NancyJohnson

5 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

It's amazing to me how a 90s act like Alanis can still get the big gigs.

 

Daryl

Fundamentally you need to look at the festival itself.  They love a 'legend'. 

I'd wager that there were thousands of people gushing over AM that probably knew one song (if that) or hadn't even given her a second thought in the last 20 years.

She still has a voice like nails on a blackboard.  Some things don't improve with age.

My wife has recently moved from 'Buy what you want/need' to a strict 'Sell one before you buy something else AND always trade up'.  It's not really about the delivery, it's about seeding the suggestion well in advance (much like our upcoming American style fridge-freezee purchase).

When @cetera sorted out the recent Spector Euro-X build, I was able to spin some kind of backstory about it being a test build and being offered at a healthy discount.  If she knew the actual price, I fear I may have been wearing my ballbag as a hat.

It's odd, these festivals.  I'd never go to Glastonbury; to me it's a four day hellish version of Later... 

Likewise Download.  Aah, I remember the old days, drive up, backstage parking, watching Motley Crue and Aerosmith from the side of the stage, proper bogs home and asleep in my own bed about 2.00am the next day.  Now?  Four days of bands with vocalists just clearing their throats.  Nope.

When all this was fields, the events that got my attention were just 12 hours.  It's difficult to fully quantify but take the old Monsters of Rock things at Donington.  70,000 people, one stage and (usually) seven or eight great bands.  Now it's all multiple stages, dozens of bands no one has heard of etc.

The day long Donington has evolved, but the 1980s type event would now be supplanted as part of a tour itinerary (if this makes sense).  It would be like Green Day just playing Wembley Stadium with a decent undercard, then this moving to the Manchester City stadium.

Here we go.  The top-hat is unobtrusive, albeit non-reversible.  W for the win.

Just another thing...I have a surplus PA speaker stand and just bought a pair of 35mm top-hat fixings.  I've cut a core out of one of my Darkglass 1x12s, installed the top-hat and have stuck it on the stand.  It goes up and down, it rotates.  Neat job, lovely.  Sweaty now.

I've used a ton of Tech 21 stuff...BDDI, VTBass, Geds, GT2, RPM.  The only one I didn't get along with was the VT Bass, which I disliked as soon as I put it in my rack.  The racked Ged had QC issues that were never fully resolved.

I'm currently running an XB Driver, but it hasn't left the house yet.

Oooh, 19 pages in.

I watched for about 15 minutes on the BBC, and that was it.  Alanis Morissette.  Honestly, I can't stand her.  Never could.  A voice like nails on a blackboard.  There are phrasing and inflections in her voice that just make me want to listen even less.  Next day I just read comment after comment about how wonderful her performance was and I'm thinking are these people insane?  Is there something wrong with their hearing?  Do they not actually like music?

Thank you and goodnight.

39 minutes ago, petecarlton said:

What’s the Framestrap, NJ?

It's a one-size-fits-all contraption manufactured by NS Design that connects to the EUB at the same point as the tripod mounting bolt, allowing you to 'wear' the bass and move around with it.

It took a bit of time to get everything in the right place, but as a consequence it won't go on a stand.  I was looking for a stand of some kind rather than leaving the instrument propped up in a corner.

Well, in an interesting twist in my search for a stand for my NXT5, there's been an odd twist.

I'm not using (or plan to use) the supplied NSD stand; I'm fully paid up for the Framestrap.  A few months ago I bought a Hercules GS4stand, possibly the smallest one they make, a GS402B:

... amazingly, the EUB sits comfortably on the two front legs and the swing arms swivel enough to add a bit more support.  I've stuck some heavy duty felt pads on the legs to protect metal on wood damage, but frankly, jobs a good 'un. 

The bass is a couple of inches off the floor and pretty secure.

Just while we're on the subject of Living Colour, are many/any of you aware about the version of Stain with the alternative guitar solos?

The original US CD (catalogue# EK52780) was issued in two versions, one of which was very limited and contained totally different guitar work on Ignorance Is Bliss, Leave It Alone and Bi.  There's no discernable visible difference in the CDs, just the content thereon.  You got lucky or you didn't.

I was a huge fan of Living Colour from the outset and bought a copy of Stain when I was in America; there was a bit of a WTAF? moment when realisation struck that the versions were different.

Interesting stuff.

On 26/06/2025 at 22:30, Owen said:

Great band. I shall watch it later. I miss Muzz.

Me too.

I like Doug Wimbish, but just felt Living Colour were more, umm, colourful when Muzz was in the band. 

They just seemed a more happier/fun unit with Muzz; when Doug came in, things just got a bit darker and moodier.

52 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

I may have been at that one... what year was it? I went to 3 guitar/bass shows around 2001-2006ish and met Jim Marshall at all 3. I still have 3 Marshall posters (one of Jim in front of a wall of Marshall stacks, one of Jim and Nico McBrain and one of Hendrix) all signed by Jim and made out to me and all with different dates on them. Two are on my studio wall next to a Birdhouse flyer signed by Tony Hawk fly, a few signed set lists from various gigs and a Tim Russ (Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager) signed promo photo! Not sure where the third is Jim poster is... 🤔 

 

Found a photo, 2003, 2004 and 2005. 👍 

 

Jim Marshall signed me a copy of the 'It goes up to to 11, dunnit?' poster.

God know where that is now.

Many, many moons ago I did a stint on the Conklin stand at a guitar show when it was held in Docklands.  Honestly no idea how it came about; drummer at the time had a Yamaha endorsement and he seemed to have this lucid connection (by association) with the UK importers of Hamer and Warwick (who were based in Ascot at the time).  

So we drive up.  Get lost in Docklands, are followed, then pulled over and questioned by the police.  We're late and arrive, I'm in the booth and told to play the seven-string.  I notice that the bridge doesn't fit the body shape and was told to try and cover it up with my right hand while playing.  I do 45-60 minutes and it's all over.  I'm rewarded with an EBS Octaver pedal for my trouble and as I had a lanyard, I have blagging rights (so free Rotosound strings and I get to meet Jim Marshall).

What a day.

Aah, in the decades I've been playing I've used everything from hotwired bell-wire through to my current @obbm Speakons.  Never suffered damage, any (noticable) loss in sound, no explosions etc. 

Maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe we were too stupid to know better.  

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Does it matter having a "transparent" amp when the cab(s) are likely to be introducing far more colour to your sound.

Try as many different cabs as possible until you hit paydirt.  Easy!

I've been chasing transparency for sometime, favouring a rack set up paired with a Matrix power stage.  Fantastic setup.

Right now I'm using a Tech 21 XB Driver until GSS Baby Sumo.  It's plenty loud.

I bought a little keyboard stand.  We were just too loud as a band and the angled cab thing didn't help.  It was more about elevating the cabs  so you were in full battle with the cymbals.

On 18/03/2025 at 13:51, ped said:

Oh and if you have a Hercules Mini stand, apparently you can do this (but not sure how stable it is)

 

 

 

 

Forgotten I'd advertised this!

Not getting any use...price reduced.  Could be a decent project for someone or strip for parts!
 

I suppose while it's nice to know the DNA of an instrument, but once it's all bolted together and playable, does it really matter?

Irrespective of the years, everything here is machine made and the parts are interchangeable.

Morning 

I pulled a John East preamp out of a bass recently (just wanted to try something different).  I just want to make certain it's all working before reinstalling elsewhere.

Assuming the green wire below goes the ground, anyone know where does the red one goes?

I have contacted John about this, no answer yet.

Thanks

17 hours ago, casapete said:

Yup, agree they’re all great solos, although Ronnie Wood’s solo on ‘Maggie May’ was played

on electric, probably a Zemaitis. He also played bass and acoustic 12 string on it. 😊
 

(Shh.  Unplugged version. 😁)

Fractory.com

In the US, sendcutsend.

Out in the car yesterday, while on shuffle mode three tracks from our monster Spotify playlist came on back to back and each had fantastic acoustic guitar solos.

Cockney Rebel - Come Up and See Me

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally)

Rod Stewart - Maggie May

Perfect.

20 hours ago, neil___lien said:

Hello everyone!

I recently parted ways with my beloved Cort B5 Element (as i dont gig, nor have a band, and mostly use my 6 string to jam along to Youtube). 

I have been doing my own set ups for the past 10 years or so and, to me, that Cort was perfect in every way. 

Now: the buyer checked the intonation on the 12th fret of the G string and it was a bit flat, so he adjusted accordingly and got it to the right pitch. But now turns out the 24th fret is very flat. Admitedly, i had never checked the intonation there as i assumed that physically, if the bass was in tune at the nut and at the 12th fret, there was no reason why it would be any different at the 24th. Turns out it does happen, apparently. So i am turning to you in order to see why this is happening, and what options the buyer has to correct that little flaw. It only happens on that one string. 

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance, everyone! 

First thing I thought was who the hell plays on the 24th fret?

A few factors to consider.  Strings, old/new?  Action at 24th fret?  Is the buyer playing the harmonic or the fretted note?  Do the other strings intonate correctly up the dusty end?  Neck on the wonk?

It's feasible that the 24th fret could be in the wrong place, unlikely, but possible.  It's also possible that if the action was a bit high at this point, simply depressing the string might throw out the tuning. 

Given the scale on these is (I believe) 34", you're looking at a fretted note at the 24th fret to be c.8.5" this high up the neck.  If the frets are wide/jumbo and haven't been crowned correctly, given the shortness of the scale at this point, this could throw out the tuning/intonation a little.  A little.  Millimetres, or part thereof, will make a difference at that point, no significant but a difference.