Old Horse Murphy

I favour Thomastiks, so a tightly tied shoelace can feel high tension to me!

I find them very high tension so I generally avoid them. They sound great but I reckon you could use them comfortably to drop anchor (IMHO of course). If that's your preference though they'd probably be perfect.

And the great Colin Hay on guitar too.

That's lovely. I've looked at these longingly for quite a while now but like you, I'm not a fan of the PF fingerboards and wish they'd use ebony or rosewood. That said, it's a cracking looking bass and I'm a big fan of Sandbergs.

That's got a real Reverend vibe in my eyes. I really like those, especially the pink one.

So for the last few months I've been gigging my Spector Bantam which I bought primarily due to the weight (7lb 8oz) but have found the ergonomics very much to my liking too as the body shape means the neck sits roughly where a 34" scale Fender would sit so I don't feel cramped at all. It's been a revelation in terms of comfort, playability and the day after a three hour gig I don't feel like I've been fighting as I have virtually no hand pain at all. On Saturday I was lucky enough to gig with my Spector and a Sandberg Lionel that may or may not become a long-term partnership. The electronics are great and it has a passive bypass too. Weight-wise it's 7lb 7oz and again, ergonomically to works really well for me. It gives me a real alternative sound-wise to my Spector which I find quite Hi-Fi and I really enjoyed playing it. I've sold a couple of basses recently so this one could replace those in my line up very nicely, but there is another Spector Bantam for sale at Bass Bros.... I can't see short scales ever fully replacing my 34" scale basses but they really are a joy to play.

A good one tonight down by the River Wye. It took the crowd about half-way through the first set to get going but then they were great. We tried some new songs which went down very well so we'll probably replace some older tired songs on our setlist. I played my Spector Bantam again and loved it.

I'd probably change everything, just to see where the journey goes. In for a penny...

Much appreciated. I will of course have a bit of a play with each setting but looking at the diagrams I couldn't make head or tail which one to start with!

Duh, it's the drummer of course...

Good point. It's currently I'm on 1 off 2 on

My Spector Bantam- love everything about it apart from I find the EMG preamp makes it sound too clean/trebly for my ears.

Now, I am a total Luddite when it comes to anything to do with scientific/electronics type things so am looking for some help please. I have a lovely Spector Bantam that I have been gigging with but find the EMG BTC preamp a bit too hot/sparkly for me on the treble settings but have read up on it being adjustable via two switches which offers a combination of settings. I've found the diagrams but in truth it's absolutely double-Dutch to me. I can't work out which combination of the four switching options would help cool down the treblyness (if any of them would) and would be grateful if some assistance. I appreciate that I could probably eq a lot out on the amp but I'd rather try and address as much as I can by altering the preamp. Any advice would be gratefully received.

We were once approached by a lovely lady who asked if we did requests. We asked her what she wanted and she said "oh, anything" and then walked off

Had an afternoon gig today and it was the first time I gigged my Mikey Way Jazz for part of the set. I fitted it with TI Flats to contrast sound-wise with my Spector Bantam which is very clean, almost hifi sounding. I played the Spector 75% of the time (such a joy to play) but I am very impressed with the Jazz and is a lot livelier than my 72 Jazz which is quite dark sounding. It sparkles too which is a bonus. We used the opportunity to try out five new songs and three are definitely keepers based on how the audience reacted. Back to evening gigs next week which I'm looking forward to. It feels a bit weird packing up and heading home while it's still light!

My new Jazz, together with my old Jazz

Depends how good the bass player is

I love the whole Five Watt World Series. So we'll put together and informative.

Wow, you really want that next level achievement...

I dub thee Sir Clickbait

I recognise you, you play the gold sparkly kazoo!

A bit a strange one over this weekend, but after a gig at a venue I've played a number of times over the years (albeit with a different band to the one I'm in currently) I had a chap from the audience come up to say hi. He said something along the lines of "I've seen you play here before and I remember you usually gig a well-used black P Bass. I can't remember what band I've seen you with but I have always enjoyed your playing and remember the old P Bass!" It's true, my main gigging bass for years was my trusty black P but I unofficially retired it a couple of years ago as it holds a lot of sentimental value to me and I worry about taking it out gigging. Since then, it's been a carousel of various different basses but mostly my old Jazz. Still, it's nice to be associated with one particular instrument and even nicer that someone bothers to listen to my playing 😂

That's great. I always find natural wear and tear fascinating and wonder how on earth some of it happened!