Leonard Smalls

Operator -Midnight Star

There's sound reasons for using a separate power amp - keeping low level signal processing away from high power amplification can lead to big (ISH!) gains in fidelity... I even do this with my bass set up, though I use a PA power amp rather than bass-specific. At one time I even used a passive pre-amp (some swear by 'em) though that was only because it came with a pair of Lumley 120w valve mono blocks (beasts! took 20 minutes warm up before you could play music, and 20 minutes on standby before powering off in order to preserve the 8 x 6550 valves per channel). But sound principles can go out of the window with hifi - we had a sound recordist at the BBC who swore by directional cables, cable lifters, high capacitance carbon fibre cables, separate hifi earth spike and those funny little Shakti stones that improved the sound immeasurably (!). And this was despite his BBC training!

Double post!!

Worth is a strange old concept... Some folks think that going to a gig with 50000 other people and paying £400 for the privilege is worth it. Others are happy to pay £500000 for a pokey flat in Willesden Green. I know a vastly overweight bloke who spent thousands on lightweight components for his Kawasaki while losing no weight of his own - it was worth it to him! And most bizarrely of all (arguably!), folks pay thousands for a personal number plate whose main two functions are to aid the police in recognising your motor, and to aid the public in determining the character of said number plate owner. At least with a high end vinyl set up you can attempt to appreciate your music in as much high fidelity glory as you feel it is worth! BTW, in my experience, a well put together and high quality turntable/arm/cart set up minimises surface noise of all kinds...

Indeed... Though I know hifi buffs who reject entire genres of music because it's not recorded in a sufficiently high fidelity way. As a result when you go to shows you tend to hear mainly wet ECM (or worse!) type jazz, or breathy female vocal stuff - it's mainly about listening to the soundstage, or bass extension, or air'n'space and "inky black silences". It's the hifi they're into, not the music! * *Though I'm a fine one to talk, I happened to look up my power amp recently and they're £13k now!!!

Maybe 40 years ago! A bottom end Rega RB220 is £265. If you want the top Rega it's £1500. My favourite tonearm, the Moerch DP6, is £2815 (I haven't got one!). An SME V will set you back five grand! And if you want a high end cartridge, a DS Audio Grand Master Extreme is £18995... Personally, I've got a slightly lower range SME arm on my very heavy acrylic Clear audio turntable with Audio Note cartridge through an EAR valve phono stage, and it sounds awesome. Though now that I've been reminded that I'm in denial I realise that it couldn't possibly sound any good, and will take it straight down to the charity shop...

There are hifi buffs who swear by Technics decks, spending thousands on arms, carts, isolation, "clean" power etc, though not many other turntable brands (not even EMT!) use direct drive motors, preferring the extra level of isolation a belt gives (on my TT the motor is in a separate very heavy billet aluminium cylinder, and a new belt is £50! Even Verdier use belts, despite having a magnetic bearing meaning the platter effectively levitates... Still, I've heard Technics decks sounding very good indeed.

Dizzy - Wonder Stuff

Rock Around The Crocs - Bill Haley and His Doofer

Stuck On You - Lionel Richie

My (often funky)punk band has two bass players...

Maggot Brain - Funkadelic

If you're playing with 'em again say hi from Big from BarfRoco!

I remember Les (Fruitbat) breaking his arm at our party in our insalubrious Georgian housing co-op house on extremely salubrious Vincent Square, Pimlico. I don't think the other residents liked having a row of what looked like punk squatters overlooking their cricket pitch-centred square - they called the police!

Word Up! - Cameo

Gloria in Excelsis Mondeo - Ludwig van Beethoven

Your Attention Please - The Scars (I still have this on gold flexi disc!)

I had a very musically diverse day today... This morning I rehearsed with the punk band, breaking in a new guitarist. This afternoon I went to a local church hall to see a chap called Julian Perkins play Bach's Goldberg Variations on a harpsichord brought up specially from London. He did it beautifully (though rather heretically, I prefer to hear Bach played on an actual piano!). And this evening I'll be recording some funky slap bass for my EDMFunkRock band's upcoming difficult Second Record...

Blockheads - Ian Dury and the Blockheads

Lourdes Knows - 2Pac

I've done a few charity gigs for free - though being in only originals bands I often get paid very little or nowt as well depending on the amount of folks who come in. However, y'all would be appalled at the level of expenses that established stars get for charity events; the usual fee might be waived but private jet, champagne rider and Michelin level dinners are all there...

Atomic Dog - George Clinton

Sarsippius Ark -Infectious Grooves Serious Rob Trujillo-ness!

Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys

Spank-a-Lee - Herbie Hancock