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I hope that gets labelled the "Al Krow FM heaven" patch when it's formally released! 😅 But more seriously, great work, thanks Peter.

Okay then. If this is $299 and £339 over here, why is the XB Driver $500 and £620 over here? Ooh, look, Tech21 and/or Rocky Road are selectively price gouging us on the more premium products. Just like they did with the Dug amp. $1700 and £2500 here. Until they sort that out, as a company they're dead to me.

I didn't know it was called that, but it's definitely called that from now on, lol

Kiss of Death - New Order

I was going to but it worked out as being the same price. Mine doesn't have any of those fretting issues.

Tell me, is this tactic still known as "the arse grabber"?

I bought Simon's Shuttlemax 9.2 and he was so easy to deal with. I'm in New Zealand, so there were a few more hurdles to clear than a local sale, starting with the item being shipped to NZ and then for unknown reasons, returned to Simon. But he was cool and calm and happy to try again. Long story short, the Shuttlemax arrived in NZ and everything was good to go! I highly recommend Simon to anyone and wouldn't hesitate to buy from again. A man of his word and super easy to communicate and deal with. 10/10. Thanks Simon!

I do love that Epi LP bass. Dave

Kiss of Light - BeBop Deluxe

Dead spots are inevitable on wooden necked basses in my experience, it isn't a flaw so much as just physics. My 2025 ABZ has a dead spot on 8th fret of G string. I've found Fender basses often have one around the 6th. Neither BassDirect or Dingwall will be able to help you I'm afraid. The fact you've had it over 6 months before noticing is a worthy point to consider.

Hey gang.. Some of the longer-term members here might remember that I play in the house band at Sunday for Sammy, a huge music & comedy show that - until 2020 - happened every couple of years at Newcastle Arena. We've had some amazing guests over the years... Mark Knopfler, Brian Johnson, Trevor Horn, The Auf Wiedersehen Pet cast, Johnny Vegas, etc. But then COVID happened. And then nothing... until now! After 18 months of planning by an amazing team, it all happens again next Sunday. Two shows in one day, with a huge cast, it's a massive logistical challenge. I've been working on the songs in my own time for the last few months, and rehearsals start in earnest tomorrow. In the meantime, the crew loaded in to the rehearsal space today, and we (the core band) popped along in the afternoon to set up and do line checks. Here's some photos - more tomorrow! Two J's at the moment - both with flats. I might switch one for a P. FOH is set up in one of the dressing rooms. Monitors. My drummer pal. Guitar village. My hangout.

With a loud metal band, my 600W Ashdown amp is running at about quarter on the master volume knob. When we had a second guitarist, I was close to a third on the knob. Im pretty sure the 300W version of the same amp would do me just fine but the used market is ful of 600W ABM heads and 300W ABMs are really hard to find. There's definitely a difference in speaker efficiency. If I take my 210 and 115 GK cabs to practice then ill run the master volume lower than if I use the battered old Peavey 410 cab in the studio.

My TC 250w combo is more than adequate for gigs, certainly in pubs or where there's a PA, and I use it for rehearsals too. My home practice 'amp' is a Pandora and a set of cans.

Tonights rig. I chickened out of using the new small compact budget rig. Sometime you just have to go for what you know 🙂

Ray of Light - Madonna

Have we been playing for the same bands Anyway my experience at last rehearsal was that the band were playing through the set just to avoid the rust, we had half a dozen new songs which we spent time on but we regularly play around a third of our set when we have a longish gap between gigs. The band were playing all our usual songs maybe 5bpm fater than the originals not absurd but fast enough to be a little frantic. We're meant to be a dance band and I know that any band who plays faster 'for excitement' kills the dancers who can't move that quickly. It was late though and I guess they wanted to go home but I said at the end something along the lines of great but we don't want to play that fast at a gig. They, unusually, got really cross with me I didn't apparently know what I was talking about. The thing is that my practice always contains a major part where i just play along with the originals I absolutely feel any change in tempo from that original. I know the singer and drumer never listen to the originals because if there's an error in the lyrics anywhere or a version by another singer she'll find them, sing them and swear they were in the original song. The drummer is in two bands and only learns the drums properly once the song is established and the guitarist bless him listens to every version he can find then solves the intellectual puzzle of playing two guitar parts, keys and brass section all at the same time by coming round to mine and methodically going through everything. I think it proves one of the earlier posts that talked about the fallibility of memory and what we really remember is how it was the last time we played it through in our heads. My other band play with a click track, it is bliss

As promised, a few rough FM clips (please forgive the crappy playing). @Al Krow, the last one is especially for you. 😉 QM Bass 01.mp3 QM Bass 02.mp3 QM Bass 03.mp3 QM Bass 10.mp3 QM Bass 14.mp3 QM Bass 18.mp3 QM Bass 19.mp3 QM Bass 21.mp3 QM Bass 23.mp3 QM Bass 24.mp3 QM Bass 25.mp3 QM Bass 28.mp3 QM Bass 29.mp3 QM Bass 33.mp3

So I seem to be settled on these two boards, that do everything I need. Top board is the electric bass board, and the bottom one is the double bass/EUB board.

First gig of this year for Blues Delux at a regular local bar in Stirling. Sunday afternoon set finishing at 7pm, very chilled out as we were again playing to diners and people out for a quiet drink, so it's more or less a usual Sunday crowd. The gig started off quite ropey. First song it was obvious the levels were all a bit askew. Second song we had recovered the levels but for unknown reasons our guitarist played the song in the wrong key before stopping midway through to tune his guitar and joining in for the last verse chorus almost in tune. Then the bar staff came up to us as we were about to start the third tune and said there had been a complaint from a customer about the loudness of the band, and would we mind turning everything up!? So we did, and the rest of the gig was rock and roll. We stopped briefly to do a short acoustic set in the middle of the gig with our singer and guitar player on acoustic. Also got complimentary beer from the pub for the first time ever. Not sure what that was all about. Rig wise I'm in a really happy place at present. Silverstone II and a TE AH250 GP12 SMX almost sound as if they were made for each other. The dual band comp is I think the secret sauce that makes it all sound so good. Back up amp was a GK 400RB IV and used it on the second set just for the hell of it. Playing my Sadowsky a lot more recently and it also adds something new and good to the sound. To sum up, ropey start, but a rock n roll finish with free beer, and an early night. ☺️