Merton

Or continual product improvement… Probably makes making the One10 Actifier can (or whatever it’s called) easier with the positions switched, hence changing all. Annoying but not the first company to do such a thing and won’t be the last

Blackbird, ABIII and Fortress are my faves; their new one is only a day old so not spent enough time with it yet.

Ultimately if you did this with Absolute Classic Rock you’d probably get a similar list; their playlist is very heavily stuck in those decades and the more modern takes on “classic rock” which PR plays don’t get a look in (Those Damn Crows, Florence Black, Massive Wagons, even Alter Bridge and the lamentable 5FDP). I bet if you asked the Kerrang radio listeners to do theirs, that’s when you’d get a bit more variety. They seem to focus on 90s onwards, with a smattering of classic Sabbath, Maiden, Ozzy, Van Halen etc. It’s through Kerrang that I discovered I’d missed all 25 years of Billy Talent (bloody love that band now) and Rise Against (same) and learnt more about a lot of other bands I knew from one or two songs only. It’s all incredibly subjective, and ultimately the PR raison d’etre is to play the older “classic” rock, hence that’s what the list will provide because that’s why the listeners tune in.

It’s my favourite song, and I’m going to insist on it being played in full at my funeral, whenever that may be (hopefully many years from now 😆)

Yes

Balls, didn’t know that!

This is the one @chris_b mentioned - a flipping bargain and hopefully relatively close:

First gig of 2026 up in cold Manchester at Band On The Wall, was ace. Surprising number of people showed up for a two day mini-Americana festival celebrating the 10th anniversary of the bigger Buckle And Boots festival held at Whitebottom Farm near Stockport. Katy Hurt had a 45 min slot on Saturday evening and we played pretty well I think (save a few little fluffs from yours truly). It was LOUD onstage but actually very well balanced. Bass was my ACG TKO, which interested one fan to the extent that he’s contemplating commissioning one purely to hang on the wall…! Rig was house-supplied TC Electronics something with an Ampeg cab, so I just used my Digbeth pre for the FoH and to sculpt the onstage tone. We had a blast, got back to Katy’s house around 1.30am and now I should probably get out of bed 😆

I can still find new ways to spend more but I do feel like I’m semi pro at it now 😄

I’m absolutely in, 2026 is a year of learning to play rather than learning to spend more 😀

Keep working on my consistency, articulation and musical vocabulary. And spend £0.00 on musical gear (except strings)

I think the Trace uses a modified IPR power amp module based on what’s been said in Talkbass

It’s not about size necessarily, it’s about the sound it makes. For me, it makes the right sound

Good luck! Hopefully an easy solution is nestling somewhere

Pretty sure mine did that; are you plugging in the foot switch before or after powering on the amp?

Nope you’re doing exactly as it says @Clarky. Ultimately if you plug into the “Power amp in” you are simply using the TE1200 as a power amp with the volume open up 100%. I tend to run a preamp In front of the amp, and use the Trace preamp to take out any boom or add a bit of mid as needed for the room, that way I also control the volume from the amp

They definitely have the same dna in the their tone but of course the TE1200 is just an absolute beast

Still love mine though don’t have enough big gigs to really let it loose. There is a part of me that thinks either that or my Handbox WB100 should go to a new home because I really don’t need both, and an Elf. Then I slap myself round the face and pull myself together .🤣

Fantastic! Best of luck with this

Think I’ve mentioned Youths briefly before, but the short version: 4 piece pop/punk: singer/guitarist, also the songwriter guitarist bassist (yours truly) drummist All the songs are borne from Max’s life and experiences but you can probably make a lot of them mean whatever you want. No gigs yet planned for 2026 because we have a bit of a drummist conundrum, hopefully we can share some good news soon 🙂

So my second originals band, Youths, has today released its debut album. Spotify link here, it should be on all the usual streaming platforms 😎

When they opened up I put them in touch with Ashdown to kit out the rooms with ABM heads and cabs. Mark Gooday did a fantastic upsell and they ended up with this as well 😆 Thesedays they have a mix of old heads people have donated them alongside the Ashdown heads. About a month ago one of the donated Markbass heads was nicked by some bastard. I told them to get rid of the light stuff and stick more ABMs back in…