Muzz

Yep, they're tragic, all right...oh, and they were an originals band 😁

Looks rubbish for metal...it'll never catch on...

Yeah, I'm beginning to get a picture here...maybe that's where I was going wrong all those years... 😕😀

I tried one last month at PMT, when I was looking for a possible upgrade to the Rumble 100* for small trio gigs, and of all the small combos I tried (and a couple of FRFR 12" PA tops), the Studio 15 was my favourite: compact, very very light and with plenty going on. It was priced at £499 * A job which I completed on the cheap with a better speaker in the Rumble...but I digress...

Yep, I love the Performer...tho I've no idea why... 😕😀

We chucked that in the other night, just to see (I'd got an email from the BL a couple of days before with a link to the video asking me to learn it...it was a tricky one: I'd watched the video 14 times before I remembered there were some notes I had to learn) and it went down a storm, it's gone straight into the setlist... Oh, and if you don't already do it, Wheatus' version of A Little Respect is solid gold, too...

Don't hold your breath, Al...and that's no comment on your personal delightfulness, it's just an observation formed from forty years of disillusionment... 😕😀

Unless he's acting like he wrote something when he didn't, apparently...

You can stand your ground all you like, it's when you denigrate other people's views that you sound verrrrry defensive, for no real reason. As someone just said, it's not a battle. I'm in an originals band as well as other covers/function bands, and I'm not as precious as some about either. It's only rock n roll, but I like it...

Hahahaaa...the 'Good God No' veto...I used to cherish this, until the 47th time the BL proved me wrong...and two of those were Radiohead songs. Still not my favourite songs, but at least I get to relax and have a rest...

This, every day of the week, although the BL/Singer/guitarist has the final say, which is perfectly fine by me, because he's the one who has to sing it...although this doesn't explain the number of time we get asked for Tina Freaking Turner songs... Oh, and put a couple of Oasis songs in if you want a singalong. Works every time.

I'm keen for this not to happen, can you tell me how it's done? Is it anything like gurning through originals that sound like dozens of other songs anyway?

The Hu at the Ritz in Manchester. Oh, my ears and whiskers, what a band they are...no pics, I'm afraid: like thankfully most of the audience, I was too busy grinning from ear to ear to be holding a phone up in everyone's way. Those low, low vocals (seven singers) through a big PA? Goosebumps. Ninety minutes of Mongolian lyrics, and they had five words of English between them*, but completely mesmerising. And not a single guitar solo all night...bonus... I've seen Rammstein, Manowar and Motorhead many times, but this was on another, different level. The bloke next to me turned to me and said "You can see how they conquered the world, can't you?", and he was right. If someone had stood up at the end and suggested we go and sack Wigan, we'd all have been halfway down the East Lancs before someone went 'Hang on a minute...' The support band suffered from a horrible sound, the usual cannon-kick, inaudible bass and massive mid-scoop that seems to pass for rock gig mixes these days, but the main boys sounded really, really good: despite two sets of drums (a conventional kit and a bloke hitting four huuuuuge toms with what looked like broom handles) the bottom end wasn't overpowering, and they were actually quieter than the support band; just goes to show you don't need bludgeoning volume to be powerful... Confirmed again the confidence in the Ritz to produce great sounds for bands - I've never heard headliners with a bad sound there, and that's why it's my favourite venue. I'd recommend them to anybody, whether a rock fan or not, because they're so different from so much that's out there that they're an experience all of their own. I spent a lot of the gig laughing out loud at the sheer energy of it all. You may walk out feeling a bit, erm, invadey, but that passes quite quickly... Oh, and I'd like to go to Mongolia now, please... 😃 * 'Next song'...'Thank You'..'Manchester' 😀

The Warmoth page is always good fun for a play with the configurator...then there are lots of luthiers who could help. I presume you have a neck, as long as it's a standard heel then the Warmoth option is a goer, if not the a luthier will make the body to fit... If you are thinking luthier, Jon Shuker is my favourite, but there are lots and lots of others, too.

Wow. That's verrrry close to my old 4001...can't help with the provenance, I'm afraid, but that's one of the best fakers I've ever seen...

Just to reiterate: all my basses are for gigging.

Oh, and I gig all my basses...it's what they're for...I've never (and I know I'm tempting fate here) had any problems that have made me wish I'd brought a cheaper one...it's not like some people don't pay extra for damaged (sorry, mojo'd) basses...

Just another addition to the observation that actual fights are very, very, very rare in the pubs I've played in. And yep, the pubs with the rep for rowdiness have the best, most active security. The pub trade is so close to extinction these days that any place with a rep for uncontrolled violence will be out of business very quickly... We do know Eye Of The Tiger, just to take the rise when it gets a bit shovey...not had to use it for years, tho... 😕

...and ends before five past, when the clenching starts, if my audition experiences are anything to go by... Good luck... 😀

Ahhh, the moment Les and the Boys went international in the their hunt for The Caledonian Turnup Thief...

The only time I've ever judged someone negatively for their gear was a bloke who showed up at a jam night with a Status 5 with the full Liberace LEDs...and proceeded to plod 4-to-the-bar roots to unending blues songs. He occasionally dropped a couple, too, and the changes seemed an effort. Shallow and horrible of me, I know, and I felt even worse because he seemed well pleased with his night's work. I felt very depressed with myself, but then again, that might have been the two hours of meandering blues I'd been listening to...it was one of those jams nights...

What kind of attitude is that? This place'd be a wilderness within a week if we all thought like that... 😀

All that said, I did use to get a frisson from doing posh gigs with a Harley Benton £38 PB50, especially Dos where the tickets were £150+...but that was a bit of a novelty... I'm also struggling to beat my BB414 on the Yamaha front, having already tried and sold a 1024x which cost three times as much. I keep looking at 2024s, but it'll have to be extraordinary (and just the right one) to replace the 414...

And 'effectively' is the most personal part of it all...one man's 'effective' is another man's 'extravagance', and all that...

This, pretty much verbatim 😁