All Activity

I'm in as long as it's not the last weekend in June. Probably.

The Musicman Retro '70s StingRay Bass is exactly that. I bought my pre EB Ray new in 1981 and the original 2 band preamp is much less refined than more modern versions. I understand the retro model has that more "in your face" delivery, as evidenced by many YouTube videos.

If Fender do take over, I hope they keep all staff and continue to manufacture G&L. Leo will be going home.

Last night's rehearsal was meant to be the first sight of our 'Country' set list for a dedicated Country & Western gig to raise funds for the hall we rehearse in. As usual, the band leader kept the list secret until about an hour before the rehearsal (annoying but not insurmountable) and we turned up only to find that he and the sax player had been called out on an RNLI shout. They are both members of the volunteer crew for the local inshore rescue boat and for gigs they are listed as 'unavailable'. For rehearsals, which take place in the hall about 300m from the lifeboat station, they are on call and it's pot luck whether they go out or whether they are covered by other volunteers on a first come first sent basis. But the show must go on, as they say, so we made a start with me singing 'John Henry' and 'Achy Breaky Heart', the trombonist singing '9 to 5' and one of the Uke players doing a sterling version of 'Ghost Riders in the Sky'. We also tried 'Man I Feel Like a Woman', not on the list but one we all through should be. They worked surprisingly well. We kept getting text message updates about the ETA of the BL and sax player but it became clear that the rescue was taking longe than expected (sea conditions and lack of light) so we called it a day around an hour early. I used a recently acquired Squire PJ through my recently rediscovered Laney Digbeth pre amp into the desk. The two idiots who got themselves cut off on a tidal island, despite signs showing the tide times and repeated warnings from the local Coastwatch volunteers as they set off, were rescued safely thanks to the actions of two lifeboats crews (6 volunteers in total).

That's poor from HD with no advertising. Don't understand that at all. Why spend money on a band and have poor turnout by not advertising it. Its just stupidity especially when HD aint doing so well at the moment. Onto the next one Daryl. Dave

That’s a reasonable price for a UK manufactured amp.

Bought a pedal from Aidan. He is a thorough gentleman and a credit to the Basschat community. Many thanks!

The Telecaster that he used for the solo on Stairway to Heaven sold an awful lot of Les Pauls.

Yes, I sold it last week. I’m pretty sure they could easily replicate what made it special. Neck profile, lovely maple neck, pencil thin frets. They couldn’t replicate 40 years of playing I guess…

Apparently the original was in F#, but they re-recorded it a tone and a half lower, Don Henley would agree!

It looks like the ABM Evo V is still in their custom shop section. https://ashdownmusic.com/collections/custom-shop

I'm in a Zep tribute band, so I kinda should know these things!! EB77?? Do you mean pre EB? I'm not sure that you can exactly replicate these things, but that is not to say that old guitars are necessarily good. Certainly the pre EB Stingray that I played at @walshy's display at the Leeds Bradford guitar show was extremely nice!

The man bought a CD from me despite my ineptitude in giving him the wrong PayPal address. Efficient and courteous, recommended!

I watch the prices of Bongos on Reverb quite closely (I'd like to rebuild my Bongo stable) and, in the US, they're still $2k-plus most of the time, if you want one that was made in the last 10 years. You do get the odd older one, before they started using the lightweight hardware, going for less, but not all that many. I'm after two 6-strings - fretted and fretless, and fretless Bonge sixers are as rare as rocking horse s**t. Considering they get made fun of quite regularly, you might think they're not desirable or in demand, but the people that know, know. They're keepers. Plus, they've had some good visibility in recent years from the likes of John Myung, The Omnific, Nothing More and various others who have gravitated towards them.

Friday was with The Bonnevilles at the Gate in Sutton Coldfield. It's a pub on two levels - last time I played there we were at bar level, this time (as a few times before) we were at front door level which is a metre or so lower. It's OK for space. All went well, most of the punters stayed there and there were a few dancers in the tiny area available. Fortunately the singer (with the PA) and I managed to get parking close to the door, it's not a great place for access. Sei Flamboyant 5 headless -> Lekato wireless -> Zoom MS-60B+ -> Tecamp Puma 900 -> GR Bass AT212. Caravelle memory foam trainers with socks. Saturday was with Dirty Roses at the Wheatsheaf in Atherstone. There is a reasonable amount of space there (though I should have got them to put the pool table at the side rather than the back). Load in and out is crap, you have to find somewhere close by on the street to leave the car and then get the gear through a narrow passageway leading to the rear of the pub. Gig itself went OK - did seem a bit fraught at one point as two big blokes (I only came up to their shoulders) seemed to be squaring up right in front of us, but someone cooled them down a bit and separated them, and they were back to being besties an hour later. It's one of those transient pubs where people move on, and by the end of the night the audience had dwindled from about 50 to about 20. And I forgot to take my glasses and my phone - fortunately the only small writing I have to make out is MIDI IN and OUT and I could manage that, the other small (and faint) writing is "Transmitter" and "Receiver" on the wireless and that's now labelled with a big "Tx" and "Rx" that I have no problem making out. Same gear and footwear as last night. No phone so no photo from me. David Bailey quality photo from the drummer.

And UK made.

I don’t know much about Led Zep to be fair, but the point still stands. The 1977 EB I just sold is far and away the best Stingray I’ve ever played. But I reckon they could replicate it easily enough (if they wanted to).

Richard III. Supergrass

Interestingly Ashdown have updated their product range, and the ABM Evo V is no more. In its place is a new ABM Evo IV with an all-metal chassis. I think it looks fantastic, and it will continue to look fantastic right up to the first time you take it out the house . https://ashdownmusic.com/products/uk-abm-600-evo-iv