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One thing we should do next year is a group photo!

Dont get me wrong, im not knocking the Cali, just making a point that no one NEEDS to spend that much to get a good comp, but we are willing to pay what it takes for something we want. If it doesn't workout, then we can sell it on, but we have to give it a go first otherwise we will never know....Mr Krow lol. The Cali has a good rep, and because of its heritage i think people take notice of it so do try it Some move on, others dont. I dont think the SD will ever achieve cult status, or possibly be used by 1000's of people (although web forums are not a true indication IMO) like, say the Sansamp stuff, but there must be 1000's of pedals out there that people spend a fortune on, that wouldn't suit the majority of us. £185 is a small price for me to pay for the conveniences ive listed. Your right, i have spent a lot this year. i work it out at around about £800, just on pedals alone. I have a drawer full of 'mistakes' that i really should sell (no, not the draw itself I would assume there will be a Spectradrive owners club over on TB, they like that sort of thing, and if not ill start one lol. Cheers. All those points were just relative to me. I must admit before getting it i was hoping for, if not better, different to how its turned out. My first post on here about it said i wanted it for home practice. This still stands and for this i cant knock it. My comments about the B3n were just observations. Im 100% happy that the SD does what it does. I cant really mark it down for not having something its not be advertised as having. Battery would be nice, digital effects other than tone prints would be nice, a bit of reverb on the headphone out would be nice, lots of missing things would be nice, but then we are talking about a different box. The things that impressed me the most were how much better my basic clean tone sounded, and how much better my other boxes sounded after it. This, to me is its killer feature for live use. It can colour the tone by using Spectracomp and OD, but even with the SC turned right down, and the EQ set almost flat (if that exists, maybe it doesn't) the low notes had more clarity, and the higher note more punch, than with the box bypassed. I even found i was backing the Low off a bit, and rather than just having less low end, it seemed to be more adding clarity to those notes, without losing the heft. Again, this is all how it sounded to my ears and its only the one rehearsal. The fact that all this takes up one space on my board means it works for me. I can guarantee i will still have this box at the end of the year, along with my Aftershock.

Piano players who say they're keyboard players, but they're piano players. Playing two hands 8+ note pad chords and all over the bass. Not learning the part so busking it, getting it wrong and me getting a bollocking from the other guys for playing the wrong bass notes!! Music stand and book the size of a house - learn the effing parts!! Its not rocket science. Turning up and setting up more gear than a 70's Rick Wakeman rig right across the stage before the PA is in. But learn the parts!!! I quit a band because of this, the rest couldn't see what the issue was, so I walked.

Guitarist - a nice guy and a pretty decent player, but... He suffers from the usual guitard volume control issues. He has 2 amps, one for lead and one for rhythm (as you do), with an extra extension cab thrown in for good measure... it is quite the 'wall of sound' at times. He also has a pedal board the size of a small principality. Invariably, as part of his low grade river dance performance, he will hit the wrong pedal, usually during some critical point in a quieter song, creating the sound of a flock seagulls being macerated by a combine harvester. The sheer number of pedals (20 +, I tried counting them all but got bored) also results in frequent patch lead/power failures, again leading to new and exciting 'sound textures' in unexpected places. At rehearsals, he frequently launches into an unnecessary solo performance of some dubious cover version (Phil bloody Collins anyone?) between our tunes, and seems to find this highly amusing. We are an all originals band. No one else is laughing much. Like I said, generally a nice guy, but hard work at times...

They were friendly with me when I went in there a decade ago, to an extent that I still remember it now. I had the requisite bored girlfriend and time-waster countenance, but I ended up spending quite a lot of money in the end.

Likewise, I was very pleased that the "two years' free service" they always talk about at the till is always properly honoured. They were really helpful when the preamp was on the blink in my Corvette a couple of years ago - sadly, compared to some other retailers (not just of guitars), it seemed like a nice touch that they phoned me up to apologise for a bit of a delay because they'd had to order in a replacement part! Unfortunately I think I might have been in there too often - I phoned ahead last time to see about part-exchanging a bass, and I think the guy recognised my voice...

If you love it, then play it. End of.

I recently bought a bass from Wunjo and had the best buying experience I've ever had. The guys were helpful and 'appropriately attentive' when I first visited; did me a great deal when I called to order a similar model to one I tried (offering alternatives on loan when the order time was longer than expected too - I didn't need to take up the offer, but appreciated what is surely beyond the call of duty) and specific delivery requirements were no trouble. After disappointing shenanigans with various shops and online retailers in recent years, this was a breath of fresh air - I felt looked after by real people, who cared about their customers. I will go out of my way (I live in Manchester) to give them my custom again in the future. All in all, a confidence-restoring experience with a real music shop. Cheers Wunjo! Tobie

I traded to this at the SW Bass Bash. It appears to be 93/94 MIJ without the Silver Series decal and has had a Bassass II added. Not come across this shade Blue before but such a nice Bass, weighs in at just under 4kg and has nice punchy pick-ups and 40mm nut width. It came with a different scratch plate and creme covers, swapping them out I noticed there was a brass plate below the pickups in the cavity. Not an expert on early Squiers so if anyone can help with some background...?

I didn’t say buy! trade counts!

Three coats on, it’s only a small piece of scrap to see how it looks and I am impressed. What has surprised me the most is even me almost throwing it on it’s produced an incredibly even colour. I though it may need a lot of care to get a good coverage but I have just put a bit of ink on a cloth and wiped it over as per Andy’s instruction. The difference compared to the ‘proper’ wood dye could not be more striking. And being so cheap I will try some other colours on my next build (that word next again....). More bits have arrived in the post as well so now only waiting on the screws for the pick guard and I will have everything.

Oh I’m sure it is. It looks high end. I’d take my Q/strip over that mid knob though. I was only commenting on the BH heads as i like the EQ in my SD, and this has come from the BH EQ. I’m not actualy looking for a new head as such.

Your funk knows no bounds dude

Sounds good Looking forward to seeing the results (although be aware that with finishing it sometimes looks worse before it looks better...so, actually, post pics when you're happy to )

What a sorry state F Mac have got themselves in. Christine McVie can't sing and Mick Fleetwood's relying on stand in drummers. No doubt lured by the money they made on the 'farewell' tour. Shabby.

When you get fed up off it - again - I'll maybe make you an offer you can't refuse.

Any Phil Jones combo

Terry is one of my local Luthiers...has done work for me, Lozz and a number of my friends. Nice to see a classic bass resurrected...

I've seen quite a few band dynamics in which the singer doesn't actually fulfil the role of the 'frontman'. Inter-song banter is left to another non-singing member who sometimes only has a mic for that purpose, which I've always thought was kind of funny. But whatever works for them.

Try that but with traditional Polish folk music.... For a rock covers band

Cheeky! If I recall correctly, the comp in question I bought from no other than a certain demure dave_bass5 (who bought the thing new and sold it on to me after 3 months)? And a lot of folk rate the Cali 76CB, which you sold me, very highly. I appreciate that there is an attraction to having just one or two knobs for folk who, like yourself, find it hard not to be playing with them Be interesting to see if this TC SD (which cost almost as much as what I paid you for the Cali) has as big a fan club as the Cali in six months' time (or even a fan club: you've already lost Cam and at this rate...) - a couple of beers says it won't, if you're up for the bet? PS fair come-back by you on the rest, though!

Welcome to the family!

Well, that's the MarkBass rig sold and out the door, I'm now officially ampless.

Not quite. The comp is the same, but allows me to still have in on my board along with something that gives me more EQ options, and a second mild OD (once i get to grips with it), The drive doesn't suck, its just that so far ive not found the right setting. Compared to my AS yes, its not as good, but the idea isnt to replace the AS, its to work with it. I now have two dirt boxes on my board. one for very light drive, and one for proper dirt. Agree that the EQ doesn't add any colouration, but then i have the AS for that. Nothing really does BDDI other than the BDDI and BDI-21. I was never going to try and replace that. I do now have better EQ than any time before, other than the Q/strip. the SD does replace the Q/strip as far as offering me EQ that i can actually use without colouration. im very happy with the EQ, and it seems be based around freq's that work for me and i can get just as much usable (for me) variation from it as i can the Q/strip. The headphone out doesn't have any digital processing like room ambience, mic placement, etc. That was obviously going to result in a flatter tone. When i use my B3n with my pedal board i dont have any amp or cab sim on the B3n anyway. I just use it in bypass mode most of the time. This means no EQ unless its on the board. Although i cant get the headphone tones i can from the B3n, the output from the SD's headphone jack seems more solid. Never used the Aux in and line outs on the B3n at the same time. The only time ii would ever use the Aux in is to play with headphones. I wouldn't use my B3n live, i just cant get on with the foot switches. Its over kill and if it didnt fit on my board, id have to get a much larger one. The SD fits, brings a lot of what i want to the board, and really does sound good, even without the colouring i was used to. I love how less complicated the SD is over the B3n. Its much more immediate. Proper knobs, no level issues between patches etc. It has a XLR out, the Aux in sounds less processed, its smaller, it fits on my board when i need it to without me needing a larger board, fits in the front pocket of my gig bag if i only want to use that one pedal (which is what ill be doing tonight when i go to a mates house with it), and honestly, all that is worth £185 to me. Its a jack of a few trades, and in no way master of anything, but it fits the billl for me. Didnt you just buy an expensive Comp to replace a much cheaper, but more than usable one. Not many people fork out that much for a comp ;-)

What a beaut! I love my Cali VTII, but sometimes I really regret not going to the MM instead of the jazz. I hope you enjoy it.

What could possibly go wrong with that.

not for me, sadly- I have an allparts bridge I've been thinking about it and I can't live with the bodge, The bridge pickup is about three mm longer, with differently placed lugs, to allow for the wider string gap at the bridge. Early mex jazz basses used a bridge pickup in both locations and its totally obvious that the neck pickup poles don't align with the strings,. Having tried the bridge cover, the cavity is too small but I think a decent woodworker could widen and length it slightly. It wont look perfect, but better than a mis aligned neck pickup. regarding the seller, he DOES state the size. However he doesn't state that this is neck pup sized and as a seller myself, I'd be adding a caution note to the listing to avoid unhappy customers. He did offer to sell me two neck pups ....hmm

Same as above.. I bought a Jules Demonique from Uros. Great communication and excellent job packaging up the amp for transportation. Highly recommended! I hope we deal again some day /M

I think in all honesty its the end of the road for Fleetwood Mac.

It's a little thing, but it's not having a setlist and/or having one and not sticking to it. Two problems... 1. I'm deaf and never hear what the next song is and spend the bit between songs hissing, "FFS, what bloody song are we doing next?" 2. Panic sets in that nobody will dance and all the "dancey" songs get used up in the middle of the set. Result is ending the night with a couple of slow Pink Floyd numbers and slinking off apologetically. ;-)

They need a good Male singer to cover LB’s vocals on a load of their top tunes. Finn makes sense in that context. Campbell playing The Chain though... drool! I’m imagining the band and management meeting... “So, we’ve sacked Linds, any old guitarists we could get back for the tour?” “Danny, Jeremy and Pete?” <pause> “Hmmmm... I can see a few, erm, ‘issues’ arising on a stadium mega-tour...” “What about Rick Vito or the other one... Benny? Bobby? Barry? ...Billy! That’s it, Billy! There were a couple of Bobs and Dave’s too, if I recall correctly.” “Well, if we can barely remember them...” “Hey, what if we got a couple of famous rockstar chums from bands with their own huge global fan-bases to join us for the tour?” [rest of band...] “KER-CHINGGGG!”

What a right bunch of fonts

Yes we use wingdings now. Not really. - comic sans. But no seriously, no.

Unfortunately, just like any other gig, the packing up was the low-light - but that was soon done! And even Jen's pal Mr Carrot the tattie brush (remember him from the first pic post?) reckons he had so much fun that he'll be back next year. http:// THE END (until next year )

There was also this:

And before long, the Bash is in full swing!! L-R: Keith 'york5stringer', Norm, BreadBin and Paddy109. http:// L-R: BassBod, Stevie, (background) Jabba & Andy http:// http:// GrahamT supplies the bass - and the head! http://

Applying wood grain filler, here' what I do: Apply a sealer coat of nitro lacquer. This stops the wood from simply swallowing the filler. Then, apply the grain filler. The filler will then be able to provide a suitable "build" without sinking into the grain. After sanding the filler smooth, apply more sanding sealer lacquer. This will allow you to achieve a flat finish before applying the colour or top coats. Incidentally, I was with Chris McIntyre last week and he's found the most amazing grain filler I've ever experienced. Water soluble, and sands super smooth - giving a sanded residue like flour - no clogging of your sandpaper. The finish is incredible. And, it takes colour stain too if you're applying that. And, it's not expensive either - result!!! (If you want details, drop Chris an email - [email protected] )

wish you lot would stop going on about MIM P's, they don't do cack handed ones, bastards.

I was playing keyboard in a pop-reggae band a few years back (well, we thought we were reggae but really we were a rock band with a passing offbeat acquaintance) and one of the doormen round town booked us to play at his nephew's christening. He wasn't offering much but he was a nice lad and we already owed him a few favours for 'well-timed assistance' around town, so we hop in the van and troll down to Brum for a play. We rock up outside this old community hall about 6PM to meet Mustafa, and after a minute he comes out dressed in this incredible full-length black and red leather robe, which makes him look like something out of Star Wars. That was Red Flag No 1. Red Flag No 2 was the polyrhythmic music playing at punishing volume inside the hall. We go inside only to find ourselves walking into the middle of a traditional Ghanian christening ceremony (or whatever the equivalent is) and that was the point where we instantly realise we are not going to go down well. We're sat down over at the back of the room with the other men and given a plate of rice that nearly takes my head off (our singer causes a minor scandal by sitting with us instead of the women, but I think we got tagged with the 'musician' exemption) and Staf introduces us to approximately 350 members of his extended family, who are all absolutely lovely and just as totally baffled as to why we're there. The ladies are all sat in circle of chairs in the middle of the room with the kid in the middle, the men are sat around the edges, and the actual ceremony is being conducted by two MCs, one man and one woman, who will quickly become MC Tall and MC Short respectively. They're taking it in turns to shout through a PA turned up so loud it's become a fuzzbox; there is a second PA playing music at a volume where my eyeballs are vibrating; I do not recognise a single tune all evening. Every few minutes MC Tall or Short will double up on the shouting tempo and the women all get up and pull huge wads of dollars out of their pocket, which they then throw at the kid. The ladies are all stunning with incredibly elaborate hairstyles and the men are wearing the same leather robes as Staf - this is clearly a big occasion and everyone is putting on their best 'look how much money we have' display, which explains the throwing of the dollars. We are under-dressed, hungover, and trying to make awkward chit-chat at the top of our voices. Eventually the ceremony is over and we set up on the community hall stage, planning to make this the shortest set of our lives. We have a quick argument about what to play, which ends with us scrapping everything from our set that isn't the reggae material. Our singer is already nervous after the men's section faux pas and we've not been able to understand a single word of the ceremony so far so we have NO IDEA what is happening. We're gamely vamping away at our best imitation of an authentic roots band but are keenly aware that our material is aimed at a spot several thousand miles and a different hemisphere away from what the crowd is expecting, and it's just dropping into the abyss of stares. The crowd is polite but clearly expecting something which is not happening. Second song in and we're contemplating dropping the rest of the set and legging it. Singer is visibly wilting under the stares of an entire flock of matriachs perched to stage right; I'm getting extremely interested in the top of the keyboard, which I have never examined so closely before. My nose is scraping the flat keys at points. Suddenly MC Short is on stage with us and grabbing the mic off the singer. What fresh hell is this??? We're expecting to be cut off unceremoniously, but instead she starts shouting at the crowd with a variation on her earlier theme. This lady is about 60 and barely four feet tall, but she can shout for God and with the backup of the PA she is reaching pitches that are melting my fillings. Every dog in a twenty mile radius is starting to howl. At her instigation, the entire front row of (stunning) women gets up as a unit to start throwing dollars at us - I'm beginning to have some very complicated feelings indeed. After she feels the crowd are sufficiently harangued we get the mic back and play another few songs which are met with respectful applause if not much actual interest, so we take the hint and finish up. We've picked up about 600 dollars in ones and have to carry them in a basket along with our gear. As soon as we finish the party is back on and everyone is off their chairs and dancing; hundreds of kids have appeared out of nowhere to do the old church hall skidding dance which apparently transcends culture! Huge baskets of homemade fried fish and curried rices have started appearing round the edges of the hall and we eat as much as we can physically carry back to the table. It's all delicious but so hot my hair starts curling and I spontaneously develop sunburn, which the kids all find hilarious. Staf is crazily happy that we played as he seems to think we are megastars rather than the chancers we are, and we're just happy to have been asked to do it so we decline our fee and take petrol money instead, reasoning that the story will likely pay for itself in beer over the years. We donate the dollars to the kiddo as a gift because we're all fairly drunk on Star Beer at this point and getting them changed seems like hassle. Some of the stunning girls from earlier are starting to give us the eye but my daddy taught me never to hit on a girl when A) you're at someone else's family occasion and B) her daddy is roughly the size of a car, in the room, and giving you the death glare, so prudence becomes the better part of valour and we make a swift exit. In reality it wasn't actually that desperate considering we were playing to an audience who had absolutely no interest in what we were doing, but it was hell of a night at the time. Don't think I've ever felt so out of place before or since. The food sure beat the hell out of my family dos though! I'd do it all again just for another crack at that buffet, even if my fragile little English stomach meant I spent three hours glued to the toilet next morning...

I'm not sure that I'd agree, there. Non-musical cymbals will tire the ear very quickly, in whatever circumstances, in my experience. Musicality does not come cheap, as with all other domains, but there's not much to be done to 'improve' a duff cymbal except not play it. The best-sounding ones for one's pocket, I'd say, and preferably compatible with the rest of the cymbal set. They are an integral part of the kit, after all. Listen to 'em, and reject any that don't sound musical (unless playing absolute 'trash'-style, of course, in which case all bets are off..! )