Leaderboard

I switched on eBay on Sunday night to check my saved searches...... and I couldn't believe my luck..... A mint condition, 2024 Epiphone Grabber, with it's soft case, had just been listed at £499 Buy It Now with free shipping! An 'excellent feedback' seller too! I really wanted one of these when they were released, but there was no way I was gonna spend £900+ on an Epiphone so, when I saw this, it was a no-brainer! It arrived today, exactly as described..... and I'm thrilled 😎

A luthier is a person who is professional trained and highly skilled in the art of wallet emptying.

Our first gig this year at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough harbour. The weather had improved so apart from some patchy fog the journey was fine. Usual full house of diners with plenty of requests, some of which I’d not played for ages. These included ‘Waterloo’, ‘Moonlight in Vermont’, ‘Losing you’, ‘Starman’ and ‘Ever fallen in love’. ( We couldn’t manage ’Peaches’ but swapped it for ‘Golden Brown’ !!). We are there again at the end of the month and it’s always a pleasure to do.

Artisan Tap in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Saturday night. Basically a home town gig for us. The local following seems to have really built over the last couple of years. For the first 10 years of the band we were more popular in Nottingham than we were in Stoke/Newcastle! Anyway, 120 tickets sold plus guest list and the place was dangerously full. We had 20 songs on the set list but our front man kept calling out random numbers. I reckon we played 30 in the end. Still struggling with my injury but what an ace night!

Was expecting a dead pub tonight but was pleasantly surprised how busy it was. Some people actually caught the train to come and see us from the next town We havent played for a few weeks so again I wasn't expecting much but we played pretty well considering. Landlord and I swapped numbers for more gigs after March. I'll be asking for a little more in the fee. Still not sure I'm enjoying flats on my Jazz. They're heavy gauge as well so my hands are aching after a 2 hour gig, may have to go back to Elixr nanowebs.. No backline, bass to pedalboard (Laney Digbeth preamp) then to desk, in ear monitor and Porter and Davies KT Platform. Passed some guy half asleep in a hedge down a country road on the way home. Felt sorry for him and turned around but when I slowed down he suddenly sprang to life and tried to get in the back of the car without saying anything. Freaked me out so I took off. Called the police when I got home, hopefully they will find him and get him home but it felt sketchy at the time. Home for cheese and toast and a glass of vino, 1.20am.

Just got back from a gig. This was a party in honour of a local jazz musician who died just before Christmas (made it to 90, and this would have been his birthday). He was a friend of our BL, so we volunteered to entertain. Good gig - the audience were very appreciative and enjoyed the material (inc. dancing at the end). The highlight for me was some recitation over musical accompaniment of prose reflecting the deceased's other hobby of ancient archaeology. The result resembled an extended jazz version of the Spinal Tap Stonehenge intro, with soprano sax noodling. Nice!

Tonight's gig was brought to you by max-strength paracetamol and sudafed. I guess I must have picked up something from the great unwashed crowd at one of our gigs around NYE. I felt a bit dodgy last Thursday night and by Friday morning felt too bad for work! The cold/virus/manflu has waxed and wained over the last week, ending with an invasion of my sinuses this morning that woke me at 5am in pain. Any sane bass player would have pulled the gig. Not me! We only have a couple this month, so I dosed myself up with (legal) drugs and went for it. Not so much jigging about as normal, a bit "heady" bending down to set up and pack down, but otherwise quite an enjoyable gig. Nice pub, decent crowd, hot & sweaty. Hopefully it might have fried off a few of the unwelcome guests infesting me at the moment. I forgot to take any photos. Usual rig with just the Sire P7-5 this time for some P-bass loveliness. Solovair boots are getting to be quite comfortable now. Let's hope I wake up feeling a bit better after some of Dr Jim Beam's post-gig medicine...

The whole live concert is pretty amazing. I always sort of got him but never really musically understood him because I don't like fusion so I got a little bored. But his playing on this and the way he outlines the chords and the notes he plays are just magic. You can hear his musical influences with the notes he chooses imo.. the more I listen the more mind bending his playing gets.

We had an acoustic show case at The Cause in Chippenham. A truly fabulous space. Amazing sound guy who was genuinely interested in the bands, an audience who came to listen and the promoter even made us pizza! We played mainly original material, ending on a token cover. I played mainly mandocello, some guitar and a bit of mandolin at the end (so no bass yet in 2025). The other two acts were a folk singer and a fun time covers band, so a nice mix. The benchmark for which I will base other 2025 shows.

Squier Mustang project bass! I have been into short scale basses for a good few years now as I am getting older and have a trapped nerve in my shoulder often using them instead of my long scales as they are lighter and give an easier reach to the lower frets, all are active, a Spector Bantam and two Sector Shorty basses so my Squier CV Mustang had remaind virtually unused. It played and sounded really good with a low action and the neck stayed reliable and in tune but I got used to the tonal variety and power that comes with active basses. As I had a pair of EMG HZ pickups and Tone Pump preamp lying around I decided on a bass project. The preamp is in a route under the pickguard, battery box on the back and jack socket moved to a plate on the side to make way for the extra knob position. Routing was done by my excellent friend Terry Goodchild and is a fabulous job, everything fitted great! The wiring is a seriously tight fit under the chome plate but it works really well, I may revisit it at some point. Changed the plastic knobs to Chrome to finish it off, fresh strings and set up properly to my liking with a seriously low action, it is a really powerfull little beast! and it sounds great! All I had to pay for was the battery box and side jack plate so a really cheap project that has given me a bass that suits me better.

Well not a huge audience last night, about 35, but most of them came to see us and quite a few were local musicians. Had some of our best feedback ever 'the dog's bollocks' was one memorable judgement. We were very relaxed and played pretty loosely, Alex changed a few arrangements on the fly and I was in the mood for a bit of improvising. A bass player said 'I liked your solo on Bright Lights' - it wasn’t a solo, I just couldn't remember the (very simple) bass riff...

Gave my " Leader" 90's bass a cleanup and checkup today. Couldn't find anything on the internet anymore, so "posting time" (well over 30 years old). It is a bass from a Dutch builder, v.d.Hoeven from 's-Hertogenbosch. The small, somewhat "strange" body contains hollow resonance spaces and is therefore very light. While playing, the headstock could feel to tip over a little bit, but nothing serious. Shaller hardware, EMG pickup and preamp. Neck Thru:maple/Boire Body: Boire Fingerboard: Ebony it is not to everyone's taste, but plays easily and has a great sound. The basses where build as i know for a short time (end 80's begin 90's).

Bargain at £350 including case

As some of you may remember I have joined a U2 tribute band A big shout out to @AndyTravis and @warwickhunt for the heads-up It's immaculate and plays and sounds good. Very precision like

After not owning a Spector for about 10 years or more and missing the 2008 trans blue Euro LX 4 I had, I bought this last week. It's a 2018 Euro LX 4 with a zebrano top. It's like new, came with a custom Swann case and Schaller strap locks. It's been a complete case queen since day 1. I set it up as it hadn't been touched since leavingthe factory. I kept the original strings on it as they are like new. I tweaked the Tonepump so it's now sweet and that's it. These things are phenomenal. I know nothing about these zebrano versions, so if anyone knows whether it was an option or if they were special runs, that would be interesting. What can I say? It's a peach.

First post and build in a long time. Power up test after lunch….. 🤘🏼😊

J'arrive! Eventually... And you'd be 100% correct! And you'd be 100% incorrect! Well - maybe 75%. Several brands you mention did source at least some of their instruments from Matsumoku - but the OP's bass isn't one of them. That one's a Kasuga EB-750, made by Kasuga Gakki in 1975-ish, at their own factory in Nagoya city. Of the other brands, Ibanez was made exclusively by Fujigen Gakki, Custom (a local brand from the Netherlands) sold through-neck Fakers made by Matsumoku, and *possibly* Yamaki Gakki. I've not seen a Pearl-branded Faker but the sub-brand Vorg By Pearl sourced their bolt-neck Rick copies from Matsumoku. Aria & Aria Pro II all came from Mats, and the Aspen in the pic has Grover copy tuners, which only appear on Matsumoku Fakers. Just to bang on a bit more, aside from the factories mentioned, both Chushin Gakki & Kiso Suzuki made their own versions, and it looks highly probable that the 70s manufacturers' co-op Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai may have had both through & bolt-neck examples. On top of that, there are a slew of MIJ Rick copies that don't come from any of the aforementioned sources (there are always detail differences) so must have come from Moridaira, Kawai Gakki, Terada Gakki, Iida Gakki, Daina and so on and so on. And that's without taking into account 70s & 80s Fakers from Korea, Italy, Brazil, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, and even right here in the U of K!

So it’s been a while since anything new came into Rayman towers. So between Xmas and New Year I treated myself to a new project….. a Hohner Pro JJ bass. It was dirty, set up like a dog, terrible action and most irritatingly (after I specifically asked the seller if it all worked as it should, he told me it did, he lied), the active electronics weren’t firing on all cylinders. So, after a deep clean, a new CTS pot for the neck pup and a new trim pot for the circuit board (that was fiddly, but a relatively straightforward fix), new strings, new gold control knobs and a nice setup (lovely low action), this thing is an absolute joy to play. ‘90/91 I’m guessing, Cort factory in Korea, it’s a quality instrument. Lovely frets, very comfortable and I think it looks awesome. It’s easily as good as anything sub 1K new, easily. Very impressed indeed. A really really great bass, and it sounds killer too, massive dubby low end and sparkly highs, what else do you want? My plan was to flip it on, but I dunno, I think I’ll keep it for now. I haven’t put it down since it was finished.

Well... I said no gigs this month but I now have three with Bluesfire. One I hadn't got the date for, one in Cardiff both in a fortnight the other side of the guitarist's other band supporting Cardinal Black. The other is tonight at my local club standing in for a band whose singer is poorly (my other band shares a guitarist with them). Just hope word gets about tonight round as people have being asking when we are back there but not booked until September.

Last July I bit the bullet and ordered a custom built Alpher bass. Just had the latest pics through of the nearly finished item Behold! My new Hammerhead! Sassafras body Wenge neck and board Nordy pickups John east pre Gone for a roadworn purple finish! Can't wait to play it

Well, I guess that I’m the society’s newest member… or at least I will be when I pick up my new VM4 from the shop on Friday. I tried this hardcore aged Marley Blue bass before Christmas, having been wondering about the P/H pickup layout and was very very taken with it. I’m not a relic fan but this seemed to be a bit more restrained than some of their hardcore jobs. And really quite good looking and authentically done. Having tried it out and reconfirmed all my Sandberg prejudices (I’ve never played one I didn’t love the look, feel and sound of) I thought I’d work up my ideal config (not that different - different blue, no relic, dots rather than blocks, pearl scratch plate) and look into ordering one. Then I discovered just how long the lead times are… yikes! Not quite Wal levels but 18-24 months is a long time. Anyway, having loved this bass when I tried it out before, I checked whether it was still available. It was and the price was no different from the configuration that I’d worked out. So that sealed the deal. Can’t wait to get my mitts on it and give it a proper, in depth going over at home and at our next jam night on Monday. Very happy bunny!!!

You might say you found what you were looking for?

My latest big board for my fusion band (i break it down to a smaller one for the rock band) Bright onion input/output box Sadowsky BP2 preamp/DI - for use with my passive basses, adds a nice bit of depth and clarity when set right, it doesnt change the character of the bass. Small tuner plugged into tuner out. Origin effects - Cali76 compact bass, the 1st version, i like the pop and sheen that it adds, its a subtle compressor, but tames the slaps and enhances my tone (especially since i moved to Markbass) Into a Boss LS2 - the most useful pedal in the world, it gives me so many options Channel A MXR Bass Octave Deluxe - its small and sounds great, and tracks really well, its set with more Girth for a deeper "octabass" style tone, with clean added its my standard octave tone. Zvez Mastatron - Gated fuzz that works great with all basses, used for synth tones, with a high gate, and least amount of subs, as usually used with an octave. EBS Bass IQ - envelope filter, v2 ive just got another (theyve shot up in price) as ive tried most and this is my favourite. Very usable Down sweep for Moog sounds, and triggers really well, High Q Is great for funky mutronish tones or part of a synth. Ive set a good amount of clean high end in via the trimpot, adds to note definition. MXR Phase 99 - The classic phase 90 x2 in one box, the two phasers can be used in series or parallel, and set with contrasting speeds, it can get very wild and funky, or set in synch which is very thick and adds gain to the signal, it has the "script" switch, for vintage/modern phase tones, orange sparkle too!! Channel B Boss OC2 - set without the clean signal for the "Jo jo Mayer" sound, i hadnt had one in years, i now remember why every bassist should have one. I add this classic sound in parallel via the LS2 to the Mastatron and Bass IQ as well as the phaser. Frederic effects Bugcrusher - Based on the Bugbrandits an analog sample rate reducer, very funky and percussive sounding pedal, you can almost get clavinet style tones, as well as ring mod like madness, it has a blend to keep some sanity. Ive tried many of these type of effects, and this is a very musical pedal. I use is with the OC2 for the "Baby elephant" tone as well as in parallel with the MXR Octave.

Lot to take in over an hour. Apparently I’m doing everything wrong but we can now make it all right. I’ve started 2025 in the mood for some self improvement and this is a good start.

A very rare shot of us all smiling. Had a good gig last Friday. Might be the last (for a while) with our dep singer, who has such a similar voice to our normal singer that it's like we dont have a dep. As REM say, that's me in the corner (not on bass).

It's moments like these (not the messing up but being able to laugh at the messing up) that make playing in bands so enjoyable for me. It's difficult to describe. I have a photo that sums up why I love playing in a band, and it's not unlike this one above.

I call this piece…”with problems like this; who needs solutions…”

In order to try and find a bass that doesn't set off my on-setting arthritis I have joined the club having just done a part ex and received this bass as part of the deal. I know the brand (Fenix by Young Chang) but have never come across this particular bass. Does anyone know anything about them?

Dr Scientist Dusk - Blackout Edition. The text is there, it’s just black, so you can only see it when the light catches it. This is my second Dusk and they are both going on the same board, so I don’t need the details twice This is bumping my Broughton JoshWah off the board and into classifieds. Love this pedal so much. I plan this to be my only pedal purchase of 2025. I’ll let you know how that goes! Ha.

First show for BandKamp, something of a loose coalition of musos. We rehearse an album, gig it once and only once, and then move on, no matter how good (or bad) it was. We're starting with the glorious Blonde on Blonde, timed for the Chalomet movie opening the same weekend. 4.00 Sunday afternoon slot feels really nice 👍

🤫 Once again: Clipped wave forms are harmful for tweeters, as they can increase the power in the high frequencies well above what what the tweeter normally receives. But no matter how hard the clipping the power will never exceed what the woofer normally receives in the lows. That's the science, and the science always works, whether you understand it or not. As to blowing a 100w speaker with a 50w amp, for instance, yes, you can. Most 50w amps can deliver transients of 6dB above rated power, and that's means 200 watts. Is the amp clipping? Sure. Does the clipping cause damage? No. Over powering does. BTW, a distortion pedal creates clipping, far more clipping than any amp is capable of creating. If clipped wave forms hurt woofers distortion pedals would not exist. Neither would synthesizers.

A friend of mine told me about a Van Morrison gig that he went to a few years ago... Van Morrison had just released a new album the week before the gig. He came on stage at the begining and said: "We're going to play the new album for the first set, then we'll go off for a little break and then when we come back, we'll play some songs that you've heard before." So they played the new album for the first set... Went for a break... And when they came back... They played the new album for the second set.... And then went home!

We solved the problem by not having a guitarist.

Can we please get back to discussing how people's gigs where they were playing at went? This thread has gone a bit off the rails recently with discussions about upcoming gigs (there's a different thread for that) and other extraneous stuff about gigs people have attended.

Saw Norman Watt-Roy with JOB at the 100 Club last year. Felt like a time capsule.

It was a particularly fun gig Dave - this is me after I messed up ‘Duelling Banjos’ would you believe……