Richard R

The purpose of this thread, summed up perfectly!

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/hidden-snobs-missed-many-city-23113456 There have been a LOT of changes to that part of Birmingham in the last 10 years. This article is 3 years old, there has been more work done since then.

35 people signed up so far.

I was only 16 in '83, and into Prog rather than the New Romantics. I remember Snobs though - I was a very frequent borrower at of the record lending section of the Birmingham Library, so Paradise Circus was familiar.

Hanging around @Goliath_FX's stand is the current best plan. There are BC lanyard designs further up the thread. I'm planning to be there on the Saturday.

I didn't read any further! 😳

I noticed nobody replied to this one. I regard straps as essential, but then I find it uncomfortable sitting down to play. If you don't have a spare you can use then I would give you a pass on this occasion, as its so close to the start. Ohers may disagree.

I agree with @neepheid on this one. Quite what we would do if the band was to start buying instruments I'm not sure. At that point the band is probably set up as a business anyway, so definitely out of scope!

Remember guys and gals - it's ultimately bit of fun. If a setup needs a new nut - it's allowed. If the pots are crackly and need swapping - it's allowed too. If the bass is run over by a truck owned by your neighbour who is fed up with you practicing "Mustang Sally" and "Teen Town" for hours on end in the dead of night - replacing the bass is allowed, but most of us would side with your neighbour if your amp then mysteriously went missing....

It's an honourable status, but you would still be out having brought new gear into your possession. People have kept track of the net in/out of gear on this thread. We could have a separate "2025 Gear Budget Maintenance Thread ", where one posted the maximum net expenditure you planned and then had to stick to that. Not sure that's a runner.

A fretted waistcoat would be more interesting. And only a Tier 2 fail at best.

Are you in, then?

I must have missed that entirely. @Jono Bolton will have to make his case to the jury come March. I'm just the clerk of the court (though a fairly opinionated one) 😉

That's maintenance, you're good.

Can we leave you in and start a sweepstake?

Updated the first post in the thread with the Rules as I understand them 🙂 Currently on the starting line - plenty of space left: @neepheid Tier 1 5th March. Greco LGB-700, three pickup @Richard R Tier 2 8th March, Akia mini MIDI keyboard Tier 1 7th May, Smoothhound wireless system from SuburbanMan @SimonK Out on 11th Feb. 2x10 Cab @Franticsmurf T2, 14th Feb Fell in love with a guitar pedal. T1 April, awesome 5 string bass @barkin @Velarian Tier 2 declared 14 Jan. Tier 1 1st March. A pickguard of all things! @Phill Tier 1, 3rd March, DI box @AndyTravis Out on 31st Jan. Last year he was out on 3rd Jan, so he's making progress @prowla @ezbass Tier 2, 27 Jan. Though he wasn't ever really in I just added him anyway. @bass_dinger T2 30th May EMU Classic Keys module @Jono Bolton @SumOne 1st out! 5th Jan @Lozz196 @bassbiscuits T2 8th May. Acoustic guitar which immediately went back up for sale. @Mudpup T1 30th May. Big time - Spector Pulse 5 string with an LHZ preamp, a Bugera Veyron amp and an LFSys Monaco cab. In one hit. @miles'tone T1 April, CV Mustang @tauzero 17 Jan @Suburban Man T1 7th May, EBS Sesssion 60 combo from RichardR @fretmeister T2 April, guitar fuzz pedal @OliverBlackman @paul_5 @King Tut T1 April, awesome 5 string bass @Marvin T2 April, PSU for pedalboard @Jean-Luc Pickguard 3rd Out, 5th Jan @Shockwave Tier 2 out, 20th Jan @NJE @jimmyb625 @mr zed T1, 2nd June. Helix LT @wavemaker T1 25th May, 2010 Ernie Ball Classic Sterling @lozkerr T1 April, Thumpinator pickup @Downunderwonder @BillyBass T2 August 1st. new pedal board and a power supply @Stub Mandrel T1, 26 May. Kay Gremlin @Quatschmacher 2nd out, but the shortest stay - in on the 3rd, out on the 5th. @mikebass456 T1 May 10th, DB Hype 8 active speaker. @Geek99 T1 April, awesome 5 string @grapefruitmoon Tier 2, 31st Jan @2pods Out 6th Jan @Maude @sprocketflup Out 25th Jan. @knirirr Tier 2 failure before he joined 15 Jan, but hoping to be good from now on. @MrDinsdale Tier 2 out on the 19th. Tier 1 on the 21st, new pickups. @Quilly T1 April, bass reverb pedal @Kev T1 4th March, DI box @JottoSW1 (Joined last day of Jan) T1 out 31st May. All the bits of a bass apart from the body as far as I could tell. And a TE amp. @Obrienp T1 April, LFSys cab @Sean wasn't in, but confessed to buying back a bass he sold 4 years ago @TeresaFR (Joined April 28th but claims no spend since November 2024) @TimR @BabyBlueSound T1 30th May, Notadumble pedal and another blue one. Only Joined on 16th April too. @msb T1 27th August. Nice hollowbody with an interesting control set.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard! Lots of advice on cab building to be found here. Check out the threads on the 8" mini cab build for discussions about port lengths and such things. Your profile background image - Staff Card for the Rum Runner in 1984? Do tell!

Seconded. I'll try not to c0ck up 2025's challenge admin.

Hi all, Happy New Year! I was going to post the rules summary today, but instead have to deal with a water leak in the house. Carpet in the bedroom partly lifted, looks like I'll cutting floorboards tomorrow to find the problem. And special thread-derailing prize to whoever comes up with the least/most appropriate song for this situation.

"These might be guitars, they might be six string basses, they might be AI generated anomalies. But you still bought an amp, so you're out..."

2025 Gear Abstinence Thread - updated with "Rules" I spent New Years' Eve in the company of a good friend who has just retired from teaching recent law graduates how to actually practice law (teaching them soliciting). We were talking about how English Law develops over time and is set more by what the judges decide than is written in statute, though it is always worth looking at the letter of the law. With that in mind I went back over a few years' worth of these threads to see if what I remembered as the rules were actually written down anywhere definitively and how they evolved. With that in mind, these are the 2025 rules as I understand them 😁: Tier 1 Challenge During the calendar year of 2025 (01/01/25 - 31/12/25): - No bass gear purchases/trades whatsoever, be that amps, pedals, basses, accessories. Tier 2 challenge (should you play other instruments, engage in music production etc) - As above, but extended to your other musical gear Allowances in both tiers: - Consumables such as Strings (sticks, skins, reeds, batteries etc) Buying a set of new strings that happen to be attached to a bass is out. - Maintenance/setups that only involve work on existing aspects of your bass (ie no purchasing a preamp to add to it) - Breakages. If something breaks through no unusual intervention of your own, and is unable to be repaired, you may replace it. - Already committed purchases. If you have purchased something in 2024, you are able to take delivery of it within 2025. If you have put down a deposit on something before committing to this, which then requires a final payment within 2025, that single payment permitted. - Genuinely unsolicited presents, which you had no involvement in choosing. (So going out with your partner to play a bunch of bases, choosing one, and then them buying it for you would be a fail. But we would all applaud and cheer you and your partner and want to know what you got and why!) - Educational purchases, ie tutorial books, lessons, anything that furthers your playing is permitted. Buying a proper usb sound card so your on-line lessons work better would probably be OK. Buying one because you might have on-line lessons but haven’t boked any is definitely out. (A bit like the cops overlooking you speeding to take your wife to hospital to give birth, but they wouldn’t overlook you speeding to a date where you might get her pregnant!) Ammendments: Without setting precedent for future years: 1.Normal cables are allowed this year, even if they aren't replacing breakages. (Wireless or any non-conventtional systems aren't) 2.Purchases made with music-store specific loyalty points are allowed. We could get tighter with the definition, but let's just allow if for now. (But I couldn't use the Amazon points I am racking up on work travel and hotels to buy a set of machine heads) 3.Asking for gift vouchers for a present then spending them on gear is still a fail when you spend them. Straps, plectrums and sundries are still OK. Grey areas: - PA equipment has been a Tier 2 fail, but if it’s for a band you don’t play in but do sound for then we can probably argue it’s OK. - There used to be a convention that things not in the signal path didn’t count. So straps, stands and the like were allowed. I'm cool with that - what do others think? - Parts for bitsas I think are out. MOST IMPORTANTLY This is a bit of fun. The idea is just to make us think "Do I really need it?" before buying something, and to maybe focus on playing more than purchasing. Nobody will get punished for buying another Fender, or even a Ric, it's your time and money to do what you wish with. So see how long you last, enjoy seeing how far you and others get, and let's try to keep the economy flatlined for as long as possible. List of those in and out is on P2: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/507822-2025-gear-abstinence-thread/#findComment-5395815

I have no answer to any of these questions, but I look forward to seeing the build.

Hope you feel better soon @beely.