Belka

Looks like a fun setlist - good luck with it. One thing to watch out for - with all those key changes I'd hazard a guess that the guitarist(s) is/are using a drop pedal/key change function on Kemper - from my experience they use the wrong preset, or forget to switch tuning at least once per gig - sometimes they realise and correct it, other times they don't - if they don't (if it's just one guitarist with no other melodic instruments to indicate he's in the wrong key) you might have to transpose on the fly.

https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-basses/products/1974-fender-precision-bass-black-refinish https://www.andybaxterbass.com/collections/fender-basses/products/1974-fender-precision-bass-olympic-white-refinish Couple of nice refinished P basses up at Andy Baxter at the moment - not collector's items but quite a cheap way of going vintage. They sound good too - the black one is very light and has that really woody hollow tone I often associate with early '70s P basses. The white one seems to have a thicker sound - more going on in the midrange (I think they have identical strings on them).

Yes, of course, and the very best session musicians, the likes of Chuck Rainey, Marcus Miller, Anthony Jackson, Pino etc., have/had the skills and theory knowledge to ensure they knew to create interesting lines which perfectly outlined the harmony, and could listen to what the producer/artist wanted them to play and interpret that appropriately; they didn't get gain their reputations by just being 'good enough'.

Although this may be slightly outside the OP's question, from my experience of depping as well as playing with a lot of deps, I would point out that it's always good not to forget about your overall musical development/improvement. It can be exciting playing with new people all the time and flying by the seat of your pants, as one poster put it, but you run the risk of becoming a 'busker' who learns the overall form of the songs but never learns anything properly. Of course, when it's a last minute thing this is a great skill to have, but I've come across too many 'professional' deps who have atrophied musically and are only concerned about things being 'good enough' rather than doing things properly.

I've heard of worse things than counterfeit guitars/amps from people in the trade about the Harrisons, but it's all anecdotal and you have to wonder how reliable these people are themselves. At the same time, I'm guessing that most Serbian gangsters would want more from a working relationship than a percentage of the proceeds of a stolen guitar, so perhaps there's something to it.

About three years ago I booked a last minute holiday, and agreed with my bandleader that I would find a Dep. Advertised, found one, and put him in touch with the bandleader - this was still around 6 weeks before the gig was due to take place. Anyway, after a while the guy goes quiet - not answering bandleaders texts. Bandleader shoots over a final message, just to ask if he's still interested or if we should look for someone else. A few days later a text arrives from the Dep's phone, supposedly written by his wife - the essence of it was he'd been in a terrible motorcycle accident, now in a coma in hospital, 50/50 as to whether he would live or not. Cue the standard commiserations, 'family more important than gig, etc, won't bother you again', from the bandleader. When I got back from holiday I was suspicious, looked the guy up on Facebook and the whole thing had been made up - he was still gigging with his other bands and posting family stuff. I considered calling him out on his behaviour, but reasoned that for someone to do something like that hints at deeper personality/mental health issues, and it was better left alone - we are talking about a man in his 50s with adult children here.

Just wanted to write about my recent experience with Bass Direct. I've been wanting to check out an Xotic 5 for a while and on Thursday evening I noticed they had 4 of them in stock. I drove up there yesterday and tried them out. I have to say, I really like the new pre-owned showroom. Tried out all the basses through a decent amp, the new guy working there is very nice and helpful, they even let me change the strings around to find out which had the better B string. In the end I came away with the oldest and heaviest of the lot (it just sounded the best to me, although the lightweight one in surf green was extremely nice too) for a very reasonable price. I've been coming here/buying online since 2018 and can say that they have really turned things around in the last two years or so. Really pleased with my purchase and my recent interactions with them.

Preamp pedals. The likes of Nobel, Cali, Caveman, Jad Freer. I mean, if you're at a venue that insists on a silent stage I can see the point of something like this, although you could use a plain DI. Every time I used one of these pedals though, it just seems to make my sound worse; fewer dynamics, less top end. Generally, using the DI out of the back of a modern amp will sound just as good if not better, give you far more control over the sound, you can always mute the master volume if it's a silent stage situation, and you'll save £100s.

Yes, I know a lot of people here love the idea of modding basses, imagining themselves as some kind of mad Frankenstein in a shed putting together a monster that they think will slay USA Fenders or boutique basses, but having a shed and a screwdriver does not make you the bass world's equivalent of Colin Chapman. Harley Bentons/Squiers are fine for what they are. They don't need USA Hipshot Ultralites, Babicz bridges, Kiogon looms or Warman pickups. If you want a £250 bass, buy one and play it. If you want to spend £1000s, there are plenty of great options off the shelf already.

https://reverb.com/uk/item/91466142-fender-precision-1972-olympic-white-a-neck-profile-uk-export-custom-order-exc-condition-original-dealer-hsc-free-worldwide-shipping?bk=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiIwOGYwNjliNy0zMzhhLTRjMDEtYTVjMi03YjdkYWJlOTQ0OTUiLCJpYXQiOjE3NTQ5MjcyMDIsInVzZXJfaWQiOiIiLCJzZXNzaW9uX2lkIjoiM2JiNjc4ODktOGYxYy00MWRkLWJjMGQtNGRlNWIzMjhkNmU5IiwiY29va2llX2lkIjoiMjNmYmE3Y2MtZjA4MC00ZDBmLWFhNzItOWYzOTI5MWQ3NjJlIiwicHJvZHVjdF9pZCI6IjkxNDY2MTQyIiwic291cmNlIjoiTk9ORSJ9.v1PB7-nx1xPxrMjhATKUy0-xs0GiviLIyNmsurRq8KY What do you all reckon of this? Personally after wading through the florid AI assisted text, and looking at the pictures, I think whoever is selling this is a very naughty boy/girl. It's obviously a '72 neck bolted to a '74 body, and even then I would have questions about that 'genuine' Fender pickguard, as well as the cloth wiring, which I thought had changed to plastic by 1969.

It looks like the very worst attempt at a 'custom colour over another colour' I've ever seen. And the fretboard looks filthy. Personally, there's no way I could own that without refinishing it, even if it's just back to natural. At that price, once you factor in the £500 for stripping/refinishing and a good setup, you're looking at around £1800-2000 all in. You see decent condition original 77-81 Precisions for those kind of prices all the the time now at places like Bass Bros, so not really worth it.

It looks mostly genuine, but I'd agree with Hellzero in really not liking the look of all the cracks on the bass; all over the body, and that one on the headstock/neck too. It's probably not about to fall apart, but that body has had some mistreatment over the years. It is very cheap for a '64 but for that money I'd much rather get a late '60s CBS in good condition.

Individual string bridges - I can understand their use on fanned fret basses, but they just look wrong when the frets aren't fanned. And even the most skilled luthier can't seem to make them line up properly:

It's funny, listening to the original track, I would also presume fretless StingRay, but isolated it sounds more like a fretted two pickup bass (the Alembic he used around that time perhaps). The high levels of compression and (I presume solid state rather than tube) distortion really kill the tonal nuances of whatever bass it is, but it still sounds great in the final mix. I also have to say, if it is fretless, his intonation is really quite good.

I would agree with this from my experience and what a lot of other people have said - I think the re-issues that came the closest to the originals were probably the 2013-2017 AVRI line. I'm sure these are good basses but the pricing on them at the moments feels extremely speculative, especially when you can get decent late'60s/early '70s models for less money.

The end of 1965 for Jazz basses, the very beginning of 1968 for P basses.

Quick update - so yesterday the neck arrived from Musikraft. Very happy with it - the quality seems very good and it feels very comfortable. I was stung for around £60 import duty however. I am thinking I agree with those who posted here that it would be a shame to cover up the nice grain of the ash, so I am planning to probably do it in a cherry burst.

Personally from my experience I would not necessarily agree with those talking about the benefits of much thicker strings. They tend to sound thunderous when playing the open B, but the further up the neck you get, the more unusable/hollow/warbly/out of tune they become. You can get great sounding Bs at 118/120. Scale length is part of the equation, and given equal materials a 35" scale and above will give a tighter B, but by no means do you need a longer scale to get a good, tight sound, and some manufacturers these days can get great sounding Bs out of 32/33" scale basses. I find it very much comes down to the actual manufacturers. I would agree that exposed core/tapered strings tend to sound good: the old LaBella slappers and Deep Talkin' roundwounds had much better B strings than their current offerings. Dunlop nickels (the Super Brights and especially the standards) have a very good B despite being low tension. Overwater have started doing strings and their B strings sound great. One more thing - I've also had a great low B sound when using roundcore strings (especially Fodera nickels and the sadly discontinued LaBella Deep Talkin' rounds) - could just be coincidence though.

The first two definitely sound more StingRay. The other two sound more like a P bass I would say. None of them sound like a Jazz to my ears.

It actually all looks ok, apart from the fact it's not a 1967. 1967 would have had the smaller transition logo and either lollipops or the older reverse gear tuners. Most likely 1968 at the earliest.

It all looks right but I'm not 100% sure on the bridge - Wouldn't 1972 still have the longer G string saddle? The holes for the grub screws look a little small too - like they might have an allen key rather than screwdriver adjustment. Could well be a replacement bridge.

I dealt with Andy recently - sold two basses through him and bought one. I have no complaints - communication was good, payment was prompt with no chasing required (he actually had to chase me for my bank details) and his place really is a treasure trove of great basses. He does have some expensive items - people say if you're going there to be prepared to spend a lot of money , but that is down to a lot of his stock being very rare/valuable. His prices, in my opinion, are fair for a vintage dealer and more or less comparable with Bass Bros and Bass Direct - it's the Gallery, ATB and Vintage Bass Room who tend to price their items a tad more unrealistically.

I saw Rod Stewart at Ashton Gate in Bristol a couple of years ago. The bassist was using a vintage sunburst P bass. You couldn't hear it at all. I saw Donny Benet this Saturday. Again, P bass. the mix was better but his bass was noticeably less audible than when I saw him previously using a PJ F Bass. The snare and Bass drum were incredibly loud - judging by how softly the drummer was playing he seemed to be aware of it too. The best sounding gig I've seen recently was Mike Stern with Hadrien Feraud on bass and Dennis Chambers on drums. Hadrien and Mike just went through their amps with no IEMS - great sound - everything was crystal clear. Of course I'm aware how such a set-up wouldn't work on a bigger stage.

This might be a bit tangential but I have noticed from attending gigs over the last few years that P basses really tend to disappear in modern mixes (I'm talking decent sized gigs with a professional PA/soundman, not how bad your own P bass sounds down the Dog and Duck before anyone takes offence). I don't think this is a fault of the P bass but of the way everything is mixed these days (all subs/bass drum, very little midrange). The whole reason the P sits in a recorded mix so well is due to its low midrange presence, and when these frequencies are not given enough prominence the sound turns to mud. Of course, while we should aim our ire at the soundmen or spectators who actually think that kind of mix sounds good, an easier solution would be to use a bass with a bridge pickup. Even with a rubbish mix you're more likely to hear some of the bass come through.

The next thing to think about it colours. The white scratchplate was used in the early '80s on the International colours series. Below are the options I'm considering all with white pickguard and maple neck: Monaco yellow, Capri orange, Sahara taupe, Cherry burst. The others don't appeal so much - Cathay ebony and arctic white look too much like regular basses, albeit with white pickguards instead of black. Morocco red is nice but a bit too close to Dakota red to stand out. Maui blue is great but I have another Jazz in that colour, and Sienna burst just doesn't look as good as cherry burst.