martthebass

We used to do 45-50 a year pre Covid. Since Covid a number of our venues have shut up shop and we’ve diversified into other areas. We’re now on about 35 per year and to be honest I think we’re all happier at that level.

After months of trying to hunt down a EBMM Stingray shortie in the UK I finally gave up. I’ve managed to meet my shorty needs with a Sandy Lionel and Sterling ss Ray, I was a bit wary on the Sterling but I’ve concluded that some decent pots and tuners will turn it into a more than decent bass. So with some money spare i decided some Starry Night goodness was required…..

I’ll not comment on the differences, there’s plenty of useful info given by the guys above. I will comment on the Special you’re looking at at Bass Bros, that looks an awesome bass but is at the top end of weight for a special. Most fall in the 8-9lb range. Andertons and Bass Direct give weights on their MM stock if that’s something that is a consideration to you.

I like the look of Serek and Wilcock but I went down the shortscale route to make life easier in some of the smaller pubs and clubs (singer is a lefty and for some reason I’m always on his right…). £3k basses are a definite no no in some of these places. I’ve ended up on a Sandberg Lionel with a Sterling Ray shorty back up. The Lionel is pretty awesome - don’t think I’d get any benefit dropping another £1.5k.

I've been looking for one of these but wrong end of the bloody country. Nay worries, I need to stop spending anyhow.....

Cheers, mate, I’m travelling the moment so will struggle with this. Hopefully somebody a little closer will be able to take you up on your generous offer.

Let me know how much matey 🙂

Wish you were a bit closer mate, I could do with that....

To be honest I think you were more than reasonable. Our band had a similar situation last year; we had played a venue in Leeds with an outdoor stage the year before we were booked but not told it was an outside gig with no cover until we got there, however as the weather was fine (amazing for a late September evening) we played and had no issues. We did inform them on rebooking though that we would only play the outside stage again if there was cover. Fast forward to the rebooking, we looked at the weather forecast and it was predicting biblical rain, we contacted the venue and asked if the cover was indeed in place.....not unexpectedly it wasn't. We informed them on that on this basis we had no option but to cancel. The venue then slapped us on social media until the rebuttal and we mutually agreed to remove comments. I was amazed the venue had no concept of rain and electricity......

Just my luck also. Sold a Naim CD last week and got hit for c. £40

I can only extol the virtues of the Lionel. If you get an alder bodied one (gloss, soft or hard core aged) they all seem to be in the 7.5lb area and really well balanced. I'm a 'petite' guy with some rotator cuff hassle and I hardly know im wearing it even after a couple of 1 hour sets. The ash bodied are about a pound heavier (matte/satin finish, not aged).

Thomann have been great on the return, pick up on Thursday - excellent coms. Dont know how long it will take for the refund though.

Can anyone give me a heads up on which Schaller tuners are drop in replacements on the Sterling Shortie Stingray?

Well I must be one of the unlucky ones….. Received a B stock Sandberg Lionel this morning, soft aged. Whoever returned this decided to rag the hell out of the back of it with a huge belt buckle. I’ve got a gold soft aged so know how these come as stock. So it’s back in the box and going back ASAP.

Don't blame you mate, took me a long while to warm up to Sandberg but now that I have I wouldn't be without mine. Got a new one incoming from Thomann....

Sounds like fun mate, think you might need one of these…..

Yup, our guitarist always takes a backup. His old main axe had a habit of losing a string in the first number. He uses an EBMM Petrucci now which seems bomb proof.

Good luck with the new project Dave.

Think the worst I had was turn up to a gig with a strap without locks and the main and back up basses both had schaller pins….. Thank God for gaffa tape.

I think it’s only natural that we rate some gigs higher than others? That doesn’t mean we don’t care about all gigs but personally I do prepare more for the 2K audience festival/rally than the 15 people and a whippet ‘dog and duck’. The later is more laid back and able to accept the odd faux pas. I guess it’s fine that opinions differ.

I could put it on the roof 😂

Your comment is appreciated but mitigation can be accomplished without overloading my poor Mini. Never have let a venue down in hundreds of gigs other than illness which can’t be mitigated against. With one bass, I always take a passive, spare strings and tool kit. I take two cabs, use both, if one went down it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I only take one amp (there is a spare at home which would be used if one had to go in for repair) but take a DI/pre.

Trust you Chris 😂😂

Since joining the current band about 8 years ago I’ve generally taken two basses to a gig, a heir and a spare. I don’t swap around for songs and until recently it was always 2 Mustangs or 2 Sandberg Lionels. I didn’t do this with my previous band but that was due to all gigs being local, with the current band only about a third of the gigs are within 30 mins, the majority being 1-1.5 hours distant. Over the last few weeks due to bass set ups, selling and whatnot I’ve just taken a single bass and it got me thinking, in 8 years I’ve never needed the back up, broke a string etc, so I’m rethinking my practice. For the last few gigs I’ve just taken one bass, a spare set of strings and an emergency bass med kit. Am I living on borrowed time, should I revert back to previous practice or is this practice more usual than not?