The Admiral

I posted this earlier today in the 'Pinned' DIY thread, but on reflection, I think it may be better here (mods - please remove from the other thread if desired) :


I wondered if anyone had any experience of the Ashdown five fifteen, and specificallly seperating the combo into a head and stand alone cab? I ask, as its a great amp and suits my needs, but my increasingly trashed back (old Rugby injury, which plays up particularly badly in the winter) is making the shifting of 27kg in one awkward shaped, single handled hit a bit of a challenge. I'm keeen to split it into a head and cab - building a 'sleeve' for the former and a new cab for the latter - suited to the current 15 inch driver. In addition, I 'm wondering about building a seperate 2 x 10, which I can use as an alternative, or, if I can work out the wiring/impedance conundrum, could I run it in addition to the 1x15?

I've had a look at the Harley Benton 2 x 10, which would almost be cheaper than buildng my own, but, depite some good reviews for it (taking into account that for just over £100 it's not going to be an Ampeg), I would like to dip my toes in the cab construction side, as I'm pretty handy and it would make a nice winter project.

All thoughts gratefully received - including the 'why bother' thought process, when I may just be best keeping the five fifteen 'as is' in my office practice space and buying something S/H on BC which is more portable and purpose built as a lightweight outfit for rehearsals and gigs. That's probably far too sensible though, and why just spend money when you can give yourself more work for the same price!

I wondered if anyone had any experience of the Ashdown five fifteen, and specificallly seperating the combo into a head and stand alone cab. I ask, as its a great amp and suits my needs, but my increasingly trashed back (old Rugby injury, which plays up particularly badly in the winter) is making the shifting of 27kg in one awkward shaped, single handled hit a bit of a challenge. I'm keeen to split it into a head and cab - building a 'sleeve' for the former and a new cab for the latter - suited to the current 15 inch driver. In addition, I 'm wondering about building a seperate 2 x 10, which I can use as an alternative, or, if I can work out the wiring/impedance conundrum, could I run it in addition to the 1x15? I've had a look at the Harley Benton 2 x 10, which would almost be cheaper than buildng my own, but, depite some good reviews for it (taking into account that for just over £100 it's not going to be an Ampeg), I would like to dip my toes in the cab construction side, as I'm pretty handy and it would make a nice winter project.

All thoughts gratefully received - including the 'why bother' thought process, when I may just be best keeping the five fifteen 'as is' in my office practice space and buying something S/H on BC which is more portable and purpose built as a lightweight outfit for rehearsals and gigs. That's probably far too sensible though, and why just spend money when you can give yourself more work for the same price!

Or if you are in Manhattan and fancy a one owner 70s Ric 4001 in Azureglo!!

[url="http://umanovguitars.com/store/item/1975-rickenbacker-4001/"]http://umanovguitars.com/store/item/1975-rickenbacker-4001/[/url]

Great shop - always have fantastic used stuff and whenever I'm over (about every 3 years if I'm lucky - I'm not Richard Branson!) I try and look in.

Nice 70s natural finish jazz too : [url="http://umanovguitars.com/store/item/1978-fender-jazz-bass/"]http://umanovguitars.com/store/item/1978-fender-jazz-bass/[/url]

Put the credit cards away.............. now!

In step - Steve Ray Vaughan, particularly 'Crossfire', and Kind of Blue by MIles Davis - although I think you have to actually play something for reference which is akin to the music you will be looking to 'judge'. It also depends on what sort of sound you want : warm, analogue and natural, or digital and very clean and clinical...........or somewhere in the thousands of steps that sit between? The Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album 'Raising Sand' is a great record from a recording pov imho, and done very old school - as is Tom Jones album 'Praise and Blame', which was recorded with Tom and the band playing/singing together as it would have been 50 years ago. I like 'natural' sounding recordings, but also have a soft spot for ABC's Lexicon of Love, which is light years from that! No right answers - your music, your ears.

Just bought Squire 51 Tele from Pete. Due to my personal circumstances (about which he was very understanding) it all had to be done by PM/Paypal and a friend collected, but he was very accommodating, very efficient in his comms and all round a thoroghly great guy to deal with. Thanks Pete.

I got chatting to a guy at a black tie corporate who was doing the sound for a female duo. He was telling me that they get stacks of work in either the 2 girls and backing tracks format, or ( he's the guitarist ) they go out as a 5 piece, and they are always busy. Didn't hurt that the girls were both stunningly pretty, built like Kelly Brook and one blond,one brunette. The fact they had great voices was, he advised, the least of the issues, as the dance floor was full of middle aged insurance brokers having a good letch at the pair of them and their spray on Lycra outfits, and they always got repeat bookings. Sad to say that we are so predictable eh chaps, but nice work if you can get it for the band.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1355161025' post='1894840']
Well I got in touch with both of them and offered them both the job!

Looks like we'll have to see how it all pans out!! Have first full line-up rehearsal this Friday evening. Well looking forward to it!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[/quote]

I was trying to think of some bands which featured 2 female vocalists, as that could be a starting point for some interesting stuff : Abba obviously, Rumours era Fleetwood Mac, Heart, The Corrs (kind of), errrr ......... Any more? Probably loads, and I'll kick myself for forgetting.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1355156001' post='1894731']
I think after 28 days Royal Mail wont pay out unless you have lodged a complaint - might be wrong but check the small print.
ebay also has a similar thing that you need to register your complaint within 35 days i think.

Dave
[/quote]

Thanks to everyone for all the tips - much appreciated.

There is a substantial file of notes on the Royal Mail system, and I first raised it with their customer services within 28 days, so I would hope I'm ok on that score. The level of incompetence and misinformation, due to ignorance of their own systems, has been staggering. The most galling thing is that they allegedly couldn't deliver it, and then had to return it to a special centre for orphan parcels, despite the fact that I had put my address etc on the parcel in case of returns. They now can't find it - which feels a little suspicious to me, insofar as they are all bar coded items, so why has it gone missing - when they had tracked it to the parcel centre? Draw your own conclusions on that one. Now more time wasted on the bloody forms to claim the money back!

I'm hoping someone can help.

Sold a pedal on eBay and posted Special Delivery. After 4 months, the Royal Mail have finally admitted it's been 'lost' - but draw your own conclusion on that one, as I always pack things really carefully and it had both the buyer's and my address all over the package.

I need to claim for the item and postage, but I need a copy of the eBay listing, and it's no longer on the eBay system, not even in my summary page , as a sold or sent item, which surprised me.

Any thoughts on how I can prove I sold it on eBay? Apparently the PayPal receipt is not enough for the Royal Mail process!

Cheers

A

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1354584999' post='1887827']
I've got a pile of old flaky skin from a recent bout of psoriosis I can let you have for a tenner.
[/quote]

And I thought it was guitarists and singers that were always the flaky ones in the band!



Joking aside, and hugely OT, but I know a guy who has really bad psoriosis and had had remarkble results with Chinese medicines. You may be well under control - but I thought it worth a mention.

What do you want for Christmas?

Mrs A has been asked by a member of her family - what can we get that he will really want? Budget - about a tenner I would imagine.

Any ideas, other than the obvious socks/tie/smellies/booze?

Something bass related might be nice......!

All suggestions gratefully received - keep it clean please, Ladies present.

A

One for the Christmas list?

http://www.soul2soulstore.com/product.php?id_product=16

Caught the Friday show last night and yep - S2S were excellent. By contrast, what a complete and utter bag of sh*te the Palma Violets were, and 2 songs God forbid. For me,a classic case of a trendy 'hot' band being given more profile than merited. They looked and sounded like a sixth form public school band who had been booked to play a friends 18th - and whether they were pissed - or just tw*ts (particularly the bass player - 'Chilli' FFS, I regret to say) I have no idea, but it's a sad old state of affairs when dross like that gets 10 minutes on premium music tv.

They are signed to Rough Trade and will probably fill the hole left by the LIbertines in the life of awkward and rebellious middle class schoolgirls for their 15 minutes in the sun, and I suppose good luck to them, but it's all been done before, and so much better.

Or am I just a grumpy old fart?

I suspect both.

http://www.nme.com/news/led-zeppelin/67423

Wonder if it will also be on BBC HD?

Anyone know who the guy on bass was for the recent O2 Robbie gigs? The black P with red tort plate looked very cool I thought!

Cheers
A

I was interested to see the guitar tech area at a Nickelback gig a few years ago. The band had a stage set with a wall of Marshall cabs, but the guitar was actually routed through an AC30, with another alongside as a spare - all controlled by the tech at stage side. This was mic'd with an SM57 and the cabs were just for pose value. The curious thing is - they changed guitars every song, buy they have the bits supplied by Gibson etc, and then fit them all with the same active EMG pickups, so despite the guitar changes, they always sound the same - so why bother? I can't imagine it has anything to do with tunings, unless they simply tune down for the odd song?

I also saw the late Gary Moore supporting BB King, and he sounded immense, with just a Marshall 50w head, an angled 4 x 12 - just behind him, and a beautiful old Les Paul Goldtop with P90s. The tone was all from his fingers and his control of the volume on the guitar. Mic'd with a desktop stand, set on the floor, pointing at the edge of one of the speakers : and this was in a huge arena, not The Dog and Duck!

It's a mixture of delusion, ego, marketing hype and the rubbish touted in guitar mags that drives this kind of behaviour I think. When I used to play league cricket you saw a lot of this sort of attitude around gear : £250 'signature' bat, and may as well have come out with a bit of 4x2, for all they could use it.

A

"You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. "How often have I said to you that [u]when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, [i]however improbable[/i], must be the truth[/u]? We know that he is not an egocentric, posing, musically stagnant, pentatonic only guitarist. We also know that he is not a temperamental, big girls blousy, semitone flat all the time frontman and nor is he the cerebrally vacant, shorts wearing, 10 bpm faster at the end than the start paradiddler. Ergo - he must be the bass player".

[i]The Sign of the Four[/i] [i]Four in A[/i] ch. 6 (1890)
Sherlock Holmes

[quote name='hollywoodrox' timestamp='1351364232' post='1850611']
Lidl had a similar thing in last week but with a bigger magnifier with the plastic surround, it was prob about £6 but I think it had a light too, they always have cool stuff, the chocolate santa's are quite nice too
[/quote]

The Chocolate Santas - good band name that.

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1351333951' post='1850167']
Guilty as charged M'lud.
But unless you're a tribute band, surely evolving 'your' version is better?

I recall that in Guy Pratt's autobiography he talks about meeting Jimmy Page and how Jimmy put him right over Led Zepp stuff Guy had been playing wrong for years.
[/quote]

I understand that when LZ were rehearsing for the O2 gig, they couldn't agree how many of the songs went, and later,in an interview, when the journo asked "Which of you could remember best what to play?" - the answer was 'Jason'! They had to rig his iPod up to the PA I believe, and all have a listen. No-one is immune, clearly.

Picked this up yesterday : £2.99 at Aldi

Just the thing for holding pots, sockets and pickups for soldering. Not the worlds finest piece of engineering, but for £3.00 - very useful.

Linseed oil on this then?
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/cricketbat.jpg"][/url]

Currently enjoying BC from a sunbed in Majorca, and following the Covers band top ten with interest.

Some kids a few beds down started shouting, so i stuck the iPod on, and hit shuffle..... which gave me the idea for a combination thread.

Could you get an interesting covers set out of the first ten tracks on your MP3 players shuffle function?

Mine

1. Shaking the tree : Peter Gabriel
2. Hangnail : Nickelback
3. Warsaw : Them Crooked Vultures
4. Don't get around much anymore : Rod Stewart
5. Starlings : Elbow
6. West End Girls : Pet Shop Boys
7. Don't lie to me : Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan
8. Travelling Riverside Blues : Robert Johnson
9. Gimme Three Steps : Lynyrd Skynyrd
10. Desert Rose : Sting

Well, it beats Mustang Sally and Alright Now I think!!

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1350817536' post='1843707']
Fantastic! Took me several seconds to reconduct this to Nessun Dorma... I resisted the temptation to Google it
[/quote]

I believe it translates as 'None shall convert their loft'

Jake Brown, with Lemmy : 'Motorhead - in the studio'

This is a bit of a cut and paste from Lemmy's autobiography and there is a lot taken from interviews given by the band to fansites etc - but.... there is some great stuff in there for bass players and those with an interest in the studio environment/engineering/production. The author has tracked down a good number of Motorhead's past producers and engineers, and, as well as the lowdown on how they arrived at the sounds on record (Lemmy's basses, amp types & settings, microphones used, eq etc - studio nerd central!), you also get an insight into how tough they are to produce, with very little compromise countenanced on how they want to do it. That said, everyone who has worked with them is glad they did, and most freely admit to having learned a great deal through the experience.

it's about £5.99 on Amazon I think and would make a good Boxing day read.

Enjoy.....

I was in Newport, Rhode Island and NY last year, and all around there and into the Boston area, 80s synth/new romantic/new wave bands were doing great business in all the bars - which made a nice change from 2 years prior, when it was either really bad Stevie Ray wannabees or Bruce/Bon Jovi 'Joisey' bands. Some had made the effort to get all the right gear too : Yamaha DX7 keys, a Simmons kit and a fretless Ibanez musician, pointy guitars etc. plus suitably 80s haircuts and suits. Also, one had the best name I've ever seen for a 'genre tribute band' : seen on a poster in a bar in RI ; Ladies and Gentlemen .............................. 'A Flock of Assholes'..... genius!