Maude

I've been ordering bits and pieces and stripping the old cabs for parts. I'm going to try and get most of the parts together and make a proper start on this over Christmas as I've got a couple of weeks off. I've got some stainless steel sheet and some aluminium 10mm hole mesh on order, and I've been sawing up plywood in preparation for making the head casing, which I've decided I don't like doing after the summers mishap. The cab and head are going to be plywood which I'm going to stain and lacquer so I'll be looking for tips on dyes and inks soon. I've sort of got a plan in my head for how this'll look but it might change as the build progresses. As I've got a pair of the celestions I may as well build a matching extension cab, a single 2x15 valve combo might be a bit heavy. 😂 No pictures for a mo as it's all very boring at this point. 🙂

I can be a strange thing that can't be explained sometimes, whether someone is the right fit or not for a band. One of my current bands had been asking me for a couple of years to join but the time wasn't right with other band commitments. They ended up kicking their bassist out as things got too bad and auditioned for a replacement, one was very good apparently but for whatever reason just didn't fit. They couldn't find a suitable replacement and were going to quit so I relented. Another thing that's been touched on is image. We're not massively image conscious but we are a Mod band (I don't know if the Mod scene ever happened in America Blue, it's a very British thing which I think would intrigue you) so it is important to us to look the part. A leather clad, long haired rocker wouldn't look right, certainly not a 50s/60s rocker . When we play bigger events we're all suited and booted.

I'm sure I saw No Sweat supporting someone back in the late 80s or early 90s, Thunder maybe. My mate bought the CD bought it was fairly throwaway stuff IIRC. Edit : I've just tried to look it up and if it was Thunder that they supported then the gig was December '90, popular rock was about to change in a massive way. They'd have been trying to make it big when that style of rock was becoming very uncool.

I would say yes, which means Si must be the lead guitarist, and also be MacDaddy on here, and wants to focus on bass more rather than lead guitar. Which just leaves the issue of the missing drunk punter, presumably deceased at the hands of Sylvie for asking if she could put a song on for them.

I've always said that, to me, that's the most perfect pop song ever written.

Is it 1 - the wood that has faded, 2 - the lacquer that has yellowed over time or 3 - the finish that's got scratched and worn where the sticker wasn't? If 1, then short of PaulKings suggestion (not that mad if a strong UV lamp was used) there's not a lot you can do. If 2 or 3, then a good polish with a suitable compound may bring the finish back to the level that was under the sticker.

Ah fair enough, I'm using the mobile version of the site so I can't see locations. You're in the States then I assume? As an aside, the bass player, Tony Butler, lives about 15 minutes from me and gives lessons, he had a pretty unique style and sound from memory. 🙂

I'm about to do the same BT. 😉 Big Country? One hit wonders?

I've just bought them to try, only paid £14 and something. I got some introductory discount and then used PayPal which converted it to USD which for some reason deducted another $3. I won't pretend to know what I'm doing. Here's the link to them cheaper, ￡18.59 57%OFF | KZ ZS10 Earphones 4BA+1 DD Hybrid In Ear Headphone HIFI Bass Headset DJ Monitor Earphone Earbuds KZ ZS6 AS10 ZST ES4 ED16 BA10 https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/nsYlqibe

Lackadaisical Strange-tailed Tyrant. Or just google some bizarrely named animals, eg (all from one of those top ten sites) Lumpsucker Screaming Hairy Armadillo Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko Hellbender (salamander) Raspberry Crazy Ant Wunderpus Photogenicus I'm sure that last one was an Ian Dury song, but would make a great Riot Grrrrl band name.

When half the band haven't noticed the camera.

What, like totally bogus dude?

An interesting building there, looks like there's a lovely stained glass window depicting a bass player to the left.

This build might take a while as I'm not really sure what I'm doing but the three main points I'm aiming for, in reverse order are, something that looks good, something that sounds good and last, but certainly not least, not to die! Oh yeah, and if I do you can all blame @rubis as it was his B15 build thread that got my idle mind thinking. 😉 The back story; I was having a clear out and found an old Dynacord amp with the front and back plates and all the knobs missing at the bottom of a chest. It had been given to me years ago and I'd pulled it apart to give it a clean as, from memory, something was noisy. The stripped parts had long since been thrown out and the newly discovered amp was about to go to the tip. At the last minute I thought I'll just put it to one side as it's an old valve amp and who knows, it could be alright. In my shed/workshop I also have my old home built (rediculous) bass rig, a bi-amped set up with a pair of 15" celestions as the bottom end that is just in the way and will most likely never be used again due to size, a pre-amp/crossover, stereo graphic EQ and stereo power amp in a rack with a 2x10 for the high end and two 1x15s for the bottom, it used to have a 4x12 for the high end but that's just silly, right? 😁 Anyway it has virtually no resale value but has to go. So I have this gear in the way when I read Rubis' thread about his Ampeg-esque cab build a light bulb came on. I've always loved the Ashdown Drophead with the Little Bastard head, and the classic Ampeg fliptop, in fact any fliptop but have absolutely no use for one so could never justify buying one just because they're pretty. Then it dawns on me, I have an old valve amp and some lovely sounding celestions. I give the amp the once over inside and all seems OK and plug it into one of the 15" cabs, plug in a Precision and it sounds pretty good, albeit at low volume. So my mind's made up, I'm going to build a fliptop and re-house the amps internals to have the cool (or should that be hot?) bits on display and put it all in a new cabinet, it will hopefully be a nice combo to keep that doesn't take up much storage and won't cost very much, mainly just my time. The amp is a Dynacord Imperator which manages 80watts by putting 750volts through it's pair of EL34 valves, which would normally only produce 50watts. The amp query thread is here if anyone's interested, This is what I started with, and after some careful de-soldering, chassis cutting and most importantly labelling wires, this is where I'm at. I'm planning to build something along the lines of the classic look of the exposed transformers at either end with the valves in the middle all above a housing with the controls on. I'm no electrician, but I'm not stupid either, but as long as everything is wired back to where it came from, what can go wrong. It's only 750 volts after all. 🤪 Both the amp and speaker, from quick research, seem to be early 70s so it's nice to pair them being a similar vintage. Anyway enough rambling, I just thought if I start this thread then I'll have more incentive to carry on, I'm in no hurry so this may take a while though.

We played a rural social club last night which was disappointingly quiet. Those that were there enjoyed it but it's hard work to put on a show when it's like that. Afterwards, one by one, most people came up and thanked us and said they really enjoyed it, and then the landlord came over and explained that the booking had clashed with other yearly events going on resulting in low numbers in an area of few people. But he said we were great, booked us for next year, gave us £50 on top of our fee and waived our bar tab by way of apology for the low numbers. So at least they were happy which is what matters.

What works for one might not work for another. Yes it's clichéd but it's our differences that make us what we are. Not better or worse, just different.

Like'd 👍

Yep, bought my Hofner Club from them, cheapest at the time, delivered in a couple of days and no hassle whatsoever. I've had strings from there at various times as well, same great service. No idea what they're like if it all goes wrong though, which is where it counts.

Oopsie, finger slipped. They'll be here next Thursday. 😁

Here you go. It won't be massively loud but probably enough to keep up with a banjo. That went wrong. Click the link and scroll down and there's another link to the PJB advert.

There's a PJB 100watt two speaker amp for sale in Bristol on here. I'll find the ad.

I kind of agree, but my having never played, or wanted to play, those aforementioned songs has nothing to do with snobbery. I honestly believe that there are a vast amount of songs that average pub punters will enjoy and dance to, and you don't need to play the same songs as the band last week, and the week before that and so on. There's seventy years of popular music to draw from, surely we can think of a set that other bands don't play that folks still love. I'm a 46 year old male playing Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Katy Perry and Pink on doublebass. I don't think you could possibly class that as music snobbery. 🙂

I suppose it also depends whether you want full semi or semi semi , by that I mean hollow or a solid centre block. My semi's, Yamaha Bex4 has a centre block and is a great bass, Hofner Club bass is properly hollow and also great, but very different sounding. I really fancy giving an Epiphone Jack Casady a whirl but I have my Faker 4005 which is similar.

Grapevine, nope. Mustang Sally, nope. Superstition, nope. Play that funky music, nope. Mr. Brightside, nope. Brown Eyed Girl, nope. I've always been in bands that will choose a setlist from the other few thousand big hits that are popular rather than the fifty that 90% of other bands play. The Slits did a good version of Grapevine.

Dont be knockin' Cliff! His epic late 70s/early 80s trilogy of Devil Woman, Carrie and Wired for Sound is right up there with Copacabana in my house. Only Sir Clifford of Richardsville can make being given a shove from stage left whilst teetering on rollerskates look cool.