BigRedX

The mono mixes will always sound better, they were the ones that had the most time spent on them. The stereo versions were generally dashed off in an afternoon afterwards. Besides there won't be that much to make stereo from a four track recording where all the bounces were to a single track.

No if your on-satge speaker is an FRFR, then you should send the same signal to both this and the PA.

And Thomas Dolby on Keyboards. Check out the Radio Science Orchestra, for Theremin-y goodness.

The Buggles version is all about the production, which is very much of its time. The Bruce Woolley one is just a simple guitar based pop song with less to date it. BTW the Dollar track linked to above was also co-written by Bruce Woolley.

I knew about the Bruce Wooley version mainly because he went to the same school as me.

IIRC the Corn Dolly was the venue for the second ever gig I went to - Bedford Prog Rockers "Spring Offensive" some time in early 1977.

Unless I am making up a large number (20+) of custom cables to very specific lengths and with various combinations of connectors at each end, it is far more cost effective to get OBBM to do it.

That doesn't look the slightest bit stable.

Very much this. The only bass-specific amp I have in any of my patches is there because I like the drive sound on it, so it's there as a glorified distortion pedal. For my Bass VI patches I'm using the Roland Jazz Chorus Combo model.

IIRC everything except the Lightwave pickup system and the body of the machine heads was custom made. The luthier was an (ex?) dental technician and therefore had the expertise to custom cast the various parts he needed.

IME all these small stands are fine for guitars with symmetrical body ends when used in a child- and pet-free home. I certainly wouldn't trust them on stage for any instrument, especially a bass guitar which has a much higher centre of gravity and makes most of these small stands too unstable. A heavy duty "A-frame" stand would probably be OK but I suspect that it would fit in a gig bag.

Like these?

Bass Surgery?

It is not the 1950s any more. The reason combos were originally designed with the controls on the top was because the manufacturers expected them to be placed at the front of the stage and musicians would be stood behind them when playing (the control labels were originally positioned with this set up in mind so on very old amps they are "upside down"). No-one in even the most retro-influenced bands actually does this. Nowadays, combos whether they are for the guitar or bass go on tilt-back stands, or some other means of aiming the speakers at the musicians' ears rather than their ankles. Doing so means that the controls are now very difficult to get at.

Top-mounted controls have no place on any new amp for either bass or guitar. Back to the drawing board Blackstar.

Actually I played it less. I was only able to buy the Overwater because I had recently started a much better paid job (which came with a much higher level of commitment to my "career"). I certainly didn't put in the hours playing it that I had done for the guitars, basses and synthesisers I had owned before. I also had just bought my first DAW so much of my music time was spent with that rather than just the bass.

I disagree with that completely. When I got my first really good bass (an Overwater Original) my playing improved pretty much overnight. Since the instrument was no longer putting any limitations on what I could do, it was all down to me.

I think the question of whether the Fender bass sounded better than the competition of the time is entirely subjective. These days we take the P-bass sound for granted as the "benchmark" electric bass sound, but as I said in my previous post if you listen to rockabilly and rock n roll records of the time the mixes change to accommodate the different sounding electric bass guitar instead of the upright bass. The Fender bass became established off the reputation of the Fender's other solid bodied instruments rather than because there was anything intrinsically superior about them at the time of their introduction. Everything after that is about familiarity.

And the bassists in the bands I grew up listening to in the 70s played Rickenbackers or Gibsons.

The Fender P wasn't the first. Paul Tutmarc's Audiotex Model 736 pre-dates Fender's offerings by many years. However, Fender's success with their solid electric guitars paved the way for the Precision Bass. Personally I don't think that the P bass slots into the mix as seamlessly as others would have you believe. Listen to rockabilly records from the 50s and the mixes are different to allow for the change from traditional upright bass to Fender's solid-bodied electric bass guitar. And for recognisable bass sounds what about the Rickenbacker 4001? It also had the advantage of being visually much more distinctive than Fender's rather anonymous offerings.

No worse than the majority of late 70s Fenders.

Ashdown certainly weren't interested in fixing the problems on my Superfly.

True the modelling gear can be expensive, my current rig, consisting of a Line6 Helix and RCF745 cost £2000 when I bought it new a year ago. However they are pretty much at the top end of the the range, and you now you can get a Helix Stomp and a cheaper FRFR for about half that. I can't recall the last time I did a gig where there bass wasn't DI'd into the PA, and at several gigs I played before I switched to the new set up I had been asked to turn my amp down to such an extent that unless I stood directly in front of it, I could hear myself better though the fold back for the guitarist or the keyboard player! It was at this point that I started looking seriously at FRFR powered cabs. For me it was no brainer - I had spent over £2000 on my last serious bass-only rig and most of that was second hand prices, and with a bit of luck when I sell it along with my guitar rig I will get back what I spent on the Helix and RCF cab. The new set up is a fraction of the size of my old rig and does everything need for guitar as well as bass sounds.

Those can't be the latest tour pics as Tony Hadley is no longer singing with them according to the Spandau Ballet web site. And even if he's not using IEM from my experience of playing on big stages (and they look like big stages) you need to be directly in front and within a couple of metres of your rig to able to hear it over the sound of the PA monitors.