Muzz

ACDC wouldn't have been the band they were without Cliff Williams resisting the urge to Jaco all over the place, ditto Quo. One of my bandmates plays in probably the biggest Quo tribute on the circuit, the attendance and fan enthusiasm is something I'd kill for... On the JT front, just for fun we kicked around Rio once in rehearsal with just me and the drummer, and the singer...it's 95% of the song, the bass line carries it all...fantastic...ditto Love Cats...

They really are a whole new level live; I've seldom seen such intensity in a live performance...I can recommend them when all this hoohah dies down and attending (and playing) gigs is back on the calendar...

Lack Of Communication is one of the great rock riffs...I always liked Dokken, too...

You might like this, then...early(ish -84) and very obscure LA/Hair Rock...more to it than a lot of its contemporaries (that bass intro is great), sadly they only ever released one EP...which I paid an arm and a leg for on import...

I was very, very late to the Rival Sons party; I'd heard a couple of tracks when they were the Hot New Thing, but dismissed them as too close to a Led Zep Tribute act, when I was talked into seeing them a few years ago. Seen them three or four times since, they're extraordinary live, but to be fair they'd moved away from the LZ bandwagon considerably by then... Ditto Creedence Clearwater Revival (I knowwwww...); I knew a few songs (and the covers thereof), but until one day on a whim I just said 'Alexa, play Creedence' and left it going for a couple of hours, I didn't know how much I liked them...

Horses for courses for me; I have a Stomp and inears for the trio gigs, for sheer convenience - we have a good PA - (and inears are a bit of a revelation - 'Maaannnn, is that really me?' - which made me up my game; there's nowhere to hide* 🙁🙂) but I've still got a backline I love (Walkabout and Super Twin), which can trounce any drummer**. I've also got a small combo for the ultimate simplicity for the smallest gigs, where we're pretty much acoustic, with just the guitar and vocals in a reduced amount of PA... Oh, and inears have the trump card, which is an overall volume control; I can hear everything I need to, at whatever volume I want...much easier on the old lugholes, and miles better in terms of sound quality than just attenuating earplugs... * It's a bit like hearing isolated bass tracks (Geddy's ones in particular spring to mind) which are really rough in isolation... ** I'm a believer in the theory that as long as I can keep up with the drummer playing acoustically, my backline's loud enough: if he gets mike'd and DI'd, then I will be, too..

Yup, I went from 3 x AE112s to a single BF Super Twin (2x12). At least as much presence and ooomph (and even in the band with TWO stooopidly loud Marshall 100+412 geetards), and nearly a third of the weight. I should add I ran the AEs with the horns off, as for me they scooped the sound...which I don't like in a band context. The only thing I'd change the Super Twin for would be a pair of SCs, just for modularity in smaller pubs with the trio, but I have a Rumble 100 (with a 'proper' Eminence 12 in it) which covers that eventuality, sooooo...I'm all good 🙂

I've broken a string on a couple of occasions, but not in the last decade. I use active basses, and I've had a battery die on me before now. I have a double gig bag, so I always take two basses. Tune the second one up while the guitarist is fiddling during setup (plenty of time there), bung it on the stand (or put it carefully in the gig bag) and it's a matter of seconds to change if needs be. It's no real effort, so I don't see why not. I have spare leads, batteries, picks, etc (even a Behringer BDDI DI box I've never had to use, but only cost me a tenner). I see it as a professional approach.

An ideal opportunity to say... Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Oh no...I want another one now... 🙁🙂

I've had a couple of 12s and a couple of 8s, and can confirm that the 'tuned slightly different' thing is very easy to achieve...unless you've got a very good tuner and about ten minutes to spare. By which time the audience is bored, the singer's apoplectic and the drummer's gone to the bar...

Oh, come on - you could order a latte in Mongolian and it'd sound like a declaration of war; stand in front of a metal band and drop it two octaves, it's nothing short of epic... 😀

You need to see them live - I liked their stuff (and that video for Yuve Yuve Yu is worth watching just for the landscapes) beforehand, but live they were extraordinary - that throat-singing at a zillion db through a huge PA, literally shaking the room? It's life-changing...and if there was ever a language made for metal, it's Mongolian...I didn't understand a word all night*, but that didn't matter... 😀 * The main fella only spoke two phrases of English** which were 'Thank you, Manchester' and 'Next song is'... ** Still two more than my Mongolian...

I can't be doing with anything by Jaco Pastorius, does that mean he wasn't a hugely talented and influential bassist? Nope, it just means I don't like his stuff, and that's on me, not the facts...the 'I don't like it therefore it's rubbish' mindset is just that, a personal mindset, and nothing to do with how good a particular piece of music is in terms of what it was trying to achieve.

With tsunami of music on various platforms over the last 20 years, it's physically impossible to know every top song in any genre, really...it all depends on how much new music you expose yourself to...or are inadvertently exposed to - three of those next ten I know because we've covered them, or my now-sixteen-year-old son has played to me (the Imagine Dragons one, for example). The best gig I've been to in the last decade was by a band I hadn't heard of three months previous to that, and only picked it up on social media from a friend...The Hu.

I'd settle for one...see Mr Neville 'Is it Christmas yet?' Holder... 😀

That was what I was happy about; he's not quite super tight all the way through...not something detectable on the finished record, though, and as I said, definitely better than perfectly quantised...

This makes me very happy indeed - I've always been very down on the slight hesitation/timing issue I have for the roots in the bridge part, but now I can hear even Bernard didn't get them bang on all the time...still a million miles better than a quantised version, though... 🙂

No, because not only was it a very lifeless version, it's also nearly nine minutes long...I managed about half that...I've just gone back, and yep, it's the same stuff, just with some distant vaguely Hooky-type noodling starting at 7:45...still don't get it. It's probably just me... Although Hooky starts a song like that, at least... 😀

If I had a hundred quid for every time I've played that song in front of a bunch of happily singing punters...oh, wait...I pretty much have... 😀

I don't get it? The bass is simplified to eights (the best bits removed) and the drums (and the track) have had all the life sucked out of them?

As a Dingwall 4-string owner (and previous Newtone user), I'd say Newtone would be a good go-to, just to make sure you get the winding length for the longer E. I've got Elixirs on mine, the length is fine, but I dunno if you'd get the gauge as light as you want...

Yep, my GAS has receded to the realms of daft fantasy stuff, especially on the amp front - I have all I'll ever need (and for me, the very very best) for gigging with the Stomp/Walkabout/Barefaced kit, the only things on the amp front I'd change for would be a pair of Walkabout Scout and extension cab, but only in a nice colour. And that's only because I'd put them in the corner of the room like furniture... 😐 Bass-wise, I'm pretty much good, too, gigs depending. There's three bands starting up again after lockdown, two of which are reboots of previous ones, so we'll see which way they progress...again, any new basses would be for the looks, not the sound - after yonks of experimenting and learning, I know how to make most basses sound like me... I'm very shallow these days... 🙁😀