police squad

I used to be very much like that. What key is it in? and off I'd go. Some fills need to be there, like on the record as it's sometimes a key part of the song. Feel like making love by Bad Company. I've always played it in drop D and played the D in the chorus (where there is actually no bass) No one ever pulled me up on it but in my Police tribute, I am much more faithful to Sting's bass playing

I recently went IEM for my 80s duo. I've always used a vox tonelab pedal for the guitar, into the PA. We used a small behringer monitor. It all worked very well. But since going IEM, I love it. I can move around the stage area and my monitoring is the same. The same great balance. A simple 'FOH' sound is all I need. I use the same set up with the full band version of the duo. Everything is in the PA and I still get the FOH sound in my ears. We're not particulary loud on stage, drummer is great and can really reign the volume in if required. Bass player is the same. No egos here and no mega volume I'm depping with someome next week and I'm pretty sure my IEMs won't be any good here, I'll take my ear plugs and my very light RM500 Evo II plus RM 4x10

Franl Allen said it was the first of their 7 comeback tours 🤣 I'd never bothered to go and see them, I don't know why as they always come to Folkestone and that's a short trip for me

Having played in a 60s duo/band nearly 25 years ago, I learned lots of Searchers/ Gerry and the Pacemakers/ Freddie and the Dreamers etc So I thought, last chance to see the Searchers. They were incredible. Frank Allen is 80 years old and John Mcnally is 82. Their voices were excellent. Fabulous harmonies, all the high notes were there too Big shout out too, for Spencer James (the new boy, joined in '85). Great Voice If you get the chance to see any of their remaining dates, get along

I know about half the set, just a brush up really but the key stuff is the ska, I've never covered it, so there is some learning. I keep a bass in my office and will be practicing at lunch times

I have a bass dep to do with my mates local band called Heroes They play mainly new wave and ska. plus some Jam, Police (easy) and the Clash I never knew playing songs by madness (One step beyond) Bad Manners(Lip up Fatty) and the Specials was such fun. I've got 2 weeks to learn and brush up on about 35 songs. Pump it up by Elvis Costello, wow what a great bass part

Nickel has a yellow hue to its colour and tarnishes much quicker than chrome (which has a blue hue) Underneath chrome is nickel (and sometimes underneath that is copper) There is a way to strip the chrome off and just leave the nickel. You could take the parts to an electroplating place and ask them to strip the chrome (we used to do that occasionally).

I must add this. I can tell the difference between woods. I can hear a difference between fingerboards and body woods. I play guitar a lot and it is very noticable, especially a maple board strat versus rosewood board. Similarly bolt on neck versus through neck (let's not go there😅) I do not prefer either, if they sound good, they sound good. My favourite '73 P bass is alder and rosewood but I have 2 maple boarded P basses too. I have a guitar playing friend who simply can't hear the difference, that's ok too. It's a rabbit hole he won't go down. At a gig, different story really. Can't really hear very much when the drummer starts and all hell breaks loose

yep just leave.

the home of Manson, then Fingerbone. Lovely place. Who do you play with?

cool. He was a great bloke. Still welcome to the forum mate. When abouts in East Sussex are you? I'm in kent and used to play a few gigs in Hastings a few years ago

Did you get the Fingerbones from Paul, new

hey Steve, lovely to see a Manson and the Fingerbones. I've had 3 Mansons (one just sold at auction) and my brother had a Fingerbone Strat-a-like. Class

mad money. lovely though

proper playing with dynamics. We do that in my 80s band. 😀

what's a Lionel please? Is this another Mustang that I'll have to go and buy

Another +1 for the Ahdown RM500 EVO II. Great tones, lightweight I also picked up an almost new RM 4 x10 for £100 on ebay. Only weighs 20kg. I was using a Mark Bass club 1x15 cab. Very good and portable but sometimes lacked on big stages if I couldn't place it near a wall (rear ported) You can get easily sorted for not much money Ashdown service is second to none. I wish I had gone to Ashdown sooner. There is a post above saying to avoid the Ampeg PF500. I disagree. They did have a reliability issue (first one died on its first gig) but the second one did 6 years of hard gigging, sounded fab and never missed a beat

I remember only having one bass. Terrible terrible times but I had no money. Needs must etc I still have that bass and a few others but I only ever play my JMJ mustang now

One of our stock phrases in the re-chroming of old things, 'look good painted!' We mainly plated new things. Did a lot of Hi-Fi trims for a company called Musical Fidelity in the late 90s. All polished and gold plated brass, looked lovely We also did quite a bit of restoration work, cars, motorbikes etc. It was very labour intensive to get the base material ready for the plating process, removing all the rust/corrosion pitting was a skilled job. I did a lot of this. We closed it down as it needed too much investment. Water treatment plant was expensive, everything was expensive and the chemicals, many of which were carconogenic

just buy a black one I used to run a plating shop and unless you're mates with someone there, it'll cost than it's worth