Sean

Yes, I have loads of experiences in the workplace from the corporate centre of a FTSE100. I spent a lot of time with HR supporting reports and team members on incidents of racism, transphobia, homophobia, sexism, anti-tattoo views, general bullying. I call it out and fight all the way. One particular director managed to tick all the boxes but was defended because he was Chinese and "it's part of their culture" even though the company policy was that anyone's culture didn't override policy. I acknowledge that when you're doing anything for a living, have limited choices and need the remuneration, it influences decisions. Although prolonged exposure to those sort of environments takes an emotional toll.

I'd like to give Richard a 5* TripAdvisor review here. He gave me very similar advice, and it worked. I went into a new band earlier this year and got the jitters for the first time in years. I was overly self-conscious, scared of making mistakes, all that stuff. Following this very simple advice I managed to get into a mindset where it was just me playing along with the songs in the same way I do when practising. Good luck, cherish the experience and remember that there's so many people channeling good energy your way.

I wonder how many of the people here who have said that they'd just get on with it and play in the band, letting the other "-ist/-phobic" people have their opinions, tick any of the targets of "-ism/-phobia" boxes themselves? I cannot imagine that if they were gay, black, trans, or whatever that they would tolerate those bigoted people. For example, if you were gay, there's absolutely no way you're going to tolerate being in a band with a couple of openly homophobic musicians. I've been really lucky through the years generally and in my current main band you know you're in safe hands with zero tolerance for any of the -ist nonsense.

My Aguilar Chorusaurus is used on at least half the songs in the rock covers band I play in. It's set up with quite subtle settings. Examples are: Don't Stop Believing (obviously). Boys of Summer Crazy Train The Power of Love (Huey) Message in a Bottle (the guitarist doesn't use chorus). Pour Some Sugar 99 Red Balloons Dude Looks Like a Lady Hold the Line Sometimes I forget to switch it off and no one has complained...

What happened to that BB2024MX you had?

Brilliant! Nice job. Well done.

That pink one is lovely. I'd love a 4 with non-X JJ pickups. You know, just to have something different 😉

The next evolution of my Nano Rock Covers pedalboard: R-L 1. Korg PitchBlack XS Bass Tuner. 2. Microthumpinator v2 (underneath). 3. Grimalkin. It's like a posh fuzz that does so much more. It's very cool. 4. Origin Effects DCX Bass sparkle box. Makes Spector basses more Spector than is appropriate in most circumstances. 5. Origin Effects Cali76. A compressor that I actually understand and get to work for me easily. 6. Aguilar Chorusaurus v2 analogue Bass chorus. It's lovely, so much so it's turned me into a Chorus-whore-us. I can't turn it off. Edit to explain signal path: It all runs through a PedalSnake, which keeps it really neat on stage. What you can see in the photo is RHS=guitar cable, Middle = 9v supply to board when not using the PedalSnake (at home), LHS = the PedalSnake tails. The power comes down the power connector of the Pedalsnake. It’s a TrueTone OneSpot 1700mA. The Chorusaurus goes through the send/return loop connection of the PedalSnake. You can see the red/white connectors on the top. The others go straight in the front of the amp via the black PedalSnake connection. Sometimes I go cable straight in to the tuner from the bass and sometimes I use wireless bugs.

This deviates from the Spector recipe a lot IMO. The Bolt with the Aguilar pups is Spector trying to appeal to a wider market. Not my thing. It's all about thru-neck and EMGs.

As a Spector fan and Euro LX 5 player, always play one standing up with it on a strap before committing to buy.

🍿 Fab. I love these sort of threads. It's like asking, "What delicious cake should I buy?". There'll be those that swoop in with their definitive answer, those that swear scale length is everything, then there's the String Gauge Brigade (I'm an honorary member) who say to use a 145. Roger from New York will be mentioned. I'll be playing my own game of BassChat Bingo. Good luck. I've got 2 5s. Both fab. Both very very different in construction, electronics, scale, sound. I got there by years of trail and error...

We're going to be doing some J pickup A/B testing at the SE Bash. If anyone wants to bring their Toneriders along that would be fab. Obviously, loaded in a bass 😄

Class D versus big iron? Valve amps versus not valve amps. I've got a GK Fusion 550 and a GK MB Fusion 500, same preamps, different power sections. I've got some big boxes of bottles too.

Is this plus Stevie's post, the seed of a Bass Bash talk? There's a lot of quick win handy hints for the gigging bassist.

Bang for buck, I highly recommend Toltec pickups https://www.laverackguitars.com/toltec-pickups You can phone up and have a proper conversation with Lee Laverack about pickups and all things techy. He handwinds pretty much whatever you want. He's done a few for me. He's very reasonaly priced too considering the quality of the parts and workmanship. He also covers the pickups for life. He's based near Leeds and is a gem. I reckon £110 for a pair of J pups done to your exact spec/liking. I've got a set knocking about here if you'd like to try them out. Not for sale but happy to let you borrow to try.

I'm bringing my ebony board 4 to the SE Bash if you want try it. The ebony makes it even more gritty and zingy.

Gorgeous. I've dropped similar wedge on something else with EMGs, otherwise I'd be booking a ferry ticket! 😀

It was behind the PA tower, band members, monitors and had a wall 12ft in front. This is all really useful. I'm making notes and putting them in my gig notebook. Thanks chaps.

Great insight. Thank you, Phil. I was asked to swap sides with guitarist on the night. I'm always stage left, high-hat side but was swapped on the night. My cab was placed for me, although saying that, there wasn't much choice with position.

First Gig Report We knew it would be challenging. It was a pub gig at The Monument in Newbury just in case any of you know it. A really tight space, even for a 4-piece. Full PA (tops, bass bins, monitors) plus backline. Ceilings between 6'4" to 6'6". Heavily damped pub, curtains, carpets, packed full of raceday punters enjoying the "refreshments". The Monaco was placed in a corner against two walls. I've tried to represent it with the sketch and photo below. The sound was much better than I expected but I'd like to understand more about how this placement against the walls and the low ceiling affects it. I could hear myself well and never once felt like I was "driving blind", like I have in the past but it wasn't like Monday's rehearsal. Obviously environment and placement play a part. The sound was exacerbated by the "dancers" knocking the cables out of the front monitors and us losing those a few times during the set. Would raising the cab have helped? I didn't take my platform as I had such a good experience on a Monday, I didn't think I'd need it. What insights have we got? Any advice, folks?

Maiden voyage for this setup tonight. It's a tight space with low ceilings.

It's the gateway drug to the current range of LFSys. I have to say that in reality, I could probably live with it for 80% (or more) of what I do. In blind testing against the Monaco and the Mesa cab, the "listener" correctly identified each cab every time. The Monaco punches harder and has even more clarity on the top end (compared to the BC112). The Monaco was effortless with the Laney (8xKT88 400w) and 400+. With some feedback from Stevie I modified the BC112 to accommodate the full speaker excursion. I added some 6x11 bead under the grille, Stevie gave me some of the 10mm cushion tape. What I found during the testing was that the Mesa 400+ was making the speaker cone hit the grille. This didn't happen with any of the other amps. I remember an amp builder telling me that the 400+ is designed in a way that enables it to do this (I can't remember the details but it's something to do with the big caps in there. I'm keeping the BC112 for the foreseeable future. It's off to Monty’s Guitars along with my Laney 400 to help with some pickup testing work for a while. After that it'll probably end up living in a rehearsal space and/or being used as part of a guitar rig with an EHX 44 Magnum (D Class pedal amp) and HX Stomp. Edit: I think it's worth noting here the Mesa Walkabout "cab" (i.e. combo without the amp in it), although it came in 3rd place to the BC112 and Monaco, it's really good, especially since it's a design that's well over 20 years old and is a long time discontinued. It's a high-quality product, well-engineered, light and is capable of producing some great sparkle that many modern coloured cabs can't/don't. It has a passive radiator rather than a port and can bring the thunder. So, both the Steviecabs had a quality contender and came out as superior with the Monaco taking top spot on the podium🏆

Well, I'm bringing Matt and probably his #1 to do the video of his talk. Then there's all the unconfirmed guests and traders. It's three months away, there's a lot of Basschatters within an hour of it and bet a few quid on us busting 50 easily. How big is the hall? Do we need a venue with multiple rooms? I've never done a bash before, so have no reference point.

I'm bringing my Japan-exclusive ebony board one so it'll be interest to compare the two.