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I feel I just have to share, the excitement is growíng So, after 20 long months of waiting my Wal MK1 is finished and soon to be on the way. Update photo from Paul.

I normally don’t post these but today is a bit different. Oh yes, Moog phatness! @CameronJ, @Al Krow, @GisserD, @lee650, @Bo0tsy, @tonyxtiger

I have both and they’re both well worth the money. Get The Meters one too, thank me later.

This is where my GAS is directed:

Just a two word review...

I’ve lived in Scotland for 20 years; when should I expect the rainy season to end?

Chuck’s the bassist on this track:

My band has been struggling to break into local venues and we played two gigs last year. By chance we got ourselves an agent (our guitard met her when seeing a band she represented at a local pub). We played a gig last week (arranged by her) where she saw us for the first time, and we now have eight gigs lined up so far this year. Although she is taking a small cut, she is arranging a fee that incudes her payment so there is no downside for us at all. Result!

You have to teach yourself. The 'learning how' is quite simple: notes, note values, accidentals, key signatures and rhythm. Could teach it in a couple of sessions. Learning to actually DO it is just sitting at home in a room banging away for years!.

Okay, okay so plenty of head shaking from the experts and the knowledgeable, but I just discovered Chuck Rainey. I'm learning Rock Steady by Aretha for an audition and have steadily fallen in love with the extraordinarily splendid bass line. So I do a little research and discover that I probably haven't just discovered him as he has played on so much. I have actually been listening to him for quite some time, notably with King Curtis. I just didn't know who he was. The riff to the song is a joyous thing, rhythmically perfect, and perfectly repetitive with some little unexpected flashes. He then breaks into a few bars of pure inspiration before settling back onto the groove. Yum. It's beautiful. A little more research and I find he played with Steely Dan who were of course one of Bruce Thomas favourite bands and Bruce has always been my biggest influence. So there we go. Anyone familiar with Chuck's work who'd care to point me at other of his gems would render me eternally grateful.

Yes, I know. Here we go again. There is, however, a point to this. I have been trying to work on getting a wider musical perspective recently as I am finding that my composing is suffering from a significant lack of useful and effective knowledge of harmony. I also play a lot nowadays with people who are a lot better than me and I am trying to 'catch up' as it were. I know the basics but I was finding that most of my tunes were following a very narrow pattern in terms of harmony and I wanted to find some other places to go. I also find my solos on gigs are clumsy and full of clinkers. In an effort to address these shortcomings, and knowing that there is no such thing as a quick fix, I have spent a lot more time playing guitar recently and, more to the point of the thread, learning to read treble clef so that I can look at music which is fully formed instead of just bass lines. I have been at this for a few months now, using a few 'how to read guitar music' books and, intermittently, dipping into transcriptions by people like Pat Metheny, Al DiMeola and Ralph Towner (books of transcriptions that are, for me, quite challenging). As a result of this, I am seeing a considerable improvement in my guitar playing, my knowledge of the fretboard and the ways in which these master musicians put their tunes together. This concerted study has resulted in improvements in playing and understanding that I have not seen since I was able to practice more consistently when I was a kid (I am 54). I cannot sight read treble clef yet and my reading is still slow but I am beginning to find that I can find my way around pieces much more quickly than I used to without the hassle of playing things back and forth on a transcribe software interface. My technique is improving as well which is entirely a peripheral and unlooked for benefit. I have said this before on here; for me, reading the dots is not about sight-reading on gigs. I need that occasionally but not often. For me, it is about being able to access vast quantities of study material quickly and effectively and learning to be a better more rounded musician.

I'm no fan of theirs, only ever bought their records as nostalgic presents for my brother who now lives abroad, but the documentary is a good watch. If you hate their personalities, and I can't blame you for that, you still can't help but admire the hard work, determination, song writing and seizing of the moment. It really shows the band as a group of mates who tried to start a band and just stuck their neck out for one gig where a chance encounter got them a record deal. It's in BBC iPlayer at the moment, worth an hour and a half. Some great 90's pop songs from the days before the internet ruined everything

Just had a look at my Soundcloud account and I've clocked up just over 10,000 plays! Wow! Thanks to everyone who's ever listened, it means a lot

And on Amazon, slightly cheaper.

Thanks for sharing that; lots of innovative new products including a 3x10 combo!

You said the 'R' word

Definitely a Rickenbacker of some description... Is it a 4004 C II?

Looks a bit like a Rick

Lots of cool stuff! I like the look of the 60w 1x10.

Aaah, the subject of a lot of speculation over the years. Highfox, the answer, from the very man himself.... 'Tony Swain'.....Not sure from what article it came from (my son found it recently - He was transcribing the track). "There has been much speculation about this subject but as I also played and recorded the bass lines it is time to put the record straight! The Bass was played using an early Roland SH1000 made in the late 70's This was originally designed to sit on top of a Hammond organ so it looked like one! This was a monophonic synth but would play two octaves at once so using a combination of square and sine waves an octave apart combined with a lot of wrestling with a portamento switch to get the slides this is how the bass lines were done. No sequencer was used at all on the bass lines just a lot of sweat and keeping time which was helped by me also being a drummer! The synth was recorded through a Boss chorus guitar pedal (blue type) and then compressed a lot through a studio DBX160 a really great vintage compressor.The bass was very high in the mix but cut through because of the compression and the split octaves.Just an illusion bass was the best of two different lines recorded over two days on Analogue 24tk before digital came in. I hope this finally answers the question. All the Best Tony"

Looks really nice!!! Great job!!

Now I hate to add GAS to the flames but... https://youtu.be/rc7QCOe5lcw

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It’s pretty cool. I’ve just ordered the Sonuus G2M V3 so will try it with my bass hopefully tomorrow. I had loads of fun last night figuring stuff out. Took a while to get my head around one of the more in-depth modulation sources. It’s a really good way to get acquainted with synthesis. What I’m finding especially instructive is being able to shape the envelopes precisely; that’s always a bit fiddly when using envelope-controlled filters on bass guitar. The only downside for me is that some features are currently only accessible via the editor software, though I have an idea of how to squeeze a few more into the shift mode and so will suggest them to Moog. It’s made me realise that I need to learn more about MIDI. If anyone has any pointers on how I can send specific MIDI CCs from my keyboard (with specified values between 0 and 127) then I’m all ears. I should probably get some kind of MIDI foot controller so I can jump to presets I’ve created. @Bo0tsy, look into getting the CP251 too so you can manipulate the envelope out signal on the MF-101 and then feed it back into the cutoff jack.

Like the deposit on my daughter's house which she will then let me live in? That was kind of the plan. Actually my excuse is the Brexit economic meltdown will see us wheeling barrows of money to buy a set of strings before long, so I'd better shift it all now.

If you are only doing it up to sell then it probably isn't profitable to do much but no harm in getting a quote for a re-cone. Old drivers turn up on ebay from time to time so if you are in no rush then keep looking and an old EV may come up. Or try and sell your old working drivers to someone who has holed their other speakers but has a working 15. There's always a market for old drivers for people who love their vintage gear. If the driver is working you can repair. layer up tissue paper and latex adhesive (Copydex) over the tear as if it is a fibreglass repair on an old rusty car. you might get away with an old Peavey Black Widow as a cheap replacement, it'll be roughly right in a cab of that size, not ideal but I don't suppose the old EV was either. Used they go for £30-40 on ebay

Ha! Your wish, etc, etc.. From GIRLFRIENDS on ITV last night. If you watch it on catch up, the bass I played on the actual live recording of the song was a Ric 4003W

I thought an OBBM cable had failed (yes, I know). Sent it back to Dave and he could find nothing wrong with it - turns out the problem lay elsewhere. Very embarrassing (for me). Got the cable back after Dave inspected it and he had replaced the original Klotz cable with spiffy new Sommer cable, even though it wasn't necessary. He didn't charge me for it either. This is what I call customer service 'above and beyond'. Thanks, Dave and I'm sorry I ever doubted your top quality product! I should have known better!

My issue with the Aguilar TLC was it's apparent inability to control dynamics. No matter what I did it just didn't give me the subtle compression that I want. Admittedly I didn't try it in a band situation, but being a devout compressor user for many years, I have my ear attuned to the sound that I want and works in a band situation but was unable to get anywhere close to that with the TLC. It was just bland and lifeless, no dynamic control, no punch, not even any likeable tonal colouration - although it claims transparency so that is hardly surprising. The EBS was subtle but at least it did have a degree of dynamic control, albeit one that wasn't for me. All IMO, IME etc etc. Which compression models were you using on the B3n? In what regard did they not meet your needs? I'd argue the opposite, that in a band context compression is more obvious on the bass in so far as it smooths out the peaks and makes the bass more consistent across all the strings and allows it to sit better in the mix, with the caveat that you've set it up properly and don't have any radical eq settings. There are many people who don't like compression but I think this is because it is widely misunderstood, they are expecting it to be an obvious effect like the ones you listed above so they set it up so they can hear an obvious difference. By that time you have squashed the bass tone to within an inch of its life and are left with an unusable bass sound. Less is more with compression. Set it up with the band playing behind you to optimise your settings and it brings the bass to life, IMO.

Another 20 years? Seems expensive for what it is. I have a second-hand golf trolley which cost 15 quid plus a longer bit of webbing and some 1/2inch pipe insulation for padding, and the wheels are big enough to cope with a typical UK folk festival grassy field.

I carry my leads, DI box, Wireless, mains extension leads, set lists, plasters, pain killers, business cards, etc. in a tool bag I bought from B&Q for 18 quid. Has a rigid bottom, so doesn't fold up when you lift it, and a wide opening so it's not to hard to find stuff inside it, though it helps if I've remembered to put in what I'm looking for, of course!

I’ve never used them myself - I’ve always thought of them as a DJ / dance music producer type place. However, they are long established - their shop has been there for as long as I can remember, perhaps 20 years. George

I only use limiters, and find the zoom one fine. It doesn't add any noise and feels very natural. I haven't played with the compressors yet but initial impressions are that they seem quite adjustable. It's good that you can adjust the signal chain and reorder the order of the pedals too.

What would happen is it would confuse the musicians who are expecting each bar (of, for example, 4/4) to contain 4x crotchets, instead of 6. And also what would you put into the next bar? Just two crotchets? The way it would be done properly, so it could be understood, is to have one bar of 6/4 then one bar of 2/4. But its an inelegant way to do it, requires more thinking time, and looks messier. At the end of the day the standard notation is merely a tool for communicating the music to the people expected to play it. And if sight reading, or reading/playing it after not too much practice (which often happens in commercial and recording situations), you want the sheet music to be laid out according to the standardised rules, as easy to follow as possible, and not cause or introduce any issues of its own.

More generally, would anyone claim learning to read language "stifled their creativity"? It's the same with music. A lot of defensiveness around the topic in my experience.

I bought this as a 45 in the early 70's and only recently found out that Chuck is the bassist. . . one of the funkiest bass lines I've heard.

This has been posted before, but, hey, if we're talking Rainey?

Always used to amuse me in the late 70's / early 80's to see all the punk and new wave bands on TOTP. They knew that going on the show was really compromising their ideals, but couldn't resist the opportunity to shift some units, and therefore used to to mess around & mime badly ( or not at all..) in the mistaken belief they were being so anti-establishment for their fans. I worked in music retailing at this time, and the effect of a TOTP appearance ( however bad/good ) was massive on sales, so they obviously knew what they were doing. Lots of those bands would not have had such success without TOTP and the Beeb in general, yet liked to give the impression of biting the hands that fed them. All good for the image I guess.....

There's a story about Jimi Hendrix appearing on Top of the Pops in 1967 to perform/mime Purple Haze, only for the technician to put on Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear... I would have liked to have seen that, if it's true.

Boring.

Yay! The angled saddles arrived from Webbteca. They look great.

See this is why I like your style. To have the black and gold the other way 'round would just be vulgar. (Retires to flame proof bunker in advance of the Bling Bling Brigade's response)

Yeah.

I see Jah Wobble is signed up. As much as I enjoyed his slot last time, i would have preferred someone different as it was only a couple years ago. I am feeling a little underwhelmed by the artists so far.