Steve Browning

I'm positive the basses were upstairs. It's the drum bit I am unsure of although I'm pretty sure.

As I recall it was basses upstairs and drums on the ground floor (but my memory could easily be wrong). Obviously I never went into the drum bit so I have no evidence it was there.

An awesome shop. Miss it tremendously. Bought some amazing stuff in there in the past. Receipt for 0189 and part of the certificate I got from JE as it appears in the Haynes manual.

No. You can register for VAT voluntarily as long as you are in business. The registration threshhold is the compulsory registration figure.

From the VAT perspective you would have to apply the Lennarz principle (used to be used for mega yachts and aircraft). You would have to demonstrate that you were actively seeking to rent out the equipment and pay commercial rates for your own use. You could do it as a partnership as opposed to a company. The VAT registration would apply only to partnership activities and not anyone's personal activity. VAT on all gig fees (you would lose 1/6th as VAT), the same on all other UK sales. If you were to sell in Europe you would have to register in each country too. Gig fees would be VAT free. Unless you are buying big I would suggest it's probably not worth it for the VAT you would claim back.

The triangle in Everlasting Love.

I reckon it's stage fright/confidence. The drummer is not buying the cymbals because to do so removes his 'excuse' and the singer is saying the band isn't ready because he doesn't feel ready. As for what you do, you probably need to weigh up how they'd respond to you going ahead and booking a gig. They're going to stick with their excuses and so I reckon it's whether or not they'll pull out if a gig is actually on the horizon. Personally, I think your only hope here is to book the gig and see what happens. You're in a Mexican stand off until then.

Gaye Advert.

Yikes!! I confess I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to amps and have an unfair bias towards some amount of genuine valve in the path. My friend bought an M-Pulse 600 on the basis of hearing mine through the Diesel 2x15 that was my cab until about 2 years ago. I bought the two Subway 1x15's to replace the old 2x15. Using the M-Pulse and Subway cabs gives me the same sound as I had with the Bass 400 and Diesel rig IMHO. My friend tends to use his M-Pulse too, I should add. Just to throw a further spanner, if the weight of the amp ever proved to be prohibitive for me, I would happily use the Subway. The tone was certainly the same (pretty much) across the range of amps but the valve pre-amps did have 'something' which may have just been valve colouration but not to the extent that we thought it was completely different. I think the vagueness of that answer suggests that we didn't think there was much of any significant difference but I have let my bias towards valves colour my judgement in favour of the M-Pulse.

I have used Boogie gear continuously from 1988 to the present day, going from Bass 400 through Walkabout to M-Pulse 600. Fairly recently a friend and I did a comparison of my amps and his Subway 800, through the same cab. We both concluded that there was a noticeable 'dna' that was present in all the amps (all bar the Bass 400 which wasn't included in the comparison).

Not sure where you are but BCS in Hampshire make excellent cases and will custom make for you if you supply the spec. http://www.bcsmanufacturing.co.uk/

Great to see Stretch here. Kirby is a truly fine guitarist and there is also the pre-Quo Jeff Rich on drums (on the LP that followed this one).

I take the above picture was taken just after LB had the phone call!!

I have had the great pleasure of playing with Dave Mattacks. If you are in West Sussex he occasionally surfaces around Worthing playing with Bob Brookes and Miller Anderson.

You should do as you feel. I do wonder whether the Jazz bass should remain and other gear go. The reason for that is that gear is relatively cheap to replace and a nice Jazz bass will always be worth a good deal. Just a thought. A tad excessive for noodling I accept.

For me, a lot of it is being 'triggered' by the kick drum and playing a line that i sympathetic to the overall drum pattern. Over time you get to be able to read the drummer and you play the songs almost as a duet.

Really sorry to have missed this but was away gigging all over the weekend. I hope to be there next year - on whichever day it is held.