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This concert, from 1974, will only be on YouTube until this Tuesday. Frank Zappa channel. Awreety awrighty!

Here’s a clip of a gig from just over a week ago - hopefully it demonstrates the bottom B well enough as I’m sat on a low C for a lot of the song 😅

Electrician here. @Marky L's bodge isn't quite as unsafe as you would imagine. The top pin on a plug is used as a path for current to flow to earth, should this be necessary (when there is a fault). As a safety measure, British three pin plugs will not enter a socket without the top pin present. You may notice that the top pin is slightly longer than the bottom two pins; when the top pin enters the socket, the guards over the socket holes for the bottom two pins will open and allow the bottom two pins to enter. You can't access the bottom two socket hole without the top pin entering first. This is to stop kids, or anyone, sticking their fingers in a socket and getting a shock. Marky's pedal board power supply is a 'class 2' bit of kit. Class 2 kit doesn't use the earth pin for safety (it doubly insulates the live terminals inside the plug instead). Consequently, he only needs the top pin of the plug to be there to open the bottom two pins and connect the plug to the power source. The big lump of a pedal board PSU plug houses a transformer, which takes the 230 volt mains down to a pedal board friendly 9v (or something similar). 9 volts are quite safe.

Well I did use it for a number of gigs and then sat in the bag for a while (hence the six months). TBH, we used to do similar in a computer store I worked in years ago when we got euro plugs in on something. At least I wasn't using a screwdriver to stick in the earth socket 😆

Fantastic. It’s solid as a rock and doesn’t suffer from the shorter scale at all; I’ve had other 5s in various flavours of 34”, 33”, 32” and whilst all were perfectly fine, none of them have been as balanced as this one. All Alan’s basses are well enough built and thought out that you’ll never be wanting but this just adds “something”; Alan has a theory that the bigger body of this (vs some of his other designs which I’ve had) helps to solidify the bottom end that little bit more. In terms of the feel of the string, that’s helped by the custom wound Newtones which are brilliant. The tension is absolutely perfect for me; I don’t like too much flexibility/looseness in a string and these are great.

Porcupine Tree is a local tribute band, isn't it? 🤪🤔🤦🏻

Awesome band, the real deal 👍

I wonder how the auditions went: can you play some Paganini and some bluegrass. Yes. Now can you try on this tight red dress?

Caught a bit of the Scissor Sisters set last night, CMAT should take note, this is how to put on a polished professional performance.

Some notorious Yourtubers like Josh Fossgreen from BassBuzz and Nate Navarro.

Jeez, Rod just got the lines wrong in Maggie May! Good on him for still doing what he does, I just don’t like what he does, Glasto feeling a bit naff 😕

David sold me his Westone Thunder 1 bass. We met in Thirsk and it was a pleasure to meet him and buy the Westone. No issues whatsoever and I'm very happy to have the matching paid of Thunder bass and Thunder guitar. Top man Rob

This is absolutely gorgeous! How does the B string feel on the shorter scale?

Yes, glad to be back playing live. We haven't been together long so the gig was a bit early but none of us are new to this. Many more to come hopefully. The bass is one of these: https://www.guitar.co.uk/reverend-decision-p-bass-venetian-pearl I love it; reverse P with added bite from the bridge pup. Goes very well with the GK head, cuts through nicely.

Having worked extensive in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Greece, nowhere is as bad in Europe as the Greeks and their driving, especially in Athens. Mind you the only time I have ever closed my eyes and actually thought we were 100% going to crash and die was India. We didn't, but I was terrified. Did a three week trip around India and nothing prepared me for how bad it was. For one traffic jam going in to Delhi, our driver simply drove across fields as do many others to avoid the jam. This is in a modern version of the old Austin Cambridge. Overturned lorries, card running at night with no lights, cars going down the wrong way on streets. All completely mad and yet we never actually hit anything. Rob

John Taylor of Duran Duran isn't exactly a gospel player and plays maybe too big stages when he appears on TV... And maybe Mike Porcaro was a weekend warrior playing only poorly advertised and badly paid pub gigs never seen on TV...

I've only watched bits and pieces of Glastonbury. Alanis Morissette, enjoyed her set. Glass Beams were good (although I assume there must have been backing tracks of some what, which I don't like much). Charlie xcx, abysmal. The presenter that introduced her on the beeb could barely control his pubescent excitement. And then... it was like watching a parody film clip of the future of live music. If this is what is being hailed as good new music, artists should be rightly worried by AI.

I think they belong in the £1000 - £1500 market, that 3k pricing looks ridiculous to me.

Rod seems to have little self-awareness or sense of irony. I suppose at this stage in his life that must be a blessing.

The newer generations of bass players are keen on their downtuning. Other than going all in with radical fanned frets, I think a 35-inch scale is a shrewd decision in today's environment.

I have never been able to get along with 35" basses but of those I tried, the Cirrus and the MTD were pretty comfortable. The reason is that top horn, they go pass the 12th fret which pull the bass back to the bridge side making the 35" scale feel more like a 34".

I thought so! The "Precision to Jazz conversion" made it sound like there was something more going on 😄

Indeed. Or dysentery.

Marble Tulip Juicy Tree - Ween