nekomatic

Instagram detective work informs me it was Kielan Sheard!

I always thought of the Fender P as the Avometer 8 of basses.

Well. You can buy yourself an ICEpower Class D module from Profusion in the UK and some of them are all-in-one units that simply need connecting to line level input, speaker output and mains power, but the thing that would (and has) put me off a DIY with one of these is the thermal design - I assume commercial designers using these modules will have done proper engineering calculations and maybe simulations to verify that the thing won't overheat under the expected use conditions, or at least they will have built up experience of what they need to do in practice, but I don't have either the knowledge to do that or the time and money to figure it out - and you don't want to worry that your homebuilt amp is going to crap out on you on a gig. How about building the preamp stage in a case that would stack neatly on top of a GR Bass Pure Amp 800 - which has a 9 volt power output so you'd only need the one mains lead to power the combination?

Meanwhile we went to see the The Songs of Joni Mitchell project at the RNCM last night, which is Jesca Hoop, Lail Arad, Olivia Chaney and Gigi Williamson on vocals and guitars - Chaney also played piano on a couple of numbers - plus a guy whose name I sadly didn’t catch doing Jaco duty on fretless bass for a few tunes, and Josephine Oniyama as special guest for the Manchester date. Really superb stuff both in total and by each performer in their own way, confirming my maybe-controversial view that Joni Mitchell isn’t necessarily the greatest interpreter of every Joni Mitchell song. A special treat to see Oniyama live for the first time - she is a tremendous voice. Glasgow tonight is also sold out, apparently, but if anyone up there knows how to blag a ticket I recommend it.

The Planets is often assumed to be crowd-pleasing ‘classical for beginners’ but if you listen to the whole thing there’s plenty of it that’s actually quite advanced, and the end of Neptune with the offstage choir is properly spine-tingling. I would like to confirm that (a) that’s our favourite section to sit in too, and (b) yes, you do look like youngsters 😁

I’d say the same for the Marshall MB15.

It does sound good, but it’s not very loud - I don’t think it’d keep up with a drummer and guitarist beyond very polite practice volume. People always rate the Fender Rumble combos, which on my limited experience is justified.

Oh and I’m tempted by the Fairground Attraction reunion that comes here the following weekend, but put off by the thought that it might just be a massive sing-along-fest. I don’t care if people yell their lungs out to Perfect, it was never one of my favourites anyway, but I’m not paying fifty quid to have Allelujah or The Moon Is Mine drowned out by the flipping punters.

To be fair the OP doesn’t say ‘no jazz’, just not specifically jazz. I think there have been some fine recommendations here.

Two very good calls there.

However, since derailing threads has a long and honourable tradition here, I endorse this recommendation.

Well last week’s jazz jam may be the last, as the pub is closing this week. Sounds like the brewery have kicked the landlord out and may install a new one, so it might be back, or might find new premises. Would be a shame if it doesn’t carry on somehow though, as it was a really nice crowd and vibe. I’m told the one at Matt and Phreds in Manchester is good, so might chance that next month…

The Songs of Joni Mitchell at the Royal Northern on Sunday 22nd. Not many tix left, if anyone else fancies it! I’d go to this for either of Jesca Hoop or Josephine Oniyama, so to see both of them ought to be a treat. Oh and Olivia Chaney.

I’m sure a good patent agent could draft something that would cover your design without infringing on or being invalidated by whatever PJB have done, but it’d cost you significant money so there’d be no point unless you were planning to sell this on a commercial scale (and willing to defend your patent against any big companies with big lawyers who took a fancy to it). So now we know you probably won’t sue us for copying it, can you tell us where you got the luggage handle from?

That’s the bunny - thank you! I should clarify that my search incompetence is rivalled by my woodworking incompetence*, so knowing that there are battens doesn’t equal fully understanding how to most easily assemble the thing. * exaggeration for comic effect, but only a bit

Cool to see the plans ready, thanks to Phil, Bert and Sam for making it happen. I plan to build one as soon as I’ve got a couple of other projects off the books (so don’t hold your breath). I vaguely remember a video in which Phil demonstrated how to assemble a speaker cabinet without having to use a million sash clamps. I assume this cab can be built the same way? Can anyone take pity on my search incompetence and remind me where to find it?

Put me down as a maybe…

This is true, but when AWS serves a request I assume the bytes are not being picked by underpaid warehouse staff and delivered by drivers on zero-hours contracts.

Local math-rock darlings Dutch Uncles in the unusual venue of Stockport’s parish church, Saint Mary’s in the Marketplace. Atmospheric but I’m not sure the acoustic did their sound any favours, as the complexities of their stuff went a bit muddy amid the reverberation. Bit different though.

The black thing below the two pots on the top row does indeed look like an LDR optoisolator as used in optical compressors, and the board legend looks like it says OPT1. How does the drive sound, at a low setting?

Local math-rockers Dutch Uncles at St Mary’s Church in Stockport next Friday night. Interesting venue for it. I wonder if there’ll be a bar?

That’s a really, really good tip!

“…in the style of a Bulgarian wedding dance”

I am currently accordionless, having Freegled the second of our charity shop acquisitions a while back as I wasn't really playing it and it was too out of tune and not worth paying to fix. Although we then visited a mate I hadn't seen in ages and found that he's taken up accordion restoring as a hobby, but never mind. However, mrs nekomatic has inherited an accordion from her uncle in Sweden which we believe to be a decent one and we are in the process of getting it over here via her various sisters who live there - apparently it has survived the first leg of its journey via DHL so fingers crossed. Speaking of fingers crossed though, it's a button model not a piano one, so that'll be an interesting challenge.

Depends on the sensitivity of the cabs. The 4 ohm will get more power but could be less sensitive.