Japhet

Great shout.

I'd Rather Go Blind - Ella Fitzgerald

Prayer for the Dying - Seal

Blockheads - Ian Dury & the Blockheads

Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price

I Can't Give You Anything - The Stylistics

Don't think I will ever forget the time we turned up for a function gig at a hotel and were told it was upstairs. We were then told we couldn't go up the main staircase but had to lug our gear up a fire escape. The memory of that and my SMX combo have become the stuff of nightmares. I would die if I had to do it now.

Keep on Running - Spencer Davis Group

Just picked up a TC Spark Booster off the forum and first impressions are very favourable. It's nice and flexible depending on what you're looking for and none of the options sound straight 'bad' which is nice. As to the topic of the post, I play in 3 piece bands these days playing mainly Rock and a bit of growl fills the sound out, particularly when the guitarist is soloing.

I'd go straight for a second hand Zoom B3. Probably pick one up for around £80 and you wouldn't even need to buy a board or a power supply.

My Mistake - Split Enz

I'm doubtless in a minority but I don't ever try to slavishly copy anything. To my mind, covers are versions of songs whereas tribute bands go for the 100% authentic approach. To that end, I usually listen to a song, noodle along to it, try to find something that sounds OK. Then I listen in more detail to the track and find bits that I like. Then I mish mash it up together, some of it original, some of it improvised. I'd find it extremely tedious trying to get every note spot on not to mention a bit sterile. Never had any complaints.

This is a pretty good starting point;

I have the 500 combo (recently acquired). I've gigged it once going straight into the amp just to see what it was capable of and it seemed plenty loud to me. Next time I'll be using my pedal board and I'm pretty sure my MicroThumpinator will yield big results. It cuts out all of the frequencies below 37Hz (I think) and those frequencies gobble up the output of the amp with no sonic benefit. I'd strongly advise trying one out because it concentrates the power of your amp in frequencies that can actually be heard and cuts out the woolly stuff that either sounds dreadful or can't be heard at all.

Green Earings - Steely Dan