chriswareham

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.

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1424293034' post='2694918'] at £600 an Apple user will accept this for a functional device that looks the business. Android users on the other hand tend to be more cheapskate and think Open Source means they should get stuff for less... [/quote] Whereas Apple users pay way over the odds for commodity hardware that can't be upgraded, and just happens to depend on a foundation of Open Source software. Mac OS-X and iOS? Based on a modified and open source Unix kernel from Carnegie-Mellon university, along with a userland mostly from various open source BSD versions of Unix. Or you could run something like Linux where the system isn't predicated on finding ways for schmucks to part with money via iTunes, the app store, etc.

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1424224108' post='2694143'] Indeed, for me though, it's the sampling of significant "Grooves" and "Hooks" that makes "it less valid artistically". [/quote] Yup, this is what grinds my gear about a lot of sampling. You've got a machine that can capture and manipulate sound in any way imaginable, but a talentless twunt like Kanye just samples a whole bar or two of someone elses recording. Now an outfit like Skinny Puppy or Young Gods, they know how to use a sampler creatively.

Relics? It's a terrible album, but then I'm not much of a Pink Floyd fan.

Phew. Saw the title, and thought "not another ageing celebrity arrested".

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1424038600' post='2691953'] Why can't you buy that B side on Cd, some of them were better than A sides. [/quote] Check out the [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Join-Dots-B-Sides-Rarities-Cure/dp/B00012SYV4/"]Join The Dots[/url] compilation - it's all the B sides plus some rare stuff from soundtracks and compilations.

I used to joke that they could put a computer in your pocket but couldn't make a decent bass amp you could lift easily, so when the class D stuff appeared I was quite excited. Having tried a couple, they sounded very clean but seemed to lack warmth. Sticking pedals in front didn't help either, so I'm glad it's not just me that prefers to put up with the weight of a full valve head in order to get the sound I like.

My mate Andy (nicknamed Lemmy thanks to his Motorhead fixation) was caught in the act of self gratification by his Hells Angel dad. His dad allegedly said "your dinner's ready, make sure you wash your hands". Reason I know this is because Andy's dad took great delight in telling us at a house party where he was the bouncer.

That's ten kilos less than an Ampeg SVT CL, so manageable for one person over short distances. I wonder how heavy my dream amp, the Simms-Watts AP 200 would be - the transformers in that are immense!

Cassette version of The Cure "Staring at a beach" singles compilation was a constant while spending quality time with my first year at university girlfriend. If said fumbling continued long enough, the stereo would flip over to the second side and play the b-sides.

Ironically, you'll get a better audience if you're a bit more niche and can find the promoters who cater for that scene. So a Goth or industrial/EBM outfit can be guaranteed a good audience through a promoter like Flag Promotions. A more mainstream, but unknown band will play to an empty venue usually.

I miss Music Technology magazine, or MT as it was as more often known. It morphed out of Electronics & Music Making magazine, which had articles on building synths, outboard gear and so forth along with reviews of commercially made gear and interviews. Perhaps because of its hobbyist origins, it was always focused on the how of making music rather than celeb style interviews. Particularly recall the interview with the mysterious fourth member of Front 242, who refused to do interviews with more conventional music mags.

Vengeance - New Model Army Bass played as a lead instrument, great lyrics.

I bought one of those last week from on Solsounds, but as yorks5stringer found they are £9.00 a pop. Maplin used to sell the parts separately, but not any more, and I can't find them in the vastness that is Farnell's web catalogue.

Take a warm blanket and (as others have said) a pillow. I even have a special blanket with sleeves in that I bought at a motorway services years ago. That way you can catch up on any lost sleep while you're on the bus. Drink plenty of water, about 2 litres a day, and try to avoid greasy food as much as possible. If you can't get a healthy cooked meal provided, then reasonable fast food is a kebab (shish not doner) without onion or sauce, and ask if they have rice - if there's a Greek or Turkish community in the area they often sell rice even if it's not on the menu.

Kanye West reckons he's sticking it to the "white establishment" and standing up for poverty stricken black folks. He's doing it by promoting his good friend Beyonce as artistically superior to Beck. Beyonce being a multimillionaire karaoke singer who has her songs written by recognised plagiarists (Timbaland for instance). Irony much?

I've found some people don't trust bank transfers, since it involves giving out the name, sort code and account number. While this is no worse than paying by cheque, since each one has the same details, I can understand people being g a bit paranoid however misplaced. In this instance, I'd chalk the sellers reluctance up to paranoia rather than malice and consider buying new from a shop or online retailer if you can afford the extra expense.