chriswareham

Nice! Now that Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi has retired, they're really starting to exploit their past. I admire Kakehashi's determination to always look to the future, but some of Roland's golden oldies really did deserve to be available again in one form or another. The original machines are loved for good reason, but they're unaffordable to all but a few nowadays.

All online orders are shipped from Germany, as they pay less tax that way. The original owner also sold up his interest, and it's now a wholly German owned operation from what I've read. DV247 tried to put everyone else in the UK out of business by undercutting them, but hadn't reckoned with Thomann doing the same but with more resources and from a part of the EU where the taxis lower.

DV247 ship everything from Germany. The last incarnation of the company went into a voluntary liquidation on a Sunday night and re-emerged as a new company the next day. The first the staff knew about it was when they arrived at work Monday morning to find the stores stripped of stock and the doors padlocked (apart from the Romford store). The stock was already on its way to a warehouse in Germany, and the company left loads of unpaid suppliers. Caused quite a scandal in the music equipment business world about two years ago.

"You're mates with Adrian? At The Gates we're my world when I was a teenager..." I met him through friends of his wife. They are both lovely people, and Adrian is hands down the best drummer I've ever heard. Even when he's playing straightforward stuff, such as in his wife's band Nemhain, there's still something special about the dynamics and timing.

As for music I love but have to separate from the twats that made it, top of the list would be Cream. Everyone probably knows how unpleasant Ginger Baker can be, but I was genuinely disappointed to find out that Jack Bruce deserved some of Ginger's ire for being quite horrible himself a lot of the time.

Can't stand Cradle of Filth, even though a friend was their drummer for ages (Adrian from At The Gates, The Haunted and now in Paradise Lost). Danni Filth is an utter bellend, having seen him acting like an arse at an after show party for an awards thing. That said, I did once rest my drink on his head to detract from his "do you know who I am" chatting up technique when he turned up at the Slimelight once - I'm 6'4" and he's so short that he makes an ideal place to prop up a pint glass.

I played a one off tour in a Cure tribute band. On the second night a guy in the audience was shouting "Simon, Simon" at me and clearly crying as I played the ending of A Forest. A bit weird. I found it quite limiting playing exactly like someone else and recreating the studio recordings of a band who sound quite different when they play the songs live, so I'll stick to playing originals.

You can normally find these on EBay being sold for £200 or less. Not sure about the playability - later Jolanas were the best of the "behind the Iron Curtain" guitars and very well made, but their earlycbass efforts I'm not so sure about.

That is one Bozo I'd like to make an acquaintance of. The body reminds me of a Gibson Ripper, which is a shape I've always liked.

They're not EB-0s, but EB-3s. The EB-0 only has the neck pickup.

Does one need an 8x10 Barefaced cab? No. Does one want an 8x10 Barefaced cab? Ooh yes.

I'm thinking of getting Alex at Barefaced to knock me up one of these: Not suitable for lead guitar though.

Some strange things in the description of this Ashdown rig: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epic-Rare-Ashdown-Professional-Bass-Rig-Klystron-Amp-1200W-8x10-and-2x15-Cabs-/121775930643 First off, I didn't think Ashdown existed in the late 1980s or early 1990s, so I guess the suggestion that the amp head is from that era is inaccurate. The 8x10 is apparently "USA made", whereas I thought Ashdown prided themselves on building their kit in the UK.

My sound is mostly down to a cranked up valve amp, and I sound almost the same using a Rick copy as I did when I played a single pickup Stingray. I make my own leads, mostly because the Neutrik connectors outlast the cable itself, and I've never noticed any difference with various brands of cable. What annoys me is sound men who will always mic up the lead guitar amp but try to insist on a DI for the bass. I now take my own mic to gigs so I can make sure I get my sound rather than some vanilla, non-overdriven bass sound.

My dream amp is the Hiwatt DR-201. Can't afford one, but have a Sound City L120 that's been modded to be more like a Hiwatt. If you can find a clean L120, particularly a version I, II or III, then a competent techie can convert them to sound indistinguishable from a Hiwatt DR-201. This is because Dave Reeves designed the first Sound City in the L120 series before setting up his own company.

I sold my Stingray last year as I was always playing my fairly knocked about Jolana that cost little more than a tenth of the money I paid for the Stingray. Surprised me, as I was blown away by the quality and playability of the Stingray when I first bought one in 1998 and I never expected to find anything I felt was better at considerably less cost. That said, I've owned two Jolanas of the same model and the other one was quite different and not as nice to play so I think I just lucked out on the first one.

Glad that Happy Jack has suggested mains issues, as that was my first thought as well. Had similar problems in certain dodgy venues *cough* Camden Underworld *cough* and it turned out to be fluctuating mains power.

With Darkglass and Demeter (the only "boutique" brands I've ever bought), they do use very high quality components. When the Darkglass B3K was being assembled in the US there was a very informative YouTube video that pointed out where particularly good components had been used, notably the footswitch, and how the design favoured durability over speed of assembly with nosockets soldered direct to the PCB for example. Could these be assembled in the he Far East with the same components? Yes. Would the end result be cheaper? Doubtful, as the volume they are made and sold at would mean that economies of scale wouldn't kick in.

I thought Ampeg's stuff was made in Vietnam these days (apart from the US made "heritage" kit). If so that scuppers the idea these are made on the same production line as the SVT 450.

Any other harmonium fans on here? I got this simple model for £30: [attachment=201116:harmonium1_small.jpg] [attachment=201117:harmonium2_small.jpg] Googling doesn't turn up any information on likely age or manufacturer, but I'd guess it was a low priced model for something like a school as it has no stops, little decoration and some undecipherable graffiti scratched on to the lid that reminds me of old school desks. Most harmoniums are much bigger and more ornate than this one, with multiple stops to produce different timbres. They're quite unfashionable and can often be had for free as long as you collect, but they sound fantastic - they were intended as alternatives to a pipe organ, but produce much more haunting, choir like tones almost like a string synthesiser!

There was a shop on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton when I first went to university. Analogue synths were only just coming back into fashion, and I had plenty of bargains from there - Roland SH-101, MC-202 and TR-606. A Roland TR-808 and Emulator II (albeit with busted floppy drive) from a similar shop in Oxford as well as a Simns-Watts AP 100 valve amp and Oberheim DX from a junk shop in my home town. Then there was the small ads in things like Loot - a Korg Mono/Poly for peanuts from a bloke in a functions band and Moog Prodigy. All sadly long gone (both shops, Loot and the gear) although my brother still has the Mono/Poly.

Good excuse to by another 8ohm speaker to go with your existing one :-)

"Are you looking for some rough trade love?"

Recently seen three people I've known through bands pass away suddenly. They were also partial to amphetamines in their twenties, so it's not surprising that Lemmy's health seems to be suffering after a much longer use of similar drugs. Like Billy Apple above, Lemmy is the bassist I most admire and while I understand he wants to keep gigging I fear he's not going to last long if he keeps at it. That said, probably better to burn out than stop gigging and fizzle out in misery.

I have to second The Chameleons and add the debut album by Department S. It took over twenty years after it was recorded before it was released, which is a shame.