theplumber

Just now, theplumber said:

 

Superb news mate! Loving mine as well! maybe I should have kept both lol!!!

6 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Drummers 65th party last night playing with both the Glam band and the Punk band.

Great night and just good fun night. 

Glam band went on first mainly because the singer Mikey and guitarist Colin wanted to get it done so they could have a few beers etc after playing.

Have to say the Handbox WB-100 with the Godin Shifter bass is a perfect match. The depth of tone was simply incredible and worked so well in both bands. 

Guitarist and singer from the Glam band told me after the punk band played that the bass tone was the best they had ever heard and reminded the guitarist of Roger Glover's Deep Purple tone. He had never heard me playing like that with so much energy and aggression. I don't particularly play that way with the Glam band because its not needed when you are copying the Glam era from studio recordings rather than a live sound. Its more controlled and a bit more mellow. So many compliments from our guitarist about my punk band style and tone and the fact he had no idea i even played like that. He reckoned it was the best punk band he had ever seen. I have to add that by the time we finished at 1am they were a wee bit oiled and i think the comments were fuelled with alcohol a bit but a compliment is still a compliment is still a compliment. 

The punk band is all about energy and that amp and bass gave it in buckets full. It had so much depth and from what they told me carried right thru the guitarists Marshall stack with so much power and clarity. Singer said the high notes at the dusty end were so clear and sharp where he was standing at the back of the hall. 

For the more Ric style tones i engaged the "bright" button just to give it that little kick edge. Loved it. Particular punk favs for me last night from a tone point of view were Do Anything you Wanna do and In To the Valley with its de-D tuning for one song but the depth remained but that bright button just meant it carried so much further.

Another thing i found using the Godin bass was that the pick ups being so hot meant the amp was nowhere near the same master volume as with my Sandberg basses meaning that amp has a lot more headroom than i thought.

I am now keeping that bass and amp. Guitarist said it ws THE best bass tone he had ever heard from any band

The Handbox is staying and hoping the Mesa TT800 when it arrives will also give me that Mesa "heft" as so many have commented on the TB site i follow.

If anyone gets a chance to play one of those Godin Shifter classic basses then try them they are so well made, not heavy and some of the nicest sounding pick ups i've tried over many many years. Not a hugely expensive bass either on 2nd hand market. If you like a P bass with some extras its a wonderful buy. It has a V & T control and 4 way switch for P, J, Series or Parallel. I had it on Parallel last night and cant fault it. Many thanks to our very own Stevie @theplumber for finally selling me the Godin. If you're reading this Stevie i'll take the other Godin if you decide to move it on. 

No pics as yet but if any appear i'll post later.

Short drive home too at 25mins altho the road to Wanlockhead is very pot-holed at the moment and a bit of care was required in the dark.

Just got to head back there today at mid-day to pack up the gear and return home again. 

Bit long winded post but it just shows how excited i am with that HB and Godin combination. Sometimes things just fall into place by accident and this was that night.

Dave 

Interested..PM sent

Sorry to hear Steve Harley has passed away. Loved the early Cockney Rebel stuff. 

1988 Hohner Professional JJ Bass. Active /Passive, Rosewood/maple neck. Microtilt neck adjustment/Original EMG Select Pickups  included but have changed to another set which in my opinion suits the bass better/Vol/Vol/Bass/treble stacked. Schaller Licenced Tuners. Great tone! No issues everything works even the wee red active light! Some small marks on body. Worst being an indent on lower horn side. Please check all pictures. Plays as good as it looks with nice straight slim jazz type neck and low action. Would prefer local pickup but can box and post if required.  £225 Delivered UK

22 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Paisley has just changed its parking regulations so they'll have the wardens out trying to catch as many folks out before they get used to the new regs. Its a bit of a pain in Paisley as any time i've been there its never been "that" busy. Shame as it could kill off the town centre completely.

I'm always worried about parking at The Cave in the road up to The Bungalow.

Dave

 

Yes during the day is murder. We manage to get parked in and around The Swan ok anytime but things are changing. Back in Glasgow next weekend at Mc Sorleys and that will be a laugh!!

Out in Paisley last night with Ruff Edge. We played in The Old Swan ,Paisley and although not packed we had a cracking night with good banter and feedback from the punters. Always made to feel welcome at this venue. Great load in at the front and we were able to leave our cars outside the pub unlike a couple of weeks back on a Saturday afternoon when the wardens were out and some poor sod got a ticket (not us lol) 

Before the divorce.....

Thanks Dave very nice to finally visit your country home for retired bass guitars! Mind keep the cats out the room  they like a wee jam on the bass....or something like that lol!  Cheers mate!

22 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Just bought @theplumber Godin Classic Shifter 4 tonight. One of two he owns. I was offered the black burst with rosewood neck version. The other had the creme brulee finish with maple neck and that actually felt better to play but not much in it. Both are pretty impressive tho.

Known Stevie for a good few yrs now as i took over his duties on bass when he left the punk covers band Emergency Exit.

He even delivered the bass to the house for me but i reckon he just wanted to play with the toys in the bass cave.

Bass is in perfect condition as i would expect from Stevie. It just needs a little tweak of the P pick up height to balance the volumes across the P and J pick ups and its good to go. I'll fit a new set of Elixir nickels ASAP and ready to gig.

Neck on these basses is pretty impressive and i'd compare to the Sandberg MarloweDK that i have. Very Jazz neck feel to it. No rough fret edges and no fret buzz at all even with quite a decent low action already set up

Tones are quite different from the 4-position selector switch and the tone knob has quite a wide change to it. (1. bridge, 2. both series, 3. both parallel, 4. neck )

Controls and tuners all feel pretty good quality and sturdy with smooth actions all round.

Got a rehearsal on Sunday with Glam band which will give it a good trial run pre-gigging. It will either be a back up to my Sandberg VM4 or possibly a main bass in the Glam band as its passive there's no batteries to worry about.

All in all a good day.

Dave

Found this on that Facebook marketplace. Now that the band is finished it seems Mike Rutherford is selling off his old gear....

Very well made Canadian guitar. Not known for their bass guitars but all major players use their 6 strings. Please Google or you tube these basses and see how good they are. Great slim neck with jazz and P bass pickups. 4 way pickup selections. Comes with original Godin gig bag.  

Fantastic looking bass in 70s style. Limited edition colour surf green. Extras include Fender Hi Mass bridge and Gotah tuners. This sounds as good as it looks. 

Usual Sandberg quality. Fantastic condition. 2 band eq,active'passive. Satin finish jazz type neck. Creme colour.

Thanks but the nut width is a tad too much for me! Just got rid of my 50's p bass's for that reason! But good luck with the sale this guitar is a stunner!

Is the body wood alder and what is the nut width.. Thanks. 

Do you have the original bridge,scratch plate,tuners and pickups for this?

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

If he is overweight (just guessing) maybe be has sleep apnea. That will really mess with concentration and can cause micro-sleeps. 

Don't know much about it. He deffo is not overweight. He has some sort of night terrors thing going on.....maybe he dreams about doing new stuff lol. But yes he doesn't sleep well and it does affect his concentration and general well being.

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

To the OP.

 

Your keyboard player's problem sounds more like a case of "can't be arsed" than anything else.

Not really... He has a sleep disorder and other health issues. It would devistate him to have to pack it in. Hopefully he can manage to carry on. 

50 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I think, as others have said - perhaps try some new songs that don't need keys, or don't need anything challenging on keys. Perhaps he'd end up prefering them if there is less to do or it means he can take a break in the set.

 

And as far as him stopping playing for a few seconds, well, I don't know what high standards you set yourselves but in any band I've been in we're lucky if there isn't some sort of mistake by someone in almost every song! Only the most attentitve and nerdy of audience members (probably ones that play the same songs in their own bands) tend to notice, and when people do notice they don't tend to care - the sponteneity and risk of mistakes is partly why people want to see live music. I've seen plenty of big headline bands mess up songs enough to need to re-start them and it usually seems like the audience quite enjoy that falable human element to it. 

 

Personally, when I've got bored of a Band's setlist I've done some depping for the new challenge of learning a new setlist in a different genre.

Agreed...we all make mistakes! I can see us just carrying on with the current set. As mentioned we move about the place and have enough gigs to get on with. I have joined another band as well and they really only gig about 20 to 25 times a year. Two bands are enough for me!

1 hour ago, TimR said:

I would be looking for another band to join if you're not being challenged. Although with 45 gigs I don't see you'd have any time.

 

I'd suggest he is struggling because no one can concentrate on songs they've been playing every week for 7 years. I start thinking about what I'm doing tommorw or what song is next on the setlist during most of our set. 

I have actually joined another band with about 20 gigs so far this year... So no complaints about having to learn more stuff! Bring it on! It's all worked out between the two bands so no clashes of dates. I can see us just plodding away with the current set but I will be having a good think about what I want to do next year.

33 minutes ago, gjones said:

Frankly as we get older I feel we need to be mentally challenged, or our brains will vegetate. Interestingly, my brother in law, who is an professional electric guitarist/vocalist in his early 60s, has complained of forgetfulness and he's member of a band that is the house band at a local music venue. They play with different front men/women twice per month and he has to learn their sets. Some of those songs are standard but many are songs he's never heard before and he learns them pretty flawlessly every two weeks. I feel if he hadn't had that incentive to learn new songs, as a work out for his brain, the issue with his memory would be far worse than it is.

Is it not a good aid to keeping the memory sharp? I heard it is. Plus and I forgot to add it's good for our mental health playing and listening to music.

39 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Slightly similar situation in that it's our keyboardist who's the most likely of us to be a blocker to getting new songs learned, which we desperately need to do. I suggested Two Tribes not so long ago and everyone else is pumped to give it a go, but he's on one about it being "too produced" or something, forgetting that as a covers band we can arrange it how we like.

Yes our keyboard guy is the same! I suggested Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick a while back and he said wow that's a hard bass line !! Lol I said just learn the keys and I will do the rest! Then he went on about the different sounds he would have to programme in and the production on the record.....I fell asleep at that point! But yes he can't see the wood for the trees at times!

1 hour ago, KingBollock said:

What about replacing songs in your set that he currently struggles the most with, with simpler new songs?

He does't struggle as such. He has what you would call senior moments! We do Life On Mars and last time we played it he blanked a bit during it..he stopped playing for a couple of seconds then picked it up again. Certain songs you can get away with it others not so... He say's he has to go over most if not all of the current set before every gig. I pick out some songs that I maybe have not played for a bit or not played well enough ( for my liking lol) He is really trying hard it has to be said. The band seem to have been playing most of the songs for about 7 years! So they really don't want to change!