Silvia Bluejay

Tweeting this as we speak

I agree, Alun. I think the organisers will have to have a re-think about the cost they set for stands. Presumably the venue charges the organisers a fixed fee for hiring the area and its facilities, so it would make more sense to attract a larger number of exhibitors by charging affordable prices, than making a booth so expensive that only a smaller number of high-end, wealthy exhibitors can afford to exhibit. The paying punters would prefer more variety and a higher number of vendors, obviously.

Yay! Thank you! I've edited the caption

I'd love to try the new LaBella Low Tension too. The "normal" Bellas are to hard on my fingers. None of the shops we visited in NYC in the summer had LTs, either on a bass for us to try or even simply to buy as a shrinkwrapped set. I have used Thomastiks on my Corvette, and I love them, but sometimes they can be too floppy even for my little hands, and either require a truss rod tweak to avoid buzzing or some care to avoid digging in when I play. I know what Si means when he mentions gauges - the Thomastik low B is huuuge (and doesn't fit in the bridge of any of my Rockbasses), so that can be a problem. But the sound of TIs is awesome.

Forgot to comment on this and say that a Jazz bass comparison would probably get my vote rather than a pedals test. Either test would be great, though, as this is all stuff that needs to be done live and can't be recorded properly (at least not with my equipment), so a bass bash is the ideal setting.

Tonight from 8:30pm. New management at the pub, but the music goes on big time. Hope to see some west Londoners there [url="https://www.facebook.com/junkyarddogslondon/photos/a.407921932554882.111973.407912292555846/959610754052661/?l=0145036b2d"]https://www.facebook.com/junkyarddogslondon/photos/a.407921932554882.111973.407912292555846/959610754052661/?l=0145036b2d[/url]

Thank you Zero9! Caption edited. And thank you all for reading

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1415980752' post='2605836'] Silv, there were 5 rigs in the hall [/quote] I probably didn't catch them - they must have been gone or moved to the theatre by the time I went back in there for a second set of photos

So-o-rry, I've been drowning in photos and videos!

Phew! First draft of the blog is published, here: [url="http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-oz"]http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-oz[/url] As always, I'm missing some names and possibly some info - post here or PM me if you'd like to see your name or your gear added! I will work on an album of the remaining photos that could not be added to the blog, and add a link in due course. Thank you all

[quote name='Romeo2' timestamp='1415969617' post='2605688'] Thanks bluejay - awesome stuff. From the results it seems upgrading pickups does the trick which [i]clearly[/i] justifies me buying a Squier VM PJ with EMG pups the other day [/quote] LOL - but the pickup isn't all! The Warwick Streamer had a P pickup but ended up last in the test. It had by far my favourite sound among the selection we listened to, but nobody else appeared to share my preference! Spot the Warwick addict, non-P-bass fan...

This year's Herts Bass Bash featured a P-bass blind comparison with interesting results. Unfortunately we don't have the technology to record the differences in sound, but the results are discussed in my blog (scroll two thirds of the way down, or search for "P-bass test"): [url="http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-ik"]http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-ik[/url].

Dude, have you seen this? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/249255-an-evening-with-joel-mciver-and-neil-murray/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/249255-an-evening-with-joel-mciver-and-neil-murray/[/url]

I'm gutted I'll have to miss this, but if you're free that evening, you could do much worse than go check it out: The Facebook event is this: [url="https://www.facebook.com/events/762970723790734/"]http://www.facebook.com/events/762970723790734/[/url]

Yes to all the above, especially Barrie's suggestion. Regarding the left-handed models not getting enough attention or buyers, it's all a bit of a vicious circle - there are too few left-handed people who play left-handed, usually because there are no or too few suitable left-handed instruments available, and such a small number of lefty players makes it uneconomical for bullders to build lefty instruments, which leads to a scarcity, which leads to too many lefties playing righty, etc. etc. ad infinitum. I have no solution to that, but I did wonder why a vendor like Spector, who came to the LBGS with at least 20 bass guitars, didn't even bother to have one lefty. Warwick had fewer models and two lefties IIRC. Hofner always has at least one violin, sometimes other models too (Thank you, Sir Paul, for putting lefties on the map...).

Thanks Sara - I'm tweeting this thread to spread the word to our followers, and hopefully get more opinions in I'll start by mentioning that it would be nice to have a few stands that sell cheaper accessories, as opposed to high-end basses, or even low-end basses, since those too are out of reach if your exhibition budget as a visitor is only a few tens of pounds.

To get back to King Ralph, the band (with Paul of the Junkyard Dogs depping on percussion) had a last-minute gig at The Tap On The Line at Kew Gardens station last night, which went down really well with the crowd These pics were taken pre-mad dancing (the mad dancing is on video).

Great stuff, Nik and Colin While I'm sifting through the pics from the bash, I feel I really have to post one of Chimike with his awesome, still unfinished amp/cab jobby. It's the one at the centre of the group photo above, and we had stuck on the amp a piece of paper with "Ped" written on it!

And this is the video with a medley from the above gig [url="http://youtu.be/GM8i0SaI4fQ"]http://youtu.be/GM8i0SaI4fQ[/url]

And 24 hours later, The Bell On The Green in Bedfont! [url="https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5ndhTm"]https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5ndhTm[/url]

No stage invasions at the Dogs' gig on 24th October at The Kings Head in Shepperton - just some mad dancing [url="https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5YtVyr"]https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5YtVyr[/url]

Some pics from the last Karena K gig with the semi-acoustic lineup. Proud Camden on 19th October.

LOL it was 34 degrees and I was wearing shorts, a vest and sandals too!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1415301815' post='2599054'] I should probably leave this alone, but it so happens that I was lucky enough to visit Fodera in NYC, meet the makers, see the workshops. No, I wasn't buying one! Essentially you're buying into a pretty exclusive club, and like any other such club they're a really nice bunch of people who make you feel right at home. They're still a family firm, everyone there is absolutely into what they are doing, and demand permanently outstrips supply. In that environment, you can charge pretty much what you want. How much you'd pay for a Fender or a Yamaha is simply irrelevant. They don't compete in that market. And of course I played one. I am in no way a great bass player (and that's not false modesty) but I own and have owned some lovely instruments, so I can make some sort of comparison. The Foderas I played were simply wonderful basses. Better than Alleva Coppolo or Status or Goodfellow or Dingwall? No, of course not, at this level "better" becomes meaningless - it's simply a matter of what you enjoy playing. If I'd had the money available, I would have had no problem at all with paying Fodera prices. I didn't so I didn't. [/quote] I concur. No money and no lefty Foderas at the time of our visit saved me from serious gas... Jack with Joey and Phil in Joey's office [url="http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-kM"]http://wp.me/p2ZbyY-kM[/url]