Al Krow

I see you've succumbed to the fatal outcome that is prevalent amongst those who start threads - it's a surprisingly expensive pastime and should come with a health warning from the mods! Funny though your Becos now looks wonderfully simple compared to the Stella and shouldn't take you till the end of the week to master. And when you've had a few stellas, you'll no doubt be "doing a Simon" and getting one of these knob fiddler's paradise: Which dammit, I've just noticed has got Lo Cut and Hi Cut - if those are essentially a 'free' built in HPF and LPF thrown in and they're half decent...

Haha - he does most of the singing and plays the acoustic. He could make do without her but not vice versa methinks...so he's defo good for his half share 😉

Great to see a B1X-4 in action! Out of interest, what particular effects are you using it for and do you get to use the expression pedal much on it? Looking forward to seeing you play live with your band on March 13th! (Any other BC'ers planning on going to see 'STRAY' then please give me and @PJ-Bassist a shout and we can meet up for a beer).

Came across an article which said that Ken Smith, after 40 years of making basses, had shifted production to Brubaker guitars in the US in 2019 and, whilst he would still be involved, it would be in a significantly reduced capacity. Be interesting what that will mean for the KS brand. Kinda now glad I managed to get mine used as a 2018 build and towards the very end of the old skool KS production set up!

Based on the pricing of Noble gear, particularly their preamps, you have to be profligate to be noble these days. You're definitely both 😁

Hahaha! I'll have you know I'm 7 weeks into a gear detox regime and it's been very cathartic! And even managed to outlast far worthier musos than myself on the GAC 2020 such as the noble (but somewhat profligate) @FinnDave 😁

Bit of an aside, but you've summarised my bass tone journey in a nutshell! I really enjoy and appreciate nuances of bass tone at home. In a band mix they're lost. Then put on decent ear protection on top and, as you rightly say, "not a chance" except for stuff that is pretty in your face (eg dirt, filter, synth). So it then boils down to what @chris_b and others have been banging on about for years - being a really good bass player is much much more in the fingers and technique than in the gear your using. So I've concluded: more time at the fretboard and less time fretting about gear!

Well we can put you on the wait list for 2021 GAC then. My space will certainly be free in 10 months and 1 week's time 😂

FoM changes will obviously have a broad impact. No one is debating that. If if didn't, then we wouldn't have had a massive national debate. Whether it's going to be for good or ill time will tell. Imposition of visa requirements on overseas creatives coming to the UK? Doubt if Joe Public is going to notice anything much at all, irrespective of what they have had to drink and how full their glasses are.

We do, Dave, we do in oh so many ways.

Dave it's not your fault at all, no it really isn't. Please don't blame yourself or beat yourself up about this. The blame must squarely be laid at the door of the educational establishment for not making clear what the meaning of the word "abstinence" was when it had the opportunity. The failure is more truly one of society as a whole, and your conscience should be absolved entirely. You never stood a chance, mate. It's shameful. We all must bear part of the guilt.

Nah, storm in a tea cup. A £110 biliion industry is not going to be impacted except at the margin by a few visas on musicians or other artists / creatives coming to the UK. Seriously, exactly what is going to collapse / not happen if non-UK creatives have to get a visa? Is the US creative industry in tatters because it has visas? No, I didn't think so.

A £110 billion creative industry is not going to be impacted, other than at the tiniest margin, by the introduction of visas for overseas musicians coming to the UK. The US has much higher barriers to entry, and I don't see any sign of its creative industry collapsing. The gripe here is that the EU will respond in kind and that's going to mean the loss of work for UK musicians travelling to the EU.

Well actually I didn't, although the US hasn't done too badly I have to agree! But I wasn't aware of it being a union of separate nations? A union of states but not a union of countries (ie nations). And they did have the small incident of an internal spat in 1861, which resulted in 600,000+ deaths. We've not really had anything comparable in the last couple of hundred years between the nations of the UK. They've led the planet in pop and rock though. And have a pretty brutal visa regime for In-bound musicans...

What's your PhD on?

Haha they would wouldn't they - it goes against everything they were previously saying? But come on let's be balanced - it's just an example of import substitution; but seriously if you're not happy / worried with the broader point being made then you need first seek to shut down the post I was responding to which raised a valid concern about the "wider economy and who is going to work in the health service, care homes, pick fruit, etc…" Why only challenge the half of the discussion that you disagree with?

Soz, back to glass half full mode! The answer is what Maude outlined in his earlier post. Ok he describes this as "simplistic" but he does himself down - it's a well recognised economic concept of import substitution. Neither Nissan (nor the Project Fear brigade) wanted this leaking, but in the event of WTO terms trade deal at the end of the year they have a Plan B: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/03/nissan-eu-uk-hard-brexit (I'll try to limit my sources to left-of-centre rags otherwise it will be dismissed as propaganda. But it's not 😁). For me that's a classic example of import substitution and nimble behaviour when seeing an opportunity to grow their business. As you say, the alternative is limiting ambitions and / or going out of business. I have to agree with @ambient though, as musicians, we're at risk of being culturally poorer, although tbf I can't think of too many EU bands (well actually any) I would prefer to spend my time going to see over UK and US bands - but I appreciate that's just my taste in rock music.

Ah come on, let's not start making up history. At the time of IndeyRef1 who knew that the UK, as a whole, would vote to leave the EU two years later? There were no lies told on that score. The facts on the ground subsequently changed. And tbf that is arguably good grounds for IndeyRef2. Scotland will get another IndeyRef for sure, and probably keep having them until the people of Scotland deliver the "correct" answer - or will the next one be the deciding one which folk will agree to abide by for a generation? But don't assume if Scotland leaves the most successful, and 300 year old, union of any nations, the EU will then welcome Scotland back with open arms. Small issue of Catalonia means that the Spanish veto will be critical.

@BigRedX I think the choices are: (i) do nothing and you guarantee nothing will change; (ii) fight for your cause and if you fail then at least you've tried; (iii) if the new rules stay in place despite our collective best efforts, then you have to learn to live with them. Change happens all the time. When it does you have to adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs; it's the way of the world. Nokia was the largest mobile phone maker at the turn of the century. Spotify didn't even exist then. Woolworths were still on our high streets. Just three examples. We are where we are, it's a case of making the most of it. If that's an optimistic philosophy then I'm guilty as charged.

Haha I do indeed (and am even foolhardy enough to make a contribution to the leading left wing 'rag' for balance given that it doesn't have a pay wall unlike the right of centre 'broadsheets'). But please do provide the correct figures, if those I cited were wrong.

Frankly there is no need for us to put these visa requirements and costs on overseas musicians coming to the UK. FWIW the US has much higher barriers to entry and it has not killed its music scene there or more relevantly the music scene in Canada (unless I am mistaken about the latter). The relationship between Canada and the US is, in fact, a very good proxy for the relationship between the UK and EU, although we are significantly bigger economically, relatively speaking and also in absolute terms, than Canada is to the US. It's not as though I'm hearing cries of "oh great this will mean more work for British musicians". If you feel strongly about this, then be political! Write to your MPs and, as a musician, ask them why they are introducing this or ask them to challenge the government on this if they are an opposition MP. A letter received is considered to represent the views of a thousand constituents. @ambient @peteb - you chaps travel abroad to play a lot (something I have never done, I'm just a London and SE local performer). Why not put your heads together and draft a pro-forma letter that other folk can cut and paste? Maybe musicians unions are already on the case? The truth may be more subtle than we realise eg this is being set up so that it can be bargained away in return for the EU not doing the same. Who knows. But great if UK musicians made it clear that they don't need their manor protected in this way. No point shouting at the tide not to come in. Much better to build a flood barrier. PS just seen @DoubleOhStephan's post above which seems to have landed on exactly the same conclusion.

I know, I know But you could have at least quoted two posts relating to any point on opposing sides, for balance, of a thus-far very civilised debate which I think we are all enjoying and maybe even at risk of 'hearing' each other! The topic is indeed a big one and it doesn't fall into classic left / right territory. Face it - the B word is having a knock on to us BC'ers as musicians which it has been very good to understand, encompassing economics, culture, travel and the environment to name some of the themes coming out.

@Rich agreed - but please be balanced in your quoting; I was merely responding to points on farming made by fellow BC'ers. Back to visas for musicians everyone.