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I was rather bemused when my son told me there was a pedal-sized parcel for me today. I knew I hadn’t ordered anything as I’ve been having to tighten my purse strings due to impending major change of circumstances. I was therefore completely taken by surprise to find this incredibly lovely gesture and gift when I opened the box: Folks, this was totally unexpected and unnecessary, nevertheless I want to express my profound gratitude to the anonymous benefactors who were kind enough to do this. Thank you! My faith in humanity has been given a much needed boost after the kicking it’s been getting lately. ❤️

Continuing my post-midlife crisis 'straying from Precisions' period, I couldn't resist this absolute stunner over the weekend. Just... look at it. It's a 1998 model, and was actually the L-2000 they used in the catalogue that year. A couple of honest dings here an there, but otherwise spot-on. I'll be gigging it on Friday.

Late report... you'll see why. Saturday's Bendrix Rock gig at Penarth Ex's was memorable for all the right and wrong reasons. I help organising/publicising gigsat the club and it was where we had our first gig so I put out a press release bigging up our dinosaur connections. It got taken up by a local paper and I heard stories it was being talked about. Expectations were high but we were down to a four piece. Indeed the drummer and lead guitarist handwrote two setlists of what we could do after setting up. We also had our mascot for the first time. Around this time I got really dizzy while setting up some simple lights. Tried rehydrating but was so bad when we soundchecked with War Pigs I expected the rapidly expanding audience to disappear. This was unusual as people normally arrive at quarter to nine. We had lots of new faces arriving from eight. I did recover a bit but wasn't 100% right through and had a nasty wobble and nearly fell backwards playing Saturday Night's all Right. We went down a storm. Right through the first set we got not applause, but cheering. We played War Pigs, Paranoid and Crazy Train (we had to from our list) and this went down well, of course, but so did everything else. We finished saying we literally had no more songs (our current full band list is about 10 longer). But after several minutes of chanting and roaring we gave in and our singer said what do you want us to repeat. They all shouted "Muse". Fortunately it was Uprising not Hysteria! I turned up the sub on my octaver and you could see the audience's glee when I shook the whole building. Don't say people don't notice bass. It took longer to deal with all the handshakes and well wishes than to pack up. Several people said how much better we were than our first gig. I've been to literally hundreds of gigs there as it's my local club and I can honestly say it was as packed as I've ever seen it and the best reception I've ever had for a gig. People spilled over from the 'Music Alley' into the lounge, but were coming in to join the dancing. We all agreed this was why we gig, and we donated a modest bit of our fee to the raffle for the stroke association. I packed my gear, dropped it to my partner's nearby house and walked to the pub, feeling a little wobbly. I joined her and friends but managed no more than a sip of my Inches cider when the bar stated pulsating and swaying. She walked me home (I was crashing into walls and generally swaying like a drunk). I didn't get to the loo before the first 🤮 I ended up on the floor for three hours, my brother came over as we were told four hours for a priority ambulance. They got me downstairs somehow and I was lying in the porch contemplating how to get to his car when the blue lights appeared after less than an hour. Cutting it short, it's probably severe positional vertigo. I puked so much I had to go on a drip but thanks to the wonderful NHS and lots of pills/IV, I am recovering and hoping to go home soon. Waiting on a cat scan to be sure it's not a brain injury. So good and bad! I gave the Performer an outing. It sounded glorious. This really doesn't give an impression of how full it was.

Had an absolutely banging gig today down in Poole at Country In The Park with Katy Hurt. We opened proceedings and had an absolute blast. Interesting moments..: I didn’t read the set list so was almost caught out by the first song My (Dunlop) strap lock popped out during the first song so I ended up having to improvise til I could sort myself out (embarrassing photo below) Cris, playing lap steel/acoustic guitar/mandolin kept stepping on my lead so I couldn’t wander the stage as freely as I’d been trying to do. Ironically I drove home via @franzbassist to pick up his Rockboard Tree 3.0 so I can have a bigger board to fit my wireless receiver… needed more forward planning on my part! But on the whole, an absolute blast of a gig. Very hot, very fun, and I hope we made some new friends. Shoes were the lo top Soul Cals again. Me pretending to play djent when the strap popped out: The whole band just having fun:

Blockbustarz Glam covers at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. One of my fav gigs to be honest. Sound check went well and everything sounded great. Then for some weird reason i started to struggle to hear the bass out front. I had deliberately kept my on stage volume low and assumed the SE was on top of FOH. Unfortunately i spoke with my wife at the end and she said she struggled to hear the bass at times. I'll have a word with SE next time we play. He was experienced a deep feedback ring that we couldn't identify and maybe he's dropped the bass FOH to help and possibly forgot to turn it back up. My wee fingers are aching tonight as i automatically play harder when i'm struggling to hear myself. In future i'll be setting my stage volume to suit me if FOH are just gonna turn me down. I always set my stage level to balance drum levels. Other than that we had dancers from the get go. Only sold 40 tickets but a lot of walk-ins which the owner said was pretty normal these days. Ended up reasonably busy when we started and the audience remained. We had folks up from Galashiels and some came over from Livingston to see us so we have a fan base out there 😂 2x1hr sets or thereabouts. 2 encores which was nice. Odd thing was we had a crowd of Goths in and they were loving it and dancing virtually every song. At the end while loading car I overheard one of them say he's not danced that much in ages and loved it. So that was nice. It was an 80-20% ticket deal tonight and we did OK with that as we usually do. Back again Sat before Xmas which is always a fun party night and very busy. Usual gear :- Sandberg VM4 Shure GLXD+ wireless Keeley Bassist Comp. Handbox WB100 Barefaced 212 cab Loving this bass cab. Its lightweight and easy to lift but retains so much depth and the wide angle dispersion means i can clearly hear it if standing right next to it. Only downside is i always find 12's lack the mid punch of a 10" speaker but its still a superb cab and i just need to tweak my EQ abit more. I am loving the tone i'm getting with this rig. No more distortion when i play slightly harder now since i dropped the P pick up a touch on the VM4. I can still trigger it if i dig in really hard but i'm trying to play a bit lighter these days to save damaging my wee fingertips on plucking hand. All in all a great wee night and the Pizza from next door was pretty good too. 50min drive home on quiet roads and a nice wee toasted pancake and coffee and now time for bed. Night night guys. Dave

Cool weekend of gigs. Friday night playing bass with Superbad at the Sapcote Social Club in Leicestershire. Really good turnout, lots of dancing and good sound. Saturday night playing bass with my own band (the Andy Wales Band) at Bar Dos Hermanos in Leicester. We were all knackered and it was a bit ragged and “seat of pants” at times but still plenty of good bits, a decent crowd and some righteous noises were made by all. Gear for both gigs was a Yamaha BB604 and little Markbass traveller rig. Then Sunday, helping our local village guitar teacher with his twice yearly gig for his students (including my eldest lad who’s just discovered Nirvana). It’s quite inspiring to see the youngsters grow as musicians over the few years we’ve been involved. The biblical rain from the morning thankfully stayed away all afternoon and it was a lovely outdoor shindig in his back garden, with me providing the PA and bass gear, being a general helper and being roped in on bass for one song. Gig below from Saturday night and Sunday afternoon’s gigs.

A bit of electrical tape on my old CV Squier Jazz and she's ready to rock for tonight's gig with Stray at 'Time to Rock' Festival in Sweden!

Just back from a sports and social club over in Nuneaton about 12 miles away. There were quite a few in, which made for a good evening, and a bit of dancing in the last set. We've played there before but I think there were a few more in this time. The guitarist had a bit of an off night, making some silly mistakes in songs we've played loads of times. However we were pleasantly surprised at how well Sir Duke came together after just learning our bits at home and then playing it together for the first time in the gig. I love playing with such talented guys. I love the painted back wall. The usual Stingish bass into GT-6B (operated by burgundy suede Converse one-stars) into Fender Rumble v3 500 combo. Passable cheese and onion batch (we ventured from our native cob-eating Leicester into batch-eating Nuneaton) from the bar - only £1.50 - bargain

Sunday afternoon gig with the covers/original band at the Red Hart in Bodham. We were meant to be playing outside in the beer garden under the newly completed covered area (nice job) but the governor was worried by the forecast of thunderstorms and the likelihood of the rain being driven under the shelter (guess there are insurance implications). It was decided we should play indoors in the dining room but needed to wait until the end of the main service before setting up. I have been to jams and open mics in the dining room and wasn’t too impressed with the acoustics, so I was a bit apprehensive, especially as we had come equipped for playing outside. Fortunately, our drummer plays an electronic kit, so we can turn him down 😀. I had my two LFSys Monzas driven by a Blackstar U700, with a MB LMIII as standby. Basses: Guild Starfire 1 and a custom made P/J shorty. In the end I only connected the top cabinet and the guitarists just used their amps, with only vocals, drums and keys going into the PA. Somehow we managed to get a good sound, according to friends who had come to watch. I had the master on the U700 so low it was almost off but apparently could be heard throughout the pub: testament to the amazing projection of the LFSys cab. Unfortunately, waiting until the main service was over meant that we lost 50% of our audience and instead of a full beer garden, we ended playing to about a dozen people, with some leaving and new arrivals taking their place. The governor said he would normally have a full beer garden but the weather forecast had obviously kept the punters away. We were supposed to do a three hour stint but ended up doing an hour and 10 minutes for the first set and almost an hour for the next two sets. This was largely because the audience was appreciative and we decided to see if we could get through every song on the set list (bit of a paid rehearsal). Despite the temperature dropping it was very humid and with 5 of us crammed into the end of the room, it felt like a sauna. Anyway, we got good feedback from the punters and the governor has invited us back, so not a disaster. No pics: I must remember to take some next gig. Footwear: trainers to cope with being on my feet that long.

Our gig Saturday night was expected to be a bit of a muted affair, due to a range of other events happening in the area the same night. While we did lose a few of our usual following to these, it turned out to be a busy night after all, with plenty of new faces (and future followers). These included one bloke who I know from our village who never knew I was in a band, but had us recommended to him by the postman who regularly attends our gigs. Also there was someone I'd not seen since leaving school! Gig wise, the usual two 45 minutes sets of the British 76-82 punk classics - first outing for Stay Free by The Clash was a bit wobbly but well received! Played my shortscale LP Junior DC custom bass through the Orange Terror 500 and twin Isobaric cabs (lurking in the darkness with it's one glowing orange eye!). The Samsamp Geddy Lee YYZ pedal put a touch of damaged/overdriven speaker cone effect into the sound for authenticity, while the usual Dr Martens black safety boots (health and safety at all times!!) kept me the right way up all night! Next one is in a marquee at a scooter rally in a couple of weeks.....

Busy weekend, after a while of not doing anything. Had an hour slot at a local festival, Party by the Parrett, and got the 6pm slot which was nice. We had played a wedding and a party at the venue, and the guy that run the club liked us. Very well organised (stocked fridge back stage and everything) and handily the two main sound guys were the guitarists friend and one of the guitarists in my other band. We had argued a bit trying to get the set list down, we had been asked to do mainly rock (there was a more poppy band and a ska band on after us, so we stuck to the rock mostly) seemed to go down well and we managed to get it down to 1hr and 3 minutes, so went over a bit, which messed stuff up a bit but not too bad. We had quite a few dancers . My guitarist / sound guy did a video from the side WhatsApp Video 2025-07-05 at 18.45.55.mp4 Today we played a pub, outside, on shingle which is a bit of a pain for getting dust everywhere and trying to stand your drink up. Also not good for wasps (or well, good depending on if you are a wasp or not!), back to the normal 2.5 hour set. To be honest I wasn't really feeling it as my hand hurt for some reason but it went well with only a few notable mistakes, like going to do the organ backing section of Brick in the wall, and not realising I didn't change my patch from the backing track of Baker street (which is like a bell), which was quite amusing. We had a request for timber which we hadn't done for a year or so but the singer couldn't remember how to play it! Glad to get back to work tomorrow for a rest!

Yesterday I was a Punk Pirate, having been to the Brighton Guitar Show with #2 son during the day and managed to avoid an impulse buy of a 72 P bass. It was very nice as was the 73 and the canary yellow 75 , but I just resisted. Having left there around 3:30 and dropped son off I headed over to Emsworth for a little light pirating at Kingsfest. Almost didn’t bother with IEM’s because it was quick turnarounds, but guitar from my usual main band said the onstage sound was a bit muddled, so in the end I set it up and just took a mono aux with bass, guitar and vox and put one plug in and it worked well. Timings for the day got out of sync due to weather and the Fest starting indoors then moving out. Would have helped if the acoustic duo had used the second stage rather than main, so when the compère said “the Pirates will be on in 15 minutes” there were cries of “I don’t think so!” but we were on pretty quick. Still somewhat curtailed of set time, not helped by my right leg going through the stage just before we started so so quick patching required…”I be capsizin’ cap’n” … “‘‘tis but a scratch ya scurvy scum” 🤣 Pretty solid set generally. Some flubs, but we’re Punk Pirates, nobody died, and it was generally good. Good crowd up for it and a lot of money made for a dementia charity, so all good. 90725182-ba33-4dba-ac6a-e0da656b2980.mp4

Finished up at the bluegrass festival this afternoon in very heavy rain. Full 5 piece band and we had a good rehearsal before our set and then found out it was shortened to 30 minutes instead of the normal 45-55 minutes. Not much playing and a two hour drive each way. Yesterday we played at noon and the band was in good form and we were very tight and did a beautiful version of Seven Bridges Road, the acapella part was wonderful four part harmony, a good set and the crowd enjoyed it and our leader and lead vocal was back in good health. Usual festival set up, Czech DB with Nux wireless into Traynor amp and DI to PA, excellent sound guys and we sounded good.

Did a really lovely gig by the seaside near Swanage and, as well as a large fee, was allowed to order anything form the menu, which included this £70 lobster. Would have been rude not to!

We played the fabulous Richard Jefferies Museum in Swindon. A beautiful setting with what I thought was a respectable crowd. I flew back from Spain yesterday so we hadn’t really rehearsed. I think we have it in the bank though. A varied crowd from 3-87yrs old and the under 10s all helped us pack up. Luckily, the other half of my duo is a teacher so he was able to coordinate them so we had no breakages! Everyone was super friendly and it was certainly one of the more memorable gigs.

Saturday Night party gig in New Wellington Newmarket. Rock Covers Trio - apart from drunks knocking the boom of the mic stand into the singer/guitarist mouth and teeth several times, overall a very good night, 50+ people, great crowd couldn't ask for better. I'd decided to go back to a P bass (reverse, no tone pot) after stints using my Dingwall ABZ and G&L Trib M2000, turns out simple is best for me, also went back to the Keeley Bassist compressor after using a UAFX 1176 and struggling with all the extra knobs and choices! Raised the crossover (Sine Effects X24) point for my drive from 680hz to 800hz ish and I was very pleased sound wise, my P has the D'addario EXL160BT 120-50 strings tuned to Eb, still plenty of tension and plenty of "heft" through the Tecamp Puma 900 + BF Super Twin set up. Still getting used to filling out the mix since going down to a trio line up.

Saturday, at the annual Folk in the Woods. It’s the inaugural event of the week-long Ripley Music Festival. It takes place at the Waingroves Community Woodland, a lovely area reclaimed from a coal mining site and managed by local volunteers. My covers band, Top Deck, finished off the day playing 7pm - 8pm. Back line supplied, so I was able to travel by bus with just my Mustang and a few bits. Any money raised goes to the upkeep of the woodlands, so no fees for anyone. However, it was free drinks and food for performers. I got a little bit confused by the paths walking back through the woods to the main road and bus stop. 🤪🍺

Thanks to @stevel my quest for a Aerodyne has been fulfilled. A cracking bass in as new condition and good to meet a fellow Basschatter.

2 outdoor gigs in North London for me yesterday. First gigs on bass for quite a while. First was at the Heath street festival in Hampstead. Nice stage and good sound. I had my new preamp with me but didnt use it at either gigs. First gig was with an Ampeg combo. Really nice sound. Quite tempted to get one at some point. It did rain a bit but that didnt seem to deter the crowd and we were covered. Second was in a private estate in Highgate. We were supposed to have a proper stage but it turned out to be a Gazebo with a small raised playing area. No side protection at all. Of course, the heavens opened up as we were approaching to set up. Again, backline was supplied so this time i used MB 3x10 combo. I had planned on using a preamp with this, but looking at the extension socket, filled with rain, I decided I wasn't going anywhere near it. Again, decent sound, which did surprise me as ive never been a fan of MB cabs. Highlight was when the sound guy turned the supplied Tube driven guitar combo on and a firework display emerged out the back of it. Apparently due to the tube being hot, a tiny drop of cold rain had shattered the glass. Guitarist ended up going DI from hisHelix Stomp. We had a really good sound though. Thoroughly enjoyed both gigs. What also struck me was how easy it was setting up. Never needed any effects, didnt even miss not using a preamp etc.

Did our monthly duo gig yesterday at The Sun Inn in Beverley, usual request format. Plenty of people in, including one table of folk from Ilkley and another from Sheffield. Probably the most requests we’ve ever had, with some nice stuff we haven’t played much, or ever! These included ‘Can’t take my eyes off you’, ‘Change the world’ ( which I love), ‘Let it be me’ , ‘ Dakota’ ( which I’m starting to dislike a lot now…) and then for an encore Albert Lee’s ‘Country Boy’. My guitarist partner was on fire in this, despite us losing the delay repeats at one point, and with no drummer to blame too! A very jolly gig in a great venue, with a lovely audience and some dancers as well. Used my Sire U5 into the Rumble 500, which has more authority than the 100 combo I’ve used before. Next one there is in late August, so looking forward to that already.

I must be really boring using the same kit every gig 😂 Sunday afternoon/evening at the White Hart in Melton Mowbray. It was a little bit quiet, possibly due to the Grand Prix, possibly due to being very close to Leicestershire schools breaking up for the summer. Still, we had a decent crowd, plenty of dancing and pointing phone cameras - although not by me because I forgot. Sir Duke was much better for its 2nd (and 3rd!) outing. We also had some great feedback - "How on earth do you make that sound with just 3 of you?" made me smile. Then this morning from a chap that comes to see us a lot, talking about our Mackie SRM450s which only have the vocals going through them, the rest just backline... "Morning Danny, great gig yesterday. Just again realised how perfect your PA setup is. When you first started, I thought it could do with being a bit louder, Ian said what a perfect sound. Later on I went to the toilet, I listened right from the back of the room for one song. I could hear every note and vocals were absolutely crystal clear. And it was still loud enough. Have to say it now, but even in the barn at Barkby, with all Micks expensive gear it wasn't such a nice sound. The harmonies just somehow didn't seem as good. A fantastic job of entertaining us last night as always, let the boys know! Take care." Always nice to hear that kind of thing, especially as we only ever do a line check. The landlord was telling us about a recent band that took 4 hours to do a sound check - sod that!!! 😄

So last night I told my band (The Spacewasters) I’m going to be leaving and they’ll need to replace me. Since I did my lower back in a couple of years ago I’ve just not enjoyed pretty much everything about gigging, aside from the actual playing, as it’s just made it difficult & painful. I see an osteopath and we’ve got it pretty much as good as it will get but the strains of gigging just too much. I did feel sad on the way home as I’ve really enjoyed being in this band, the music is great, the lads are a good laugh and the relaxed manner in which we do stuff has really suited me. Had some great experiences too - recording an album at Boz Boorers studio in Portugal the main one. Not walking away tho, until a replacement is found I’m still there, my intention is to just not be gigging next year. Now just need to write a hit single so I can retire on the publishing…..

I took delivery of this one this morning. Richard Henry made the trip up to the seaside and brought it to my house personally. He had it advertised as a '72, and whilst the pot codes are 39th week of '72, the serial number is early '73, so I'm going to call it a '73. All original except for the saddles, intonation screws and springs. It was probably one of the grubbiest basses I've ever bought, but after two or three hours of cleaning and polishing, including the frets and the board, it has come up a treat. It's now sporting a set of Labella LTFs, the action is low, and it plays superbly well. It sounds fabulous too. The weight is an astonishing 8lbs 6oz, or 3.8kg. Richard has had this for a while, and I have resisted it all this time, and I even thought Brian on here was going to buy it for a while, but it remained for sale, and when Richard dropped the price for the second time in a week I just couldn't not buy it. I'm very pleased with this one. EDIT: Group shot added, the P bass collection. I really should stop now. Rob

Did a dep gig for The Bonnevilles at bike night at Darley Moor. All went well and I suspect they'll be rebooked at the agreed higher amount (and the regular bassist will benefit!). Forgot to take a long lead and my MS-60B fell off the amp so finished up going Sei Flamboyant fretted 5 -> Lekato WS-90 wireless -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. My leather waistcoat with all the bike badges on has shrunk. Feets were encased in Caravelle memory foam trainers, as always.

I'm out at last. Mri was clear but still unsteady and probably will take a weekor two to recover. Had to bow out of three gigs with three bands this weekend but they have all been great about it. Gutted as was really looking forward to it

It's been a while since I've been able to post in this topic, as our old guitarist opted out at the beginning of May. It's been cancellations, auditions and just a couple of rehearsals since then. I think we've got the right new guy. I was slightly nervous in the run up to last night's first gig, as we didn't manage to rehearse this week as our drummer has been taken into hospital for urgent surgery. He's going to be out of the game for a while. A good friend of ours is going to sit in on drums for a while when he can and I am meeting another drummer this evening, when we play another gig (and he's on drums). We're deviating from usual set to a degree, as our new guitarist has some songs he's pretty good at, so to get a set together, and to change things a bit (the old band was a bit of a museum, as we couldn't add new songs without a distinct lack of enthusiasm from one corner of the room). We've pulled the best set together of crowd pleasers that we can . There were a couple of hairy moments, but the punters didn't notice. The good news for us is that we are back doing it and enjoying it.

Weird one last night; A prize giving evening for Dominos players at a hotel in Derby (the table-top game, not the pizzas!) Our newly jigged Duo set got a surprise early outing. Pity about the 30 degree heat. You could have wrung my shirt out into a bucket afterwards! Out tonight with the Everly's & Friends live tribute show at the Alvaston Hall Warners near Crewe. Just need to remember all of the Everlys/Buddy Holly/Jerry Lee Lewis numbers that I haven't played for two months! Perfect weather for a three-piece suit. Obvs.

So, that is how it went to Heiko, and it came back last week, but I had to do my part of the job, as we agreed that I'll do all the reassembly. It's now fitted with a brand new BassLab/Richter 3 bands with variable mids preamp, the mandatory Richter status LED between the Delano SBC 5 HE/S pickups, some new ETS knobs, a new output barrel jack, a set of Dunlop Straploks instead of the usual Schaller ones, a new Gotoh battery box, the BassLab identification brand that was removed/missing on the bow, the official side "dots" with the F-clef at the octave on the front, a new "bracing" for the top, a new zero fret, some repairs in the carbon that were needed and the pickups support correctly glued as well as the ETS tuning system put the right way round with the correct screws (check the photos). It's now tuned E to C; the action is very low going from 1.2 to 1.5 mm at the octave with the perfect neck relief; the playability is, of course, amazing and the tone is really huge with a kind of permanent reverb, even dead flat or in passive mode, and becomes immense when you start using the 3 bands EQ with variable mids preamp. It's also hyper ergonomic and very light at 3.445 kilos. The colour is the official Maserati Yellow. It took around 5 months to Heiko to finalise the resurrection of this extraordinary instrument, but it was worth it as it's almost as new, even if it's a very early model without truss rod or serial number, so from 1998 or 1999. Enjoy, and especially @Dazed!

On the mend. thanks for good wishes.

First Otis Jay BluesBand show with our new singer Cecilia. Also my first show as a main singer, having taken on the ‘male’ songs in our repertoire. Video shows me giving C some space as she emerges from behind the keyboards. She’s only on loan to us, but if we come back without her I think we might be lynched! Played Flea Jazz through a just visible Barefaced One10 and a very efficient Warwick Gnome that arrived in the post that very morning courtesy of @spyder 87527738-02ab-49e9-9f7f-662474ad080d.mp4

Dont cry 😀 Hiscox not dead! Polish guitar maker RUF Technologies has acquired the British brand Hiscox and is moving its entire case production—along with tools, technology, and brand identity—to a factory near Warsaw. The original name and high-quality standards will be preserved with the support of the former owner and key Hiscox experts, who remain involved as advisors. RUF produces high-end guitars using aerospace-grade composites and sells them in 14 countries. The company is actively expanding, especially in the U.S. market, and promotes its instruments at major global trade shows.

Finally getting round to updating the studio, I've been doing it piecemeal for years and the cabling has gotten scruffy, plus I need to move some rack units around to make room for some new kit. Having a new rack unit built to house the amps and storage, and adding 2 new units to the upper racks, an RND Master Buss Processor and an RND Master Buss Transformer, a second Shelford will eventually be added and the UAD X16 will go into the side rack. I foresee an extended period of cable wrangling in my immediate future...

This is why I won't spend six grand on a bass - because I can spend about 1/20th of that on this kind of thing instead. 1998 DeArmond Jet Star "Spel", Gumby, Dali, melty - whatever you want to call it. It just made me laugh so much I had to buy it. This example is in good nick, the only issue is that the knobs have disintegrated a little and the silver "D" discs in the top are long gone. Anecdotally, this was a common issue - seen a bunch of them online with replaced knobs. This is the long scale (34") bolt on version. The short scale one is fancier (two pickups, set neck) but I don't dig shorties so it had to be this one. Honestly I'd have loved a green one, but they're rare as hell, so a cherry red one is an acceptable alternative. Hard to photograph with the phone camera - the cherry red is much deeper than this and you can see the wood grain through it - phone just doesn't have a clue and goes "duh, it's red". Nevertheless, here it is. I've only played it in headphones and my office amp (Laney 30W HCM30B) so far, with whatever scabby strings it arrive with. But even with that stacked against it, it sounded pretty good - the split P pickup being more towards the bridge makes for an interesting sound, not completely devoid of bottom end and P-esque, but just a bit twangier or something. I've since given it the once over - a good clean, lemon oiled the fretboard (it was so dry!), restringed and setup fettled with. Here it is when it first arrived next to one of my T-birds. Welcome to the wonky family!

Had a great day. 12 hour drive each way so it was quite a trek. Tickets were still available on Ticketmaster on the morning of the event and these were not showing as re-sales. I did notice a surprising number of empty seats. My weekend away was a retirement gift from my children so I did not have to delve into the budgetary aspects of the trip (other than parking and some fast food). I have read some reviews bemoaning various aspects of it but I liked the variety of bands, the quick turnaround times and the general vibe. Live music doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun. An unforgettable gig.

Did a 2-hour set last night with Ministry of Mojo as part of the Dereham Blues Festival. Really nice venue but very small and dwindling audience, which we just about outnumbered by the end. Unfortunately the venue is out of the town centre and blues fans clearly didn't fancy making the trip out to the suburbs. The office:

This seems like a good place to put this video, Freddie is such a great player

He has limited movement in his right hand because of the needles and pins (ah).

Oh no it isn't.

Well as per my other thread I’m now winding down gigging, but: The Spacewasters - original material, garage punk/rock I suppose. Been going for 20 years, I’ve been with them since 2021. 10 gigs a year approximately, obtained usually by people asking us to play. Used to be only London-ish gigs but now stretch to south coast, plus a few overseas. Knock Off - original material, street punk/Oi. Started 2013, I left 2019 but am back standing in for the rest of this year. They were doing 50 odd gigs a year, all over UK and Europe but have scaled back a bit to concentrate on less but better gigs, these usually obtained by being asked. Thunderkunt - instrumental classic rock covers, a non gigging band, a bunch of old mates we rehearse every few weeks and have a laugh, and play some ridiculously complicated riffs - 70s drugs must have been strong maa-an!

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S. Watch this space!!

It is! Its great, pretty much a Moog MF101 with a few more controls and a board friendly footprint.

Just picked up the Joyo Flanger from BC. Now I only need the Pipe Bomb compressor and the Ocho octave pedal to complete the set. Shame they don't do an LS2 clone but I have no idea how they could bring that off in such a tiny form. Wonderful pedals the Ironman series. Really good quality sounds, superb construction and a great design.

Harley Benton Shorty does. I bought one when they came out and it blew me away - I don't know how it is possible to make a bass that is so good for the price of a night out. The tone, through my set-up, was very similar to the gorgeous woody tone of P bass in Santana's Europa. Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider and it is now awesome. I have sold off most of my basses, including an MIJ Mustang, but keeping the HB Shorty for my Precision flavoured moments.