Russ

Got to give a shout out to Godsized - used to play in a band with the singer/guitarist about 10 years back. Excellent band, just put out their second album. Their stuff is very much in the Black Label Society mould with a bit of classic Maiden-style stuff mixed in.

Did it years ago, back when it was the 'new' Marquee. Good venue, big stage, nice sound system with good monitors, but the bar is so-so and it attracts lots of pay-to-play promoters.

I've got a Revelation RBJ-67 5-string and it's great. Nice construction, comfortable, plays well, proper block inlays, good low B string, and big, loud barky pickups with large MM-style polepieces. A bit on the heavy side, but that's what you get when you get a bass made of ash (as opposed to swamp ash). It records really well too. I'd love to bung a J-Retro in there and see how it sounds. I've already got my eye on another one - the candy apple red PJ is very nice. According to their Facebook page, they've also got a Fender VI-style 6-string coming soon, as well as a fretless. I'm happy to support Revelation - they're a great UK company with some pedigree behind them.

Ended up just going today. Great day, and better than last year. Didn't really see too many BC'ers other than the omnipresent Bluejay and a couple of others. Some great gear this year too - highlights were the Pedula Pentabuzz fretless (spectacular), some of the Spectors, Dave Swift's Sadowsky 5-string Precision, Ashdown's new gear (always nice to hang with Mark Gooday too), Steve Sukop's lovely 6-string bass, Bernie Goodfellow's nice new GB singlecut basses, the Marusczyk basses, and the latest and greatest from ACG. Some lovely stuff from Eve Basses and Enfield too, but pretty much the same stuff as last year. I also checked out a few of the shows and masterclasses - Sheehan's always good fun and informative, Doug Wimbish was great, and Stu Hamm was entertaining as always (although he always does the same stuff with the same anecdotes). Also caught a great little impromptu bass jam towards the end of the day with two guys, one playing very funky, jazzy stuff, a la Bobby Vega, on a Zon with a pick. Great groove. They also seemed to have the volume a bit more under control this year - much more use of headphones, and the quiet times seemed to be more effectively enforced. Looking forward to next year - it just keeps getting better.

I'll be there for a little while on Saturday, then all day on Sunday. I'll probably be found hanging around the GB, Eve, Hartke and Status stands. [b]Saturday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The Greek[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Timmo[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BassAgent (w/ Fender '66 Jazz)[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BruceBass3901[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sibob[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]CamdenRob [?][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Lozz196[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Drax [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color] [b]Sunday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bobthedog[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]obbm[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color]

[quote name='patrikmarky' timestamp='1421794651' post='2665236'] Ibanez atk 405 ..why oh why did I sell this ...like hens teeth now [/quote] I had one of those for a while. Spectacularly good instrument for the money, and probably the best recorded sound I've ever had. The newer ATKs just aren't as good.

There's a few I've sold over the years that I'd buy back in a heartbeat if they were to show up. There is one bass in particular, though. Back in the mid-90s, I was craving a Sei, but couldn't afford one. So I hit on the idea of buying a bass body with through-neck from Brandoni, and got the guys at The Gallery to transform it into a pseudo-Sei. I loved that bass - I helped design the body shape. I had to sell it back in 2001 during a particularly difficult personal period, and would pay good money to get it back into my hands. I sold it to the guys at the old Bass Cellar in Denmark St, no idea what ended up happening to it after that. It had a Bartolini MME pickup, Schack 3-band electronics and a Kahler tremolo bridge. Sounds a bit melodramatic, but that bass probably saved my life back in the late 90s. This was it:

I love my Barefaced stuff, but if Hartke decided to start producing lightweight 2x12" cabs, I'd be in. Love the tone of the HyDrive gear, they're just a bit big and bulky for me. I had a nice chat with Larry Hartke last time I was back over in the States (he works part-time at Sam Ash in 48th St, NYC, a stone's throw from Times Square), and he's a top bloke, very genuine and interested in what people think of his gear.

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1417900670' post='2625010'] Wish I'd bought one of these years ago when I had the chance. [/quote] The Gallery had one up until quite recently. First one I'd seen in years. I used to see them occasionally at Andy's in Denmark Street back in the 90s. Only bass I've ever seen where you actually needed an allen key to tune it, due to his unique headstock design. Great instruments though. Beautiful, light, wonderfully made, fantastically skinny neck, and "mwah" for days. I wonder what happened to Mr. Eccles?

There used to be a UK bass builder who made basses like that - Eccles. His basses were short scale and entirely made from one piece of wood. He also made all his own pickups, hardware and so on. They were pretty unique.

Only ever got to see him once, with BBM at Brixton back in '93 or so. Great show. To be honest, I loved his voice more than his bass playing, although he did play a mean bass. Only Ginger left out of those three now.

He hadn't really been well since his liver transplant. When Cream did their reunion a few years back he sang and played great, but looked dreadful (then again, Ginger Baker looked worse). That press pic that's on the BBC site right now is not flattering.

Scratch that. It's on the BBC now. RIP Jack. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29772926?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

Supposedly, it happened on Thursday and it's not being reported by any legit news sites yet, so I still think it's a hoax. He probably used the same passwords for Twitter, Facebook and his site's CMS or something.

I coded up a much better musician search website a few years ago. Far better than Joinmyband, Bandmix, etc. No bugger used it though, so I took it down. I also think, reluctantly, that people would rather use something they already know for music networking - ie, Facebook. I kinda miss the days where you just answered ads in Loot. If you do want to go outside FB, StarNow is fairly good and seems to get some reasonably high-profile gigs, but you have to pay to use it, which most people won't do.

I tried one a few times. Not brilliant, but adequate for some things. It works better if you play clean, possibly with a pick, run the bass through a compressor then play high up on the neck and use the MIDI device to transpose down an octave. It didn't track the low notes too well, and adding treble with active electronics tended to add overtones which confused it and made it go a bit "wobbly". Adding mids seemed to work pretty well though.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1411573498' post='2560820'] If it's that good . . . . why? [/quote] Because I like having an active bass and onboard tone shaping beyond what a passive tone control can do. It'll make an already good sounding bass sound even better. You've got to start with something that's good to begin with - you can't polish a turd.

I played a Revelation 5-string today - spectacularly good instrument for £200. It's from a British company, with a natural ash body, pearloid scratchplate, blocked maple neck and great pickups with chunky MM-style polepieces. It was as good as any mid-to-high-end Jazz-type bass out there. I'm thinking of getting one and sticking a J-Retro in it. I've got some high-end gear (Sei, Spector, etc) but I still love a good cheapie.

Sounds intriguing and potentially right up my street. So, where in South London are you (ie, where do you rehearse), do you have anything we can listen to, and are there any requirements age-wise?

I haven't been in a proper band since 2009, but I still play more or less every day. It sucks, as I'm probably a better player now than I ever was. It's just that there's not many bands who want to play original progressive metal locally who'd be willing to deal with a hairy 42-year-old with two kids and no desire to get signed or any of that sort of thing (been there, done that, didn't like it much).

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1408087050' post='2526887'] Question for you cognoscenti please: What's the difference between a 'standard' Flamboyant and and Offset Flamboyant? Couldn't find anything on the website about this. [/quote] This is a regular Flamboyant: ... and this is an offset one: The "waist" of the bass is offset forward, you can see it most in the top bout. It's OK, but I like the non-offset one better.

I remember seeing a Wal for £200 back in the mid-90s. I'd have had it if I'd had £200 at the time! Back then, they weren't very well informed, and didn't have the internet to check the value of things. Nowadays they can just go on eBay, see what similar gear sold for, then offer you 50% of that.

Had my Sei Flamboyant singlecut 5 for 11 years now. It's a wonderful bass, and I shall never be parted from it. I've also owned 3 other Seis over the years, and they've all been brilliant instruments. Three of the four Seis I've had have been custom builds. Martin has been building basses at The Gallery for 22 years, and knows pretty much all there is to know about it. It pays to do your homework though, come prepared with ideas about neck dimensions, possible wood combinations and maybe some recordings of bass tones you like or might be trying to recreate. If he suggests something you hadn't thought of regarding tone or feel, take his advice - he knows his s**t. Then comes the painful bit - the 12-18-month wait... but it'll be worth it.

Bumping this again. Still bandless...