NancyJohnson

On the reggae front (not that I play it), I'd always thought the de rigueur bass was that of a short scale...Fender Mustangs. Conversely, Paul Samwell Smith favoured Rivoli basses, that were also 30-32" scale.

Darkglass A/O head, Tech21dUg, Barefaced Big One, two custom build Mike Lulls, a Hamer FBIV, old Aria Primary. I think that's it. This isn't to say I still have a want list, but it's all about the getting, eh?

All depends what you consider expensive...I've always been up for a bit of experimentation, but collectively it's £££. Tons. Gretsch Baritone...is it a baritone or a just weird bass thing? Rickenbacker 4003. Gibson NR Thunderbird reissue (Issues, grrr). A pair of Aguilar SL112s (they were nice, but not aggressive enough). Tech21 GED 2112 (just grrr). TC Electronic BH head (gimmicky Toneprint, fun, questionable output wattage, not very good). Sansamp VT Bass rack (bought blind, didn't do anywhere near what I thought it was going to do; one rehearsal - 'Uh-oh', one gig and sold.) Trace Eliot rack gear...lots of it, GP12 SMX/Mono power stage, stereo power stages, just horribly bland, most of it bought in one purchase, immediacy of, 'What the fork have I done?' There was an Ibanez Roadster thing I loathed from the moment I bought it. It cost me under £200 decades ago, but WAS a lot of money at the time. It was forking shirt. I lost my temper with it when I was gigging and (unplanned) broke it up towards the end of the set, much to the gasps of the people watching.

There's a much older thread here somewhere too.

I'd concur with Brains here. I'd always go with a twinned pickup bass over a single pickup one; it's just my preferred start point. While my preference is for Thunderbird reverse/non-reverse shaped basses (well, OK I'd also swing for a Kubicki if I could find one), I just think the new breed of Stingrays with the sparkly bodies and the toasted necks look sublime. Tonally, I don't give a rats to be honest, I can tweak my gear so that everything sounds more or less the same.

I ran a dual channel set up for a while (different prestages, Matrix stereo power amp, multiple enclosures). On a very basic level, as the bass wasn't dual channel (or stereo), after a tuner I'd split the signal via a Morley ABY box and then shoot these outputs into a pair of @Tech21NYC units, on one side I'd run the signal through a Rolls SX21 crossover then into a Sansamp GT2; the Rolls allowed me to strip out the lower frequencies before they hit the GT2 and gave me a fairly sweet dirty top end. The other side went through a Sansamp BDDI, providing a fairly controllable lowend rumble. You know though, for all the fussing and outboard, the Tech21 dUg does all this. I just wish the unit had been around years ago to be honest.

Never quite got the whole this-used-to-belong-to thing.

There are many, many, many songs. Way more than three. Thing is, this country is/was a sucker for a gimmick 7", alwys has been, be it The St Winifred's School Choir or Clive Dunn or Terry Wogan (or any other singing DJs or actors who release music. be it David Soul or the bloke from Minder, or Windsor Davies and Don Estelle) or Mr Blobby or Benny Hill or The Tweets or the forking Simon Park Orchestra. I listen to a lot of BBC Berkshire and their limited playlist; I'm dreading the time when they play Stop The Cavalry again and again and again and again and zzzzzz.

Almost certain I have a set off a Bronco that would do the trick. Give me ten minutes. [Ack, no. I must have passed them on. Sorry.]

Man alive, don't you sleep old friend? It's 4.09am.

This: And this: And this: Oh this: This too:

Wouldn't that have been a thing.

I actually recall the BBC getting all angsty about Statue of Liberty by XTC, what with it's lyrical content containing the words nearly naked and in my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt. When you think back to BBC radio in the mid-late '70s, many of the execs/producers/programmers who were controlling the nations listening habits were geriatric suit-wearing, pipe-smoking old farts so it's no wonder they were banning stuff and trying to uphold common sense and decency. What what. The were completely out of their depth; it would be like someone coming to me and asking me to throw together content for a show on New Zealand grime. This was also the era of Mary Whitehouse and we all know what a piece of work she was.

Listen to Heaven's Gate by Lutz on #SoundCloud It'll be replacing this. Something similar...

Evening bonny lads. One of our tracks has been denied an upload onto digital media as a sample we wanted to use is already in use elsewhere. Weirdness is that the person speaking is long dead and the audio was lifted from a You Tube upload. The main thing seems to be that it's a first dibs thing. So, I need someone to read a prepared piece for us so we can stick it into the track. Caveat here is that we need an American accent, delivered by a middle-aged to elderly gentleman. Oh, you'll have to record in isolation and email the file to us. Any takers?

I haven't watched it in years. Is it still on? @ahpook hit the nail on the head; it's too eclectic and that, for me at least, makes it pretty much unwatchable.

Never had any desire to go and see my old band...it took a while to get over everything that happened, so why bother? I've moved on. I understand that, without me as primary writer, it's taken two years for them to expunge my material from their set and I'm advised the new songs sound like someone throwing scrap metal down a concrete stairwell. Interestingly, from a Rock Family Tree perspective, the current line up of that band doesn't have a single member from the original line up, but past members have spawned other bands, so that's a good thing. My current project (Lutz) contains three ex-members and interestingly myself and three other ex-members are having a beery evening shortly to discuss throwing something together.

I gave some thought to installing the guts of a Rickenbacker into another bass (I'm not certain whether it was a Thunderbird body or a Jazz), but bailed for precisely the reason you posted - that the string spacing was such that there'd be some overhang. Ultimately, I just bought a 4003! It just seemed more hassle than it was worth to be honest and I would never have been happy with the end result.

I prefer solid colours over sunbursts or oiled finishes. Preferably black, although (as posted elsewhere), if I could locate a Hamer Cruisebass I'd swing for any colour to be honest.

I don't have favourites...probably easier to highlight the handful of tracks that don't do it for me personally. The beauty of the whole catalogue is simply how it ebbs and flows from the angular poppunk early on through to the majesty of the later material. The releases that get little mention (Transistor Blast and Coat of Many Cupboards) are equally good. I'd honestly find it difficult to say to a new listener 'Start Here'. The official collections (Fossil Fuel/Tiny Circus/Beeswax/Upsy Daisy) are all good, but I'd say grab yourself a copy of the Complicated Game book and throw together a playlist of the 30-odd songs covered in there. It's all encompassing.

Sorry...will be in contact.

While it's not my chosen delivery format, there is something wonderful about the 5.1 stuff that Steven Wilson has done with XTC. Drums and Wires is immense. Immense. I suspect the Dukes stuff might be more about getting yourself in a comfy chair and letting it just wash over you.