chriswareham

Interpol. Someone described them to me as being heavily influenced by Joy Division and the darker edged indie guitar stuff of the 80s such as The Chameleons and The Sound. I discovered that "being influenced by" should have been qualified by "but can't write a song for sh*t" when I bought their back catalogue on CD :-(

6/10, although apart from the Motorhead one that was by guesswork. Worth doing the quiz just to know that I wouldn't like to meet Lamb of God down a back alley on a dark night.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1454928931' post='2974181'] an unimaginative or 'bad' bass player until he releases a solo album that showcases the full range of his skills. [/quote] That is such a crass comment.

Andy Cairns is often described as the nicest bloke in rock, as he's very down to earth and friendly. Dave Ball from Soft Cell took the time to explain to me how to get the synth sound on "Youth" which I was most pleased about.

Played the London heats two years ago. I know Mick the guy promoting the shows in London, and he is a top notch promoter with a great sense of humour. We weren't really heavy enough to be typical Bloodstock material, but had a good gig. Best bit was our then singer, an extraordinarily pretty young Italian girl, selling loads of our promo CDs to the predominantly male audience - we normally just give them away!

Sounds like JJ Jeczalik was making things up. FGTH could definitely play, as they played Relax on legendary music show The Tube where they featured as an unsigned act before getting signed to Trevor Horn's ZTT label. Theres also live footage, from The Tube again if memory serves, of them playing a very exhilarating version of Two Tribes with live keyboards, bass and drums. As for the Fairlight, plenty of them in the country at the time and thanks to the screen with a light pen, very easy to operate. Syco Systems, the UK importer mentioned above, were the main suppliers of high end music technology. Their place was actually in Maida Vale and burnt down, at which point they realised they'd forgotten to get insurance. I use their former repair guys, who now trade as Hammond Hire.

Missed this thread first time around. One thing I've been told, so take that as anecdotal until someone better qualified confirms it, is that modern class D stuff is rated at peak output while old school SS stuff is rated at continuous output. In other words, a typical "500W" class D will soon blowup if pushed hard, while my "125W" Acoustic 140 isn't struggling to match the same output level at roughly 25% on the master control. If so, it would explain several Orange Bass Terrors I've witnessed breaking down at gigs where my other head (100W valve) has no problems.

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1454002581' post='2965294'] The one constant is that i am always the most immature in any situation. [/quote] That's me in a nutshell in a band situation. Music is my big release from reality, so whether I'm rehearsing or on stage at a gig I'm always the manic one. Surprises people no end that I then go completely anti-social once the music stops, and it often comes across as arrogance :-(

The B120 is essentially the same as my L120 Mk IV. The active tone controls on the Mk IV amps each have a preamp valve, which makes them very sensitive. Once I realised this, I was able to get a good tone since I realised only small tweaksof the controls could dramatically alter the sound. The L100 is a rarer model though, so unless the B120 is being sold at a temptingly lower price then I'd go for that.

And keeping it bass-centric, Flavor Flav of Public Enemy is a very good bass guitarist

RhythmSection could be my long lost twin with that choice of albums, although I'd probably add Closer by Joy Division which squeaks in by being released in 1980. A more left field choice would be the genuinely unique Advantage album by Clock DVA, early industrial electronics meets jazz and funk in a sublime mix that wasn't to be repeated as the line up imploded on the subsequent tour.

An acquaintance when we were both teenaged wanted to play bass. His family were minted, so off he went to some bass academy in California with his first bass, a Musicman Stingray. I learnt on my own by playing along to records with a loaned Marlin bass bought from a catalogue and thne some Korean made Aria thing. He came back able to play other people's bass lines with great precision and faultless technique. My playing was rough and ready. He couldn't write a song if his life depended on it. I write my own songs. So yeah, music theory is great, but too much can completely stifle your creativity.

I always get her confused with Sara Lee, as both are brilliant bassists with a connection to Gang Of Four as well as David Bowie.

I had the Mk III version as my first amp head. I seem to recall it differed to the Mk IV in not having the graphic EQ. Built like a tank, and sounded brilliant through a Peavey 1820 (one eighteen inch Black Widow and two ten inch Scorpion speakers). I can confirm their durability as it even carried on working after it was dropped down the outside stairs at Nottingham Rock City. More recently I had a Mk IV as a stand in when my SVT was being repaired, and was able to confirm my memories of these old Peavey heads were not rose tinted!

Since my all valve amp head is stored at the rehearsal studio, I decided to get a cheap solid state amp for use at home. I've always loved the look of the Acoustic Control stuff from the 1970s, so I bought a model 140. Despite being the amps of choice for many top flight bassists back in the late 60s and 70s, they sell for very low prices these days. I guess it's the valve versus solid state thing, where many assume a completely solid state amp is not going to have any character or sound too quiet. Well, this beast is not only full of character, it's also unbelievably loud. It's supposed to be used with a 4ohm load for peak output, so I initially set it up to use two 16ohm 18" speaker cabs to get an 8 ohm load. It was so staggeringly loud that I'm now using it with one cab for a 16ohm load and even then the volume is only at 10% before it's loud enough to shake the walls of my music room. Not bad for an amp that supposed to only be rated for 120 watts!

I miss the Simms Watts AP 100 and ported 15" speaker I had as a student. Just assumed all valve amps sounded as good, and let it go when I needed some money for food. Should have tightened my belt and kept the bass rig ...

Check out the bands 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand, both featuring David Eugene Edwards who alternates between guitar and banjo. I have to confess I couldn't stand the sound of the banjo before hearing these two bands, but have since toyed with the idea of buying one.

Try the "Join My Band" website? Seems to work quite well down here in that London, where it seems to be first port of call for people seeking band members.

RhysP: most of the arpeggiated parts were Jupiter 4 rather than 8. A very different synth from the later 6 and 8, quite limited voice architecture in comparison but the 4 is still a great synth. I own one, and if I could only keep one instrument then it'd be the JP4 rather than any of my basses!

Singer: "Can't rehearse today, as I've accidentally erased the cassette with the drum machine data on it". Guitarist: "I can't record today, as I've got an audition for another band". (The recording had been booked for weeks). Best one was the singer who turned up to rehearsal, but after his mobile rang he disappeared. As in his parents phoning us up days later to see if we knew where he was type of disappeared. Turns out the call at the rehearsal was from his wife who had just discovered the emails between him and his ex-girlfriend making it clear they were having an affair.

If you were closer to London then I'd suggest The Gallery. They did an incredible job turning a very fragile semi-acoustic from matt yellow to glossy black.

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1450458804' post='2933091'] Completely ridiculous Aria FB series: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-ARIA-PRO-II-2-series-FB-bass-guitar-pro-defretted-schwarz-japan-/301817500762?hash=item4645b9945a:g:TNkAAOSwHQ9WZAEz"]http://www.ebay.co.u...NkAAOSwHQ9WZAEz[/url] As far as I know they were a low to mid level series and certainly not above SB1000 territory, especially with the defret. 2 hopes. Bob Hope and No Hope. [/quote] Only just seen your post, but that looks identical to my first bass. Made in Korea, bought new in 1990 for £190. It was awful - the body was some kind of chipboard like affair covered in a thick (4 to 5mm) layer of some plasticky resin stuff. The headstock snapped off it, and I thankfully bought a mint Westone Thunder 1A with the early style of logo.

Ampeg fridge and a new weightlifting hobby?

Pretty much anything by Skinny Puppy after the first mini-album. Once Dwayne Rudolph Goettel joined the complexity of the samples and arrangements was difficult to replicate.

13 - I never knew about the piano smashing incident. I got the one about lecturing Welsh schoolchildren about drugs right, but I seem to recall it was the Welsh Assembly where he recommended legalising drugs. Quite easy to confuse politicians and children though.