Painy

My mate has a unit on an industrial park that he lets me use to make some noise. My wife would have told me off long before the neighbours did if I was at home! 🙄

Had a mess around with this last night just for a bit of silly fun. ABM500 with the Lows boosted and highs cut into the 610 and the CTM30 pushed into overdrive and with the lows cut through the 410.

Those settings are pretty much what I use with my ABM. I know a lot of people don't like the preshape because it scoops the mids so much but I find it adds a lot more weight to the sound than just boosting the lows can. Adding mids back in to compensate really brings it back into the mix with clarity but still with that huge low end that fills the room. I've never really gotten on with any class D amps that I've tried so far but I've yet to try the RM stuff. Given that I'm an all out Ashdown guy (and you can obviously never have enough gear) I really ought to try one out. That said, if I had £1200 spare I'd just buy your CTM300 and be done with. 😁

Stolen from Facebook:

This was pretty much my thought on the matter. Don't worry, I had no plans to have a punt - when I say slightly dubious, I mean suspicious as #@£&!

Just spotted a link on Facebook to this new website. Effectively a kind of raffle for bass guitars - buy numbers to enter a draw with the chance to win one. https://thebassdraw.co.uk/ The chance to win a nice bass from an outlay of just a few quid sounds great but without knowing how trustworthy they are (or indeed whether they are complying with the relevant gambling laws - especially given that paragraph 2.3 of their Ts&Cs states "" The Bass Draw will not be held responsible for any entrant entering any of our competitions unlawfully"), I think I'd be a touch dubious.

In Car Entertainment. 🙂

ANNOUNCEMENT: GRASSROOTS MUSIC VENUES RECEIVE LIFELINE Britain’s globally renowned arts, culture and heritage industries will receive a world-leading £1.57 billion rescue package to help weather the impact of coronavirus, the government announced today. Thousands of organisations across a range of sectors including the performing arts and theatres, heritage, historic palaces, museums, galleries, live music and independent cinema will be able to access emergency grants and loans. The money, which represents the biggest ever one-off investment in UK culture, will provide a lifeline to vital cultural and heritage organisations across the country hit hard by the pandemic. It will help them stay afloat while their doors are closed. Funding to restart paused projects will also help support employment, including freelancers working in these sectors. This new package will be available across the country and ensure the future of these multi billion-pound industries are secured. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “From iconic theatre and musicals, mesmerising exhibitions at our world-class galleries to gigs performed in local basement venues, the UK’s cultural industry is the beating heart of this country. This money will help safeguard the sector for future generations, ensuring arts groups and venues across the UK can stay afloat and support their staff whilst their doors remain closed and curtains remain down.” Oliver Dowden Culture Secretary said “Our arts and culture are the soul of our nation. They make our country great and are the lynchpin of our world-beating and fast growing creative industries. I understand the grave challenges the arts face and we must protect and preserve all we can for future generations. Today we are announcing a huge support package of immediate funding to tackle the funding crisis they face. I said we would not let the arts down, and this massive investment shows our level of commitment.” Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer said: “Our world-renowned galleries, museums, heritage sites, music venues and independent cinemas are not only critical to keeping our economy thriving, employing more than 700,000 people, they’re the lifeblood of British culture. That’s why we’re giving them the vital cash they need to safeguard their survival, helping to protect jobs and ensuring that they can continue to provide the sights and sounds that Britain is famous for.” This unprecedented package include a £1.15 billion support pot for cultural organisations in England delivered through a mix of grants and loans. This will be made up of £270 million of repayable finance and £880 million grants. The new funding will also mean an extra £188 million for the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland (£33 million), Scotland (£97 million) and Wales (£59 million). Music Venue Trust warmly welcomes this unprecedented intervention into Britain's world class live music scene. We'd like to thank the Secretary of State and the team at DCMS for the opportunity to work closely together throughout this crisis to develop genuine solutions to the challenges faced by grassroots music venues. This fund provides the opportunity to stabilise and protect our vibrant and vital network of venues and gives us the time we need to create a plan to Reopen Every Venue Safely. On behalf of every grassroots music venue in the UK we would like to take this opportunity to thank every music fan, every artist, every activist, and every one of you, our people, who got this done. 'Without people, you're nothing' - Joe Strummer. We have you, and that's everything. Thank you. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1464346200439429&id=201418973398831

Just buy a sheet of clear matt-finish self-adhesive vinyl and stick it over the front. Obviously remove the knobs first to do this and then cut around the VU meter with a craft knife. Sorted. 🙂

I'd second checking out Ashdown seeing as you've mentioned Colin Greenwood sometimes using them (and admittedly because I also happen to be a massive Ashdown fan too). Great amps but also worth bearing in mind they have some of the best customer service and aftercare in the business. As far as the difficulty in knowing how an amp will actually sound in the mix after having tried it in a store, why not take your Hartke and/or TC with you and ask if you can A/B them. It may not let you hear it in the mix but it'll at least give you a reference point.

First rehearsal booked for the 26th! 🙂Fortunately our rehearsal space (a friend's barn) is about 5000 square feet. It'll be good just to play along with other people again! As much as I'd love to be out there gigging again right now, the restrictions are still in place for a reason. One of the venues we play at is located on a village green and often has bands outside in a Marquee for beer festivals, village fêtes, carnivals etc. They've said that they'll have us on outside once they are allowed to do so - provided that's not late enough in the year for the weather to be getting too cold for it. Unfortunately though I suspect we'll be well into the colder months before that happens so, like most people, realistically expecting it to be next year now before we gig again.

Bass wise I'm pretty happy with what I have - at least I'm not really looking to get rid of anything I have now in exchange for something else. If funds allow and I see something nice, I suppose I wouldn't rule out adding to the collection in future but I'm certainly not actively looking for anything. Pedals I'd actually like to streamline what I have rather than get more. Amps and cabs on the other hand!... 🙄 After my recently acquired Ashdown CTM30, I'd now really like an Ashdown CTM15, a CTM100 and a CTM300 to complete the set. Oh, nearly forgot the new CTM200 - I'd better have one of them too. 😁 I'd also quite like another ABM610 cab - I reckon a pair of them driven by a CTM300 would make a hell of a noise! And finally somebody to carry it all around for me would be great too.

From Wikipedia:- The sheet music used the line "in this ever-changing world in which we live in" as part of the opening verse of the song. In the Washington Post interview more than 30 years later, McCartney told the interviewer, "I don't think about the lyric when I sing it. I think it's 'in which we're living', or it could be 'in which we live in', and that's kind of, sort of, wronger but cuter," before deciding that it was "in which we're living.

Ashdown's legendary world class customer service strikes again! 🙂 I emailed Dave Green to ask whether it would be possible to order a new Grill for the 410 in the same style as my 610 so they would match. Unfortunately it would need to be made specially to fit this cab so the cost would be prohibitive (Dave reckons it would be cheaper to buy a new ABM cab). I thanked him and said in that case I'd just go back to the plan to buy a new double wing badge (which is £15 on the Ashdown website) and put some piping round the grill. Got an unexpected email back from Dave asking for my address so he can send me a badge and the piping - no charge! It might only seem a little thing but I think it says a lot. I don't have anything like the profile for an official endorsement unfortunately but I'll never hesitate to sing their praises. Awesome gear and a fantastic company to deal with!

So easily solved if they'd just gone for "in this ever changing world in which we're living" instead. 🙄

A few years ago @Stag kindly played a dep gig in my place (I think it might have been my wife's birthday or something) and apparently completely baffled our drummer by playing a Ric for the entire gig - only to switch over to his Jazz to play Ace of Spades!

I have an ASBO actually - Anti Social Bass-player Order.

Only after an extensive course of therapy for my OCD. 😬 Besides, that would take up more space on stage - and then I'd just use this setup.

Hi Richard Please take note : With tube amplifiers you CAN overload them but you CANNOT underload them , to do so risks damage to the insulation on the output transformer Therefore in answer to your question , you can run the 2 cabs in parallel at 2.7 ohms connected to the 4 ohm outlet, do NOT use the box [Palmer Cab Merger] for a series connection in to the 8 Ohm outlet as this will be an UNDERLOAD situation Hope this helps [email protected]

Well I'm only 5'8" so it's a stretch but yes, just about! 😁

I love the sound of my little Ashdown CTM30 but, even though it's really loud for 30 Watts, it's still a big ask for it to cope with the noisy lot in my band. After confirming with Dave Green at Ashdown that the amp will be okay at 2.67 Ohms, I decided that adding another cab to shift more air would be the way to help me be heard. I managed to find a very scruffy but working 410 cab not too far away and going cheap which I picked up today. I plan to re-cover it with tolex (as the carpet covering is literally hanging off the back of it) and give it a bit of an overhaul. Anyway, got it home and thought I'd see how it all stacks up. I'm now wondering though if it might actually be a bit much! 😳