DGBass

Best purchase of the year was my used but well cared for Fender Player P-Bass The purchase was in the bag by 1pm on New Years Day 2023 so it also qualifies as the first and quickest blag of 2023. Closely followed by a shiny red box purchased from @Chimike and which is just as fantastic as the P-Bass. Nothing really bad purchased at all this year. I did buy a used Boss SYB-3 out of curiosity but that was moved on quite quickly so may qualify as worst purchase purely as it was only in my possesion for a short time. But it wasn't really so bad, just not for me.

A pair of Electrovoice ELX115P's. Probably a bit overkill for pub gigs but nice to have the available headroom. They only handle 3 x mics for vocals, some kick drum which they cope well with, and some occasional amplified acoustic guitar. Do their job very well and so far very reliable.

Well spotted. We are all SAHB fans and the name comes from a track on their album Tomorrow Belongs to Me.

We are "The Stoneaters"🙂

Final gig of 2023 last night. No2 Baker Street in Stirling Town with an intimate, chilled out and appreciative crowd. Very warm atmosphere and the band played well. Only issue bass wise was a seamless switch over from my main bass playing finger to the backup finger mid tune towards the end of the third set when a touch of cramp set in during Go Buddy Go. Apart from that one issue, a very enjoyable end of year gig was had by all and very well paid as the accumulated wealth in the band gigging bank account was cleared out end of year and distributed between the band members. Bass rig on the night was my trusty lefty MIM P-bass into a GEB-7 with an accentuated 120Hz boost, an LMB-3 and same as it ever was via a TC Poly Tune. Amp wise was my Ashdown Labs MK500 and trusty 1980s Musicman RH115 cab sporting a recently installed Lavoce Neo high performance 15" driver. Sounded immense and super heavy on the low end. A wee video clip from the drummerist video cam set about two foot back on a shelf behind our drummer and looking towards the audience. Taken with a mobile phone camera. Merry Christmas Bass Chatters 🎄 My Movie 7.mp4

This weekend's rig of choice... At the end of this year, i'll have been using my 80s Musicman cab as my go to cab for ten years. Believe it or not, its a one handed lift. Actually it only has one handle on it 😉 To celebrate this milestone its just recently had a really nice spec Lavoce Neo driver installed which is warmer sounding that the previous more hi fi Faital Pro 15PR400. Sounded immense with my trusty MIM P-bass and a rather wonderful Ashdown Labs MK500 circa 2008 providing the oomph. Forgot to bring a back up amp to the gig but really, with Ashdown kit, i've never needed one.

Thomann retail the Eminence APT80 V2 which may or may nor be a drop in replacement. https://www.thomann.de/gb/eminence_apt80.htm The crossover looks about what these cabs were setup for, around 3.5khz crossover. I owned the TX410 and TVX410 and never did care much for the tweeter tone. It was that classic Peavey clang 90s stuff were famous for. There was if I remember a decent tweeter control knob on these cabs where you could back off the treble. I replaced quite a few diaphragms on the Peavey type horns when they blew and used to order them from Barns and Mullins in the UK as they were a Peavey ( and now Trace Elliot) distributor. The Genuine Peavey spares were quite pricey which might explain the APt80 in your cab. Fostex also did a version which was quite similar.

These aren't really designed for gigging imho. I'm pretty sure home use or even light rehearhsal use with a quiet band would make that feel like money well spent, you don't get much for that amount of money these days. Might even pair well with a 1x8 cab if small and neat is your thing. I do have some real world experience using the GPA-100's bigger stablemate with bass, the GPA-400 which is also billed as a guitar amp. It's probably a pair of the GPA-100 modules in one case. Home and studio, its a delight to use with bass, no fans and lots of nice clean uncoloured power although it too has a bass and treble control on each channel. The bigger one is giggable when used in bridge mode and can go pretty loud, loud enough to consider hearing protection but by then the peak limiter starts to kick in anyway. Oddly enough as @stevie mentioned about the GPA 100 having an HPF, the GPA 400 seems to have a similar drop off in low end response when using the full 400w in bridged mode and its those low end frequencies that soak up the power anyway and cause the amp to auto limit at its peak performance. Any small class d amp i've experienced does much the same thing if you dabble in low frequencies (between 30Hz-120Hz - I used my GPA 400 with a GP12SMX Stereo pre-amp) which means you have to back of the bass or risk the class d output section limiting/overheating or cutting out completely at its highest performance levels. To put it into perspective, the GPA-100 is £69 for a wee super portable take anywhere amp that will be usable for home and home studio use, and perhaps a very quiet band rehearshal. The GPA 400 is more expensive but quite giggable with bass in bridged mode even though it is marketed as a guitar amp.

Early 1980s Overwater

Something for a chilled out Sunday evening although there is a fair helping of angst mixed in to this modern dance classic. Performed this time in a Jazz style with some very nice DB playing.

I've seen a similar problem before with some Fender/Squire/MIM basses. Fitting a small shim at the front of the neck pocket to more or less raise the angle that the neck leaves the body has helped and on occasion eliminated buzz at the dusty end of the fingerboard. I used thin soft plastic or platiciesd card and secured the shim in place by drilling two holes in the shim where the neck screws come through the wood. Fitting a shim is easier than sanding necks or pockets but still not ideal. I would echo whats been said here already about getting the basics sorted like neck relief, intonation( this will also get string tension in the right place), and string height at the nut before anything else is considered. Most mass produced basses these days do need some sort of setup or adjustment to get them playing perfectly. As far as shims go, even very thin material can have a marked effect. Something like credit card thick material is probably overkill.

I've been clearing out a load of stuff recently and have a fairly firm idea of what gear I want to be core stuff. The one rig I'm really happy with which has proved time and time again to be very reliable, great sounding and fairly loud if I need it to be is my reasonably compact GK rig. It's one amp & one cab that's like a swiss army knife of tones and works particularly well for rock and blues music which is mostly what I'm playing these days. I still have my Ashdown stuff but that plan is in a state of flux at present which means the GK gets more rotation than anything else thats available.

Ooo...this thread might just bring out all the old romantics on BC😍

Did a recent deal with Mick. What can I say, first class dude to deal with. Straight forward, no fuss and great comms. Cheers,😎DG

If you mean something like this then a suitable replacement shouldn't be too hard to find. Just getting the right diameter to fit the exisiting hole can be tricky but not impossible on these old MKII GP11 pre-amps. The obligatory safety warning is needed because it means re-wiring the mains supply. UK mains voltage can be very hazardous for your general health. If the original is dud, disconnecting the mains and measuring the old one will give you an idea of the right fit for the hole. You could then source one and get a tech to professionally fit the part for you. Coloured ones are nice, but plain ones with a black cap will do the same thing and usually be cheaper. Would likely need to be a latching type switch and not a momentary one but without a schematic I couldn't be sure. If it pushes in, clicks and stays in and needs to be pushed again to pop out its likely latching.

I've definetly become a worse player as I get older. Listening to recordings of original music I played on years ago, everything seems so complex when at the time I was learning as I went along. It would be fair to say I peaked early. Since converting to playing covers, I usually just learm the tunes well enough to get by because no one in the band is playing the cover note perfect. The songs are quite recognisable but for example my bass playing on "Won't Get Fooled Again" doesn't quite match what John Enwhistle does. Then again no one I've seen covering that tune plays it like he does 🙂 I do find it much easier nowadays to work out a key and transpose stuff if needed so some of my playing has improved over the years. I would say it was competent in certain parts but could always be improved upon in others.

That sounds about just right for bar gigs in and around Central Scotland. Regular venues I've played aren't paying anymore than what they did pre-covid and mentioning an increase of even £20-30 quid doesn't go down well. I've heard that there is a better paying class of bar gig further up the East Coast so I may explore that. Travelling further does means more cost, and time to get there and back. Generally speaking, there seem to be less live venues to play post covid so there is less bookings available and bands are playing for less or the same as four or five years ago just to get a gig.

The serial number doesn't appear on the Fender lookup but basses either side of it are AM Standard Jazz models black with rosewood necks and most likely white pickguards. Serial ending 815/816 don't bring up anything. The body does look AM Standard of the time, its string through and the bridge is period correct for the year 2000. Its the stubby AM Standard through hole bent plate one with three groove saddles. The neck also looks AM standard and the truss adjuster is in the right place. The machines are period correct. The vendor is also including what looks like the original AM Standard parchment pickguard with the access cutout for truss adjuster. The strap locks are also period correct Schallers which were fitted on AM Standards of the time. The neck plate i'm not 100% sure about but think the corona stamped ones did start appearing on AM Standards from year 2000 onwards. Earlier late nineties Jazz had the big Fender logo stamped ones. A few questions the the owner might reveal if the blocks are peel off. I suspect those block inlays as @AndyTravis mentioned might peel off easy enough to reveal the orignal dot inlays. With the tacky tort removed, and the block inlays peeled off, I suspect there is a nice and quite rare natural gloss finish year 2000 AM Standard Jazz bass lurking underneath.

What - A 1996 Trace Elliot GP12SMX Stereo Bass Pre-amp. Why? - Can't bear to part with it and not heard anything that can do the same silky smooth dual band compressed sounds via its blendable tube input and 12-band EQ/pre-shape settings . There is other rack stuff but that changes from time to time, the GP12SMX Stereo is a permanent fixture. It's getting on a bit now like its owner but unlike me its still in perfect working condition🙃

Decided to go for the safe bet rig for fridays gig. You can't really go wrong with an ABM.

Are those chrome cab/amp stands original Vox hardware?

Trying out a setup at tonight's rehearshal for this weekends gig. Perhaps just a tad overkill for a small pub venue. Glorious sounding combination though and another tick on the bucket list of fantasy gig rigs. MK500 + '98 P-bass + custom 2x12 500 watt ported Marshall cab running @ 4 ohms. Lots of cubic inches does seem to make a difference.

The new cookie banner is one of the most complex I've seen in recent times, stuck at the bottom of the page and the orange and black colouring is quite off putting. Just looking at a few of those vendors who are setting cookies as well as using 'other means' to track your device is alarming. Of the random vendors I checked who have a link to their own site, most are quite open about stating any data they collect will more than likely be shared overseas to other interested parties whoever they may be and to countries with different data laws. Saying something is legitimate interest is such a grey area. It could be legitimate in that without being able to collect data they couldn't run their businesses. I think what is most annoying to me is you must choose a cookie option to either login or lurk so logged in users are treated no differently from lurkers in that respect and the greyed out options will be set in your browser even if you dont consent to the rest. I think the banner needs some fine tuning. A simple 'reject all' button would perhaps improve matters. Even the cookie setters have reject all buttons on their sites eg this is one from Skimlinks

I would say no. I've spent most of my playing life as a bass player in originals bands and admittedly had a slightly less favourable opinion of covers bands during those years. I'm quite late to the covers band party having only got into it by accident as a dep bass player for what was supposed to be one gig. That was over four years ago and at present I don't see me gigging ever again in an originals band. There are a few posts that strike a chord when discussing the differences between originals bands and covers bands and for me at least the most obvious ones are always getting paid for a covers gig while rarely ever getting paid for originals gigs in the past. Getting a Tennents Lager rider at King Tuts for a one hour originals set never really counted as getting paid. As far as I am aware, a typical pub venue I'd play would be covered under the likes of the PPL PRS license scheme for live music so something is going back to creators they rep and that doesn't seem parasitic to me. It's not big money you get paid to do covers but nice to have help with your fuel/replacement strings and out goings. Originals gigs were also rarely longer than an hour whereas a local covers gig at the dog and duck could be 3 x 1 hour sets and the bar manager is timing you to make sure he gets his contracted hours from you. I don't think covers bands are making it any harder for originals to get gigs. IME, there tends to be originals circuits and venues who still support new/upcoming originals bands and covers bands tend to also keep to their own haunts. I find it a bit more business like being in a covers band, dare I say harder work, and I have gained a deep respect for any covers bands who put in the work to make a good show. Once I'm up on stage and playing for a crowd who engage with the band, all the differences between covers bands and originals don't matter to me and I'm sure don't matter as much to the audience.