The fasting showman

still sounds new to me 40 years on

The guys at Jaydee in my experience are always helpful. I wonder if they could accredit the bass in some way to make it identifiable? I was just surprised at it's existence at all, a 30.5 scale Jaydee Supernatural Correction: Roadie not Supernatural

I've no link to the sale at all but there's a short scale Jaydee Roadie for sale at Bass Bros. I've no funds whatsoever for such a thing but it's a really interesting bass for JMJ mustang money.

I managed to keep the frames to the castors but transplant in new wheels and axles on my 8x10. I just needed new 75mm wheels, this way getting the hole centres right for the castor plate didn't matter.

Hometown gig in a converted church that I've played before, nicer onstage sound than previous times. A few mistakes but a well received generally enjoyable gig. I've used a Peavey vb2 810 fridge for my last 3 gigs, this one and the 2 previous tour supports we did. The fridge was purchased for the usual blue book £100 for a non Ampeg 810: it's the 3rd 8x10 I've owned and I maintain that despite science going in the opposite direction they can be a good, cheap viable solution for certain situations. Obviously it wouldn't have worked when I was doing pub / club covers and probably not ideal for everyone. When I found out the bookings we had this year I either had to get an additional 2x12 neo GK cab or go on a different tangent. I flogged the GK and bought the fridge for half of what I got for it...I can rethink things in the future if needed. Fair to say that the 810 with the GK head is like a 3.5 litre v8 ticking over and never gets shouty; the volume is at the volume of the drumkit ( I'm enjoying playing with a more energetic drummer after playing with a sedate one for a few years) and one guitarist plays big chords while the other plays a bass 6. So I need to really ground the music, giving an illusion of being an octave below the bass 6. The tilt and roll drill with the fridge is pretty workable too, I struggle more with 4x10s tbh. My first gig with LaBella flats. Not wild about them on their own but great in the band mix, really full and consistent. The higher tension seems to work well too, nice to play.

Given the links between John Diggins and John Birch, I'd say Jaydee are the people to go to regarding John Birch pickups etc. I remember seeing a new Jim Lea bass at Jaydee back in 2010 or so, another branch of what they made along with the Iommi SG, Angus Young model also. When I think of Jaydee I tend to associate them with the Mark King bass but there's a lot of John Birch previous history before the Supernatural basses.

There used to be loads of them kicking around Birmingham in the early '80s....my ignorant 13 year old self used to be quite sniffy about them! There was always a few in Musical Exchanges The Broad St Musical Exchanges had a Super Yob in the window for a while in 81/82.

Would have been a popular setup in the '80s. Loads of those cabs around. I remember hearing a 400rb through a boogie 1x15 with an EV speaker at a gig, sounded great. I'm not into loads of low end tbh more the low mids and good presence. Much of my tastes are stuck in the last century!

Definitely, my thoughts exactly. That old JBL will sound amazing with the mk1 400rb also, great low mids I bet.

I certainly do gig with one, I find the string to string balance and thickness of the notes high up really useful. The Fallout is a pretty versatile bass....I don't sound that different whatever bass I play, for better or worse, after all these years.

Supported the Bluetones in Brum on Friday and at Hangar 34 in Liverpool yesterday. Great room sound in Liverpool. Absolutely freezing loading into the house at 3am this morning but nice to be still doing gigs like this occasionally, worth savouring

Probably best you don't tell Mrs Rob that you took advice from a bloke with this in his living room corner.

I've always been a bad influence!

Even now it's not drastically more; £150 ish for the Faital, £25 for the tweeter,£20 worth of basic ply from Wickes. PVA glue and mains cable for wiring. Admittedly the crossover is in my GK amp but it's a cheap easy job really and my woodworking isn't great.

I used 12mm for my build, Faital pro pr12 300 driver in this case. Still going strong, probably cost 175 quid max for absolutely everything when I built it.

You've been listening to the same stuff as me this week I guess. Incredible seeing Charlie Hunter play guitar and bass at the same time, the tracks he does on Voodoo are great.

Good man; pots and jacks are the Achilles heel