Russ

There's also the American side of 80s music - glam/hair metal, swingbeat, early rap, all that kind of thing, as well as all the stuff that was big on the eastern side of the pond. Regarding the image, yes, I agree - there was a lot of enormous hair, bad fashion and inappropriate makeup back then, and their photo spreads in the likes of Smash Hits and Look-In sold as many records as their music did. But the surviving bands from that era who are still out there playing their stuff are now the same old blokes as those who would be playing that stuff in cover bands, just with a larger costume budget. Duran Duran are all in their mid-60s now, with their audience not too far behind, and they're still selling out tours!

I must admit, despite being a hairy metal guy who's always played in originals bands, I've considered doing something similar - the 80s were my formative years, and Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, U2, Level 42, Depeche Mode, Queen, Simple Minds, Madness and Gary Numan sat happily in my record collection alongside the likes of Maiden, Motorhead, Rush, Metallica and so on. I've been watching a lot of videos of an Australian professional cover band based out of Adelaide called Hindley Street Country Club - they have a core of four or five members, bringing extra people in depending on the gig (backing vocalists, horns, etc). They do all the 80s hits from both sides of the pond, and they absolutely nail them. One of their singers does an absolutely uncanny Bowie! Their bass player looks like Lurch from the Addams Family and has a nice range of old Yamaha BBs. They absolutely nail the tunes - these aren't run-of-the-mill covers, they're note-for-note accurate, and even accurately reproduce the various keyboard and drum sounds. Something about that attention to detail and the sheer level of musicianship really appeals to me. Best of luck with the band, I hope you get it off the ground!

Nice score. Jon makes some stunning stuff, the fretless Uberhorns being probably the stunning-est.

Done.

Might an Ibanez EHB fit the bill? Full scale, fits in a guitar gig bag, weighs next to nothing. Not as cheap an option as the others, but would be useful outside of the office too!

The other part of this equation is that more and more bands are going down the ampless route these days, using modellers and IEMs. So their entire rig can fit in a gig bag and a backpack, and is therefore easy to take on public transport. Maybe not if you're a drummer, but for the rest of us? Definitely an option. I'm not a convert, personally (vocals - yes, bass - no!) but it does seem to be the way things are going, and if a fringe benefit is that it means less cars on the road, including mine, then that's a good thing. Plus not having to faff about with parking, etc is always a bonus.

If they could just replace those switches with reasonably sturdy pushbuttons (and add a mute switch) that'd be half the battle won, right there.

I think the built-in chorus and octaver are surplus to requirements. The distortion/overdrive, power amp character switching, etc - all good since they’re actual “amp” functions, but the other stuff should probably get ditched for the next revision. I doubt all that many people use them anyway. I know Ashdown heads have had the built-in octaver since forever, but I’ve never met an Ashdown user who’s actually used it!

In the last band I was in in the UK, about 9 years ago, the band’s main guy (guitarist/songwriter) didn’t drive and relied on his long-suffering girlfriend to drive him everywhere, including to gigs a long way from home! It’s not because he couldn’t, or that he had a driving ban or anything like that, he had a valid, clean licence, but he just didn’t own a car and didn’t want one. Back in the dim and distant past, I was in a band where three of us, including myself, didn’t drive, and the only one who had a vehicle (drummer, natch) had a van. We also had a semi-permanent rehearsal space where we could leave amps and other gear safely. When we had gigs, we just piled the stuff in the back of the drummer’s van and made sure to chip in for petrol money.

Gah - yes. 😂 Edited my post.

Played several over the years - a few Soundgears, an ATK and a BTB prototype. All excellent instruments, and on a different level to their production stuff. Higher quality finishes, better necks, better fretwork, vastly superior setups. Same pickups and electronics, for the most part, but occasionally they do custom stuff. It's possible to get them to build you something, but you've got to get in with their artist relations department - you don't necessarily have to be an "official" endorser with your picture on the website, but you do have to be on their radar, you've got to be willing (for the most part) to only be seen playing Ibanez gear, and you've got to pay (rather a lot). Personally, I always wanted a custom bolt-on BTB with the ATK pickups and preamp... I know Dave Swift lurks on here and chips in from time to time - he's an official Ibby artist who has worked with the custom shop on his custom 6-string BTB, maybe he could chime in?

In order to break through in the world of musical instruments, amps, etc, you need visible players using your gear - whether that's bass players in touring bands, YouTubers or whomever. And, as far as their bass gear goes, I can't say I've seen anyone using them. Marco Mendoza is probably their highest profile endorser on the bass side of things, and you still mostly see him playing through SVTs provided as backline. Although, to be fair, he was playing through the Blackstar stuff on the SatchVai tour recently. Blackstar's artist relations people are usually really good about getting gear into the hands of guitarists - both big names and grassroots ones. A good friend of mine was in an unsigned band who were bubbling under for some time and Blackstar sorted them out with free gear and promotion. Plus they provide an excellent backline service for touring bands. I've not seen any of this extended to the Unity range, which they seem to be treating the same way they treat their practice amps and lower-end guitar gear. It's sad, really - the gear sounds great, but it almost feels like they don't believe in it enough to push it hard, or to keep it updated. Also, regarding the Ashdown comparison, back in the day Trace Elliot produced some excellent guitar gear - it wasn't hugely popular, but it was very well thought of by those that owned it. And their acoustic guitar amps are still sought after today, attracting silly money on the secondhand market.

Since you're round the corner from them in MK, is there any news from Blackstar about whether there's updates coming to the Unity range? As I mentioned in my little "review" earlier in this thread, there's lots to like but a load of little niggles (no mute/standby switch, fragile toggles, effect controls being on the back, only being able to get the full 700W out of the U700 head into 2.67ohms) - these all seem like relatively simple things for them to address. As I mentioned, I have a Unity combo that I use at home every day and I love it for practising. I'd be far more inclined to invest in the bigger rig if they could address these relatively small issues with it. Oh, and ditch the cloth grilles. I bought a bass amp, not a scratching post!

It's like when you watch those "isolated bass" videos on Youtube - the tone is often pretty unpleasant when solo'd, but perfect when heard in its proper context. I got to hear that first hand the last time the band and I did some recording earlier this year - I laid down some fretless, and once it was in the mix with heavy guitars and a drummer who's not shy with his double-kick pedal, it became a bit hard to hear. Just sorta rumbled under everything. So the engineer and I sat down, we tweaked the compression (I use a fair bit of compression anyway), added some overdrive and did a little EQ'ing and frequency slotting, and, all of a sudden, there it was, a big, warm, supportive-yet-audible fretless tone. Soloed it doesn't sound great, but it works when combined with everything else.

There's some really interesting tonal interactions you can get with a combination of a fretless, a compressor and some overdrive - with the right balance, you get a tone that is creamy and warm, but cuts through everything and sits perfectly in a mix without overwhelming everything else. You're playing the effects as much as you're playing the bass at that point, but it's worth it.