NickD

34 at the moment. I did have a 35 inch Skyline 55-01, but realised it was about more than scale length when I got my first Maruszcyck. The Lakland went when the 2nd Maruszcyck came.

The B3 is built for idiots... so it's great for me. I have a patch set for each tune and treat it like 3 pedals for each. I have the Zoom expression pedal and find it a really useful addition. Some patches I just use it as a volume pedal, which is useful enough in itself, I also use it assigned to pitch shift. My favourite though, in a one guitar band is to assign it to gain on the Sansamp sim. I have the sim set for the bulk of the tune but then use the pedal to slide in a little more grunt when the guitard isn't filling out the song so much in solo passages.

I bought a pair of PA tops from Happy Jack. Predictably a delightfully smooth friendly experience. Cheers Fella!

I bought a Steinberg UR12, which came bundled with Cubase AI. It'll take instruments or mics, the version of Cubase came with enough VSTs for my purposes (I mostly only use drums and piano anyway). It's an absolute doddle to use. Everytime I open it there's a screen that pops up offering and upgrade for 49 Euros, basically more of everything, but I honestly don't see the need at the moment for my purposes.

They were really good, they were just a fish out of water in that situation. It was hard to feel sorry for them though... I knew (roughly) how much money they were making!

My Jake! I kinda bought is as backup for my Elwood L5, figuring that a J type and a P type would cover everything. Wrong, the P type has everything covered by itself. The Elwood is lighter, a pleasure to play and weighs nothing. It has a lovely range of tones from the preamp, but for all its simplicity the passive Jake blows it away. I had them wire it volume, pan and tone as that's what I prefer, and it's just perfect. The output from those Delanos is monstrous too. Occasionally, usually in practice, I miss the 24 frets and easy top end access of it's brother, but it's always my first choice.

Years ago, doing the British forces circuit in Germany... A massive Officers summer ball, an all night job in a series of huge marquees, with a lavish dinner to start, ending with a Champagne breakfast at 7am. It's once a year, they all put money into it, the ladies spend a fortune on ballgowns, and they're really up for a good time. Our first set was around midnight, to be followed by another band from the same agency. We were a 70s glam rock caberet thing... wigs, makeup, lycra, platform soles and a strap-on Richard customised with microphone innards... best not to ask!😂 If was frenzied, and fun, and sweaty, we left them panting for more. We knew our audience and we knew our job. Next band up... An ELO tribute, a really subtle, arty ELO tribute. They were incredible, imaginative and excellent musicians. I loved them... but they might as well have been the worst band in the world. They were in every way 'better' than us, but they just dropped the feeling in the room for an hour, just when the alcohol is taking over and they needed keeping on their feet. You could easily spot the musicians in the room... as they were the only people left watching. We managed to pull things back together in our second set in the early hours, only to be followed by a longer and artier set from these guys with dramatic vignettes and album tracks and long musical segues between them. So much work had gone into it, that much was clear, but they had no business being there. It can't have been good for them, being outgunned buy a haphazard team of snotty, smutty 20 something rockers, and it made it bloody tough for us in that second set too.

The Steve Gadd Band at Ronnie's last night. A class act all round... I dream of putting a band together half as sensitive to each other's space, and capable of such subtlety and dynamics. Jimmy Johnson was superb, and the compositions of his were the standouts for me. I could have listened all night.

I bought the fretless version as a toe in the water, but in Black. I can hardly fault it (apart from the fact it came with roundwounds... why do they do that?). For the money I think the quality is ridiculous. It's nicely put together, nicely finished, tuners feel a bit cheap but it stays in tune, and the neck is really nice to play. Obviously I can't comment on fretwork, which is where budget basses often show their budgetness? (budgettery? Budgetation?). Tone is half decent too, and there's a lot of flexibility from the controls. The preamp is a bit hissy if you turn the treble up, but I only did that to test it... In normal use (or my normal use) it's fine. I'd gig it without a second thought were my fretless playing not so crappy.

I've no time for that bandy legged, aren't I hard, Poundland Stevie Wonder-U-Like dwarf... but my God he always got lucky with rhythm sections.

Gutted for you. It's just like mine, but mine has the 19mm, and it's perfect.

I hauled that around Army bases in Germany back in the 90s... wigs, makeup, lycra... the whole shebang. It's loads of fun to play and you can go a bit mental with it... as long as the main tune is there the punters will go for it regardless of how you play it. Handy tip... Wig Wam Bam medleys very well with Little Willy, which is fun, slightly smutty, and used to go down a storm.

If I could figure out how he put together his lead distortion effects, I'd never work with a guitarist again!

It can't just be the Ronnie Scott premium. I'm off to see Steve Gadd there later this month and it was around half that price.

Sort of! I started with a pick in Metal bands, then went with fingers because I thought I should. Over the past few years I've gravitated to a weird hybrid. I play some 2 and 3 fingerstyle but spend an awful lot of time muting on the bridge while playing with my thumb, or with my thumb and first 2 fingers like a classical guitar style. Sometimes I use my thumb like a pick too, with my forefinger gripping it... It's all weird, but it works for me.

Almost everyone asked those questions... And those who didn't probably wish they did!

Great stuff, thanks for the warning!

There's no answer but the one that suits you best IMO. Do both, they're both fine and both worth learning. Look at your influences, who's sound appeals to you as a start? At the end of the day the only thing that matters is that the sound you want to hear comes out of your speakers... how you achieve that is entirely your business.

Forever, I've been a fan of plug in and play. I know how I want to sound, know how to get that out of my gear, and the world is all at peace. Recently I've embarked upon a project that requires a little more, a stripped down originals 3 piece that seems to pull me towards a few effects. I started using my B3, with an expression pedal, but having got close to what I want I've also picked up a few dedicated effects to do a more refined job in some cases. I still intend to keep the Zoom, for the tuner, looper and for a patch of backup effects in case anything fails live, as it's easily good enough in most cases, but I currently have 3 additional pedals. So... Total noob question. Assuming I've got a big enough pedalboard/case ('cos I have), is there any advantage to me getting a proper pedalboard power supply, as opposed to my current (and free) plan to just velcro a 4 way plug adaptor on there behind the pedals? If it's definitely the way to go, any advice on pitfalls and how to do it without spending a fortune would be most welcome. Thanks in advance! Nick

Well... I went for a Chowny Pitchcraft and a shedload of inspiration, and I came away with both. 😊 Top marks to Chowny... with a failing battery on the contactless machine I though I might be going home disappointed, but no. 'You're on the forum aren't you?... Take it and I'll invoice you!' That's above and beyond in terms of customer service... I'll be back! It was just a blur of performance, coffee, masterclass... repeat until the Argentinian Steakhouse across the road opens! Snow Owl was brilliant, Mo Foster's band were great, Vega was soooo funky, and bloody lovely to boot. Guy Pratt was proper funny, I'd have loved him to play a little more though. The big take away for me was from Yolanda Charles. Her subdivisions thing from her masterclass will keep me frustrated for a month. I didn't touch a bass all weekend, the one I would have left with was £6,800😨... but I couldn't stop playing last night!

Gutted. The one thing I'd pre-justified to myself. I'll have to wait for Pitchraft madness! I hope missing out isn't such a loss for you.

London is much better this morning. Little if any snow overnight and a couple of degrees 'warmer'. All main roads clear, with limited ice on side roads. I'm guessing tomorrow will be better still. Heavy bass showers with occasional funky patches!

That's tidy! While I'd never think to go out specifically to watch that, as it's not really my 'thing', if I went somewhere and you were on I wouldn't be able to leave!