flyfisher

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1346448822' post='1789513'] I have never heard of a band that went on to do any good after being treacherous like this. [/quote] You might like to ask Pete Best about his experience then. [url="http://www.beatles-history.net/pete-best.html"]http://www.beatles-h.../pete-best.html[/url] Edit: apologies to WoT - I posted before reading as far as his post.

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1346514247' post='1790146'] So, I don't think [s]tribute acts[/s] all forms of supposed entertainment are necessarily degrading, cringeworthy or embarrassing... ... but the fact remains, sometimes they are. [/quote]

Five bands!? Sounds like a great wedding!

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1346356910' post='1788363'] None other than Eric Clapton in 1988 as a spotty 13 year old. Eric, Nathan East, Greg Phillinganes, Steve Ferrone, Ray Cooper, Phil Palmer, Tessa Niles and Katie Kissoon.What a fantastic group of musicians that was. [/quote] Now that's about as serious an introduction to live music as you could get. Was it at the RAH? That's where I saw them that year, and for about then 7-8 years at Eric's regular RAH residencies. My son also attended one of those concerts when he was about -1 month old, before deciding to arrive into the world on EC's birthday. Happy memories.

The MU website state they have 30,000 members - that's a lot of potential contracts for MU staff to review and advise upon, even if only 10% of members avail themselves of the service. Regarding the political levy, the MU website states: "[i]If you do not wish to contribute to the MU Political Fund, you have the right to opt in or out of paying the levy whenever you want.[/i]"

I guess a lot depends on whether you gig for money or love. We've played at quite a few mate's parties for nothing more than free drinks and food.

Carribean Music Festival at Wembley Arena in about 1970, with a friend and his mum ('cos we had only just got in to our teens). I can't remember all the acts but I'm pretty sure it included Bob & Marcia, Desmond Dekker, the Maytals and the Pioneers. First gig on my own (well, with a girlfriend) was Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance at City University. 1974 I think.

Great. I can't see a problem with a 30W amp and it must be worth a try for £20. Let us know how you get on.

I've never actually tried it, but I can't see why it wouldn't work as long as your amp is within the rating of the inverter. I'd look for an inverter with at least double the rating of the amp, e.g. 100W amp, 250W inverter, etc. I've used inverters in my car for running mains chargers for phones, iPods, camcorders, RC cars etc etc and they've been fine.

If you're OK with carting car batteries around, I'd suggest the simplest 'plug-and-play' solution would be a car battery plus an inverter to give you a mains supply. Then simply plug in your practice amp and away you go. Inverters are widely available in caravan/camping and other motor stores such as Halfords.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1346190942' post='1786436'] I have not read any bass comics fior years, but pre-www you have no idea how exciting BP was! [/quote] Yep, the 'pre-www' comment applies to loads of magazines. Must be a nightmare to be in the printed media business these days. I've read that most newspapers already run at a loss and only survive by being subsidised by other parts of their media empires. The Times' great 'paywall' experiment seems not to have been the total disaster widely predicted (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/15/times-digital-subscribers-rise), which perversely might even hasten the demise of printed editions.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1346177754' post='1786192'] I can see your point, it worked for Big Daddy. Shirley Crabtree Jr [/quote] It also worked quite well for [s][i]Marion Robert Morrison[/i][/s] John Wayne

You mean something different to 'zero9'

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1346071251' post='1784816'] It's always been a BC policy to say that if you have an issue with another member it should be dealt with by PM and not voiced as public argument. This tends to end with both people setting their differences, or a moderator being notified of X, Y or Z. I would hope the same is true after transactions and if someone wasted your time you'd find out why in private. If you were unhappy with the response posting negative feedback is not going to help as you already know their side of the 'argument' and disagreed with it enough to leave negative feedback! If a situation was enough for most people to feel negative feedback needs to be left it means they had a bad experience and both sides presenting their sides of the story on a public forum will result in nothing but an argument. Neither side will see the others point of view and the feedback forum will become a bigger battleground than Off Topic! [/quote] I entirely agree that PMs (and any other private means available) should be used to try to resolve any marketplace issues. Definitely something to be encouraged. I also agree that negative feedback is unlikely to help sort out anything that can't be sorted out privately - but I've never thought of negative feedback as being anything to do with dispute resolution. Indeed, negative feedback should be a last resort when a resolution is not possible, in which case it's for the benefit of other BCers, not the ones with the dispute.

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1346063308' post='1784615'] They were only examples, Kettle/Kettle lead, Lawnmower has a mains socket.... Agreed 16A is a lot, but still a reduced risk. a fuse will carry 70% over its rating before it blows, Picture this - the cable to a standard lamp in my house has a loop resistance of 10 ohms, so if the cable is shorted at the lamp end, it will draw 22 Amps, if there was no plug fuse, the ring main fuse wont blow till you draw 51Amps. In the UK, your house just burnt down. In Europe, you blew the trip. [/quote] Agreed. [u]Given that UK mains outlets are usually 30A[/u] then a fused plug is a good idea, though it's all a bit arbitrary, though and even better idea might be to replace 30A fuses/trips in UK consumer units with 15A fuses/trippers, which would then - according to the European 'model' make the fuse in the mains plug unnecessary. Getting a bit pedantic now though and I'm certainly not advocating bolts as fuses or even using 13A fuses for every mains plug, just trying to make the point that even the 'correct' fuses do not suddently render electrical things failsafe. And certainly not where shock hazards are concerned!

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] If either the seller or buyer does not turn up, and money is involved with travel costs that's fine. But if they don't turn up for a genuinely good reason such as a death in the family, or financial emergency It would be unfair to leave bad feedback because of that. [/quote] Agreed, but is this really likely to be a problem in practice? Who would leave negative feedback if a buyer (say) didn't turn up but called to explain why with a genuinely good reason. But even if they did, the buyer could reply to the negative feedback explaining the reasons. [quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] If your meeting up and the item is not described and you incur costs then yes, Bad feedback can be left. However mistakes can be made, dings can be missed in the description by accident, truss rods could be seized without knowing etc maybe the buyer though it was a particular shade of colour but when they saw it in real life it wasn't quite right. [/quote] Again, both sides to the story could be posted in the feedback. [quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] As to haggling, that is an institution. It is why I put "Firm" on all of my prices if I don't want any haggling and remind buyers that I will not haggle at any stage. [/quote] Agreed. Nothing wrong with haggling but, to my mind, that's negotiation and not a deal. I can't imagine someone would leave negative feedback because someone was haggling. However, if at some point the negotiation stops and a deal is agreed then I'd say it was very bad form to start haggling again and would be worthy of negative feedback. [quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] If the seller increases the price etc on meetup (Which I have never heard of happening) or if you have other problems, pm a mod and we will try to solve this in private. [/quote] I'm all for sorting out such things in private, but is it really feasible? Almost certainly not at the time you've just driven 50 miles to meet up. [quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] In very rare occasions we have allowed bad feedback where a transaction has not technically occurred for grave infractions or deals gone sour and that's the best I can give you at the moment. [/quote] That's fine. I entirely accept that we have to abide by the rules, whatever they are, but I think it's sometimes helpful to question them in case a different slant can be raised. Having said that, I appreciate you don't want to spend all your time answering a constant stream of such questions so I'm happy with that. [quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1346068532' post='1784741'] I will however take this time to remind everyone though that Basschat holds no responsibility for any transactions that have occurred or deals gone sour. [/quote] Yep, more than fair enough, though worth the reminder.

So basically, negative feedback is hardly ever going to be acceptable for "deals" that are done face to face because when the item in question is examined it will either be fine (so the transaction happens) or something will happen such that one party will pull out of the "deal" and thus no transaction would have occurred, so negative feedback is not allowed. While I accept there may be 'force majeure' reasons for the "deal" failing, it would be very easy for the affected member to state that in reply to any negative feedback, in which case other BCers could form their own opinions. But there are many other reasons why the "deal" could fall through, resulting in no transaction, that would, IMHO be worthy of negative feedback. For example, after arranging to meet up to do the "deal" . . . . - seller doesn't turn up - no transaction - buyer doesn't turn up - no transaction - item is not as described, so buyer pulls out - no transaction. - buyer tries to drop the previously agreed price, so seller drops out - no transaction - seller tries to increase the price, so buyer drops out - no transaction . . . all examples of no transaction because of poor behaviour from one party or the other, which would all remain unknown due to the current feedback rules.

Loved it. What a voice!

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1346028991' post='1784339'] I'm not sure how we can complain about [i]too much[/i] protection from electricity. [/quote] That's a fair point, though I'd suggest that a fused mains plug comes a fair way down the list of protective devices, which is probably why most countries in the world don't bother with them.

[quote name='BRANCINI' timestamp='1346024643' post='1784318'] Not everything has an internal fuse. When did you last see one in a lawnmower or a vacuum cleaner or a kettle ? The plug fuse will protect against a short if you damage the cable, old type round pin ( 5A or 15A) plugs were fed from the same 5A or 15A fuse in the consumer unit, as they are in europe. In the UK, 13A sockets on the ring main is usually fed from a 30A fuse or trip. Thats a lot of current for a 0.5mm mains flex which would probably glow red hot long before it blows the ring main fuse.. [/quote] I agree with all that, though devices such as those you cite are unlikely to have IEC mains sockets but will have a UK fused plug directly connected. Also, that mains plug will be directly connected these days because it prevents laypeople from making understandable wiring mistakes when fitting their own plugs, which is fair enough, though it does nothing to prevent the same laypeople from fitting the wrong fuse. The UK ring-main thing is also a good reason for a fused plug, but it still means that most European mains outlets are capable of providing 15A into a connected device via an un-fused mains lead, and 15A represents a hell of a lot of power.

Both the bands I play with had gigs today at two venues for the Hertford 2012 Musical Mystery Tour, so a pretty hectic day but great fun and some good feedback, which is always nice. Unfortunately, it's given us a bit of a problem. Our usual drummer was on holiday so we found a dep (which one of the bands had used once before) and he transformed both bands. I've not played such an enjoyable gig for ages. Hmm.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1346015627' post='1784203'] None! Both will blow the trip if there's a short. The fuse is there as an added safety feature to protect both you and your device. [/quote] It's interesting that most countries in the world don't feel the need to have the 'added safety feature' of a fused mains plug, so I have my doubts that it's particularly effective. In fact, I'd suggest it's far safer to rely on the equipment manufacturers to fit the appropriate protective fuse (and/or other devices) INTERNALLY to their equipment rather than rely on a layman fitting the correct fuse.

Interesting point. What's the difference between a UK mains lead with a bolt in place of the fuse and a European mains lead with no fuse at all?

I agree with ET. If a deal is agreed and then one party pulls out such that the deal falls though then I'd say that would warrant feedback even though a deal was never actually completed.

[quote name='jonsmith' timestamp='1345897789' post='1782860'] I'm probably being really stupid here, but how can I be sure I'm using the correct fuse? [/quote] [size=4]The UK is almost unique in having fused plugs[/size], so most equipment that is fitted with a mains socket should be designed to be used with an unfused mains lead, depending on the country it is used in. In practice, this means that the equipment itself has it's own protective fuses. Thus, it doesn't really matter what fuse is in a UK mains lead, although for the vast majority of equipment a 3 amp fuse should be adequate. As for matching mains leads to particular bits of kit, it isn't really necessary. That's the whole point of IEC mains connectors.