Happy Jack

OK, maybe you need to understand that cause (we want to earn bigger profits) does not necessarily correlate to effect (making US workers redundant so that we can employ Vietnamese has resulted in Vietnamese workers getting wealthier), or maybe I need to re-visit my opinion of your intelligence. Your call.

Ditto.

Nope. And I don't believe that you're stupid enough to think that's what I wrote.

Interesting video, and he seems like a lovely guy, but his economic and political naivety is quite extraordinary. His constant references to "cheap production" and "exploitation" ignore the reality, which is that for example Fender making "cheap" guitars (branded as Squier) in Japan created jobs and helped to raise the standard of living in Japan to the extent that they moved production to Korea, then to China, then to Indonesia, then to Vietnam, in each case creating a new population of skilled workers earning more than they earned before, and now capable of pushing ahead without further investment from abroad. That's how economies work. The people who live in those countries, just like the people who live here in the UK, don't constantly look abroad and wish that they had the same standard of living as someone richer. Most people look at what they have now, compare it with what they had before or what their parents had before, and judge on that basis whether or not they're doing well. And when those Third World countries benefit from this sort of inward investment and develop their economies, guess what - they stop being Third World countries and become Developing countries. "Exploitation" definitely exists in many unskilled industries, most famously textiles, and I don't condone that for a second, but this luthier's definition of "exploitation" and his clarion call to cease "exploiting" these countries would see those very country's economies damaged and their workers thrown into unemployment. Is that really such an achievement? Basschat's tentacles extend a long way around the world. I'd love to hear from some Basschatters in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam as to whether they'd like to see the big instrument factories closed down. For their benefit. I'd even more like to hear from Basschatters in Kenya, Mozambique and Sierra Leone who are likely to be the next recipients of this sort of inward investment. Because, of course, their labour is now cheaper than the workers of Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. There's a reason for that ...

Well when Mr. Luthier and Mrs. Luthier love each other very much and decide to have a baby ...

Whoah! Big time Lazarus thread ...

"Check a lead connection"? Hardly, old chap. My wireless unit failed, and in less than 10 seconds mid-song I diagnosed the problem, unplugged the wireless unit at both ends, plugged in a lead at both ends, and rejoined the song. Actually, I'm actually quite proud of that. Actually.

My other cracker was playing the Ealing Beer Festival in 2014. They had an enormous generator supplying the power and all was good until the last song of the final set. Then they turned on all the floodlights, partly to enable the staff to start clearing up, and partly to encourage all the punters to go home. The sudden additional current draw caused the power to dip momentarily, and my Matamp all-valve head cut out. It was fully 30 seconds before I could get it back up and running again.

2:10 into this video:

I never really saw this as an either/or thing ...

Why not play through headphones? Use your budget to buy something like a PJB Bass Buddy (other gadgets are available) and your Fun Prevention Officer will love you even more than she does already.

Or let them keep the name and you then go out as The Artist Formerly Known As Nancy ... Why not send some tree surgeons round to the studio?

Bwahahahahaha!!!

Some people have a bass face. I clearly have a singing face.

+1 Where do people find the time to discover these awful people? And where do people find the time to stick around long enough to get annoyed by them?

Everybody needs a shot of R and B, so come on down to my surgery ...

Just as a matter of interest, do any graphic designer Basschatters offer a (paid for) poster design service? Sounds like there might be a market, if the price is right.

Left over from the year during which our house was a building site, here are various units that we accumulated. The BT version is a plug-in hub thingy with three extensions, and the TP Link version is a plug-in hub thingy with one extension and the manual. Happy to split if you don't want both. Free to collect from either WC1E 7BD or HA1 3RG. If that doesn't work for you, bung me a fiver and I'll post.

Let's not get started on band communication ... PLEASE! It's not been a good couple of weeks for me in that regard.

I'm in the happy position of finding it easy to remember the words of songs I grew up with, and mainly singing in bands that play those very songs! On the other hand, ask me to sing something post-1980 and I have the same trouble as Les. Even when I feel that I have the lyrics down pat at rehearsal, the extra pressure of live performance can throw me so that I need a crutch. My mic rig includes a personal monitor (previously a Wharfedale WPM-1, now a TC Helicon VoiceSolo). For songs I struggle with I usually stick a Post-It note (or similar) to the monitor so that it's just below my mic, and that will have the first word of each line on it. After a couple of successful performances, I'll replace that with a Post-It with the first word of each verse. When that's going well I can dispense with the reminder. BUT ... it's crucial that you actually dispose of whatever reminder system you use. Otherwise that temporary crutch will quickly become permanent. The lead singer in my main band is a good guitar player and an excellent vocalist, far better than me, but he fell into the trap of needing 'lyrical prompts' many years ago. He used to tape them (as sheets of A4 paper) to the back of the PA cab in front of him, but as they grew and grew they got heavier and heavier - I'm not making this up - until even gaffa tape wasn't enough to keep them in place. So when I upgraded my phone from my old Galaxy Note II (if you're not familiar, it's a big phone roughly half the size of a tablet) I gave it to him. He bought a clip-on holder of some sort and now stores all his 'lyrical prompts' on there instead, which is far neater and more reliable, besides being much more discreet. What worries me is that many of the songs in our list we have been performing together live on stage for nearly 10 years ... and he still needs that crutch. I don't even sing these songs but I know the lyrics easily well enough to sing them myself without an aid.

Pretty sure it doesn't ... there's no tweeter! Even if it does, the Trace 208 appears to cost the same as, or more than, the cab I'm after, and would have all my hard-earned dosh going to a Yankee megabucks corporation rather than to craftsmen here in the UK. 10 years ago I was one of Alex Claber's first regular customers, partly because I like his cabs, and partly because I want to support people doing stuff in the UK music industry rather than just channel money to the USA and China. I'm happy to be dealing with Tricky Audio, and I suspect I'll get much better service from them than I would from Peavey! Now if only Mike Lull would leave Seattle and re-locate to Uxbridge ...

How much of a PA is he looking for? Those two letters cover an awful lot of ground ...

Bwahahahahaha!!!