paul_5

I’ve been playing about with a valvecaster circuit recently. I’m running it at 18v with an internal 12v regulator for the plates on the ecc83. Pretty nice but still playing about with a blend circuit on it too!

The SVP won't break up as it's not designed to. The SVP PRO will add valve drive by pushing a 12AU7 into overdrive, but it's not just diode clipping. 10001c1_.pdf Page 2 shows the arrangement and use of the 5 preamp tubes - V4 is the 12AU7 responsible for the 'drive' circuit. It can sound a bit 'fizzy' when running direct to a desk, but through a power amp and an 8x10 it's glorious.

I once took a banjo to a local luthier shortly before he died, and he snapped it in half and burnt the pieces. God, I miss him.

The octaver on my line 6 M5 is surprisingly good for a unit that’s 16 years old!

Who Are the Brain Police? Zappa

My brother is looking a clear P bass scratch plate. Does anyone know of a manufacturer who can do one? NW England.

Great news. I can't imagine three years without playing!

Truly bönkers!

Moi aussi. Geddy has always had a unique tone, but the Moving Pictures/Subdivisions era are just untouchable.

yes, all of the earths need to be connected together. Top Tip - soldering to the back of pots can be tricky, as they have some plating on the back of them that makes it difficult. Use some wire wool or fine grit glass/sand paper to take to coating off so that the solder adheres better to the bare metal.

Diamonds & Pearls 0+>

Eggbound and down - Jerry Reed

Nine!

I’ve never found mine to be all that ‘Lemmy’. It’s a useful distortion pedal in its own right, but doesn’t really get near to the classic Motörhead sound.

To paraphrase Frank Zappa “talking about (how a bass guitar sounds) is like tap-dancing about architecture” looks nice, but it seems like a pointless video unless we can hear the thing!

The Hornet VHS has been doing this for a couple of years. Granted it's not free, but will do most of the more popular headphone types for €11, including the ubiquitous KZ ZS10s

😄 that would do it!

Don’t know if this is of any use, but it’s FAR easier to add a TRS plug to a MIDI cable than the other way around - bigger terminals make for easier soldering. Get yourself a MIDI cable and chip one end off rather than trying to fit a MIDI jack to a TRS. Why make life difficult for yourself?

Be aware though that there are 2 types of MIDI to TRS cable - one has the tip of the TRS going to pin 4 of the MIDI connector and the TRS ring to MIDI pin 5, and the other type has these connections reversed. They are (unsurprisingly) called type A and type B, so I'd check with your kit's manufacturer which one you need. It's not the end of the world if you wire them the wrong way round, as it won't cause any damage.

It controls patches on my Line6 M5 multi effects, although it can do lots of other stuff too. Basically it controls things that are in the signal path.

Hmm, neither is a MIDI controller *technically*, can I get a steward’s enquiry on this?

Hot off the back of last year’s triumph I have had a tier 1 failure this year, as I bought a Chocolate MIDI controller pedal in the first week of 2026. Ah well, there’s always next year!

I’ve not seen this mentioned yet, so I’d also like to nominate my 2nd place (by a very small nose) album - Led Zeppelin II. Listening to John Paul Jones’ genius on this album taught me LOADS about not just being a bass player, but about being a musician who plays the bass.

That’s what my GP recommended!