uk_lefty

Get some gigs for my new 80s band Risky Business. Ideally first gig before end of March.

Get some fresh material in for The Desert Penguins, ideally for the second half of the set. It's a really solid set list but i'd love it if we could shake it up and make picking those end of night songs a bit tougher than just going through the same ones all the time.

Ashdown ABM Neo 1x15 cab with switchable tweeter. Owned from new, some minor scuffs on the tolex (photos to follow) but absolutely sound. Never pushed hard. Really good compact cab, weighs in at less than 15kg so an easy one hand lift. Takes speakon or jack. Only selling as I recently acquired a 4x10 and my office is becoming too crowded. 

Will post at cost.

Very good condition, comes with box and power supply. Excellent for guitar, very good for bass. They usually go for a lot more but I'm selling this just to recover what it owes me. 

Really good pedal, used it for my last gig. Bass gear is well covered, 7x usable amp Sims, cab Sims, Darkglass distortion, plus all the other guitar effects and amps. You can do parallel processing, add external pedals, endless possibilities. I love it for the touch screen editing, only use the PC to backup settings and a firmware update when I first got it. 

Collect from St Albans area or will post for a fiver.

Boss VE-20. You can Google for all the details but here's my view after a fair while owning it...

It's superb for finessing and evening out vocals for performance or home recording. Like any pedal you need to get the gain right if going through a PA. It can do some nice stuff like adding a second and third part harmony to your voice. It can "double" up your voice to add extra presence, it really doesn't sound like there's any delays, it's just a good thickening of the sound. 

Overall its great, if I did loads of home recording I wouldn't be selling it. As it is I'm just not getting the use out of it and was really only using the "megaphone" effect for the mid 8 in one song while playing live. I just need to get back the money it cost me as I've already spent the proceeds.

Collection from St Albans area or I can post for a fiver. PM me with any questions. Pretty sure I have the original box.

I change gear so often that I don't think there's a particular sound apart from whatever it is I play close to the bridge, usually finger style, and there's probably some licks I'm tiring out each time I play. 

I've only had a brief play with it but cranking the gain gives a nice wooliness round the edge of the sound. There's definitely some "poke" to it which I was looking for, I'm confident there's sufficient volume here. It's a different flavour to my ABM and Bassman. I don't have any info on the cab, it has what appears to be two speakon inputs (one could be a link, not sure) and I have no idea the wattage or ohm-age but I'm guessing it's a 600w as most of these seem to be. 

I've been reading this thread with interest... I've been using a Headrush MX5 for a few months now which is the same "form factor" as the GX10 and also has a touch screen. I'm really impressed with it, mainly for the touch screen and how easy it is to create and edit patches. I will probably sell it and replace with a GX10 purely because I prefer the Boss bass amp simulations. This would mean that my ME-90B is going too. I'd be ok with that, while I really enjoy the ME-90B for it's simplicity I hadn't experienced touch screen digital effects. A GX10 will cover me for guitar and bass. I've also got the Headrush on a small pedalboard so I can have my wireless and vocal FX mounted with it, a GX10 would just slot in as a direct replacement...

28 minutes ago, Elfrasho said:

 

 

IMO, this is exactly what you want from a showreel. lots of energy, interesting camera angles, quick cuts and zooms. Crowd dancing and singing along.  

 

Also, important to have a vertical version too, as so much social media is consumed vertically these days.  

 

This is my bands version for an upcoming gig, in the similiar vein, a bit less punk.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRZ7sdzlK7V/

I love the concept for your band!!! 😎

This is ours... I couldn't say if it has brought any new bookings but it definitely can't have lost us any. The audio is from a different gig and the video from one of the larger festivals we do. Before this we have quite a few videos that have spliced together mobile phone videos from different angles and then original audio too. The guitarist makes those somehow on an Apple PC.

Feel free to follow the band page and book us for any gigs in 2026.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvKAESgOpYH/?igsh=MjFrYmE1eXlxYTBk

And here's a version made for phone screens: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvdGYWFAxXV/?igsh=MWJvc3hteGh3b2xqcA==

So I took a slight detour on the way to work yesterday and picked up this rather handsome but weighty unit.  I fancied a 4x10 to replace my 2x15 cabs and ended up with a Warwick 4x10 and head. I had a Warwick Sweet 15 combo in the past and was very impressed with it so at the price this was a no brainer. It's been in the freezing cold overnight so I've brought it in to warm up before I test at my lunch break.

Depending on how things go this could be...

It's the best amp and cab ever, becomes my main rig, Ashdown rig goes on sale;

Keep the cab, sell the head. Sell off my Ashdown NEO 15s and run my ABM600 into this cab;

It's good but it doesn't beat the Ashdown, so it gets moved on to someone who will give it what it deserves

I can't begin to understand the science, maybe it's down to coincidence... When I had an Ashdown Routmaster set up I preferred their 15" cabs over their 2x10s. I had both at the same time. So for me I've just sort of stuck to 15s, though a Trace Elliot 2x10 combo sounds stunning. This morning I just picked up a 4x10 cab because I like the idea of having only one cab in my office rather than 2x 15s...

Now someone is going to tell me that will make no difference whatsoever... But it will, one box takes up less space than two.

Excellent work, good luck!

On 13/12/2025 at 14:58, ordep said:

latest micro board setup. usually powerbank powered.

 

 

then this added to whichever board I am bringing with me. (I have two other setup depending on the situation/need)

 

What's the added switch on the MXR? 

I think I may have missed an update... Well, almost two weeks ago we got a singer! It's been a palaver to find one, we had some promising leads and some that wouldn't be up to scratch. I'm so glad we kept on putting a set together. The drummer and I got our heads together and each contacted singers we had been in bands with before. The drummer's contact had been wanting to do less and less many years ago and couldn't be persuaded back to it, a female singer I knew from trying to set up an 80s band in the past. I didn't hold out much hope but wanted to give her a go... Well, she has kept her hand in and sounded really good doing almost the whole 'set' with us. The band unanimously agreed to bring her onboard.

Risky Business is in business!  A proper rehearsal booked for Tuesday night where we can get our keys sorted for the songs and work on arrangements and get used to playing together. Hoping to get some low-key pub gigs booked for early next year, give us something to aim for.

Well, I never thought it would happen... I got rid of my Spark amp and replaced it with playing electric guitar through my Fender Bassman amp and using a Headrush MX5 multi I picked up second hand. I started to experiment with the Headrush and it's pretty good for bass too so my Boss ME-90B is put to the side for a while. 

Well, a nice small multi effects pedal is great, but I wanted to add wireless. I've got a vocal effect pedal too, and I plan to get one of those MXR Synth pedals too... So I needed a board. 

This is what it looks like today, with space to spare for the synth. I could even mount the wireless transmitter for my IEMS on here but I think that's overkill potentially.

I'll practice and gig this board next week and see how it compares to the trusty Boss ME-90B.

I have an irrational desire for a Markbass amp. I've got a Fender Bassman, Ash down ABM 600 rig and two separate multi effects pedals with good quality amp Sims. Yet when I hear someone playing through a Markbass rig there's a quality to the sound I am struggling to replicate: the punch. Is this baked in to Markbass amps? Or, is this something I can recreate with EQ and compression or something else?  Unfortunately my multis (Headrush MX5 and Boss ME-90B) do not have a Markbass SIM.

If I bought a third amp, would I even use it? I've gone in-ears now and my amps are becoming less and less used for gigs.

I am very tempted! Had one of these when I was 17 and used to gig with it.

21 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Agree, their material is instantly recognisable and many really like them but I just can`t get Coldplay. 

I used to like them, even went to see them live... Then they disappeared up their own derriere in my view, and I wouldn't bother with them now. Having said that my band plays two of their older songs and they get a good sing along going.

Its all perspectives isn't it?  Rubbish is quite a shorthand way of expressing things like "not my cup of tea" and "inferior quality compared to other options".

I wouldn't say Morrisey is a rubbish singer, I would say something like I'd rather lick horse wee off burning thistles, but that's my perspective and I don't expect everyone else to go along with it.

Nice!! Have always been fascinated by three pickup basses

....I quite like the Stingray like this at the moment.

10 hours ago, TrevorR said:

That would be my vote! Love my SB700!

I would love a proper Aria SB. Or for them to do their modern ones in left handed which they weirdly don't.

On 06/11/2025 at 22:05, Grassie said:

God Shuffled His Feet” by Crash Test Dummies.

Can't believe I've never listened to this album! Really enjoying it.

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I've just been looking at getting a ticket to see Cabaret Voltaire at Rock City next year.

 

The face value ticket price is £35.00

On top of that is £5.88 booking fee and a £1.50 E-Ticket charge bringing the total price up to £42.38, and this is from Rock City's own web site. If you want to buy them from any of the other ticket sites it's even more expensive.

 

It used to be possible to bypass these fees by going in person to the Rock City box office. I'm in town for a client meeting tomorrow so I'll go and have a look to see if this is still the case.

 

IMO if there is no way of avoiding these additional charges then they should not be additional and be part of the actual face value ticket price. And if they can be avoided by buying in person rather than on-line then this information should be made available at the time of purchase. I suspect that there is some creative accounting reason why they are additional.

I'm stuck on these... On one hand it's good to see the breakdown so you know (to a degree) where your money is going, but as you say if you can't actually remove any of those additional fees then it all just seems pointless.

I've had two five string Sires, a V7 Vintage and a V9. Excellent basses and loads of options on them, so you can really experiment if you've never had active or maple boards or whatever before. I felt I "needed" a 5 string then felt I didn't... The preamps are great, the maple boarded vintage V7 is really nice for snappy, trebly sounds and the pre let's you roll that off and make it thunderously deep... There's nothing not to like, apart from the headstock.