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So, following on from recent forays into 70's Prog with Yes and Genesis I delved back into that other major force in 70's prog The Stranglers.... And wow I'd forgotten just how bloody amazing they were, and how prog they were (certainly far more prog than the punk label they had in '77/78 would suggest). Elements of Squire bass tone and Emerson keyboards? And this is just one of the best tracks ever recorded (in my humble opinion of course)

The "Acrylic stingray" is almost ready: The story behind this is quite simple. I'm an enormous stingray fan (we all are I guess) and already own two of them. But I also love the EGC acrylic line, and love how all those clear guitars look. They're something else, art pieces almost. I played a Dan Armstrong a few times and loved the weight and clear (pun intended) sound. Sure it's heavy, but I can manage it. So I thought to combine the look of the original stingray with a Dan Armstrong/EGC. I ordered a custom made acrylic block from a Dutch Laboratory, I got the seymour duncan humbucker for free (when the store owner heard about the project), I found a stingray special bridge online, ordered a Status graphite stingray neck and had a custom preamp made (that was also free). There was a test run done with a cnc in wood and this week the acrylic was made. Sorry for the bad pic, they're screengrabs of videos. The body still needs some polishing but after that it's PERFECT. The specs are exactly the same as an original stingray body. I can't wait for this to be finished but I'm still looking for an official six bolt neckplate though ... Made by Dimitri Derwael of elinore guitars. (I know that some people will call this a gimmick. I don't want this to be a gimmick, I want this to be a bass with good materials and an unique look. I've researched this for 2 years (what plexi to use, etc.) and the fact that companies like EGC charges 3000 euro's for basses like this says something right? Hopefully some of you think it's nice

YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD!

This is my all time favourite music on tv moment. They wanted to play live but were told they couldn’t apparently so did this-

I've been following this thread with interest as I recently purchased a Handbook R400 from eBay which unfortunately had an issue when I received it. It worked intermittently for a short while then wouldn't make any noise at all. The seller said they hadn't used it for some time but had worked fine the last time they tested it. The seller was very reasonable and offered to either take the amp back or refund me a % of the original price to allow me to repair it without being out of pocket. I took the chance on the latter. I'd already been in touch with Leszek who responded quickly with a one point for my tech to check and supplied schematics. On each email he got back to me quickly. My experience has been of fantastic support by someone clearly passionate about his products. I got the amp back from my tech yesterday (it turned out to a failed resistor in the preamp stage - impossible to diagnose without tracing it but ultimately simple to replace). My tech only had good things to say about the R400 and was pleased to say that almost everything inside could be replaced in the event of component failure. Things can fail (especially considering this is one of the earlier models) - that's fine as long as they can be easily repaired. I've yet to run it at rehearsal but sounds great so far. Looking forward to putting it through its paces. My story is no help to the original poster but thought it worth sharing a positive story here!

Stick a chorus pedal on there, unfollow this forum, then just walk away. You'll save loads of money. Pedal acquisition is a very slippery slope - you start off by buying a cheap Flanger "to see what it sounds like" but before too long, you end up selling all your kids' shoes on FaceBook Marketplace to fund the purchase of some boutique pedal that will "take your playing to the next level," which turns out to be just a Tube Screamer in a different box. A bargain at £275.

"It's not obvious is it....?" Beautiful moment. I love everything about the late 70's, and Ian Dury is probably very close to the top of the list, the first time I realised what being 'a tight band' meant was watching The Blockheads, and there was probably not better frontman for that band that Dury, an oddly Shakespearian character who was in so many ways years ahead of his time. Now he really was a huge loss not just to music but to the wider arts and to society generally ❤️

Love this...sounds a bit prog in the solo if you ask me!!

The main reason I took up playing the bass was JJB. The perfect bass tone, bass lines to die for, a healthy dose of anarchy, coupled with the rest of the band to make perfection on many many songs.

As some of you may know from other threads, I’ve been working on a MIDI controller with @RigorMortensfor the last couple of years. EDIT 17/01/23 As you may know, we exhibited the device at Synthfest UK in October 2022 under the name Midium. Sadly, a few weeks later there were unforeseen complications which meant we had to change the name. After many hours of work, this change has now gone through. The pedal is now known as MORTRIX. New website is www.mortrix.io

My little mustang is now blend/tone which is super 👌🏽

two of the best live clips of the stranglers...enjoy!

Rubber Ring ～ The Smiffs

Raining, Flood ～ Slayer

Rupture Blondie

Seriously though, this thread puts me in mind of a (perhaps apophrycal) story of great cellist Pablo Casals who continued to practice daily at age 80(or even 90), and when he was asked why he was so diligent he replied "I'm starting to see some improvement."

Reach Out, Oil Me There ～ Four Tops

If I Were A Carpetter ～ Bobby Darin

Some sound advice there. I have a little room left on there so might squeeze a Big Muff and/or and octaver in there, but I'm not planning on going crazy (famous last words!)

The instrumental parts of side 2 of Rattus Norvegicus could be passed off as unreleased Yes tracks to anyone who wasn't familiar with The Stranglers.

A highlight for me was when a lone piper was playing in the gallery and then walked away while still playing.... the sound gradually faded to nothing. Very poignant and symbolic of a departed person.

Two practice rigs , one at home , one at the in-laws (looking after my mother-in-law) . Home rig … SWR Headlite into an Ampeg210AV, fan in the SWR is a bit noisy , but tolerable. And at the in-laws , Darkglass Exponent 500 into a little Phil Jones C2. I had been using a GK MB200 with the C2 , GK might move home in place of the SWR … we’ll see. I really love that little GK. Also have a handy GK MB150 combo when I have to go out for rehearsal. Still a great little amp!

Just the truss rod cover to sort - all other jobs done!! Electrics all sorted - not the world's biggest cavity and no spare height to work with for the EMG push/pull pot but it fitted!! Here's a couple of pictures of it next to my MarkBass 801 - makes for a nice little mobile set-up!! I'll take some proper pictures when I've finished the truss rod cover. Cheers

Crowd were obviously royalists last night. 2 minutes silence after every song was a bit over the top.

Used my Elf last night through 2 TC Electronic RS112’s and I was blown away…Loud as hell and only slightly warm at the end of the night. It’s usually a back up for my RH750 but I’m seriously thinking about just running with 2 Elf’s so one as a back up. And also maybe putting a little di’d bass through the PA 🤔👌👍

When the Levee Breaks - LZ

We Have Explosive - FSOL

The MIDI foot controller I’ve been working on is here:

UPDATE: I've been told that we can have the space one Saturday in April, but which one will have to wait until a bit nearer the time, as they have a fortnightly commitment to another group, who haven't yet sorted out their 2023 dates. I'll post some pix of the location next week when I'm there for our monthly improv night.

Whatever it is it sounds great and I'm not lumping my heavy head about which was a major plus

I love the bass solo on that track.

That's the one I was trying to think of.

I use the Peterson Strobostomp HD and frankly, apart from the old reference Conn and Peterson, it's the finest tuner I've experienced. Great for super-accurate set-up work, and as a general board or floor tuner. Slow is certainly close enough in most (all for me) gigging circumstances and the tuner is really easy to use in real world settings. Visibility is excellent in both bright and dark environments. A very robust unit too. I'll be using mine later for a set-up job - the Peterson excels for pretty much anything.

EVERY bass amp has a pre amp 'section' (and a power) but they are just built into the box as a unit; hence you can buy separate pre amps and/or power amps if you want to. The preamp also does all of the tone shaping (EQ) before it passes your signal to the power section. The TH500 will send nothing 'to' your pedals nor does anything go 'into' your bass. Most of the time it doesn't matter which of the 2 routes you go: bass>pedals>amp>cabinet bass>amp>pedals[via send/return]>cabinet You can try putting the pedals in the effects loop if you like but personally if you go: bass>amp>cabinet and it isn't loud enough then you've got something wrong somewhere! Post / Pre switch is associated with your DI out. It basically dictates if the DI signal goes from the amp before (pre) or after (post) the EQ. There is either something wrong with your gear or your band if you are using a TH500 + 4x10 + 2x10 and you still have issues with 'volume'. That rig should easily compete on stage with any drummer. There are loads of variables in what you are describing but you need to ensure the basics are right; cables are all OK (you are using proper speaker cables not guitar/instrument leads?), speakers haven't been messed with and are out of phase with each other, your bass 'works' (have you tried a different bass into your amp and cabs?), get your pedals out of the way for now, EQ is centred and not set fully anti-clockwise, button above input is out (not pressed in), you are using the input gain knob at 12:00 or possibly higher... have you read the manual? http://www.aguilaramp.com/wp-content/uploads/TH500-Manual-6.0.pdf

It's a difficult call really and if you have worked as a musician all your life, many don't have enough to retire and are unlikely to slot right in to normal life. With YouTube etc, acts can be checked out and if they are past their best, punters have the opportunity to pass. I'm not a fan personally but I had friends post clips of the final Whitesnake tour and it was karaoke level, at best. Equally people criticise Kiss these days but I thought the tour I saw pre-Covid was better than seeing the original lineup back in the 90s. Some artists look after their voices and age is no barrier - Alice Cooper and The Cure seem to still deliver at the level they always did, despite decades in the industry.

Duvet Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid

Celine Din

Q: ? A: Never. I know this is a isolated incident, but at 95 with Alzheimer's Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. He just lit up and nailed it - words, inflections, etc. He may not remember his performance, And I'm Not Making a Joke. But everyone there will remember it, and the healing properties, and Magic, of the Brain and Music. I mean, I watched it on the telly. And remembering right now STILL brings tears to my eyes.

Finally, a bit of of bleedin' progress 😁. After shamefully ignoring this for a while, persistent quizzing by @andy67has guilt tripped me into making a bit of more of an effort. This was all your fault to start with anyway. 😂 I'm joking of course, but thanks for the nudge, I need it sometimes. Well the issue was that the contrasting end grain woods in the body sides would look terrible if the back and sides were just stained. It would be far easier to just go for a solid colour for the back and sides, but I wanted the wood grain on the back to be visible. Lots of scenarios to run through, not least was I going light or dark wood. Although I liked the light colour in the previous pictures my original plan was dark wood. I'm sticking with dark because the pink sparkle is a lot darker in real life and the darker wood goes better with it I feel. The sparkle is rose gold and has more gold/brown tones to it than silver, which would work better with a light coloured back. If you imagine bright silvery pink with white and chrome, compared to darker coppery pink with brown and gold. I masked the back with foam about 5-10mm in from the the edge to allow me to prime the sides and slightly onto the back to cover the different grains on the sides and the edge of the back piece. The foam tape gives a softer edge to the primer so as not to get a step. I used black primer as that should work best with what I have decided to do. I'll stain the back wood to a colour I like and then spray a sunburst effect with a paint that matches the stain, then lacquer it all in. Foam masking and primer. Once demasked I gently sprayed a slight sunburst with the primer to further soften the primer edge. The easiest thing to do now would be just black ink to stain the back and lacquer it but the black is a bit harsh for what I want. A dark brown just works better. Primer flatted and ready for stain. I'm using calligraphy ink, @Andyjr1515's recommendation which I really like using as you can re-wet them and work and blend them, even remove them to a degree. This had a wipe of sepia ink a while ago but it was very brown with no gold tones to it, so was wiped off with a wet cloth, which has left it slightly darkened. Below is around a 50/50 mix of sepia and yellow ochre. The wierd patch is a mix sunlight and the ink drying. Then a wipe over with just the sepia. It has a more golden hue in the flesh. I did toy with the idea of rather than trying to paint the sides to match the back, doing them a different colour like bronze but I think it would start to look tacky if there's too much going on. Next step, match the sides. 🙂👍

Used these since the late 70's - just the right amount of 'give' and a certain brightness that I don't get with others I've tried