Happy Jack

June 26th 1974 was the date that Bad Company released their first album, and by God was it eponymous. September 18th 1974 they gave the album its London debut at The Rainbow in Finsbury Park. I was there, it was my first big London gig (indoors, anyway, I'd been at the Garden Party at Crystal Palace Bowl in July). The album runs to a staggering 35 whole minutes of playtime. And it was all the material they had. They opened with Can't Get Enough Of Your Love. Then they played the rest of the album. Then they played Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, again. Then they left the stage. The crowd, predictably, went wild. After 10 minutes they came back on again. And played an encore. It was Can't Get Enough Of Your Love.

Are you going to hang it on the wall, too?

Cable? I see no cable ...

I've looked at the Line 6 stuff but I'm a bit put off by the body-pack approach. Because I also sing in my bands, when using DB I always use a headset condenser mic which of course needs a body-pack too. That body-pack I can cope with, I clip it to the outside of the back pocket on my jeans and so long as I don't try to sit down I'm good to go. The cable that runs from the headset mic to the body-pack doesn't bother me since it's there permanently, and I can run it under my shirt and forget about it. Using a body-pack for DB wireless gives me (1) a second body-pack to clip onto a pocket and get confused about which one I'm tweaking mid-song, and (2) a short cable to tether me to the DB which is pretty much exactly what I'm trying to avoid. I've seen you play enough times to know that you're in no way hampered by the body-pack, so am I missing something?

Paul McCartney, died 9th November 1966, replaced by a lookalike early in 1967. Opinions vary as to whether or not this constitutes a reinstatement, but John Lennon apparently thought it was, so that's settled. Next question, please?

Seriously? When I met him, I'm pretty sure his name was Justin ...

The roundwound strings on my fretted Magnum III are D'Addario XLs. The flatwound strings on my fretless Magnum II are absolutely lovely, but I really can't remember which make they are. Even more strangely, neither can @Silvia Bluejay! See if you can recognise them from these:

We need a new website ... Hardcases Reunited. Excellent stuff all round, guys, enjoying this.

Hah! Just got back from a long session in the studio, not about to go back down to check what I have on there, but happy to come back tomorrow. What I can tell you is that I have flats on the fretless II and rounds on the fretted III. I found the Magnum III to be particularly sensitive to string choice. Get it right and it just sounds immense, get it wrong and you'll wonder what the fuss was all about. When I bought the III it was in fairly ropey nick and the strings were very old, tired and corroded. And it still sounded unbelievable. I stuck some decent rounds on it (really can't remember which brand) and it was just 'meh'. Changed the strings for another brand - still 'meh'. Changed one last time and zing! There it was again. Luckily I have enough basses that I can always swop strings between basses, or find a home for a new set, if necessary. If I was bunging £50 at a new set each time, I'd have been getting a mite ticked off by the end.

Feedback of -/ve 255 is actually quite impressive ...

And don't forget his amazing work with ABBA ...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Hofner-Bass-Guitar/154116635656?hash=item23e2113c08:g:2XoAAOSw0LlfeJOK In all fairness, he does correctly state that it's damaged. And yes, it used to be part of a Hofner. The six-string compensator tailpiece should have offered a clue that this was never a bass, mind.

Oh come on, 20 minutes in and nobody has mentioned Tales Of Topographic Oceans? Biggest fail in the history of prog, and that's a much coveted title.

The more I think about it, the harder it seems to me, too. To set up even a fake PayPal account, you have to link it to a genuine bank account and make (IIRC) a £0.01 payment from one to the other to establish the link, so it's actively tested. In the days before money laundering regulations and aggressive enforcement by the Yanks, there were workarounds. Those days are long gone. This can only work if, having tricked someone into buying a non-existent bass in the Canaries (or in the Shetlands in the good old days) the vendor goes on to 'have difficulties' with his PayPal account and tricks the buyer into paying by bank transfer. And that can only work if the buyer believes that he is paying money to a Spaniard in the Canaries when actually his money is going to Azerbaijan and the scammer's uncle owns the bank. This scam would probably work better if the scammer were to claim that he works for Nigerian Customs, who have seized a container full of vintage basses which is being held in Bond at Lagos, and he can only get them released to you if you give him your bank account details ...

Exactly this. What you need is a Westone 'The Rail'. Makes an 80s statement like no other bass. This one sold for £400, which is a bit on the low side, but a £500 budget should see you right. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westone-The-Rail-headless-bass-with-original-gig-bag/303669772967?hash=item46b42102a7:g:dusAAOSwcFhfS9VN

C'mon guys, you're better than this. 30 seconds with Google, and I found this:

Sweet Caroline Delilah Livin' On A Prayer

Not even close.

That's a bit like drummers and hair. How come old drummers retain a full head of hair (and it's not even white) while most bassists have their hair done by Mr. Sheen?

God! but it would be good if someone could actually come up with a genuinely effective treatment for tinnitus. @Silvia Bluejay tried to draw my attention to this article by calling downstairs to me about it ... and I couldn't understand what she was saying because my tinnitus is so bad today!

I've just sent him a FB message, pointing him at this topic.

So I'm guessing this isn't a Boss DS-1 ...

The thing that really struck me in those photos is how empty that cavity is. I'm used to seeing circuit boards and strange coloured cylindrical things and 9V batteries and stuff.

Just play faster ...

I have three (yes, three) pedal boards, all of which exist in a permanent state of flux. New pedals arrive, old pedals go or make surprise come-backs, the pack is shuffled again and again, and all with bewildering speed. Playing in multiple bands does, of course, have a lot to do with this, whilst woodland rehearsals miles from the nearest 13A socket had a lot more to do with it. Best bit? I very rarely use a pedal board at gigs.