FinnDave

Interesting how we all hear different things in the same piece of music. I've just come down (the stairs, that is!) from a couple of hours playing along with some live Dead, and I still can't say I get any similarity between the Moorcock track and what I was listening to, sadly. I'd rather have been able to agree with you as I'd have enjoyed it more.

I've not seen any Grolsch for sale round my way for years. I was looking for some but ended up buying a pack of Fender Strap Blocks on eBay. Only ordered them yesterday, so not seen them yet. Thought they might be better on my new Epiphone Casady bass than my usual strap locks which will make the forward tilt worse due to the location of the button on the back of the body.

I'm fairly familiar with the Grateful Dead's output, and despite giving that track a careful listen from beginning to end, I can't say there was anything there that made me think of the Dead. Sounded more like one of the many incarnations of Hawkwind, which I suppose it is, in a way. Nothing wrong with it, just nothin like the Dead to my ears.

For anyone interested, here is a link to a decent quality (16 track) recording from the soundboard of our most recent show in Camden a couple of weeks ago. We're playing there again on the Saturday of the Easter weekend. https://thegratefuldudes.bandcamp.com/album/2020-02-08-fiddlers-elbow-london-16-track?fbclid=IwAR1S81IvD-xaldnL6ZBnTici8yz21s-w3x-0opDybdzQ-aCdjymYGplSj74

Wouldn't surprise me if they had - but i'm not trying it out over here!

I think he means into the main PA, hopefully not the ring main!

At least you've saved yourself from the hell of trying to park anywhere near the venue!

Just checked back, it was June 2017 when we played there, and it was 250 quid.

I played there a few years ago with the Wirebirds, stage was good, audience pretty good too. Parking was a nightmare though. I can't remember what we charged, probably 250 for a four piece.

I'll try that next time!

If I had badly cut nuts I'd call an ambulance!

Another vote for bend and cut, and no problems in over 40 years.

I'll accept profligate but don't think I'd qualify for 'noble'!

I'm with you on this one, Stew - every few years, i have a sudden urge to buy a bass with a maple fingerboard, but I never keep them long, whereas the rosewood Precision and Jazz I have had for several years and simply won't be going anywhere until I have to stop playing (through age, infirmity, death, etc.). Te mystery is why it took me 40 years to realise that I turned around maple boards so much quicker than anything else. It's not the feel, my fingers don't touch the board, its not the sound - I'll be damned if I can really hear a difference between different woods, so it must be the appearance, as you say, anaemic. My first quality bass was a Fender Precision, white and maple - my dream bass back then - but I never bonded with it, just something cold and impersonal about it - and all the maple boarded basses I've had since. I think I have finally got the message, so will try not to buy another one!

I was at a local open blues jam this afternoon/evening. Played five songs with two different sets of people. All good fun. Played through tonight's house band's bassist's rig - little mark valve 800 into a pair of Super Compacts which sounded fantastic. I had the opportunity of listening to several bass players use the rig, and despite then using a variety of different basses and techniques, it always sounded great. I've never been particularly impressed by Mark Bass amps (use them at the rehearsal studio) but this has quite changed my opinion.

Thank you, Al, that's a great comfort to me in this difficult time. It would be even more of a comfort if you would all bear part of the cost of my misfortune though!

Well, just in case the Sandberg at the beginning of January and the Jazz bass acquired as a swap for an Ibby sixer weren't enough to put me right out of the running this year, I've just dug an even deeper hole for myself by ordering a replacement for the Jack Casady bass I sold a couple of years ago. Perhaps there'll be an award for the most determined failure at resisting gear abstinence this year - three basses before the second month is out is a good start!

What are the cabs, Stew? Obviously Barefaced singles, but…. I'd love a rig like that but last time I saw a CTM 100 in a shop, I tried to lift it and decided it was bolted down for security. It wasn't.

Just got back from tonight's gig. Hell of a long drive - it must have taken nearly a minute to get home from the pub at the end of the village! Played with my old blues band - great fun, good lively audience, just what we need for a good gig. Seemed to go down well and hopefully will get another date there. I played my new (to me) Classic 60s Jazz bass (a white one with rounds rather than the sunburst with flats one I've had a few years now) through an Ashdown Rootmaster 800 and Barefaced Super Compact.

I have never taken much notice of the 'popular' side of pop music, so none of the singles bands have had any impact on me, neither did I get punk or heavy rock. The music that I listened to some 45 years ago is what I still listen to today, so my defining bands would have to be Gong, Can, and The Grateful Dead.

Shakedown Street? The track, not the entire album…that's a funky Dead song (and great fun to play).

I can't argue with that - I tasted the forbidden fruit and survived, though!

Hang on, I'll pop upstairs and count the strings on my Precision.. 1, 2, 3, 4….that's all it's got - same number as my three Jazz basses and my lovely Sandberg. I've still got a six string, but only because no one has bought it yet! Not been played for four months now.