TrevorR

Some photos from the day here...

Huge shout out to @silverfoxnik, @Hamster, @cetera @NancyJohnson and everyone else that made today happen. Great day out as usual. And Richard Searle was a revelation. I knew his bassing would be great but what a raconteur and so entertaining to listen to. Well done guys. Great to chat to so many of the regulars and try some lovely basses out too. Can’t wait til next year’s!

Missed you Trev, was looking forward to having a chat. Doubly so since I’ve managed to miss your blues bands local(ish)gigs.

Lol, well I’ll maybe just ogle then. I’m cack handed too, for everything except eating with a knife and fork, blowing my nose and playing bass. Maybe it’s time to get in touch with who I really am... 🤣

Oooh, @Seer73 looking forward to seeing your Overwater. Must have a quick tinkle on it at some point today, if that’s OK.

On a personally selfish basis it would be hard for me (and others of a God-bothering persuasion) as I’ve always got commitments on a Sunday. Much prefer a Saturday and just plan it into my annual calendar as a sacrosanct day. Plus for those who have been gigging and crawled in a 2 or 3 in the morning there’s a disincentive to be up at 7 or 8 and loading up the car again, I guess. Whatever day you have it, it’ll be inconvenient for someone. Colin, does the church still use the school on a Sunday morning and evening? If so it would be venue hunting time...

Updated Gear For Sale List: 01. Mesa Boogie Big Block 750 Amp, Footswitch & Rack Case, £550 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik 02. Schecter Diamond P5, 5 String Bass & Gig Bag, £350 o.n.o. - Silverfoxnik 03. Behringer 5 Band parametric 19" Rack Unit, £25 - Silverfoxnik 04. Fender Nate Mendel Precision, £575 - obbm 05. USA built 4 string in a 'glo' finish, £1300 - ezbass 06. EBS Compressor, Chorus & Octave, Dr Green Bass reverb & Joyo D-Seed echo and a small Pedaltrain board & bag (Mini I think), £TBA - WalMan 07. Heavy duty flight case for fenderish jazz, couple of 4u cases 1 new 1 not, Vanderkley 212. Mesa M pulse 360 talk price/trades on the day 08. 3 Pin (female) DI plugs - The Greek 09. New Chinese Rosewood/Maple Jazz neck, £35 - obbm 10. Slightly used jack, XLR and other connectors - 50p each - obbm 11. Fender Jazz (Mex), in a very fetching blue, strung with flats - £450 12. Harley Benton Progressive 5 Fretless - £100 13. G&L USA SB2 £850 14. (Possibly) Mark Bass Little Mark 3 (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £300 - rodfunnell 15. Mark Bass New York 121, 8ohm (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £320 - rodfunnell 16. Mark Bass Traveller 151, 8 ohm (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £350 - rodfunnell 17. Mark Bass Standard 102, 8 ohm (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £400 - rodfunnell 18. Ampeg 4x10 B410HLF (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £175 - rodfunnell 19. Takemine Jumbo Electro Acoustic bass EG512C, 34" scale, spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood board, gloss natural finish - (will be tight for space so will only bring if anyone messages 'rodfunnell' beforehand) - £350 - rodfunnell 20. Boss BR600 Multitrack (boxed) - £95 (NancyJohnson/Paul) - Paypal is fine. 21. Fender/Squier Badtz Maru Hybrid - £210 ( (NancyJohnson/Paul) - Paypal is fine.) 22. Heavy duty flight case for fenderish jazz, couple of 4u cases 1 new 1 not, Vanderkley 212. Mesa M pulse 360 talk price/trades on the daY. 23. Ibanez SR1300E Premium - £500 - clivem 24. Ibanez BTB1405E Premium - £500 - clivem 25. G&L Tribute M2000 - £350 - clivem  26. Ibanez SR375E - £150 - clivem 27.T-Rex Fuel Tank Classic (boxed, some Velcro on bottom, all original cables included) - £60 - TrevorR

" I doubt your average punter, listening in a club, could tell the difference" This has never, ever been (and will never ever be) a consideration for me in choosing a bass. Do I feel good playing a bass? Does it "fit" me? Does it do all the things I want it to do and produce the sounds I want it to make? Do I love the sound it makes? Does it feel great to play? Do I like how it looks? Do I LOVE playing that bass? Those are my considerations. Whether its one of my Wals or the Aria and customised Squier Jazz I used to play back in my folk rock band back in university. Oh, and this was my gigging rig from "beer swilling pubs full of ravers" to stately homes (full of drunk ravers) to theatres to clubs... so Yes! Yes I would.

Very much doubt that would ever happen... but it nearly did once...! As he was getting increasingly ill around about 2003-4 Pete was in discussions with one of the big UK distributors (he never did say publicly which one) about doing a lower cost, far east Wal bass variant. I guess kinda like the Tanglewood Overwaters. Maybe even ultimately selling on the brand. However, he pulled out of the deal - I'm speculating wildly here but the logic holds - because I think he saw them as being kosher Far East Wals but taking advantage of more automated, cheaper Far East manufacturing costs and techniques. But still very much a Wal. I suspect that he was getting vibes from the distributor about them ending up with cheap mass produced plywood Wal shaped basses with BBOT bridges and off the shelf no-name pickups... Wals in name only. Can't see Paul going down that route!

Great example and I absolutely agree that it's an immensely personal thing. Another way of looking at it for me is that as soon as you are talking about paying a grand or two for a bass then all the non-subjective aspects should be ticked at a basic level and taken as read. Any "non-subjective improvement" beyond then is a matter of degree and subject to the law of diminishing returns. But that is where the subjective elements really kicks in. The question them becomes not "Which bass/builder is best?" but "Which bass/builder is best for me?"

..cough cough... ...Wal... ...cough cough...

Wasn't he one of Dennis the Menace's gang in the Beano?

Here you go... Elwray Bass pass around BC User name Name Location Date received Passed to (name and date) TheGreek Mick Tomazou Hatfield, Herts Grangur GaryMac TrevorR Trevor Raggatt Staines, Middlesex Edited 8 hours ago by TheGreek

Yes. Spot on. I also have the volume control on my bass on full and it’s not short of signal level! I set up my amp using the old method of setting all EQ flat and then increasing the input gain gradually while playing as hard as I can until I start to hear a tiny bit of distortion (or the input clipping light starts to flash on the loudest deepest notes). Then I back it off a smidge so that there is no distortion/clipping light at all how ever hard I play. Then the amp volume gives me whatever clean level of loudness I need. On my 500W MarkBass Little Mark II the input gain ends up being set at about 10 o’clock. And volume never needs to go above about noon through a compact ‘Traveler’ series 2x10 and 1x15 even on loud gigs with an enthusiastic drummer. My EQ is pretty much always flattish (set at noon of close) so that’s not adding much additional gain into the signal either. I always find this approach provides the maximum clean headroom and a great clean, punchy sound

The question that occurs to me is how do you set up your bass amp controls. You reference the bass vol and guitars... for me a bass amp gain knob does a completely different job to a guitar amp. With the bass vol on full it matches the bass signal to the amplifier so that it does not distort even when played as hard as possible... any distortion therefore will be from an over stretched power stage or speaker struggling to deliver the volume that’s being asked of it. What gear are are you using and in what circumstances?

Yes, Tonika, or more strictly TOHNKA according to the neck plate on this one... https://reverb.com/uk/brand/tonika http://cheesyguitars.com/tonika_bass.html

Oooooooh... sounding good!

Top idea Mr The Greek

Those basses do look fantastic! I'd certainly be interested in giving a fretted model a tinkle and passing on comments at the Bass Bash and, since I'm in N Surrey and therefore close to a number of other Bass Bashers, might also be up for the passaround! Family commitments mean delivery a distance away could be difficult but happy to make localish arrangements or do a central London handover...

It’s one of their “Masterpiece Aged” models. Looks like you’re paying an extra grand or so to have someone ruin a perfectly nice £1-2k bass for you.

Good spot! Early logo Schecter.... Cant find a photo of a slab bodied bound bass but they did guitars in the same style in that period.

A few more faves for me... Colibri - Incognito The Enemy Within - Rush (from the album “Rush does reggae”, LOL!) Whenever I see your smiling face - James Taylor Lee Sklar catches a little pinch of joy and sprinkles if over a pretty simple walking bass line. But his playing stil brings a smile to my face every time I hear it!

I do love this one... And this one too... The fabulous Johnny Gus on bass. Finally there is this cracker too...

There’s a few Elwood’s coming... hopefully one will volunteer.

Exactly... What is rock? Thin Lizzy, Tom Petty, Meshugga, Dire Straits, Iron Maiden, Yes, The Stones, Talking Heads, Nirvana, U2, Coldplay, Dr Feelgood, PJ Harvey... What is pop? Lady Gaga, The Human League, The Carpenters, Black Lace, Carly Simon, The Beatles, Taylor Swift, Dusty Springfield, Pet Shop Boys, The Beach Boys...