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Time for a story, sorry Many years ago lighting was expensive and I was broke. For our band I kibbled some lighting together, ahem health and what? Anyway I had two kitchen spotlight units with three different coloured halogen spots in each, a strobe attached to each and a smoke machine. It was all wired through a homemade footswitch to turn it all on and off. The smoke machine was tucked behind my massively over the top bass rig consisting of a bi-amped pair of 15's and a pair of 12's, aiming behind the drummer. When we did Motorheads Overkill I would stomp on the switch turning off the coloured lights and turning the smoke and strobes on when it got to all the false endings, if you know the song you'll know when I mean. At one gig I stomped enthusiastically on the switch at the correct moment which immediately fell to pieces leaving the smoke machine and strobe permanently on only able to be turned off at the wall. The drummer slowly disappeared from sight, then the guitarist and I and it stayed on for the remainder of the song until the stage area and crowd were completely lost in the fog and blinded by massive white strobes bouncing off the cloud. Oh how we all laughed, well apart from the drummer who was having some sort of epileptic asthma attack

Sounds a fun project, if you give us a call and chat to Dave Green(who designed the LB30)he will more than likely give you some advice(he normally does even when not asked...) on how to tie everything up... I’m fairly sure he won’t mind you being ‘inspired’ by his output stage... but sometimes he can be a tad grumpy so you takes your chances 😉

I had a Kay EB100 (tulip bass). It did go on the bonfire 😃

Kays are getting harder and harder to find these days, as anyone with any sense who had one would have spent an enjoyable afternoon pouring petrol on it and watching it burn!

A bunch of Indie halfwits, who are so talentless they are unable to join in with the opening theme, and instead just stand there with their arms folded. A proponent of world music, never heard of before or since, producing some unintelligible atonal drivel, which nevertheless is lapped up by the audience less they be accused of racism for not liking it. A former boy/girl band member trying to gain some real muso credibility to kickstart a solo career, but obviously finding live vocals a bit tough. A former legend living on past glories, much loved by the audience who are obviously saddened that the legend is past their best and the voice is not what it was. A re-formed but fatter and balder line up of a band, failing to make anyone interested in their new material. Plus a painful ‘off the cuff’ chat with a ‘friend’ or celebrity in the crowd.

Taken just now from Ebay.co.uk, used, 'BIN', with approximate postage costs. I've not selected on make, just availability, but not damaged, of course... Hi-hat £20 HH Stand £15 2 x Cymbal stands £30 20" Ride £25 16" Crash £25 Total £115 There are also packs of 'beginner' cymbals starting at £20 or so. Is that expensive as a 'get you going' deal..?

Some of that is harsh but true. However for an originals project 4 months to write and release 9 songs isn't unreasonable (depending on the songs of course). For the majority of new originals bands a handful of 25-30 minute support slots would the way to ease into gigging. No one is going to want to see an unknown band band with unfamiliar songs playing for any longer. IME originals bands don't need a PA. The venues they play nearly always have them. In the last 10 years of gigging with originals bands I have done less than a handful of gigs at venues that didn't have an in-house PA and engineer to drive it.

There were several episodes of spontaneous polite applause from the clientele throughout a very pleasant evening with my quartet at a restaurant/bar in Sutton Coldfield.

And don't forget, Bonfire Night is coming up soon... just sayin'...

Quite, Health and Safety. Or do I mean Health & Efficiency..? Anyway, the safest way to dispose of a Kay bass is to bury it (not in your own garden, obvs) or leave it in the boot of your car until you can drive to the coast and hurl it into the sea. If you're pressed for time and really can't stand the damn thing, wait until it's dark and throw it into next door's garden, preferably at that bloody plastic flamingo you don't like. Done!

His book, Kraftwerk: I Was A Robot is an excellent read.

It is indeed a Kay, as sold by Woolworths in the 70s. Didn't cost a lot then worth even less now although some think they are worth a fortune and collectable.

This is true. If there is a musician in the audience and you are playing like you don't care, you have probably lost networking and gig opportunities. Always give 101% even playing to one man and a dog. . . you never know who's listening in the other bar. I've been asked to join every band I've been in since 1985. I've picked up every gig and band because a band member suggested me or a band leader dropped in and thought I would fit into his band. So how you sound is important but how you play is even more important. Every gig is a potential introduction to more players.

Yer actual leg end, there.

Jeff Lynne's ELO at London O2 Arena last night! Wonderful songs, fantastic musicians and vocals, stunning light show and an atmosphere of smiley, happy people singing along..... oh, and my 'young at heart' Mum by my side enjoying very minute. Precious moments for sure :)

There is a different switch available, maybe thats more for you: I have a mopar purple NG-2, and have experimented with the pickup configurations a lot... as you might know all the recent Combustion and NG models have all three pickup cavitys routed already, so it was easy to switch positions. After all the testing, my ideal NG-3 switching would look like this - if limited to four positions..: middle/bridge in series middle only bridge/neck in parallel d-bird type all three Neck only sounds worse imo to the middle only. Comparable character, just less tone and definition to it. It has a bit more low oomph. neck/bridge in parallel sounds absolutely cool. Mind that the Combustion and NG models have different preamps. I like the gritty Tone Capsule a lot.

Wolfgang Flur, (ex Kraftwerk) last Friday night, in a small club in Cardiff He's now over 70, but still full of energy (more movement / dancing than he did in Kraftwerk) Great songs & accompanying videos, met him afterwards for a signed CD + poster. Nice fella too

Just picked this up, does anyone have any idea what it is?! Any clues as to it's value other than not very much? It's an old Kay obviously given the logo on the pickplate and the body is plywood but other than that I have very little idea...

I have a fretless sunburst '79 pre EB Stingray I bought off Pino and it enables me to play just like him. Not all listeners agree.

My Babies 82 JV Squire Jazz (with Fender decal) with a Hipshot Kickass bridge,Nordstrand NJ4's,East J retro Deluxe and Gotoh Lollipop Tuners strung with DR High Beams Fender Nate Mendel with a Hipshot Vintage Bridge,Aguilar P60 and a mint rebel relic pickguard. Strung with TI flats Used to have loads of basses, but now just have these two! They do everything i need 😁

Andertons didn't show much interest in taking it as a stock item which shows how far down short scale bass users come on their list of priorities. It wouldn't surprise me if Fender do the same and stop at the cheap version. I hope to be proven wrong!

Forgot about the through body stringing. Where's that fella whispering "remember thou art mortal" when I need him 😆

She's a bass player. Doesn't matter what she looks like, doesn't matter what gender she is, she's an inspiring and totally groovy bass player. Simple, funky and fabulous. Nobody gives a **** what Geddy Lee looks like, he's just a great bass player.... to me, Tina Weymouth is the same. Male, female, irrelevant.

That's excellent advice. And once you decide or figure out your passion and what you want to do, be prepared to make a few compromises. Blue

Just had a quick look at that schematic. The PI/driver is a 12AU7, and it will probably be simplest if I keep that in and follow the circuit from the wiper of the volume pot - before that will be my 6SL7-based B15-style pre-amp. Solid state rectifier for the HT - works for me, as I have no 5V secondary on my PT, and there is enough power available on the 6V heater secondary for four EL84s and four 12AX7s. Am I right in thinking that is cathode biased like an AC30? Yes there will, but first there will be a design-based thread in the Repairs & Technical forum, and in the Tube Amp DIY Builders Facebook group to which I subscribe (where you get people like Rob Robinette and Bruce Egnater chipping in with advice!)

Har, you and me both (says he that got another one today!)

I like it... looks good! 👍🏻

I know a few musicians who'd rather have a theoretical band with a social media profile and pictures of themselves that they can talk about to impress* people than actually get out there and gig. I wouldn't waste my time with them. * for a given value of 'impress', obv...

I've been in a similar position a couple of times; start-up originals bands, reluctant to take that first step. My solution was to go to a local open mic (that accepts full bands and if possible has back line and drum bits) and pop the cherry. I worked my local contact with the organiser of one to get 30 mins. I did this with a band I've since left who have recorded two CDs and play medium sized festivals. They still talk gratefully to me about 'that time you made us play at the open mic when we didn't feel ready' However, if people really haven't got the stomach to play in public......well you know the answer really.

That’s great Only asked because I was 14 and just bought my first bass and i remember playing public image and exodus, Bob Marley 👍

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You may! I have just acquired (as scrap) a Carvin Vintage 33 combo. The cabinet is more than a little distressed, the speaker is blown, but both transformers work. My plan is to take the existing chassis and transformers (and some other useful working parts e.g. switches, pilot light) and convert it to a 30W bass head with the following features: Output section based around four EL84 valves, because that's what the OT is suited for - hence my interest in the LB30 schematic; Preamp based on a 1964 Amped B15 channel; That's about it! I need to make sure that the pre-amp will work with the power amp (i.e. that phase splitter has enough beans to drive all the EL84s), so I will be working on my understanding of push-pull amps and hitting up the forums . Here's the innards as I got the amp, and the almost-gutted chassis:

https://www.karaoke-version.co.uk/ We use this site and is £2 per track and you can amend the mix as many times as you like. Great quality for covers and we do some Dub step stuff that we couldn't reproduce. We don't do it for the full set, but when we smash out a Rammstein track people take notice.

Lucky you, they are amazing live!

Yes, the TE manual is very comprehensive. I remember years ago, with a Series VI and a Wal (!) it was a struggle to get a good stage sound in hurried sound checks, and it was made harder by not having many decent PA’s. The amp had to cover the room, so it usually seemed way too much on stage. These days, with an old(er) AH150 it seems much easier. Pick a bass that sounds good, turn off the pre-shape and use the graphic eq very sparingly, usually just a slight low boost and some upper mid cut. DI into PA if the room needs it. 😎

Presumably you were running the SC on one channel at 300W? Bridged into 8 ohms those things are allegedly rated at 1050W, which I think (could be wrong) is RMS rather than peak, so should be more than enough for a SC?

Wow, wasn't really aware of FRFR, I was always an old school guy 'No tubes=stinky poo sound'. Maybe I need to get out more and try stuff!

Similar to a previous post - thank you Roger2611 :+) I 'retired' from playing Live about 20-years ago, for various reasons. I've had anxiety since my early teens (music helps me cope), but I used to get quite cross when I felt I couldn't hear other band members clearly enough to give a good, no - great performance; due to poor monitoring, sound levels etc. I digress. Anyway, back in the summer I was invited by an old mate (a drummer) who asked me to help him out with a Live performance for his Degree assessment, in the back room of a pub in London (Sarf of the river), which had a small stage and a P.A. rig, a drum kit, guitar and Bass back line ~ with floor monitors. He'd decided to use backing tracks - not a problem - and also recruited a vocalist to help out the set. Lots of other students were being assessed on the day, and there was a short (maximum 10 minutes) set up time. It was all rather rushed. We got through the set of 8 songs somehow, but - it was bl**dy awful. I couldn't hear a f*cking thing. The floor monitors were almost useless - the backing track was only coming through the p.a.. the drummer had a monitor for the click, but he struggled to keep us nailed.. not fantastic when the performance goes towards your final marks! I'm not against clicks and backing tracks - I like them, but if you're going to do it, 1. Decent on stage monitoring is CRITICAL !!! - you've got to be able to hear, almost as if you are playing along to an LP at home. 2. DO NOT rely on the venue monitor guy to look after you. 3. Yes - send a feed to the house p.a. but bring your own monitors with independent level controls, get comfortable, and rehearse with your monitoring. And good luck! :+)

LOL.. What would Farage have to say if, as part of the leaving the EU, we had to give all the words back that we stole!? Answer: nothing, he'd be speechless. (This makes Brexit quite attractive, come to think about it...)

For a number of reasons, mainly the fact that I think they sound really good, I've ended up with two 4ohm BF Two10 cabs. They're not quite as nice sounding as the TKS S112 that I *love*, but they're not too far off, and they can handle a lot more power, get a lot louder, and have a stronger bottom end (yet still tight)... The MarkBass LM3 has been my choice of amplifier for a while now. I've tried a bunch of other heads, light and not so light, and while the LM3 is not the absolute best, I really like it and it's extremely easy to get good sounds out of it. You have to try hard to get a bad sound. For that reason, it's been my favourite: a simple, no-nonsense, reliable and relatively cheap amplifier. When I came to the two Two10 cabs I thought I'd try them in series (8ohm) and see first, although my plan was to get a second LM3 and use both together with the two cabs. They're small enough that carrying an extra head is not exactly a hardship, and I like the backup factor of that setup. I used the Two10 in series and it worked pretty well... but I felt that I was going to need a bit more 'oomph' at times, so I set out to get that second LM3. I used to have a Streamliner 900 that I sold and kept the 'gear tokens' towards the new head, so it was a matter of finding it. Then I got distracted. What about a 2ohm capable amplifier? There are a few. One that I tried a while ago was the Mesa D800 (thanks deksawer! ) I borrowed that amp and checked it against my Streamliner 900 and the LM3 through 1, 2 and 4 TKS S112 (that was fun). The main conclusions from that were: - the LM3 should not feel shy just because it's rated at 500W as opposed to 800-900W, it was still very punchy, very loud and great sounding. - The Streamliner just wasn't my thing and should go. - The Mesa D800 was pretty special. It sounded great, and had a certain extra quality about it... it sounded... 'bigger'. Hard to describe. It was a little dark sounding, and the treble was set a little too high for it to bring the 'air' I'd like... but that was a minor niggle. I liked it a lot and could see one of those in my future, I just wasn't ready to spend the cash yet and I didn't really need it when the LM3 was perfectly adequate even if a little less nice. So, now I was naturally after a D800. Used, to save a little bit of cash. The transferable warranty of these amps make buying them used a pretty worry-free matter. Of course I wasn't seeing any... I almost got a Fender Pro800 to try... but then I started thinking about the D800+. What is different between the D800 and the D800+? Well, the D800+ is a bit bigger... but still compact and light. That's not an important difference. There are a number of added functions on the D800+. First, the low mids and high mids have an extra control where you can select the frequency centre. I generally prefer not to have that, as I am going to be tweaking to death over the first few months... I'd rather have an amp with simpler controls that are set the way I like them. In that respect, the LM3 is pretty cool. But, fine, it's a matter of self control and adds usefulness, no doubt. I wish the knobs for the boost/cut and the frequency selector were different, as I find it too easy to turn the wrong one by mistake... I might just change the knob, actually. Anyway... semiparametric 2-band mids, covering from to 150Hz to 5000Hz. That's quite a range. In fact, the treble control is a little high for my liking, but the high mids can easily be turned into a "lower treble" of sorts when needed. However, I don't think I need that... the D800+ adds a "bright" switch, which adds just the right amount of presence I was missing from the D800. Brilliant. This switch just made a great head that was a "little dark" into a great head "full stop". Both D800 and D800+ have the "voicing" control, which is a bit like the VPF control on MarkBass heads... but much more useable in my opinion (so it doesn't work the same way, clearly). All the way off to "flat" position the D800 sounds... not too different from an LM3, in fact... but then once you start turning it clockwise and/or using the EQ it quickly moves away into a different territory. I find that I like this control set at around 9 o'clock... it smoothens and warms up things a bit. Between this and setting the input gain just right (which can add a tiny bit of very nice 'grit' unlike the LM3 which just sounds ugh if you turn it too high), you can get a really nice, fat, defined, delicious sound. That's all great. However, what I'm in love with is the variable HPF control. It's the feature that made me consider this amp in the first place... and it's turned out to work much much much more nicely than I expected. I have used fixed HPF before, but this has been a revelation. It allows you to adjust the bottom end *just so*. You can still get a fat bottom end, but keep it tight and defined without crazy low end... I haven't yet tested it at a gig, as I've just got it... but I can see this is going to be incredibly useful and I think I'm going to be looking for this feature in pedal form and let my trusty Thumpinator go. So... what an amplifier! I love it. I remembered the D800 being very nice... but the extra features in the D800+ just make it superb. The combination of the D800+ with the Two10 cab(s) is fantastic. Very good match. Ok, and to finish, the obligatory picture... (the controls don't reflect my favourite settings or anything as it was taken before I sat down properly to investigate it)...

I load ours on to a Digitech JamMan and trigger them from the foot switches. Can connect it to the PA In mono or stereo. Simple but it works.

Hello everyone, Christine here. I'm still lazing around on the beach. It's raining in Wales, so I'll come back and continue next summer.

@MoonBassAlpha Short out C12 on the pcb, or short the junction between R8 and C12 to ground, whichever is handiest. Haven't done it myself yet, but I've modelled it in LTSpice and C12 is the culprit. When I get around to it I'll be playing with the MOSFET clipping in the circuit too... There are differences in the overall circuit between the CTM15 and the MiniMOFO, but not much until after the tone stack. The minimum gain available is very slightly lower on the CTM15 (different value for R9). Now maybe shorting C12 will highlight a deficiency somewhere else in the circuit, but to get a quarter turn of travel on the gain control without it turning to crap I'm willing to give it a rattle! Some plots to show what simulation says. I've only simulated up to just after the tone stack, and have bass and treble cut, mid boosted to get the flattest response (fender-style tone stack). Should have measured before the tone stack, but you get the idea... Obviously there is some high and low passing going on elsewhere in the circuit, but I'm not planning on playing with that... yet... First, minimum gain, original circuit: Now minimum gain with C12 shorted out: Now back to original circuit but gain about half way up (assuming 100k ohms on 1meg ohm log taper pot): Now half way gain with C12 shorted out: