Muzz

I've not been at home for a NYE for about 15 years now, we're playing the same place as last year, and the same place I do a weekly Jam Night hosting gig (I'm playing there tonight, too, with a different band), so it's very much a Usual gig...just more money... 😁

Did you have PA support? Loud drummer? I'm doing a regular Jam Night hosting gig these days, and I could do with a smidge more than my Rumble 100 on (very small)stage, without taking up any more space...

I've owned some very big-ticket basses*, like Status, Overwater, Alembic, GB, Jaydee, a couple of Vintage Fenders, etc, over the years, all of them bought secondhand for under £1500 or so, and all of them have gone because I didn't like them enough to keep them - no specific fault of the basses, they just weren't me. It was good to try them. I've got a teenager to put through Uni for the next 3 or 4 years, so I won't be spending a lot on basses (or any other kit) for a while, but if I had the money, I'd be taking a couple of grand (or a bit more) to Jon Shuker and getting exactly what I wanted made, and I'd be very happy about that. Luckily, he's just finished one I paid for (more or less) just before The Great Lurgy hit down, and I'll be picking it up in the New Year, so that'll keep me going for a good while. It'll have to... * Tho even more mundane ones are pretty big ticket new these days - Stingrays and Ricks nudging over £3k, etc...

If anyone's short of time, Wham's Last Christmas is the same four chords over and over...just sayin... 🙂

As a matter of interest, how many of us are gigging with a setlist that includes more than one (or indeed any) song from The Greatest Band Of All Time? Given that giddiness, you'd expect everyone to play several in their setlist...we're only halfway to the 'still be playing them 100 years later' mark so far...

To be fair, the one on the right looks a lot 'happier' than the one on the left...

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Yep, I'd agree with that; the main driver for me replacing a bridge is simply a better engineered, more practical (more comfortable, adjustable (I like a Schaller 3D for string spacing adjustment) or doesn't-fall-apart - see Gibson 3-Point) solution. Over many years I've come to realise that any tone considerations are ones that I just don't register much, and certainly not once the drummer starts hitting things...

I'm depping (well, more or less continuously) for a new band, and in Good Times (which goes on awhile, as the BL/Singist/Geetard plays sax, too, so he switches to that later on), he likes to single out the players for a solo. He did this without warning at the first gig, so I heel-muted on the open E and the A, kept the groove going, and picked up my pint in my left hand and downed it...he loved it, and tho I'll need a pint handy for that song at future gigs, it's got me out of learning anything too tricky...

This for me, exactly - I've also had a 3000A, an 1100S, a 300 and a 400 (over about 30 years). I'm a simple donkey, tho, and like a P-Bass sound (it'll do more than that, obv), as slim a neck as I can get, and not too much weight. Which made the 414 a winner for me...plus, they're daft cheap for the quality, so it's not too painful for a Buy and Try scenario...

Looking up from my end, after a quiet year, mostly due to the winding-down of the main trio, as the singist/geetard has gone solo for double the money (and I don't blame him for a second), but I've found a new band (and I'm trying to get another rolling, too) with a full calendar, so, with a paid gig hosting a midweek jam night, too, I'll be doing 10 gigs in December...

Imagine that with chrome hardware and bridge covers/surrounds...ohhhhhh... 🙂

Yeah, I've brought that up with him, but it's a numbers game, and as the YT channels show, the majority of punters (who might not all be bassists, either) like it...when he worked at A1 in Manchester, I used to go in, set a smiley-face EQ on an amp, and just clatter the strings with both hands... 😁

I've said this before in defence of the vitriol that my chum Nige Clutterbuck has endured over the years for his showboat-y super-fast slappity-poppity, but the majority of those videos which seem to bring out the worst in fellow bassists were taken at trade shows; Nige worked for Rotosound for a long time, and the showboating brings punters to the stand. Same with YouTubers - they have channels to promote, and like it or not, the Great Unwashed love a bit of showboating. His bass playing is much more than that, and there isn't a shred (SWIDT?) of the showboating in his playing with Dare...

It's not like the Rumble has a massively distinctive sound per se, it might just be the band liked the previous EQ/Tone of the bass (or even the bass itself) - what did the other guy play? Is your bass ballpark with that?

Elixirs on everything*, a mix of Nickels and Steels. They last for aaaaaages, and I'm a ham-fisted (mostly) pick player... * Other than my acoustic bass, which has D'Addario Flats on, but that's the exception in many ways...

Just remembered this for a couple of weeks ago...played a gig at the bar mentioned above, and there was a nice couple in their 50s, seen them before in there, sitting at a table by the very small corner stage where we were playing. They were enthusiastic, listening, and applauded, even shouted for an encore. After we'd finished, some friends of ours were playing across the road, a couple of doors down, and we could hear they had a later slot than us, so before we broke everything down, we popped across the road to see how it was going. Ten minutes later, I'm outside having a vape, and was standing next to the same couple...this was the conversation: Bloke from couple, pointing to band still playing: 'They're good, aren't they?' Me: 'Yeah, very.' Wife from couple: 'There was a good band over the road, too; they've just finished.' Me: 'Yeah, you were at the table at the front' Couple: 'Errr...yeah?...' Me: You know that bloke stood on stage for two hours eight feet from you? On the left? Your left?' Couple: 'Errr...yeah?' Me (pointing to my head, doing the Fozzy Bear thing): .... Couple: 'Errr...yeah?' I gave up at that point...sometimes picking up a bass does activate the Klingon Cloaking Device...

I replaced the BBOT on my BB414 with a Fender Hi-Mass (a great little chunk of engineering for the money), I knowwwww, it says 'Fender' on a Yamaha, I'm a monster, etc... Bottom line is I'm a (mostly) pick player, and it's a comfier place to rest the heel of your hand...and it's a solid bridge. The sound? I don't sniff corks too enthusiastically, I don't slap much, or use all that much zing, and once the drummer starts it's all kinda moot...

Wednesday night, depping in to co-host a jam night at a bar...I've played there before, both with the full band and I've turned up to the jam night to play a few, but this was the first time co-hosting and getting paid for it for a loooong time (the price of being in a busy steady band for more than a decade) - I'd forgotten how much fun busking can be, luckily the main drummer was great (a couple of others not as good, but we muddled through), so playing songs I've never played before (probably eight or ten), or even heard before (three of them) was a good workout...

Not a gig as such, but the singist/guitarist and I went to Lecce in Southern Italy to visit the drummer on a hometown visit...on Sunday night we went round to a garden studio belonging to one of his (pro) musician friends for a bit of a jam and to hang out. A couple of the host's friends came round and we had a good time, tho it was a 'never be the smartest person in the room' moment for me: when the four Italians got on the instruments, the first thing they jammed was Birdland...blimey, follow that... 😐 Oddly, tho, it appears Italian live music (in the South at least) is either sublime Jazz Fusion/Funk or full-on Country and Western...apparently that's where the money (and not much at that: £50 a man is good over there) is... We did get a lot of positive feedback, and next time we go there'll be gigs to play...

Still better than 'a bit of sick'... 🙂

I had a 4001 back in the day (early 80s) and was captivated by the 'Rick-O-Sound' output, so I got a splitter jack adaptor and ran into two amps/cabs. Was all very exciting, but, like so much up in the cork-sniffing end of the tone spectrum, once the drummer started hitting things, it was pretty much a bass sound, unfortunately...