from work. We had so many people chapping our dressing room door to have a chat and thank us for a fantastic night. Was quite over-whelming but still nice to hear. Sound was incredible from our Sound Engineer And PA guy who is now our new permanent 6th band member. People that saw us there 2 yrs ago said the sound was much more full this time around and you could hear the difference between backline and full PA use. Feed back was sensational with many requests for contact details with the venue wanting to book for next Xmas too. Another woman that asked if we would play the club she manages as she was so impressed by the band and the show. This was a club i played back in early 80's. Similar sized Club too. She's adamant she'll have us booked for 2026 and was so complimentary. And she made a point of telling me she was teetotal and sober so that sounds promising. Will see what else comes out of it all. Tonight at The Dreadnought so hopefully will see the same reaction from the audience tonight. We're already booked in for next Xmas so no worries there. Think this is 4yrs in a row so far we've played the Sat before Xmas. My usual gear Sandberg MarloweDK - Shure GLXD wireless - Bassist Comp - Handbox WB-100 - BF 212 cab. Dave

As I went down the road to the SE Bass Bash in November I stopped off en route to purchase a bass for the hell of it, a Cort Curbow. I had always been really intrigued about them, what with their use of man made materials and I always thought they looked pretty neat in some finishes. I spied one for sale, a sunburst one and figured "what the hell?" So, I like how it looks, and I like how it feels to play. Unfortunately, whilst sounding fine in headphones, it was utter garbage live with the band. Where are my mids? This thing is so scooped by default that they're barely noticeable. I had to crank the mids on the preamp AND crank them on the amp just to be audible, seriously, it just disappeared. Well, I picked it up for a tasty low price so I figured it was worth modding. I procured a Bartolini Classic Bass soapbar of the appropriate size and shape (MK4CBC) (thanks @Bass Direct) and someone on here sold me a Glockenklang 3 band preamp for a decent price (cheers @Fettsman) and got to work on the mods. Fitting the pickup was a piece of cake, the only thing of note I had to do was accomodate 2 screws on one side instead of one. Then I replaced the stupid "slap switch" (which scoops an already inherently scooped bass some more - WHY?) with a much more useful parallel/single/series switch and fed the pickup into that. However, fiting the preamp was another matter. This body is thin, and to compound the issue, the knobs are sunk into the top. There was no effing way that Glock was going to fit in there as supplied. I mean, I was modding it anyway - don't need a blend control on a single pickup bass after all. First problem - the body of the push pull volume control was just too tall, even if the shakeproof washer was eschewed. So out with the drill and the forstner bit to remove some material from the cavity to sink it down enough so the lid will go down... Just made it! Not a lot of material left, but this luthite stuff seems sturdy so I think it'll be OK. Then onto the main board, which was way too tall. So, to scheming. Thankfully, while the control cavity in the Curbow may be shallow, it is thankfully quite wide. Lots of dead space above where the bass pot would go... So to cut a long story short, I turned it through 90 degrees. The pot legs wouldn't bend enough while it was mounted, so I had to desolder the pot, bend little 90 degree nubs on the ends of the terminals then resolder it thus: >>>>> Did a test fit (the small board attached to the mid pot was able to be bent sufficiently with the pot in situ)... Yas, the lid closed. So I soldered up the rest of the wires... Cheeky little single connector block thing for the myriad ground wires I had to connect together... Great success! It now has mids when the preamp is flat! I took it to a subsequent band rehearsal and praise be, I was able to hear myself with the preamp set flat. MIssion accomplished! I hope you enjoyed this shaggy dog story and if you only take away one thing from this, is that it's usually true what they say - where there's a will, there's a way...

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.

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

As soon as it appeared on the BassBros socials I had to have it. My 2nd birth year Rickenbacker. Fireglo…..but I kinda feel it’s not actually fireglo but maybe Autumnglo?! It’s a lot darker and brownish to what I’d expect a fireglo to be (pictures show it lighter than it actually is) Either way I love it.

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.

I don't think Fender have produced quite enough minimally different variations of the Precision and Jazz basses yet, so I think they need to get on that

As a life long John Taylor fan I simply had to get myself one of these Dingwalls. I don't really do more than one pickup and volume, tone knob. This was b stock from Thomann. It had been used in their photos and has a slight ding on the back An amazing set up, action as low as Ive ever played and the pre-amp is amazing too. If only I had some gigs booked that weren't tribute gigs. Fanned frets. My word, just don't look at them. It does sound quite P bass like on the neck pickup I'll bring the Ampeg into my music room over the christmas break and see how it really sounds

The Plough in Ashby is a tiny pub so we do it "acoustically" to have a smaller footprint. It's also rather fun playing songs a bit differently on the "Rocket Music by Stagg" EUB. A few random requests, a few Christmas songs and lots of happy people in the crowd drinking & dancing. In fact it was the busiest we've seen it. One more tomorrow, before Xmas Edit to add this photo - AI has turned us into elves 😂

NBD was actually Sunday, but I won't tell if you don't. I've been a dyed-in-the-wool Precision devotee for quite a few years, having found that they just work for me. But slowly the worm has turned... My Dingwall journey led me along the path Super P > D-Roc > NG-2, which obviously opened up non-P possibilities. I tried a friend's Jazz (American Standard?) and thought, 'I like this!' Then I found a 2001 MIM J at an auction, loved it, but was outbid. I was pretty disappointed. Finally I came across this Flea Jazz being sold by our own @Mickeyboro, tried it, loved it, brought it home, loved it even more. If I'd been a good boy I'd have shifted my D-Roc first, but clearly I'm not - no presents for me, but that's fine, I'll just sit and play this. It does what I hoped a Jazz would do - a different and spankier voice but still with authority behind the notes, a comfortable playing experience, and a sound that makes you think, 'Ooh, that's like a record I've heard'. Going between this and my original '73 Precision, the Flea Jazz feels old like the '73, not least because it has nicely rolled fingerboard edges. I've spent some time tweaking it to my preferences - neck relief, action, Monty's Instrument Food, and a replaced intonation screw (disclosed prior to purchase) and have been having altogether too much fun going through my Steely Dan transcriptions. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to gig it, but there may well be a 70s covers rehearsal in January, for which this would work a treat!

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.

Well, this was a bit of a change. We had our last gig before christmas today, a short 2 hour one on a sunday afternoon at one of our local pubs, a pub owned by the guy who gives us our free practice space. We were going to get the other christmas song sorted but the guitarist was ill on thursday, so we didn't. I was looking forward to it - short, in the evening and local. The last two gigs hadn't been great, the one before last I had covid (didn't realise at the time, but felt really bad), then the last one my wife had a heart attack while I was away and ended up in A&E until 2 and visiting every day of the next week, still dealing with the fallout from that. So a chance for a gig that didn't have that would be great. 2 hours before we were ready to go and setup for the gig, got a message from the guitarist, who had said yesterday he was good for both christmas songs that he was too ill to come. Quick panic, not enough time to arrange anything. Asked the drummer who is in another group, but they couldn't cover - we really didn't want to let this landlord down at this short notice. The singer contacted the keyboard player who left about a year ago and he agreed to cover, so we quickly packed and headed down there, huddled over an iPad working out what we could play without the guitar. Turns out as it is only a 2 hour gig, we had more than enough songs we thought we could do ok. The pub was heaving, wasn't really expecting that. Set up, the first 2 songs went through fine so got a bit more confidence and after about 5 songs people came to the front dancing. Had a brief 10 minute break and back on. Some of the songs were a bit.. creative and we did moondance and I think he was a fifth out from where i was, but you know, jazz! Some of the songs however went really well, and the last run of 5 (ie, last song and 2 encores) songs was just solid dancing from everywhere and we did nail them. Packing up and the landlord came over, really happy with how it went, and loads of people thanking us for a great evening, so came away happy. And honestly even when things were going wrong in some songs, I enjoyed it just fine. In fact, I haven't enjoyed a gig as much for a while, it was just fun. Although maybe if i am going to play guitar on a song I should run through it at least once beforehand! Oh - I played the bongo 5, the light up acrylic bass, a indie tribal guitar, all through the dwarf and a bam200 to the PA. Shoes provided by solivair, my old pair that are broken, as my feet are still sensitive for how ripped apart they got trying to walk in my new pair!

Last gig before Xmas for BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band at The Dreadnought in Bathgate was another great night of party fun. 110 advanced ticket sales at £10 a pop and quite a few walk-ins took it up to approx 120. 80/20 split to us on ticket sales so a good nights work if you would even call it that. Its just great fun doing Xmas gigs. Great feedback from the audience at the end as always in this venue. Its our singers home town and her local at weekends when not gigging. Fun stories of the night :- #1. Our singer was in loo at start of the evening and a guy asked if he had seen the band before. He replied yes and that he'd seen them at every gig in this venue. The guy was none the wiser that he was talking to the singer. Wigs, make-up and outfits tends to throw them off the scent a bit. #2. My wife and singer wife were sitting at a table with very few seats remaining when 2 guys asked if they could take the 2 spare stools at the table and they both said yes and they then asked if it would be ok for them to sit at same table as it was quite busy. While sitting there they then asked if the 2 women had seen the band before and just like the previous funny story they both said yes but elaborated that one was singers wife and the other the bass players wife. We are already booked in for next year the Sat before Xmas plus a summer gig too. Fingers a bit tender from Fri nights gig but managed ok without any issues. Tiredness was creeping in during 2nd set but managed to enjoy it all right to the end. 45min drive home and home for 1:15am, coffee and biccy then bed cause i was quite knackered TBH. Next gig for us is Hogmanay which should be another busy one and then on 3rd Jan up to Dundee for what should be another great one. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas guys. Until next year all the best. Dave 🎅

Great first show of two this weekend at the lovely Trading Boundaries venue in East Sussex, fairly local for us. Roy and Rob the sound guys are great and always do us proud. Fantastic sound out the GB Spitfire /puma/LFsys Monza set up. Very receptive audience as always, nice not to have to break everything down, just take my basses home . Looking forward to tonight’s one now . Happy Christmas everyone! Xx😊

I brought out the Meteora last night for our last one of the year, via my regular gigging amp head now, a highly portable TCBQ500 into a house cab. Great sound on stage on off, great job by the sound man. Super loud and nice and clear too. Good crowd and a great little venue, awesome parking and access, backstage area and kitchen, definitely looking forward to coming back. The Meteora is such a fantastic bass, I need to use it more.

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.

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!

The last gig before XMas at the Hilltop club in Dronfield for Glam Viva! last night. This is a great club and was packed to the rafters with enthusiastic dancers. I said on here last week that the silly season gigs can be a bit hit and miss but fortunately this was a hit. Booked back for next NYE with the promise of a mid year gig also. Next Saturday we’re back to pub land, a nice venue we played mid year in Worksop….they’ve asked for some XMas songs so maybe Xmas isnt over band wise just yet.

Just back home from the annual Christmas guitar club concert in my local village hall. Two concerts - one for the younger learners and one for the older more proficient kids. Amazing to see them progress over the years in confidence and musical skills. I bring the PA, the lights and an extra pair of hands to help with setting up and sorting/tuning etc between performers, as well as donating my bass rig for the evening, being their soundman and guesting on the odd song. Proper Christmas thing. Excuse the dull pic but it’s all I managed.

Sharing my project BB434 in Ice Blue. Ditched the black pickguard and got a mint one then changed the stock pickups to EMG GZR set in Ivory/cream. Originally wanted a clear pickguard but this one is growing on me. Very punchy and articulate. I like the mid range punch of this and has a bit of growl compared to the YGD. Also, noiseless which I love.

Last night we played The Burton in Brixham. Our 2nd NYE there. The last one wasn't great, so we were hoping for more this time. We only got this one recently as we were booked for the 20th December originally and were offered this foe double pay and a crate of Bus so took it. For the most part a good crowd and some enthusiastic dancing in the 2nd set. I dressed up with a festive Santa Hawian shirt and matching bucket hat, with my shades to finish the look. A good couple of sets by us with only a few 'moments'. Back home by 1.45am. My usual rig of StingRay, RM 500 evo II & BF210. foot wear were my slip on Skechers. Got a couple of months off now before the next gig.

Our carol gig last Friday - this is our biggest gig of the year, with maybe 120-130 people. That's me in the top hat. Sorry, I'm not playing bass, but that was covered admirably my friend and former bass teacher. It went very well, everyone is keen to have us back next year which may be tricky, but not impossible!

Our annual Christmas gig for the Mencap gateway charity last night. Always a fun loving and appreciative crowd. This is where Christmas starts for us.

I started up an 80s band some time ago. We are still "forming" finding the right songs and so forth but it's feeling good. So I wanted an 80s bass and having sold off three basses at the end of last year I was feeling good and came across an Ibanez Musician from 1980, fully original. Struck a deal and it was delivered yesterday by the owner and used last night at band practice. First impressions: chunkier neck than I'm used to but not unmanageable. Weight is ok and a decent strap. Lots of knobs! These are a bit excessive I think: vol vol tone, three way pup selector, active/ passive switch, bass, mid, treble... So for ease of use it's both pups on full then using the active to find the sound. I played through an Ampeg head and Trace cab with the EQ relatively flat. This bass cuts through the mix! Gorgeous consistency all over the neck in terms of tone and volume, lovely for high fills, really nice sound for finger pops that I can't seem to get with other basses. So far I'm chuffed. Terrible photo, but I've been too busy playing it to just admire it.

First gig of the year and back in Stramash,Edinburgh. 3rd time for our band SHOUT! Not as busy as before but still a decent turnout! Mild amusement in the dressing room as our trombone/trumpet man told us how he got told off and nearly ejected from a city centre pub for using a vape! He then proceeded to stand just offstage and do the very same thing! Cue fire alarm and knock on door from security! Lucky for us he was ok about it! Been in similar situations and a couple of fire engines have pulled up outside! All good though! Black Is Black SHOUT! Live Stramash,Edinburgh.mp4

Our last gig before Christmas was at the Stockingford Allotment Association Pavilion - or the "Piv" for short. We love playing there because it's always a great atmosphere. The place was rammed for our Sunday afternoon 4-6 spot. Stingish bass into GT-6B multi-fx and thence into the trusty Rumble v3 500 combo. Black DMs. I managed to get home in time for an early Christmas dinner in honour of a couple of family members that were passing through - one of them has been working in Australia for ages.

I think I've been fairly lucky with my '25 gigs and had almost forgotten the common reality of being in an originals band; putting in a lot of time, effort and distance only to end up playing to a very select crowd rattling around in quite a big room. Well, 'Mad Friday' was spent 70 miles away doing just that. We were very much reliant on the two home bands bringing a home crowd, but possibly due to the time of year, specific day, general level of circulating illnesses, £7adv/£10door ticket price etc. it just didn't happen. We nipped into another pub on the same stretch of road and that was dead as well, so it wasn't like everyone was just camping out next door. Ho-hum. I've injured my back so the whole thing was a literal pain, but it was fun to slim back the gear to an absolute minimum and see (with a provided house cab) what I could get away with. In the end, it all went in two Mono Vertigos and one Tick bag. Ear protection worked better for being a size larger in the new material they've started making Doc Pro's out of. Footwear was a pair of the wonderfully named Skechers 'Wascana Benen' tac boots. They're refusing to break in and are absolutely eating me alive. RB Vampyre 5 (Streamer LX 5 on the K&M Heli 2 this time) -> Joyo 5GHz bugs -> T21 FlyRig v2 {DI -> PA} -> TC BAM200 -> Hartke 4x10 Have to hand it to the TC BAM - it's a great little amp and I'm just glad that I didn't let my dislike of the TE Elf stop me giving it a try.

We played a club near Bolton for the fourth time. The Concert Sec there lives in the 1960's and puts some real clunge on. He's been ignoring my whatsapp messages about next year. He came up to me before went on and tauntingly reminded me that I had gone up to him and shown him a fake Rickenbacker the last time we played. I had two with me that night, plus a P Bass. He wouldn't have it that the Ric I brought last time was real. It was a 2002 4003FG and it was on my stand. He very grudgingly admitted it was real. We always get told what a breath of fresh air we are when we play there. We went on played our two spots, went down like heroes with a 1.05 second spot with dancers throughout. When he came to pay us at the end, I reminded him that he hadn't responded to my Whatsapp messages and laughingly said that I thought he'd died. He told us that though he really likes us we aren't right for the club. Some people left. Like they do when it's cold and dark out and not far off Christmas, etc.. I remined polite and cheerful, as we aren't short of work. Instead of losing my sheet, I just said, we will go down far better than some of the acts you've booked up to June next year. You should've seen his face. Permanent worry-lines forming. He was beyond horrified and demanded to know which ones would frighten their punters and clear the place. I was too much of a gentleman to tell him.

My moonlight blue P34. Did have a 735a and was after a P35 but as is the way of things, I ended up with the 4 string. No complaints. Great bass! 8

Royal Blues, @ Off the Cuff, Herne Hill, that London. Support band slot to The Road, so not the usual crowd for our brand of blues based Americana. Only 2 backing vocalists this time, and stunning work by the ladies in rejigging the 3 part harmonies. @Al Krow of this parish was in attendance (turns out we share a singer) so I was hyper aware that any bass fluffs would be immediately noticeable to at least one person in the audience 😆. The venue is in the arches of railway bridge, and it was quite noticeable when trains were going over, but fortunately not when we were playing. Fun gig, I think we played well. Ibanez UB804 -> Getaria wireless -> Digitech BP355 -> FOH / Warwick Pro Fet 3, Calsborough 4x10. Some clips of the gig on The Facebook story thing, listen with headphones or decent speakers: https://www.facebook.com/stories/122094436502361314/UzpfSVNDOjY0ODE5OTkwODI4MjQ4Nw==/?view_single=1&mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v Footwear: maroon creepers.