gjones

He's the last singer for Genesis. When Phil Collins left they recorded an album with him and attempted to go out on tour. The American part of the tour was cancelled, due to lack of interest and Ray got his P45. Two of his bass players are on Basschat......so be careful what you say 🙄

Ray Wilson (he whose name should never be mentioned) is big in Poland

There's an Ashdown RM800 in my local rehearsal room. Although it is pretty loud, with the gain maxed, the amp doesn't get any louder after half way on the master. Is this something RM owners have observed with their own amps? It's being put through an Ashdown ABM-410H-EVO IV.

I joined a band just before lockdown. It had just been formed by the guitarist and was in the first rehearsals stage. The guitarist didn't want to be the organising force for the band, so it appears that I'm going to have to take over that role. I know organising bands can be like herding cats sometimes but this lot seem very keen. I hope the power doesn't go to my head.

Buy something you can lean back and point to your head. Hartke combos come to mind. Peaveys do the same. I recently bought a Markbass CMD121P which I can tilt up towards me onstage. I bought my 2020 model for £450 secondhand.

Mustang Sally..... You know you want to

I used to own a Fender Bassman TV15. Which was a tweed, reissue version, designed specifically for bassists in the 21st century and is loud enough (350 watts) to play in a band with. They were discontinued but can be picked up secondhand.

I think Courtney Love has spent all the cash.

I was wanting to buy a plank for a friend to play slide on and assumed the Epiphone would be pretty rubbish but I was very surprised at how rubbish it actually was. I was also surprised at how good the Anderton guys could make it sound. And looking back at the video, I'm still amazed at how good they can make it sound.

I played one of these in a rehearsal room last night. I was through an Ashdown ABM 410H-EVO IV. I noticed, that when you turned the master any higher than halfway, the volume didn't get any louder. This was with the gain at full. I wonder what that's all about? My GK MB800 doesn't have this issue.

Not all Epiphones are great. I saw an Andertons video reviewing the Epiphone Les Paul Melody Maker E1. It was so cheap and sounded so good on the video, that I went to my local Guitar Guitar to check it out. In reality it was a horrible little thing, which sounded tinny and was impossible to keep in tune. In the end I bought a Yamaha Pacifica, from their used section, which played and sounded like a real guitar rather than a nasty little toy. Just goes to show the power of advertising, when such a horrible toy guitar, can be made to sound half decent in the hands of professionals.

I've been through a lot of gear and the only way you can be sure that it's right for you, is to play it with your band, at gigging volume. Basschat is a good resource to get others opinions on gear but ultimately it's a bit of a lottery.

Better than the real thing

I saw David Lee Roth on Joe Rogan's show. He sounded a bid weird. I think he's lost his marbles.

I notice that the RM500 in my local rehearsal room has all the writing, on the silver front panel, rubbed off. I think that possibly somebody, in a COVID cleansing frenzy, went too far.

I bought a head from Basschat a few years ago, which was faulty when I received it. I could hear a pretty severe distortion and there was a definite lack of power. I took the cover off it checked for loose connections and re-seated any component connectors on the board. I put it back together and it has worked perfectly since. Before you spend any money on it, I recommend you do the same and check if any internal fuses have blown.

In June I played a festival gig where covid tests were compulsory on the day, temperature checks were completed at the entrance to the venue and masks had to be worn, while not actually onstage. The singer in that band had recently been diagnosed with cancer and had just completed a course of chemo. So could not be vaccinated due to possible adverse reactions to the vaccine. She still wanted to do the gig, despite the possible risks involved. I have a friend who does a lot of wedding gigs (up until now they've all been in England - he lives in Scotland). They're mostly dep jobs with musicians he's never met before. The gigs he's playing appear to have no testing requirements whatsoever. Recently he travelled to a wedding gig with another musician, who unknown to him at the time, was suffering from covid symptoms. When he got home from the gig he felt unwell, so took a test, which came up positive. He's had his two vaccinations and his symptoms are mild. Pre gig tests or not, in a crowded environment, there's always a chance you'll get infected. The most effective precaution against getting the virus, is to not play any gigs until the pandemic is over. Most musicians, I know, won't be picking that option.

FYI The CITES rules on Rosewood no longer apply to musical instruments. The rules changed about a year ago. So if it's a newish bass, there's a good chance it could be rosewood.

My Niece, who has her own band, sufferers from severe tinnitus caused standing near by an incredibly loud onstage monitor, while the drums were soundchecking. She now uses IEM which helps considerably. The drummer, who's soundcheck caused the damage, now plays in KT Tunstall's band.

I bought a Stingray, secondhand, from Guitar Guitar, for £1200. Which was about £400 above the going rate at the time. So it's not as if they're exactly selling pre owned stuff, at knockdown prices.

This was my bands first, and possibly last, gig of 2021. It was a video for the blues section of the jazz & blues festival up in Edinburgh. We didn't do too bad considering we hadn't played a gig in 15 or so months. We had two rehearsals beforehand to go over the songs a couple of times, one of which the drummer couldn't make. I managed to record the audio of the video while it was streamed on 17th june..

I have many more basses than I need and followed this advice when I sold one of my basses recently. It was one that lived under the bed and was never played. I made sure I listed it for a decent price and wasn't budging. The guy who bought it, initially offered me £100 less than the selling price. In the end he bought it for £20 more, as he asked me to deliver it and gave me the petrol money for the trip though to Glasgow.

A couple of years ago I bought a Jazz with the most dead round wound strings on it I've ever heard. The guy I bought it from played with a pick and he must have beaten the fekk out of the strings. I have to admit I really loved the sound. I rarely change the strings on my bass once they're fitted but I've never got to the level of 'totally fekked', as those strings were.

I liked her song 'Smelly Cat'.