Japhet

I'm in the same sort of situation. Probably moving house fairly soon and one of the bands I'm in is fizzling out anyway. The other band never rehearses and it's not too far away for me to make the effort for that one because we earn decent money. I'll be checking out the local music scene though to see if anything piques my interest. If not I'm happy to back off a bit. I've had a good run.

Like A Hurricane - Neil Young

Heart & Seoul - T'Pau

Fade to Grey - Visage

I'd go straight for a Fender Rumble 800 or 500 combo. Job done.

There's a whole thread on Short Scale basses. Loads of people love 'em and probably a lot more would if they tried them. I suspect most of the criticism comes from people who've never played one.

Loving this right now. Mollie Marriott (Daughter of Stevie Marriott). She's got a great voice, just like her Dad. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Song is by the recently departed Karl Wallinger (World Party) and I find myself agreeing with the lyrics.

I'd have had a 550 in a heartbeat but they're few and far between now. The 800 is fabulous but it's a heavy old lump.

Trump! - Van Halen

Comb On Over to My Place - The Drifters

Rattan the Kitchen - UB40

Weave Only Just Begun - The Carpenters

I'd always read glowing reports about Eden amps but hadn't ever had the pleasure and very rarely heard one live. Eventually an older USA made WT800 came up at an affordable price so I snagged it. It needed quite a bit of sorting out but once that was done 'Oh My Lord!' what a fabulous sounding thing it is. Tone is to die for and everything is clear as a bell. It seems impossible to get a bad sound out of it (and I have tried out of curiosity).

Muscles - Diana Ross

Shout out to some drummers. David Garibaldi, Gavin Harrison and Dennis Chambers spring to mind as absolute monsters behind the kit.

Have been using an Ibanez Talman 4 string for a fair while now. No sign of any neck dive and the sound has bags of grunt. A few other people have played it and have been really impressed too. I also like it because I invariably end up with so little space to move in and short scale just makes it a bit easier.

Times have changed (thankfully). Back then he (and Saville) could get away with all sorts because they were surrounded by aging DJs who also groped and leered at young girls on Top of the Pops and most likely TV executives who liked a bit of workplace sexual harassment which wasn't reported. The most shocking thing about the whole celebrity paedo thing for me though was that Stoke Mandeville Hospital knew all about Saville but allowed him to carry on (and even facilitated some of his behaviour) because he raised a massive amount of money for them. That is truly grotesque.

Not just drummers needing to learn that. I've always worked on the principal that if you never turn it down, you can never turn it back up again and that's a big mistake.

Deer Prudence - The Beatles

Danish Boy - Muddy Waters

Roll Over Beethoven - ELO

East River - The Brecker Brothers

No surprise that I'm way behind the curve (as usual). However, that gig looks surreal (and sterile) to me. Audience didn't look too engaged in it either.

I can't help but wonder whether there will come a time when audiences too are supplied with headsets at large gigs. How surreal would that be? Huge crowd, band silence in the arena as they jump about and sing out of tune. I wonder what the reaction would be if you told potential punters that this is how a gig would work. I'd hazard a guess that many of them would be horrified and would much rather prefer the rawness of soaking up a conventional gig at normal volume.

I play in a 3 piece rock covers band and have 2 drive pedals on my board. Ampeg Scrambler as an always on for a bit of grit. I also have an EHX Battalion (maybe changing to a Joyo Orange Juice) for when the guitarist is soloing. That boosts the mids a little bit and fills the sound out a bit more without making it sound mushy.