Jackroadkill

A not-very-good original called "This Beast". I was on guitar (never good) and my main job was to chug away in drop D for a bit before ripping out the most pretentious and unskilled lead break, which involved phaser, tremolo and delay pedals, and was "performed" with a bottleneck. In order to complete the cringe-fest I wore a voluminous white shirt over a black sleeveless t-shirt, army boots, a cowboy hat and mirrored shades. The guitar was a Goldtop, so I must have looked and sounded like Eric Sardinas's favourite stalker. I was 23, properly old enough to know better.

They must have been ill; that figure should have been way higher.

That's a great rig. Like mine but bigger!

I'd hope for the latter but suspect the former, in my case!

Call me shallow, but I just like basses that make me feel cool when I play them.

Passive for me; I like the simplicity and the growl. I also can't be bothered to be constantly fiddling with a pre-amp; I tend to use my tone and volume control(s) sparingly.

Excellent! What a great start in his music career.

I'm listening to it now; quite a good record and some very good sounds on it.

That sounds perfectly sensible to me.

Didn't Sandberg to al Olli Riedel signature that was made for BEAD?

Sean bought a pair of Toltec hot Jazz pickups from me; no messing around, straightforward and honest - just what you need.

Major finger breakthrough today; suddenly a load of feeling seems to have come back (it's very itchy!). I'm playing my bass and can feel the pressure in the tip again for the first time when fretting. I think the itching is just the unused nerves firing up again. I can feel the winds of my strings with it, which I couldn't before.

I've been in four projects with a close friend whom I've known since I was 13, but we've drawn a line under making music together because we just can't make it work in the long term. Early on it always feels great - the songs write themselves, the gigs are great, and then.... Something happens, and it goes downhill. It's a shame, as he's a great singer and the loveliest man, but our last effort was enough to convince me that it was never going to work. Andy, I hope your re-kindled bromance works well, my friend!

That's a great result!

I mean you'd be a big strong lad lugging that lot about - round here we'd say "I wouldn't spill his pint" meaning "I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him". Only fun intended, sir.

Blimey, Dave - remind me never to spill your pint!

@vmaxblues I bought Stuart's Trace Elliot Elf head from him and it arrived in immaculate condition in the original packaging with all of the bits and pieces it needed. A very nice man to do business with - I highly recommend him.

The Squier 40th Anniversary basses are superb, although they're knocking on the door, price-wise, of a used MIM (which seem to be dropping these days).

It's bonkers to think that it was released in 1994; if anything I'm more rebellious, rabble-rousing and badly behaved at 45 than I was at 15. I blame Therapy? for a goodly proportion of that!

Saul Williams, Beastie Boys, Senser, Prophets of Rage, Akala.... It's a very wide genre, and I can't claim to be an expert.