Graham

This is terrible news, really hope he pulls through and his family can get the support they need. I adore his playing with The Mars Volta, his performance on Frances The Mute particularly had a big impact on my development as a bassist

I'm really liking the four band EQ - as someone who was boosting the high mids on my HD350 and has recently swapped to cutting the low mids, but would like to boost the highs as well, this appeals to me a lot.

It may well be that Fender source their pickups from a number of manufacturers and that you have sets from two different sources, who do different numbers of winds. Or maybe even from the same place but one is top tolerance and the other is bottom. Or possibly one set has the wrong number or winds, I'd be surprised if whoever makes these pickups does 100% test for every batch they supply. I'd say there is probably nothing inherently wrong here, but you like the sound one of the basses better.

The EBS sound is definitely bright amd clear, which I've always been a fan of for being heard in a mix. They changed the voicing on the EQ for the last range of heads HD360/TD360/Fafner 2 which had had a mixed reaction, it's been generally viewed as a step back rather than an improvement.

That's his brother's Wikipedia page. Bit heard of him, or his band TBH, but must be doing something right

Just seen on Facebook that EBS have a new head put for NAMM - it's (presumably) class A/B, will be completely solid state and, for now at least, the only rack mount head in the range. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Fafner replacement on the horizon at some point though. It looks right up my street, particularly as I will need to replace my HD350 at some point, I just hope that as this us described as going back to their roots, they've voiced the filters like they used to. https://ebssweden.com/content2/welcome-home-to-the-ebs-802-high-dynamics-linear-bass-amp/

If you live anywhere near Brighton, take it into Bernie Goodfellow who'll do the LED mod for you at a reasonable price - he did it for my old Fafner, you can pick the colour too😀

I really like the look of these, hope to get my hands on one soon

Listened again with better headphones, as I was surprised people thought the strings on the Sire sounded dead. As it turns out my headphones are rubbish. This time I couldn't choose between the Sandberg and the Harley Benton. I obviously knew which was which this time, but assumed (incorrectly, for the second time) I'd like the Fender best

I got none of them right, but liked the Sire best

It's been Rites Of Spring and Fugazi today

There's no such thing as one ring to rule them all - different basses sound better in different rooms/mixes/bands. You've got two stunning basses, use the right one for the right circumstance and know you've got the other for a different situation.

The song from Channel 4's Tiger That Came To Tea adaptation. Going round and round and round in my head.

Nirvana UK in Brighton last night, great fun - they looked and sounded the part and nailed the songs perfectly; set list was great too: no Aneurysm or On A Plain, but otherwise perfect. I did realise I've hit that age though, surrounded by other people in their 30 and 40s, all singing along to 25 year old songs thinking they're much better than anything modern 😁

Sounds good, will have to keep an eye out for you guys as you're just a short jaunt down the A27

No-one else has said it, so this one's my favourite, perfect Christmas song and so much musical content I also really like this cover, Turner really evokes the spirit of the lyrics

Know the feeling That was nearly three years ago........they're bigger now and the third gets involved

TBH the only Chills albums I really like are Californication, BSSM, By The Way and to a lesser extent Stadium Arcadium and The Getaway. If Josh was fired because John got divorced, then that's a bit shitty and I hope he got a good redundancy package out of the band. I guess we'll probably never find out how amicable, or not it was

1. Most memorable gig played (good reasons): last night, which was our final gig with our guitarist, whole band was on fire, great night 2. Most memorable gig played (bad reasons): probably the same gig as it meant saying goodbye to the guitarist. He will be back from time to time though, so could be worse. That or the wedding with the sound limiter where the audience cheering set it off and killed the power. 3. Most memorable gig attended (good reasons): Cave In and Old Man Gloom in London. Cave In are probably my favourite band, but they've been inactive for a few years so I've not been able to see them. Finally got to in May; the reason for the tour - the death of their bassist - were heartbreaking, but both bands (he played in both) did an excellent job playing tribute to him. 4. Most memorable gig attended (bad reasons): Opeth at the Damnation Festival. Opeth are another of my favourite bands but I'm not so wild about the change of direction since the last four albums. The set list was tilted towards this material and I missed the majority of the set as I was working and had to deal with Mayhem's load out. Definitely more to do with Mayhem than Opeth.

If you're in Edinburgh, then possibly 😀

Bittersweet. We were on great form last night, the sound was good, a decent sized, dancing audience in our favourite public venue and the band was firing on all four cylinders. However, it was our last show of the year, and the last one with our guitarist who is moving from Sussex to Edinburgh next week. He's one of the best guitarists I've played with and perfect for covers bands - can nail both Slash/Van Halen solos and Nile Rodgers rhythm parts (and actually play the Nile Rodgers riffs like they're meant to be). He also really thinks about arrangements and works out parts that fit in a 3/4 piece band ), particularly the modern pop songs that are less guitar orientated. To top that, he's one of our best friends and will both sorely missed and hard to replace.

I quite liked that, very 90s

Or record a YouTube demo

Could just play it finger style - I do that for Treasure by Bruno Mars, as I'm not very good at slap and it sounds much better this way

I won't know which date until Christmas Day, but my wife has booked me tickets to either the penultimate or final Lounge Kittens gig in February, not sure if I'm going to London or Southampton yet. In March a group of us from work are going to see Nordic Giants in Brighton, should be fun that, especially as it's two days before my birthday. I'm surprised I work with as many fans of instrumental post-rock as I do. I'm thinking of going to see Petrol Girls in Brighton in January too, femenist hardcore is a genre I've been enjoying recently.