lozkerr

Town Called Malice for me. Keeping time's OK but keeping the staccato constant through the riff is another matter. Lockdown should keep me busy trying to nail it properly, though.

Oo, my Jazz has the same plate on it. Who's up for a wee jam? All together now - a one, a two, a three, a four.. Ooh, the virus isn't fun, isn't fun When you gonna make me real ill, Corona? Ooh, you make my bottom run, bottom run Gonna come in for the kill, Corona

Aye, I know exactly what you mean. I was raging and almost crying in equal measure when it conked out. The combination of Metro plus 118 extension cab gave me a sound I really love, and I'm hoping - hoping - that the WTP600 will be a near-enough direct replacement. It's only single channel, but being able to turn the valves off should give similar flexibility to the Metro's twin channels. The Bass Gallery have a Metro for sale that looks like it's had a much easier life than my old workhorse and I was very tempted to snap it up, but it's still a few years old. They're wanting £650 for it, which seems quite reasonable, but for £350 more I can have a spanking new amp with warranty, and I can still use the Metro as a 210 cab.

That's what I've gone for. WTP600 head is on the way!

First gig for our six-piece 80s covers band last night. It was a fundraising night at Edinburgh College in Granton. We went down a storm, in spite of my backline playing up. Lots of people dancing and enjoying themselves. It was livestreamed to YouTube too. All in all, a great start for the band. I'm looking forward to our next one!

Apologies for resurrecting a long-dormant thread, but I'd like to call on da Basschat massif, innit. Last night, my Eden Metro started cutting out during a gig. The sound went completely, and though it came back intermittently, I ended up using DI into the PA. I'm now pondering the options, as the combo is now over 20 years old and it hasn't had the easiest of lives. Should I a) Get it checked by a technician and hopefully fixed, but knowing that something else could conk out next time, or b) Get it fully refurbished, which would likely be far more expensive than option a), or c) Remove the amp, fit jack and Speakon sockets to the back, thereby transforming it into a 210 cab and buy a new head? I'm inclining towards c) at the moment, so I'd be most grateful for any advice on which option would give the most reliable rig. Many thanks.

Jesus wept. No wonder you refused that gig! That's horrendous. Mind you, it is Leith...

Oofty, where was that? I'm struggling to imagine even a drunken ned wanting to have a pop at a bloke your size!

Think I might have earned a yellow card - I've just bought a replacement footswitch as the old one's carked itself and I have a gig next week. I could manage without it - it only mimics controls on the amp - but I've got used to having the controls on my pedal board. There's no additional functionality though, honest guv.

And of course, coping with the hot-desking fad. Not the electric-heater-under-the-office-tw@'s-paper-trays that was popular around the turn of the century, but the ability to locate a desk among a group of people whose work is entirely different to your own. If you're a software developer, you either work on your own projects or have a wee kip while seemingly concentrating hard on a screen full of code that will just be gobbledegook to the admin people around you - or if you're in PR, you plonk yourself among the geeks and play on YouFaceTwit all day. And of course, you always use the printer that's furthest away from where you are. That lets you master the art of carrying a piece of paper while walking briskly, thus making you seem Big and Important. When it's time for a brew, you pull out that elderly phone stuffed full of MP3s, plug in your earphones and conduct an intense but one-wordy conversation with Iron Maiden. Need to watch the volume, though. For added points, start a detailed reply as you walk out the room. Plus, when printing stuff for home, make sure you submit it in a batch and make the final document something to do with work. Make sure there's no-one near the printer before you send it. Then, as your set lists and charts are printing, if anyone approaches you, you take it off the printer looking really annoyed, make some comment about 'don't some people focus on their business objectives' when your own document finally appears and flounce off with your home stuff while making some comment about reporting misuse of resources. That's so no-one can reasonably ask you to chuck it straight in the recycling bin. There we are, kids. Laura's Thursday Tips for a more satisfying working day. Tune in next week for tips on how to leave boring meetings and still look good, how to deal with food thieves and how to provide your odious manager with a managed exit. Book and motivational speaking tour coming soon!

Aye, those are really handy. I only use a few of the features, mainly the sustain, defretter and overdrive, and getting a decent compressed sound involves a bit of faffing about. Likely it's just me being daft, though. We've got our first gig in a couple of weeks, so I'll see how happy I am with it after I've heard the recording.

How are you finding it? I have one and it seems to do a lot of things fairly well but I keep wondering if I should have gone for separate pedals instead.

Heh, you can't make music with savings, which is probably why I'm perpetually skint! My weapon of choice is a Fender American Jazz Deluxe V with a Steinberger XT-25 for taking on the road to while away evenings in hotel rooms. I still have my Ibby GSR200 squirrelled away in store as well - I should really think about selling it. What sort of music do you play?

Welcome, Grace! Aye good to see another lass making an appearance. What bass(es) have you got?

Those outside the M25 at least. I'll be coming, unless gigs are booked between now and the last set of press releases. Then gigs take priority, even if there's only a few days between the two. Buzz and rumour can only be tolerated for so long.

Tommy Gun - The Clash Destination Venus - The Rezillos Going Underground - The Jam

Give it time... I know what you mean about the D and G strings. That closer spacing can be a trap for the unwary; the set list for our upcoming gig has one song where I have to jump quickly between the two and another that has root-fifth chords on those strings. It's taken a fair bit of practice to stop my clumsy fingers muting the D string while fretting the G.

I ended up with a Pedaltrain Classic 2, which has enough space for my Boss ME-50B, Eden Glowplug and WDTI as well as the footswitch for my amp. There's still space for more toys, but I'm hanging in there for now. Cost me 115 quid including soft case. The weight saving over the flight case is incredible. Really glad I bought it.

And equally importantly, does Carl have H E F T?

That makes sense. Maybe worth adding it to the Marketplace?

Agreed. I think a pinned thread in the Marketplace would be the best place for it. I'm happy to do some donkey work collating names and routes.

@ped - I'm wondering if there's scope for a dedicated Underground Railway forum? It looks like a lot of BCers travel around quite a bit. F'rinstance, I make regular train journeys between Edinburgh and London, and regular car journeys between Edinburgh and Yorkshire. I could easily take a bass on the train (DBs excepted because of the size and the fact that peak-hour trains are aye rammed) and can take anything that'll go in a Landy between Yorkshire and Embra.

I could manage Leeds to Edinburgh on the 21st February. Could meet between Leeds and Sheffield. EDIT: Or collect from Harrogate.

I did it slightly differently; I spent ages on scales rooted on the B string, and once I'd hoisted in the concept of having two full octaves over five frets everywhere on the fretboard, I started learning a bunch of new songs using the changed fingering. It worked a treat; my four went back in its case and it hasn't been used since.

If I was in that position, no way would I give in to the temptation to come in late, play out of time, play in the wrong key or add overdriven fills full of split notes at inappropriate places. Certainly not.