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I googled if he had Aspergers and it brought me here. Dude was sensitive and loved his cats among all the things you all have listed. I too believe he was misdiagnosed since it often is. Man was a sweetheart. Me and both my boys have Aspergers and when you live with it you tend to notice that touch of awesomeness in others. People greatly misunderstand it.

Stores are at liberty to list at whatever price they like once they’ve bought and paid for units; RRP is just that, recommended. They’ll order in bulk and get a better deal. Big stores can afford smaller margins on some products. And it’s not uncommon at all for the launch price of a product to be 10-20% higher than later on once more units have sold. I don’t think anyone who has already bought one is feeling ripped off. Getting a chunk of money up front means that they can afford to pay me for all my work!🙂

This is brilliant! The only reason I suspect I used to get a slightly higher fee is because often I’d be doubling on lead guitar and keys (plus BV’s, maybe percussion if needed, etc) which meant an artist or band leader could go out as a four piece instead of having to hire an fifth player, thus saving two lots of session fees, or an extra hotel room or extra plane ticket, so I could ask for a bit of extra dough. Didn’t always get it, but if you’re doing ‘double bubble’ there’d be a good chance of slightly better pay. Plus, most of my touring post-2000 was done in Europe where you’d be paid more anyway. Session players in the UK shouldn’t still be on £150 a night in the UK if there’s artist management and crew involved. I don’t think it’s worth it if you’re having to learn two or three hours of repertoire, absolutely note for note as on the records, just for a one-nighter or maybe a pair of gigs at an 02 or somewhere. But plenty still do it.

Marshall VBA400 - If you ever need to knock a stadium over... Ampeg SVT CL - king of the beasts for just about everything else. Ampeg B100R - closest you can get to vintage Motown magic without breaking your back or your bank managers heart

Firehouse - Kiss

I've played through a lot of amps over the years but have come to appreciate what I have now as some of the best sounding and most versatile I've owned and used. These three are the most often actually used in my gear stash for different reasons, and my top three selection of currently used amps. The Ashdown ABM really is a swiss army knife of bass amps and I haven't been without an ABM now for over ten years. It's a tested design and taking the time to really get to know it's EQ will reveal a myriad of useable tones. It's also what I use for the louder gigs and it always delivers. The Ashdown Labs MK500 is also used during louder gigs and has the volume of the ABM but has a very much more refined Hi Fi quality. Sounds wonderful with my Player P-Bass with the five year old flats on it. Silky smooth clicky tones and it's also Hi Fi quiet noise wise, and even with the master on full it's difficult to tell its switched on at idle. The harmonic emphasis knob is a mysterious and wonderful thing. Not quite sure what it does but it makes everything sound great. The mid nineties Trace Elliot GP7 SM130 has been my most gigged amp of late as I've switched to mostly to low volume small bar gigs. It's never up more than half way and is more than loud enough. It's been a revelation playing gigs with only 130 or less Trace Elliot watts and the Ashdown's aren't currently getting as much use. The GP7 SM pre-amp is a wonder of simplicity to use and has so many great and classic tones. The EQ balance knob in particular has such a dramatic influence on the useable tones with even a small tweak.

Very simple in this instance. One loop clean, the other with the star shaped distortion pedal. Just to give me a completely clean blend with the dirt

The 1% THD graph shows you can get 100w and change into 8ohm at 48v which would probably translate to a decently useful pedal board amp for monitoring / rehearsal perhaps paired with a PSU something like this https://docs.rs-online.com/2729/A700000007590264.pdf. With a higher current PSU you would have to option of running 2 speakers and probably getting gigable level output.

Fire, Ready, Aim - Green Day

Just received the email to say my ‘finally’ is with UPS for its journey across the Atlantic. Exciting times, can’t wait to get my hands on it 😎

Now I had a chance to play with it with headphones, I can't believe all the options. Yes, I have the Zoom B1-4 and B3, and a helix HX, and the LT for a while, and various other stuff, but this is so accessible. The amps sound fantastic, totally clear, without the noise of the zoom ones, and seem to have real depth. A lot of the modulation options feel like straight copies of the Boss effects (which isn't too surprising) but haven't spent a lot of time with those in the past they feel very familiar. I also actually like the detune and harmonising options as well - yes, they sound artificial, but they always do and that works quite well. In general I think the only thing that really lets it down is the synth options, as I know they can do better, I can't see using those for anything. I think where it really wins for me is that I am sure there is nothing I can do on this that I can't do on the HX FX for instance, or the zoom but on this I can do it at the same time, like for instance, editing a chorus and then while adjusting it thinking 'this might work with a bit more treble', so adjusting that at the same time, and then maybe backing off the depth and changing the gain to put a bit of grit through it. Like separate effects, but with not only the ability to store them, but also not having to spend ½ hour before a gig trying to work out which patch cable is crackling or why no sound is coming out. I think this is going to be a lot of fun. But really - no power supply? huh.

So opened it up now and played a short while. No PSU? Seems a bit poor - over £300 and no 9v power supply? I mean I have one, but it seems a bit under-generous. I assume they do that because they give you 4 AA batteries so you can use it out of the box. Does anyone know what the battery life is like? I would be quite happy to not have a 9v power supply on a stage if I can help it. Anyway, so far, seems very easy to use, not much is non obvious and very hands on, which is what I was looking for, although like anything I guess it will take a while to find what you like and dont as although it seems really easy, there are actually a lot of options in there and a lot of combinations.

Sharpshooter - Motorhead

Tom Morelo of RATM fame has a bachelor's degree. My two guitarist both have PhDs, lead guitar has several, the rest of the band are accomplished tradesmen. My friend who fronts a local indierock band is a Professor in Physics at the local university (ranked 66th Times World University in 2023).

Bite the Bullet - Motörhead

Was that the Kiesel Osiris copy?

I've got a PhD in musical acoustics. In my experience, loads of people with PhDs also play instruments. Not sure if that's because well rounded, curious minded people gravitate towards music or whether it's because the kind of people who are able to go to university for 6-9 years are the kind of people whose parents get them music lessons. Its probably both tbh.

Shoot You In The Back - Motorhead

Mine arrived today. Absolutely loving it so far

Some rare birds here, I think. Good selection. I guess, “quite good at fuzzy bass noises?!” 😃

Shoot shoot. Ufo

Fire - Crazy world of Arthur Brown