Stub Mandrel

Luthiery is the art of making and repairing stringed instruments. Hence anyone who does more than the odd bodge is indulging in luthiery. But like a car nechanic, bassists or botanists, there are professionals and amateurs teained and self-taught; qualified and not: highly skilled and less unskilled. In my mind a luthier has made successful instruments from scratch (at least the body and neck). It isn't a 'guitar tech'. But in the UK we are not fussy and allow anyone to self-define as most trades; here anyone can be an engineer in Europe you have to be qualified to get the epithet 'Ing.' after your name. Anyone can be an 'accountant' but you need qualifications and experience to be a 'chartered accountant'. Now what is it that allows you to call yourself a bassist/bass player and who are the gatekeepers of the title? Imagine if you needed to be Grade 8 and registered with the RCM to be able to say you are a bassist?

My mantra.

Old Kay/teisco 'harmonica' pickups are actually really good.

Well not a huge audience last night, about 35, but most of them came to see us and quite a few were local musicians. Had some of our best feedback ever 'the dog's bollocks' was one memorable judgement. We were very relaxed and played pretty loosely, Alex changed a few arrangements on the fly and I was in the mood for a bit of improvising. A bass player said 'I liked your solo on Bright Lights' - it wasn’t a solo, I just couldn't remember the (very simple) bass riff...

Well... I said no gigs this month but I now have three with Bluesfire. One I hadn't got the date for, one in Cardiff both in a fortnight the other side of the guitarist's other band supporting Cardinal Black. The other is tonight at my local club standing in for a band whose singer is poorly (my other band shares a guitarist with them). Just hope word gets about tonight round as people have being asking when we are back there but not booked until September.

When I bought my Trace Elliot 4x10 combo, the lad selling it had brought a friend to help move it. When old fart me picked it up and carried it over to my car and put it in the back, his mate burst out laughing. It's not always strength, sometimes it's just knowing how to lift properly.

I suspect musicians from his band who might say a VM gig was the worst ever...

I have never found the break angle to be an issue.

I think a moderator has nuked the two redundant versions. Did you post it when looking at an earlier page than the last one? Sometimes nothing appears to happen so you click again, and again...

Potentially; it depends on more than just the number of tubes. Guitar World did a shootout. I struggled to find the original but found a summary of the results: Marshall 100 watt 1959 SLP full stack (reissue, 60's spec) Vox AC30 (current, it looked like the fawn colored handwired version) Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with factory standard appointments The readings were from low to high for the three contenders, 119.5 db, 124.1 db and 124.6 db. .

But what do you feel about the Warwick headstock?

It's just midweek chit-chat while we are all between gigs.

Busy hour ahead

Saw Norman Watt-Roy with JOB at the 100 Club last year. Felt like a time capsule.

Delighted to see a rash of articles about what happened when journalists asked some of Meta's chatbots to spill the beans on their origins. Lies and brutal honesty all mixed up.

I think we assess AI incorrectly. Even with an Internet-connected pc most people would fare very badly if given the same tasks. Don't forget that we don't actually understand what really happens jnside an AI either.

They bought it. Whether they are physically capable of picking it up is another question. I'd guess time slows down when you get close to it! 😁

I'm not sure that's true. I researched a topic then asked ChatGPT to write an article as an experiment. The first draft had some egregious errors, such as putting the subject's birthplace in Ireland, not Wales. When challenged it checked, apologised and corrected the error. I've since had a conversation with someone who has been using ai a lot partly through their studies. He recommends starting with a short, clear brief. Then a process of review and refinement; not using the AI as a substitute for learning, but a tool for gathering, organising and presenting information. To be effective a tool has to be wielded by a skilled hand.

Funk in a box: Just get the sensitivity right for the bass/style

If I need to go light I can carry cab and bass in each hand and the amp over my shoulder 😃

If I go it will be Saturday; gigging Sunday.

I was in the firing line of one Sunday evening, extraordinary volume 👍 That's because of how Vox specified the power (30W before onset of audible distortion) while contemporary Marshall amps were specced as 100W flat out. The AC30 has proven louder than a comparable, contemporary 100W Marshall combo.

This is very true, but avoid the small Trace Elliot Elf cabs; I and others have found them gutless. My brother uses his with an Ampeg Portaflex 1x15 (which he got for £15, as new!) and it's a great match.

Listen to the advice above. Amp power ratings can be very misleading. A 1000W amp is only twice as loud as 100W into the same cab. Speaker efficiency makes a huge difference, as does an amp with (good) built in compression/limiting. That's why the above mentioned Trace Elliot Elf into an efficient cab can be as good as a 1000W combo with a crap speaker. I used to gig with 150W and two 2x12 cabs in the 90s. These days a 500W Orange Terror into a single good 2x12 and it's difficult to set it quiet enough for most venues and I've used it ticking over in 250 capacity venues and open air gigs with no PA support. There's no upper limit (I saw the bass player of Preying Mantis use one in the Manchester O2, with PA support). So my advice is choose an amp you like the sound of with power in the hundreds of watts and match it with a good (ideally the best you can afford) lightweight cab. Amps are very personal as they determine your core sound. Good cabs include GRBASS, LFsys, Barefaced, Markbass, TC Electronic. The first two are a bit boutique. The other three probably cover 90% of the cabs I see used by regularly gigging bands.