dmccombe7

Out of curiosity what gear are you currently using. ?

You can't plan for stupid

Think its nice to be content in life. Altho an Orange ad2000b might be the trigger point for some severe chemical imbalance on my part. Dave

Saw them couple of yrs ago with Don Airey standing in after John Lord passed away and i was very impressed with the band. Gillan still a fantastic frontman with Glover and Paice just solid as a rock and working really well together. Steve Morse is an exceptional guitarist. Dave

Worst was a Matamp power amp on my bass rig smoking badly. Roadie went to unplug it and got a belt from it. Luckily i was using a pre-amp and 2off Matamps into different cabs. The signal to PA was direct from the pre-amp. Got rid of the valve power amps after that. I've had cables fail and batteries fail very occasionally over 40yrs playing so nothing that wasn't really down to pre-gig checks not being done. Now i always check my gear before leaving the house and at the gig time allowing

Don't think its an illness you have. Good chance you have a chemical imbalance causing temporary insanity. If it doesn't pass relatively soon i would suggest giving up playing bass and send all your bass gear up here to someone who would look after them and give them the care, love and attention they so rightly deserve. Failing that we can offer the use of a white jacket that zips up the back if that helps. Dave

Oddly enough the songs i struggle with are by fast pick players like Kill the King - Bob Daisley and Ace of Spades by Lemmy. Not technically difficult when broken down but the fast pace and stamina required when using my finger style was something i had to work at. Tried playing Kill the King with a pick but i just don't have that ability to hand. Steve Harris covers require a fair bit of stamina to keep that going for a long set list of similar styles. That's why i have a huge respect for Steve Harris. Not technically brilliant but how the hell can he play that fast for so long. Hard work i guess. Dave

14/15 93% for me

Sad news RIP Malcolm.

Recent years i've found it more difficult to get guitarists that wanted to play some good old classic rock material rather than metal or blues. Dave

Being into heavy rock when the Sex Pistols appeared i remember them taking the music scene by storm. People couldn't get enough of them. Even tho they weren't 1st class musicians they had so much raw energy and i would have to agree they did have a massive impact on the music scene unlike many of the bands that then followed suit. Sex Pistols were first to become famous in the popular Punk movement. I quite enjoyed them and still have NMTB and few of their early singles. Would never admit that at the time to my long haired rock mates tho I always blamed Punk for killing one of my all time fav bands Lone Star with John Sloman. Brilliant band but the advent of punk killed the rock scene for a few years just as they were starting to get recognised. Shame. Great band of very talented musicians. Had the good fortune to meet John Sloman at the Uriah Heep gig in Glasgow. Great guy. Dave

I use the schaller type on my Fenders mainly because that's what was on my Thumb bass and wanted to keep them all the same. Only prob with them is the Fenders tend to loosen the strap button and i need to regularly nip it tight a bit every few weeks. I'd be horrified if i dropped my bass like that. Dave

Can't help with the PA i'm afraid but what a fantastic guy. His commitment to helping others is inspirational to say the least. Dave

Nice one. Good to see you move on with your life. I recently left a band because the main guitarist said he had enough and it wasn't for him. They asked me to stay but i didn't fancy starting from scratch with a new guitarist as it was a fair distance to travel to rehearsals so i said i was gonna let it go. The difference for me was i offered them the rights to the Facebook page i set up and the various VID clips my wife took of our gigs. They said they wanted to start from scratch so i closed the FB page and locked the youtube clips. 2 weks later the guitarist that left told me he went back with them but wasn't happy with the new bassist who is a bit of a jam bassist and doesn't learn the parts properly. That was one of the main reasons he left in the first place cause others weren't putting the effort in for rehearsals I was already in a new band and wasn't interested in going back now. Think its annoying when people leave a band and can't make up their minds like that. I start rehearsals on 30th Nov with new classic rock band so back to doing what i love in a band. Rainbow, Deep Purple and Sabbath can't be too bad. LOL Dave

I guess i was looking at them from todays perspective therefore they are classic rock to me. I suppose they were mainstream rock back then. I tend to think of classic rock as bands that played traditional rock from 70's/early 80's. I guess DP are now just a Rock band but their music from early years i see it as classic rock. Not sure how you make that change and why i think that way. I've always classed Rainbow as Classic Rock mainly because started from that era but later material became pop rock to me and i wasn't into that. Rising was their best album for me. I can see how you would class Stargazer as Prog tho but in general their songs were more just classic rock to me. Dave

Doesn't clarify what type of Rock Heavy Rock Classic Rock Glam Rock Prog Rock T.Rex, Sweet, Bowie all Glam Rock Pink Floyd Prog Rock Zep Heavy Rock Deep Purple or Rainbow as Classic Rock Not sure what you would class Oasis, The Cure, and some of the others ?? Think its down to the individuals definition of Rock Dave

[quote name='elephantgrey' timestamp='1510303966' post='3405388'] I think that every compressor worth its salt would have: input volume, threshold, ratio (atleast a switch, but preferably a pot), attack, makeup gain (output volume), and metering (either a row of LEDs or one that changes brightness). I don't know how you could set up a compressor to do what you wanted without any of those. I use my compressor at the start of my chain, so that I have to dig in a bit more before my other pedals start to breakup. Just feels like to can be more precise with my volume. [/quote] Think everyone has there own views on pedals and what they want from them and how much they personally can influence the output from a pedal. For a lot of people myself included they dont want a lot of variables on a compressor. Yes its nice to be able to experiment with different parameters but if all you want is a simple compressor that controls the peaks and troughs with preset variables or characteristics then job done for me. All i wanted was a simple plug and play compressor where i didn't need to think too hard on how it works. The Aphex does that for me altho recently i've opted to play without a compressor at all. It depends on style of music i'm playing whether i need it or not. Dave

I used to think same as OP that compressors didn't really do much to what i was hearing but i always liked the idea of very slight control on top and bottom levels of my sound but just couldn't find one that was first of all easy to understand and secondly one that actually worked for me. Then i came across a review on the Aphex Compressor and it had a DRIVE control that you simply dial in how much compression you want and the led lights when its actually working so its very easy to find that minimal compression point and the 2nd control is LEVEL that i set so that the volume from the pedal is exact same as when pedal is switched off. So for me the compression is very slight and most people would never know it was there but i can hear the very slight change between using it and not using it. Whether it tightens up my tone or not i'm not sure but i like the attack of occassionally hitting the strings hard but want the volume to stay almost the same or within a controlled level if that makes sense. Have to say mine is in better condition than the one in this photo

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1509867120' post='3402116'] Lucky enough to play mine! [/quote] Gorgeous finish on that WAL. Think its one of the nicest i've seen. Very nice. I could go for one of those if they weren't so expensive. Hard to justify these days. Dave

And there was virtually no interest at the beginning too