Rosie C

We use generic foam windshields with our Sennheisers - helps with wind noise when we play outdoors, possibly helps a bit with pop filtering. Also, they're colour-coded with matching cables and coloured tape on the amp. That makes it really easy for competent people who aren't familiar with our kit to help set up - red mic, red cable, red mixer channel.

Our local Wassail & Mari Lwyd is next weekend and our Morris band will be playing throughout much of the festivities, including leading (with the choir) a public sing-along in the early evening - Farmer's Boy, Gluouscetershire Wassail, Cwm Rhondda, Calon Lan, Sweet Caroline, Delilah, Sosban Fach, etc. We had our first practice with the choir last night - about 40 of them! With pouring rain and an upstairs rehearsal room, I kept things portable with my bass ukulele and Roland Street Cube EX. It went very well - the choir were well-practiced and it didn't take long to synch together. One more practice then the wassail. There's talk of there being a couple of thousand people there, though the band will mostly be on smaller amps. I'm torn between the practicality of bass uke + TE Elf, versus making the effort [of] taking my double bass and my Trace AH300. The photos and video will still be there after the back pain has subsided!

A splendid plan! On 24th January I'm playing at a Wassail and we're going to lug half of it along. I just need to choose which half!

That is a thing of beauty!

I do like that idea. If I had such a friend prepared to do the machining I would be staining the side panels in a contrast colour before assembly, to make a real feature of the finger joints.

Well, in between here and being in Ireland we're staying in a 1-room studio flat so my stuff is staying with a friend who's learning saxophone. My partner drums, so we're going to set up the AH300 and my double bass and her drum kit to do some jamming when we visit. After that, I'm hoping to get into a band in Ireland on double bass. But I have my TE Elf combo for that.

There will be no future owner, well, not until I've popped my clogs. We're emigrating to the Republic of Ireland. So not as crazy as Australia or Canada, and I have the longer wheel base VW Caddy so I can get all my amps, basses, etc. in the van and take them over myself. As to which cab I prefer, I've not had a chance to really play with it yet - I'd only just got over Christmas when we had an offer on our house so everything has been pretty crazy since then.

Well, we are planning a farewell party at our local boozer and naturally I will be booking my own band as headliner 😉 so maybe, just maybe... Edit: Maybe one of those man-and-van services with a tail lift Luton!

Sadly, yes it is. I would like to gig it just once, but I'm not sure I ever will.

Yes, I didn't like to show off, but I guess it was obvious from the size of the stack that something was up

Not any more! The postage from the USA for the new badge was brutal, but this rig is all about the look of it, so it had to be done! In other news, our emigration plans have moved up a gear. I don't have time to fix the foot switch and I'll not really need it - so it's available here for postage:

This foot controller came with my Trace Elliot amp. It's faulty - it's suspected that the switches need a clean and some use, as it's been stored for 10 years. No charge, just cover the postage - or collect from Chepstow.

A trip to my friendly local motor factors later... I stuck the badge on with number plate sticky foam. For completeness, I hacksawed the fixing bolts the badge came with and glued them in the bolt holes with black gasket silicone - and ran a thin bead around the edge of the white sticky foam so you can't see the white.

It has occurred to me that there are famous musicians who are associated with drinking, drug use, etc. who still manage to be healthy enough to be touring musicians in their 80s and I can't quite tally the 'rock and roll lifestyle' with reaching old age in good health. I am suspicious that there's not as much riotous behaviour as we'd be led to think. We went to a small rock festival of cover bands back around 2011 and quite a few of the musicians on stage were drinking straight from 70cl bottles of Jack Daniels in between songs. Call me dubious, but I strongly suspected they were full of Irn Bru, or similar as they were all playing extremely well, not at all inebriated.

Sad news. I only managed to make the one last year, but it was fantastic. Thank you to all of you for the work you've done organising over the years.

Thanks. I'll probably just leave them, and stick the badge on with that sticky foam you fit car number plates with.

Can anyone advise how to remove the from grille on my TE 15" cabinet? I've removed the 4 screws but the reflex tubes still seem firmly attached. Reason for removing - I bagged a shiny Trace Elliot badge to go on

I used to think the same about Classic FM's 'Hall of Fame' 300. Then I joined a Facebook group for choir members and as the Hall of Fame voting came around there they were - deciding which obscure piece they would all vote for this year and congratulating themselves at last year's success at getting an obscure piece in as a new entry at 180 or something.

We had a bonus gig today. Given that we are a Blackmore's Night style renaissance-folk-rock band, the chance to play in this genuine Tudor manor house was irresistible. 2 hours of ballads accompanied by octave mandolin, interspersed with seasonal tunes on recorder and tambourine. We have an invite back, and we've also agreed in principle to use the location to record videos for our forthcoming album of renaissance tunes & ballads. The venue: The owners suggested we play by the log fire and so we did our first ever acoustic set.

Just a little MIDI progress this holiday break. @Chienmortbb made me up another two patch leads, so all 6 outputs are available at the front of my rack. We had some success using the synth for recording our first album - one track has a low E drone, a sort of Celtic pipe sound. That was played live and recorded as a WAV file to share with the studio - so easy-peasy. The album also has a self-penned jazz number on it - featuring a band mate on solo clarinet. I played bass (of course) and recorded it at the studio, but there was also a piano accompaniment. I recorded this as MIDI straight into Logic Pro at home. I tweaked the odd out of time or quiet note then played it back through the synth to record as a WAV. We did the same for the percussion for the jazz tune, recording the high hat, toms and cymbal separately, but next time with the patch panel I'm set up to record them all in one go as my Zoom recorder has 6 tracks. Sorry a very blurry photo from just holding my phone at the back of the rack and hoping for the best. Of course, I could just go straight in the back, but the rack is heavy and has no wheels, and I like having a front panel

Happy NBD! I'm loving the colour

I placed an order for mandolin strings with Strings Direct on Saturday evening. They arrived this morning which I think is pretty good service over the holiday break - so a 👍 for them from me!

I've no advice to give, but congratulations on getting a JT Dingwall, and on starting on lessons! John Taylor inspired me to take up bass, though I've never really been able to play his lines

Thanks for that - it's definitely worth trying, and would fit with the suspicions that the foot pedal switches need cleaning - if they do, maybe other jacks and switches do

That's a shame! I'll probably still give it a go. It wouldn't be a problem on stage, but I only need the main volume knob at '1' for home practice and it's a little annoying.