The fasting showman

Just bought 2 sets of strings off Dave, great items and transaction, thanks again. Martin

An old style Polytone mini brute 3. I remember hearing them in the early 80s and they sounded great, I wonder if they still do? The simplicity of them always appealed to me.

It was a pleasure to deal with Keir today, great bloke and a bloody good bassist. Keep in touch, all the best

The Fallout, since getting a tribute a year ago and then getting a USA ( yellow with stripe!) one from Ash on BC, is all I want to play now. Great balanced sound and no dead spots. I use the OMG mode but dialled back, the parallel setting can sound great with an octave pedal also. Has anybody found a gig bag that fits one well enough? I'm just using a standard full scale one but shorter would be better. Thanks

Sometimes the contrast between the music you love and the music you are forced to play hits you!

I was also fortunate enough to see them, alas, not with Richard Lloyd, but Jimmy Ripp did a great job; I caught them at Lunar festival in 2016. I lived up to my reputation as a curmudgeon by paying for a day at a festival but turning up in time to see Television line check and leaving as soon as they finished, I needed to process seeing a band that I've loved for so long without any distractions. It's just the way I am sadly. To say they were enigmatic was an understatement; Verlaine said over the mic to the lighting guy 'don't bother with lights' or similar, it was a June evening. Verlaine's voice was what you expect, he never exactly tried hard, but the audience joining in on every song was striking, the mass of goodwill emanating from the crowd; 'Guiding light' really has lived with me from that gig. I've photos somewhere, I fear on a now broken phone or laptop, of the band strolling on with gigbags on their back and plugging into 2 rented AC30s and an SVT . A quick line check and straight into 'See no evil'. No fuss whatsoever. I remember contrasting it with the ridiculously over the top covers band I was with at the time where the guitarist had a rig with 999 duff sounds and a tablet with the chords to Valerie on it. So glad that I was able to see the band, what a legend. Seeing Verlaine there in profile pre gig, ambling on with a coat on and a gigbag stays with me.

Exactly where I'm at fellow Lichfieldian! See you down The Feathers...

I'm currently in a band with a drummer that drags like crazy, sadly of the two bands I'm in it's the one with the most gigs; isn't that always the way? He often trots out the phrase 'serve the song'...in reality that means the first 8 bars of every song he's figuring out what to play, then I'm shackled to whatever he does for the next three minutes, akin to jogging with a rucksack full of house bricks. And these are paying pub/ club gigs I should add. In rehearsals there's lots of the dog ate my homework / why is everyone being so nasty excuses. From a man in his 50s. I can't convey how exhausting it is to carry every tune and how if it's a precise iconic bass part there's the responsibility of driving the band as well as playing your own part. I've derived great solace from this thread, my addition would be 'To respect the dance floor'. I think I need to get my backside into gear and find a better gig.

Bought some strings off Dave, perfect for what I needed. Great communication and prompt postage, many thanks again. Martin

That doesn't sound like us from the singers description, Perry Farrell was an influence though! My blurb above doesn't do Cass Lewis' playing justice, he's one of the greats who could have played for anybody and done a brilliant job from having seen him play up close.

I'll tell my Cass Lewis war-story again; hope it measures up to when I told it last time and nothing has been added! Back in (I think) mid '94 a band I was in, who shall remain nameless as I wouldn't want this to end up on a Google search as there's acrimony between ex members and mental health issues etc, supported Skunk Anansie when they'd just broke. If I recall it was at the Water Rat near to Kings Cross, the event was called Splash Club or similar. If I ever Buy or sell anything on Marketplace to any of you I'd probably crack under interrogation and divulge the band name, not that we were known as it was one of the handful of 15 nanoseconds of lame-to-fame I've had. I remember a few of us clocking who he was, we'd remembered him from his TTD stuff, he actually overheard us say 'that's Cass Lewis!!' to which he smiled and said that indeed he was. I'm not really a fan of Skunk Anansie but I can appreciate how good they are at what they do. In the soundcheck I recall some of us saying that Skin's voice had a Candi Staton grit to it. As for Cass Lewis, he sounded fantastic; his rig was a pre EB Cutlass into a TE Quattra Valve into (this is very contrary to the current zeitgeist) 2 x Mesa Boogie 4x12 with the angled baffles but square sides. The cabs had JE / The Who/ Shepperton stencilled on them. Just an incredible soundstage from his gear. A lot could be also attributed to how together his playing was compared to mine at the time, really assured, boldly executed and clearly communicated. Not really trying to do anything radical (not that I can remember compared to some of their later stuff but it's a long time ago) but barely breaking into a sweat. Back then I was all over the place trying to be all things to all people...it was a real lesson listening to his presence in the band. Martin

Hi, I've just recently bought a G&L Fallout Tribute bass as Guitar Guitar were selling them at a price that a fool like me couldn't resist. After initially thinking this is novel but have I made a mistake, I took the D'addarios that are stock off and I've replaced them with standard long scale Legacy 45-105 (Legacy are an OEM brand James How / Rotosound make, you probably know) in nickel. I've left more windings on the tuners than I normally would as the Tribute models have tuners I'm not crazy about; they sit high on the headstock face compared to the tuners on my USA G&L 5 string, I suppose I've helped the break angle at the nut. Anyway, the bass feels much better to me now, I'm well aware I've gone off piste from the usual small bass/ thin strings approach but things feel much more resonant and positive. Nothing against D'addario strings as I know they are good and well liked, there's something in the mids about them that doesn't suit me, I prefer cheaper nickels like Legacy and some of the Fenders (OEM from D'addario!) but change them every couple of months. It's turning into a great little bass, hopefully I'll gig it over the next 3 weekends.

The perforated rack shelf sat tight on top of the amp. It was certainly better protected in the rack case than the combo was hitherto with the top vent.

I've done this with my old 700rb combo. The head unit fits a 19 inch rack with the stock GK RB series mounting ears. I simply fitted the ears, put it in a 3 unit depth case to allow ventilation with the amp occupying the lowest two spaces. I used a Penn Elcom 1 unit depth rack unit shelf above the amp unit protecting the innards, the shelf is sufficiently perforated and covers the amp well enough. The advantage of having the amp in a standard rack unit without vents means that the amp is protected from stray drinks being put on top of your amp, obviously to be avoided, but sadly it happens when your back is turned. If you are local to the Midlands I've got the rack shelf if you want it, I swapped my 700rb case for a stock head box, long story. Martin

Just bought a GK MB200 off Stu, should have kept my old one but you live and learn hopefully. All good, great price, prompt dispatch and a decisive transaction throughout. Many Thanks, Martin

Hi Phil, I think I unceremoniously shoved a tweeter in your basic 1x12 design, credit to both of you for the inspiration though and demystifying the whole subject.

Until building Phil Starr's (brilliant) design for a 1x12 with tweeter recently I owned 2 cabs, a GK 2x12 neo with tweeter and a DIY 1x10. The 1x10 is an Eminence 2010 Basslite neo and the cab is on the small side. It's often been said to me by other band members ' you won't need your big cab for this gig, just bring your little tweeter box (meaning the 1x10)'. The little 1x10, whilst sounding perfectly good, is the darkest sounding cab I have compared to the GK or the Faital driver equipped 1x12 with horn I made from Phil's plans. I have tried to convey this to other people but absolutely to no avail, it's lodged in their mind that a cab with 10s is plonked on the top of a 1x15.

By the time I was doing the Saturday pilgrimage to the music shops (81/82) Yardleys had moved to Colmore Row and Exchanges took over their Snow Hill shop. I wonder if you remember the stars and stripes Stingray that did the rounds in the Brum music shops in the '80s?

Great catching up on all this, Broad St until '82, Snow Hill from then on. There was a brief overlap where they had a different shop exactly opposite George Clay a few doors up from the old Broad St shop. Martin