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Nicely written article. And a very tasty bass....

Billy Sheehan for me. Innovative and instantly recognisable. Amazing performer and great musician. And a lovely guy too!

If he’s as good as the YouTube vids I’ve seen, this will be amazing. I’m actually in London that night, but off to see Hamilton with my daughter...

Thanks for the offer @pete.young I’m in Stockport - but travel a bit for work and will take you up if I’m in your neighbourhood

Wow - thanks guys. Great help!

There's been a few Nathan East signature basses for sale on here recently. For some reason I'm getting a bit of a hankering, even though I've never played one! What do people think of them? Just as good as a "standard" BB, or a serious step up? I'm lucky enough to play a variety of gigs so looking for something versatile. I suppose default needs to be something that sounds big and punches through your standard function band set... thanks for any advice...

I double with upright and electric. Of course you can adjust the volume on your instrument, but the whole point of the AB pedal is to be able to make the quickest and easiest possible swaps. It suits me to have the adjustment on the pedal, so one less thing to think about in the scramble of laying down your upright and strapping on the guitar. And I prefer it on the front where you can see it (ie the green one - £100 from Thomann). I also like the indicator light although it messes with my OCD that the lights are the opposite way round to the inputs on the Bigshot. As posted previously Radial Tonebone is built like a tank. Totally reliable. I have previously used a "budget" option that made a click or pop when swapping channels. Not great when your going through the PA, or if its a quiet gig (eg theatre). AB pedal is a boring piece of kit, but I'd always pay up for reliability and functionality.

Splashed out on a Lehle pedal last year. Seemed pricey for “just” a volume pedal, but I’ve been really pleased with it. Used it with loads of different basses including upright. No degradation whatsoever and very robust. Best volume pedal I ever owned.

The duals. It seemed if studio quality, and the ability to properly eq the monitor mix were available, the triples would have been best. But as I play a variety of gigs and don’t always know what I’ll get soundguy/desk the duals were more forgiving. Also cheaper!

Took the plunge recently and bought custom IEMs (and a pair of attenuated ear plugs) from Read Audio. I have no previous IEM experience, but Read Audio came highly recommended. Two gigs in, and I'm really pleased. Matt started life at ACS, but then set up on his own. He really knows his stuff and customer service is outstanding. He came to meet me at a pals house to take the moulds and the IEMs arrived at home within 48 hours. The custom mould earplugs are excellent too. Should have done this years ago...

Also saw Deep Purple live after the Abandon album. Everyone around me moaned that Steve Morse wasn't Ritchie Blackmore. But he didn't try to be, and I thought did a great job. A refreshing new take on Deep Purple classics.

I think Steve Vai's melodic noodling is perfect on Slip of the Tongue. Great Album. There's a live Whitesnake album from around that time with both Vai and Vandenberg and its awesome! I'd also add Genesis - Calling All Stations to this list.

I just checked. Gorilla Bar said they expect Vic to start at 8 tonight.

Victor - Manchester at the end of June

Possibly the reason they are ignoring your "discussion" and "helpful playing" is because their ears are switched off. I agree with everyone above - not a lot you can do in that situation. If they actually care about the overall performance, you could try to encourage them to reopen thier ears with the tack of "I love the energy you are bringing by pushing the beat all the time, but the singers/guitards/bagpipes are really struggling at that tempo". Good luck!

I too have a Mono. Stitched it into my optimum length (a great Billy Sheehan tip) and it has been fine. However, at last gig the strap button tore - same as post above. Fortunately a good save/luck caught bass. Is this a Mono problem?

Another vote for D'addario here. In my experience they "last" longest - still sounding bright and snappy after plenty of hard gigging/sweating/drooling. Have occasionally tried others but always come back to D'addario.

Never tried Groove Tools, but regret selling my "proper" Conklin (Sidewinder) on here for far less than Ambient's budget. The sound, versatility and playability were awesome. If it had less than 7 strings I'd have never sold it...

Bought my son an electronic Drum Kit for Christmas. Worried I'd left it too late, but it came the very next day. Couldn't ask for better service a few days before Christmas.

Have Shuttle 6 and EA Micro. Both are great - Shuttle is warmer, EA is cleaner - depends on your bass and gig as to which fits. IMO if your gig gets loud, both are a bit girly when cranked up. The Shuttle 6 looses low end when pushed hard, where as the EA just stops getting louder. Because it is so clean it doesn't feel as loud in the 1st place. So this year I bought a third option - GK1001RBII. It's like a car with a really big engine - always feels like there's lots of power in reserve, whatever your gig. I'm lucky to have these 3 amps - and they all get used. But if I had to sell them, the GK would be the last to go - even though it's not as clean sounding or as portable as the others.

I think Division Bell is underrated and well worth a listen. High Hopes is the track for me...

Selling mine a few years back was a big mistake. I've just bought another ...