Rayman

Fleabass “water bass”, the blue one with the orange pick guard. Described by Flea himself as “not a toy”, that’s exactly what it was. A terrible little thing, cheap components, cheap wood, and it sounded crap.

I only buy via strings direct or from Newtone directly. Amazon and EBay are an absolute no no in my experience.

I have. I’m lying in a hospital bed with a new knee 😣

Yeah agreed, this finish the best one.

Ooh, I haven’t seen another one for a while. Nice basses.

Schwiiiing! Nice

Yeah, the best active jazz sound I ever had was with a Hohner B bass, which regrettably sold. So I was hoping this one would be close to that…. it kind of is, but kind of isn’t too, but it sounds really awesome. No need for any pointless “upgrades” here.

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.

Electrics are a bit of an enigma. You can chase your tail trying to figure out why things are not as they should be, especially on active basses. I had similar issues with an active jazz, and after much head scratching and a couple of new parts I figured it out. Make sure that nothing is touching something it shouldn’t. The pots touching the shielding can throw things out of kilter, and all it takes is a tiny stray wire touching something it shouldn’t to cock it all up. Was the new pot a linear pot or audio taper? All this stuff makes a difference. As always, a “good” tech will be able to figure it out for you.

Gotta love Van

Mrs Rayman couldn’t care less how many basses I have, she “likes them being around” apparently. They don’t get in the way of her vast collection of trainers. Although with 18 of them currently in Rayman Towers, space is running out. Paradoxically, for gigs I’d rather only take one, but with a new song in drop D, I currently take 2, but by choice I’d have one and travel as light as possible.

I’ll ask him later

Smashing Pumpkins just after D’Arcy had left, Machina tour, Manchester Apollo, absolutely dire. Honourable mentions, Alt J (Bluedot), Future Islands (Bluedot), UFO (last gig at the Manc Apollo), James (Kendal Calling), Caribou (Blue Dot), Uli Jon Roth (Manc Apollo) Level 42 (Blackburn King George’s Hall) …… oh there are so many…..

lol…. I’ve never known a guitarist with any less than 3 guitars for gigs. Our guitarist has 4, even in small venues.

What gauge strings are they? Is the string sitting snug in the bottom of its nut slot?

Yep, they’re nice basses indeed the IGB68s, enjoy.

Active/passive and series/parallel I believe. Nice bass, I’d have been all over that if I’d seen it, especially fretless.

I did a cartoon of him a while back…. Fantastic bass player.

Khruangbin last night in Manchester. A bit of an odd one…. IMO, the Apollo is not the right venue for this. The band were fabulous of course, but the lighting was abysmal, and the sound questionable. I’d much prefer seeing them at an outdoor festival, in the sun for the chilled vibes they present. I was delighted to have Row A in the circle, thinking I was literally on the front row with a great view and sound. Wrong…. my seat was a ways off to the right with a very restricted view (couldn’t see the drummer) and a bunch of rows in front of me, which seemed to be occupied by the local basketball team. Not the venues fault, but disappointing for me. Also it was freezing! I’m usually too hot at gigs, but I had a zipped up leather jacket on throughout. They’re an amazing band, such fantastic musicians, and if you’re in the mood for chilled grooves they’re the band for you.

I wish I knew? Dave Green has just serviced it literally a couple of months ago. This was the first moment I turned it on since getting it back. It flashed, and tripped half the board in the venue. So, there’s something not right in there somewhere.

The Rigger in Newcastle under Lyme. Great little venue, always fun to play there. My bad luck with amps continues though…. the Ashdown ABM500 head went pop on me, again, so thankfully my trusty little TC BQ500 stepped in. A great sound all around in the end.

Jah Wobble. Absolute legend.

A hot one….. absolutely great crowd too.

Best: Fender Meteora. It took the place of the Thunderbirds for live stuff. Worst: Vox Pathfinder 10 practice amp. Absolutely rubbish.

I know right?