Jakester

Yep, I think a better shout would be the Mostly (Moseley) Jazz & Soul festival, which at least has some decent artists appearing! I think the problem with the Brum 'scene' is that it's stitched up by a few people who are very protective and as you say, lean far more towards the 'trad' end of things. I remember a run-in with one of them when I was trying to get gigs, and his exact words were "why should I give you a gig when I've never seen you at one of my gigs?" (meaning Birmingham Jazz gigs, which was of course patently untrue!). Very much gatekeeping unless you paid the appropriate amount of fealty.

Hmm, of the lineup I think I recognise Chris Bowden (sax) and Art Themen (also sax), and 'Shanghai Hustle' has Tom Clarke-Hill playing, who's a great double-bassist (and was once the voice of Tony the Tiger!) but other than that, no idea, sorry. There was a core of very good musicians on the Brum jazz scene back when I lived up there like Percy Pursglove, so hopefully that's still the case. Perhaps get along to a couple of gigs and see what's what?

I was playing DB at the weekend over midday, and the tuning was ALL over the place, even with it left as far as possible in the shade. Someone suggested leaving it in their car (!) until I pointed out it would probably top 50deg in there and the glue would probably melt, leaving me with a flatpack double bass!

Well, there's a requirement that goods are supposed to be reasonably fit for purpose, and I would expect that would include being gigged for a bass amp! If the issue manifested within six months of purchase, then the onus is on the retailer to prove it was fit for purpose, not for you to prove it wasn't. After that, you have to prove that the amp was not. Note also that if PMT offers to repair, then they must do so within a reasonable period of time, and bear all of the associated costs (including postage).

I picked one up a couple of months ago and agree - it’s lovely! I somewhat shamefully haven’t done a NBD yet…

This was my issue. I couldn't have any confidence in it, and with it dropping out completely at a couple of gigs, I ended up getting the replacement working head instead. I also bought a 'micro' head from a different manufacturer as a portable backup too.

Yep, I know - just saying it would be a dream!

I’d love to have Jobeky install triggers into something really high end, like a USA Gretsch, and run that into a TD50 and presto - no more stage volume issues! Zak Starkey has been using a DW set up as a trigger kit with the Who: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0ByZfrkbwmuyQAea2ea3WGNomQrcmCVRA9wxxfm9XWEqqacMyH8RAfTGBxcJ1Zopal&id=346120672546&__tn__=%2CO*F

Nope, they said they couldn’t replicate the fault but it could have been the pots causing intermittent volume drops, so suggested replacement, to which I agreed.

Yep - sadly owing to VERY truncated setup time (“band” singing to backing tracks - 2 hrs setup time; actual band ended up with 10mins!) we didn’t get to put the proper camera out, that’s actually phone footage from someone with very steady arms!

We recently got hold of a 360 camera to try out and it’s a really good innovation in the sense that it allows really varied shots. Not sure we got the best out of it but if you’re regularly videoing gigs could be worth it: I hired it via Fat Llama for £15 for a day.

Yep, I used to do it in a previous job quite a bit to obtain mobile phone tracking data for suspected fraudsters!

Just a direct swap, as you say. Take the cover off the ‘new’ amp and it just slid straight in.

Not strictly true, you can obtain what is known as a ‘Norwich Pharmacal’ Order which can require a third party with information pertaining to wrongdoing to deliver up that information to an interested party. Most companies will not object if you can demonstrate cause - they just need a court order for their own internal and DPA compliance. However, the costs of getting one are pretty high so it’s not something easily done on your own.

I haven’t tried it clipped to a headstock, but I/we use TomTom Bandit action cameras and they work fine for close up or band member shots when cut with a wider shot. There’s a few around on FB for £50 or so and they do do 4k video etc. https://www.amazon.co.uk/TomTom-1LB0-001-00-Bandit-Action-Camera-White-Red/dp/B00WV69ZI4

Is this not what Action Fraud is for? They oversee fraud notifications and liaise with the local forces?

Of course, it happened outside their ‘warranty’ period as it hadn’t been used much due to lockdowns etc.

Nice! That must have set you back a bit! Interesting module/brain solution. I presume the edrumin is a trigger MIDI interface over USB? Do you use that setup live?

Sorry, haven't had a chance to get round to this yet, but interestingly I recorded our gig last night using the same setup but via Reaper, instead of RecAll, and it worked absolutely fine, with no clicking or background noise. It does therefore seem like it's a software issue (thankfully!) rather than a hardware one.

As to the issue, Real Electronics in Sheffield are the Mark Bass appointed repair agents. However, they don’t do component level repairs - if there is a fault they’ll swap out the board, which makes it expensive if out of warranty. I had a fairly unsatisfactorily experience with them - I had a intermittent fault with my CMD121P, sent it to them, they said there was nothing wrong, replaced all the pots, charged me £125, and then the fault came right back again. I ended up buying a second hand Little Mark 3 and replacing the head with that.

The consumer parts of Sale of Goods Act haven’t been in force since 2015, when they were replaced with the Consumer Rights Act. Unlikely there would be any basis to claim under either piece of legislation - you would need as a minimum some sort of expert evidence into the cause of the fault and opinion that it fell short of the required standard - the costs of which would almost certainly outweigh the cost of any repairs.

I’ve got both - the MS gets the nod generally as it folds down, but the laptop stand is surprisingly effective.

I've used one of these in the past: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/braeda-laptop-support-black-60150176/ Works fine. Or if you have a carpeted cab, a Mark Stand? https://www.markbass.it/product/mark-stand/

It *could* have just got too warm and shut down to protect itself. Perhaps try taking it out of the cab and hoovering it all (after first leaving it unplugged for a while!) which might help? Even though you're not technical it's dead easy - four bolts hold the head into the cab. Unscrew those, unplug the speaker cable and it should shift relatively easily.

Wow, what a rabbit hole… Someone else has developed a touchscreen version… https://www.z-liverec.com