Big_Stu

First time I've ever heard "In the pocket" used it an almost negative way.

Yeah, it was pretty bad around 76/77 just before New Wave/Punk seriously hit the charts.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1344190207' post='1760967'] in Nottingham I went through a metal detector to get into a night club---both of which are unheard of in supposedly "scary" Glasgow!! [/quote] Au contraire, I saw Motorhead twice at The Barrowlands & had to go thru metal-detectors both times. Most of the fans were pissing themselves laughing since the studs & rings etc were setting them off on every person. We were also advised by the landlord - to leave the pub next door for being English "if ye dinnae want yir throats cut". The same night - after the gig the taxi driver dropped us "at wan o' oor kinda places", it was The Cathouse - got talking to some locals there & they wouldn't let us put our hands in our pockets all night. I've still got mates in the area, all of who could swap tale for tale with any other city.

[quote name='hairyhaw' timestamp='1344195282' post='1761112'] My bold - Victor Morris. Really really dodgy shop[/quote] That's the one! I once saw a guy, stoned out of his mind, coming out of there, carrying a new, unsheathed machete that I assume he'd just bought. Opened up his coat & slipped it into an inside pocket; "must be going to weed his garden" my mate said.

[quote name='AndyBob09' timestamp='1344036461' post='1759141'] 13th Note is indeed a cool bar.[/quote] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zNEPNIokGc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zNEPNIokGc[/url]

Never been gigged could equally mean "pickups are microphonic as hell", "control cavity needs shielding" or "junk machine-heads don't hold with a temperature rise".

[quote name='AndyBob09' timestamp='1343811644' post='1755456'] I don't think that chippies necessarily have deep fried Mars bars on their priceboard but most chippies that I know sell sweeties. Just ask them to deep fry you a mars bar?!?! If they sell Mars bars, there's nothing stopping them dipping it in batter and flinging it in the fryer... [/quote] A lot of the Edinburgh ones have stopped. Something about, if the batter has even a small hole in it the Mars melts out of it & ruins the fat which then has to be drained off & changed.

Dupl post

It is, their guitarist had one too; though strangely they aren't listed in any John Birch catalogue that I've seen as being regular users. It might be that they were on loan for trials. I was told by two of JB's ex-employees (so I take it to have an element of truth) that John would send out his guitars unsolicited to various "stars". Often they would assume it was a gift or endorsement item. John would then wait a few months & send an invoice into their office for it, often as not it would be stamped & paid among a list of other expenses. Bit of a rogue - and by all accounts a hell of a temper, which is why he had a fair turnover of staff, but I liked the guy - a real mad professor. John Birch (RIP)

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1344120982' post='1760216'] I'd stay where you are - that's quality viewing! PS Hope your other half is better soon. [/quote] Thanks mate, appreciated, she's doing really well so far & so long as the biopsy comes back clear (not much reason why it shouldn't) she'll be fine by October they say. Watched an old film called "The Criminal" the other night. I'd never heard of it; a prison drama B-film, the star was Stanley Baker, but it was like a Who's-Who of future stars, with a blink & you miss him non-speaking part by Kenny Lynch (Jimmy Tarbuck's mate - before your time). To be fair - I am bad at "What was he in again?" - drives her daft!

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1343943882' post='1757786'] Guitarguitar in Edinburgh have a John Birch Rickenfaker at the moment. It is (re)finished white. It has six knobs! Between myself and a member of staff we still couldn't work out exactly what was happening. One pot was almost like a crude passive bandpass filter. Another pot was actually a 3-way switch which seemed to put stuff out of phase. Two were (both) a master volume but their behaviour changed with the 3-way switch's position. Oh it had another 3-way pickup selector.... I gave up and tried a 4003 as well. Not as tonally broad.... [/quote] Problem with John's guitars were many were made to order with various switching options. More often than not 6 knobs on a bass were vaguely as you described. It was usually 2 x vol, 2 x tone, master vol and the three way switch pot was usually humbucker/single coil (in an attempt to copy a Rick sound) and a phase inverter. But on a guitar that was often a treble booster instead. Could be the one you saw had been messed around by a previous owner.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1344106228' post='1759948'] The documentary on before the live gig was very good IMO. If you like maiden you'll enjoy it, if you don't then I doubt if it'll change your mind. [/quote] Thanks! I can take them or leave them. My other half is recovering from a major op that practically cut her in half; so I'll add it on to the list of stuff to watch quietly while she's having a nap or early night. Makes a change from 60's sci-fi & post war b/w films.

I've been getting all geed up about watching the backstage story on the gig on iPlayer. Would I be better off getting the Monopoly out?

Something the fledgling "Slade" started doing in 1966 on the advice of their long serving roadie "Swinn". With the same effect on their punters. Kinda like a huge stereo - almost! They carried on doing it throughout their live careers even when they had a wall of Hiwatts.

[quote name='MIKEMARSHALL' timestamp='1343211347' post='1746995']SHERGOLD MODULATOR (Demountable) 12-4[attachment=114001:GSH12-4C.jpg] [/quote] Amazing! never seen anything like that in my life, thanks for the education!

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1344094472' post='1759754'] Don't forget the secret ingredient. The fag ash from the floor too. [/quote] This is America we're talking about, you can't say "fag" in the UK context there. Though maybe they used to say the Sonex was made of ash ?

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1344089003' post='1759634'] Just wiki'd that Now thats sales talk bullshit if there ever was. [/quote] The story of the time was that they were made with the sweepings off the workshop floor, so - if true - at least they would have been Brazilian mahogany [s]sawdust[/s] Resonwood.

[quote name='afterglow' timestamp='1344077995' post='1759439'] Got an old Ashdown Mag 1x15 cab i only paid £50 for, with a blown speaker, (well its distorting anyway, and when i press down on it the distortion goes) Anyone got any advice where to get a replacement speaker for this? and how much am i looking at? Like for like Ashdown replacement speaker, or celestion/eminence etc? Thanks [/quote] Obviously it'll depend on what amp you're putting thru it - whether it's working alone or with another cab & a host of other variables. But as a ballpark idea I bought Eminence Delta 15"s from Maplins. At the time the shops stocked them, I believe it's now online only, but expect around £60 for one of those. Each one was 400watts max at 8ohms. Long before then I had a Laney 60w practise amp with a 10" speaker. It blew very soon after buying - an own brand speaker with no headroom. I bought a Celestion 100watt speaker, direct from Celestion over the phone & it was the bollox. They were very helpful & offered good advice. Too long ago for the price to be relevant now (read as "I can't remember") PS. You may get replies talking about the essential relevance of the volume of your cab, porting, the material etc etc. before any answer is worth giving.

[quote name='noelk27' timestamp='1343958749' post='1757942'] If people want to pay good money for sawdust and particle board just because it has the Gibson name on it, let them. [/quote] Aah the Gibson Sonex, I remember it well.................... bit of a collector's item the vintage shops say.........

Seen it many times over the years. Kinda like a Venn diagram of rotating circles, but as time goes on there are more circles. At one time it was Fender/Gibson vintage gear > Custom jobs > Japanese. They each had phases of being "essential". None now of them so much, they're all still there, but many have been priced out of the general market. Though when Big Country (IIRC) made Yamaha SGs the one to have I thought it would have lasted longer as a fashion. The added circles now are mostly the vast number of pseudo Fender/Gibsons that are made in the Far East (IMHO)

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1343917814' post='1757312'] I know it's a debilitating illness and the NHS aren't very good at treating it. [/quote] Seems to be very much a pot-luck situation, depending on how enlightened or sympathetic a GP you have. Problem is if you don't get the advice you need you have very little motivation in seeking it out. Many diagnoses of depression are actually for chronic anxiety. A doctor told me the difference is that a true depression sufferer would probably miss their first few appointments because they lacked the motivation to leave the house for them.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1343903256' post='1756997'] That's usually because they've saw sense & bought a Mac! [/quote] Hmm, cunning! a ploy to get another 11 pages going on PC or Mac debate?

[quote name='ToastBeans' timestamp='1343860778' post='1756636'] In regards to the cost of repair vs. initial cost - I only spent about £32 on it, so, the sky's the limit, I suppose. [/quote] If they're on Ebay, as one was earlier in the thread for around £100, you wouldn't find a decent luthier who could fix it for less. Maybe find another & keep the one you have for spares or practising repairs on?

[quote name='shizznit' timestamp='1343901622' post='1756960'] What amazes me is that there is now 10 pages of posts about 'speaker dispertion'. Geez...c'mon!?!? [/quote] Oh I dunno, I'm enjoying seeing how many times people can be so egocentric as to be totally capable of missing the entire reason why most of us are on BC. I know some PC geeks who are more socially aware.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1343861713' post='1756669'] Going wildly off topic, on the way home from rehearsal this evening I stopped off to do some shopping and spotted these really tasty sticky iced buns. I've not bought one for years and years. Childhood even. Then I read this! It's a sign!!! Ermmm.. Of something... Or other,... [/quote] It was a reference to my teenage/early 20s years of going to gigs, mostly Slade. At a few (late70s/early 80s) a couple of mates & me would be helping to hump the gear in. They had 9 tons of it in two 40 foot trailers. Their tour managers then were either "Swinn" or Haden, both ferocious hard men who knew their job well. Each part had an expert, Charlie did the PA organising and was an electronics guru and was the despond of the crew. Total output? 26,000 watts. Once the gear was up & running it was the main crew & Nod or Jim Lea who met with them to iron out any issues, or maybe fixes from the previous night. But at some point in the proceedings a tea-trolley would be pushed through with platefuls of iced-buns; the cry went up "Sticky buns!!!!" and the whole lot of them would descend on the trolley. I thought it was the dogs B's, stood drinking tea & eating buns with my heroes. Though after a few times it did get to the point of "hiya, how's it going?" rather than any kind of idolisation of any kind.