PunkPonyPrincess

Bananarama Fun Boy Three

Thompson Twins

I’ll get my own damn chocolate! you can have some, though, and cheers on your journey too. ps transition vamp is brilliant... I can never think up good band names

On what you should and should not be doing: I delight in doing what I am not supposed to be doing, that way can lead to unusual and unexpected outcomes. I don’t wanna be a cookie cutter bass player.

Seeing as it’s a day after Transgender Day Of Visibility and I did nothing because I am recovering from surgery, i’ll bite. I’m transgender and the sound technician’s stance and pretty much everything following that confuses me. No alternative sound technician contingency at the venue is equally just as unprofessional... That being said the cis (look it up if unfamiliar) world gets away with all sorts of slurs against trans people and once in a while trans people just... snap... Mumsnet or Newspapers or Newspaper Comments sections are a great example of what anonymity + entitled + whiny cis fear and loathing leads to... So, apparently on these places trans ppl want to destroy society... actually yeah, I do kinda want want to wreck it all... but that’s not because trans people are trans, but because there are forces out there that want to eradicate non-conforming people from existence by any means possible and our/their survival mandates we want to make sure a society is made where that cannot happen, that starts with being pretty hard on slurs. Sometimes people overreact, sometimes people don’t react enough; I probably should do more. If I stumble upon anti-trans attitude I just roll my eyes and say, “oh gawd, the cis are at it again..” (seriously there are some dumb folk out there) and move on. Normally I’d not go looking, sometimes it’s unavoidable -- I never read the newspaper comments sections. Last time I did Ugh. Now I’m the dumb one for letting their stuff affect me. I won’t share any gory details about my life before transition (it’s textbook) but after entering the Scottish NHS Gender Reassignment pathway a few years ago with years of waiting, years of tests, then years of medication, interim procedures and dreadfully dreary therapy (mostly consisting of “are you sure? No... are you really really sure?) Gatekeeping upon gatekeeping: following adams-apple removal in December, I had Vaginoplasty (aka “have you have ‘the op?’” — a question I am under no obligation to answer) last month by one of the UK’s preeminent urologists and reassignment surgeons in Brighton... I am midway through 12 weeks of recovery, I am sore (but now not walking like I have a tennis ball stuffed up my bottom) and able to refurb Trace cabs. The gubbiment gave me my Gender Recognition Certificate and I changed my Birth Certificate. Passports, Banks, Taxes, Council Tax, Lang Registery ownership sets... it all just glides into place as life becomes more normal, yeah, i’m very happy I went through it all. When this surgery is healed I get facial feminisation performed this year (again, I am under zero obligation to tell people this, but it’s all part of the journey). You know, all that progress really chills one out. Waiting months and years between anything happening really messes with a person. I’ve been there. I’m still confused about the sound tech, the band description is not offensive to me, (just really really unimaginative, dull and a bit stupid — typical of clueless Cis folk being a bit free with their privilege) but I don’t experience much of the anti Trans hate or the TERFy/Gender Critical nonsense first hand because I go stealth and I mostly pass, so maybe they had enough or had a bad day so something snapped — I’m lucky and privilege allows me to disappear into the cis world. I am so far into transition that most people just assume I’m yet another angry woman with a precision bass... and truth be known I am just another anonymous punk bassist so being trans is... or rather was for me a major all encompassing and now rapidly normalising transitionary process; transition for me is a series of corrections so I can get on with life. That’s apparently normal, but I know it feels so out of reach for the person waiting… waiting… as time bloody passes and that’s gonna skew ones sensibility. That’s really it. when I come across anti trans stuff, like mumsnet in real life I generally just oppose their view without outing myself or offering a show and tell because it’s not really anyone’s business.. Backfiring Irony aside, (I keep going back to check: it’s a really lame band description) I cannot see why someone else could not run the faders, it’s not really difficult. all I can say is trans people’s experiences are not uniform or the same (despite clinically me describing my experience as “textbook” earlier - ha!) trans people all have wildly divergent experiences and psychologically can cope with different levels of stuff, some trans people are comfy in transition, some are not (that’s not for anyone to judge), some trans people go for “the works” and to ascend into heteronormativity, some don’t, some trans people don’t regard themselves as trans once they have gotten through the meat grinder of the NHS or the WPATH protocols. Some trans ppl even play the bass! I want my chocolate now...

Posh metal Trace badge arrived which is replacing the worn plastic one, it’s not historically accurate but hey... £15 inc delivery from U.K. supplier. I tried it symmetrically top centred but but it didn’t look right, I tried it left in line with the border but again not right, so I shifted it right a couple of centimetres. Now it looks right. Weird but that’s my eyes... drilled 2.5mm holes and fixed with a bolster behind the sign/grille, some nail varnish as threadlock to hold the tiny screws from bass vibration loosening. I’m liking the flapper effect of rough paint/powder coat clearance... might just use a metal polyurethane metal sealer. I have time to decide on that. Stripped hardware one last time to put on three more coats of Tuff Cab because this is going to be my main rig so why not? Once the hardware is put back on this is pretty much a wrap. If you are just restoring one or two cabs the 1Lit tub of Tuff Cab is plenty. Seriously, it goes a long way.

I have replacement parts (but which did not come with them caps).

Yes the wd40 is temporary. I’m considering something other than flapped and while Galvanised is nice I like raw metal: maybe a belt sander to get a brushed effect then possibly a matte polyurethane metal seal on top. Awaiting a new Trace cab logo. The new Shiny chrome to replace the plastic ones of old — which will limit aesthetic choices for me (in a good way).

I need to get two for my Series 6 130W head are these available in the UK?

Just stripped the corners with wire brushes then rubbed with wire wool while the grill was stripped with flappers on a grinder to bare metal. Both WD40ed and left alone. It won’t stay shiny but dull down to a grey metallic matte eventually - unless I seal them.

Yep

It’s an *amazing* cab... and amp combo — from sonics alone... i’d take something like this over anything new and full price these days

Keeping this short and sweet. I Picked up a lovely old Series 6 130 C7 Amp which bought from a basschat member. I am going to be pairing with this Trace 4x10 that I picked up for £50 on Facebook marketplace. The amp is fine, will need s couple of EQ slider caps but the £50 cabinet was in a shocking state, painted tolex, several coats black then white then black then something, clear coat... got the speakers out, all happy cones no wear or flap, no fixes no sprays... Everything was sprayed without any primer so rust got under and into everything and started making everything scabrous. Flappers, wire wool, sanding paper, scrapers all to the rescue... It was reassembled last night and it works beautifully, sounds amazing. My only break with tradition is to foam line the cab — older trace cabs didn’t, newer ones did. From DIY restorations in the past, I like and believe in foam and despite adding £40 to the repair (you’ll see I have reused as much as possible) — even going so far as to clean the corner bumpers and flap off the old paint and powder coat back to bare metal — as well as adding some castors for £20, the general feeling is this is money well spent.

Just bought a Trace Elliot Amp from @Kevvo66 and all arrived super fast, well packaged and in good shape. It’s in a good home, it’s going to be used quite a bit.

Thank Kev, and you were great In comms And fast speedy delivery, I just need to finish restoring my 4x10 TE cab and i’ll be ready to blow out some windows. A full Trace stack for a hundred plus time and a few bits... who’d-a thunk it possible? Edit: restored and it’s an amazing amp

Ramones’ It’s Alive, is probably one of the finest live albums ever put out. The studio stuff was good rather than eh, but in places the production really held them down a bit, but the live versions of all the popular stuff like Surfing Bird, I wanna be sedated, Suzy is a Headbanger, Sheena is a punk rocker, happy family, here today, gone tomorrow... and so on really captured them at their best and at their height.

All music that exists as a reaction to a culture is significant

If a bass is too heavy, try the Jah Wobble on Old Grey Whistle Test style stool?