Stub Mandrel

I've never pushed my Orange Terror 500W up to full power. Admittedly, I have a very efficient speaker cab, but unless you have a very inefficient cab, 500W will always give you enough stage volume, and if it's not loud enough to fill the whole venue, why aren't you going through the PA?

There are plenty of songs defined by their basslines but the great unwashed don't recognise them as such.

All true, but that argument applies equally to bass cabs.

Curiosity, why are people who make their own excellent bass cabs buying ready made PA speakers?

The one PA we have uses a reference microphone and white noise through each, then both sides of the PA. Not perfect as it doesn't compensate for the place filling with punters, but it speeds everything up.

Well he was several years away from becoming famous!

Sone posh plugs have washers you loop the wire round. Plugs with little scews are better (if they are quality ones) because if they can be done up tight enough they cold weld like a crimp... you hear them creak or crack when undoing them.

You can soft solder to aluminium. You need to abrade off the oxide layer, cover it with light oil (not flux), use a powerful iron and scratch through the thin oxide layer that formed before you got the oil on. It is tricky. I've also got aluminium welding rods (alutite), used with a blowtorch- mechanical abrasion also important.

Funnily enough I just posted an explanation of why crimping is superior to soldering. The same goes for plugs. Done up tight the screw cold welds and unsoldered is more flexible, improving fatigue life.

Is that the one you had back in the 90s?

Run away!

Not the greatest, perhaps, but the three bass players I would most enjoy seeing interviewed: Leo Lyons - stepped up the virtuosity in blues rock bass from his jazz roots. Dave Pegg - transformed folk-rock bass from a gentle accompaniment to the equal of any other instrument. Jim Lea. Becoz.

Chatting to a friend the other day, back in the 70s his band needed a stand in bassist for a European tour. They auditioned Pino and turned him down. 🙄

Try Monkey Wrench. Foo Fighters basslines songs are deceptive, full of syncopation, space, unintuitive structure. Even their simplest songs will add a beat, drop a bar or stick in an unexpected rhythm change.

Michael Rosen?

In practice, well-made spade connections are more reliable. A proper crimp tool causes cold-welding, there is better strain relief, and a little spring bit on the spade engages the hole in the tab so it can't vibrate loose. It's been widely demonstrated that soldering wires to crimp connectors decreases their fatigue life. Thus is why crimps are ubiquitous for automotive and aetospace applications.

It's best to minimise leakage, but most have some porosity around the connectors, especially if using jack sockets. If you use a vinyl covering then the edges will seal well enough, but if on a hard surface a bit of sealant wouldn't be a bad idea.

Yes.

Paid up old fogey here... back in the day when the best you could hope for was a cassette of the setlist.

I got the confidence to jam during covid. I would put on Planet Rock and try and play along to every song. Not aiming for perfectionn just in tune, in time and try to get the right feel.

Last night the band played Thunderstruck. I was talking to their singer/guitarist and mentioned that their keyboardist took over the riff... he said she'd never played it before but realised his fingers were cramping up. Incredible.

To me, jamming along to a song you've never heard before is as good as it gets.

Phew. We are at Tenby Blues Festival. Last night we went to Bella Collins' late night jam. Turned into an epic session ending after 4:00am. Headliner Sean ‘Mack’ McDonald’ joined in and has an incredible touch on guitar (and played a storming boogie woogie onbthe piano after it was meant to have finished). Met a guitarist and singer and stood in for three songs (I have no idea what they were) with them, an excellent saxophonist and a young woman on drums who was really good. Got called up a bit later to support a lady who hadn't sung for a while and got her confidence to sing again. Lots of variety and really captured the feel of a big community of musicians. Our first time here and we're meeting people we know wherever we go.

Last night (Darren was hiding in the corner).