ossyrocks

I’m with you. I’ve always known people beforehand, known what and how they play, jammed, talked, hung out, been the pub etc. Usually bands were formed with friends. This is totally new to me.

I’ve been progressing steadily in my playing since taking it seriously early last year. I landed a gig with a local jazz band, after meeting folks at the jazz jam in Lancaster and getting to know them, and we do the odd gig. We played yesterday at the Ribble Valley Jazz & Blues Festival and went down well. However, I’ve kept looking for other opportunities, JMB and Facebook being the main searches. Anyway, a few weeks ago, someone posted on JMB and Facebook looking for musicians for a soul/ska weddings/functions band. I answered the add, and after a bit of to and fro was sent 10 numbers to look at. This guy is a trumpet player and has sax and trombone already lined up. Basically it’s a horn section forming a band around themselves, and they’ve been playing together for about 20 years. A WhatsApp group was created, and over the course of the last few weeks, new people have been added to the group and introduced along the lines of “welcome Joe, our keyboard player”, “welcome Suzie our vocalist” etc. In the end it’s ended up with nine people in this “band” on WhatsApp who don’t know each other from Adam, and have never met, played together, or have any clue what standard anyone is at. Male and female vocals, keys, drums, guitar, bass (me), and three piece horn section. A rehearsal room was duly booked, and everyone showed up, to meet each other for the first time and play these 10 tunes. It was a nice room, plenty of room, with good PA, back line and drums provided. I had a Hartke head through 2 4x10 Ashdown cabs. Now, based on past experience, this could go in any direction, however, from the first count in of the first number, there were grins all round. Everyone had done their homework, the keys player and drummer are great, the guitar player knows what he’s doing, the horns are in tune and locked in with each other, and the singers can bleeding sing. We rattled through the 10 numbers twice, only pausing to fine tune starts and endings, agreeing where the pushes should be etc. I couldn’t really believe it, it was like a good band from the very first note. Some tunes we did again after wondering whether that perfect run through the first time was a fluke, but it wasn’t, it could be replicated. Get home later, the WhatsApp group is happy, another 10 tunes are distributed, rehearsals are booked and there’s talk of booking gigs already. I’m still not sure how this actually happened, I need to pinch myself. Is this a unique occurrence, or does this happen often? Anyway, I’ve got 10 more tunes to learn in the next week and a bit, and some of them are a bit tricky, so I’ll be practicing every night I can between now and then, as I know now that the whole band will have them nailed before they arrive. Rob

I am curious about the new Little Marks myself. I really like my LM3 and I’ve been wondering how they compare, and whether or not they’ve taken everything I like about them and sprinkled a little more magic on top. Have use got any experience of the older models?

Without being in the room with it, it’s hard to compare with mine, or my Elf. I do know that I found the Elf too noisy to use in the lounge as a practice amp. I suppose if you do need to mic a cab for recording, you could setup the amp itself away from the cab and use a longer speaker lead. That’s easily doable in a studio setting, not so easy to do on a stage. Perhaps you could also find somewhere that stocks your model, and go and take a listen to compare, maybe even take yours. If it’s much noisier, then you may have a case for a warranty return or repair. Rob

I don’t have a new one, but I do have a Little Mark 3. At home, fans seem to be far too loud with almost any amp that has a fan! I even posted here about a “noisy fan” in my Trace Elliot Elf. But at rehearsal, it’s a non issue, I just can’t hear them. So I suppose what I’m saying is, it depends on the setting you’re using it in. Where are you experiencing the issue? Rob

The least powerful one is Loctite 222 (purple). Green is the next strength up. I’m looking at this issue myself at the moment. I had to replace all the height adjustment grubscrews on my ‘73 P bass as they were so full of some gunk substance they wouldn’t move. Someone had previously tried to do this job, but maybe with glue, and I could only remove them by screwing them down and out of the bottom of the saddles. The new grubscrews work fine, but they do have a tendency to move on their own, particularly on E string. My solution at the moment is to just check it before rehearsals and gigs and adjust if necessary. I’ve ordered the purple Loctite as it’s the easiest to release but will hold the screw and prevent it from moving on it’s own. Rob

That's the one thing I haven't tried yet on my Jazz. I've had Labella 760FS (45-105) and Labella LTF's on it (currently on there). Yesterday, for rehearsal last night, and my two gigs this weekend, I swapped back to TI's on my Precision, from the LTF's that were on there. I am coming to the conclusion that I prefer TI's on P basses. They are less deep, and more pronounced in the mids than the LaBellas, which suit my Precisions more for what I'm doing.

Oh, and just a little Public Service Announcement. Richtone have a used 2019 LM3 in stock for £299, which I think is a rather good price for a shop, and shipping is less than a tenner. I nearly bought it myself, but I had a little word with myself and thought better of it. Rob

Like many people, I go all around the houses with cabs and amps, most recently with Barefaced cabs, of which I now have two, a One 10 and a Two 10. I did sell one of my Mark Bass 102P’s, but I kept the minty one, and I have recently reverted back to that setup - LM3 + 102P. I’m gigging that rig today, and on Monday, with the Elf in the bag as backup. It really is a great sounding rig. It’s a sound I haven’t found in anything else I’ve tried, and I can’t put my finger on what it is, like there’s a little magic dust in the air as you play it. Interestingly, I also feel I don’t need the compressor when I use it either. I also set everything at noon with filters off as a starting point, and rarely change it. When I get a little time, I’m going to do a side by side with the BF Two 10 and the 102P using the LM3, and just see what I think the differences, strengths and weaknesses are are with both. Rob

I have LaBella LTF's on my Jazz. It's a mexican roadworn with pickups and pots upgraded. I find Labella's particularly deep sounding when compared with the other flats I've tried, which are only Picatos and Thomastiks. So they've given my Jazz a really deep tone on the front pickup, if you want it, but it's still pretty honky on the back pickup alone. I more or less have the tone rolled off the whole time too. I had some fun the other night with my Mark Bass rig, a compressor and the jazz on the back pickup, trying to cop that Joe Dart tone (not the chops I'm afraid). Rob

Good luck! I did my first on bass last November. Parts of it went well, parts of it were “challenging”. Roll on a couple of months and I’m in a band with the house bands drummer. Above all, try to enjoy it, all the pressure is coming from yourself. Rob

Sean Hurley has been a busy man! https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sean-hurley-mn0000948491/credits

Two albums with John Mayer, Born and Raised (quite good, a “grower”), and Paradise Valley (never liked it!). The best John Mayer stuff is the Trio, Steve Jordan on drums and Pino Palladino on bass, phenomenal.

Really? Well I've got most of those and didn't ever put two and two together. I'll dig 'em out.

Well and truly down a Sean Hurley rabbit hole now. I’ve not really looked into him before. I play a P with flats, a lot. His tone is a little “dry”? Also a bit more top end than I’ve got used to. Interesting.

I have a LM3, and a TE Elf. I’ve been using the Elf out of convenience mostly, it’s just so tiny and fits in a gig bag. At rehearsal the other day, I had this feeling that it wasn’t doing what I wanted it to do, somehow lacking in the mids, and not quite defined enough. It’s still a good amp, but it got me wondering if I just should use the LM3 more. Anyway, Friday night, I went to see a band because a great bass player I know had let me know they were playing. What’s he got on stage?, an LM3 and a MB 1x12. How did it sound? Frickin marvellous! It’s convinced me to use mine more, his sound on Friday is more in the direction of what I have in my head. I might keep an eye out for another…… Rob

I know exactly what you're saying, it's a question of risk, and minimisation thereof. That one was about as minimum risk as you're likely to find with a custom colour vintage Fender. I personally would not buy one, unless I had a tale/story/background like the one above. I know for a fact that Musicground have sold 100's if not 1000's of fake custom colour vintage Fenders over the years, many of them weren't just refins of genuine guitars, they weren't even Fender bodies or necks in a lot of cases. They did the same with amps. The water is very murky indeed. Rob

No harm in knocking, he might still be there. I bought some vinyl on Lancaster market a few weeks ago, and whilst cleaning them, I found an old postcard posted from the USSR in the early 70’s to an address nearby. It was quite a tale, of drunkenness, vodka, and Russian girls. So I posted on local Facebook groups asking about the address and who it was posted to, as it would be nice to return it. Lo and behold, they still lived at the same address, and I delivered it again, 50 years later. They were chuffed to bits.

Tony, that’s four miles from where I live! I could be there in 10 minutes. Do you want me to go and knock on the door? 😂

I’ve been into vintage gear since the early 90’s. The general direction of prices from then until now has been one of outperforming what you can get at the bank, by quite a long way. However, there have been major bumps along the way. A big bubble built up before 2008, when for instance early 60’s Gibson 335’s got to over £30k. Then the crash hit. A couple of years later I was at a show looking at a ‘62 335 in nice original condition priced at £12k. There were a lot of dealers and collectors stuck with stock that was probably worth half what they had in it. Since then, prices have recovered, but it’s taken a long time. If you could hold on to your instrument/investment and were not in in need of the cash, then in the end you broke even or better. But all those with cash flow problems took a very deep bath. The last two years have seen an acceleration in prices I haven’t seen since the late 2000’s, and I can’t help thinking it might happen again. For instance, last February (2022), I bought a nice all original, lightweight ‘73 Precison from ATB for £2600. What would that guitar be now, even from the same dealer, only just over 12 months later? I’m still looking at vintage instruments, and still buying the odd one, but I’m being really cautious. I think the 70’s is where to look now, and have the most potential, but also it’s less of a risk as they are just so much cheaper than 60’s guitars, and if the worst happens, then the hit will be smaller. Does that make sense? Rob

Bass players have always been a little more conservative than guitarists in their tastes, and the depth of their wallet. But there is no doubt that guitar prices have been going up a lot lately, and the prices of basses follow on behind. Check out this guitar at ATB for comparison. ‘62 Fiesta red strat, in many ways comparable with the ‘61 P above. https://www.atbguitars.com/1962-fender-stratocaster-fiesta-red-ohsc-2 Rob