Russ

I don’t think I’m ever going to be in a covers band. I’m not really wired that way. On the odd occasion that a band I’ve been in has thrown a cover into our set, I’ve never found them very satisfying to play. I’ve learnt entire albums full of songs, but I have no desire to play anyone else’s music on stage. However, I’ve enjoyed plenty of covers bands over the years, although I have very particular tastes with it - they either have to reproduce the original closely (pretty much as if they were a tribute band) or they have to do it sufficiently differently that it becomes its own thing. Can’t stand the half-arsed cover.

Got all the old demo tapes and CDs, press kits, and a bunch of flyers. Also got most of the magazines we got reviewed in, the programme from when we played Bloodstock 2003, and a bunch of backstage passes. I was thinking of making a display case with stuff from each band, but never quite got around to it.

The Nexus heads were cool. I do feel they tried to shoehorn too many features into them though. Never been much of a fan of their cabs, alas.

Looks great, as long as they don't have any reliability issues. I used to be a bit of an Ampeg zealot, loved them. Then my SVT-7 died at a gig, during the first song. So, much as I think Ampeg stuff is great, I'm a little wary. I want to wait and hear some reports on how they perform. The 1200W head looks like it's coming in at US$1000, so probably £1000 when all is said and done. The gig bag is extra though - I wish they'd just include them. The 2x12" cab is $1100.

The two mid controls are the Bongo's big secret. That raspy tone is all in the high mids - dial the treble flat (or just slightly boosted), then dial the high mids all the way up, and you get that lovely clank. The low mids contains all the heft, although you need to take it easy with it - it can get quite boomy and tubby if you dial it all the way up.

It could be done as a 5.33 ohm cab (3x16 ohm speakers in parallel). Most amps will handle that. Markbass and Ashdown have both done 3x10" cabs and done pretty well with them. I'd buy one.

I was 13. That meant a bit of an eclectic selection - Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden, a compilation tape of Commodore 64 game music, and whatever "Now" tapes were around back then...

Marshall to re-enter the bass market with a 1000W Class D head, with a valve preamp, the DBS EQ section, and full classic black and gold livery.

As recorded, it's... OK. There's this live version featuring Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge that takes it to a completely different level though, with some beautiful S&G-style harmonies. Check it out.

k.d. lang's version - sublime and practically peerless. Jeff Buckley's version - incredible. Alexandra Burke's version - execrable, horrendous travesty.

I'm using a Barefaced Big Twin II, which, in general, requires quite a lot of juice to work properly. My main amp head is one of the new Trace Elliot TE-1200s, which throws out 1200W. We're also getting into that murky discussion about "class D watts" not being equivalent to class A/class AB watts. Technically, a watt is a watt - one joule per hour. But the best explanation I've heard is that a Class D power amp is super-clean and flat in response, with no additional harmonic colouration, so it sounds quieter. A more traditional valve or MOSFET power amp adds additional colouration and harmonics to the sound, so it ends up sounding "bigger" per watt of power.

Colin Edwin has no interest in touring with PT again. Him and Steven Wilson seem to have drifted apart, and he never got a call when Wilson “reconvened” PT, with Wilson handling bass duties on the new album himself. Surprised Wilson didn’t call on Nick Beggs though, who played bass for most of his solo stuff. Wilson’s live set always contains multiple PT songs, so Beggs knows the stuff. I guess he was busy?

Nope. 1/4” TRS jack. I think it’s actually more like 350W into 8ohms - 500 into 4, and 700 into 2. As I was saying above, the tone is great. It’s just a bit… quiet.

There's a switch on the front to switch between no effects, chorus and octave, and you can run both effects together if you get the better footswitch from Blackstar. But the chorus depth and octave blend controls are on the back. I guess they're expecting people to "set and forget" them. I actually looked into the volume issue a bit more. It only delivers 700W into 2 ohms - at 4 ohms, it's only pumping out 500W. Which is good if you're running two 4 ohm cabs, but not so good for everyone else.

I actually posted a review in the reviews section yesterday. This is what it said. Been playing with a U700 head a bit, into my Barefaced Big Twin II. I like the tone. There’s a lot of stuff in there, and the power amp emulations are excellent. Good, powerful EQ, and the two pre-shapes give you instant good tone. The compressor is decent for a one-knob job. However, the little toggle switches are flimsy, hiding the effects settings round the back is a bit silly (some people might not even notice they’re there!) and, well, despite 700 watts of power, it never feels like it actually gets very loud. Also, NO MUTE SWITCH! Great first go at bass from Blackstar - it’s really got potential. But a Mk2 version needs to address some of these issues. Proper pushbuttons for the EQ, preamp, effects, etc please. Include the full-featured footswitch. And, if they’re keeping the effects, put the settings on the front. And add a futtockin’ MUTE SWITCH!

Been playing with a U700 head a bit, into my Barefaced Big Twin II. I like the tone. There’s a lot of stuff in there, and the power amp emulations are excellent. Good, powerful EQ, and the two pre-shapes give you instant good tone. The compressor is decent for a one-knob job. But I agree with Bill - the little toggle switches are flimsy, hiding the effects settings round the back is a bit silly (some people might not even notice they’re there!) and, well, despite 700 watts of power, it never feels like it actually gets very loud. Also, NO MUTE SWITCH! Great first go at bass from Blackstar - it’s really got potential. But a Mk2 version needs to address some of these issues. Proper pushbuttons for the EQ, preamp, effects, etc please. And, if they’re keeping the effects, put the settings on the front. And add a futtockin’ MUTE SWITCH!

"Hand Built" used to mean using a hand saw, hammer and chisel. Even luthiers who don't use CNC machines still use various other machines and tools for the various steps of building an instrument, including preparing/planing wood, cutting the wood (bandsaw), sanding, drilling, routing, etc. A CNC machine is just one more machine. And many of those who do use CNCs only use them to cut out bodies. They still prefer to do neck shaping, etc by hand using planes, rasps, etc.

They already have done.

Nice bass, but what happened to Norman Watt-Roy? Can you even have The Blockheads without him?

CNC machines are a) extremely good for consistency, b) quicker than doing it by hand, but also c) very expensive. So I don't see how people expect companies who use them to be cheaper, except for mass manufacturing, where a company will be churning out 100 bodies an hour using multiple machines (the cost of the machines can be amortised more quickly that way).

The big difference there is that Dingwall Combustions are made in the Far East, although Sheldon's team does QC and setup at their HQ in Canada before shipping them out. The new Status basses are being made in the UK. As far as the LEDs go, SimS and Status do a lot of work together - I expect Status prepares their necks for SimS beforehand, with the required routing, slots, etc. And they're only an hour away from each other!

People tend to overlook the fact that a lot of the sound of a Status comes from the Hyperactive pickups and electronics (super-hi-fi with seriously hyped-up high end) and the phenolic fingerboards - the 90s wooden-necked Statii still sounded like Statii! So the lack of carbon fibre isn’t a dealbreaker. It might have been nice to see a graphite “skin” on the necks though, like Martin Sims was doing on some of the Enfield basses, or that Jon Shuker does on his Jean-Jaques Burnel model. The Jonas Hellborg model sounded the most Status-y of any Status, and that had a wooden neck. It also had ridiculously overpowered 36V electronics. Going to miss the all-graphite models though. They had their own vibe, and I loved the coloured variations they were offering.

Wondering about the new neck construction. From the description on the website, it sounds very much like a standard-ish 3-piece maple neck with carbon rods, much like they did in the 90's, just painted black. I'll reserve judgement until I've tried one, but I'm just happy to see Rob back at work, and I'm glad he's on the mend. Incidentally, their website is now over 20 years old, and is very much in need of a refresh... looks a lot like like the one I built for Martin at Sei back in 1998!

Ebonol is basically just phenolic, isn’t it? I had an Ibanez GWB (the cheap black one) a while back and it was OK, but didn’t have much “mwah”. I also had a Cort Curbow years ago with an ebonol fingerboard, and it wasn’t bad. The body of the Cort Curbow was also made of some synthetic material that had a rather unpleasant smell! I tried one of the new Ibanez EHB fretlesses recently, with the blue Richlite fingerboard (which is basically phenolic resin-infused paper!). It was pretty nice though, sang nicely and felt pretty solid. Better than the ebonol on the GWB.

That's so weird. I was thinking about her this morning and was wondering what she had been up to. I'm sure it'll come out that it was suicide. She was a troubled soul with a remarkable, genuine talent. RIP Sinéad.