kwmlondon

Oh. A part of my dies every time I see amp overhang...

I don't like painted necks. I get uncomfortable with non matching brands on amps and cabs. Basses with a matching headstock sound better than ones without Nobody likes bass solos (well... nobody likes mine. Especially not me) Any bass that's been refinished must be good because somone kept it and repainted it rather than sell it and buy a similar one a different colour Vintage basses that don't show much wear are probably not great since nobody wanted to play them a lot

Rehearsal last night at Pirate in Dalston. Air con was faulty which meant room got up to about 26 degrees, but that's not a huge issue. We tried out a new drummer and she's okay. Lacking in confidence and experience and very chatty, but very very interesting and maybe we can get somehwere. When it locked in there was definitely a bit of power behind the sound. Mostly original songs but a couple of covers. Bit of a boo-boo for the first song. The room had a Blackstar 250w 15" combo and I THOUGHT I'd set all the controls to 12 o clock or off (EQ centred, distortion, compression deactivated etc) but the sound was awful. I was running the Dingwall into it via a Tech 21 VT and had the combo on flat all the way gain and master out but still sounded weak and .... oh. I'd accidentally turned the bass all the way down! The second song was very different! Great! Towards the end I was putting a bit more dirt in for a nasty tune we were working on and OH MY GOD the sound of that bass on the 5th string with the humbucker-type setting and a pick put shivers up my spine then ... the Blackstar just died. No sound. Dead. I think something inside overheated because it came back on after 5 minutes but then shut down again. By that point we were cooked and tired so went off to the pub for a much-needed beer. It was a shame though as I was really getting into the sound!

Hmm. We had a guitarists who ended up picking up the radio on his Marshall valvestate. He was mortified though and, I think, got a Hughes & Kettner and a guitar with humbuckers and that got rid of the issue. At least you still have some high-frequencey hearing though, that's good to know!

I have a soft spot for these. A guy I knew as a kid had one and it was goooorgeous!

This. Over my many years of playing I’ve found that if I am really into an instrument I will find a way of playing it that works, and if it’s not doing it for me I just won’t play it. Doesn’t matter about the string spacing or pickups if I enjoy it I’ll adapt my playing to make it work. Over time, and some that may be months or years, I’ll work out where I want to go next and for me that’s been a lifelong journey involving 4 strings 5 strings fretless etc but bottom line is that I have a bass that I WANT to play every day and that’s the best instrument you can aspire to. IMO.

We can practise for free in my guitarist's shed for free. I quite like it in there. It's cramped but cosy and has a fun vibe!

The two groups I've played with over the past few years are 90% original material so a lot of what I've been doing is working out songs.

Worst episode of Midsomer Murders EVER.

I guess that’s why some have security on the door now.

Look forward to seeing whatever you go with!

There's a very exciting Netflix drama in this!!!!

Something about hitting a bum note...

I used a 6x10 and route master in a pirate. Was fabulous! I get why they’ve gone to 500w rumbles though if that’s what bands are doing. I guess they aren’t using hearing protection either… that’s a recipe for serious hearing loss. Sad.

I have had a few really frustrating experiences with pirate, I can’t deny. But the last 4 or 5 have been fine so I’ll keep with them for the time being. If they get go downhill I’ll look elsewhere. Also, me and my band mates almost always use public transport to get to practicing which has a big impact in location. Pirate has chosen really convenient locations in London, fair play.

It’s not just the price it’s the booking system. Being able to see availability for different locations and times is critical when I’m coordinating a practise. I don’t have time to phone around different rehearsal spaces, then check with band members, then phone around again, then message on Whasapp… pirate has invested in a really good booking system and with a large range of locations and rooms it’s meant I can live a life, work a full time job AND organise band rehearsals.

I can only speak for the ones in London and they work out to be a lot cheaper than other options and their booking system is really easy.

To be fair to Pirate, they are always quick to refund. If the room's not up to standard e.g. one of the channels on the mixer isn't working they'll give you 20% off and if something happens that means that you can't use the room - no power for example - and they can't shift you to another one you get a refund right away. What's frustrating is that it can take a lot of effort to organise a rehearsal and a few of you have traipsed to the venue so the money isn't the issue. But then, that's why they are cheaper than places that have someone on reception and a tech setting up the rooms and charge extra for backline. As much as I love DMC in Deptford they're often booked out and they are pricier than Pirate.

I'm always polite to AI because I'm worried that one day they'll be in charge and may remember who said "thank you Alexa" and "please Siri can you set an alarm. etc" Seriosly though it's really not great for Pirate to do this and they need to work on the balance between keeping the business lean and using as few paid staff as possible, and ensuring that the users and staff are safe at all times. I use a few of their studios around London and I've had mixed experiences, though on the whole they've been good. If there's a problem e.g. kit not working or air con not functional then it can be really hard to resolve. On the other hand they've been quick to sort things like dodgy xlr cables or broken drum stool by giving me the code to the storeroom. It can be infuriating trying to sort a problem by whasapp text though. The updside is that they've got a lot of locations with different levels of practise space and it's really easy to book and unbook and... it's cheap. I've also had some piss-poor experiencs in other rehearsal spaces - recently the guy who ran one didn't make eye contact with our drummer or speak to her, he'd only talk to me and the other guy there. She found that creepy as f*cK and I agree.

I see a lot of high-end German motors rocking the primer grey look these days. I can't work out how that marketing worked. May as well bring back British Leyland's mustard yellow and rust brown shades...

Yeah, I like that aesthetic - either low-key and show off the wood or go full on Glam!

Oooh how about that rose pink gold metallic shade. Yummy!!

MusicMan have sine some really fun sparkly metallic finishes. I’m very much a natural finish fan for my own instrument but I am a sucker for metallic paint jobs!

Had a good rehearsal last night. Pirate Studios are pretty good and the air con and back line all worked fine. The Rumble 500 was really sounding great- cheap feeling controls but really serves up the sonic goods! The guitarist and main songwriter tried out a couple of new numbers and one if them defo has potential. I’m not sure about the other, too similar to some of his other ones but good to work on. The Dingwall is just absolutely bloody epic. I’m growing to love it more and more each time I play it. For the first time I’m really starting to explore creative potential of tone shaping on a bass. This Neve unit is so musical- boosting the low end a couple of notches when using the Bridge pickup on its own makes the thing really usable and even whacking the Bass up full is still musical! Bonkers but the other guys LOVED 100% bass! It was hard telling them I’m stepping away when my evening classes start in late September but hopefully we’ll get a couple of gigs in by then. Getting home was a total nightmare. I was planning to get the overground back from Camden but signaling problem s meant I ended up walking all the way home from London Bridge which took an hour. Got in at 1am and had to do a 10k race this morning!!!! very tired now