Norris

My Sire P7-5 was very nice straight out of the box. Nice B string, sounds like a P, didn't break the bank. Even the tort scratch plate looks good. However I'm leaning slightly more towards my Sterling Sub5 now that I've fitted a Retrovibe Stinger preamp. It's a bit lighter with closer string spacing and again very affordable. I do gig both of them though.

Why? You're either through the PA and using your amp as a tone source and/or on stage monitor, or you don't really need more than about 500W - certainly not in your average small venue. Your choice depends on the type of sound you're after - clean or coloured. I like a coloured sound that can sound a bit valvey, but is a light weight combo. The Fender Rumble v3 500 ticks those boxes for me

It's the Les Paul junior double cut that's his. Very light too, African khaya wood, ebony fretboard, Irongear P90s

A few years ago I made a guitar for my guitarist. He was so nervous when he first got it, that it was a relief when he finally put the first dint in it and could relax. Since then he has played it so much it is "mojoing in" nicely. It looks great even with the wear and seems to sound better at every outing (though I do say so myself!)

The Plough

Final gig of the weekend was a nice "acoustic" session this afternoon in the garden of another pub in Ashby. Not a huge crowd but still very enjoyable, and they were wearing more clothing this time 😂 I forgot to take any photos earlier so here's our guitarist I love playing the EUB but in the second set it turned a bit grey and windy, so we kept on playing - for nearly 2 hours in the end! Needless to say I was pretty glad when we finished the last number Sunglasses throughout and burgundy suede Vans

Gig 2 of 3 this weekend. This one was at the White Hart in Ashby de la Zouch. It can be a bit hit and miss sometimes. It was pretty much empty when we arrived, but before too long more and more people came in and we had the whole place jumping. I'm not sure if bands really do drum solos any more (?) Moby Dick went down an absolute storm! Ideal time for me to grab a quick photo. Note the security staff and the local pastor team at the window. You can also see my "stingish" Sub5 and Fender Rumble there. The bass has been promoted to the better gig bag - the one with the band cards in it 😁 So anyway, the really strange bit. We play "dad rock" - pop, rock and prog rooted firmly in the 70s. We usually attract old blokes to our gigs. Ashby is a bit different - it's a really buzzing town on a Saturday night, lots of pubs, lots of transient crowd. So there's more of a wider mix of people than normal and we're getting them to linger - all good stuff. Half way through the night four stunningly gorgeous young ladies came in, dressed in their underwear by the look of it. They grabbed themselves a pint of Guinness each and then started dancing right in front of the band singing along loudly to pretty much everything we played. Not only that, but after we'd played Oh Well they asked for another early Fleetwood Mac song - Albatross! - Then danced along to it. There were a few people in the crowd that found it quite amusing watching us trying not to stare at the gyrating ladies, although we did make a few more mistakes than usual. What a great night. I love it when the room is in full swing. Most important though... ...the purple suede Gazelles

Gig 1 of 3 this weekend. We don't normally do 3 in a weekend but tonight's gig got moved from next week. Last time we played here we decided it was such a small, noisy area to set up in that we would do it "acoustically" because of the smaller footprint and lower volume. Of course none of us remembered that, so we shoehorned in the full kit again. The pub was rather quiet though with not many in. That lead us to a bit of musical silliness, which always helps a slower night go faster, plus engages the people that are there. So it ended up a good, if hot (I remembered the fan!) night. Best of all only 15 minutes away from my house and home by half past midnight. Cheap "stingish" bass into the usual Rumble. Converse feet.

Thanks. I've forwarded that to Mrs Norris, who likes both ballet and The Who

And wipe the screw thread on a candle to lubricate it with a bit of wax

You can buy the preamp with either one or two battery clips. I'm guessing they are connected in serial for an 18v supply (?)

I fitted a Retrovibe Stinger preamp to my Sterling Sub5 and it's transformed it from an indistinct mush to a gorgeous sound. However on my latest gig towards the end of the night it felt like it was running out of steam. The Duracell battery has been in for a few months, so it might slightly past its best. Alternatively it might be running out of "head room". Has anyone got any experience of running this preamp with 9v vs 18v? The bass has a single battery compartment. I'm fine fitting a dual compartment, but would it be worth it? When the battery gets a bit low does it suddenly die or gradually fade away?

We thought we'd done our last gig at the Donkey back in October last year. Tonight we played there again. There was quite a lot of doubt if it would continue as a music venue, and not very good communication from the new owner at the time, which put a lot of peoples' noses out of joint. A lot of the old regulars are boycotting the place (as we found out) and a few bands too. Well we're a mercenary bunch and I'm glad to say we filled the place. I don't know what the bar staff thought of it because they didn't strike me as the most experienced. I think they were more used to a sedentary rate of service. That's the only photo I took We had a great time and hopefully showed the new owner what a music venue should be like. Certainly they enjoyed it. I took the stingish bass again and it was nice to let the Rumble sing a bit (they don't have a house PA any more). I even brought the smoke machine along. Packing up took ages because it seemed that everyone wanted to shake hands and say goodbye, blocking the exit while they did! Converse one-stars kept me upright and striking a few stances

We are lucky enough to only have a couple of places that we have to invoice. The rest are good old cash in hand at the end of the night.

You know when you turn up to a venue. The place is busy and very noisy. The staff haven't started shifting people, tables and chairs out of your way. Then the crowd are constantly in your way as you bring the kit in. Then you have to set up on top of each other, deafened by people shouting to each other. ??? Well that's how Friday night started. Despite that once we had set up, had a few minutes outside to cool off and give some respite to our poor ears, we had a really good night. Some serious rocking out, some hilarious silliness too. I took the Sterling Sub5 with the Stinger preamp (I really must come up with a better name for it!). It's rapidly growing in my affections - relatively light weight, close string spacing, great sounds. This time with no backup bass either (growing confidence in it). The Rumble 500 continues to sound awesome, even with the low Bs and Cs. The purple suede Gazelles got another outing - not that you could tell in the non-white lighting, so I wore them again for a trip into town today too

Yep, the 1977 Stingray. It certainly transformed my bass https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-stinger-77-classic-mm-stingray-bass-eq-pre-amp-2-band-pre-eb-circuit/

I can't recommend the Retrovibe Stinger preamp highly enough. It transformed my cheapo Sterling Sub5 from an indistinct mush into an articulate thing of beauty. Like the OP I considered changing the pickup, but then did a lot of reading of threads. Most of them said that the pickup doesn't actually make that much difference. The Stinger made a huge difference. It's cheap and paid for itself in one gig. In fact it's the bass I'm going to take out tonight... in about 20 minutes, so I'd better get my shoes on... 😂 Edit: ...much later - it sounded great!

I would take absolutely nothing from my technique! It involves quite a lot of looking at the dots on the side of the neck and playing fretboard twister to get a finger in the right place 😂 Great bass stance!

Back from my gig already, even after a cheeky post-gig burger with the boys. We did 7:30 to 9:30 - the landlady prefers the Saturday revellers to go elsewhere to get rat-arsed and cause trouble. That was fine by us, especially as we do this gig "acoustically". I love playing the EUB. It just makes me want to put in comical fills and slides. We had a whale of a time. I forgot to take any photos though. Stagg EUB direct into my Rumble 500. Vans footwear. Funnily enough due to a slight mix up in the diaries we are back there in 2 weeks time. That will be a Sunday afternoon outside if possible, so I hope the weather is good.

I bought a similar item on 3 separate occasions on Ebay. The first 2 times it arrived in a couple of days. The 3rd time was for a birthday, and yes you're probably already ahead of me... the courier that shows it being "handled" in the same depot for 4 days running is...

Turmeric really helped my knees. I've been taking it for over a year and it's got rid of the hesitation before the first decent of the stairs in the morning I have a bit of pain in one finger joint though. I have been recommended green lipped mussel extract. After many months of discomfort, it seems to be abating after a couple of weeks of taking the tablets. They are very high in omega-3

^ There's one in the classifieds now at a bargain price

I so like 5 strings now that I tend not to look at the ads for 4 stringers. In fact I'm toying with the idea of trying to replace some of the herd with 5 string versions. First on the list for that would be the Ric 4003. My browsing history has a few 4003s/5 in it, especially in walnut... 🤪

The Piv in Stockingford, Nuneaton has got a great sounding room. The stage is only a step up and plenty big enough. They also sell a very nice cheese and onion cob - we get them as soon as we get there because they go quickly. I took the Sub-5 and it sounded great with the Stinger preamp. I really enjoyed playing it. I did have a tiny crisis of confidence on the doorstep and took my Sire as a backup, as the Sub hasn't been gigged much yet, but the Sire didn't come out of the case. The Sub is noticeably lighter and the neck is slimmer too. I'm really starting to like it. I do need to pop a few washers under the scratch plate though as the knobs are sitting a bit proud. (Note the tasty cob that I scoffed as soon as we finished) It was a little bit quieter than normal as we set up, but did fill out. I guess not everyone is a Eurovision fan, although it was on the TVs silently while we played. None more purple.