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Mowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears

Sort of easy to miss....you know.

Another good question, nothing is off the table and personally it's something that I would like to do... in part to honor my dad's memory since he started his engineering career during the (all) tube era designing servo amplifiers (which are similar to audio amplifiers). He then went on to handle spacecraft attitude control on the Mariner Mars project which allowed him to step away from strictly hardware design and into the control systems side of servo theory. My dad passed away 2 years ago at the age of 90, this model was the last amp that he provided his insight on (he remained interested in engineering and math until his death). It's also why I followed in his engineering footsteps at university. I wouldn't rule this out either, but there's nothing immediate on the table either. I'm always open to hearing what YOU PLAYERS would like to see, sometimes that's what provides the impetus for new projects.

It’s a great excuse to dress up, if that’s your thing. I still have my white jacket that I rolled up the sleeves of. Then came the jacket that you see in my avatar.

I've been on a bit of a journey with my Euro. I have taken the tonepump out and added an LHZ3 in. I took the pair of EMG TWs out and added in a EMG 40p5 and a 40J, essentially trying to turn a 5 string euro into a classic split p + J 1980s NS. Only issue has been...EMG. The first attempt had a p5 where the width of the magnets didn't cover the G. As such the G is weak sounding and bad to play. I tried a second EMGP5...same problem. Have any of you experienced this? The other issue is that the 40J is....quiet. notably less output than the 40P5. I'm not running a blend pot. It's two seperate volumes. But I'm having to ballpark a blend by rolling off the p5 because it just bullies the J. And I hate doing that. Just feels like it's not working as it was meant to. Have any of you experienced a quiet J? I've had two of them. Both quiet. Lastly, I'm abandoning the P5 and trying the six string 40p. This might cover the G. I am taking a risk that the A will get caught between two rails and be weak. But we will see - it can only be as bad as the 40p5 farce. Have any of you ever tried this out? Overall, I've tried to mod a Euro and I'm on the verge of cathartically defenestrating the entire thing. I didn't care for the sound of a satin finished Euro maple fretboard with the tonepump and TWs. I'm chasing the classic Spector tone. Trying to undercut the US model because I can't afford one brand new (£6500+). I'm running out of ideas. I've seen a bit of chat from some of you LHZ modders and I wonder if you have any tips because so far I'm feeling like I have botched this 'un. Anyway. Tinketytonk.

This is complicated. I want to point out that if we look back at the history, we should be aware that today's social media is faster and far more aggressive to judge people compared to historical composers and musicians. If we dig any deeper, there are many, many very controversial opinions said out loud. Such that today many would nail those persons right away. We are wiser than ever before - so was the people in Germany in the 30's. Still I read news on a daily basis which tell me about wars, famine, dictators... Why it is impossible to solve problems instead of cause more of them? If Roger Waters supports Russia instead of Ukraine, Pink Floyd still has a few good songs. Prokofiev, Wagner... let's not go to this. As was seen from @Beedster's flag example, there are lots of loud people who do not understand satire at all, although satire can be done like Kenny Everett did: with the best possible taste.

Flymo to the moon - Basie and Sinatra

Miami Mice?

Hissing Of Summer Lawns - Joni Mitchell

That's a reasonable question but, actually, if the school bass was also my main gigging bass, yes. I was walking into a venue for a gig I'd been really looking forward to about 15 years back with a DB worth around £1000 in a case worth around £50. A complete prat decided to try and 'nip' through the door ahead of me, in doing so pushed me slightly off balance, and the result was that the bridge hit the door frame, was knocked down, which broke the (f***ing expensive) wound gut E- string, but which more significantly caused the soundpost to fall. I was in a small, relatively dark venue with about an hour to fix it all, so decided instead to get my fretless electric backup and use that. Not the end of the world but the sound and performance was way off what I and the band had hoped for, especially given it was a trad music venue. In short the cash I subsequently spent on the Soundwear had nothing to do with the value of the bass and everything to do with getting that bass in and out of venues with hassles. And it did, it's one rugged, robust, and reliable bag 👍

I don't think it is fair to compare a Fela Kuti to a swastica t-shirt. Also if you can't relate to the song's lyrics, don't play it. This goes as far as I am concerned for everything. You are not going to do a song justice if you can't relate to it. And if all it is to you is a nice tune, maybe you are right that it would be disrespectful to play it. I would hope though that most people can empathize with other people's suffering no matter what color their skin happens to be and no matter where they happen to live.

Re Dreadlock Holiday I suspect that 10cc would agree. There's a post on here somewhere from about 10-15 years back when one of the members was playing in an Americana band that, as many did, used a Confederate flag as a stage prop. A member of the audience took offence and I think there was some discussion about the legitimacy of that response. For me the bottom line is that I would never want a member of the (relatively small) audience I play to feeling in any way uncomfortable at one of our gigs. Our guitarist suggested a track a while back and we were all a little surprised that our drummer said no, and did so categorically. It's quite well known song and the lyrics in question were (I assume) intended by the writer as deeply ironic. But the drummer was firm and argued that if he felt uncomfortable with the ambiguity about the irony, so might others. It was quite a helpful process because it allowed us to get to a point at which we agreed that given the sheer number of bloody decent songs out there, we should never feel any pressure to play a song that might make us or any of our audience feel uncomfortable. Does this mean that I feel that music shouldn't create discomfort? Not at all. My view is that all art should have that power. But I think there's a big difference between us lot playing a song that creates discomfort for either us or the audience, and the original performers doing the same. I suspect the difference is the the artist/entertainer distinction, the original performer was the former, while we are in real terms the latter.

Tina Burner

Purchased Mike’s Aguilar Octamizer. Great comms, quick postage, well packed - couldn’t ask for more!