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I know a nice place to have a burger and pint in Caernarfon that isn't fun to get to from here...

I don’t know how big the magnet is on the back of a Celestion 12” speaker…. but that’s what I used as a bass rest for about 5 minutes. Then it dawned on me what I’d just done. Schoolboy error.

If you know, you know. Considering you joined here 3hrs ago and are already asking this question, I doubt people will respond as you're likely to be confused for a certain Mr Hall

Hi All, Our band's debut album is now available on Bandcamp and the usual other streaming outlets. Recorded at the excellent Crosstown studios in Liverpool earlier this year, we're pretty happy with the results. Please give it a listen, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. https://awkland.bandcamp.com/album/epithreat Cheers folks! Neil

Although a humorous answer, this isn't a bad example. Even if you bang a big wooden box, play the strings of a cello, acoustic guitar, mallet the notes on a glockenspiel, they all have certain characteristics in common where you should be able to tell that said thing is made of wood. (Unless you're the amateur sound engineer I encountered who seemingly couldn't hear anything above about 1khz..) Therefore, it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility to suggest they have a 'woody tone'. And all have a lot going on in the mid-range frequencies, over, say, hammering a lump of steel or slapping someone around the face with a kipper. Yes, don't get pedantic, there's always the odd exception to the rule and as I said earlier, the rest of the signal chain can make a big difference too, but, isolating the instrument alone, those woody frequencies are in broadband mids. Another trick is to roll of the very low bass frequencies and have a gentle roll off in the treble. The Bergantino B|Amp has both low and high pass filters on it that are brilliant for carving the ends of the frequency spectrum. Brilliant!

Depends I suppose. I think I could play whatever in my hard rock band, but in my life I've been in two bands with an 'image', pop punk and indie. I guess the extreme example would be a tribute band.

Quiet couple of weeks for me, our annual 2 weeks blanking the duo’s diary for holidays etc. However, I’ve had a couple of gigs this weekend with friends. First one was my favourite boozer, The Sun Inn in Beverley on Saturday evening, depping with a band of mates in their dad rock band. Absolutely torrential rain so expected it to be quiet but by 9pm we had a nearly full pub when we started. It was one of those gigs that didn’t really gel for some reason - guitarists struggled a bit, and it was a bit too loud towards the end. Still, went down well so job done I guess. Played my P-Lyte into the Rumble 500 combo. Then yesterday it was playing at a memorial gig for a good friend Lynn Blakeston ( Blake ) who died in April. This was in a local civic hall, with a big PA and backline / kit supplied. Plenty of acts / bands lined up to play, and of course we were on last ( bit annoying because we all arrived early but hey ho). I was playing with an old Hull band called ‘Uncle Sam’ who were an early country rock band in the mid to late 70’s. Four original members plus myself. John Cambridge on drums ( ex-Bowie) and Steve Lee on lead vocals ( also a writer / multi instrumentalist with a CV including Joan Armatrading, Lionel Richie, Will Young, Then Jericho). Steve came up from London for the gig, and was amazing - a pleasure to play with such a talented singer. I used my 63 Precision which had done a lot of gigs with Blako so seemed fitting. Used the house HA5000 / 410 which was fine. We did eight songs, including stuff from Poco, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt and went down well, with a few dancers at the front and a good reception from the rest of the audience who were mainly made up of musicians. Despite the sadness of the occasion it was still good to see loads of people I’ve not seen for ages, and we all agreed we’d have to do it again in happier circumstances.

I'm not the world's best singer, but the chance that tuning down a random selection of songs half-step will make a meaningful difference to more than one or two songs is negligible.

I just bought a bass off John, one I’d sold to him a few years ago in fact. As before, it was a textbook deal, smooth and clear comms all the way.

Alas, Spondon is no longer a hop, skip and a thirty-minute drive from my abode.

Also, these are the pups which an image search tells me are Duncans but no actual text on the subject so not sure how Google has come to that conclusion...

I really enjoyed hearing that. If anyone needed proof how good Spector basses can sound out in the wild, now they have it. That band sounds tight, and the repertoire really suits your Spector basses. Great job all-round.

Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd

Band have to live with what I decide to bring along on the day! Turned up for a dep with my Hohner B2 once, and they loved it.