rushbo

I always take a spare bass. It's been years since I've needed to use it, but I still take one to every gig. Sometimes I justify it by giving the spare a run out in the second set. I have a "two bass" case, so there's nothing additional to load in/out, although that case can get quite heavy if you have to carry it a distance! There are so many variable factors to take into consideration when gigging - you may never have broken a string in your life and keep your bass in A1 condition, but you can't legislate for clumsy band members knocking instruments off stands, uber-drunk punters doing the same, dubious venue wiring making things go "bang" when they shouldn't and inexplicable acts of God/Allah/Buddah etc. You may never need your spare, but if the occasion ever arises when that dry solder joint that's been dormant in your bass since 1963, suddenly kicks off at a gig, you'll be glad you've got that car boot sale Squier in the back of the car.

Brace yourself. It's a long and sometimes bumpy ride... You'll hear some amazing bass players on your travels, tho'. My favourite Zappa stuff is from the mid seventies to the early eighties, but there's stuff to enjoy in every era of his work. Good luck!

Definitely. "Bad For Good" is a great record and the version of "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" on there is a belter. Some of his work is a wee bit too Wagnerian for my tastes, but you cannot deny that Steinman had a clear vision and a signature sound, exemplified by "Bat Out of Hell," of course. My favourite stories about Steinman concern the abortive attempts to record the follow up to "Pyromania" with Def Leppard. It did not go well... Steinman met the band in Ireland and in an Interview reproduced on his website he says: "One of the first conversations I had with Def Leppard was in Dublin during pre-production. I was so excited to be in Dublin and I said, This is great for me. I'm finally in the land of James Joyce and Yeats. These guys are idols of mine. You guys feel that at all? And they said, No, we haven't had a chance to meet any of the local musicians."

Has anyone done the AshBass mod to their B3? https://ashbass.com/AshBassGuitar/Zoom/ I love my B3, but the only thing that annoys me slightly about it, is having to "long press" a switch, before you can scroll through patches. I know this has been rectified with the B3n, but the B3 is a better fit for my needs. I'm attempting this at the weekend, under the watchful eye of a buddy who knows his way around a soldering iron, but I was wondering if any BCers had done this mod and had any words of wisdom?

GONE I've recently dismantled a pair of cheapo speakers which had ceased to function, but I've saved some of the fixtures and fittings. If they're any good to a BCer, give me a shout and they're yours. There are a couple of top hats for speaker stands, some rubber feet, some handles and some little port covers, plus all the screws.

Sold some patch leads to Paul - smooth and effortless. Buy and sell with confidence. Cheers, Rushbo

I might be a little late to the party, but I've got a RockBoard Tres3.1 and I love it. I bought mine second hand and it didn't come with a Mod 3, so I cut a rectangle from an old scratchplate and back mounted it to cover the void. (The black disc next to it covers a hole which the previous owner made in it for some reason...)

I bought a Sennheiser wireless dealio from Chris. It came promptly, superbly packaged and the wireless was immaculate. Chris wins my "Dude of the Week" award. Buy and sell with confidence.

Can I just throw DHL into the mix... Recently, I sent an inexpensive (£130 bitsa) from Dudley to Spalding. Very reasonable fee, I thought. I opted for the "drop off at parcel shop" option to save a few quid and dutifully manhandled my parcel to the local collection point. The nice man at the shop tried to scan in the details, but to no avail. "It's not been working all morning" he said. Bloody, but unbowed, I took the thing to the next closest collection point. Same story. I went home and waited. After a couple of hours, I phoned shop #1. "Yep, it's working now!" came the cheery reply. Back in the car, back to the shop. The device now wouldn't recognise the parcel number. Went home. Shouted at some things, then tried to phone DHL. Like most of the helplines one rings at the moment, unless your question is "what company am I ringing?" you won't get much of a reply. I tried the "chat" section of their website. After a wait in the queue, I finally got to "speak" to an advisor who said to book it again as a home pick-up and they'd refund my initial payment. Which I did. To be fair to DHL, the collection guy came at exactly the allotted hour the next day and whisked away my parcel. After a bit of communication with the very nice chap I was selling the bass to, he mentioned that he would be working on the delivery day and would have to pick it up from the depot as I'd specified that the parcel should be signed for at the delivery address. "Aha!" said I. "DHL can divert delivery to an open all hours (ish) parcel shop!" We found a local place, I made the adjustment and nervously waited. I tried to track the parcel, but the new shipping number magically stopped working. That evening, the happy recipient told me that the bass had been delivered to his next door neighbour. How does that work?

Without giving away too many trade secrets, what did you use to get that purple finish? It looks ace!

I bought some sparkly new machine heads from JtG and all was good. Great comms, nicely packaged and promptly delivered. Sort of perfect, really. Rushbo

I worked in record shops for many years, and the number of disappointed Little Old Ladies who dejectedly handed me back, played-once copies of Extreme's "Pornograffitti" and No Doubts "Tragic Kingdom", having been suckered in by "More Than Words" and "Don't Speak" was astronomical.

Cheers Mr H. Here's the link for any UK based Zappafans: https://www.altitude.film/page/zappa?country=united-kingdom

Is this available to view in the UK yet?

The one in the OP went for £124 which is crazy cheap for what you're getting. These are really nice instruments - I'd still have mine if I could get on with that goshdarned extra string.

Blimey - I didn't know he'd written a book. That's a must have!

Wow. On so many levels.

I think the only members of his bands that had to read music were drummers- that was a prerequisite. Then again, how any musician could memorise such complex music, which Zappa would “modify” during every performance, is a superhuman feat.

Mike Watt is a goshdarned bass legend IMO. I loved fIREHOSE and got to see them at the short lived Junction 10 in Walsall, after an earlier attempt to see them play in scout hut in Derby (!?) was cancelled.