Russ

This might be the most audacious piece of thread necromancy ever - nearly 17 years old. Anyway, are Catch-O-Matic stands still available anywhere? A quick Google doesn't turn up much other than a few used ones here and there. I had a couple of them back in the day, and I'd like to get a couple more!

I think custom SD pickups are the default for new FB/FU basses right now, and I've seen SD Basslines pickups on older models. I think the ones they use now have plain black plastic covers, so that is likely to be what we're looking at here. Initially, the standard pickups were Lane Poors, followed by Bartolinis after LP shut up shop, but they've always given buyers the option of others.

I work for a well-known, long established acoustic guitar company (trust me, you've heard of us), and everyone here hates his guts, despite most of our endorsers and many of our customers being country music types, who tend to be Republicans. The Mexico tariffs are going to make all the stuff from our factory down in Navojoa more expensive both for us and for the customer, and we're well aware that a lot of US goods are going to get boycotted around the world, meaning lower sales of our (expensive) US-made stuff.

Mostly because it's a very important, but unattractive job. It needs sweetening up. You could die, or be maimed and disfigured. You could be deployed anywhere on Earth, having to leave your family behind for months at a time. You will have to live in less-than-ideal conditions, probably eat bad food and, even when you're done, you're technically a reservist for the rest of your life. Performative patriotism and the possibility of medals don't really cut it for this generation. Other jobs offer perks to help attract people - gym memberships, private healthcare, bike and season ticket loans, expense accounts, etc. I'm just making the point that I think, in order to make the job attractive, it needs perks you can't avail of by any other means.

Europe (certainly the UK, at least) could do with something like the US’s GI Bill - free university education and vocational training (with accommodation costs covered), preferable treatment for mortgage applications, car finance, etc, access to VA hospitals, and an ironclad pension. In some European countries there’s free university anyway, and all European countries have universal healthcare, but there should be incentives for joining up over and above “serving your country”. That’s not a huge priority for many young people these days, they need something more tangible!

How did you find the Unity in terms of overall volume? I really enjoyed its sound and the variety of tones available, but it felt very anaemic in terms of output. From what I understand, you can only get the full 700W at 2 ohms.

Yes, but also no. The US bases in Europe are there primarily for the benefit of the US, so they can project their power worldwide. That’s why they give a f**k about this whole Chagos Islands thing. Let’s not forget, it’s not just the US bases in the UK, Germany, Italy, etc - they have bases all over the world, including several African countries, the Middle East, Australia, several of the Pacific Islands, and some large ones in Japan and South Korea. The bases in Europe pretty much just complete the chain. I do think that the Europeans (and ourselves) need to step up defence spending, but they have to do it in a way that actually makes being in the military an attractive career proposition, which, in most countries, it isn’t. In terms of equipment, a LOT of military hardware is made in Europe - aircraft, ships, electronics, avionics, guns, bombs, submarines, etc. France and Sweden make excellent combat aircraft, and, if the UK gets the Tempest II project off the ground (along with Italy and Japan) then we’ll have a proper sixth-gen fighter of our own and won’t need the Lightning II any more.

I've mentioned this bass on here before, and it's never shown up again. No idea if it even still exists! But, back in 1996, I desperately wanted a Sei but couldn't afford one. So I bought a through-neck body from Brandoni for £200 and took it to Chris McIntyre, back when he worked at The Gallery, and he transformed it into this lovely beast: I loved that bass, it got me through some difficult times. Ended up selling it back in 2001 when I desperately needed the money. I sold it at Notting Hill Music Exchange, never to be seen again. I'd love to be reunited with it if it's still out there somewhere. I wouldn't mind getting that old Mesa/Boogie rig back too, although I doubt my back would be too grateful...

He's not a great player, but he's a big supporter of the bass "scene", and especially small custom luthiers. Here's a nice pic of him with Marek from Stradi at the NAMM show the other week: As was mentioned, he's friends with Les Claypool, and has a custom Carl Thompson and a Pachyderm. He's also got multiple vintage Fenders.

All space programs will end up going through SpaceX, with Musk creaming off a nice chunk of that government cheese. Musk has more money than he could possibly spend in ten lifetimes. I just don't understand the mindset. What makes someone so unutterably greedy? Personally, I think if you want to be a billionaire, go for it, but once your net worth hits $1bn, you should get a nice certificate that says, "Contgratulations! You won capitalism!" and everything you end up earning above that gets taxed at 100%.

Just been reading some comments on Faceache from American bass players complaining that Dingwalls have just shot up in price by several hundred dollars. FAFO.

Not really a band, to be fair. Two singers, one of whom occasionally played guitar. But then we're getting into that whole difference between "band" and "vocal group"...

That’s part of the “mystique”. On one hand, Paul could have made an absolute fortune if he decided to introduce an import range to fulfil demand, but that might devalue their brand, and dilute some of that mystique and rarity value that Ian and Pete spent so long building up before him. Personally, I think they should do a Spector-style approach - yes, have an import range, but that would still be high-end, maybe made in Central/Eastern Europe. Cheaper and with higher availability than the UK-built instruments, but still built to a quality that wouldn’t impact their brand.

It also coincided with Tool’s Aenima coming out, and everyone wanting Justin Chancellor’s bass tone. All of a sudden, the nerdy British studio musicians’ tool of choice became the coolest bass with the most coveted tone in the world. With only Pete involved in building Wals at the time, it was impossible for him to keep up with demand for new basses, and so the prices of used models went stratospheric. Then he retired, and sadly passed away. Before Paul Herman picked up the reins a couple of years later, there were no new Wals to be had at all, which added to their scarcity value.

I'd forgotten how heavy old Trace gear was. I was in my local music shop the other day and they had an old BLX-80 sitting there. I always remembered those being louder and bassier than they had any right to be. Then I went to move it so I could plug it in... holy crap. The thing weighed more than my Barefaced BT2, and it's only a 1x10". They do still sound great though.