Muzz

Which reminds me, the new Spinal Tap movie's due out soon... 😀

Just chatting with my pal Napper and he mentioned he's working the Damnation Festival this year (Doom, Post-Metal, Black Metal, etc). Just had a look at the lineup, and not a single smile in any of the band photos, it's hilarious, they all look like the photographer's just told them the band van has been nicked. Fave band name for the weekend is Crippling Alcoholism...at least they're contemporary in their misery...I'm just waiting for an even more modern one called Switching Broadband Providers... I was asking him about hiring a drum screen for some recording we're doing, because we're getting horrendous mic bleed, and he said 'Horrendous Mic Bleed? I think they're headlining the Friday night...'

Flats. Figured I should at least try them, but I should've known (I would these days, I'm much wiser about what'll suit me) they wouldn't work for me. After a very short tenure (in retrospect, the fact that I didn't cut them should've been an indicator that subconsciously I wasn't commited) on the original recipient, they ended up on an acoustic bass, where they work really well...and don't stink like those phosphor bronze ones do...

Nope, mine were all 3EQs, and no matter what I did I just didn't like it. On the Markbass heads thing, there's a jumper (well, there was on the LMIII, and I suspect others, too) on the main board that sets 110/240v. I bought one in the States years ago and brought it back here. Not going to say setting the jumper wasn't a tense moment, but it ran for years afterwards...

The Stingray thing? A brother from another mother there, Lozz, I bought three over the years just to be doubly, trebly sure...and I was right. Still don't like Jazzes, tho, but every bass I have has a Jazz width neck, so there's that. I bought an Alembic, an Overwater and a Sei (not all at once, I'm not made of money, it was over a couple of years) just to see what the fuss was about, and I didn't like them much...at least they're the sort of thing that if you buy carefully secondhand you can move on without losing much money for the experience...

First 'proper' bass, a Jetglo bought for my 16th in 1980*, I had it for about four years, sold it for an arse-clenchingly small amount, bought a 70s P** which wasn't very good, then about a year later Pointy Things were all over the place and I succumbed to them for a good while...bought a new one for my 50th (the old misty-eyed nostalgia thing), really didn't get on with it so it went back by return post, then I thought I'd made a mistake so I bought another and realised nope, I hadn't... *Not wanting to sound to privileged, this was a 'No, don't want a party, no, don't want anything else, yes, you can have all the money I get from anywhere else, I JUST WANT TO BE GEDDY LEE...' **And I was so numb I've no idea what year it actually was; it was black and maple, and so was JJB's, soooo...

The problem/common factor is the SE didn't do (or get to do) his job properly. In the case of the Stranglers, everything else was good, but the bass had been reduced to the new Subsonic Mud Rumble which seems, along with the Deafening Cannon Kick, to be the latest in sound trends for SEs mixing rock bands.

I've used backline a couple of times of late (not my idea), and both times it's reminded me of how hard it can be to get a decent stage sound without over- or under-whelming the room with bass; I've been spoiled by a mixable feed to my inears, where I can hear exactly what's going on at a reasonable volume, something that's often elusive with backline. Oh, and the ability to turn the guitarist down cannot be overstated...

Tragically, the last time I went to see the Stranglers (admittedly a couple of years ago, the first tour with inears, so they may have got it sorted now) at the Manchester Apollo, the soundman did exactly that to JJ Burnel...

They're like Stingrays for me: I love everything about them except playing them, because they really, really don't suit me. I've had three of each, because on at least two occasions for each I thought 'I must have been wrong about the last one'. They are an iconic bass, and I really wish they suited me.

Funnily enough, I had this at a gig last weekend; a chap came up to me to say he was enjoying the band and then said 'I'm a bassist, too; I play a Fender Jazz...a US Elite Fender Jazz' My complete lack of reaction to this* seemed to nonplus him, and he walked away. * I may have said 'Oh.', just because there was a gap in the conversation...

I would say very probably; I've switched to some smaller knobs from another East preamp on one of my lesser-used Shukers for the time being...

Yeah, they're out of the stacked chrome ones, just like John is...

Played a rare gig with backline and without inears over the weekend...never again (if I can help it). I'd forgotten what a rare thing it is to have a decent onstage sound (I didn't have one, obv), and obviously everything was wayyyy too loud...pfffttt... Once you've gone inears (with your own mix), it's tough to go back...

Nige! 😀 He deps for us now and again... The Inn On The Wharf is a great gig, we're trying to get back there ASAP...

Zombie thread revival, I know, but I've recently bought a P-Retro from John - they don't have the silver knobs in stock, and the website looks like it's Out Of Stock completely, but they're not, they have the black ones. It's now a v2, I think the change is the battery. I shouldn't be surprised (because I've got U-Retros in everything else), but it's a stellar preamp; it takes the workhorse P and, somehow without changing it fundamentally, takes it into another league of usability. That two-way parametric EQ thing is genius (clockwise for mids boosted around the frequency point of the other dial, anti-clockwise for a bass/treble boost/scooopiness), and the selectable pull-bass (4 points of boost, I use the 100Hz one) is really useful. It sits post-tone control, and when switched out you have your original tone without any bells and whistles. As if you'd want that... 😀 Not exactly cheap, but for my money (which John now has 🙂) it's worth every penny.

I've just finished off building/modding the best P I've played* with a John East P-Retro (it's also got an uprated bridge, Hipshot Ultralites, a DiMarzio DP122 and a gold scratchplate I found in my bits pile) and it's my go-to bass (along with one of my Shukers, which was more than 10x the (original) price of the P) - at first sight, it's a £150 Squier Sonic, near the very bottom of the price range for a factory P...OK, the upgrades triple that, but I've added them slowly (some from the parts bin) as I've realised what a great foundation instrument it is. Bottom line is the Squier Sonic sticker will be staying, anyone who might want to look at it from a distance and curl a lip can feel as superior as they like, I've had several full-on Fender Ps over the years, and for me (who else?) this is better than all of them. * My criteria have changed a good way over the years, not least around weight: this one is 7.7lbs, which is a big thing for me gigging 6-8 times a month...it's very good in other ways, too...

Yep, it's quite an odd thing: I regularly have to say to people 'Don't shout, I can hear you' in loud environments when I have the ACS attenuators in...and then I have to shout so they can hear me... 😐🙂

Yep, mine kicked off properly thanks to a dep guitarist (who we never played with again - nothing to do with the tinnitus, he was just a bit of a d*ck) and his 112 combo pointing at my head for 1 set at a gig maybe 15 years ago. At half time I moved it to point at his head, he winced and turned down... Anyway, it turned up, moved into the spare room and never left. ACS inears for gigging and ACS attenuators for other people's gigs and clubs. Hopefully that'll have slowed the march of The Whine. One thing that sets me off (well, it draws attention to it) is that thing they do in movies when there's been an explosion and the hero's staggering around in the dust...aaaaand there it is, that's The Whine...

A lesson in How To Be Cool In 100 Degrees...loved it; you can see the fella on the left in the sun's suffering the heat... Great groove and feel, you're making it look easy...which is the hard bit... 🙂

My best advice is never to run while carrying it: it looks at least 200% more dangerous than a pair of scissors...

I faffed about with various tips on things like the SE215s and the like for a good while, but then went for it with proper custom molds, and to be honest it's night and day as far as fit and attenuation are concerned...plus you don't have to ram anything in your ear, they just fit...I use ACS, and they start at £249 (includes the ear molding), which isn't daft money (although you can easily go to daft money if you want/can afford).

OK, two channels negotiated for with the BL, they're going to be paired to the H1 headphone out of the desk. MS-02 ordered, stay tuned for progress... 🙂

Sadly no P option, but that's more like it! 👍