StingRayBoy42

Harley Benton powerplant PSUs are good and cheap. The ISO-5 will power 5 pedals (more with daisy chains), has 12V and (I think) 18V options, is fully isolated, fits under a PT Nano/Nano+ and costs £42. The only downside is the euro/adapter wall wart... myvolts sell a decent upgrade but that's another £15 or so. Voodoo Lab and Cioks are good and not cheap! It's worth investing in a decent PSU... they're not as glamorous or exciting as another pedal, but well worth having IMHO. Get one with more outputs than you currently need, you WILL be buying more pedals!

None more black...Beautiful! I kind of wish the bridge was black, too 👀 I love my Sterling, cherryburst & Maple. 😍 It's my go to for rocky stuff, but it's no one trick pony... a mate of mine uses his in a ska/reggae band and he's never had any complaints about his sound. I got mine for nothing from EBMM but that's a story for another thread. Congrats on the new arrival!

Bought an amp from Paul- great comms, very accommodating, lovely bloke all round. TOP Basschatter, buy & sell with confidence!

Amazing how many people don't know this simple trick!

Gator Micro Keyboard bag - I think it's the 2110. I've had mine for about 200 years and it's still going strong.

Adagios are decent and cheap, worth checking out to see if you like flats. LaBella DTFs on a P give you 'that' sound, great for Motown/Reggae/Jazz. Ernie Ball Cobalts are great for rock stuff, almost sound like rounds. And they last forever!

Shout out to the humble SubZero guitar bug! 5.8GHz, cheap as chips (£60 new, got mine for £40 used), works a treat, rechargable w/USB, never had a drop out or any interference (touch wood), decently small Rx & Tx... works for me. https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/SubZero-Pocket-Guitar-Bug-Digital-Wireless-System/33F7

It wouldn't surprise me. Shame, they're always really good gigs.

There's a rock band that have to have all their gear set up *exactly* the same way at every gig, they're called OC/DC.

You're far too kind... not sure my cider-addled strem of nonsense could be described as prose, but thank you!

TONIGHT! The Dysfunctionals 3 piece at O'Neill's Solihull. You know it's going to be a good one when you arrive at 7 and the place is packed (many of them drunk and pissed up on booze) and the dancefloor's full. At 7 o'clock! Arse of a load in through the full dancefloor, setup all pretty normal... speedier than usual if anything. The DJ was a bit weird - he kept doing Tony Blackburn style talking along to the tunes which was hilarious. Went on to an excited/feral crowd, dancefloor was packed from the first song, IEM mix was absolutely perfect, Bass sounded great, drummer was smashing it... pretty much a dream set. The 80s numbers (Tainted Love (Yes, I know it's technically a 60s song, but you know what I mean), Don't you want me baby? and another one that I can't remember) seemed to go down the best for some reason - no-one in there looked old enough to remember the 90s, let alone the 80s. Quick vape and Shandy break, got accosted (not physically) in the gents by a bloke telling me how much he loved punk and Nirvana and that we should do Teen Spirit or some X-Ray Spex (?!)... I politely demurred but he really wasn't having it, bless him. Second set was even better than the first, Nirvana man came up midway through (mid song!) waving his phone at me, with Teen Spirit on Youtube... I told him (again) that we don't do that one I'm afraid, he got rather cross and started telling me how easy it is and what a good song it is. 🤪 Two terrifyingly huge, tattoo'd bouncers appeared halfway through the set and stationed themselves on stage, which was worrying and reassuring in equal measure. I think they were just keeping an eye out for any ne'er-do-wells, rapscallions and/or miscreants as there was no trouble. The drummer got propositioned twice (mid set (he is gorgeous TBF)), my wireless dancefloor visit had me surrounded by a gaggle of absolute honeys, the holy trinity of Saturday night pub covers (Dakota, Sex on fire, Brightside) went down an absolute storm (knock 'em all you want, drunk people love them) Nirvana man shouted for Teen Spirit (AGAIN) as an encore (We didn't play it), the singers voice held out (just), the encore (The Oasis one about Sally being able to wait) had the whole place up... an absolutely belting time was had by all. Same setup as last night (Sterling -> Newly expanded small pedalboard -> Amp board (VTDI set to 'Warm compression' or 'Fat Tube'... something like that) -> Mark CMD 121 -> PA) with Leopard print Converse, foot fans! Nirvana man came up AFTER WE'D FINISHED and asked for Teen Spirit again. He really likes that song apparently. Load out was a ton of fun (through a packed dancefloor (many of them drunk and pissed up on booze)), fifteen minutes back to my Dad's place to three cats who swore blind they'd not been fed in weeks (I'd fed them about six hours previously), a pint of Old Pa StingRayBoy's homebrew Whiskey cider (ABV unknown) and a fish finger, smokey bacon and St Agur blue creme sandwich. With chips. Best night I've had in ages.

Bit of a "Meh" gig last night - Cantina band at The Lounge in Boldemere, Sutton Coldfield. Usual story - not that many people there, a few enjoyed it enough to dance, dep drummer (mate of mine, top bloke), we played really well and sounded good, I got paid to hang around with some mates and do what I enjoy, so I can't complain. Played some songs with a pleccy again, which was gratifying... sounds great with the EHX Bass Soul Food on Blitzkrieg Bop and Anarchy in the UK. Punktastic! First outing for the new expanded mini pedalboard - upgraded from a Nano to a Nano+, replaced the Harley Benton ISO 5 with a Cioks DC7 (lovely bit of kit) and added an EBS multidrive and a TCE Sub 'n' up to the Soul Food, Hookers Green Bass Machine and MXR chorus deluxe. The Multidrive sounds great (Tubesim setting for me) and absolutely roars with the Soul Food in front of it. Also used the Sansamp VTDI in Rock mode for the first time - Wow! Played the Sterling -> mini board -> amp board (Thumpinator -> VTDI) -> Markbass 121. O'Neills Solihull tonight with the Saturday night covers band, usually a really good gig... fingers crossed!

I use Mono Betty straps and thoroughly reccomend them.

I've done a few gigs like that.

Mr Harder sold me a Boss ODB-3 with Wampler mods and he was a pleasure to deal with - good item, good price and top comms.

I bought a Pedaltrain tuner from Mr Creeper, he was great to deal with.

I bought a TCE Sub 'n' Up from Mike - good comms, great pedal at a good price, nice bloke and his doggo is definitely NOT an idiot, he's a good boy.