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Absolutely love that violet - could I ask who performed the respray?

A busy weekend for Nine Lives, two shiny new (to us) venues to play! Saturday it's the North Bar in Peterhead, Sunday it's the Pittendrum Bar in Sandhaven.

We are! A combination of the height at which I wear the bass and my own physiology I suspect but Schallers just don’t work for me - I tried the newer version but with the same result. Both my Shortys have Dunlop Dual pins. For security, I double over the ends of the Comfort Strapp, then add the rubber washer. This prevents any forward swivel and provides a bit of solidity and stability. I still have Schallers on the ‘bic shorties but only play seated - strap balance is a joke (again, preference and physiology - I’m sure they’re fine for many players). Here’s the Shortys - a rare day of strong sunshine up here

Yes it's (probably) a set of '62 pickups, some hardware and half a neck. Proudly listed as a 1962 Fender. Totally ridiculous to list it like that imo.

I remember solid-state plug-and-play valve alternatives advertised in guitar magazines back in the 80's. For the life of me I can't remember the brands behind them. BK Butler, or Seymour Duncan or someone! I wonder if this new product is a variation like those by AMZ or Soundsmith? **EDIT - Yellow Jackets! Such as a 6L6 / EL34 alternative, my brain cell came up with the goods today!

Ach, I was just being a devil. Have a great gig!

Yeah... We played with them at the Dopethrone gig and they're really good and a nice bunch of guys. Their logo is like a magic eye though. You've got to know what you're looking for!

Is that what it says?

I’d prefer not to choose a photo ta, so that leaves 2 😊

We're second on for Saturday, 2:30. Wallowing (Saturday headliners) are well worth checking out if you're there too.

I needed some weird reverbs and noises, so I took a £50 punt on the M-VAVE ANNBLACKBOX and I've got to be honest, it's better than I expected. I need to repair the FI again though, the output level pot has died just like last time. I'll have to take it off the board, the pot isn't solid enough to survive being in the bag. What synth do you think I should replace it with? Wish I could get one of the 3D printed recase kits to turn it into the mini version, then I could pull it into the board a little and off the back edge, which would protect that pot... replacing the pot is a complete ballache as well.

Round Goes The Gossip - Focus

Return To Sender - Elvis P.

Hey, you must be somewhere near me! I'm based out near Newbury after many years near Maidenhead and I gig up and down the M4 a lot.

The Letter - The Box Tops

Exactly. One of the many reason why I no longer use a bass amp and cabs and go straight into the PA. The big rig might have looked impressive on stage, but for most of the gigs I played it was at best a personal monitor and a lot of the time simply a big, heavy and expensive stage prop. It seems completely backwards to me that the bass players who benefit most from having expensive amps and cabs are those who are technically on the lowest rung of the gigging ladder playing pubs with a vocal-only PA. That's an observation and not a slight on those playing pubs, but from experience the bigger the venue and stage the less important the personal amplification for the bass player becomes (see my experience above). Only when you get to play really big venues where there is room for acoustic screening around the backline and the cabs can be isolated and mic'd up, do expensive rigs start to make sense again. For me any spare cash would be better spent on studio time for the band with a great producer.

The wide ones look really comfortable. What's on the other side? Would it grip a little and counteract neck dive a little?

The Numbers - Radiohead

It's antiques, and if you think second hand car dealers have some dodgy practices, you should look into the antiques world, in which the seller is often able to capitalise on the buyer's strong emotional need for the item to be authentic, as well as the fact that - given antique purchases are as much about bragging rights as owning a piece of history - buyer's sometimes don't care about authenticity if they are able to pass it off as authentic..... And if you think the antiques market is bad, wait until you get into the religious artefacts market, how many fingers can one saint have had, perhaps their saintly powers allowed them to keep growing new ones.....?

The Final Countdown - Europe

I agree. So many guitars also wood with some tenuous BS connection to a “star” as well. It’s a very odd marketplace indeed.

Beat the Clock - Sparks