I'm a musician and producer based in Brighton, UK. I've played synths, guitar, bass, trumpet and many other instruments on records by the likes of Laura Marling, The Staves, James Holden, Bear's Den and Lucy Rose. My live session work has included playing with Villagers, Timber Timbre, Broken Social Scene, Sarah Blasko and Willy Mason. I also work as a musical director including arranging, scoring and programming with Ableton. Read more about me here.

Fender bass micro-neck adjust

I have an old Fender Jazz Bass with a serial number from 1978. It needed a bit of setting up and I googled the ‘micro-neck adjust’ feature mentioned on the neck base plate and couldn’t find any information. So I thought I’d share what I found here so other people can find it more quickly.

The truss rod adjustment requires an 1/8″ allen key, the micro-neck adjustment is 3/32″. It was very stiff but some gentle leverage worked and I found that turning clockwise set the neck backwards and vice versa. By tweaking the neck angle first, then the truss rod and finally the bridge saddles I was able to get a much nicer action and overall playability. (Saddle height requires a small flat screwdriver, intonating requires a larger cross / philips head screwdriver).

Fender Jazz Bass headstock
Fender Jazz Bass black 1978

‘The Warren’ music for Piano Day

To celebrate Piano Day 2021 I’ve released a special version of my track ‘The Warren’ for piano, performed by Katherine Tinker with flute by Helen Whitaker, bass clarinet by Emma Gatrill and trumpet and tenor horn by me.

You can listen on Spotify here.

Here’s the sheet music if you want to play along!

The-Warren-Pt-1-Marcus-Hamblett-3-1Download
The-Warren-Pt-2-Marcus-Hamblett-Piano-Part-1-1Download
The-Warren-Pt-2-Marcus-Hamblett-Full-Score-1-1Download

2020 Round-Up

It was, of course, a terrible year for leaving the house. But I managed to contribute to the following records released in 2020, so in hindsight it doesn’t look too bad:

I’ve also already recorded contributions for upcoming releases by The Staves, John Smith, Villagers, Axel Flóvent, MF Tomlinson, Voka Gentle, Deep Throat Choir, Georgia Mooney, Rindert Lammers, Rich Fownes, Anna Westin, Ciaran Lavery, Bess Atwell, Kristin McClement, Emma Gatrill and more, all of which should be released during 2021.

In the words of the great David Thomas Broughton, onwards we trudge…

How to really quickly and easily repair a broken Line 6 DL4 pedal

I’ve had four or five people friends ask me to repair their Line 6 DL4 delay / loop pedal now. The problem is always quite simple – the pedal simply won’t turn on at all! The repair is just as simple. (I dread to think how many of these might have been thrown away when they could have been so easily saved.)

Basically you just need to open the pedal up and reseat the EPROM chip (carefully prise it out, then put it back in again). It takes three minutes and requires no soldering, as shown in this handy video I’ve made for you. This was 100% successful with all the ‘bricked’ DL4s I’ve received, but obviously I take no responsibility if you damage yours further!

Second solo album released today

I’m very pleased to announce my second solo album, Detritus, is out today. I’d like to thank everyone who played on it – Tom Heather, Martha Rose, James Holden, Emma Gatrill, Colin Stetson, Mathieu Charbonneau, Ben Lanz, Kate Stables, Kev Nickells, Hannah Miller, Jules Arthur and Mikey Simmonds, as well as Louisa Gladwin and James Hurst for their help recording drums and Harris Newman for mastering. Also extra special thanks to Polly Mitchell, without whom this album would probably still be unreleased, for putting her heart and soul into promoting it. You can listen to it on Spotify here, listen and buy from Bandcamp here or get it from your local record shop – assorted useful links here.

2018 roundup

43 shows with Villagers (synths and brass), 32 with Willy Mason (bass and brass), 30 with James Holden (cornet), 21 with This Is The Kit (cornet and/or guitar), 26 with Emma Gatrill (guitar and/or synths), 9 with Rachael Dadd (guitar, synths, brass), 3 with Bear’s Den + orchestra, 2 solo shows (supporting the brilliant Laurence Pike and Portico Quartet) and many others with the likes of Christof van der Ven, Alabaster de Plume, Peggy Sue, Nina Violet, Broken Social Scene, Barr Brothers, dozens of collaborations at PEOPLE festival gives me a grand total of 231 shows in 2018! Plus recording with The Staves, Lucy Rose, Bear’s Den, Rozi Plain and more.

I doubt I’ll beat that record in 2019 but already have lots of exciting stuff coming up with Christof van der Ven, Villagers and Emma Gatrill. Thanks to everyone I got to play with this year.

PEOPLE Festival in Berlin

I’m very happy to announce I’ll be performing at this year’s PEOPLE festival in Berlin. We all go and stay in the Michelberger hotel for a week, write and record together in the Funkhaus studios, make new work then perform at the end. Here’s a full list of all the incredible musicians involved:

Japan tour with Rachael Dadd, Emma Gatrill, ICHI and Rob Pemberton

I’ve had a great couple of weeks doing lots of recording and playing some great festivals with James Holden (including Rewire and BRDCST). Last night we launched Christof van der Ven‘s album into the world at a show in London.

Now I’m very excited to head to Japan this Saturday for eight shows playing guitar, electronics and brass with both Rachael Dadd and Emma Gatrill. ICHI is also doing a set and Rob Pemberton will be playing the drums:

April 17: Osaka · Osaka Club
April 20: Tokyo · VACANT
April 21: Kanazawa · Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Art Theater
April 22: Nagoya · Three Paradise
April 24: Hiroshima · Hiroshima Ushida Church
April 25: Aihime · Cosmo Theatre
April 27: Kumamoto · Hayakawa Warehouse
April 28: Fukuoka · Sumiyoshi Shrine Noh

Willy Mason UK and Irish tour

Daunting set of sold out dates for February with the great Willy Mason, playing bass and cornet:

6 Bexhill-on-Sea Albatross Club
7 Brighton Marlborough Theatre
8 Totnes Barrel House Ballroom
9 Stroud The Goods Shed
10 Bristol Cube Microplex Matinee
10 Bristol Cube Microplex
11 Cardiff Buffalo Matinee
11 Cardiff Buffalo
12 Oxford Jericho Tavern
13 Birmingham Hare & Hounds
14 Liverpool 81 Renshaw Street
15 Manchester Deaf Institute
16 Manchester Castle Hotel
17 Glasgow Glad Cafe
18 Glasgow Glad Cafe
19 Newcastle Cumberland Arms
20 Farndale The Band Room
21 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
22 London Moth Club
23 London Moth Club
24 London Moth Club

Then a few days off, including playing synth and brass with Christof van der Ven supporting Bon Iver at Hammersmith Apollo on the 26th, before heading to Ireland for eleven more in March:

1 Cork Coughlan’s
2 Cork Coughlan’s
3 Leap Connolly’s
4 Galway Roisin Dubh
5 Navan Lantern Bar
6 Bangor Drama Club
7 Bangor Drama Club
8 Derry Sandino’s
9 Dublin The Grand Social
10 Limerick Dolan’s
11 Dingle Nelliefred’s

Add these dates to the TITK tour in January and I will have done a total of 51 shows in 60 days! Playing with two bands per show at most of them too.