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In my experience the recorded music scene in the 80's was full of fantastic bands playing great songs. The local gig scene (London and the SE) was vibrant and there were more gigs than a band could fit in the diary. The audiences were lively, interested and enthusiastic. Most of the gigs we played were full. IME the 80's was a great time for music.

First time the drummer came in at the right moment?

My fault entirely.... Way back in the 60s, at a pub in Nottm, we were using their PA, with what passed as a sound desk on the stage next to my drums. Being a drummer, I had no idea how these worked, but the vocalist asked me to turn the whole thing up. Right next to the desk, mounted on the wall, were the burglar alarm controls. The PA volume didn’t increase, but about ten minutes later, the boys in blue arrived........ We never played at that venue again, for some reason

the older I get the more I think that is true, one of the reasons I don't go to many gigs anymore is the idiots I have to put up with when in a big crowd, and why anybody would want to go to Glastonbury is totally beyond me edit, don't mind a big crowd when I'm playing a gig though

Seems like Atelier Z basses are a bit rare occurence on this forum so I thought about writing a bit about my recent purchase Having owned quite a few Japaneese basses over the years, mainly ones from the Fujigen factory like Yamaha TRB, Ibanez Prestiges, FGN basses, Fenders but others like a Sadowsky Metro as well, I have long been an admirer of the quality of the craftmanship that is put into these instruments over there. There is a bunch of smaller 'boutique' workshops like Atelier, Sugi, Devise that produce basses of the highst quality and standards - with prices to match. I've been long eyeing Atelier basses as I like their take on the classic Fender jazz design and they seem to carry everything that I like in these modern 'superjazz' basses. There are so many brands to choose from if one is heading into this direction and the options are almost endless, but I wanted to have something which is a bit unique here in Europe and wanted to know the next level of CIJ basses. So after months of checking out Ikebe's website (one of Japans biggest instrument store) this bass came up, I had the funds, the stars aligned and I made the purchase and imported this home. This was my second time dealing with Ikebe and I have to say they are top notch in customer service. It was a seamless transaction. Anyway, on to the most important thing. The bass is a Atelier Z M265 custom model. The M265 is basically their '70 5 string jazz bass. Ash body, one piece maple neck/board with block inlays and binding. they use in-house Atelier pickups and a selection of 2 band preamps. Hadware is a high mass Atelier bridge and Gotoh tuners. This custom M265 is a bit different, most notably in that it has a 3 band EQ (Bartonlini) and abalone inlays plus a brown red burst finish (which is more like amber in real life, the pics show this a bit more red that actually is) It is quite light and is a joy to play, the neck is really comfortable. It balances really well, that was one of my concerns as I was not able to try and see. I especially like the clean pickguard, it lets the grain shine through. The sound is a bit of a tipical '70 ash/maple, quite clean, sweet deeps with great highs and the slap is like Miller, only I don't have the chops.... It can get gritty if I dig in and it reacts very well to the different dinamics. The mid cut/boost is a nice addition, can't remember every having a jazz with a mid control but certainly helps at certain situations with the slightly scooped ash/maple sound. I bougth this bass untried and without ever trying an Atelier bass but it delivered on its promise big time. These above are my initial observations and for the time being I am very happy and a bit relieved as this distance purchase turned out great. Of course just like with other basses only time will tell how we are going to be in the long run. And now the pics (taken by Ikebe)

My Alpher got assembled yesterday. One piece swamp ash body Crotch English Walnut top with matching headstock Roasted maple neck with a bit of flame Rocklite fingerboard Nordstrand Blades Passive with 4 way selector for the Blademan Neutrik locking jack Hipshot hardware Looks better than I had imagined!

The ones made in Yorkshire are branded Ibagum.

And the song goes on for FAR too long anyway ... just suggest they chop out the whole Slash-solo nonsense that makes up the second half of it.

You dont necessarily have to play the fluffy bits. Would a tute help ?

It's amazing how wrong this sentence becomes just by adding the word 'on' into it

That would be nice. Although the last few deliveries from Andertons have been several weeks late - for brand new products anyway. It's almost my birthday and I've actually managed to get the family to fund this! First bass related prezzie from them for decades!

Easy. Musima, made behind the Iron Curtain in the old DDR: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-and-Rare-1980s-MUSIMA-Action-Bass-P-bass-DDR-Japan-/253386997413 NEXT!

Half Man Half Biscuit: All I Want For Christmas Echo & The Bunnymen: Killing Moon

You really need a spectral analyzer to decide if something works for you? Wouldn't it be faster to just listen? The pedal is voiced to dUg's specs and he doesn't like the extra high end he hears through the big systems he plays through. The interview demo he does with Pete Thorn he is using the XLR out and there is no shortage of high end. The unit does have a treble control and if you look at his actual settings in the manual he has the highs set around 10 o'clock. The pedal has no shortage of high end. Again, it's a dUg Pinnick signature pedal so that should give you an idea of the type of tones it has. It's a pretty cool little pedal. If it's a sound you think you can use, give it a go. If it doesn't work for you, send it back.

Aibanizu

Well, this looks quite promising.

Mickey was in for his cheekbones, if I recall correctly. And most excellent cheekbones they were; man looked like a Mills and Boon cover walking down the street

The 90s did it already...

False beard, a decent wig and a girdle. Done.

Another solution that nobody seems to have mentioned is to embrace the situation. Cocktail gigs, to be precise. I spent a period where I would turn up to a wedding lunch, conference dinner or some such with a guitar and an amp, set up in a quiet corner where I wouldn't get disturbed or jostled, and spend an hour or two playing pretty much whatever I fancied for as long as I fancied playing it; as long as I played something that punters would recognise once in a while that was enough. Nobody's really listening to what you're doing as they have much more important things to do and talk about; but as long as they know it's there everybody's happy. Not exciting for either player or audience, but if you're any good at it you can make fairly decent money (at one point I was asking - and getting - £150+ an hour), and you don't have to share the gig fee with anyone. You do have to approach it in a professional manner though, both as regards material and technique - just rocking up and bashing out any old shite won't get you many return gigs. Oh, and most places will have a dress code of some sort as well. I now await the flak from the 'if I had to do that I'd have given up years ago' brigade. Before you do chirp though, remember this: there are many ways to earn a living in the music business; screaming to be heard over a room full of noisily inebriated and disinterested ne'er-do-wells is only one of them. If bass is the only instrument you play (covered in a forum topic recently) it may be more of an issue of course...

You are right, Trash Metal like Heavy Metal was awful in the 80's : certainly the worst recordings ever, absolutely crap sounding, totally lacking inspiration and, even worst, dressed like sissies. And I was more on the metal side in the early eighties than on the jazz scene.

Seller is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot...

But is he even in the top 100 maracca players in pop. He can't hold a candle to Davey Jones of the Monkees.

Love that there's now more than just the Elwood. The Frog is a great looking bass. I'm tempted by this a lot!

The prices don’t help with this though, price put most ordinary people and what are you left with? I love the stones but would I pay £100 for a ticket? No way, I can see five up and coming bands for the same money and probably 5-10 interesting support acts as well.

The Cult: She Sells Sanctuary Sisters of Mercy: Alice Fields of the Nephilim: Moonchild

My new bass arrived today. I'm super pleased with it.

Just had a first proper play with and am ‘chuffed to bits’ as some would say. It still needs a tiny bit of adjustment but only to perfect string height relative to each other and no more than 0.8mm anywhere. It sounds fantastic. I love the T bird sound so that’s no surprise but you only know for sure once you play it. I am playing a short set at the weekend but next proper gig is the 18th and will take it for that for sure. Weight wise it’s not as bad as I first thought, very similar to the genuine Gibson.

The 1/2" is the shank, 12 mm is the diameter of the cutter and 50mm is the cutting surface length. I use a template cutter for trimming - these have a bearing on them that runs along the template edge so you can't cut too much off. You have to take it gently and not try to cut too much off as the cutter could snatch and take a chunk out (as I've learnt!!). I often use a shorter cutter and go take a couple of goes to cut the shape.

Hey Little Girl is an absolute classic in my mind. It's one of those tracks that I play people to test their musical knowledge - many think it's either Japan or Roxy Music.

I often find that I need to be quite far away from amps, particularly using Ampeg fridges in rehearsal rooms, otherwise I can't hear them at all if I'm too close. For my gigging set up I need two cabs partly to get one of the cabs at the right height for me to hear it too!

Pah! Call that a crowd? We've got the World Cup coming up, which means that our pub gigs starts to look like this:

Aged 11 and bored one summer holiday my Mum's Johnny Cash LPs taught me that songwriting can be funny, sad, happy, hopeful, miserable, poetic and rebellious all at once. Songs like San Quentin and Boy Named Sue set me off looking for other great songwriters. I guess I'm inspired more by a good song than great musicianship or great bass playing, though I do appreciate them both. Weirdly, I couldn't play a country baseline to save my life and back when I used to write songs they were not at all country-tinged. But there's just something about the story telling and the wordplay that makes me want to go and write or play a gripping song.

I'm not sure I want to see Ringo's sex tape...

So, they're not the same? This answer reads like the famous Kenny Dalglish reply in a post match interview when he managed Celtic a few years ago. Sick and tired of being asked stupid questions by knucklehead reporters, he simply said "Maybe's aye.... Maybe's no." There were days I would have went spare with the answer of "maybe" to a direct question like this. Now, I just laugh as it always makes me think of that interview. I'll record with this thing the minute I get it and put it through a spectral analyser. Answers will be forthcoming as to whether they're the same or not, by looking at the outputs from both channels.

The rear stacked pot is entirely eq (bass & treble cut and boost), the central pot is the sweep between the two pickups, and the front pot is volume. The front pot has the push-pull thing to switch between active and passive modes.

Note the wattage - 250 - stated in the brochure. Of course, they were "proper" watts back in them days...

Ah crap! Sorry man. Too many balls in the air. EMG BTC Control is what we use. Replaces one of the pots and there is space in the body cavity for it. You can get them pretty reasonably online (Thomann etc)

In that case Doug Wilkes is your man - great luthier!

Possibly Alec John Such had the non musical but vital role of beating Jon Bonjovi senseless every time he tried to record one of his boring, whiney ballads? Once he left the monster was given free reign. Aerosmith could have seriously benefitted from his merciless editorial skills during the 90s. They might still be remembered as a decent hard rock band.

Nice try but It was John who said that, and it was a typical Beatles p**s take. Ringo was the one drummer the Beatles chased to join them, and put the final piece in the jigsaw. Ringo was the one they begged to come back when he walked out and said he was leaving the band. Same goes for Charlie Watts. The Stones chased him for ages to get him to join. Kieth has said many times "Charlie is the musical bed I lie on" They bribe him with gifts and platitudes to Tour as he is not keen on life on the road. Listen to pop drumming before Ringo and Charlie, then what they brought to the party will become obvious, unless you play drums then you will be blindingly aware of what they brought to the respective bands.

I did a gig on 8 pints once. I sounded great. No one else thought so.

Have a look at anything by Hughes and Kettner with valves in it. And to confirm what overs have said about output levels, I have a (now discontinued) Hughes & Kettner Tube 50 combo (50W) and have never used it without running into a Marshall PowerBrake on less than half volume. If I was looking at another all-valve guitar amp I probably wouldn't consider anything over 30W.

IMO the classic solid state guitar amp is the Roland Jazz Chorus, so how about their [url=https://www.roland.com/uk/products/jc-22/]30W JC22[/url]?