fretmeister

2003 Fender American Strat. Now with a black plate and a set of fantastic Lollar Black Face single coils. I bought it new in 2003 to commemorate the birth of my first child. I'm usually a Gibson scale fan for guitars, but this strat is fantastic.

TC voice stuff is great. I have their little Harmony Singer pedal and the Mic Mechanic. I use the MM all the time - it a magic button just called "Tone" and that engages an EQ, adaptive compression, and a De-esser. Then I can add some verb and if I want some pitch correction. I don't use the pitch correction, and most of the time I don't use the verb either - I leave that for FOH. But the 3 effects under the Tone button are fantastic - just makes it sound like a well EQ'd and compressed sound with 1 push of a button. Back in gigging days it saved loads of time in PA setup and sound check. The Harmony Singer adds harmonies to the vocal depending on what guitar chord it hears. So it follows the maj / min structure without the need for programming. If I was playing bass and not guitar then I'd put it on the guitarists board but it would be my microphone feeding it. Worked best when the harmony effects were subtle and not overbearing. Both of mine are the V1 - I imagine the newer models are even better.

It's a offcut of carpet on my work bench. Stops me scratching my instruments.

I don’t think there is a consensus. Aston Barrett and Jamerson preferred to only use 1 finger. Others use 2,3,4. I use however many the music needs. Each finger sounds very slightly different, not least because pinky and index are quite far apart on the string, so sometimes I stick to 1 finger for slow even notes, but will happily use all 4 for fast runs and rakes. 10 different players will have 10 different approaches.

Thank you. Amazon don’t have my gauge. Germany it is then!

@BigRedX Where do you get your black labels from? I can’t find a UK stockist. Ta.

It sounds excellent! Very SVT like. Surprisingly loud, lovely grit to the tone. Can be clean too but not quite as loud. The power supply is an 18V outboard unit. No hiss at all. Might be the perfect lounge amp.

Won't be able to plug it in until this evening. Will be into a Barefaced One10.

It's a bit smaller than I expected!

That must be new - When I had one (long time ago) it was hardwired.

It is a bit crap. Still - put something on ideascale if you want the developers to know what you'd like improved. That's where they get their customer feedback from.

Another vote for a Sandberg Super Light. I have a TT4 and it's fantastic.

Almost anything recorded by Jeremy Pelt. Trumpet.

I had a good chat, when they then tried to suggest I buy one of the last chance Retroglide 800 amps I knew it was really Ashdown! 😂

Are they good? I like the idea.

It gives name of someone I know is at Ashdown. No attachments on it.

EDIT All sorted - gave them a call. Someone can't type!

And I've just noticed - no fans!!!

Just spotted this on Instagram https://ashdownmusic.com/products/ctm-200r Looks fun!

Boogie prices are getting more silly by the day. A few years ago I bought their Mini Rectifier head - 25W - for about £900. It is now £1600. The US price has not increased in the same way. On more and more forums I see the opinions of Westside Distribution's pricing structure get worse by the minute. The used prices of Mesa valve amps are holding steady and not increasing. So a brand new Dual Rectifier Reborn costs about £3100. And the day after it will sell on ebay for about £1000. Maybe £1200 if you are lucky.I don't know of any brand that suffers such a drop - or more to the point a more unrealistic new value compared to the used market. I have no idea who is buying them new. Nutters, most probably.

He'll need to cut it. I had one once.

I change strings all the time too - I put mine in a packet with those little silica gel packets to lower the moisture. Lots of companies seal new strings in MA packaging and I can't see them spending money on that if they didn't think it would help the shelf life. I have been thinking about using poster tubes to keep them straight - still with silica gel packets. If only "Athena" was still open and I could get a load of tubes from their bins!

As fun as other people's views on gear are, they are far too subjective to take much notice of. Might as well be trying to decide if you will like a particular cheese based on a youtube review.

I am really sensitive to cooling fan noise. I hate it. It really annoys me that the quest for tiny amps has meant cooling fans are everywhere when a bit bigger case would allow passive cooling. I often play with just a single clarinet and fan noise is obvious on some amps - not great for the gig. The Miller head is quiet enough - the fan is very low volume. Low enough that I will use the amp in the house even when just noodling to watch TV. I don't hear any hiss unless I'm using a compressor or drive pedals - and that still depends on the settings of them.