Russ

Ashdown. The EQ voicing is nicer and more usable, there's bucketloads of tones on offer with the pre-shape, the drive control and the octaver, plus there's far fewer horror stories about their reliability. I had my old SVT-7 head die on me during the first song on a gig a few weeks back, and it's been replaced with a RM-800 (partly thanks to Merton's review on here ). Loving it so far. Great tone, and LOUD though my Barefaced Big Twin.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to bail. Got a gig in Wakefield on Saturday night, and we've got to leave by 12 to get there in time for soundcheck. I was going to try and come for the first hour or so, but it's probably not worth it just for that amount of time. I'll see some of you at the London Bass Show next year though.

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1442436454' post='2867020'] Great story - show us a photo please! (of the bass) [/quote] Here you go. Not a great pic, but you get the idea.

Got a nice Spector-related story for you. Back in 2004, I found a nice blue Spector NS5-CRFM on eBay for a really good price. The seller was in the US, and wouldn't ship internationally, so I had to think of something. I was planning a little holiday in the States in February 2005, so I contacted an online acquaintance of mine in the next town over from where I was staying (Edison, NJ) and asked if she could take delivery of the bass, and I'd pick it up when I got there. So that's what happened. And a year later I married her. That special Spector ended up getting sold about a year later, as we were a bit skint and needed the cash. About a year later, whilst browsing eBay (as you do) a familiar-looking blue Spector showed up, this time for an even cheaper price. Turns out it was my old one, and it was cheap because the truss rod was broken. So I bought it and had it shipped to my in-laws' place in the US. Next time we went over to visit, I made arrangements with PJ to take the bass up to the Spector workshop just outside Woodstock, NY (tiny little town called Saugerties, with a little shop right next door run by a hippie British expat that sells British import food). They replaced the truss rod for me, then and there, for free. Now that's proper customer service, above and beyond the call of duty. And I still have that bass. Never letting it go again.

I'm going to have to downgrade my visit a bit as it seems I have a gig that evening up in Yorkshire! But I'll make sure I'm there for a couple of hours in the morning and I'll look forward to seeing everyone.

To be fair, the gig in question was in 110F heat at high altitude with thinner air. Most younger musicians would have trouble dealing with that - Lemmy's pushing 70 and the fact that he got up there at all is testament to his fortitude. I wish the old bugger well - may he keep rocking well into his 70s. But at that age you've got to pace yourself and pick your targets well.

I'll be playing my first gig in over 4 years this coming Friday - it's with Evyltyde, an up-and-coming female-fronted metal band (think more traditional metal in the Maiden/Priest mould rather than your symphonic Nightwish/After Forever stuff). We're headlining the Gunners in Finsbury Park, 5 minutes from Arsenal tube. Should be a good one, would be nice to see some of you there. Check out the band at www.evyltyde.com. Given that The Gunners is (obviously) an Arsenal supporters' pub, might not be advisable to wear a football strip if you're not a Gooner. Then again, if you're coming to a metal gig that probably won't be a problem!

They've just announced this lovely beastie - the RBN. Reminds me of an Atelier Z, with the clear scratchplate. Very nice.

Sorry to hear that. Those bubinga/jatoba necks are pretty stable. It has to be a broken truss rod. Get a refund if you can, especially if it wasn't mentioned in the listing. If you can't, it's a fingerboard-off job to fix, not trivial. I've had good luck with Ibbys. They're fantastic basses for the money. I love my SR1206, and I've got a GWB35 incoming this week. My holy grail is an early-90s SR1305 (the one with humbuckers, not J pickups), but they seem to be as rare as rocking horse s**t.

[quote name='bobbytodd' timestamp='1437136398' post='2823898'] lets hope the build quality isn't the same as the mb range of amps and cabs.if it is it will weigh a ton and break really easy [/quote] Shame they were so badly made. They sounded great when they actually worked. I guess they bailed on the idea of a DBS reissue - they tell everyone who's looking for bass gear now to try Eden, who they own. Which isn't rock'n'roll in the slightest.

So that'll be why they stopped making bass amps - there were obviously more important R&D projects to put the cash into.

I'm in. I'll bring my Sei singlecut, the Spector, maybe my Ibanez sixer, and my Barefaced Big Twin II and Ampeg SVT-7. Maybe a few pedals too. I'll probably have a spare seat in the car if anyone needs a lift from the Croydon area.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1433455229' post='2791307'] Thanks guys, would prefer a bass specialist as it's a fretless, but I'll keep Feline in mind, they look ok! [/quote] Jonathan at Feline is a great guy. Has wonderful 1980s poodle-permed hair too. He maintains all my basses for me and does excellent bass setups.

In further bad news for prog fans, John Wetton has just had a cancerous growth removed too. http://johnwetton.com/

Got to give a shout out to Godsized - used to play in a band with the singer/guitarist about 10 years back. Excellent band, just put out their second album. Their stuff is very much in the Black Label Society mould with a bit of classic Maiden-style stuff mixed in.

Did it years ago, back when it was the 'new' Marquee. Good venue, big stage, nice sound system with good monitors, but the bar is so-so and it attracts lots of pay-to-play promoters.

I've got a Revelation RBJ-67 5-string and it's great. Nice construction, comfortable, plays well, proper block inlays, good low B string, and big, loud barky pickups with large MM-style polepieces. A bit on the heavy side, but that's what you get when you get a bass made of ash (as opposed to swamp ash). It records really well too. I'd love to bung a J-Retro in there and see how it sounds. I've already got my eye on another one - the candy apple red PJ is very nice. According to their Facebook page, they've also got a Fender VI-style 6-string coming soon, as well as a fretless. I'm happy to support Revelation - they're a great UK company with some pedigree behind them.

Ended up just going today. Great day, and better than last year. Didn't really see too many BC'ers other than the omnipresent Bluejay and a couple of others. Some great gear this year too - highlights were the Pedula Pentabuzz fretless (spectacular), some of the Spectors, Dave Swift's Sadowsky 5-string Precision, Ashdown's new gear (always nice to hang with Mark Gooday too), Steve Sukop's lovely 6-string bass, Bernie Goodfellow's nice new GB singlecut basses, the Marusczyk basses, and the latest and greatest from ACG. Some lovely stuff from Eve Basses and Enfield too, but pretty much the same stuff as last year. I also checked out a few of the shows and masterclasses - Sheehan's always good fun and informative, Doug Wimbish was great, and Stu Hamm was entertaining as always (although he always does the same stuff with the same anecdotes). Also caught a great little impromptu bass jam towards the end of the day with two guys, one playing very funky, jazzy stuff, a la Bobby Vega, on a Zon with a pick. Great groove. They also seemed to have the volume a bit more under control this year - much more use of headphones, and the quiet times seemed to be more effectively enforced. Looking forward to next year - it just keeps getting better.

I'll be there for a little while on Saturday, then all day on Sunday. I'll probably be found hanging around the GB, Eve, Hartke and Status stands. [b]Saturday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The Greek[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Timmo[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BassAgent (w/ Fender '66 Jazz)[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BruceBass3901[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sibob[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]CamdenRob [?][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Lozz196[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Drax [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color] [b]Sunday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bobthedog[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]obbm[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color]