NancyJohnson

You don't actually need the valve pre-amp, you know this, right? You're effectively pushing a (Sansamp) pre-stage through a second (Ashdown) pre-stage, before the signal hits the poweramp. My experience of the valve side of the ABM was that the drive just added an unpleasant crackle rather than any creamy/controllable drive or dirt. The BDDI is more than capable of providing everything you should need. You're also saying that you're boosting mids off the BDDI and scooping (removing) them with the pre shape button, which is a bit odd. If it works for you, fine!

Plug it into the effects return and stick an unused 1/4" jack plug into the front of the ABM (this will fully bypass the ABM pre-amp; it's a quirk of Ashdowns, they need something plugged in the front for the effects loop to work) and just let the BDDI drive through the power amp side. You're welcome.

I'm on Andy Partridge/XTC Fizzy Warbles albums today. I do adore XTC, although I came very late to the party (they'd already called it a day). Some fondness of the singles, but beyond that they passed me by. The Fuzzy Warbles sets are nine CDs chocked full of demos, alternative takes and nonsense.

Walter Schreifel stuff. Rival Schools/Quicksand/Vanishing Life.

When you played another bass through your amp, same thing?

On the OP, we were always a fairly tight, well rehearsed unit; we booked a studio for an early start one Sunday (10.00am start) and did five songs, all recorded live with a click, three takes of each. Chose the best ones, guitarist did his solos and we were retired to a nearby bar by 12.30pm, leaving the singer to do his stuff. We went back about 2.00pm to do BVs (half hour). Rough mix and home by 4.00pm. https://wknancyj.bandcamp.com/album/cops-and-robbers

Jellyfish. The 4CD Fan Club box. Demos, live, nonsense.

Never had any desire for multi-effects...I mean, I've owned stuff but they never really did it for me. I had a Fishman thing that was a riot, but totally unusable in a band context. End of the day it's all about a gritty core tone, currently have two Tech21 things - dUg and a GED2112 DI. They're all I need.

About three years ago, I left a band I started about ten years before that. Had I not left I think it would have started affecting me mentally. A bit of advice? Lick your wounds, move along. It hurts now, but you'll forget that. I've probably been more productive since leaving. I don't miss the rehearsing, the time lost, the expenditure, the angst, the disagreements with the singer, the almost constant schlepping over southern England playing to five people 'because it's good for our CV', etc etc.

Just an aside (and despite the Fender connection) I'm amazed that Gibson haven't jumped on him for a signature line of Explorers, rather than hurling $$ at Simmons and Brown for their wretched line of Thunderbirds. U2 were way better when he played Explorers.

I just fancied listening to The Darkness. I don't know whether the first album was ahead of it's time; it's certainly not as bad as I remember it. As I type, I'm just reaching the last couple of bars of the first album. Next up, The Sweet.

With all the big makers, it's all so much about the RE; reinvention, reinterpretation, reissuement, rerendering, rebranding and renaming. If Fender were a car manufacturer, they'd be making eight ton vehicles based on 50s specs that returned ten miles a gallon, but they'd be called stuff like The Starliner Deluxe Tribute.

Feeling a little straighter now. I was having a very heavy work morning and stressing a bit. I was almost at the point where I was about to shut down without some kind of distraction. ☹️

My first proper/formal exposure to many bands I followed in the late 70s/80s was through live albums...All The World's A Stage, Alive & Dangerous, Strangers In The Night, Cheap Trick At Budokan, Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg, Kiss Alive!*; when you visit the studio albums the content on these are, very much as you say, like demos. I'd also counter that these live albums probably came too early in their careers, three studio albums followed by a double live album? Too early. *Not strictly live. I'm a bit fuggy at the moment...I don't seem to be writing properly, so if I meander here, apologies. There's a load of bands I follow who didn't put out live albums of any sort until some years had passed since the first album or two; I'd cite Living Colour, a band I've adored since my initial flirtation with them pre-Vivid. The albums were all pretty strong from a production perspective - and bootlegs aside - when the inevitable live album dropped, it didn't have the same impact as the back catalogue which was almost etched into my psyche, if that makes sense. It complemented the catalogue rather than it being a highpoint/epoch making). Visiting the UFO studio recordings following my exposure to Strangers... will never have the same impact. Same goes early Kiss/Rush/Aerosmith.

I'm sure there's plenty of people (like me) that adore Strangers In The Night but have little data on the source material. I dipped in UFO again a few days ago; just cherrypicking the studio versions of stuff I know from the live album. Really couldn't get past how weak/underwhelming the studio versions sounded by comparison. I'm more than content with Strangers... and the deluxe version of it. I'll stick with that.

Public Service Broadcasting. Currently on The Race For Space.

I'm currently spinning the expanded version Sound Of White Noise by Anthrax. I had the original on CD when it first came out, can't say I listened to it more than two or three times, enough to familiarise I suppose. Couldn't believe it's over 30 years old. At the time I wasn't really taken with it, way to brutal for my otherwise power-pop sensibilities, I haven't listened to it in three decades. The thing that immediately struck me listening now is how lightweight it seems and how a lot of John Bush's vocals don't seem any more aggressive than (and share similarity to) Gary Cherone of Extreme. It might be the mastering for Spotify, but it sounds a lot more polished than I remember as well.

Having a bit of an early-Queen day. I couldn't bear them after Jazz. Currently spinning the 'On Air' boxset (the early BBC sessions), which will lead into the early interviews. I've also just acquired a copy of the News Of The World 40th Anniversary set, so that'll be next.

I'm wearing it now.

I suspect that it's either the case the owner doesn't know better OR these are the original string covered in icky Sixx DNA.

It's an interesting update...often wondered where it went. Didn't actually realise it had a whammy. Great pity that he didn't really cherish his gear; I dread to think how many FBIVs he smashed up (just makes mine rarer I suppose).

I've only actively searched for Wolfgang Van Halen's section. Hot for Teacher and Panama. Just glorious. I know Wolf has said he doesn't want to play his dad's stuff, and fair play to him, but the line up of Grohl, Van Halen, Freese and Hawkins could make something very special if they decided to record. Very special.

I have some reports to do today, so I'm listening/shuffling through a huge Ol' Crooner Christmas playlist. Bing, Frank, Dino, Nat, Andy Williams, Doris, Burl Ives, Fred Waring, Vaughan Monroe. Season's greetings, you slackers.