The fasting showman

...the Keen Ocean transformer Polar have got listed on ebay is for 400rb mk3 and mk4, also backline 600 models. The amp repairer I use used one in my old 400rb mk2 to convert a US model to UK voltage. It worked fine but it involved drilling a hole for the toroidal transformer. Just a heads up if anyone wants to keep it as a spare. If you can find a backline 600 they're also useful for the same reasons....decent amps in their own right.

There's some very useful items from Polar currently on ebay for keeping old GKs working. I had a 700rbii that was a potential spare parts donor; working preamp and transformer, owes me £50ish. It had gathered dust for 2 years. I just dropped on a power amp module from Polar for £50, took out the old one and replaced it. The repaired 700rb sounds better than my old faithful. Worth looking on eBay for Polar's GK spares if you've got a clapped out GK. Or if you want backup items; techs don't seem to want to repair the power amps, I was quoted £150 at best.

https://youtu.be/ZcHPNUN-U8E?si=IqHlH9obykWXV2xR

Rebel Rebel by Bowie Private World - New York Dolls Iggy's 'Fall in love with me' could work as a 2 chord vamp at the end of another song. Television-'Ain't that Nothin'?' I'm stretching the brief a bit far perhaps. Let me know if you need a dep

As said elsewhere, absolutely stellar band; Don Alias lays down such a solid pocket for Jaco

I've read this topic with interest, my patience isn't the best. I bought a basic Scarlett over lockdown and ran it with Audacity; I was emailing out bass parts I'd recorded that other band members would move into other DAWs and hopefully align my part OK. I never really got the latency as good as I'd have liked. I never figured out dragging notes around either, so I had to record and re record until it was good enough. The Scarlett has gathered dust since the lifting of lockdown restrictions. I need to get it used again.

I've briefly owned a Mustang bass, and also a Japanese Bullet bass with the same pickup. Much as I love the design of the Mustang as an object, it wasn't a bass that sounded good in my hands in the same way that often P basses don't work for me. The Fallout suited me a lot better. One thought I always had ( a gig audience wouldn't notice this detail for sure!); has anybody tried mounting the pickup direct to the body rather than the pick guard? I wonder how different that pickup would sound. I remember on a G&L bass I owned, the pickup mounting springs added almost a reverb-y quality, a foam mount cured this, hence it's something I've always wondered about, does the resonance of a bass change based on how a pickup is mounted? Obviously not something you would try on a valuable bass. Just one of those silly curiosities you have when you are of the '80s bass butchering generation, a tendency I've left in the past thankfully

In my case, no rational reason; I'll give you a load of saloon bar philosophy. I went into lockdown on the back of graduating through grim covers bands into being the token old bloke playing nice RnB/ Disco stuff with glossier looking musos 15-20 years younger than myself. I was playing, and enjoying using a G&L 5 string. Over lockdown those bands folded, and I emerged feeling older and didn't feel inclined to punt myself out; start up bands, rehearsals where you only see the singer at gigs due to childcare issues, bands staring into smartphones trying to make 'ain't nobody ' work in a band context. So that is what 'Me playing a 5 string' become synonymous with, nothing wrong with the instrument or object but me thinking, jeez I can't do this anymore, it's bleak. Along the way, I joined a pop/ soul band that was more of a pub band doing function repertoire to a slightly more basic standard. I had switched to a G&L fallout short scale and used an octave pedal for synth impersonation and low notes. A great bass again, absolutely perfect for what I needed. But...the musical situation started to grate, they were probably as sick of me moaning at the drummer as vice versa and so that ended back in September '23. I basically downed tools. In a need to shed my skin, the Fallouts got sold for no other reason than me associating them with that band and time. I actively sought out a bass ( a 1980 P bass special from Ash) that I knew I'd always sounded rubbish on, a precision, just to give me a challenge and also knowing that nobody gave a damn what gear I was using because I had nothing on the calendar. Anyway, I'm playing a tour support later this month and the P bass has worked out fine. Apologies for the rambling post, just that my gear choices are based on no science or liking active/ passive/ blah blah just a mixture of self - loathing and /or the alleviation of boredom!

They came from Rock n Roll and the Blues but it's a different type of virtuosity to say Led Zep, Cream etc. Same tree but a different branch; you see their tougher aggressive virtuosity in the pub rock bands like the Stranglers, Dr Feelgood. Also many prog bands. The origin of 'Bass strangling ', P Bass with rounds through a valve head and 4x12 ( in the world of IEMs and hi fi Bass cabs, I'm still glad I've experienced that setup) that influenced JJ Burnel, Squire, Lemmy and loads of others. The Amp stacks, double kick, the blueprint for a rock band. Also, after Who's Next, a drummer playing with headphones to a backing loop. Real pioneers

I think the Stones kept this under wraps for 25 years. I remember seeing it on TV in the mid 90s. How do you follow a performance like that?

We could do with an old copy of Music UK. I'm casting my mind back to when I started playing in the '80s. Some brands from then that specialised in small combos: Badger, V amp, Pro Amp , Custom Sound, Alligator, JHS?

...along with Garry Tallent, Mike Mills and Jerry Peek from Steve Morse's band. Back in '85 my 16 year old self wanted one too. They often turn up at great prices, I've never had the good fortune to try one out.

My guess is that it's a clipping diode passive fuzz circuit like some Gibson EB0s had in that period. Maybe Fender tried it out too? Total guesstimate!

It's interesting to think that by the time Herbie was in that band he was just that bit older in the industry than the artists he played for. Like Dave Richmond and Danny Thompson, to mention another couple of the UKs greatest bass players who were contemporary, he'd been in the forces ( National Service I'm guessing? ) and served as a musician. A fascinating time frame, to have been there at the start of rock n roll and pop music as we know it up to now, and participated in the music industry at such a vibrant time.