The fasting showman

I loved my old red BB300, I remember trying it out in Musical Exchanges in Birmingham through a Hiwatt 100 into a new JCM 800 bass 4x12 angled cab. Would have been as a school kid in 1984, sounded great!

A real hit of nostalgia seeing this, GLWTS 

Luis Jardim RIP on bass, such an important record to me that blew me away as a kid back in late '85. 

1 hour ago, umcoo said:

Not mine, but saw the ad and thought of this group

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DbCrhekso/

You beat me to it! Great minds think alike and all that.

Let's give this a go again. EMGs added to replace the anemic stock pickups. String retainer added to even out string balance which did the trick. More pics available on request. Great bass at a bargain price. 

Thanks 

Martin 

Potential trades added

1 hour ago, OliverBass76 said:

Hi buddy would you consider a trade for a sterling stingray 2024 in sparkle purple 

All best 

Olly 

Answered in PM. I'd rather sell than trade, thanks for the interest 

17 minutes ago, basstone said:

Do you still have the board? Where are you based?  cheers

Hi, now donated elsewhere, sorry should have said.

1980 Fender Precision special, Lake Placid blue. Wired passively due to the active circuit needing a repair. 4.9kg as is typical for this model. I'm sure the circuit would be easy to fix, the bass works very well as is; priced to account for this issue. 

Great sounding bass, really even over the board without the 6th/7th fret G string dead spot problem. I've played many eras of P basses and this measures up sonically with the best of them.

Selling due to it being a lean year for gigs. I can supply gut shots if required but there's no additional routing and due to the painted headstock it's pretty obvious it's not a bitsa.

UK sale only, collection only but happy to meet up within reason. Fender fibreglass case ( well used and heavily stickered) included.  Original parts included obviously also.

I'd consider an EBMM sub ( USA) as a trade to include cash to make up the difference, i could then relist my Fernandes Jazz.

Thanks for viewing, Martin 

It seems that Guy Pratt owned the Rock n Roll circus Gibson SG for a while.

18 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

Sat in the pub tonight discussing this very track. OK, JE was one of the great bass players, and Daltrey a decent front man, but Moon and Townsend are just incredible in this, in fact it's Townsend's guitar that holds it together at times. f***ing glorious 🙏

Reading this again made me listen to the long version of My Generation off Live at Leeds...always gets me every time, as does Marquee Moon for example.

The tone colours and tone production and character from the musicians themselves is/are incredible, the dynamic range and stereo image also.

5 hours ago, silverfoxnik said:

Great to see this thread spring back to life.. 

 

I'm a lifelong Roxy fan; Virginia Plain was the first 7" single I bought back in 1972..

 

Watching them performing it on Top of the Pops was as mind blowing to me as an 12 year old kid as seeing Bowie performing Starman on the show that same year! 

 

Their influence can't be overstated enough IMHO ; they were a driving force in bringing the glamour back into rock & roll at that time, influenced countless other influential bands/artists like Bowie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Japan, Duran Duran etc, etc.. And in Ferry and Eno, the had two stunningly original artists and songwriters... 

 

My personal preference will always be for their first, brilliantly original run of albums made with the original lineup, as opposed to the late 70s, early 80s sound they morphed into when Ferry brought in different group of technically better (maybe?), but less interesting musicians.. 

 

In terms of their bass players, Graham Simpson, John Gustafson and John Whetton resonate most with me in terms of their playing styles, bass lines and sound.

 

(... weird how their surnames all end in 'on'??) 

 

And JG was a really significant bass player in the development of the first Wal Pro Bass model back in the mid-70s. 

 

Awesome! 

A huge influence on so many great bands. I've always thought to myself that 'She sells' off Siren could just as easily been a song by either Japan or Madness. 

There's not many other ways that those 2 great bands could cross-over!

Still fitted to my bass, but as I offered it to a Wanted ad request ( I was too late!) here it is.

If anybody is looking for a badass 2, £75 posted in the UK. No mounting screws alas as none came with it.

Thanks for viewing, 

Martin 

Gallien Krueger 700rb ii with new power amp board purchased from Polar Audio last month.

I bought a 2nd power amp board for my main amp so this is now surplus.

OK, I made a big noise about buying a dead 700rb ii for £50 and then buying a new power amp for £50 ( equals £100, I know)...I'm offering this at 175 purely as it's about half what a 700rb would go for normally. I tend to sell pretty cheaply, to stop gear gathering dust but below £175 then I may as well keep it. 

Obviously the heart transplant was done by myself as a DIY fix. The amp works well and actually sounds better ( new board maybe?) than my old faithful. So if you want a 700rb ii at a good price, hopefully I'm being pretty transparent. I am just raising funds as I'm not gigging much.

Just to add, at the asking price I'm happy to meet up and handover the amp within say a 50 mile radius. From Lichfield, Strensham services for example. Not a fan of couriers from previous experience. 

Cheers 

Martin 

7 hours ago, Old Man Riva said:

 

Andrew Bodnar sounds great on this, good choice. I always wondered if this song was influenced by 'Sound and Vision'

Still pretty well as new checked Ernie Ball gtr/ bass strap that I used briefly for a few '80s gigs I did. UK only, please, £10 posted.

Cheers 

Martin 

5 hours ago, Minininjarob said:

Polar have slashed the prices on all the old GK parts so get in there quick. 

I just got another 700rb power amp module for £30 and a preamp for £15.

Repairers can't seem to be bothered with fixing them so it's a good backup. 

I've used my old 700rb for 10 years so they work for me, small enough and more than loud enough so if I can keep it working myself, all good. 

Thanks for the heads up

3 hours ago, Minininjarob said:

What was wrong with it? 

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I bought a kaput 700rbii off ebay for around £50 a few years ago.

I did a DIY fault check working front to back and established that the preamp and DI worked fine. Upon connecting a cheap speaker to the output I heard a loud thud through the speaker; I assume it's gone DC at the output.

Our local amp tech had a quick look and issued an I won't charge anything but cease and desist...he said the transformer is fine, keep it for spares. He felt that digging through the pcb wouldn't be cost effective compared to buying a second hand working amp.

A different repair company  quoted me £150 to fix the amp presumably gone DC.

Obviously I was chuffed to drop on a new power amp module from Polar last week for £49. I now have 2 working 700rb amps.

So the dead module is free to anyone, would be good for a tech-y 700rb owner to cannibalise or fix.

This is the dead 700rb ii power amp board. As you can see, it's gathering dust so if anyone wants it free for spares or a possible fix up, let me know.

It's quite possible that the fan may work still for example, could be handy if you've got a 700rb.

...the Keen Ocean transformer Polar have got listed on ebay is for 400rb mk3 and mk4, also backline 600 models. 

The amp repairer I use used one in my old 400rb mk2 to convert a US model to UK voltage. It worked fine but it involved drilling a hole for the toroidal transformer. Just a heads up if anyone wants to keep it as a spare. If you can find a backline 600 they're also useful for the same reasons....decent amps in their own right.

On 26/02/2025 at 14:03, cetera said:

Polar Audio were GK's old UK distributor so they must have found some at the back of their UK warehouse....

There's some very useful items from Polar currently on ebay for keeping old GKs working. 

I had a 700rbii that was a potential spare parts donor; working preamp and transformer, owes me £50ish. It had gathered dust for 2 years.

 I just dropped on a power amp module from Polar for £50, took out the old one and replaced it. The repaired 700rb sounds better than my old faithful.

Worth looking on eBay for Polar's GK spares if you've got a clapped out GK. Or if you want backup items; techs don't seem to want to repair the power amps, I was quoted £150 at best.

https://youtu.be/ZcHPNUN-U8E?si=IqHlH9obykWXV2xR

Rebel Rebel by Bowie 

Private World - New York Dolls

Iggy's 'Fall in love with me' could work as a 2 chord vamp at the end of another song.

Television-'Ain't that Nothin'?'

I'm stretching the brief a bit far perhaps. Let me know if you need a dep

If only I was nearer to Norfolk, I'd buy this. GLWTS 

Throwing in the towel, I may as well keep it 

As said elsewhere, absolutely stellar band; Don Alias lays down such a solid pocket for Jaco