NancyJohnson

I'm sorry to buck the love, but I wish NIN had given PP a wide berth. There's a whole other topic about this elsewhere. This is not the band I've grown to love over the last two decades any more. I don't give a rats ass about progress or talent on show; the whole vibe/edge has gone from the band right now. This is about aggressive as Paul Young. Disappointed.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1396615648' post='2415713'] Now had you opened that box 10-15 years ago, you could have been the inventor of Spotify. [/quote] How do you know I'm not, eh?

100% kudos to Jon...sent me an unused part from a Schaller bridge. Awesome bloke. I owe you a pint! P

Over the last couple of days, I've been opening a load of long-sealed boxes that have sat languishing in my garage for the best part of 12 years. I unearthed an almanac called 'The Book Of Predictions' by David Wallechinsky, which dates back to 1980. While it's pages are full of predictions of a pending apocalypse (this was different times kids), spacestations and bases on the moon, flipping through the pages, I came across the following piece by Charlie Gillett ([url="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCharlie_Gillett&h=3AQG3jV28&enc=AZMU3a2DtEDqIU5v8X39TO6hbMnSh_s5O_fTA7EU8ulkysxauxb59Drzw957xXwzCpYYSCzihFSLjonC23BVoDovVITyd8KFeNnFAANYCluKqvfwVRoS6hmp08U5VariHU4Nlhs2tmb5DLcr7-3D7Elg&s=1"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Gillett[/url]), whose predictions for 'Future Pop' was pretty much spot on. I've scanned it here and thought some of you might be interested in reading it. Bear in mind this predates CDs by a few years as well, it's pretty spot on, considering how things have evolved following the shake up/fallout started by Shaun Fanning. Elsewhere, he predicts the decline of the major labels and the ways music will get out there in a world dominated by corporate radio. Interesting stuff. P

Got an email from Peavey. IPR2 range drops in the UK end of May. I think that's where my swag will be going. P

It's an ABM 500 and I'm running the RBI into the effects return - I found that routing it into the front jack didn't work so well for me, so I'm just using the power amp side of the Ashdown. I'm not a fan of just ramping everything up to ten - when gigging, the ABM runs at about 70% and I take a direct feed off the RBI via XLR into the PA. I'll keep both - the Ashdown is a very sensible refined amp, but I just need more dirt, which is where the RBI comes in..will probably just have home and away rigs!

I've come to the conclusion recently that my existing amp (Ashdown ABM EVOIII) isn't giving me enough volume when up against a maniacal drummer and a very loud guitarist, plus I have a festival date upcoming, so I'm tooling up to just go the power amp route (with a Sansamp RBI working as the preamp). After a bit of investigation, I'm now erring towards the amp in the subject title. Primarily it should give me adequate headroom, plus they weight so little, it'll save my back long term. Is suppose first up, has anyone any experience of the IPR range? Issues? Anything I should be aware of? Secondly, even after 30+ years of playing, I still don't fully understand the nitty gritty about ohms/impedance. I will be running two Hartke Hydrive cabinets (4x10/1x15) which are both 8 ohms. The amp is two channel...do I connect one cab to each output? Daisychain the cabinets out of one channel. Help! P

Does anyone recall the documentary that went out in the early days of eBay where a guy sold a length of nylon rope (not dissimilar to the advert) and then effectively traded up with each consecutive sale?

It never fails to amaze me the humorous ingenuity of people. An advert that just got pulled by eBay. They were totally legit (honest!), given away by Daved Gilmorre from 'that Pink Floyd', to his gardener as thanks for getting rid of his moles. Short lived, but amusing. P

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1396016795' post='2409081'] Based on your experience, which of Mr Gove's measures do you feel has been most damaging in terms of music education? And in an ideal world and given a blank page, what could be done to improve musical learning in schools? [/quote] Sometimes, I wish Basschat had a 'like' button as well as the Report, Delete, Edit, Multiquote and Quote buttons. My experience from my school (a long time ago it has to be said; asecondary modern and under Labour), was that music lessons were wholly classical based and my memories are almost exclusively of staring out of the window or drawing squares, triangles and pentangles in the air with my index finger whilst trying to interpret timing in whatever piece was being played on the music department hi-fi. There was zero correlation with what was the mainstream. Music is a discovery. Like art, theatre, film, literature. I don't honestly think you can be taught it like geography; you need fundamentally to be interested and have ability in it.

I don't vote or have any particular political affiliation, but when I saw the clip, it was always going to be lose lose for the guy. If it had been someone from the Labour party (or probably any party in opposition) the result/response from the media would have been completely the opposite and showing they were in fact, [i]down with the kids[/i]. On the radio this morning (LBC), the ten o'clock show led with a strapline of whether or not Michael Gove was the right person to be running the education department because he 'spontaneously broke out into a rap'. I mean, come on. What if he'd been a fan of Slayer? What is the guy supposed to do, sit at home and listen to classical and opera because that alone is the public's expectation of what Tories listen to?

I had a real horn for one of these. Will be following this one. P

We've gone the Facebook, Reverbnation, Soundcloud etc. route, plus we make all of our music available for free online. It's always useful to have another gig or two booked after the one you're playing and hand out flyers. The thing is that you simply can't rely on building a following through friends; collectively as a band we have around 1,000 FB [i]Fwends[/i], but struggle to get 40-50 anywhere where we play and even then most of the crowd are walkups. It is disappointing and sometimes I genuinely do wonder why we bother. Friends, unfortunately, do want everything for free, but would never consider reciprocating if the occasion arose - I am sick to the back teeth of people/work colleagues asking me for t-shirts, badges, stickers or CDs. Sorry to vent off, but I had one woman at work, a person who rarely spoke to me, saying she'd seen a photo of me gigging through someone else s FB page and I had been wearing a [i]Nancy Johnson[/i] t-shirt. She just said, straight-faced, 'Can I have one of those t-shirts in your photo?' I answered that I'd just had one done for my own use, to which she asked whether I would get one done for her, but it would cost £15-20. Cue some haggling. I eventually just asked her to name one of our songs and I would bring the freshly laundered t-shirt in and that she could use it as a duster if she wanted. Nothing. No interest in the band, just want something for nowt. P

If the originals band doesn't work out, there's plenty of online sites that should assist you in finding like-minded musicians locally - search for Join My Band, Partysounds, Bandmix, Forming Bands, Music Radar, Musofinder. There's dozens of them. P

Just spotted this thread. In the last week I put a pair of Warman HBP90 into my Epiphone Phant-o-matic, following a long and unfruitful wait for some Gibson P94s to arrive on eBay. They cost just £25.00 for the pair - I just figured if they were rubbish, I'd just recycle them here. That said, they sound a-fecking-mazing...genuinely shocked at how good the tone is and my chosen finish (chrome surround, black case) looks suitably bling. Gone is the mushy/squeally output from the stock Epi humbuckers; from a clarity perspective, it's kind of halfway between a traditional Stratocaster pickup and a humbucker. (Which I suppose sums up what a P90 is anyway.) Lovely! P http://warmanguitars.co.uk/store/hybrids-and-hot-rails/14-warman-hbp90.html

One of the replies is: "I play a Fender J-Bass fretless and use flatwound strings and I do not have this issue." I don't know whether there was supposed to be any irony in that comment...I played a fretless Jazz (with flats) a few years ago and the whole issue was trying to find a spot on the neck where it wasn't dead! P

I believe this bridge should do the trick. I've just ordered one for my Badtz-Maru. P http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Musicman-Style-4-String-Bass-Bridge-Chrome-/181355775785?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a39a58729

FCN. From memory this stood for 'Fletcher Coppock & Newman'...they were importers of instruments like John Hornby Skewes (I'll leave it to you to work out the acronym). Said Satellite review was the name of the bass (a la Jazz or Precision) and not the manufacturer. I think Satellite guitars were sold through Woolworths, along with Avon and Audition branded instruments. It's amazing how as a kid in Egham, Surrey, me and my mate would pop into Woolies and just drool over these hideous instruments. Times change. P

Any updates? P

Nice. More pics! P

[quote name='howdenspur' timestamp='1395320842' post='2401033'] Glad it's not just me suffering from the curse, though not (yet) put it to bed by actually getting one! The problem has been finding the right type - I like the old chrome look and the old school sound, so you either a) splash out on a 60's or 70 bicentennial Gibson (expensive and a lot of neck breaks out there) get a Lull or Cataldo re-interpretation c) get a Greco (hmmmm) or d) get an modern Epi/Tokai to tart up (not cheap and possibly a sow's ear to start??). Those B&ch NRs are tempting tho. This one (in the OP) is a bit odd...I also think he has dropped the price from ~£1950. Rod [/quote] I'm interested to see how Sean's Bach NR turns out. I like the look of the Lull but the prices are a definite put off. I like some of Carlo's stuff. The REV and NRBird are nice takes on the design, but I think the necks are AllParts or something - he just buys them in them reworks the headstocks. Just get a Gibson! P

Personally, I just love them (well, once I've swapped out the stock bridge), they play well, sound (and look) amazingly good. I'm up to six now in different guises (five Gibson, one Hamer) and my only regrets are, i) that I played so many other brands before finally settling on them and, ii) that I didn't pull the trigger on a cardinal red Twiggy Ramirez prototype that was on sale in the US a couple of years ago. I've never had itchy feet with them either; never this clawing in my mind that I need to sell on for a change. I posted elsewhere that I'm a slightly overweight guy in my 40s, I pull on a Thunderbird and I feel like a skinny guy in my 20s. They're like magic. P

I look at a lot of Thunderbirds - it's a curse. This just looks all wrong, despite the 'custom shop' malarkey. Front jack socket, machine heads, finish, the upper bout is wrong, the strap pin on the side of the body, the control knobs don't even seem to look lined up! It just reeks of an Ali-Baba import. P http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gibson-Thunderbird-bass-guitar-/271428347177?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f3263e529

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1395011897' post='2397826'] warwick used too.... (in 1984) [/quote] Yummy.