Merton

Marvellous!

Try the Maroochick ones? Bass Direct can prob get them in for you

On Friday we jumped in the Boogie Monsters van to drive from Surrey to New Brighton. That took 8 gruelling hours thanks to it being the first Friday of the school holidays and various car accidents. We stayed at our old drummer’s lovely new house (coz he was playing the gig with us), then yesterday headed even further north to Poulton-le-Fylde to play at their annual Wanderland event. Three 30 minute sets spread across the day, with our usual mix of pop and rock songs interspersed with kids songs, and it went pretty well all things considered. Kids and adults alike seemed to enjoy us and the organisers were very happy. Not sure I played brilliantly in places but that’s more to do with my relationship with those particular songs than anything else. We were back in the van and on the road by 4.30, and I was home by 10pm. Sleepy today 😀 Bass was my sexy Zoot Funkmeister, straight into the PA with my HX Effects and Digbeth preamp. Shoes were my now standard Soul Cal low tops. Now got a few weeks off before going all the way back up to Wigan (ish) for a Katy Hurt gig 🤓

He literally said a 4 ohm cabinet 😀 A sensitive 8 ohm cabinet will be equally effective in my experience

Looks good for me as well

Yeah I was a bit late to see the message 😢

Ironically it wasn’t the Schallers which failed on me. I have just replaced all the Schaller locks with the Dunlop locks as I feel they are a superior solution. Last week I just didn’t pop the strap part into the button properly, and it fell out during the first song 😆 I think Dunlops are a better design (despite my ineptitude) and should have listened to @skelf 11 years ago when I got my first ACG; better late than never I have seen the light and learnt how to use them properly 🤣

A very hot sweaty gig playing at the new Rodeos Birmingham. Bizarre stage with the back end of a pickup truck slap bang in the middle, a solitary monitor, no sound man, a drummist we’d never met before, several drunk hen parties… had the makings of a nightmare alongside the heat. On the whole though, it was great fun. We threw in a few covers alongside Katy’s originals, had a delightful interaction with someone in the break asking us to play all the artists we’d covered in the first set 🙄, and made a few new friends along the way I think. The dep drummist was fantastic, so he can come again 🤓 Bass as ever my sexy ACG RetroB, through Handbox WB100 and Barefaced Two10. Shoes were my Soul Cals again. No decent photos of us playing (yet) so have a photo of my side of the stage 😆

Katy’s been doing the singer/songwriter thing since she was a young teenager. About 2016 she put an ad out to find a band to back her, and at the same time a band I occasionally depped with had decided they wanted to find an original singer to work with. So the band started 2016; I’m bassist number 3 having joined in late 2022, but have known the guitarist for 11 years and the drummer for 20. We’ve just finished up a small UK tour supporting her debut album release (which should have come out in 2020 but Covid put paid to that so it’s been waiting to go for 5 years!) and we have a few festivals etc lined up still. Tonight we’re playing the official opening night at Rodeo’s in Birmingham, it’s gonna be a hot one!

Two originals bands for me: Katy Hurt Americana ish That’s from our Sheffield gig a few weeks ago. And this is from Buckle and Boots festival a couple of years ago: Youths Pop/punk ish

Not sure this qualifies as a real FS ad but forgive me if I’m wrong! My uncle has a ticket for MM at Koko tomorrow but can’t go. I can’t go because I have my own gig. Figured this is a bass forum so there may be someone here who wants to buy his ticket? Face value £35, call it £20? First come first served, will need email address or phone number to forward the ticket. Ta.

#1 - Paul @NancyJohnson #2 - Paul #2 @prowla #3 - Martin @Merton

Interested! Whilst multiple rooms would be the ideal, in the absence of that I’m sure we can come up with a cool event with a slightly different spin, as @NancyJohnson says

Ah dammit 😆 Yes it does, the asymmetric profile is bloody lush

Alan tends to go for fatter necks than I’d like as standard on a 5, so I specced a slimmer profile. @eude does the same so if you were to spec a “Ewan style carve” Alan will know exactly what you mean. Whereabouts are you based? Wondering if we can find a way for you to fondle my RetroB…

Bought a Diago power supply from Paul. Excellent comms, super fast delivery, bang on! Deal with confidence

It’s ace. The plan was essentially a bass which can look relatively “standard” whilst being anything but. In terms of wood specs it may look plain but Holly is an expensive luxury, and the ebony and bloodwood blocks board is up there with the higher options you can go with. Electronics-wise it’s basic but has the potential to be added to (not likely that I will, I like passive basses!), but with the pickups and coil select there is immense variety. As an overall package it’s an absolute delight and perfection for me Edit: should add my 2 cents on string spacing. I’ve had 5 strings from Alan with 19mm, 17mm and 16.5mm spacing, and other 5ers with 18mm. My fave is definitely 17mm, and I have to say I delighted that I chose this for the RetroB as it falls under the right hand beautifully for me. If string spacing is a prime requirement, stick with that. The MC/Uber spec is great but you won’t be left wanting for tonal variety with the B series pickups and a standard preamp at all.

Connversely @eude and I have changed everything 3 or 4 times each 🤣

My new RetroB is quite the trad looking baby with all the perks of being a bloody lovely ACG:

Yes

Another wonderfully easy deal with Gareth, messaged on Saturday, met up Sunday and came away with a new pedalboard. As easy as it gets, as always!

Had an absolutely banging gig today down in Poole at Country In The Park with Katy Hurt. We opened proceedings and had an absolute blast. Interesting moments..: I didn’t read the set list so was almost caught out by the first song My (Dunlop) strap lock popped out during the first song so I ended up having to improvise til I could sort myself out (embarrassing photo below) Cris, playing lap steel/acoustic guitar/mandolin kept stepping on my lead so I couldn’t wander the stage as freely as I’d been trying to do. Ironically I drove home via @franzbassist to pick up his Rockboard Tree 3.0 so I can have a bigger board to fit my wireless receiver… needed more forward planning on my part! But on the whole, an absolute blast of a gig. Very hot, very fun, and I hope we made some new friends. Shoes were the lo top Soul Cals again. Me pretending to play djent when the strap popped out: The whole band just having fun: