NancyJohnson

Oh, lest we forget. This could be adapted for most singers or guitarists:

I saw Japan at The Lyceum in 1980/81 and one of the supports were a band called The Smart. Outstanding. Same venue, The Alarm supporting Big Country.

I met him a few times. A lovely, lovely bloke. Gentle and sweet.

Morning Need a bit of help...could someone identify the orchestral piece from the start of the clip below? I've tried doing a Shazam, but I only get 'Big Country Wonderland'! My wife seems to think it's Elgar. No idea! Cheers

I've played dozens of different combinations, but have never knowingly played cabinets that have had the speakers replaced and played them pre and post. I think I've had three distinct wow moments; an old Peavey cabinet (may have been a 4x12 or 4x10) at a studio in Woking, and old Ampeg in Brighton (6×10 or 8x10) and my 15/6 Barefaced Big One. Ultimately though, I know my desired tone, so tweak accordingly. These three were just great without any tweaking.

I went to a friend's daughter's wedding a few years back, was sitting next to this bloke, funny, didn't recognise him. He kept on saying stuff like, 'I'm not eating, I've got to drive up to Birmingham. I'll have a soft drink.' At the reception, just before the food came out, he did this, 'Right, I've got to do this thing,' and pulled a radio mic out of his jacket pocket, sauntered over to a small music system and hit play. Over dinner, he crooned over about 20 rat-pack standards; he was quite brilliant. Turns out it was Paul Roberts, the guy who took over from Hugh Cornwell. He was an old friend of the groom. In the evening he sang some more, he hung around before heading north, throwing in a Stranglers medley (on which I joined him on a couple of choruses). Lovely, lovely bloke.

Never owned one, don't really like the Dingwall designs, but interest has piqued with the new Ibanez range, especially the EHB below. Body shape has got a bit of a Roscoe vibe to it, which probably isn't a bad thing. I'm sure it would be easy enough to play, but I'm not on the market for another bass priced at £1.4K bass just yet (I'm sure these will pop up at about half that before the end of the year). I'm curious though; the scale on this (it's a B-G) is 33"-35"; I'm assuming there's some optimal scale length/string gauge science going on here, but feasibly how far can fan frettage actually go on four or five string basses? I mean, could the difference from B-G extend beyond 2/2.5 inches? What about multi-scale fretless?

While it's the antithesis of my punky roots, this evening is all about Donald Fagen. Cheeky bottle of red and Donald. Joy.

One of the reissues from a few years back. A G3.

This is one that prompted my post! I love the size but performance is a bit carp.

Which Snark do people use?

Opinions on headstock tuners please. Bought a Reverb branded one a couple of years back, which is great (but no longer available) then recently bought a D'Addario/Planet Waves one which is pretty poor (it struggles on the E&B strings). Cheers.

Opinions on headstock tuners please. Bought a Reverb branded one a couple of years back, which is great (but no longer available) then recently bought a D'Addario/Planet Waves one which is pretty poor (it struggles on the E&B strings). Cheers.

I used it for the last gig I did with my old band, kind of knew that was it...I was shouting my way through the last chorus, took it off midway and threw it across the stage. It had been a fairly rowdy punky gig, a few boisterous punters. I remember seeing it fly through the air and clatter onto the floor, thinking OMFG. It was like slow motion. There were people watching who were just gasping. It just lie there, the strings vibrating nastily. No big damage. The thing is breakproof.

My old Aria Primary. Gumtree find. I've done stuff to it...Dunlop Straploks, Hipshot Kickass bridge, Delano pickup, scratchplate and controls. Every time I take it out of the house I make sure I ding it somewhere. This photo is a bit old, it's in even worse condition now.

If you want versatility of the unit, go to Spotify and dial up Lutz/Nowherebound. It's a combination of me going through a BDDI and the dUg. There's a stripped back version of the album coming next week which is insanely good and the bass is even more up front.

While he has decent chops, Tim Starace kind of represents everything I absolutely detest about these guys who are, in the nicest possible way, just playing someone else's lines. That smugness on his face, the look that shouts either look-at-me-I-am-so-in-the-groove-it-hurts or did-someone-just-fart?-oh-that-was-me-and-doesn't-it-smell-awesome? Sigh. I would sooner see Geddy (although understandably he's dealing with the loss of the new guy at the moment) or at least see ol' Timmy doing his own lines rather than gurning his way through whatever he's playing. Anyhow. Go buy a dUg. It'll do everything here and more.

8. Levy's extra long.

There's an inevitability that the coating may come off, they last ages and as a pick player there's a short length around the bridge pickup that will deteriorate. To be honest though, what they look like is unimportant; the longevity of the strings far outweighs the way they look.

Honestly don't understand why Tech21 didn't bring out the Ged2112 in this sized unit to start out with! Two or three years of reinventing. Anyhoo, just buy a dUg, folks. It'll do pretty much everything a GED will do and a load more.

He'll do anything you want if you have enough swag.