Steve Browning

Torn between Bohemian Rhapsody and the proper (full) live version of Sultans Of Swing. I bet those opening Bb's caused a draught through that Acoustic rig of John Deacon's.

........... and I don't like actives. Vive la difference and all that. There's so much choice out there you don't need to force yourself to like something.

You already pay VAT on goods from Europe. German VAT from Thomann, for example. You will see any import duty charged but that will be the only extra cost I would expect.

Ah, the sweet smell of that greener grass!! The JV will always be more highly thought of (they seem to be the pre-CBS of the post CBS age), but that doesn't make it a better bass for you.

Tough call, I would say. I have not played a Limelight but I have dealt with Mark and I know many people swear by them (as JV owners do too). I am not convinced that the JV's are pre-CBS investments in the making so my decision would be on which you enjoyed playing the most and don't pay too much attention to the 'aura' around them.

That's very kind but I think a JV represents rather better value as an instrument. I have owned a couple of JV's over the years and I have played a few and I haven't encountered a duff one yet.

Don't forget PPL too. They do the performing rights. They can also issue the IRSC number (each released song/version of a song has a unique number for cataloguing). My band went with Ditto Music who seem to do a great job for 19 quid.

Albatross (Fleetwood Mac) takes some beating.

I once had afternoon tea at the Ritz and the waiter pronounced it 'scone' so I was right all along. I mean, they must be right at Ritz.

But is it pronounced as in scone or scone?

I have used them for years and love the sound of them. Great strings. I have tried other options over the years but Jazz Bass strings are the best for me, in terms of tone - and value!

One of my Subway cabs had an annoying rattle that seemed to defy any attempt at diagnosis. Eventually, Mesa accepted that the speaker was at fault and shipped over another one. I had bought the cab from the Gallery and it was agreed that the swap would take place on a Saturday. I duly drove up and the original speaker was removed (it was a seriously tight fit). Lo and behold the reason was immediately clear. The guy stapling in the insulation had evidently refilled his staple gun during the process and a block of 3 staples were attached to the magnet and vibrating on the cone! I chose to keep the original speaker and was allowed to keep the (unnecessary) spare. So, I have a brand new and boxed 15" speaker in case I ever need it. Brilliant customer service from the Gallery, the guy came in on the Saturday morning on the the day he was going on holiday and Mesa Boogie for sending over the speaker and letting me keep it. Not sure I'll ever need it but there you go ...........

Ah, so you were the t1t the guys were talking about when I went in! :-)

My band play on mainland Europe a fair bit. We approach the power requirement by buying a couple of European plug and change the UK plug on a couple of 2m single socket extension leads. They take up a small amount of additional space, are not expensive and then allow you to use your own extension leads from there on. Generally, the venues will feed and water you too. The audiences are also far more receptive and even seem to appreciate you being there. Pretty much the direct opposite of a UK audience!! If you go through the tunnel to get there, I heartily recommend the burger van in the car park where you queue to board the train. The 'dog and egg' is a wonderful creation (pork burger with a fried egg on top). I can guarantee you'll have a great time and drive on the right. It's always the first roundabout that (almost) catches me out!!

I will ask a friend of mine who is a Music Man endorsee (and who lives in San Louis Obispo).

I would be very wary of importing anything where the value has been understated. You spend 1400 quid on a bass and risk losing it at Customs for the sake of £200. A sizeable sum, certainly, but this is clearly fraudulent and Customs will impound the bass (and destroy it) if they detect this. Rather like Russian roulette if you're truly into that. That's with my ex-Customs head on temporarily.

MY band had a drummer who was an amazing technician. He could pretty much play anything but it was like watching a cadaver playing. Not a flicker of emotion. Couldn't stand playing with him.

I work on the principle that I am the best at playing in the style I do. If that's what you want then no-one else will be as good. If you want something else, choose the person who does that best. There are too many variables in other ways to compare.

Never liked the reverse Thunderbird or pretty much any single cut body. Entirely subjective obviously.

If I remember correctly the live version had the last note of the 3 note pattern doubled (at the end) - D F GG D F GG D F GGGGGGGGGeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Crash!! Used to love playing that song. The timing can seem odd at first but it's one of those songs that is simple once you've cracked it. Another great one for that is She Likes To Boogie Real Low by Johnny Winter (his version). That's a 13 bar blues in the same space as a 12 bar. It has two 2 beat bars which switch round the timing. Simple but absolute genius.

For local gigs I tend to use my 66 Precision with my 72 as a back up. I also use my A/E fretless in 3 of the songs. When I'm touring I'll use my two Japanese reissue Precisions (the PB75US's) instead of the oldies but retain the A/E. These basses have Kent Armstrong Vintage pickups on them. The A/E has a Cafe Walter buffer. The two fretted basses are on one lead and the A/E is on another. The two leads are plugged into a Lehle switcher (on my pedalboard) so that I can use the trim pots on the Lehle to match the outputs. The two positions of the footswitches on the Lehle allow me to send the signal to either a tuner (on the pedalbord too) or to the amp rack. Before that the signal goes through a Palmer buffer/splitter. I don't use the splitter capability (only using the one amp pretty much all the time) but I use the buffer as I have a total of around 12 metres of cable between the bass and the amp. The pedalboard is sited in front of my guitar stand so I can switch outputs at the same time as changing basses and I don't have masses of cable all over the stage. From the buffer the signal goes to the amp rack into a Behringer rack tuner. The reason for two tuners is that I may want to use my Boogie Bass 400 which is in a different rack and so that would mean the Behringer wasn't available. From there it goes into the M-Pulse 600 (on passive setting) and then into the two Subway 1x15s.

More or less just an excuse to say what a top bloke Paul Young seems to be and what a shame to lose his wife at such a young age. One of those guys who make me wish I could sing like him (if I could sing at all).

I think the E series followed the SQ series which were those after the hallowed JV. There's that site that lists almost every known fact about them but I can't remember it for the life of me ............

Yes, their Rig Rundown is brilliant.