EBS_freak

Just to add a bit of balance to the argument... Drivers built to spec doesn't necessarily mean better performance, it's the sum of the parts that count. Eminence are far from the cream of drivers - they do the job for a price that fits. From a touring point of view, not having off the shelf components available to you, is not a selling point. But again, if you aren't touring, this may not be a problem. As far as I'm aware, the only way you'd get a spare, is direct from Barefaced... which isn't good when they haven't spares located around the round. Barefaced use thinner wood than most other manufacturers, so you could argue that the bracing is to counteract the flex that would otherwise not be present in their competitor's cabs. The bracing could be more of a consequence of their other design choices rather than an advantage over competitor cabs that have less bracing. Light is subjective. It's a selling point, to some, not to others. If it's not of importance to you, you don't care. As an example - Have you ever bought a car based on it's weight? You may do if you have to drive over a bridge to your home that has a 1.5T weight limit... otherwise you may not care. The lightness aspect may be a compromise in other areas to push a USP - some people will give up on attributes to have a light cab - if it still sounds "good enough". Loud - but loud across the frequency range? Or pushed mids or upper mids that tricks the more sensitive area of your ear for it to be louder than others that don't have that peak. Does it matter if it's loud to the audience if you can't hear it when you are standing right next to it? Loudness is not the be all and end all. Tone is subjective. I'm sure there are people out there who love Fieldy's tone... for example. You should also add into the equation the build quality. As a comparison BF have more mentions of build issues compared to a lot of competitor cabs. That's not to say that Barefaced isn't a better or worse cab than a Trickfish offering.

Cognitive bias.

Lichfield is a hotspot... for such a small area, it brings in loads of "outsiders" due to the unique 3 spire cathedral, it's links with Shakespeare through Garrick and being the birthplace of the author of the first dictionary. Who's have thought there would be such interest from the American and Asian communities. Makes "nipping into town" quite the ordeal in summer.

Why would would you want to push it underground and make sex workers subject to potential abuse? What gives you the assumed right to take a person's livelihood just because it is not palatable for you...? Presumably you also realise that the back packing and scene that Amsterdam is a keystone for tourism and it's economy...? If anything, the regulation that Amsterdam offers, provides greater safety to those that choose to partake. Close down the coffee shops and the spliffs will be cut with any old stinky poo and by closing the red light district, the trade won't disappear - just pushed into an unregulated underground scene.

I think it was this concert that first put Trace on my radar (apart from seeing it in the shops). Yeah, I remember Trace being in the shops but not really registering much with live use. I think it was pretty much limited to Level 42, Jamiroquai and Tony Levin. Bizarrely enough, having the catalogues and coveting a Trace Rig and flicking through to the valve heads, I remember looking at them and I can't actually remember seeing anybody else using one apart from the Indie band, Baby Bird... I think that was the near the end of Trace era though. For me, it was still Ampeg and SWR that seemed to be the most dominant out there... but all these brands were well beyond my means. I was still coveting half working Selmer Treble and Bass heads with any cabs that I could get my hands on. When I did get my first Trace rig, it was OK at best, certainly not of the mystique it seems to be held with - but then again, when they first arrived on the scene, I can see why they caused a stir.

Because that is exactly what a small business struggling in a pandemic wants to do right now. It's nuts isn't it? Have the country campaign for new border and import/export control and now we are looking for ways to circumvent it. It's all just so moronic.

Looks great @mike257 - I built a very similar looking rig for a mate, including the rigging of power and USB on the front. The XR18 still remains my favourite little digital mixer. Really hard to beat for the money.

Not too shabby then.

We already are. The additional customs staff is a bit misleading. The reason for thousands of additional customs staff is to make up for that fact that theres not a fully autonomous system to cater for EU import at the moment. Up to their eyeballs? On fire.

That was the link that we are talking off the back of earlier in the thread.

Aha! Trick! Harley Bentons end up being modded within an inch of their lives... so by the time you have new pickups, bridge, tuners, pickups... added a preamp, new pick guard, graphite neck... hundreds dude, hundreds.

What we could do with... is a joined up import/export service where EU codes line up with those that can be read by the UK..... Oh.

I get that - but the difference in costs between couriers can be somewhat sizeable!

It's just another stealth tax by the couriers. You've paid for the international delivery already... To be honest, the whole courier game needs a shake up. I mean, having to take out extra insurance at your expense to safeguard your goods whilst in their care is just a nonsense. For instance, you wouldn't take your car to a mechanics and get a price for an oil change, and a price for an oil change and insurance incase they accidentally take out your windscreen. It's absolutely bonkers.

I would also wager that a lot of online shoppers wouldn't even know the difference between ex vat, plus vat or inc vat. As you imply, it's always been the case of, add to bag, check out, parcel arrives.

Indeed. How the public could be trusted to vote on something that they knew absolutely nothing about, I'll never know. That is why we have people that understand and are paid to act in our best interest... or not. I would argue with your comment about those who voted for it knowing full well what was likely to happen - I would wager not.

It's ok though, cos now they can buy an Aston Martin.

Assuming that whatever you are trying to get is available in the UK... remembering any products that are sold in the UK but manufactured about are also subject to import. For example, in the BBC article, a key point is that it was one of her favourite European clothes manufacturers.

The penny is finally starting to drop for people... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55734277

Not really erring on the side of portability though! 😛

“Yield” to Pearl Jam, indeed. Of course you’re should. You have been ripping them left, right and centre.

They are now called “Legal Jam” Reading the news articles, they come across like a bunch of...

I shouldn't let the router put you off too much. It's an annoyance agreed, but there's loads of tiny little 2.4/5ghz routers you can just velcro to the side, or if you get a little rack case, can put in with the XR18 itself... (but appreciate the rack may be something you want to avoid given the additional size and bulk it gives. The other advantage of connecting an external router, is that you can actually get the router aerials off the floor and up to line of sight, meaning you will have a much more robust connection in those more densely populated gigs*. *this may or may not be a problem depending upon your band and Covid!

I know it's probably a bit of a disruptive inclusion to this thread - but if you are looking at keeping it simple, you may want to look at the Zoom LiveTrak stuff. It's like a bridge between an analogue and all out faderless digital solution. All mixed from the desk, so no apps or wifi involved. Full disclosure, I'm shielding and not had any opportunity to see one in the flesh so can't vouch how good they are but it does give you the familiar analogue feel, with 5 auxes (but these are all for IEMs primarily but Im sure you could hook a monitor up - but I'm pretty sure there is not the ability to put a 31 band EQ across them (or the mains) for notching out frequencies), multitrack to SD and will also serve as an interface. Also got some DSP - probably not as comprehensive as the RCF or Behringer... but having said that, I would say the VAST majority of RCF and Behringer users don't make use of the DSP they have available to them anyway. Anyway, I think it's pretty cool and bridges the gap for people scared of losing physical faders. https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/digital-mixer-multi-track-recorders/digital-mixer-recorder/livetrak-l-12/ https://zoomcorp.com/media/documents/Zoom_LiveTrak_L-12_OperationManual_English.pdf.pdf

It's a great piece of kit and certainly more than capable. The key differentiator though, is if you are looking at doing multi track recording for mixing post gig. The XR18 will, the M18 won't (M18 will record only the L/R to USB).