The fasting showman

Everyone has gone against what I was going to say, be drastic! That mid control is like a Mini Moog, those amps have a lovely smooth treble so I used to engage ultra hi even if treble is at noon. I owned a mk1 SVT for a while but preferred the v4b ( late 70s), for me even though they're brand siblings that share an active switchable mid with massive boost, making each anp work to it's strengths was completely different, I found anyway. I never got to try the old v4b through an 8x10 so I guess the cabs being used would have caused the difference maybe.

I found that really interesting. The valve ( tube) compliment on the old version doesn't mention the 6k11 compactron valve that drives the mid circuit. What valve does that job in the new model? I've owned a couple of v4Bs, of the valve amps I had they worked well for me, paired with a Marshall vbc412 in particular.

It's great isn't it? He's clearly a clued up discerning player that's held down gigs (that a nobody like me would have felt obliged to hit Denmark St and pay through the nose for an overpriced 70s Fender because it looked more appropriate for the artist) for many decades and been on some landmark recordings. I think BC'er Nick may know him? I've always kept an eye on the gear he uses, we use similar amps, as he ploughs his own furrow. It's a bass that I would definitely have been sniffy about but it just goes to show doesn't it?

A slight derail but hopefully relevant. A couple of years ago I did a wedding gig in Derbyshire with a pop / soul band that are OK ( they're somewhat stuck in 2nd gear for my taste) who have got a great female singer. Midway through set 2 we got asked, " can you do Valerie again, my friend does a great version of it "....we obliged, our singer shuffled to the side of the 'stage' and we launched into it for the 2nd time that gig. The friend, who wasn't unattractive at all and must have towered nearly a foot over me ( I'm 5 ft 7) in heels really belted it out. Very strange experience: I remember glancing over in a bit of fellow artist bonhomie / esprit de corps but we band underlings were as invisible as glass collectors I suppose. She left the stage to polite applause, I think the experience was deflating to her somehow. Her voice was loud, in tune and she was confident but completely lacked all the things that make a singer a singer. She must have been half as loud again as the usual singer but there was nothing appealing at all about her admittedly ad hoc performance. I suppose that is the karaoke tradition for you. It made me realise that I have been fortunate enough to play with decent singers that hold an audience for quite a while. She continued to completely blank us as we set the gear down. Fair enough, we weren't exactly the Brothers Johnson.

The main bass ( albeit modded) of James Eller of The The and many other bands. I wouldn't mind one at £50

Luis Jardim RIP on bass, such an important record to me that blew me away as a kid back in late '85.

You beat me to it! Great minds think alike and all that.

Hi, now donated elsewhere, sorry should have said.

It seems that Guy Pratt owned the Rock n Roll circus Gibson SG for a while.

Reading this again made me listen to the long version of My Generation off Live at Leeds...always gets me every time, as does Marquee Moon for example. The tone colours and tone production and character from the musicians themselves is/are incredible, the dynamic range and stereo image also.

A huge influence on so many great bands. I've always thought to myself that 'She sells' off Siren could just as easily been a song by either Japan or Madness. There's not many other ways that those 2 great bands could cross-over!

Andrew Bodnar sounds great on this, good choice. I always wondered if this song was influenced by 'Sound and Vision'

I just got another 700rb power amp module for £30 and a preamp for £15. Repairers can't seem to be bothered with fixing them so it's a good backup. I've used my old 700rb for 10 years so they work for me, small enough and more than loud enough so if I can keep it working myself, all good. Thanks for the heads up

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I bought a kaput 700rbii off ebay for around £50 a few years ago. I did a DIY fault check working front to back and established that the preamp and DI worked fine. Upon connecting a cheap speaker to the output I heard a loud thud through the speaker; I assume it's gone DC at the output. Our local amp tech had a quick look and issued an I won't charge anything but cease and desist...he said the transformer is fine, keep it for spares. He felt that digging through the pcb wouldn't be cost effective compared to buying a second hand working amp. A different repair company quoted me £150 to fix the amp presumably gone DC. Obviously I was chuffed to drop on a new power amp module from Polar last week for £49. I now have 2 working 700rb amps. So the dead module is free to anyone, would be good for a tech-y 700rb owner to cannibalise or fix.

This is the dead 700rb ii power amp board. As you can see, it's gathering dust so if anyone wants it free for spares or a possible fix up, let me know. It's quite possible that the fan may work still for example, could be handy if you've got a 700rb.