Happy Jack

Mind you, warm tar on the back of the neck would certainly encourage @fleabag to stay near the money notes ...

Get an Uber? 😉

https://www.submarinepickup.com/collections/frontpage/products/the-submarine?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=TOF Spring22&utm_content=EA Static4 PM - Copy 2&fbclid=IwAR3Z__9QlSszcxyIDJD4UG61f8nDGC864iutgnSHvGCu-86HrXedXabvp0o

It's the stud-ent model.

Typical! You wait three years and a Global Pendemic, and then one comes along. 🙄

Founder Charles Kaman (1919–2011) developed the first prototypes of the Ovation guitar in 1965–1966. Kaman, an amateur guitarist from an early age, worked on helicopter design as an aerodynamicist at United. Eventually, he founded a helicopter design company, Kaman Aircraft, in 1945. The Kaman Corporation soon diversified, branching into nuclear weapons testing, commercial helicopter flight, development and testing of chemicals, and helicopter bearings production. In the early 1960s, however, financial problems from the failure of their commercial flight division forced them to expand into new markets, such as entertainment and leisure. Charles Kaman, still an avid guitar player, became interested in making guitars. From 1966 to 2007, Ovation guitars, and later on Adamas guitars, were a brand of KMCMusicorp, which itself was a subsidiary of Kaman Aircraft.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334417063873?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110013%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIMRXI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190806114717%26meid%3Dfce7435a416749fd9ce50bd09641774a%26pid%3D101100%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D24%26itm%3D334417063873%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2380057%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebNoToraCoCoViewsNoHighIdfOrSortByFinalScoreBlender%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2380057.c101100.m3021&amdata=cksum%3A334417063873fce7435a416749fd9ce50bd09641774a|enc%3AAQAGAAABILOU9qwcovy5VVuH2hNmsVlb0FXA7GwRjksdjbJnkWkx9VM3c%2BxJ2%2B8iBQcuesp47aeuKEFeax2WBOLBVXBV76%2FYRNCZeUGJ4RY6HBXFpZS%2Fk3Bo0gGAs1hLxjzkg%2BpRdCWsCUFJQhsxWfueZVVfKH3NSU3OLZ8x56uBM2fyX66znxVioOYeUryyvrFW7qsgX8HnMK8MF%2BASHXosPx6GsYYqJYYnQrcTC4S0AsdKEnydfov83dvupi3lQHgDJrNx13qDONE32kaTMSYw%2FtO%2FmLNzHR%2FEIZo%2FbQx%2B8ZQj3H8iAzPOXS5tib%2BCor7GwfyCPY4kFJhrgqNsRCbVhIqisFpr%2FoDD9IbCDB6q99GKIrlZwPsE3mOaM05gCyg3pjVouA%3D%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2380057&_trkparms=pageci%3A0c9f8543-cddd-11ec-affe-46d5eb69bccd|parentrq%3A9d913b1b1800a0f2eb3d3969fffdb07c|iid%3A12

I've had mixed experience with power amps from Thomann, including one that started emitting showers of sparks before catching fire in the middle of a country & western gig, but the most pleasant surprise I've had in ages was https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334387167184?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D238392%26meid%3D917a7f0b8ee44f5385317286705ce2b5%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D233645394188%26itm%3D334387167184%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWebMskuAspectsV202110NoVariantSeed&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A334387167184917a7f0b8ee44f5385317286705ce2b5|enc%3AAQAGAAABEIIp3bTCXFAKw6S9crk9CpCrrtOgadqFiC10NVPbN0936eprYVB4SXfDa52e1mbPLDW8ro3fGQu%2F2vb5HwnsBryEo8JPOIoqExMG2vjEAsrUdVOBhKTK4T80B%2BWjs2bT2tB6euVOgqWZ9Ah%2BmXDW3clgzpSDYvlCs9Y9Rl5rIf%2FOhXUr51CGcpwqh7RjNEvaJJmw4U0jRFEUAQ1glZiLUtqKm%2F1av%2FXPJe02AwJQxUQqurau3To8fZLhsvjhBqAulOLYXfFVBASw5G5zwAMAeTku42qZkCQ2JcFw0mFN3bdZaZLEdqB18uGsFREQMrsFpmGNdvZztNkUUkxgUQRRSYTaxn%2FSfCBgJrveldalupf6|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675 I bought the 2-channel 2600W 'New Generation' and I've been delighted with it. My default option for power amps is to buy ludicrously expensive Powersoft Digam units, so I keep an eye on the cheap clone market from the Far East. This was my fourth attempt at buying a cheap-as-chips lightweight 1U power amp from China and, if this one is anything to go by, they've finally cracked it.

I'm with @MacDaddy on this one. Still, eye of the beholder and all that.

It is possible that these are somehow connected.

That's pretty much your answer there. No intention to be dismissive, but you're almost certainly wasting your time (and your money) if you go the preamp + power amp route. That's a solution (one of many) to issues encountered when playing live. If you do end up on stage, and it's amazing how often that's the outcome 😎, then re-visit this topic one you have a couple of dozen gigs under your belt.

There are far better bassists on this thread than me, and people who know way more about high-end basses than I do, but I doubt there are many posting here who know more about accounting and finance for SMEs (Fodera is deffo an SME = small to medium enterprise). I've seen (I think) no fewer than three references to Fodera making a 10% gross profit (GP) margin, including one which described it as a "pledge". Just to be clear, if any business where I was running the finances wanted to declare a GP of 10% then that's what I would declare. GP is an incredibly easy thing to manipulate in a small business run by owner/managers. I'm making no accusations, and the processes I have in mind are entirely legal and legitimate. Place not your faith in a "pledge" to limit GP to 10%, and I personally would have no interest in working with people who were so keen to limit their own potential. In truth, a well-run boutique business with decent management should be looking at 25%-35%. I have no doubt at all that Fodera are making a mint and so they should be. If people are actually prepared to pay $18k, $30k, $36k for a bass then that's their decision and their look-out. Don't expect to find me in the queue, mind ...

Started watching it, but I'd forgotten what an unbelievably irritating speaking voice she has. Dreadfully shallow of me, I agree, but it was like listening to nails on a blackboard for three straight minutes before I switched off. 🙄

Now that's very different from what I expected to see. That's a Typhoon Mk.III where they moved from three control knobs to four, dropped the selector switch from ther upper bout to the lower, and changed the body shape to elongate the horns. Those knobs obviously are not the originals (they would have been witches' hats) and it's missing the original ashtray. £825 is ambitious but hardly outrageous. I was unaware of the 'body made by Hofner' story and I have no idea where that comes from. Without doing any actual, y'know, research I have to say that it sounds highly unlikely ... that wasn't the sort of company that Ovation was.

Nah ... the Serek Cruyff isn't due until next year. Me, I'm holding out for the Donny Van Der Beek signature model. 😱

I was 16 at the very end of 1972 so Bolan loomed large in my teenaged life, but even then nobody thought his songwriting was "unique" ... songs like Get It On (which I have played at every Junkard Dogs gig for the past 12 years), Jeepster, Hot Love etc. were barely-disguised re-treads of Chuck Berry riffs. What he was was GLAM and - at the time - that was enough. It worked for Gary Glitter too, mind ...

Yeh, but you'd have got ALL the gigs!

Best single piece of kit I ever bought was https://www.gak.co.uk/en/phil-jones-bass-bass-buddy/30619 but in fairness it used to cost a helluva lot less than £399!

"The Fodera Mini MB Presentation is open to orders with a total price of $18,450." Of course you then need to add shipping, Import Duty, and VAT on everything.

IME (which is genuinely quite extensive) random cold-calling by phone or email is at least 90% useless ... I'd actually go to 95% in truth. Every now and then you get lucky and think "well that didn't cost me anything so clearly this is a great method for getting gigs" but it ain't, it really ain't. Every pub / landlord / band is different so there's no magic bullet, but I can tell you what works for me and @Silvia Bluejay. We use Lemonrock & similar to identify which pubs within 30 miles of us put on the sort of bands we play in, then we use Google Maps to plot a circular course which will allow us to visit half a dozen of those pubs without wasting too much petrol, then we go and visit all those pubs on a MONDAY. Yup, a Monday lunchtime. By a country mile, the best time to get gigs. The pub will be very quiet, the manager can't justify paying bar staff to stand there for three hours doing nothing so will be running the bar (and using the down time to go through the weekend's paperwork in their cubbyhole behind the bar), and has no alternative but to engage with you if you are buying a drink. In practice, I hardly ever even need to buy a drink - we just walk in and ask "where do the bands set up?". Pubs are absolutely a people business and there is just no substitute for facetime with the manager. We also find that gig-hunting as a married couple makes us easier for the manager to engage with, especially if it's a woman on her own in a deserted pub. You can maybe replace the Monday with a Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe, but don't even think about visiting pubs to ask for gigs on a weekend. You can guarantee that you'll be told the pub's gigs are booked by the wife's nephew's second cousin and he only comes into the pub on days with an Q in them so feel free to come back then.

Let me know when you decide to sell it ... 😂😂😂

Cramp has many causes, and each of them requires a different fix. Most people assume that cramp is caused either by dehydration or by lack of salt, and those can definitely cause cramp, yes. My cramps are completely different and come about through poor posture derived from having flat feet. For me the solution has been a long-term program of Pilates combined with daily stretches and close attention to how I'm standing, moving, picking things up, etc. Have a look at this, see if it helps at all. The bit about hands starts around 7:30.