BigRedX

Following on from supporting B-Movie at their sold out gig last weekend, Sunday 3rd December sees us in Gateshead at The Doll at the Black Bull This is an late afternoon/early evening gig starting at 5.00, with In Isolation on just after 6.00 Tickets are £6 in advance

Once again, sloppy journalism, that doesn't properly explain who owns what. AFAIK Northern Songs only own the Publishing of The Beatles songs. Now what percentage this actually is will depend on what was actually signed at various points in The Beatles' careers but it is unlikely to be more than 50% of the total, and is more likely to be around 33.3% (the traditional split was three equal ways for the composer, writer and publisher from the days when the music and words to a song were usually written by different people and without a publisher no-one was likely to ever hear your song in the first place). Anyone who is a PRS member could potentially look up to see what the various splits for a selection of Beatles songs is in actual fact. Publishing covers actual performance royalties of the songs, so there are still the mechanical royalties which are split between the band (and their descendants) and the Record Company. Again what the percentages are will depend on what sort of deal was signed. Publishing, especially when The Beatles were a band should have come with an advance (unless they were very badly advised when they signed their various deals) which is paid to the song writers for the express purposes of being able to concentrate on writing songs, so it's not as though they were "written for nothing", and I'm sure what percentage Mr McCartney actually still owns of performance royalties, but it's enough to give him a more than decent income. Yes he was stupid not to have bought back the Publishing when it became available, and he must have been very badly advised if he thought that they were ever being over-valued.

So long as the application runs and the computer can cope with recording 15 tracks simultaneously, stick with what you know. What OS do you use on your desktop machine? Your biggest problem may be that the computer simply isn't up to the task no matter what software you want to use for the recording. You will probably need to configure your installation of Windows so that nothing unnecessary is running in the background. That means disabling WiFi, Bluetooth, and network capability other than what is required for the computer to "see" XR18. You'll need to turn off any anti-virus software and disable all those unwanted background processes that Windows insists on running.

What makes a track/song great is essentially entirely subjective, and for me it rarely has anything to to with the technical ability of the musicians involved. For me the best music is where the clever or complex features aren't signposted in the sorts of ways that the majority of examples here show, but where you don't notice until you have to deconstruct the song in order to learn it. Subtlety is always best IMO.

It's about 15 years ago now, so I don't remember exactly what I wrote in my original email to Ashdown, but I sure it was polite, especially considering that at the time it was a known problem (high pitched noise coming from the amp) and well documented on TalkBass and whatever version of Basschat was going at the time. I was told that the problem wasn't fixable but for what I considered an unreasonably high price Ashdown would take a look at it. Shortly after this the amp developed an additional fault where it wouldn't power-up reliably and I went and bought something else to replace it. Considering that I'd owned the amp from new for just over 12 months and had only used it for home practice and a few rehearsals, had the shop I bought it from still been in business, I would have taken it back and demanded a refund under Trading Standards regulations. I ended up selling it for spares or repair on eBay for a fraction of the price I paid for it. I would have left it at that except that IIRC @TheGreek had bought the same model second hand with exactly the same problem and posted on here how Ashdown had fixed the amp for free for him. When I mentioned this to the Ashdown rep who was posting on here they were rude and sarcastic. I have no more time for the company other than to remind people that they are not always as brilliant as is made out, and I think you'll find that I am not the only person who has been treated this way by Ashdown.

I've got a Burns Barracuda (Bass VI). It's as well made as anything else with a £500-600 price from the far east. There are a couple of design issues that mean it's no longer my first choice of Bass VI, but those are down to it sharing too many common parts with the Marvin guitar which really IMO should have been redesigned for a bass instrument. If it wasn't for those I would still be using it as my main instrument in one of my bands and not looking to replace it with a second Eastwood Hooky. By comparison I used to own a 1962 Burns Sonic Bass. This was no-where near as good an instrument although it did have a unique sound that I've never quite been able to duplicate on any other bass due to having the two Tri-Sonic pickups wired in series when both were on. Overall the modern Burns instruments are well made but probably not quite as unique or quirky as those from the 60s and 70s.

And just for balance... IME Ashdown are the worst. They treated me really badly when I had a problem with one of their amps due to it being badly designed. I would have put it down to experience but I then I discovered that someone else with exactly the same problem with their amp that had been bought second hand had their's fixed for free. When I called them out on it here on Basschat, their rep took the fosters. Nasty people with double standards. Personally I'll never buy or use any of their products ever again.

You still play your bass, just not with the amp switched on. I do nearly all my practice with the bass unplugged, and only have it plugged in when I am sorting out the sounds on my Helix that I am going to use for a song.

I've used Shirty Something for Terrortones T-Shirts and I believe the last In Isolation design was done by them too. However I'm not impressed with the current web site design as it makes finding print prices far too difficult. In fact AFAICS you now have to call or email them to even get a quote for anything other than unprinted items. That certainly wasn't the case when I last used them. BTW the full colour design while looking fantastic may turn out to be too expensive to print unless you are considering a print-run of thousands

When this body shape was originally released for the Thunderbird and Firebird, Gibson were threatened with legal action by Fender due to it being slightly similar to the Jazzmaster. Therefore the body shape was modified and renamed "Non-Reverse" - the original shape being "reversed" from how a guitar would be traditionally shaped. Yes, it's complicated and non-intuitive.

On Saturday I was back at The Angel this time with In Isolation supporting B-Movie. The gig was sold out and I have never seen the venue so full. There were people queuing up the stairs waiting to get in just after we had finished our sound check, and during the gig the room was rammed with the promoter turning people away who didn't have tickets. Played really well including the new songs and the audience who more mostly there to see B-Movie were very appreciative. Sold some CDs and T-Shirts. And got more gigs in 2024 from the promoter. I don't think there will be any photos to post as I didn't see anyone taking any while we were playing. New gig on Sunday 3rd at The Black Bull in Gateshead - apparently it's in the afternoon.

Deconstructing a song from a musical PoV doesn't tell you why it is great.

Which is a cover - the original is by 60s garage band The Wilde Knights.

The reissues don't have much in common with the originals other than the body and headstock shapes are similar. Different pickups in different positions and a different scale length. I used to own the limited edition 5-string which was essentially a TRB II with the "samurai" body and headstock shape.

Looks like it’s been made using a wooden body to make the mold.

In Isolation have a series of gigs to round off 2023 where we will also be selling CD copies of our new single - our version of "I Believe In Father Christmas". Saturday 25th November at The Angel in Nottingham Supporting B-Movie (sold out) Sunday 3rd December at The Black Bull in Gateshead with The Scarlet Hour (afternoon gig) Friday 8th December at Ye Olde Salutation Inn in Nottingham with Discord & Rhyme and Ombudsmen Friday 22nd December at The Fidler's Elbow in London with Discord & Rhyme and The Jan Doyle Band

In Isolation have made our version of I Believe In Father Christmas available on limited edition CD. I also includes the Matt Pop remix of the track. Copies will be on sale at our next four gigs and should also be on our Bandcamp page later today (you can already buy the downloads).

...and here I am in my 60s still playing, writing and gigging

I'll be playing the Gus on Saturday (and for the rest of the gigs this year) with In Isolation.

Anything that will hold the nut in place will do. I've owned guitars where the pressure of the strings was the only thing holding the nut in place which I didn't discover until I restrung it. If you are planning on making lots of adjustments, I'd go for something that will hold the nut in place with no strings attached but will allow you to break the bond with a single careful tap of a hammer.

A band is never "better than that venue" and even if you think you are don't say it out loud. If you don't want to do the gig politely turn down it down, saying the band are not available that night. You never know some point in the future this might become a gig worth playing and you don't want to ruin your chances now by something you'll regret later.

I take it the saddles are as low as they will go, and the action is still high? If so you'll ultimately need to re-print the neck pocket, either shallower or at an angle depending on what suits you best. I'd start by adding a shim in the body-end third of the neck pocket to see what sort of an angle or how shallower the pocket needs to be. Start with a single thickness of business card and build up in necessary until you get a decent action on the neck and the scales are no longer sitting flush with the bridge base plate. Then you can use that to calculate how much higher the neck pocket needs to be at the body end when you reprint it. You are correct about the nut, the fact side faces the fingerboard, the curved side faces the machine heads. Regarding the hum - have you earthed the bridge? If not run a wire from the bridge base plate to the earth on the output jack and see how much difference that makes. You'll probably want to shield the control cavity and maybe the pickup cavities too and bond them all to the signal earth. Otherwise that is looking good!

In Isolation will be playing our version of "I Believe In Father Christmas" at all our December gigs. There will be a CD single available to buy as well.

It's just a question of undoing the screws, carefully lifting out the panel and then shinning a torch inside to see if there's anything attached to the back of the magnets and feeling around inside for anything loose rattling about. Looking at the photos of the cab on the PJB website removing the top carry handle should also give access to the insides. However if you really don't want to do this I'd start by blocking off the additional screw holes that are letting air out and see if that makes any difference.

The easiest songs to learn are the ones where the bass part is roughly what I would have come up with had I written it. It has nothing to do with how simple or complex the actual part is. The ones I find difficult to play and/or learn are sparse lines with unusual (for me) rhythms and songs where the all the parts use the same chords but in different orders.