NancyJohnson

I've run so many different combinations of enclosures, I've lost track of things. Each have their own merits. The most impactful thing was when I won the Barefaced Big One (15/6) at one of the bashes a few years back. Before this, I'd run a variety of set ups (SWR, Trace Eliot tri-amp, Ashdown 4x10/2x10/1x15 (mix and match dependent on the room), I was a Hartke endorsee - various 10"/15" cabs); the evening I won the Barefaced I gigged with it in a smallish club in Basingstoke and the result was astounding really. Whereas the Hartke kit was kind of loud and aggressive, the Big One just kind of dialled that aggression back a bit, giving me scooped-mids plus wobble/whump/oomph as well. While I'm also running a Darkglass 1x12 (which I will double up this year), for me a 15/6 is the ideal combination. As I've posted previously, tone is subjective and what I look for isn't everyone's cup of tea. People will argue that the frequency range of say a certain brand of 12" speakers will match or better that of a 15", but we're all in the situation where we simply aren't able to chuck £££ at swapping over speakers on a whim.

I was a big fan of the DR Hellborg strings (if not the longevity), so the Dogal strings piqued my interest. I did contact them a while back to purchase a set (maybe a year or two ago), but the whole purchase process was a bit vague/backward/convoluted - you ask them for what you want, they cut a Paypal money demand (not an invoice) and send it back to you. Reluctant to discuss price. They based a couple of KM inland across the water from Venice (they were in Venice when I made the initial enquiry). They're pretty pricey; about 75€ a set, plus tax and shipping.

I think because in general my desired tone is zingy with a bit of dirt, I don't have any anxiety about changing strings.

Not my thing at all, but with the prices of used Mark Hoppus basses on the up, it could be an option to turn it into something similar, replace the BBOT.

Cheap Trick.

Wowza! Channeling my inner Jim Lea.

I love the Lignum stuff...guitars, housebuilding, construction. When they reroofed the old building on the island, it was stunning. All brilliant. Concerning the bass, this is the Lignum build video. Strings on that are tapered rounds, god knows who make them. Piano strings maybe?

Seeing the Vigier that's just closed in the For Sale section got me thinking. A guy I know had one, a Passion model - god knows where it is now, he's in Australia at the moment, might be with him, might be in storage over here somewhere - I really liked the look of it, the set up was horrific. Action must have been at least a centimetre on the octave, possibly higher. I offered to have a look at it, but he declined, despite saying how much he liked my rattly old Thunderbirds. He really used to struggle up the dusty end. Same story a mate in Milan. Yamoto sapphire blue Gibson Thunderbird. Beautiful looker, nasty front bow, strings not changed in years, my hands just felt dirty after a 45 minute set. I played it in Milan when we gigged there. Zero interest in getting it playing better. Even offered to get the strings off and boil them at the venue. Nope. And in closing, guy I worked with years ago had a Rickenbacker; I think it was a 4003. Mahoosive front bow on the neck, played like a donkey.

"...and you can't take them back because they're all covered in spit." Steve Martin 1979.

When I was a kid, 1/2" was the same as 8/16" and 4/8". The issue seems to be that they're going off shaft diameters rather than the bushings.

We seem obsessed with what to buy our basses as a treat; things we can screw in, glue on, or replace. We're all guilty of it and we are all under the allusion these additions are all for betterment.

On the face of it, anything that Fender make which isn't badged Precision, Jazz, Mustang or Jaguar tends to disappear after a year or two; they seem unwilling to play the long game with anything that falls outside these models and hey, it's easier to simply rebadge your existing models as Original/Ultra/US/Player Plus and slap new colurs on them rather than come up with something new, so I wouldn't hold your breath for a six string. I was just having a look online at their discontinued bass models. The Dimension. Coronado. Bronco. Performer. Urge. Zone. Bass V. Bass VI. Prophecy. Starcaster. Telecaster.

With all due respect, the only thing I'd identify from Elixir strings is the lack of wrap, gold coloured ball-ends and a slight light grey/titanium discolouration from the coating process. We all know that there's a degree of inconsistency in string manufacture, everyone experiences duds... I'd never claim strings were ever soft and rubbery. Just consider for one moment the whole fakery process. The box. The strings. The paper envelope the strings are in. Free postage. It's an awful lot of effort to fake something for a few £££ gain.

I'm WFH today...figured it might be a good idea to fire up some stuff I've not listened to in a while, all of it Nathan Larson related. I've done a bit already. Mind Science of The Mind (1996). Hot One (2006). Jealous God (2001). Will close with some of his soundtrack stuff and Shudder To Think's Pony Express Record (1994). He has such a voice. First up, 'Mind Science Of The Mind'. Nathan Larson with Joan Wasser, Kevin March and Mary Timothy. They toured with Jeff Buckley on bass: Hot One: Jealouse God:

I have a new project on the go and have been asked whether I know any keyboard players. It's an interesting remit in that we're looking for someone who is more Richard Barbieri than Rick Wakeman, if that makes sense. Musical ability is an asset, but this more about pads and noise than sitting down and playing Rhapsody In Blue. We rehearse at Pirate, Wandsworth - erratic 3-4 hour sessions, weekends. We all have lives and late evenings will be for gigs, we're uninterested in staying out late on a school night. Wandsworth is equidistant for all members (Reading/Guildford/Lewisham/Central Landaan), but we may switch to Guildford occasionally. While we've all been on it for years, singer and guitarist both have a more prominent exposure level (if you are in that circle of players, you'd probably know the bands or them). We're looking at gigs two or three months, possibly Rebellion Festival. Would suit a more mature lady or gentleman (50s). Cheers.

'It's more than 4cm. I can't cope!' 'Why's that then?' 'Because I got little hands, innit?'

On the face of it the boxes are almost certainly genuine on both adverts. The Cactus In The Window seller, just seems to sell tat, but they may have just had a job lot of Elixir Strings and they've sold a few sets. As the honourable member for Bulgaria said, they could have sold the buyer duds and they don't know what they're buying. Maestro Music only seem to deal in Elixirs on eBay. Again it's feasible that the couple of negatives ('My E-string broke after two months, so they must be fake') are just people chancing it for refunds. Personally, I'd spend a tenner extra and go to the Elixir store on Amazon. Elixir will supply direct into Amazon (who act as middleman and take a margin on each sale). Possibly safer.

Professional. Hmm. In my opinion, I think it has nothing to do with ability/chops, gear etc. more about being in the right place at the right time at the start of the journey and having the nuance to sell yourself short constantly. There's hundreds of pro musicians that lack the ability that belies their status. We've all seen them. There are few people at the top of the pyramid. I know plenty of guys who've played professionally and all have second/third jobs to support this. Read some of the blog posts by Jay Postones, the drummer of Tesseract, who was doing graphic design work for a business in Reading 'minutes before [I] went on stage' and finishing up the work post-set while the rest of the band were having a beer. I often wonder how things would have gone for me had Polydor signed us about 35 years ago.

It's goose-pimply good. Man alive, I'm loving this. Holly Johnson aside, there's some footage up on YT of FGTH with Ryan Molloy fronting them. He was generally known for musical theatre stuff, but this 20 minutes is phenomenal.