NancyJohnson

Modern music, huh? For quite some time, I've listened to an American radio station during the day - W-EQX; they're based in Manchester, Vermont (listen live here: https://www.weqx.com/) - it's been a revelation. I've just discovered so many stellar new bands through them. Every new year, they have a top 100 countdown - here's the last three years. Obviously there's going to be some clunkers, there's so much great stuff. Momma. Snail Mail. The Beths. Beadbadobee. Sports Team. Soccer Mommy. Men I Trust. Glass Animals. Go listen! 2022 here: 2021 here: 2020 here:

Made in Mayfield, East Sussex by any chance?

The Beths. New Zealand indie pop. If you like these two, it's pretty certain you'll have some affinity with their entire back catalogue.

WE CALL IT THE JACO "BASS OF DOOM II" ...because nobody else does.

It looks as though Epiphone have discontinued the Thunderbird and EB/SG basses for 2023 and resurrected the Newport. https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/Collection/bass

Gene Simmons and Rex Brown, anyone? Well, OK. The Thunderbirds probably come out for a song or two...

These bridges (humorously referred to as BBOT - bent bit of tin) are all going to be interchangeable - Allparts would be on a hiding to nothing making something that wouldn't fit. If you want to stick with this style of bridge, it would honestly be worthwhile putting a request for one in the wanted section; there's loads here that have swapped these out for different ones and have their old bridges sitting unloved in their parts boxes. Hell, if I have a spare one, I'd send it to you just to be shot of it!

I was given a set last year. Nasty. I suppose if you're being given them for nothing, they're going to be brilliant, but nah.

I always think the red-headed girl looks a lot like my mate Beatrice.

Bit of a thread resurrection here. I've had the LongEvos on a Hamer Cruise bass for a while; pandemic/no band has meant that the bass hasn't been out of the house, but it's had some play-time at home - I don't know how long they've been on, well over a year, but lightish use. Joined something new recently, had a couple of four hour rehearsal sessions - took the Lull to the first one (Elixir Nanowebs) and the aforementioned Hamer on the second (LongEvo) - by way of observation the LongEvos were a little like running through treacle. They felt a bit sticky (for want of a better description) if that makes sense...I tend to do a lot of work at the nut end and slide up to dusty end for embellishments, but they were quite hard going. The Elixirs are almost self-lubricating by comparison. There's no evidence of the coating coming off, but they just felt a bit like they'd been on for years. In their defence, they sounded fine. Might be a case of this being a real world process - maybe the coating has just deteriorated a bit.

This is the same bass:

Much cop? Are you high @Highfox?

My #1 is perfect. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have bought it now, would I?

The singer in my old band argued that drums and bass were pretty much expendable and interchangeable on his whim. While we'd argue we were a band, a musical unit ('Apes, stronger, together')...hell, we had an online calendar where we'd post dates we weren't available, but he'd just book gigs for these dates anyway. I remember he moaned at me because I pulled out of a gig because my father in law died that day. The guy was besotted with the guitarist (who couldn't stand him) and if the guitarist said he wasn't available, well that was okay. [I'll chuck in an edit here. Things came to a head shortly after my father-in-law passed away and the furore surrounding that. We had a band meeting via WhatsApp and I asked nicely that if one of our number were unavailable for a particular date, we should politely decline it. I was just looking at the archived WhatsApp conversation a few minutes ago. Christ, what a knob the singer was.] Oh, and he was a c*nt.

PC, USB to a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2, to powered monitors. See my thread elsewhere about cabling. The PC needs to be on as the Scarlet needs to be powered (you can't jack in an external power source). Finally, Cakewalk (in its current form) is alive and well. It's 100% free and available from bandlab.com.

Autographs. Odd thing to ask people to sign something. A few times. Merch table after gigs. We did a couple of radio shows and the hosts liked to get things signed. CDs in paper sleeves. Band flew to Italy once and a bloke air-side at Heathrow asked if we were a band and asked us to sign a baggage slip of some sort, which he promised to sell on eBay for a fortune when we were famous (good luck with that chief).

I've run so many different combinations of enclosures, I've lost track of things. Each have their own merits. The most impactful thing was when I won the Barefaced Big One (15/6) at one of the bashes a few years back. Before this, I'd run a variety of set ups (SWR, Trace Eliot tri-amp, Ashdown 4x10/2x10/1x15 (mix and match dependent on the room), I was a Hartke endorsee - various 10"/15" cabs); the evening I won the Barefaced I gigged with it in a smallish club in Basingstoke and the result was astounding really. Whereas the Hartke kit was kind of loud and aggressive, the Big One just kind of dialled that aggression back a bit, giving me scooped-mids plus wobble/whump/oomph as well. While I'm also running a Darkglass 1x12 (which I will double up this year), for me a 15/6 is the ideal combination. As I've posted previously, tone is subjective and what I look for isn't everyone's cup of tea. People will argue that the frequency range of say a certain brand of 12" speakers will match or better that of a 15", but we're all in the situation where we simply aren't able to chuck £££ at swapping over speakers on a whim.

I was a big fan of the DR Hellborg strings (if not the longevity), so the Dogal strings piqued my interest. I did contact them a while back to purchase a set (maybe a year or two ago), but the whole purchase process was a bit vague/backward/convoluted - you ask them for what you want, they cut a Paypal money demand (not an invoice) and send it back to you. Reluctant to discuss price. They based a couple of KM inland across the water from Venice (they were in Venice when I made the initial enquiry). They're pretty pricey; about 75€ a set, plus tax and shipping.

I think because in general my desired tone is zingy with a bit of dirt, I don't have any anxiety about changing strings.

Not my thing at all, but with the prices of used Mark Hoppus basses on the up, it could be an option to turn it into something similar, replace the BBOT.

Cheap Trick.

Wowza! Channeling my inner Jim Lea.