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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

Bit of a departure for me this one. Turned on the DAW, recorded and improvised with no plan or arrangement. It is what it is but I wouldn't change anything. If you're not keen on ambient bass maybe this isn't for you. Otherwise sit back and let the music take somewhere for 20 minutes.

The video above is very accurate if that is any help

I've played it for years, and other than the iconic intro riff, it's eminently bluffable around the roots and the feel. If the guitarist and drummer have it down they'll carry you all the way through. You can relax anyway: no-one'll be listening to anything you do (after the intro), they'll all be listening to the guitar solo(s)

I nearly posted that winery dogs video earlier but for a slightly different reason. There is no doubting that Mr Sheehan can rip it up and is a phenomenal bass player and seems like a top all round guy, actually I met him once and he was a lovely chap, forgot that... Anyway I am in the minority it seems, but I think part of being a great musician is recognising when to manipulate your sound to create something that sits well with the song. The Winery Dogs video, for me in my humble and insignificant opinion, is an example of how his signature sound, shouldn't just be dumped into every musical situation and ruins an amazing song and performance. in this case its all of the harmonics and fret noise, its not even about the level of distortion.

That's un oeuf of that... sorry

And this is where the turning wheels led me: So I'm thinking basically a Fender/Wal crossover. Multi-coil pickups and filter preamp, but with P-Bass looks. So now I'm Gassing for a Bass which doesn't exist, Great!

It would look fine...

VHS: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00004CK5G

I think that top wood is called Fractal Walnut. It's stunning too!

There's a shared calendar for possible gig bookings and noting when people will be away. Guitarist books holiday, minutes later a gig is added that clashes and he concedes and cancels his holiday. Confirmed gig gets added, one member pipes up that it clashes with something "that will be much better" that he's organising with his mate but has neglected to tell the band. Calendar rules we say, "let's keep our options open" he replies.... No. A confirmed gig booked in to a free date cannot be "put on hold" because you might be negotiating something else with your mate that none of us knew about. Slamming head against brick wall.

There is a similar one every year in early May in West Palm Beach, Florida called Sunfest. There have been some amazing line ups in the past and the entrance prices are not extortionate like UK festivals. www.sunfest.com

I know. Yet the nugget of truth therein can not be denied. Contentment does not drive creativity, hardship does. I have no sympathy though when that hardship is self-inflicted through substance abuse when otherwise, life is good. We seem to have a lot more middle-class whingers who might do well to go tee-total at least for one whole year of their adult lives just to see what it's like. Our country and lifestyle is the envy of the rest of the world and yet some highly privileged people behave like victims. Are they not the fifth wheels for the rest of us?

Thanks guys, always nice to hear actual specs from the companies themselves, and Tech21 are always good with this.

That's pronounced 'Feen darr'

Well here it is: The video for my bands cover/mashup of Superstition and some Erykah Badu. Hope y'all enjoy

So you've heard it all, have you?

Not only that, but your todger falls off with a resounding clang and your scrotum ends up down by your ankles. This is why old men keep falling over.

I looked into it a few months ago. There used to be a company that sold the plate, it may will have been Wilkes, but I couldn't find anyone currently selling a similar item. It might be worth PMing a couple of the clever chaps on the Build Diaries thread for ideas on where or how to get something like this made. There's a few guys with more than decent engineering/machining skills hanging about there.

Back in the 00's when All-Bar-One used to do music. No-one had heard from the vocalist for a few days. Half an hour before the gig the guitarist went to find him. When they arrived we were due on so they came straight on stage. Guitarist had a pale worried look, which gets worse as the vocalist starts to emit woeful high pitched shrieks. I move closer to vocalist aiming to indicate wtf? but am repulsed (in every sense of the word) by an odour with its own post code. The short first set, continued thus, woeful wailing & the rest of the band trying to keep their distance from the vocalist, until vocalists Mother walked on stage, dragged him off and took him straight to a mental health facility. Turns out in the days we hadn't heard from him, he'd scored a massive bag of weed, and had been doing nothing but smoking it since. Whether this directly caused the psychotic episode he was sectioned for we'll never know. No idea who called his Mum.