rushbo

I love that sketch.

CAVEAT: I'm a huge fan of the Fender Precision Bass aesthetic, so this may temper your opinion of my opinion. Every time I see one of those boutique, single cut basses (à la Fodera etc) they remind me of some massive sea creature, cresting the surface of the ocean. But not in a pretty way. I really liked the look of Jazz basses until I read (possibly on this very website) that someone disliked them because; "it looks like the bass has melted". The love affair ended moments after that sunk in.

That's the weird thing... he was a gen-u-wine. 100%, died in the wool guitarist. But he was incredibly sensible and moderate, too. And a great player - one of those annoying musicians who just played everything really well all the time. When we played live, he brought a PRS, a Squier Strat in case of string breakage, his Korg MFX, a bagful of leads etc and a small MesaBoogie combo. Set up took about 3 minutes with a stage footprint about the size of a tea tray. What a guy. I should have married him.

Yes. This.

You can divide most audiences into two categories: A. People who nod appreciatively when a guitarist changes from his/her "Bridge of Signs" tone to his/her "Texas Flood" tone B. People who get quickly bored/agitated when a guitarist prods hopefully at pedals and spins every knob on their instrument and amp in the vain hope of getting some subtly nuanced noise that in all honestly, only that particular guitarist can discern. The ratio of these groups is currently 500/1 in favour of group B. (Please note, this ratio is doubled in the case of bassists*) I worked with a guitarist who used the oldest Korg MultiFX thing in the world. It was huge and clunky, but he'd studied it, knew it backwards, forwards and possibly even in braille and could get any noise most people would want or care about. He always asked for a setlist a day or two in advance, so he knew where he was with his settings, but that was a small price to pay for a seamless performance. The day your punters notice you're fiddling about between songs is the day you need to have a word with the fiddler and make some pertinent "suggestions." * citation needed

I Picked up a Sessioncake SC01 from Martyn. Of course it came quickly and in near-perfect condition. Yes, batteries were included. He's a good egg. x

I have no desire to change my cabs at the moment, but my hat is off to you sir, for this very useful resource.

This should be on the landing page of this website, in a huge and luminous font. My band have done a couple of shows since the end of house arrest and before the first one, I dragged all my gigging gear to a local rehearsal room to make sure everything still created the appropriate noises. Just me, without the band. Fortunately, it all still worked, but I think it would be foolhardy to trust any gear that has been sitting still for eighteen months. Weird things can happen...

A big +1 for this. I use a Hercules iPad holder and it's surprisingly discreet. That does look nice - it looks a bit more maneuverable than my Hercules version.

I've used forScore on my iPad for quite a few years and I really cant fault it. For extra swankiness, I operate it with a Cuvave page turner, which retails at between £17-£25. My needs are pretty simple - just flicking through pdfs of chord sheets - but I've found it easy to use and very reliable.

I'm not a massive user of pedals anymore, but I love my BDI 21. I've had my fair share of Behringer stuff and the only thing I didn't get on with was a bass synth pedal. Other than that, it's been good news all the way. In a previous life as a music teacher with less than no money to spend on gear, my choices were limited. I kitted out our rehearsal rooms with Behringer mixers, mics and a few of their multi use combo amps. They survived a hell of a beating and performed really well. If it sounds good, it's reliable and easy to use then it's good gear, regardless of what it says on the label.

You are clearly insane. Fantastic work sir.

Here's my current gigging rig for Roxy Magic - the Roxy Music tribute I've been playing in for a while. I love a PJ configuration, I do. The red one is a bitsa and the natural one is a heavily modified/butchered "Cowpoke." The combo and cab are from the short lived Genz Benz "Contour" range. They're ace.

I've got one of these. Stupidly cheap, but rather good. Aesthetically, they're erm, somewhat lacking but they do exactly what they're supposed to do.

Brilliant album. Brilliant cover:

"Dewey Defeats Truman" version... nice.

I can't believe I'm the first person to post this:

I seem to remember that around the time of "Wild Boys," Andy Taylor was interviewed in Kerrang. ...thats pretty Metal.

Born and bred in Brum, but I now live in Halesowen, which is just about in the Black Country. After 20 years of living here, I think I've almost been accepted by most of the locals... Birmingham is ace and the accent is lovely and very hard to lose- just ask Jeff Lynne! I'm not sure if Brum is good for Metal in 2021, but it certainly was in the 70s and 80s. (Side note... any Brum based Basschaters remember a band called Money?)

Anybody fancy a bit of Post-Punk whimsy?

I'm sorry you've had a catalogue of bad experiences at the hands of people who repair/maintain guitars and basses. Although I've had no experience of the Bass Gallery, I've used 4-5 luthiers across the Midlands and only once had less than great service. The only time I could find a fault with any work I had done, it was rectified quickly and well, following a good natured and polite phone call. Did you send the instrument back to the Bass Gallery? Were your issues eventually addressed? I think what has prompted the tone of some of the replies to your initial post was that it seemed to be very combative - especially as it wasn't immediately clear that you've had consistently unsatisfactory service from many luthiers. It's hard to feel sympathy or empathy for someone, when they're being called "psychopaths". Not every person who tweaks a truss rod for money is a charlatan or a cowboy. Many do great work. Some, however, probably don't. Who would have thought the topic would become so emotive!? Can we all play nicely please? All this shouting will give everyone a headache.

I'm genuinely curious - was this your first and only interaction with a luthier (at the Bass Gallery?), or is this just another in a long sequence of less-than-satisfactory experiences? I'm not trying to be provocative, I'm just interested to know what could cause you to feel so negative towards the profession.

What a brilliant era for Bill... The Red Noise album "Sound on Sound" blew my mind in '79 and it still does today. He still makes great music now, but "Sound on Sound" is a desert island disc for me.

I auditioned for the Primitives, sometime in the nineties. I didnt get the gig, but i had some fun. The guitarist was lovely. Oh, and i got to play "Crash."