BillyBass

I've just pulled the trigger on an Ashdown RM800 EVO 2 too. £286.00 is a no brainer for me. Even if I don't use the preamp section, and run my Di-2112 into the effects return, £286 for an 800w power amp is still a bargain. Somehow though, I can see myself using it as a standalone amp into my Super compact. For anyone else nervous about VAT and customs duties, the webpage with the product says 'incl taxes and customs duties, free delivery'. After clicking 'add to basket' you go to the basket page and there is a paragraph under the order which states that customs duties have to be paid outside the EU! Following the OP's experience I bought anyway and the e-mail I got from them has the unit price at £238.33 and 'import duties' at £47.67, which is 20% of the unit price, so that's the VAT then. I have not ordered from the EU since Brexit proper happened so I'm not sure if I am liable for any other import duties but if there are any, they will be negligible.

If it was a Rush riff you would probably get a cease and desist communication from lawyers and it would be pulled from YouTube. Great review BTW, keep it up.

Girls with Doc Martens! In my day, punk girls wore Monkey boots, it was the blokes that wore Doc Martens. If you were a skinhead girl and wanted to look hard you might have worn Doc Martens maybe.

And while we're on the subject of punk and non conforming, the guitarist has a beard! And a flat cap! bloody anarchist.

The working class can kiss my a*se Cos I have got the foreman's job at last You're out of work and on the dole You can stuff the red flag up yer hole sung to the tune of 'The red flag'

I have been doing mindfulness meditation for 34 years. I ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1987 and disrobed in 2001. During that time I did a lot of very long meditation retreats, mainly with Burmese masters. Without this training I'm sure I would be tearing my hair out now. Since disrobing I have returned to my last monastery (in Northumberland) at least once a year for a short meditation retreat and I will be back there again in September. Not being a monk any more, having to go to work, having a wife etc mean that the level of constant mindfulness I had as a monk has dropped dramatically, however, one benefit of mental training is the ability to make determinations, as in when such and such happens, I will be mindful. The silver lining in this cloud for me is the determination, which so far I am keeping up, to be mindful whenever my tinnitus comes to my attention.

Apology unnecessary, I wasn't offended. Most people, I assume, would be upset by it as the NHS seems to focus very much on therapy to help people come to terms with it. Our singer has it one ear and she got cognitive behaviour therapy from the NHS, which helped her. Sorry to hear about your missus☹️

Orcs? You support Arsenal then do you?

Judging by some of the comments on this thread my tinnitus is mild. I often forget it's there, particularly if I am concentrating on something else or there is background noise. I also haven't had any more hearing loss, more that is than my usual imperfect hearing. People often comment that I speak loudly, I think I do this as my hearing is not as good as it should be. I'm not freaking out about it. I've got tinnitus, never mind, worse things happen at sea. I'm an ex-Buddhist monk. I have done loads and loads of meditation and this enables me to deal with life's vicissitudes, most of the time.

I do the backing vocals in our band, though I was roped in to lead vocals once when we were between singers. Thanks for the tips

Thanks for your replies. I have just booked an appointment with an audiologist in the Boots in Whetstone, following the link in @Happy Jack's post. This is what I seem to be experiencing. It's not that bad and hopefully mine won't get worse but I suppose that depends on how careful I am in future.

Hi all, I always used to have ringing ears after gigs; it would go after a day or so. Unfortunately the ringing now appears to be permanent, so I suppose that means I have tinnitus. I feel like a tart plying her trade without protection and coming down with the pox. I was bound to happen. My ears have always been less than perfect, I had boils in them as a very small child. I went to too many gigs as a teenager, my teeth would sometimes ache afterwards I was told that this was because my filling were rattling due to the high sound levels. I use power tools at work, often without ear protection. And the straw that broke the camel's back was rehearsals two weeks ago; our guitarist loves to hear his guitar through the Marshall all tube head and 4x12 cab backline in our small rehearsal studio. Anyway, I would like to hear of others' experience of this and what I can expect in the future. Checking online (yes, I know, not a good idea for answers to health questions) it appears tinnitus can't be cured, the NHS just help you cope/deal with it emotionally. I have bought some cheap vented earplugs from Amazon and the apologetic guitarist has agreed to turn things down but any advice or tips form the bass chat community would be welcome. I would be happy if it got no worse but I suspect that may not be possible unless I avoid gigs and rehearsals.

If there was one bass gear company that I wouldn't accuse of copying others would be Phil Jones Bass. Nevertheless, this is another Elf-like amp, to add to the Elf, Warwick Gnome, Gr Mini, several TC Electronic amps etc. Rather than just trying to get as small a chassis as possible, the PJB amp has a few improvements over the Elf: Aux in, a speak on jack and pre/post Eq DI. The Eq looks a bit unusual though, Bass is 100hz, treble 10khz and the mid is centred at 1khz but appears to have a wide Q so it affects a broad range from 120hz to 10khz. They will charge US$375 for it, so probably about the same in pounds over here. Most PJB stuff is expensive compared to competitors.

This was Top of the Pops. As far as I know, the artists had to sing but the music was mimed; consequently Bob Geldof manages to produce lifelike sax sounds out of a candelabra but I also remember Rod Stewart (I think it was Rod Stewart) once performing with his lyrics on a piece of paper as he hadn't memorised them. So I'm not sure if the real bass line was slapped, I can't tell from the clip.

I use EXL165 on my BB, mainly because they come in a twin pack which is quite good value. The 165s have a 105 E string, whereas the 170s have a 100. Apart from that I think they are the same; nickel round wounds. I think they are fine, not better than the DR Sunbeams that I have on my other basses but not any worse either. They are a bit zingy when new, more so I believe than the Sunbeams, but new strings are like that aren't they.

Electrician here. RCDs are good, however you do need to check to see whether the consumer unit already has one for that particular socket circuit, whether as an RCD protecting that circuit’s MCB or an RCBO, which is a combination of an RCD and an MCB. Two RCDs in a circuit are a problem, you can get nuisance tripping. those little socket testers are good, I use one for work. They show up faults but you can’t rely on them to tell you the nature of the fault. If you get the two green lights, all is good. Anything else I.e. a red light somewhere then it’s call an electrician time. Surge protection is fine, however, it will rarely be needed/used. Faults from the sub station that would trigger an over voltage are rare and over current is covered by the consumer unit.

I didn't know he was on here. His posts were always welcome on the Gallien Krueger Club page on Talk Bass, always came across as a nice bloke. R.I.P.

I'm sure our paths must have crossed somewhere in 1980, judging by the bands you went to see.

I dossed in a squat in Notting Hill one night after a Killing Joke gig, probably 1980, it was Killing joke's roadies squat and Youth was there too. One of the girls in our group got shagged by Youth that night, her comment afterwards was "I could feel the grime against my body". Youth was not a fan of soap and water was he!

Adam &the Antz Peel session Not strictly post punk but not mainstream punk either. The 2nd song is about Westside Story, the first also has an anti racist element, unfortunately, Nick Kent and other NME journalists labelled them as Nazi, hence Dave Barbe, the drummer attacking a copy of the rag. Adam and the Antz also wrote a song called 'Press Darlings' about music press journalists. I saw them play over 20 times.

I think that's fair. I did go to see them as headliners on occasion but that would only have been if no one else I liked was playing somewhere else. We were spoilt for choice on occasion, they were good years. I remember once having to choose between 999 and Joy Division on a particular night, both bands I had seen. I choose 999 because they always put on a good show and played all their singles.

Oh dear.

I too saw UK Decay loads of times when they were supporting other bands. I thought they were really good though, not that I remember many of their songs. I do remember that during one song their followers would all take off their studded belts and swing them round above their heads, not sure why.

I saw them play a few times, in 1980/1981. Did anyone go to the gig at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden? That was packed and some people didn't get in, that was when they started getting big in London