chriswareham

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1427067104' post='2725504'] This is becoming rather like Last of the summer wine'. [/quote] Have you seen that TV channel called "Yesterday"? Seems to be documentaries about the Nazis interspersed by reruns of Last of the Summer Wine. What's that all about?

I assume you mean the one started by "Bronner". Surprised the mods haven't deleted it or at least locked it, as it seems like an obvious troll to me. I've criticised the attitude of Hall and his acolytes, as well as stated how disappointed I've been by the Ricks that I've played, but they are a unique looking and sounding bass (the reason I've tried a few is that I love the sound and look, but ended up with a couple of fakers that suited me better).

Blimey, lots of familiar studios in London mentioned so far! I used to endure La Rocka in North London at one point, which was the filthiest, most poorly equipped rehearsal studio I've ever seen. The worst if it was that it was hardly cheaper than my favourite studio, Terminal in Londonbridge (which I think others have mentioned above but not by name). Have also used Mill Hill Music Complex, which is great except in Winter when the lack of heating becomes very apparent. In Acton, Panic has great rooms but the bass amps are terrible Ashdowns, while around the corner Survival has better equipment but is a bit damp in Winter. There is also a great three room rehearsal place in Kilburn called Resident Studios.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1426193329' post='2715585'] Hall "worked for the British government"? What have I missed? J. [/quote] See this post on RickResource: [url="http://www.rickresource.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=194687&p=209286&hilit=government+hall#p209286"]http://www.rickresou...nt+hall#p209286[/url] It's part of a thread where someone's complaining about RIC's bad customer service with regard to the colour bleed on a blue bass. The guy posted a query regarding the problem on the official RIC forum. His post was removed, and he was subsequently banned from the forum. He then posted on Rickresource, where a number of other people came forward with the same issue affecting circa 2005 blue finished Ricks. Ben Hall (John Hall's son) acknowledged that there had been a problem. John Hall then waded in with his usual passive-aggressive stance and effectively told the original poster to shut up as his bass was "illegally imported".

Hall possibly went after Basschat rather than TalkBass because he felt he could afford to piss off w few thousand Brits on a fairly UK centric forum, but not a massively subscribed international one. I wonder if the BC owners ever contacted the firm that he claimed represented him or RIC in the UK. I did, and they couldn't recall ever representibg him or his firm and certainly don't now. With his claims of having worked for the British government and to know "important" people, Hall strikes me as a Walter Mitty like character.

My Greco RB700:

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1425984063' post='2712959'] Rick make bespoke instruments to those that have the money to buy a bepoke instrument, why should they let people ripp of the brand and put them out of bussines, you want a Rick, buy a Rick. [/quote] They're not bespoke. They don't offer custom models, they're all banged out on CNC machinery. Their quality control is notorious, their customer support often blames faults on he instrument owner. [quote name='spacey' timestamp='1425984063' post='2712959'] They are expensive because they are made in the USA where they have to pay workers a living wage. [/quote] Nope. They are expensive because supply is deliberately kept way below the demand, meaning they can charge a rather inflated premium for what is quite often a poorly made instrument. My Greco is superior to a Rickenbacker - for instance the routs in the cavities are way cleaner. They are made using automated machinery just like any other "mass produced" brand, except for the finishes which are often poorly executed (see the complaints about the "Blue Boy" finish in particular).

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1425984035' post='2712958'] Yeah, RIC applied for and got a trade mark on the body shape a couple of years ago. [/quote] Not a trade mark, but trade dress. Which isn't applicable to private sales in Europe of items that don't claim to be RIC products, but eBay pull the listings anyway as they haven't got the resources to properly check such claims. The law is only supposed to apply if a buyer can be reasonably expected to confuse the "copy" with the "original". Which for a bass that is radically different to any that RIC have made - such as the linked headless one - means it isn't infringing the law.

When the British Eurovision entrant was announced a couple of days back, someone suggested they should have put Sleaford Mods in as our entry instead. Now that would have been f*cking mental as Mr Williamson would likely say.

Posted this in the parent forum section as well, but I thought I'd also put it here as it's definitely an interesting piece of JapCrap: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131441312234"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131441312234[/url]

No, not one of those unplayable "extended range" things that looks like an ironing board! [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131441312234"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131441312234[/url]

I use a Demeter Compulator compressor pedal and only notice what it does when I turn it off, so I guess that means it's quite "transparent".

I think you'll find that the correct comparison for the highest frequency string on that monstrosity is to the diameter of a gnat's cock.

I fell off stage at my first London gig in the now defunct Moonlight Club. Overcome with excitement at being on the same stage that had once featured Joy Division, I misjudged the edge of the stage thanks to too much dry ice ...

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1424872928' post='2701411'] The American built stuff was almost military spec. It was boring to look at, functioned like Army gear, but it always delivered and still does. What changed was buyers, they got more stupid as people got more stupid. Put some bling on, sling it together in China pile it high sell it low and everyone raves about it, until it breaks mid gig, then you wish you had kept that 20 year old American peavey head. Buyers lost the concept of durability and well built as opposed to trendy and cheap. The market changed, blurb and bling is king now. Performance and durability come last. [/quote] Exactly this. I switched to an Ampeg from my Peavey Mk III based on experiences with hired in, American made Ampeg SVT CL heads and 8x10 fridges that I used for studio sessions. The Vietnamese made SVT CL head I bought had quite bad fit and finish in several places, and broke down on me despite being treated very carefully - something that the solid state Peavey had never done, despite being dropped down a flight of metal stairs on one occasion. I had a Peavey Mk IV as a stand in while the SVT was fixed.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1424853938' post='2701087'] Peavey are now distributed by Barnes & Mullins in the UK. They also distribute Aguilar and have done a brilliant job in sorting out all the supply chain problems previously experienced with Aggie cabs being shipped from the States. They really are a 'gold standard' distributor. Superb service, great stock control, fast delivery and solid back-up for warranty issues and spare parts. They are already contacting dealers and arranging trade displays of all the new Peavey gear available. [/quote] Hopefully this should get Peavey gear into more shops and turn things around for them. I know that back in the late 1990s I had to special order Peavey stuff from the US, as the range they normally shipped to the UK was quite limited. They seem to have lost out in the rehearsal studios - from the early 1990s to ten or so years back the typical bass amps in London rehearsal studios were reliable, workmanlike Peavey combos or stacks. Now it's all that terrible bottom of the range Ashdown stuff (ABM 400 series I think) that sound muffled and underpowered in comparison.

Peavey seem to be the victim of their own success and their insistence on manufacturing in the US. Their equipment has always been bullet proof and often innovative, particularly in speaker design, but thanks to their affordability they've nor really gained the same status as say Ampeg. Now they're being undercut by stuff made in the fat east, and have left it late to switch to offshore manufacturing (unlike Ampeg - my 2007 SVT CL was made in Vietnam). I hope they recover, as I've always rated their gear and have owned both Mk III and Mk IV heads as well as an 1820 cabinet before switching to Ampeg.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1424255560' post='2694329'] Nice to hear Moose being mentioned. I'm a big NMA fan and I think he's a top player. [/quote] Moose and his predecessor Stuart Morrow, both inventive bassists. One thing about New Model Army is that they've always had great bass players!

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1424549003' post='2697661'] Always liked the look of reel-to-reel tape decks, they looked great behind Human League and OMD and again later on in Pulp Fiction - one of the best looking pieces of tech on the planet. Enjoy! [/quote] Soft Cell were always accompanied by what looked like a Revox in the middle of the stage. A friends band (The Modern) paid homage to this by having a Revox whirring away whenever they played live, although it was only for show.

If it's an old valve head from the 1970s, then chances are it was designed for use as either a lead guitar or bass guitar amp. I use a Sound City 120, which can be used as either. The only differences between different models was the occasional inclusion of a spring reverb or an effects loop. When I was student my amp was a Simms Watts AP120 - the AP stood for "all purpose", since it could handle everything including keyboards. The Simms Watts PA100 only differed in that it had more inputs.

If you check out the Brandoni Guitars website, then you'll see they still have a lot of old parts from the bankruptcy of the Eko factory. They made the semi-acoustic bass that I got from my parents as a 21st birthday present, back when the occasional Brandoni made instrument would appear in Macari's music shop.

Oh blimey. This is the documentary they've been making since the Killing Joke II album came out in 2003. I really hope they don't use the audience interview of me they filmed at the Astoria show in London - to say I was drunk is an understatement.

Played keyboards, but all my friends wanted to be in punk bands to emulate our local heroes (Mega City 4). Everyone else wanted to be a singer or lead guitarist, so as I was a big fan of Joy Division and New Order I naturally graduated to bass guitar.

The truss rod on one of my basses was "inoperative" when I bought it. Only found out when it arrived from Slovakia. A couple of suitably sized washers under the nut at the end of the rod and it was operative again. Don't know whether it would work in this case, as I don't know what the truss rods are like on Fender or Squier style stuff.

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1424358376' post='2695519'] Out of curiosity, if it's not money that you avoid Apple for. Why is it? [/quote] Up until the iPhone 6 at least, it was the Steve Jobs legacy that meant small screen sizes. Even once they fixed the screen size, that still leaves the issue of not being able to install a decent web browser, as the only alternative to Apple's Safari have to use a crippled version of the same rendering engine to be able to get into the App Store. That means no advert blocker. Then there's the recent versions of Mac OS-X, where Apple have started to ignore their own style guides for application interfaces resulting in decreased conformance with Human Interface best practices. I liked Mac OS-X up until Tiger (10.4), but ever since it's been downhill as the focus has shifted from usability towards trying to get you to buy content from iTunes or the App Store. Then there's the lack of something like a decent package management system. Sure, if you're coming from the anarchy of Windows with its DLL hell and lack of coherent structure, then the Unix underpinnings of OS-X offer some improvement but it's pretty pisspoor compared to the package management on a typical Linux or BSD system.