EliasMooseblaster

I do live in the South of England, and I suspect it won't be long before this isn't an exaggeration.

Sounds like a good deal to me. Especially if it's in your neck of the woods; it's always nice to be able to go and give it a quick test drive and make sure all the knobs are working before you part with your cash!

I'd second all of the above - not owned a Peavey, but I've plugged into a few TNTs at rehearsal spaces and gigs, and I've been pleasantly surprised by them. Depending on what's available, it might also be worth considering Laney (e.g., RB3 or RB4) or Ashdown at this sort of price point. (Going second hand can also get you a lot more bang for your buck!)

Reminds me of an old friend of mine who, to be fair, was never on the same planet as the rest of us. I remember him telling me excitedly over the phone that he'd got his mitts on an electric guitar. "Oh, nice. What have you got?" "Erm...I think it's a Fender Stratocaster." I nearly choked on my coffee. The rest of us were all playing Squiers and Epiphones if we were lucky - where had he found the money for a real Fender? Then something struck me as odd: Wait... I thought, you think it's a Strat? Surely there's a big, helpful label on the headstock that would tell you if it is. But, as I say, he was often on a different planet from the rest of us, so I thought better than to labour the point. I managed to stifle a laugh when he showed it to me. The headstock was blank - it was one of those unbranded starter kit guitars from Argos. In fact, I'm pretty sure he even bought the pack from Argos...but rather than do any research, or ask somebody who would know, he fell back on the fact that he knew roughly what a Strat and a Les Paul looked like, and since this one looked more like the former, it couldn't possibly be anything except a Fender Stratocaster.

Perhaps I got a duff set!

It will, but I'd like to lower it in any case - I've gone up two string gauges from the ones the guitar shipped with, so the strings sit quite a bit higher in the slots that were cut for them at the factory. It probably doesn't help that this shift in gauges has meant going from an unwound G to a wound!

Did you find they did the job? I bought a set of those to make some adjustments to a skinny-string, and it was a bit laborious, without yielding great results. (I might try the sandpaper trick tonight, as the D and G still have a habit of popping out of their slots during bigger bends...)

Interesting; I have an uncanny ability to change the atmospheric conditions myself, though I'm not sure it's a feature people would pay money for.

Psst! (whispers) Argent (/whispers)

See also In the Garage from Weezer's first album!

I managed to rig up a fairly compact setup for about £70-80 including headphones...you may want something more Hi-fi than I'm about to describe, but here goes: - Small Behringer mixing desk (Xenyx-502) - probably not exactly FRFR, but gives you a pretty dry signal and less colouration than a regular guitar/bass amp - Behringer BDDI-21 to make it sound like I'm actually playing through an amp - which it sounds like the OP may not want/need (- A bass...not included in the above price, but still kind of essential) - Pair of Sony MDR-ZX100 headphones - surprisingly clear and balanced sound for the money - plugged into the headphone out on the mixer. Not as satisfying as firing up the real amp, but given young Master Mooseblaster's early bedtime, it beats practising unplugged.

Sorry, I'll open a window...

Just a quick bump before the big night...

I'd hazard a guess that Ibanez's marketing department decided that "Professional" was a more sellable term to use that "Premium"! Didn't Fender recently do something similar, with the "American Standard" line of guitars morphing into the "American Professional" series?

One for musicians and spectators alike: Upper Norwood Library Hub are starting a series of live music events, and the first Thursday of every month will be Acoustic Night. This entails an open mic/acoustic jam with a set from a featured artist. This coming Thursday, 7th Feb, I shall be said featured artist. Saddle up your bass/DB/guitar/ukulele/kazoo and come join me. Or kick back with a beer and some great music. Free entry, fully licensed bar, sign-up to play from 8pm, music from 8.30. (All ages welcome, though under-16s must supply their own adult.) 39-41 Westow Hill, London SE19 1TJ. (Nearest stations are Gipsy Hill and Crystal Palace.) FB event deelie at https://www.facebook.com/events/227591768147791 I sound like this, in case you're wondering:

Here's an easy thought experiment to identify them: for each individual in the band, imagine a situation in which they fall into a deep river. Is your instinct to throw them a flotation aid, or their gear?

I gather Jackson has got Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins costume out of storage so that he can do a cameo as Noddy Holder.

1-0-0-1, if I'm being particularly hard on myself.

I did go through a phase of naming them, mostly after characters from anime series or webcomics - any BCers of a certain fandom might understand why I called my 8-string "Vriska," for example. But the joke wore a bit thin, and I stopped bothering. So now the only one which has a name is my longest-serving bass, my kit-built Precision copy. It's named after one of my grandmothers, because it's sturdy and dependable, with a voice that could cut through walls. (Not that the bass in question has an East Midlands accent...)

Can't speak for the Ampegs, but I've never found the LB-30 / CTM-30 lacking in midrange. I did find the Mid-Shift switch particularly useful for shunting the centre frequency into the a "sweet spot." Also, I think I'm right in saying that the EQ is similar to an old-fashioned FVM-style tone stack (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), so by backing off the bass control, I can give the mids and treble more room to "breathe" - at home I'd typically have the bass knob around 8 or 9 o'clock, and the mids and treble at noon. (The high shelf introduced by the Bright switch is also quite useful for definition if you need to keep the volume down!)

I think it's definitely worth a try! Our drummer is very capable of "doing quiet," but he's definitely a rock drummer and his default setting is "loud." It's safe to say the cab upgrade was the biggest change for me: I initially upgraded to a CTM-100 after our guitarist traded up his Blues Junior for a Blackstar Artisan (same wattage, but much fuller-sounding), and the extra wattage helped me to keep up. But after one particular gig I felt like I wasn't getting the best out of the amp, and decided that maybe the cheap 1x15 wasn't cutting the mustard. The shift to a high-quality 2x12* made a vast difference - I almost had to double-check I'd connected the same amp to the cab! And actually, with the 2x12, even the LB-30 can keep up with our drummer and guitarist much more comfortably. *Bergantino CN212, in case you were wondering

Just to add another can of worms to the pan: I think it depends on the tone you want. I've done small indoor gigs with a Little Bastard 30, and I've done outdoor gigs with a CTM-100 where the rest of the band have suggested I might want to turn down a bit! No PA support in either case, but they were being run into a well-voiced 2x12. That said, the tone I go for is all about the mids, and I'm more than happy to let the amp break up. If I were after a cleaner sound and/or thick, chest-rattling low frequencies, I suspect I might need a higher wattage...and/or more speakers.

I found myself in a similar position in the south of England, no less! Back when you still had to buy your train ticket from a person at a desk, I found myself queuing at the station behind a group of three or four Merkins. I forget what they were asking about, but I remember the woman in the booth had a strong Jamaican accent. Now fair enough, I know that it can be a difficult accent to understand if you're not used to it, but she was speaking English. But whereas most of us might have replied to her with, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that" or similar, the chap who was doing the talking simply turned to his travelling companions and said, "I can't understand a word she's saying." Maybe not, mate, but she can certainly understand what you just said...

I asked my French friends whether they could follow the lyrics in this one, and they said no. Don't know if it's his accent quebecois, or the fact he's spitting the words out so quickly, but I'd insist it doesn't detract from the song:

It's a slight deviation from the theme, but Buddy Whittington once turned up at once of the weekly blues jams I used to frequent. For those wondering who the hell I'm talking about, he's a very well-regarded blues guitarist, and first came to prominence playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. I think I'm right in saying that he was still touring with them on this particular evening, and one of the other regular jammers said they'd heard that when the Bluesbreakers had a night off between gigs, he liked to find a jam night in whichever town they were in, and just get up and jam with some strangers. I always felt that the standard at this particular jam was fairly high, but he was a cut above us regulars, and it was quite obvious to everyone in the audience. The difference here was that at least 50% of said audience were musicians themselves, and the rest wouldn't have been there unless they liked to listen to a lot of blues, so everyone knew that this was something out of the ordinary. I can't help but suspect if he'd turned up with a band at the Tickled Trout and Terrier, somebody would have staggered up after a couple of songs and asked him if he knew Wonderwall.