bassbiscuits

The fact it’s no longer used for ghost hunting suggests they’ve found the ghost and stopped looking…. More info needed for sure.

A varied weekend. Gigged at the Flying Circus in Newark with the Andy Wales Band on Saturday night. Our dep drummer did a sterling job despite not having had a chance to rehearse together. Then on Sunday I did the sound and lighting for the local kids guitar club Christmas concert at the village hall. Encouraging to see schoolchildren taking such an interest in playing instruments, and having been involved with a few of these events over the years you can see their abilities developing. Nicely done.

Del Amitri at Sheffield Leadmill on Thursday night. One of my favourite bands (and one of my consistently favourite songwriters in Justin Currie). Performance-wise it was great - Justin doing a charismatic job on vocals, acoustic guitar and bass; Iain Harvie bringing the guitar grit and the rest of the line up turning in a solid show packed with great sing along songs from the last 30+ years. But the sound out front wasn’t good - a bass drum and booming low end so painfully loud it swamped everything else and obliterated much of the nuance and dynamics of the songs. In contrast the encore of largely acoustic songs with lush vocal harmonies and accordion was a delight - without the overwhelmingly loud drums, they benefited from a lightness of touch that allowed these songs to absolutely shine as a result. They were some of the best and most engaging moments of the night. Overall a heartwarming gig, well-received by a capacity crowd, but hampered by poor sound out front.

Del Amitri at the Sheffield Leadmill in about three hours time.

Ah I wish! No it’s a Yamaha BB604 which is the same basic body shape and control layout and has a budget version of the NE-1 preamp in it. It’s a wicked bass and thankfully about 10% of the cost of a proper Nathan East one!

Matinee and evening gig with Elton Joel at Bibi’s Italianissimo in Leeds. It’s a bit of a regular December double gig for us and the nearest we get to a band Christmas party. Took along my usual Markbass traveller rig and cracked out the old P Bass as well as the Yamaha for a special event (both sounded dead nice actually onstage). Good crowds for both shows - lots of singing along and dancing and some very eager Kiki Dees lending their voices to it. Knackered but happy. Cup of tea and to bed I reckon.

That’s lovely that is

This one

Cheers Andy. Yeah I hadn’t really factored in this stuff! The quest goes on then…

Yeah cheers. I think I’m beginning to understand how complicated it can be! I’m fine with one looper - it’s just a case of getting it in time and then the entire phrase is locked together, but spreading it over two loopers has that ability for them to drift apart as you say. Hmm indeed.

December 1988, in a school common room where my older brother was a sixth former, with a band without a name. I just rang my bro and he can’t remember the first song either. The set definitely featured some Poison, Def Leppard and er, Wild Thing. VHS does exist of it somewhere, interrupted by someone announcing she was serving cake. Added info: gear was my white Westone Spectrum ST bass into a borrowed Carlsbro bass combo of some sort.

Eh up. So I’ve been having so much fun with my Boss RC1 looper that I picked up an RC3 this week with a view to running them both on a board - the idea being for have more control over different bits to drop in and out. However it doesn’t seem to be that simple. The second looper in the chain records whatever is coming down the signal path from the first looper, which means it’s doubling up on that as well as adding whatever I put into the second looper and things quickly sound terrible (and also seem to drift out of time rapidly). Am I missing something obvious here? To have two separate loopers going would I need to have an A/B pedal of some sort, to stop one merely repeating the other one?

Great pic!

I’ve tried to get on with five strings and failed, even tho it would be very handy if I’d got on well with them. For me it’s their size, weight and neck width which I generally struggle with. There’s a few examples I’ve managed to get on with initially but then realised I preferred the playability and set up of my more familiar four strings anyway.

Could it be that the original 1969 neck was swapped for another and the rest of the bass remained the same? Ie they still used the original neck plate etc. Depending how long you've owned the bass might give an idea whether the neck was swapped at the time or more recently, if indeed that is what happened. The whole idea of Fenders being made from whatever parts were around means there should be plenty of models whose components span a few dates.

Yeah quite possibly

Thanks Reggaebass - that suggests the neck is from January 1968, which seems at odds with the big black lettering and the age of the rest of the bass (pickups dated 7170 and serial number placing it squarely in 1970 based on the others of a similar era that i’ve seen for sale. Its something of a dark art trying to work this stuff out ain’t it?!

Mine’s a sunburst 1970 with a B width neck which feels very comfortable to me. It’s also been refretted more than once very nicely with larger fret wire than the original, and plays beautifully. Interestingly the neck code suggests it’s possibly from 1968 - in green printed ink it’s 5 16 018 B Can anyone shed any light on what that might refer to? Pots are dated 1966, like many from this era.

Private party at a local rugby club with the Andy Wales Band last night. We swapped out some of our “deeper cuts” for some more dancefloor-friendly stuff to keep up the party spirit. We’re reaching that level of being comfortable enough with our material to relax into it now, leaving a bit more space and letting it groove a bit more, which feels great. Back home by midnight. The usual Markbass rig, Yamaha bass and this time also my Mackie PA and modest selection of stage lights from Cash Converters. Sadly no pics of us actually playing - just the stage before proceedings began.

Yes my mistake. I thought we were trying to offer helpful answers 😁

I disagree with this - I’ve played acoustic guitar almost as long as I’ve played bass and there have been many benefits. It’s broadened the range of music I listen to and therefore what I learn to play. It’s a great songwriting tool. Making the chord shapes on guitar has informed my bass playing and helped build dexterity in my fingers. In music I don’t think any knowledge or skill is ever wasted, and I’ve found from a lifetime of gigging that being a multi-instrumentalist gets me the most work. If you’re enjoying learning guitar too, then go for it. It’s all useful knowledge.

Eh up. Welcome from over the border in Leicestershire, and welcome aboard.

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/210405367978025--mooer-9v-stage-power-supply?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD76p-2Vwbg9BNB4HAaQGEAuXh2Jb&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvPPfqunJiQMVl49QBh2xlyyfEAQYASABEgKiJvD_BwE This one. It’s the “stage adaptor” version it appears. Nice long lead.