Sean

That rendition of The Sideboard Song never fails to impress me. They were amazing. 

I saw them twice, once years ago with Mick and then in the last 20 years or so at Chelt Town Hall. I remember being absolutely transfixed by Rabbit. 

They both had a very impressive pedigrees as session musicians and, although I've never seen the evidence, Dave Peacock swore that Chas Hodges was a much better bass player than him. 

On 14/11/2025 at 06:32, Kiwi said:

 I can't get on with that shrunken lower horn on the body...

I can't unsee that now. It's odd. 

8 minutes ago, MrSpace said:

Cool! Curious to know what those are used for - especially the one on the left?

L-R

1. Fret wire radius tool. Used to put a radius on fret wire before installing the new fret.
2. D’Addario String Cutter
3. Fret saw with gauge. It’s for cutting fret slots and the gauge stops you going too deep and ending up with firewood. 

On 27/12/2025 at 01:03, Linus27 said:

Thanks for everyone's help, it has been super helpful and I do really appreciate it. As a side note, my daughter has taken up bass and as a first bass, I bought her the HB Mustang and I am super impressed with quality of it, it is a really good bass for the money, in fact way better for the money than expected. So I'm going to take the plungexand buy the HB MV-5PJ. For just over £200, I cant really go wrong as a tester into the world of 5 string bass.

Brilliant! I love it when a plan comes together! I look forward to seeing how you get on with a 5. 

The only HB I've ever played was the little purple one at the SW Bash raffle this year. Impressive build and I said on the day, that if I was still globe-trotting for a living, I'd have ditched my B2A for one of those. 

2 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

Just re-read your OP and noticed ‘read tab fluently’. I think that’s quite unusual, but unfortunately not that useful (in this context). With one tribute band I have had the keyboard player send me the ‘bass pad’ in standard notation, to learn before the gig; otherwise I’ve been expected to learn the set myself.

Good point. I've only ever been sent notation and slash chord charts. And those have been rare.

4 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

I play in two tributes; one I do purely as I love the band (Cheap Trick)  

 

One day, I will venture North and see a Cheat Trick show. From what I've seen on YT, it's fantastic. 

Posh tools. 

These are from a little thing I did with friends recently just to gig the Hamer 12 and do some Cheap Trick songs.

First time for years on lead vocals for me, no rehearsal with the drummer, it's a little thrown together but it was a lot of fun. 

A friend's wife took the video. 

[sfx] gear is absolutely top notch and the support is fantastic, although it's extremely unlikely that you'll need any. 

22 hours ago, ezbass said:

I’ve settled on .73 mainly because of seeing & hearing Bobby Vega. I only use anything over 1mm for guitar.

Mike Brooks told me about Bobby Vega turning the pick so he uses a non-pointy corner to strike the string. I tried it and it's OK, it's different. I haven't stuck with it but I've focusing on other aspects of technique recently.

Going back on topic...

Anything by REM

@Woody1957 any progress? 

40 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Be aware that is a long and expensive road. You need to pick an artist with enough well-known material (with maybe some album 'deep cuts') to fill a 2-hour show, and a strong enough base of diehard fans and/or well-heeled (usually mature) punters to pay for tickets. Some acts really require lookalikes as well as soundalikes. If the material is heavily produced/orchestrated, you may need synched tracks to fill out the sound. Then you'll want a professional-quality showreel for you or your booking agent to send out to venues. If a venue already has a tribute to your chosen artist, they may not wish to take a chance on an alternative.

 

Just some things to think about...

To add to this and illustrate just one of the points above, you don't necessarily need to "tribute" a specific artist, there are two (that I know of) acts out there in direct competition that tribute the genre that is the punk and new wave scene (1976-83), there's Punk Off! and rePunK'd.

In some cases they play the same venues but well spaced on the calendar. Both have well-produced showreels and they are very savvy with social media. Ticket prices get up to 35 quid for theatres and the amount of graft that goes into the production, planning and stagecraft exceeds that of a function/covers band by an order of magnitude. 

There's up front investment as a business proposition long before any profits of ticket sales come in and at that level someone needs to be "on it" pretty much full time.

26 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

Never played in a trib band myself, but most seem to be put together by people who are particular fans of the act & personally influenced by them.

 

It might be an idea to think about it from that perspective with a view to starting a band rather than walking into an existing one.

I think this could be a good shout. If you go down this route my advice would be to make sure you have your key ingredients in place early.

I spent 4-6 months (with a friend) rehearsing, planning and putting together an Aerosmith tribute and we were so keen and over the moon with the guitarist chemistry, drummer, band name and sound that we were ploughing ahead without the crucial ingredient, Tribute Steven Tyler. We auditioned a lot of singers (male and female) and we always thought that it would just be matter of time, we never got there and didn't have a Plan B. We could have taken one of the auditioned singers and easily done something else very good but all of us were fixated on Aerosmith. We found out the hard way why there aren't many Aerosmith tributes around. 

I would drop everything to be in a good Aerosmith tribute (sorry, current bandmates).  I'd also love to do a Pearl Jam tribute, I'd get to wear Vans and play my Hamer every gig. 

Having an idea of what tribute you'd like to be in and knowing all the obvious bangers off pat gets you off the blocks.  

On 04/12/2025 at 10:18, BigRedX said:

 

I just don't see who would realistically want to have one and actually use it nowadays.

Me. I love them.

You can see mine in use by some Basschatters on the SW Bash thread. It’s been gigged a couple of times this year. The thing is absolutely awesome. It’s out of date in the way that a Porsche 959 is out of date but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a huge amount of fun and should be overlooked. It’s scary, it’s like a living thing when it’s warmed up and running. The Monaco cabs have made it a viable proposition for gigging and it pairs really well with them.  I gig Class D, Class A/B, Class H, no-rig and use and enjoy my whole fleet, I embrace all the differences between them and it gives me an enormous sense of well-being.  There’s something very liberating and “two-fingers up to the modern world” cranking one of these monsters.    

8 hours ago, neepheid said:

When life farts in your face, make fartade?

 

I've ordered some stuff.  Because it's still 2025.  Watch this space...

PM sent

5 hours ago, okusman said:

I’m looking at finding a bass chair in a tribute act. 
I have:
Kit ✅ 

Chops ✅ 

Huge gigging experience ✅ 

Learn fast/read tab fluently ✅ 

Is there a password/inter-sanctum initiation that has to be overcome before the opportunities become apparent?

The ‘usual’ musicians wanted sites seem to yield close to nothing…

Anyone with advice/knowledge/password, willing to share wisdom?

Mark

There's a lot of bassists here that have done or do tribute at quite a serious level and might be able to comment. 

I think the answer depends on the situation, the particular tribute. The last time I did it, I was approached because the band leader knew me and knew that I'm generally up for playing anything within my technical capacity. 

If you're looking at being in a touring tribute I'm sure kit, ability and being gig savvy are givens.  There's one big touring UK tribute band that I've seen a few times where the bassist (IMO) hasn't got the chops and some of the iconic parts are simplified or sketched over but he's solid, does BVs as per the original, has replica gear and is a really good lookalike. He seems to be a really nice guy too. I'm sure that what he lacks in technical ability is made up for in all the other things he is and brings. 

I don't think think there's a cheat code for this, I think you just have to knock on a lot of doors, put yourself about and network. 

6 hours ago, neepheid said:

Only had first hand experience with the L2500, but I would pick it any day of the week and twice on Sundays over any J bass.

 

Why?  Well, the purely personal answer is that I despise J basses.  MFD pickups sound amazing.  If you *really* want a single coil sound from the L2500, you can mod it to provide that with inner or outer coils by changing one selector switch.  The G&L bridge is fabulous, apart from the saddle lock feature, it has lovely rounded edges which make it a joy for palm muting at the bridge - no sticky out bits anywhere.

 

I love Sire basses (I've owned two - had a D5, still have a Z7), it'll be a fine bass, but the V is a J bass and so as far as I'm concerned, it can get in the bin.

I had a US L2500 modded as described. The pickups are amazing and splitting them unleashes great J sounds. 

2 minutes ago, ezbass said:

When you consider that the likes of Anthony Jackson and Steve Swallow use/used picks, plus plenty of others, it is utter BS. It could be that some of the purveyors of this nonsense are players who can’t use a pick. I use fingers, pick, thumb-style and slap techniques where appropriate. 

I keep my different gauge picks lined up ready for the songs that they're used on. People have taken the p155 but I've spoken to quite a few bassists that do the same. I love Clayton Custom delrin 1mm picks but I need a Dunlop Tortex 0.73 for things like the intro to Chelsea Dagger or the guitar solo section of Crazy Train. Obviously, I don't change pick during the song but chose the best tool that suits whatever part of the song requires it. 

I can play the two examples above with a 1mm Clayton but I can dig in and get the feel and attack I need with the thinner pick. On the flip side, playing any Killers basslines with a yellow .73 just feels too floppy. 

On 19/10/2025 at 23:39, FlyStraight99 said:

Majority of the time I use a pick (which is shamefully preferred)

 

Using a plectrum to play bass is a valid and useful technique that many people haven't mastered. Some of the greatest bassists are primarily pick players (McCartney, Carol Kaye, Duff, Foxton, the list is endless). 

I believe that a serious non-artist bass player at any level needs to be able to cover a range of attacks.  

I'd encourage you 100% to learn playing fingerstyle but I'd also say that there is no shame in using a plectrum and that there are many ways to use a plectrum and many different types of plectrum. 

I play around 50/50 pick/fingers. There are some songs that are just unimaginable to play without a pick; Would?, London's Calling, Welcome to the Jungle, Silly Love Songs and then there are are songs that just seem to be better played fingerstyle; Faith, Mardy Bum, Silver Springs, Go Your Own Way. 

There's a lot of BS/snobbery in the bass world about plectrum use, I've no idea where it started or on what ridiculous foundation it lies but what I do know is that it's absolute nonsense. 

When asked, "Do you play with a pick or fingers?", I always answer, "Yes, of course." 

Embrace the plectrum, master it and no more silly talk round here,  please. 

On 13/12/2025 at 09:57, pajc72 said:

https://pcroppier.wixsite.com/bassicallytab

 

copy and paste the link into your browser and you'll get to the site

 

All the tabs are now free with an option to donate if you choose, enjoy!

 

I get Error 404 when I click the link. 

I Don't Believe in Christmas - The Sonics

Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time) - Pearl Jam 

On 27/10/2025 at 07:18, Osiris said:

Having given this some thought, the honest answers to this are, IMO,

it depends

and

it's something of a compromise. 

 

Because of what compression does and how it works there are several variables at play so it's almost impossible to give some specific settings that will work for you or anyone else. Realistically we're talking helpful guidelines rather precise settings. 

 

It depends. Depending on what style of compression you're looking will have a significant impact on your settings. Something fast and modern sounding to keep the transients in check, for example, requires pretty much opposing settings, certainly for attack and release but you may also want to adjust the threshold and ratio etc, to a gentle smoothing with a slower attack. So if you we're thinking of using the former with a plectrum and the latter for fingers, then you're going to struggle with a single unit without changing the settings every time you change technique. This is why I mentioned it's something of a compromise. Assuming you want to stick with the Cali 76 - and why not, it's a great compressor - you'll need to play around and hopefully find settings that work with both fingers and plectrum. A good place to start would be to play exclusively one technique and dial in precisely what settings work for that. Make a note of them. Then do the same for the other technique and make a note of those settings. Then dial in settings that are somewhere in the middle of the two. It may not be as precise as each lot of individual settings but it may prove an acceptable compromise between the two. 

 

If that doesn't work another option is to get another compressor and switch between them but there's obviously cost, power requirements etc. to consider. Or a multi fx that means you can switch between settings quickly and easily. 

 

I appreciate that this probably isn't the answer you were hoping for but having spent many years nerding around with compressors, there isn't a one size fits all load of settings, it's figuring out what works for you. You said you're keen to learn more about compression so I'd suggest keep reading, try different settings, differences that may seem imperceptible when messing around at home can have a noticeable affect on how the bass feels in the mix - and it is as much about feel as it is control. I think I've said this in other posts about compression but you're more likely to get more objective information about compression from sound engineering sites rather than bass specific sites like this one where the subject tends to be more decisive 😀

Update: 

I've added a Cali 76 and am using one for pick attack, one always on. Works a treat.  https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/289-post-your-pedal-board-basschat-style/page/486/#comment-5597175

@Osiris thanks for the input. 

All gone! 

On 20/12/2025 at 09:32, skej21 said:

Anderton’s also have them back in stock in time for Christmas!