discreet

Wait - what??

Economics. It's been possible to make a dustpan and brush that actually picks up dust for many years. Try and buy one.

Me too! That is, if Ash sells it to me. I'll give you £50 for it, Ash.

This... and a distinct lack of mass. I'm currently enjoying a P Bass with two separate single-coil pickups. OK, it's a Jazz, but the principle's the same.

OR... for £1169 you could buy very nearly thirteen used Trace Elliot combos and keep one at each venue. Saves carrying 'em.

Good luck with that. Our drummer dropped my bass the other day. Luckily it fell on the guitarist, who was dead drunk on the floor.

What impresses me? Good bass playing. The method used to strike the strings is largely irrelevant.

I had a TH350 and it never wanted for more beans. Where will it all end? 'Markbass announce 2kW RMS @ 4ohms amp the size of a credit card - earplugs included'.

In my case, turning the Input volume to max IS 'just below where it starts to clip'. I get a very occasional red clip light at that point, or just below it. These amps seem to like a lot of Input level, much like Ashdowns do. Obviously if you use a preamp or an active bass you'd need a lower setting.

Which Mac?? Gary Mac!!

This revelation kind of makes the whole Trace thing very easy. Plug in bass. Switch on amp. Make sure Pre-Shape is off. Make sure Graphic Circuit is off. Turn up Input volume to max. Turn up Master volume to '2'. Play. It took me more than forty years, but I got there in the end.

Sunburst with white guard is always totally unacceptable. Sunburst with black is always badass. Sunburst with tort is great, IF it's good tort and not that stuff that looks like a picture from a medical encyclopaedia...

Update: Well here's a thing. I've been using the Trace Combo for every rehearsal and gig since I got it, and I love it and everything about it - so do the band. Last rehearsal went particularly well and I silently congratulated myself on a great choice of amp, then patted myself on the back for really getting to grips with the legendary Trace Graphic EQ. Only... when I got home I realised the graphic circuit had been switched out for the entire rehearsal. So Trace made their amps to sound best completely flat, played live in a band setting. Who knew? This would explain why the manual would have you make only very small changes to the graphic sliders, and not move too far away from 0db! Every day's a school day...

That's the problem really. I made myself a 7lb Jazz bass, now it's really difficult to consider anything heavier.

I've mislaid all my gated kick drum samples, so that's me out.

Sounds like played-in rounds with a pick. Just my 2p.

Go on, buy it. Then I'll buy it from you when I can afford it.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F143001497752 You just don't see these in this condition with the perspex ashtrays AND the perspex 'H' logo. Seriously tempted. Fantastic necks and monster tone for weeks. If you can afford it, buy it - these are getting rare.

It was you, wasn't it?

And so they do. That, or the information you really need just isn't forthcoming at all...

I keep thinking mine are, too...

I think these are about the only strings I haven't yet tried. Ordering!

Ah go on, you know you want to! I can't think of a better UK company to support. Alex deserves his success, he worked hard for it.

Take my hand and join me for a homophobic beating in Deptford. We'll top off the evening with a fatal heroin overdose in South Norwood.

Their super-lush multi-track overdub techniques are impressive, but can certainly get a bit wearing after a while. I preferred their live work, they made an incredibly huge racket for what was essentially a rock trio with a singer.