Painy

23 and a half years ago a group of school friends decided to form a band and had about half a dozen rehearsals in the singer/rhythm guitarist's garage. One week, the bass player phoned to say he couldn't make it that evening for rehearsal. The lead guitarist had found out only a couple of weeks before that I played bass as I had bought a little practice combo from him at school so he phoned me to ask if I wanted to stand in for the practice that night. I happily agreed to the chance to have a jam with some mates and came along. It was soon pretty obvious to them that I was a much more advanced player than their guy and they asked me to join permanently on the spot. I happily agreed and they assured me they would break it to the other guy the next day at school and then we'd get together again in the evening. Unfortunately he was off school the next day but word got to him through the school grape vine anyway before any of them had a chance to speak to him. That evening we got together again anyway and were just setting up when there was a knock on the garage door. It was the other guy's mum come to have a go at everyone! She went absolutely mental at them for being mean to her boy and they were so scared that they denied completely that they were going to kick him out and told her they wanted both of us in the band! We played our first three gigs with two bass players. After which I said enough was enough and that if they wanted to keep me but wouldn't tell him he was out then I would do it for them. I arranged to meet him at the local park and broke the news that it wasn't working with two bass players and he was the one to go. He actually took it really well. Turns out he was far less bothered about being out of the band than his mum had been as he was much more interested in learning to play acoustic guitar than in playing bass anyway. 1500 gigs, 5 drummers, 1 rhythm guitarist and 6 lead vocalists later and we're still going strong. 😁

I have the early stages of arthritis in both hands and it certainly manifests itself in the way that you're describing - and as DoubleOhStephen points out, the fact it is becoming more regular at the time of year that it's getting colder is also a clue. That said, when it's at its worst my knuckles can become visibly swollen. I wouldn't presume to be able to diagnose any condition but it sounds like a trip to the doctor's may be worth while. As far as dealing with it goes, it's just Ibuprofen for the pain/swelling and then I find that a few minutes using these finger exercisor things gets my fingers moving more freely again

One of the TC Bg250 combos would be right on the money. 250w so plenty loud enough, a range of speaker sizes to choose from depending how compact you want it to be, very lightweight, comfortably under budget new but well under half your budget used.

If anyone wants this just let me have your address and I'll pop it in the post for you. It's not a genuine aguilar badge but it does look pretty good.

Thanks for the info. It was only £25 and I was planning to leave it at our rehearsal space as our drummer has an electric kit there so doesn't need to be too loud. I leave an old cab there and normally just take my head along with me but its a 4ohm cab so looks like it wouldn't work with this head anyway.

I've seen a Perfect 10 Mini Rig head for sale without the matching pair of 110 cabs but I believe the cabs were 16ohms each. Does anybody know if the head will run down to 4ohms or is 8ohms actually the minimum?

Possibly not with Sabbath but he's using it with his new band here:-

I'm curious as to how it actually differs in sound from the ABM 600. I know the valve drive is tuned differently to suit Geezer's preference but is it just that, the double VUs and the way it can be slaved to another head that make it different or is there something in the core tone? I'd happily have one either way! 😁

Absolutely this! 😄😄😄😄

It is a bit strange that tolexed rack sleeves seem so hard to come by or are really expensive if you do find them. I reckon the sleeve that Aguilar make for the the DB751 would probably fit the Head of Doom but at $199 (and possibly plus shipping and import duty from the US if they're not available over here) it's a pretty expensive option.

Thanks. 🙂 That is a bit disappointing. If it gives you any indication of price this is what they quoted me :-

Yeah I've got some of them. 😁

After getting my quote from Zilla I decided to just have a go at building one myself to save a few quid. I've just put a post up with the result of my labour here:-

To be honest, as much as I love the sound of that, there's a fair amount of bodging under the surface! 😄 I did have fun doing it though so maybe. 🤔

I really love the classic look of the Ashdown CTM300 head but unfortunately it's just not in my price range at the moment. To tide me over until I can save up a couple of grand, I decided that I'd try to at least achieve the look of the amp even if I can't get the sound of it right now. I've spent my spare time over the last week building this new case from scratch for my ABM 500rc Evo iii and I'm really pleased with the result so thought I'd share it here. 🙂

Buy the rack-mount one and put it in a lightweight Gator case or a rack bag to save the weight of the plywood sleeve? Sorted! 😁

My Squier VM P5. Admittedly took a few modifications to the electronics to get the sound where I wanted it but it just has the most comfortable, playable neck of any bass I've owned (which has included enough basses that cost several thousand pounds to make that an impressive statement for a sub £300 instrument). I've also been able to get it to take a far lower action than any other bass I've owned.

Try contacting Zilla through Facebook Messenger. I contacted them that way for a quote on an amp head sleeve a couple of weeks ago and Paul got back to me within half an hour - and that was fairly late in the evening too.

Just traded a TC combo with Andy for his Ashdown cab. As easy and friendly a transaction as you could hope for with great coms!

Yeeeeaaah, sorry about that.

Yeah, even stacked they'd still only be about waist high which never helps when you have to stand right in front of it. I'm planning to sit it on one of these to try and get it up a bit closer to ear level.

I almost feel guilty now.... Almost.

Which is why, come the uprising, the couriers will be the first against the wall!!!