fretmeister

New pedal coming next week... https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ9pRjeDJci/?img_index=1 If it's a B15 and the Cab Sim is switchable I might have to find some money.

I don't like crowds so I play jazz.....

Yeah - I'm in East Mids so it's a bit of a hike and I'd have to spring for a hotel on the night too. Zero members of my family would be interested in going.

Ah - I don't have any of their products. I suppose it will give me a day to think about if I want to do London on a work night.

How does the Artist Presale work?

Good question. 1: NeuralDSP's Mantra all-in-one vocal plugin. I tried the demo and found it very useful and easy and as someone who often gives up at the vocal stages of writing it got me to finish a few in the 14 day trial period. 2: A good random orbit sander and polisher as I have 2 bodies to do. 3: A set of good Filtertron type guitar pickups. Lollartrons or Oil City or something like that. Nice and twangy and dirty. 4: Some good fretwork tools. Fret rocker, files, that sort of thing. 5: The "never gonna happen" prezzie - I'd love a shed big enough to be a little workshop, with power and lighting and so on. At the moment I use my work desk to work on instruments so I can't leave anything overnight on a weekday as I need the desk to earn money. It's very frustrating. A big shed would be ace. Alternatively my kids could move out and I could use a bedroom!

That feature really appeals to me - would massively increase the amount of strings that would fit - particularly flats. The Ibanez Mezzo 4 string (32 scale) had the E string tuner relatively far from the nut so could take a wide variety of strings, but it was a small post so long scale flats would still break. Had to get specific medium scale ones. The 5 string mezzo was actually worse for string availability. I used Dunlop medium scale flats on that exclusively. Really lovely strings - but at about £90 they'd have to be! Reverse headstock is a very easy solution to the problem. If I ever ordered a second Lionel I'd spec a reverse headstock for that reason.

Every fender ever built is a bitsa.

I've had a few breaks. I quit my last band about 14 months ago as it was becoming very stale - I couldn't influence it was organised by the local educational music trust. The new arrangements were dull and kind of were a reflection on the band leader rather than what everyone actually wanted to play. It started to kill my desire to play at all so I knew I had to go. I didn't play at all for at least 3 months, didn't even get a bass out of a gigbag. Then I started noodling a bit and playing along to CDs but that wasn't really doing it for me either. But now I find myself writing original stuff again and that is definitely flexing a different set of mental muscles. I play bass, guitar, a bit of sax and I can sing (although painfully out of practice) so I'm doing that. I have no desire to gig at the moment, but I'm enjoying the creative process. My favourite band format is the power trio, or maybe the usual guitar,bass,drums with a singer who can occasionally join in with another instrument so I'm writing with that approach. I like the space and the easy dynamic changes that come from having fewer instruments. A change has definitely been as good as a rest for me.

I love my MB head and Energy 210 but I’m thinking of moving to that combo just so it’s a 1 thing carry. I’m not gigging at the mo and I doubt I will for a while so something more convenient for the odd jam appeals to me.

Mr Wailer bought my Mark Bass Vintage Preamp. Very quick payment and let me know the minute it arrived safely - that's always welcome with the too-often terrible service we get from couriers and so on these days. Hope you enjoy it!

I have never regretted buying one. My biggest problem with it is that I like flats and rounds on it and I can't afford to get another one so I don't have to keep changing strings!

Yes - either a Sandberg Lionel PJ or a Jim Deacon P. I play them a lot more than my long scale basses at the moment.