Rich

That's far too handsome to tread on

That sobbing sound you can hear is my new tiny pedalboard distraught at the idea that it might be 'pretentious'. A day old and it's labelled already. No wonder it's upset. But seriously... My tone isn't perfect by a long chalk, but this board gives me everything I need at the moment and I don't give a fffff what anyone thinks it looks like.

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman - Aretha

My new dinky pedalboard - hopefully a replacement for my Line 6 XT Live. I'd thought about it and come to the conclusion that everything I wanted could be done by just these, so I've gone minimal. Overall dimensions are 320mm W x 230mm D. The wee box under the tuner is the power distribution. 9v will come in from the PSU mounted in my rack case and gets distributed out to the pedals from here. I could have used a daisy chain but I think this is more elegant, plus it raises the tuner and makes it more accessible. I also could have mounted the PSU itself here but I didn't want a mains lead in my cable snake. In an ideal world I'd have gone rechargeable and hidden it underneath, but my pockets aren't deep enough. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out... well, mostly. My one regret is that I painted the board with household gloss paint in an attempt to get a nice shiny surface for the velcro to stick to, and it's taking aaaaaages to dry. It's been over a week and I'm still getting wrinkles and fingerprints and it's really peeing me off. It's got another week, and if it's still soft I'll junk the woodwork and re-do it. I have plenty of timber and velcro left. EDIT: sod it, I'm just going to re-do the timber anyway. I can't live with those paint imperfections.

Says the whole of the mod and admin team. Will that do you?

YES.

Cold Sweat - Mr Brown

House Of Ill Repute - Gutter Brothers

Sounds like they're looking for showboaters rather than pocket players, so that's me out.

Bad To The Bone - George Thorogood

This. How about a Washburn Status? Within your price bracket. And if you see a Westone Superheadless, grab with both hands.

I hear ya. Duller than a dull thing with the word 'DULL' painted on it in big grey letters. One thing I've found the punters absolutely love is Reef's 'Place Your Hands'. Gives 'em a proper singalong and there's a good opportunity for an audience participation chorus or two.

Glad All Over - Dave Clark 5

Watch it with the subtitles on. They are hilariously inaccurate.

Jon just bought my Wilkinson tuners in a lay-by on the A370 lovely fella. Hope they serve you well!

For me, the appalling drums on Script for a Jester's Tear make it pretty much unlistenable -- Fugazi was a quantum leap forward in quality. My favourite Fish-era Marillo album is Clutching At Straws.

Up Town Top Ranking - Althea & Donna

Many many years ago I used to have a 6U SKB rack case, I bought it secondhand and it didn't have enough of the fixing cage nut thingies to allow me to mount all the bits of kit I wanted in it. I looked all over the place on tinternet but couldn't find any, so I emailed SKB in the States and asked if there was a UK distributor I could approach. The reply was along the lines of "yes they can be a bit hard to find, give us your address and we'll pop some in the post for you FOC". I replied with my address and 3 days later they fell on my doormat all the way from Orange County California. Fabulous customer service.

Samson - Regina Spektor

Birdie Song -- the Tweets I can't believe I just typed that.

The Vintage brand Ray-alikes are supposed to be really excellent VFM. Not tried one but I believe they have a good rep.

Bloody Well Right - Supertramp

I bet I'm not the only one who will never ever forget the first time they heard 'Eruption'. Round at a mate's house, he'd just bought the album and as the second track played we all just stared at the stereo, and someone said what we were all thinking: "What the F**K is THAT??". Unbelievable stuff.

Drop The Bomb - Trouble Funk