2025 SE Bass Basheroonie! Sunday 9/11/25 *CONFIRMED*

[chris_b]

Thanks to @NancyJohnson and @prowla for all their efforts and organisational skills.

 

Basschat is good, but it's better to meet up with bass players. I got a few ideas for the future.

 

Thanks guys.

[neepheid]

Well, that's me half way home in one piece.  Thanks to our wonderful organising committee for putting together an excellent bash.  Great to put some faces to names, and I played some fun basses which made me smile, in particular the 12 string Hamer and the teeny tiny Harley Benton micro Jazz.

 

If I'm not gigging - see you next year!

 

Cheers

Matt

[Stingray5]

Really pleased to see it all went well and I certainly hope to make it next time. 🤞🤞

[Sean]

There's so much to say about yesterday's bash. 

Sorry, my phone died so I've got no photos of my own. 

 

A big thanks to @Mike Brooksfor hosting the talks with Matt from Monty's and also with Chris Childs. Really insightful and lots learned. 

 

FYI, the Monty's basses/pickups were played through a GK Legacy 800 with a more or less flat setting going into an LFSys Monaco. The first P bass (the Retro Wind) and the 4th (the green J) were absolutely stunning for me. 

 

One of the big insights for me from yesterday was the subtle differences between basses that are "the same". Andy's Hamer Chapparal B12L has some subtle differences to mine and feels a bit different on the strap. 

The big eye-openers came from comparing Spectors. Even Euro LX models from the same year have differences in neck carve, tuners, pickups and nut width, let alone all the cosmetic and wood choice differences. 

 

Phil's speaker comparison was insightful again. The acoustics of the venue made it a different experience to what it was in Taunton four weeks ago. It certainly made a mockery of a comment I heard recently where a chap who was looking at my LFSys Monaco said, "I wouldn't get on with that, I only like 10s". 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimonK]

Really sorry I didn't make it in the end - I underestimated how long the remembrance parades would go on for, and by the time we got home it was too late to get up to you guys (the mountain of trace cabs I was going to bring also intimidated me out of loading them into the car!). But if we get a date for next year I will put it straight in my diary although would prefer to avoid remembrance Sunday if at all possible!

[police squad]

yep, a great day out. Lovely to meet everybody.

I'm rubbish with faces, so look forward to meeting you all next year!!

@Mike Brooks, great interviews and really great to meet you

Lovely to meet Chris for Thunder. He's actually replaced me in the Americana Revue band that I was in (long story but I didn't leave) His Gary Glitter story has me p1ssing myself laughing.

@NancyJohnson great to see you again and looking so well

@prowla great to meet you and talk Rics

@cetera that's some collection of Spectors and nice to put a face to the name

@silverfoxnikagain a pleasure to meet you

@bassace97 get in touch mate, I'll give you HW contact details

and everybody else, a pleasure to geek out with you all

[police squad]

28 minutes ago, Sean said:

There's so much to say about yesterday's bash. 

Sorry, my phone died so I've got no photos of my own. 

 

A big thanks to @Mike Brooksfor hosting the talks with Matt from Monty's and also with Chris Childs. Really insightful and lots learned. 

 

FYI, the Monty's basses/pickups were played through a GK Legacy 800 with a more or less flat setting going into an LFSys Monaco. The first P bass (the Retro Wind) and the 4th (the green J) were absolutely stunning for me. 

 

One of the big insights for me from yesterday was the subtle differences between basses that are "the same". Andy's Hamer Chapparal B12L has some subtle differences to mine and feels a bit different on the strap. 

The big eye-openers came from comparing Spectors. Even Euro LX models from the same year have differences in neck carve, tuners, pickups and nut width, let alone all the cosmetic and wood choice differences. 

 

Phil's speaker comparison was insightful again. The acoustics of the venue made it a different experience to what it was in Taunton four weeks ago. It certainly made a mockery of a comment I heard recently where a chap who was looking at my LFSys Monaco said, "I wouldn't get on with that, I only like 10s". 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed, The retro wind P bass, now that sounded like my '73 P bass. Was the best sounding bass in that little group. They all sounded great, but that was supern for me

[prowla]

Yes - a big thanks to @Mike Brooks: hosting those talks was a big contribution to the success of the day.

[cetera]

Big thanks to all for coming and making this year another great success. Always good to put faces to names/usernames!

 

The venue worked, I think,..... especially considering how spoilt we'd been in the past with access to lots of rooms and a hall in a school!

 

Thank you's from me to Paul @NancyJohnson and Paul @prowla in particular for doing a lot of the advance legwork and prep as I was unavailable. Also, of course to our guest speakers re: cab shooutout and pickups.... and to my old schoolmate @Mike Brooks and good friend Chris Childs for their insights and contributions.

 

I think @stevie may have secured (or is about to!) a few orders as well so a great day all around!

 

Edited 5 hours ago by cetera

[NancyJohnson]

If we're happy with the venue - it seemed to work well enough - I think we'd be more than happy to arrange one for next year.

 

Obviously, there's going to be some minor logistical issues, but all in all if we just set out a handful of ground rules at the start and stick to timings, we should be good.

 

Personally, thanks to Paul and Gary and to everyone that turned up!

[Dood]

I would have loved to have been there, it looks and sounds liek it was a lot of fun and tehre's plenty of you I'd like to have seen again and, of course met for the first time! Maybe next time. Looking forward to seeing all the pics and vids!

[Bix]

Thanks to all who organised such a great day, and for everyone who brought along such a wide range of gear. It really was a lot of fun and great to meet so many of you.

 

Really enjoyed the talk with Matt from Montys ... still trying to figure out which P pickup I should buy since they both sounded excellent. Also loved the fact that we had a hall full of us listening to bass loops through different cabs. That was an eye opener given my favourite was an 8".

[Phil Starr]

Many thanks to Paul and Paul for organising. It was a trip down memory lane for me as i used to teach in Wokingham and Nine Mile Ride was a regular part of my cycling route if I ever headed east from Reading.

 

Really good to meet some new faces and I was pleasantly surprised as to how much difference new pickups would make. Apparently I'm a sixties fan, who knew?

[Mike Brooks]

I tried to broadcast a Live Chat on the fly but the phone reception proved problematic (hence why the visuals look like an outtake from Minecraft!)...but you get the idea and vibe!

 

https://youtube.com/live/ecqUO5LDXTQ?feature=share

[police squad]

I nearly forgot to mention @Phil Starr bass cab shootout / blind test

Not only was it interesting but quite jaw dropping actually

Who knew a 1x8 could sound so full, so much so it's my next project to do

Nice one Phil

[Phil Starr]

If anyone wants to build the 8" design it is here. It works as it is but we are tweeking the design by a couple of mm to make panel cutting a bit easier. the designs should be tweaked in the next few days.

 

Heaven knows how BassChat chose a pic of a different cab to show

 

 

 

[police squad]

15 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

If anyone wants to build the 8" design it is here. It works as it is but we are tweeking the design by a couple of mm to make panel cutting a bit easier. the designs should be tweaked in the next few days.

 

Heaven knows how BassChat chose a pic of a different cab to show

 

 

 

I'm working through it at the moment

is the 8" screwed from the inside, like in the video of you making the slightly smaller 1x12" Phil?

[prowla]

47 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

If anyone wants to build the 8" design it is here. It works as it is but we are tweeking the design by a couple of mm to make panel cutting a bit easier. the designs should be tweaked in the next few days.

 

Heaven knows how BassChat chose a pic of a different cab to show

 

 

 

It'd be interesting to see smaller drivers in larger cabs, ie. is the bass response due to the cab size or the driver.

There's also the question of isobarik loading - I think Orange did that in some cabs.

[prowla]

I'm just tucking into a slice of cake to round off lunch...

FYI, the way we sorted out the cost of the CostCo run was I charged the takings pro-rata for what was used (eg. 50% of the cost for half a cake having been scoffed) and the what was left remained mine (including the slice I've just had).

A piece of cake, so to speak!

There were a load of cups/plates/wooden cutlery left over, so they've got to @NancyJohnson's for future use; they now belong to the charity and will either appear at next year's event or other suitable activities.