Russ

To be fair, the gig in question was in 110F heat at high altitude with thinner air. Most younger musicians would have trouble dealing with that - Lemmy's pushing 70 and the fact that he got up there at all is testament to his fortitude. I wish the old bugger well - may he keep rocking well into his 70s. But at that age you've got to pace yourself and pick your targets well.

I'll be playing my first gig in over 4 years this coming Friday - it's with Evyltyde, an up-and-coming female-fronted metal band (think more traditional metal in the Maiden/Priest mould rather than your symphonic Nightwish/After Forever stuff). We're headlining the Gunners in Finsbury Park, 5 minutes from Arsenal tube. Should be a good one, would be nice to see some of you there. Check out the band at www.evyltyde.com. Given that The Gunners is (obviously) an Arsenal supporters' pub, might not be advisable to wear a football strip if you're not a Gooner. Then again, if you're coming to a metal gig that probably won't be a problem!

They've just announced this lovely beastie - the RBN. Reminds me of an Atelier Z, with the clear scratchplate. Very nice.

Sorry to hear that. Those bubinga/jatoba necks are pretty stable. It has to be a broken truss rod. Get a refund if you can, especially if it wasn't mentioned in the listing. If you can't, it's a fingerboard-off job to fix, not trivial. I've had good luck with Ibbys. They're fantastic basses for the money. I love my SR1206, and I've got a GWB35 incoming this week. My holy grail is an early-90s SR1305 (the one with humbuckers, not J pickups), but they seem to be as rare as rocking horse s**t.

[quote name='bobbytodd' timestamp='1437136398' post='2823898'] lets hope the build quality isn't the same as the mb range of amps and cabs.if it is it will weigh a ton and break really easy [/quote] Shame they were so badly made. They sounded great when they actually worked. I guess they bailed on the idea of a DBS reissue - they tell everyone who's looking for bass gear now to try Eden, who they own. Which isn't rock'n'roll in the slightest.

So that'll be why they stopped making bass amps - there were obviously more important R&D projects to put the cash into.

I'm in. I'll bring my Sei singlecut, the Spector, maybe my Ibanez sixer, and my Barefaced Big Twin II and Ampeg SVT-7. Maybe a few pedals too. I'll probably have a spare seat in the car if anyone needs a lift from the Croydon area.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1433455229' post='2791307'] Thanks guys, would prefer a bass specialist as it's a fretless, but I'll keep Feline in mind, they look ok! [/quote] Jonathan at Feline is a great guy. Has wonderful 1980s poodle-permed hair too. He maintains all my basses for me and does excellent bass setups.

In further bad news for prog fans, John Wetton has just had a cancerous growth removed too. http://johnwetton.com/

Got to give a shout out to Godsized - used to play in a band with the singer/guitarist about 10 years back. Excellent band, just put out their second album. Their stuff is very much in the Black Label Society mould with a bit of classic Maiden-style stuff mixed in.

Did it years ago, back when it was the 'new' Marquee. Good venue, big stage, nice sound system with good monitors, but the bar is so-so and it attracts lots of pay-to-play promoters.

I've got a Revelation RBJ-67 5-string and it's great. Nice construction, comfortable, plays well, proper block inlays, good low B string, and big, loud barky pickups with large MM-style polepieces. A bit on the heavy side, but that's what you get when you get a bass made of ash (as opposed to swamp ash). It records really well too. I'd love to bung a J-Retro in there and see how it sounds. I've already got my eye on another one - the candy apple red PJ is very nice. According to their Facebook page, they've also got a Fender VI-style 6-string coming soon, as well as a fretless. I'm happy to support Revelation - they're a great UK company with some pedigree behind them.

Ended up just going today. Great day, and better than last year. Didn't really see too many BC'ers other than the omnipresent Bluejay and a couple of others. Some great gear this year too - highlights were the Pedula Pentabuzz fretless (spectacular), some of the Spectors, Dave Swift's Sadowsky 5-string Precision, Ashdown's new gear (always nice to hang with Mark Gooday too), Steve Sukop's lovely 6-string bass, Bernie Goodfellow's nice new GB singlecut basses, the Marusczyk basses, and the latest and greatest from ACG. Some lovely stuff from Eve Basses and Enfield too, but pretty much the same stuff as last year. I also checked out a few of the shows and masterclasses - Sheehan's always good fun and informative, Doug Wimbish was great, and Stu Hamm was entertaining as always (although he always does the same stuff with the same anecdotes). Also caught a great little impromptu bass jam towards the end of the day with two guys, one playing very funky, jazzy stuff, a la Bobby Vega, on a Zon with a pick. Great groove. They also seemed to have the volume a bit more under control this year - much more use of headphones, and the quiet times seemed to be more effectively enforced. Looking forward to next year - it just keeps getting better.

I'll be there for a little while on Saturday, then all day on Sunday. I'll probably be found hanging around the GB, Eve, Hartke and Status stands. [b]Saturday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The Greek[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Timmo[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BassAgent (w/ Fender '66 Jazz)[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]BruceBass3901[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Sibob[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]CamdenRob [?][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Lozz196[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Drax [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color] [b]Sunday[/b] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bobthedog[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]obbm[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Bluejay[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Alun[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]iamtheelvy[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Milesbguitar[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Verb[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]such[/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Russ[/font][/color]

[quote name='patrikmarky' timestamp='1421794651' post='2665236'] Ibanez atk 405 ..why oh why did I sell this ...like hens teeth now [/quote] I had one of those for a while. Spectacularly good instrument for the money, and probably the best recorded sound I've ever had. The newer ATKs just aren't as good.

There's a few I've sold over the years that I'd buy back in a heartbeat if they were to show up. There is one bass in particular, though. Back in the mid-90s, I was craving a Sei, but couldn't afford one. So I hit on the idea of buying a bass body with through-neck from Brandoni, and got the guys at The Gallery to transform it into a pseudo-Sei. I loved that bass - I helped design the body shape. I had to sell it back in 2001 during a particularly difficult personal period, and would pay good money to get it back into my hands. I sold it to the guys at the old Bass Cellar in Denmark St, no idea what ended up happening to it after that. It had a Bartolini MME pickup, Schack 3-band electronics and a Kahler tremolo bridge. Sounds a bit melodramatic, but that bass probably saved my life back in the late 90s. This was it:

I love my Barefaced stuff, but if Hartke decided to start producing lightweight 2x12" cabs, I'd be in. Love the tone of the HyDrive gear, they're just a bit big and bulky for me. I had a nice chat with Larry Hartke last time I was back over in the States (he works part-time at Sam Ash in 48th St, NYC, a stone's throw from Times Square), and he's a top bloke, very genuine and interested in what people think of his gear.

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1417900670' post='2625010'] Wish I'd bought one of these years ago when I had the chance. [/quote] The Gallery had one up until quite recently. First one I'd seen in years. I used to see them occasionally at Andy's in Denmark Street back in the 90s. Only bass I've ever seen where you actually needed an allen key to tune it, due to his unique headstock design. Great instruments though. Beautiful, light, wonderfully made, fantastically skinny neck, and "mwah" for days. I wonder what happened to Mr. Eccles?

There used to be a UK bass builder who made basses like that - Eccles. His basses were short scale and entirely made from one piece of wood. He also made all his own pickups, hardware and so on. They were pretty unique.

Only ever got to see him once, with BBM at Brixton back in '93 or so. Great show. To be honest, I loved his voice more than his bass playing, although he did play a mean bass. Only Ginger left out of those three now.

He hadn't really been well since his liver transplant. When Cream did their reunion a few years back he sang and played great, but looked dreadful (then again, Ginger Baker looked worse). That press pic that's on the BBC site right now is not flattering.

Scratch that. It's on the BBC now. RIP Jack. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29772926?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central