Dan Dare

Is it regular/metronomic or random?

Some years ago, I spent a couple of months in LA, playing in a bar band, run by a singer/songwriter I had known in London. On St Patrick's Day (17 March), we had the night off, so I took my fiddle and went in search of a bar with Irish music. Came across one with rather a decent band and the woman playing fiddle turned out to be someone I knew from the Kilburn trad' sessions. I got chatting to them during their break, told the bass player I recognised him and asked who he was. Surprise, surprise , he was none other than Glenn Cornick. At the time, he was working as a sales manager with a frozen food company and gigging for fun in his spare time. We had a long chat during the break and I played a couple of sets of tunes with the band later. Glenn was a very nice chap and a fine musician.

I used to play in a honky tonk/western swing band in the 1980s. We worked regularly - forces bases, functions, festivals, etc. Fiddle was my main instrument at the time, but we had an excellent fiddle player on board who was also a pal, so I played bass in the band. Said fiddle player got a good offer of work and left, so we decided I'd switch to the fiddle and we'd find a bass player. This did not work out - a succession of mainly pop/rock players auditioned and although some were good, they were out of sympathy with the music (didn't swing and played too many notes), so we opted for Plan B - find another fiddle player. It was decided that I'd field calls/replies, invite applicants to my place to check them out/play through a few things and arrange a full band meet with anyone who showed promise (this was pre-internet days, so no YouTube demos, etc). One character (who assured me he played in the style we were looking for when he phoned) turned up at my door. He was from Scandinavia and had a very intense, unsmiling manner. Introductions over, I got out my guitar and invited him to play something, suggesting we start with something simple as a warm-up. He fixed me with a stare and announced, "I shall play you something I wrote" and launched into a scratchy, frantic flurry of notes that seemed initially to be based on "The Devil's Dream" (an old-time fiddle tune), although the B part went all over the place. The tempo varied wildly. I stopped him and said "That sounds like the Devil's Dream", at which he glared at me and said, "No. I wrote that piece". He was obviously a folk fiddler (and a ropey one, at that), so I explained that we were looking for someone who played in the western swing/honky tonk style, at which he asked "Vot is honky tonk?" Life was too short to explain or play him examples from my record collection, so I suggested that he was not familiar enough with the idiom and thanked him for coming. He glared at me, informed me, "I am not satisfied vith your explanation" and remained sitting in his (my) chair. I decided that it would be best not to physically eject him and risk damaging my furniture or belongings, so I took out my fiddle and played him a brief example of what we were looking for. I also gave him a few bars of "The Devil's Dream" just to make the point. As politely as I could, I and informed him that he was in my home and that if I asked him to leave, he would do so. He gave me a terrible look and packed his instrument away. On speaking about the incident later with a friend, I learned that he had been answering ad's all over town and behaving similarly. How do wallies like him imagine they will fool anyone?

Well, it does come with "three decades of rock history". Let's be fair to the seller here...

I like the fact that it has "adventages"

Send him a 50 pence piece with a bit cut out of it as payment.

No. He's a very naughty boy.

I agree with Cameron. Mixers that are built into PA speakers (even the better ones) don't tend to be so practical. And of course, if you run a separate mixer, you can use it with additional speakers/amplification if needed.

I watched that last time you posted it, Bill. The speakers are articulate and well informed, but talking about music and music reproduction isn't the same as listening to music. Rational argument only gets us so far. I'm not advocating for magic or weirdness, but valves/tubes do have something to offer (imho, of course) for stereo/hi-fi use that other devices don't seem to have. I have heard some astonishing systems in my time. They weren't perfect and some even had flaws - a set of single ended, low powered vale amps, driving horn loaded speakers that I heard once, for example, had a noticeable midrange honk, BUT I have never heard the human voice reproduced quite as well or convincingly. Perhaps it's due to the fact that we cannot measure everything that is important to music reproduction (and probably that we don't know what it all is, yet - human knowledge is still pitifully limited, after all). And of course, you don't drive valves into distortion for stereo type of listening. You need to use a powerful enough amplifier (think 300Bs, rather than EL84s) to avoid that.

You have to remember that not everyone plays modern pop albums "mastered to sound good on Spotify via iPhone earbuds". If you have some of the classic EMI classical records, for example, they sound a bit special when played via the right kit. The fact is that there is a difference to be gained with esoteric hi-fi, but the law of diminishing returns applies firmly. If you are fortunate enough to be able to spend the necessary, though, the results can be spectacular.

Not sure I understand why the seller is talking about using amps such as Lab Gruppen, MC2, etc. The only way to drive a pair of big Tannoy duals is with valves (that should stir up a few replies). They're very efficient, so a big trannie amp would be barely ticking over and wouldn't give of its best. Something like this would be the route to audio nirvana, I humbly suggest - http://www.audio-markt.de/_markt/item.php?id=8323733177.

I think you're going to have to forget the "inexpensive" bit...

It may well be after 20 or so years playing. Good acoustic instruments improve with age. I have a 1975 Martin D35 that is very well played in and its a remarkable instrument.

I've moved in the opposite direction. Played the fiddle for may years (still do), but these days I get more satisfaction out of creating the harmonic and rhythmic foundation of a piece of music than from playing melody/solo lines over the top of it.

This. And go to a few decent shops and try stuff out (Bass Direct an obvious choice because they stock so much of the higher end makes and you can compare to your heart's content - provided you go in the week when they're not busy - which is what I did when I upgraded last year). The Market Place is stuffed with high end kit because people bought it on the basis of recommendation/reputation alone and found it wasn't what they wanted.

Did you buy direct? Unless you did, the retailer should be your first port of call.

True, but that has a lot to do with the fact that so many of the major manufacturers use B&O ICEPower modules.

How are we defining a practice amp, here? Size, price, power?

EBS Session 30.

For a better quality small format mixer, have a look at the Mackie VLZ range. This is the smallest - https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Mackie-402-VLZ4-4-Channel-Analog-Compact-Mixer/UVQ. Much better mic preamps than most small/inexpensive mixers and well built.

A lot of instrument for the money, provided you can stand the banana headstock.

Sensible words from Dangoose. If we want compact, light, powerful amps, we have to accept the design trade offs, which include the fact that a way has to be found to keep them from overheating. If we don't want large heatsinks, that means a fan.

Peavey PV1500 is indeed a power amp, so will need line level (at least .775mv) to drive it adequately. A bass without a preamp will not provide that and neither will most pedals.

Why doesn't he want to sell? Just because he won't do what you want? Perhaps he's just wary. Selling music gear is a minefield. I usually insist on collection by the buyer unless I receive cash from the person who collects. Try offering him that and see.