The Big Fat South-West Bass Bash 2025

[tauzero]

Is that a headless Sei Flamboyant next to the red Rick? Thought it was a Warwick for a second from the back/side view with the mix of woods.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

Is that a headless Sei Flamboyant next to the red Rick? Thought it was a Warwick for a second from the back/side view with the mix of woods.

 

No, Its a very headful Sei Flamboyant.

[Sean]

The awesome Grainger Hades going through a Laney Nexus Tube 400 (8XKT88) + LFSys Monaco. 

 

I'm a big fan of a Spector through a GK + LFSys but this was next level. 

 

Look closely, there are 3 LFSys Monaco cabs and a Monza in this pic.

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Sean

[Sean]

What a brilliant day. My first ever bass bash.

A big thanks to @scrumpymike and family for pulling it all together and also the rest of the team locally.

 

Great to see so many basschatters from far and wide (Scotland to SE London) all coming in for the day. 

 

@Phil Starr thanks for the demo with the cabinets/drivers. Lots of food for thought.  

 

[Nos]

2 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

Oh, and thanks @scrumpymike for organising as usual. And a very big thanks to the scrumpettes for the food!

 

It was really nice catching up with people. 

 

@Sean, I think I preferred your ebony boarded Spector! Both lovely basses though. 

 

I forget the username, but the MTD I tried was also great. I'd happily have one of those! If you see this, what model was it?

 

MTD Kingston KX5 👍
 

Great day again, everyone was friendly and the food was amazing as always!

Edited 17 hours ago by Nos

[Richard R]

 

Look what was awaiting me for dinner.

Red wine and More crumble!

 

Sometimes life is good.

 

 

[Wolverinebass]

Many thanks to @scrumpymike for organising and also for lunch. Also to @Sean for giving me a lift to and from the train station as well as letting me play his Laney amp and Spectors which were brilliant.

 

I might have to try and find myself an Epiphone Les Paul bass after playing @neepheid's. It was fantastic.

 

I think that after properly playing through @stevie's Lfsys cabs with a bass setup that I've recorded a lot, I think if one were to be in the market for new cabs his would be top of the list. Sonic fidelity in spades and frankly beyond any insane definition of "lightweight" you might have.

 

Ultimately, it was good to see familiar and new faces. If anyone is going to the SE Bash, you may have to put up with me again.

 

I was disappointed at the cab shootout replacing the cage fighting. I felt this was a missed opportunity for the community as a whole.

[rwillett]

@neepheid and I have just arrived back at Chez Clapham. 278 miles, one stop. Four hours and 30 mins. 

 

Thanks to all. Great day out. More thanks to follow when brain is working properly. 

[GrahamT]

I add my congratulations and thanks to @scrumpymike, Mrs Scrumpy and the Scrumpettes, and Graham on the door.  Your hard work and dedication is much appreciated by us lowdowners. 
Thanks also to my fellow bottom dwellers for being good company, innovative (3D printing a bass body??) and prepared to share your toys with the rest of us. A great day. 
4th October 2026 is already in the diary. 

[basstone]

Another great and well attended bass bash today. Many thanks to @scrumpymike and the rest of the team for all their hard work and fantastic catering throughout the day. Also thanks to @Phil Starr for the blind speaker shootout. Interesting and thought provoking. Also thanks for everyone attending and bringing along a fantastic selection of gear and instruments!

[Woodinblack]

And because people had asked, and my wife promised to get it posted, here are some public service announcements regarding food!

 

Spanakopita recipe

https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2020/01/11/vegan-spanakopita/

 

Vegan lardy cake is based on this recipe except I soak the fruit in boiling water with a teabag, then drain and let dry as much as possible. I then mix them in the fat/sugar/spice mix and laminate the dough, so I roll the dough out as a rectangle, cover the left 2/3 with some of the filling, fold the right side over then the left, roll out again and repeat until no mix is left. And I bake it as a loaf rather than 4 small cakes. 

https://www.sweeterthanoats.com/vegan-lardy-cake/

[Richard R]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

And because people had asked, and my wife promised to get it posted, here are some public service announcements regarding food!

 

Spanakopita recipe

https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2020/01/11/vegan-spanakopita/

 

Vegan lardy cake is based on this recipe except I soak the fruit in boiling water with a teabag, then drain and let dry as much as possible. I then mix them in the fat/sugar/spice mix and laminate the dough, so I roll the dough out as a rectangle, cover the left 2/3 with some of the filling, fold the right side over then the left, roll out again and repeat until no mix is left. And I bake it as a loaf rather than 4 small cakes. 

https://www.sweeterthanoats.com/vegan-lardy-cake/

 

Please pass on my thanks again to your wife. I'm not vegan, but I shall have a go at the spanakopita sometime soon.

 

[Mottlefeeder]

Back home safely after a great day.

 

Thanks to @scrumpymike and team for the organising and the food, and thanks to all the fellow basschatters with whom I basschatted.

 

David

[scrumpymike]

20 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

And because people had asked, and my wife promised to get it posted, here are some public service announcements regarding food!

 

Spanakopita recipe

https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2020/01/11/vegan-spanakopita/

 

Vegan lardy cake is based on this recipe except I soak the fruit in boiling water with a teabag, then drain and let dry as much as possible. I then mix them in the fat/sugar/spice mix and laminate the dough, so I roll the dough out as a rectangle, cover the left 2/3 with some of the filling, fold the right side over then the left, roll out again and repeat until no mix is left. And I bake it as a loaf rather than 4 small cakes. 

https://www.sweeterthanoats.com/vegan-lardy-cake/

And it's thanks again to Sabby from me and Mrs S for the great food she brought to the party and for following up with the recipes 🙂 

[Stub Mandrel]

26 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

And because people had asked, and my wife promised to get it posted, here are some public service announcements regarding food!

 

Spanakopita recipe

https://domesticgothess.com/blog/2020/01/11/vegan-spanakopita/

 

Vegan lardy cake is based on this recipe except I soak the fruit in boiling water with a teabag, then drain and let dry as much as possible. I then mix them in the fat/sugar/spice mix and laminate the dough, so I roll the dough out as a rectangle, cover the left 2/3 with some of the filling, fold the right side over then the left, roll out again and repeat until no mix is left. And I bake it as a loaf rather than 4 small cakes. 

https://www.sweeterthanoats.com/vegan-lardy-cake/

 

Excellent! 

 

I used to love lardy cake as a kid and was delighted to find something that tasted like what I remember! 

[Stub Mandrel]

Wow.

 

What a day. So many incredibly nice people. Tried lots of 'first time basses'.  Cracked up with the absurdity of that bass synth that turned me into Eddie Van Halen 🤣

 

Brilliantly organised, wonderful nosh.

 

And then I won the bass... I  think I was in shock for half an hour!

 

On my way back, I stopped to call my guitarist brother and he was 30 minutes before a gig at the Earl Haig. Only 15 minutes away, so I decided to watch the gig and give him the bass.

 

He was absolutely made up and says it's stunning and "It’s the bass I would have chosen!! Colour and spec". 

 

He promises a photo soon... 

 

Thank you everyone, what a brilliant day.

 

Three requests for next year:

 

1 a compressor workshop to explain how to set them up properly for different purposes. 

 

2 more vegan lardy cake.

 

3 can I win a left hander for my other brother?

 

😁😁😁

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 

Look what was awaiting me for dinner.

Red wine and More crumble!

 

Sometimes life is good.

 

 

I assume both those portions were yours? 

[Geek99]

What was this bass @Stub Mandrel ?

[Stub Mandrel]

14 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

What was this bass @Stub Mandrel ?

 

A Harley Benton MV-4MSB Gotoh 🙂

[Richard R]

17 hours ago, stewblack said:

@neepheid at the Bash

Just noticed what it says on your t-shirt @neepheid! 🤣

[rwillett]

The morning after the drive after the bass chat the day before...

 

What a great day, so many people, so many great basses and sounds. 

 

Can't thank the organising team enough, fabulous food and on-demand tea and coffee. Lovely people to talk to as well. If I missed saying "thank you" to anybody yesterday who did all the organising, my apologies and "thank you". @scrumpymike and Mrs Scrumpy were brilliant. I wasn’t 100% certain on who all the various scrumpettes were but thanks to all them.

 

Thanks to @Phil Starr who conclusively proved I cannot tell the difference between six different speakers. My appointment with the hearing aid specialist is on Friday.

 

Thanks to @stevie on allowing me to plug a six string into one of his very, very nice cabinets. We'll talk later I have no doubt.,

 

Lovely to meet @Rosie C, I would have loved to have tried your double bass, perhaps next time when I bring a gnome along.

 

@Chrs seemed to be the only person who has the slightest interest in my Strat and for that alone, thanks.

 

I have no idea what @Woodinblack was doing with what appeared to be an etch o sketch screen but it looked interesting. Also the only person to show any interest in my ToneX and Mod Dwarf.

 

@Stub Mandrel for having the good grace to at least look slightly embarrassed at winning a short scale purple metallic guitar. Great to talk to you. 

 

@Chienmortbb Really nice to meet you and happy I could help with a guitar stand. Did you donate a cable to the raffle? @neepheid won it and we thought it might be on one of yours. 

 

@Richard R Nice t-shirt to match the avatar. Some interesting and great chats during the day. Feel free to chat if you are looking at getting a 3d printer, always happy to help. 

 

@Mottlefeeder You sensibly set up your stand adjacent to the tea and coffee, diametrically opposed to myself in the hall and so never really talked about your briefcase amp. One day, he says yet again.

 

@Nos and I talked a lot and I still have no idea what your name is. Apologies for being not asking.

 

@MichaelDean and @Rosie C for saying nice things about my 3d printed bass. The cheques are in the post. 

 

I never managed to talk to everybody, but thank you all for making it such a great day.

 

Rob

 

 

[Rosie C]

6 minutes ago, rwillett said:

 

@Chrs seemed to be the only person who has the slightest interest in my Strat and for that alone, thanks.

 

 

Ah, sorry about that. I have zero interest in any 6-strings, it wasn't anything personal! However, looking at your Strat did lead me to thinking about a 3D printed octave mandolin, which I'll message you about sometime to avoid cluttering this topic   

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Rosie C

[stewblack]

And the winner is............

 

 

[Rosie C]

@Phil Starr can I ask what was speaker #1 ?  

[JapanAxe]

Definitely the busiest bash I've been to! Always nice to meet other players, many of them coming from very different places in terms of the music they pay and/or the kit they favour.

 

Of particular note -

@Wolverinebass and his amazing John Entwistle-style bass;

@MichaelDean and the passive tone mod on his Dingwall NG2 - why didn't I think of that!

 

Can I also add my thanks to @scrumpymike and all those who assisted in making the day such a great experience.

Edited 2 hours ago by JapanAxe