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.

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 😁

Just got home from what, in my opinion, was our best gig ever. 2 lots of an hour to paying punters 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.

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.

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

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!

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 ❤️

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 ❤️

I might have just bought this and some labellas 🥳

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’ .

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.

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

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

"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!

And she's arrived. First time using https://www.theguitarstoreonline.co.uk/, can't fault it so far, free next day delivery and 5% off your first order, that'll do nicely. Tonight shall consist of mostly alcohol and a potent mix of pleasure and frustration. Then i'll give the MXR a go.

Fear of a White Egg. Great name for an album...

December 29th 2005 was my 49th birthday. I took the family out to a nice restaurant for a celebratory lunch, had rather too much to drink (yes, we walked back), and by mid-afternoon I was sitting in my study when I remembered the bass. I played honky-tonk piano as a teenager and the cowboy chords on guitar, sang in several choirs, so the musical background was there but it was all 30 years in the past and included no bass EXCEPT I’d always sung along with the bassline of songs. While my friends were miming Paul Kossoff’s string bends in the solo to All Right Now I’d be going “ba-bum da bum-bum bum-bum bum-bum” with Andy Fraser – stop laughing, you know the bit I mean. The bass was a Dean Edge that my daughter chose at Macari’s in Charing Cross Road – I took her there specifically because of the Beatles connection. I remember almost nothing about it because I traded it in p/x for a Hofner 500/1 1963 Re-Issue within a few months. The practice amp was a generic, lightweight thing with (IIRC) an 8” speaker. At the time, and in my tiny study, I was impressed with how loud it was. The tuner was one of those Korg plug-in types that everybody used in those days and carried on using until a year later, when the clip-on tuner exploded onto the scene. And the teach-yourself book? Well that was by Basschat’s very own @Stuart Clayton … Crash Course, and I can still remember (and play!) that very first bassline. My intention was solely to be able to play along to my favourite songs, especially Macca’s basslines for The Beatles. I had genuinely no interest in playing with others, still less being in a band and performing live on stage. I hadn’t been to see a band play live in years at that point (family, career, family, career) and the only pubs I ever went into were the newly-invented gastropubs for the occasional Sunday lunch with my family.

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.

Received a message from my sister in law asking me to email as she wanted me to do a favour. I replied positively, and then received this. It immediately smelt a bit odd, then I discovered my wife had also received the same email (allegedly from her sister) Contacted her sister, who told us that she'd just discovered that everyone in her address book had just received the same message 🙁 Be careful out there.

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

I had this on an Alpher bass:

INXS UK playing Newcastle City Hall, Christmas Rocks 2025 with a guest vocalist; Jen from Alanis - Jagged Little Pill. WhatsApp Video 2025-12-29 at 9.21.04 PM.mp4

Possible bass Christmas present. Had a surprise "Merry Christmas" message from a guitar player friend, first one in forever 😀 Mentioned a close friend, who we lost back in 99, and that he'd got his hands on our mate's bass 😎 Said he thinks it's only right that Hammy's bass should go to me 🙂 Arrangements for hand over to be made in the New Year.

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!

Hammond MIDI pedalboard (Christmas present to myself though!) Gives me the scope to become Geddy Lee, or a great Organ player. .....or the more likely outcome: Playing drone notes hands-free while I practice noodling bass guitar in that key over the top.