King Tut

The Victoria Club Aylesbury, dreadfull load in and bad parking. Also a pub in the allegedly posh part of Luton (name escapes me). Horrible atmosphere and chavvy clientele.

Pedant alert . . . . . it's a UV light, not a green light on mine 😉

I've been gigging an old Trace AH300 for the last two weeks of our tour so I've really got used to the sound and feel. I've not been using the preshapes and have been using an amp simulator into the front end (VT or Orange Juice). I'm going to take the Veyron T out for tomorrow's show in Norwich so should be able to give an informed report back on how it compares in the heft dept. I'll be running it through a Nemesis 4 x 10.

That's right yeah - no those were Silverlink days I think - or early London Midland - happy daze!

GAS!

I'm a Train Driver/Instructor working for London Northwestern. I've been on the railway since I was 17. In 1992 I went into management for 11 years but returned to driving in 2003 to reduce stress. We work a four day week but training often occurs over a five day week, so instead of taking the extra day as pay, I take it as time off in lieu which allows me to take time off to gig. I'm retiring August after next at age 60. Although I enjoy my job, I've had enough now and can't wait to retire!

We've still got a fortnight of our tour to go and no intention of cancelling any shows at the moment - fingers crossed!

A fabulous home gig halfway through our tout at Milton Keynes' Craufurd Arms - it's a public facebook link so should work OK - 'All In Your Mind' https://www.facebook.com/thisistotalmk/videos/218294945979232/

Despite what I've posted before, I do prefer the preamps on the two Ashdown heads I've had. And the fact that they're a going concern with good customer service is a big positive. I'm quite lucky because I've got a mate who lives locally and he deals with my Trace stuff for me. I'm using my Trace stuff as glorified power amps with a bit of eq really, amplifying my board sound and providing eq for the room and a di. A lot of people don't need really loud. Playing in a pretty raucous rock band in medium to large venues, I do and I can get it with less faffing thru a single 4x10 with my Trace heads. Horses for courses and good luck with your search!

As has been said before, probably best to stay away from the preshapes and just use the graphic or pedals.

If you need volume go for Trace. My AH300 is significantly louder than my MAG 600. The MAG would be fine for pubs but the Trace has all the volume I can imagine needing.

The easiest way to identify the Bipolar Bear amps is that they have "The Bipolar Bear" written on them. Dead giveaway! Also two big heatsinks mounted on the board as @VTypeV4 said.

Deets should be attached. Trace_Elliot_GP7_150-300watt_SM.pdf

There's an earth connection that needs a star washer to prevent it coming loose. Another gizmo needs covering in heat resistant compound and a couple of transistors need changing.

I've used mine a few times with Stray. I'm currently gigging an old Trace head, but mainly cos it's cool and I have roadies. I'd prefer to use my Veyron T ove my GK MB500 which is still a blooming good amp.

It's actually the Clive Button mod as in modification. It's detailed on one of the previous threads. My tech has carried out the work for me. Used the head for five gigs last week and all is good!

Playing Thekla Bristol on Thursday. It's an old Cargo ship. How's the load in? Anything I need to know?

Wow - thanks for that. I'll pass this on to Del!

Same with Legacy. They're not much cheaper than the Rotobass strings that they really are.

I'm going to write about yesterday's gig then call it a day unless anything of interest crops up. Swansea Sin City. We arrived and our first impressions were 'what a bloody awful load in'. Fortunately there were staff there to help us load in and out but what a bloody palaver. Limited parking and outside steps up three or four floors (hard to tell). This gig was spoiled really by the sound engineer who obviously knew his stuff, but made everything seem like it was too much trouble for him, huffing and puffing his way through the process. Diplomacy was not his strong point and it's really much better if we all treat each other with respect and try to get the best out of people rather than acting like a primadonna - that's our job!! Anyway - one of the monitor amps went tits up during the support band's set - he tried to repatch stuff but consequently both The Groundhogs and us had shite monitor mixes. Other than that we went down well. We drove back straight after the gig - I was first drop off getting in around 0430. Got to say, I'm officially broken! Absolutely exhausting. Just a quick mention for the support band - Bigfeat - really nice sounding five piece with 3/4 part vocals, two guitars and a keys player - kind of a southern rock laid back groove - really enjoyed them. We've only got two gigs next week - Thekla Bristol on Thursday and The Craufurd in MK on Friday - our home gig. Five the week after, all out and back on the day including The Garage in London, then the following week we're staying away for four gigs oop North. Really enjoying the experience so far but looking forward to a decent night's sleep in my own bed!

Last day of the first leg today. We're on the road from Tavistock to Swansea for a gig at Sin City. Weather aside, we had another good gig yesterday. Nice venue and a great sound. We had a bit of an issue with an irate stage manager regarding gear sharing but it all went well in the end. We had our first support in the shape of Ethyrfield, a young Cornish trio who are well worth a watch. We went on next and had a good show and The Hogs once more were on fire. Their bass player, Latch, managed to break a string on their last number but soldiered on. I really liked the venue, it's a mini theatre but they took the stalls seating out for a more rock n roll vibe.the building was all stone so the sound was really good, and a nice easy load in which is just as well as it was lashing down. We're driving home from Swansea tonight with only two gigs next week, Thekla at Brizzle and The Craufurd in Milton Keynes, our 'Home' gig.

Duplicate post sorry

Thank you! Well all I know is his name is Latch! Nice fella, nice player, nice feel player. Like his vibrato!