Stub Mandrel

Just went to see the Little Giants, a sort of 'juke box band'. Lots of guests in the second half and I did a stint on bass, from memory Dakota, Superstition, Gene Genie and Mess of Blues plus one or two others? Shirani guested on sax and asks me "what suits sax?" Optimistically I say 21st Century Schizoid Man and they launch into 20th Century Boy... 🤣

A 15" Ampeg Portaflex pulls a lot more bass out of an Elf than the 2x8. I know because I tried both in PMT before I bought the Elf, and found it weak sounding through the 2x8. Oddly, a year later my brother picked up Portaflex 15 for £50(!) and ended up getting an Elf to go with it. (Yes I know all the arguments against 15s but this particular combination sounds great for the sort of music I play).

On the vast majority of solid state amps the headphone disconnects the speaker output and powers the 'phones via a series resistor. This means your fault is probably, as you seem to realise, a break somewhere in the output wiring, not in the electronics. You have a suitable instrument to trace the fault. Put the meter on an a/c range, perhaps 20vac or more. With one probe at a good ground point, carefully probe from the headphone socket to the speaker leads.

I know I wish I did...

I can see for an 8R system the series rheostat should be 0-8R, presumably linear. The parallel rheostat would, ideally be 0-infinity and 8R at the point where the series one is at its mid-point. That would give three 8R points at max and min. But most rheostats are wirewound and linear, so I wonder what compromise is used.

Papa Was A Rolling Stone. I hate counting but trying to do it by feel is soooo hard.

This seems to be an issue with the more 'professional' tributes - they are straightjacketed by not being able to improvise audience interaction without 'breaking character'.

There are still a good few stores in and around Cardiff, but gradually fading away 😞 A-strings in Treforest is excellent. Big selection, great service. How many shops will take a bass you are trying out and do a setup on it while you wait with a cup of tea? (Yes, I did buy it!)

PMT has a definite feel of a place that's just being wound down over the last twelve months.

Our soundcheck song.

Gibson massively hurt their sales with their minimum stock requirements and not allowing people to sell epiphone without minimum Gibson stockn while Fender/Squier made hay.

Many people assume that flat sounds best, but it rarely does. 😁

Thank goodness they didn't get Gerry's precision.

This could be what happened to someone waiting for their double bass bow.

I have realised buying basses is just a justification for going to shops to try out lots of nice instruments and gear. How can I do that and not buy...

I keep a strap, lead and tuner in the case with all my main basses, so I can grab one, a head and a cab and know I gave all the essentials.

Maybe... adding some Muse at the moment!

My bandmate's other band played my SO's birthday on Saturday. They offered to do it for a silly fee, a fairer but still reduced fee was agreed. They got a bit more than they expected on the night, and all were happy.

Pressure & Time, lots of fun little fills for me.

Tap water is free as a courtesy. You can't have collective punishment... The seagull swoops when she sees someone leaving.

I you get a free night's entertainment week after week, you could at least ocassionally find something to buy. The person is teetotal, but could buy a mineral water, slimline drinks or just a packet of crisps. Literally NEVER put a penny behind the bar.

I'm very involved with a club that puts ona lot of live music. Some bands pull in enough people to make the night pay, some don't. There are some popular bands who will give a modest discount to make sure the night pays - in return we put a bucket round and this typically makes up the difference. What irks most are regular punters who only buy tap water (not even a soft drink) and one (known as the seagull) who subsists only by swooping down on abandoned drinks...

Music is a passion and a hobby for me. How many things are there that you can do that bring immediate pleasure to a large group of people? Seeing an audience really enjoy a gig is my main reward. Payment us about covering the expenses to be able to have those experiences.

If people find out about the undersubscribed items and they buy 10% of tickets for relatively unpopular items they get a better win ratio and the seller reduces their losses.

I won't be reporting on Saturday's gig as when the bandmember who booked it contacted them today they said they had no record of it. He shared the conversation with them but only got a vague apology 😞 At least we didn't turn up...