Sean

A lot of it is sliced off. I can't see it all.

This really chimed with me. This came up last weekend, where I was told that the part I've played in one of the songs needs to be changed. I've played it the same way, as per the record about a dozen or more times, but they've never liked it. We don't rehearse and no one is able to articulate what they'd like me to play instead. This is the sort of thing that could be worked out at rehearsal. Sadly it's not going to happen and I'll be in a different band very soon.

ETS will do one. It’ll be around EUR300. These are what Brooks Bass uses. Also, the nut width on the Dean Rhapsody 12 I had was 54mm and that was a challenge for my medium (Size 9) hands. That 7 string at 62mm would be something else. The Hamer I have is 48mm and is very comfortable, it’s just 2mm up from my Spector Euro5. https://ets-hardware.com/index.php/de/

Master on about 3, Ch 2 volume on 4. Absolutely glorious. What it's like with the taps wide open, we can only guess at the moment. I just need the opportunity. You can hear all the tubey, valvey goodness going on that you just don't get with solid state. It's like there's something alive in there 🤫

Happy clocks-go-back Day I think this might be the first pic of a pair of Monacos out in the wild.

I also have an early copy of Led Zep II that is of interest to record collectors. It's got a purple lower label, contains different song names and the sleeve artwork is lighter. I'm not really up on it but a couple of friends have made noises and faces at it over the years.

I have The Police Sixpack coloured vinyl with incorrect labels on some of them. They're just jumbled up. It never really bothered me as a kid as I never played them as I had the songs on the albums and the original singles. The six pack was always treasured.

Carterton tonight. Go big or go home.

I use a an Origin Effects Cali76 and I'm reasonably happy with how I use it but always being in pursuit of refinement and learning more (especially with compressors) I'd be keen to understand what settings players who switch between pick and fingers use. I play about 50:50 pick and fingers depending on the song and use approximately the Parallel Compression setting. Dry 11 o'clock Ratio 10 o'clock (8:1) Att/Rel 10 o'clock HPF 1 o'clock Then balance Out and In

Yamaha quality is very good and there will have been Yamaha QA requirements in the specification for the manufacturer. I've never owned a Made in China Yamaha but this is one of the more highly regarded brands for quality. I guess there are good photos of it? They won't tell us everything but we could have a look, there are some eagle-eyed techy folk on here who can determine a lot from a few photos.

Isopropyl Alcohol is my go to for most cleaning jobs. You can try it neat or what I do to make my own kitchen cleaner spray that cuts through grease is put about 5-10% isopropyl to water and a squirt of washing up liquid in a spray bottle. We've got quartz worktops (not recommended btw) and it does a good job on those. I add a couple of drops of tea tree oil but that's optional. Another thing I use (but not in the kitchen) is TFR (traffic film remover), it's nasty so wear gloves and dilute it. Both are really cheap and will last you ages.

We're in Andover tonight. I feel like I've rocked up at a gunfight with a battleship. This is too much amp for the venue. It's like driving a McLaren around a supermarket car park. It's sounding incredible already and it's only been on 15 minutes. I put the second cab back in the car, it's too much with 4ohms and 2x Monaco. Edit: It took quite a bit of EQing to get the sound right but we got there. We switched to the EQ section and dialled up the low end just over flat and put a bump in the upper mids. I used Channel 2 (of course) and Volume at 4-5, Master at 3 and it was slamming. The signal path was Spector (EMG + HAZ dimed) - Origin DCX - Origin Cali76 - Mesa - Monaco. it's a nasty gritty clank of a tone but it's magic. When we did Dancing in the Dark, all I could think about was that it really really isn't what you'd ever choose for that song but it works. It was the best I've played in a while and I'm sure this beastie had something to do with it. We're in Oxfordshire somewhere tomorrow and it'll be going out again.

Any other basschatters going?

Mesa/Boogie 400+ Update I picked up my 400+ from The Amp Hospital today. It looks fabulous, it's all working perfectly, has a full set of chassis screws and just feels great. It's such a lovely thing to look at, handle, use, feel, smell, hear (it whirs, clicks and buzzes). The conversation covered how these are one of the 3 GOAT Bass Amps, how military spec and robust the 400+ is and that along with the B15 and SVT it's modelled by all the digital effects companies. But most of all that, as long as components are available, these things will last forever. The 400+ is one of my favourite products ever, to me it's up there with the Audi Ur-Quattro or Porsche 959. A lot of products that push the tech to extreme iterations fail, become white elephants but like the 959 and the Ur-Q, the 400+ is an absolute classic and a gem in all respects. Putting my money where my mouth is, the 400+ will be sitting atop a pair of Monaco cabs at two gigs this weekend. The GKs will be on the bench. Warm it up and let it rip is what the manual should say 😉.

Interesting video about Cort. Shows a Space being made. https://youtu.be/-ztqNMaZ9mE?si=3fN75S8BEF4yk069

The 8" future? F1 San Marino? Blueline Thruxton? IYKYK.

This is useful and I've found that it helps me https://www.thestrad.com/playing-hub/performance-practice-the-missing-step-in-every-musicians-practice-routine/19405.article Things I do, some of which are already mentioned... 1. Stand up to practise (if you stand for the gig). That way everything is in the right place, your geometry is the same as it will be for the performance. 2. Practice the piece/song faster than the performance. 3. Learn the theory. If I can't write out a rough chord chart (or root note chart) for the song off the top of my head by the time I need to perform it, I don't know the song well enough. Being able to visualise the changes as a chord chart (or root notes) gives you another way to "see" the piece. It's like having the chart built in. 4. Related to 3. Know what's going on. A recent example was a challenge from a guitarist on my replica bass line of It's My Life by Bon Jovi. In the first verse before the chorus there's a C to F chord change where Hugh McDonald does his trademark "drone thing" and stays on the C (the 5th of F) and the chord is F/C. In the second verse in the same place, he moves to F making it a straight F. Knowing this demonstrates that you know your onions and also gives you confidence. The challenge stemmed from the fact that previous bassists had played the change to F in both verses thereby making the band perceive what I played as incorrect. Knowing this and being able to explain it, not only prevented by confidence from being undermined but boosted it. 5. Use visual aids for practising. I use highlighters in different colours to mark up sheet music. I'll use one colour to highlight a phrase that I need to concentrate on until it becomes baked in. Try different stuff until you find what works for you. I tried exploring memory palace techniques and it is great for lists and party tricks but I struggled to apply any of it to learning songs.

I have left a few 1 star reviews for various tradespeople and for the sole purpose of trying to save someone decent from having to go through what I did. I'm very very unlikely to encounter this bass builder but what this thread has done is steer me away from anyone in Europe other than Brooks. Not naming has potentially pushed some punters away from other reputable builders.