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Re Tame Impala - both! It's the one man psychedelic pop/rock band of Kevin Parker. He plays everything on all his albums, as nicely depicted in this video he made back in lockdown days: I get what you're saying, Hofners are a particular vibe and I certainly don't want to play mine all the time, but they're also more versatile and can fit into more genres than most people would have you believe.

Hi, I've been gigging for a few years with an Ashdown OriginAL HD1 300w. For the most part it's been brilliant, small and more than powerful enough for 90% of the gigs I play. The band is becoming more successful, bigger stages with higher expectations! Of course the bigger gigs is through PA and amp is jsut for monitoring. I wondered if the Mesa is going to be that extra little bump I need for those 10% of the middle ground. I like the idea of something nice and small, low maintenance and reliable. I play through either a single RM 112 (small venues) or RM 115 + 210 Large venues - all 300w 8ohm cabs.

I had one of the new Levinson Blade guitars (a Tele) come through earlier this year. It was very good quality. I'd like to try one of the basses, especially the 2-band active "Austin Standard". The UK Distributor is Scan.co.uk. I just noticed that the swanky B3-Custom flame maple topped Active Jazz is £1400! But to get Levinson Blade quality for £399 is certainly a good deal. I'll be interested to hear what you think of them, Brian.

OK - just not really ubiquitous though and I've not heard (of) a couple of those bands anyway. Is Tame Impala a person or a band? As per my previous comment, I'm not saying they're bad instruments, but the numbers starkly say they're not inspirational must-have choices.

This year has been really busy for me with bands. I started the year in a 3-piece rock band that we'd been doing for a few years. Originals, obscure covers, mainly desert rock style. Only a few gigs a year at small venues. I'd recently early semi-retired and was looking for something else in addition. I joined what appeared to be a busy established (15 years) classic rock covers band and learned the 30 songs and went out gigging regularly. It was good to get back into that regular routine however there were issues that I've covered in detail on other threads and I wasn't 100% happy. Then in September, the band announced it was going to split in December, so I started looking around. I auditioned for a busy, long-established Bristol-based cover band and got it. I'm currently learning a 40 song list. The new-to-me band has a great vibe, a very interesting crowd-pleasing set and is a real team effort. I got to see the last show with the outgoing bassist and chatted to him at length, which was really useful. I think I've learned around 80 songs this year in total, I've also managed to focus on improving my technique, my reading, my ears and my theory all in parallel with learning the sets and working on my sound and getting back into doing backing vocals. I'm up to around 30 hours a week of focus and am enjoying it more than ever. Not having to be part of the corporate machine anymore helps a lot. The band I started the year with split, the band I joined to expand my activity split and now I'm getting ready to rehearse and gig in '26 with a band that so far has been very positive. The overall effect on health and wellbeing has been tangible.

I bought a modern Hofner violin while recovering from a back injury - it had a good thumping bass sound and weighed so much less than a solid body bass. I wasn't so keen on its 'look' so sold it once I was recovered. Lately I bought a bass ukulele and that reminds be a bit of the Hofner.

suspect things like apple pay will be able to cope…. or any credit or debit card linked to an underlying wallet populated with whatever stable coin variant/s are adopted for use.

Very nice - I really liked mine too, but as per usual, something better came up and I traded it in. The Pure Vintage 64's are among the best passive Jazz pickups out there. Mixed with the free-breathing Nitro finish and you've got an unbeatable passive combination. I have the same pickups in my American Original Jazz. Congrats, you've got a great bass there!

I am SO looking forward to the Ten Items Or Less checkout at Sainsburys in an era of blockchain for everything ...

Curt Smith has played them for best part of 20 years I believe, a lot longer than he was a 'pop star' in the 80's. Johanna from First Aid Kit switched to playing bass live around 2017 and consistently alternates between a Mustang and Hofner for specific songs. Tame Impala primarily uses a 500/1 for recording, it's all over multiple albums of his. Air have used them on a couple of albums, but most importantly all through Moon Safari for classic basslines such as La Femme D'Argent - which is the reason I wanted one... They've all used Hofners extensively for live work and/or recording. I'll let you off with Weller, although I've seen multiple photos of him playing both Clubs and 500/1 😉

Sorry I should probably have offered a bit more advice. If you aren't used to metal bashing steel is really forgiving but you can stretch it and even bruise it if you are too rough. use a soft faced hammer in this instance and keep the hammer square to the work. Swinging in an arc will mean you are beating with the edge of the hammer concentrating the force on the edge instead of spreading it. Find a flat rigid surface supported so it wont move or bend. The idea is to 'push' the metal down onto this surface. I found that I could simply push the sheet flat with my hands to start with. That takes out the convex curve but leaves the edges which have a more distinct fold in them. Turn the grille upside down and start to adress that. Use gentle blows with a soft hammer and remember you are trying to push it into shape so you can go gently and use repeated blows rather than trying to knock the hell out of it. Work steadily around the piece. You'll now find bits that were up are now down so you'll need to flip the grille again and try from the other side and it will gradually get flatter. The other thing to note is that beating the metal heats it slightly so lots of repeated blows will soften it, slowly working your way around means you'll find the metal starts doing what you want. I find it quite therapeutic That makes it all sound a bit complicated, it isn't. Just work steadily and it's a job of a few minutes

I bought a pedal from Jim, great communication, well packaged, deal with confidence! Thanks!

As a tribute, we needed a Showreel, so we did a mash of DIY and pro. Recorded audio ourselves at a rehearsal space (individually not as a live take), guitarist's brother is a bit of a whizz at recording. Went to a theatre to mime to the track on a stage, where a guy did mate's rates for multiple shots of video. The guitarist has the know how to then edit the audio and video to this end product. Probably cost us £300 to rent spaces and pay for video recording but would have cost x3 that if our band didn't have the knowledge and contacts to bring it together.

Tube Snake Boogie - ZZ Top

Love Me Like A Reptile - Motorhead

I have to stop playing too much. The Bluegrasss band has two booking agents and we’ve got 60 dates in the book, including 4 European trips. As a result, I’ve canned all other projects (aside from a Blue Note jazz band) as it’s not fair on the family.

This'll be our biggest challenge!

This is excellent advice. Last function-style band I was in we rented a studio and paid for a professional to film and edit it. Paid itself back within 2 gigs.