Rich

Mark King: Status, Jaydee, Alembic, GB, Fender, Trace Elliot, TC Electronic, Ashdown, Rotosound, probably a whole load of others I've forgotten

I seem to recall Chuck Rainey's face appearing in a thousand different manufacturers' adverts at one time.

Girls on Film - Duran2

I've advertised a few things free to a good home on Farcebook marketplace. You would not believe how hard it can be to give stuff away. The no-shows, the initial keen interest followed by total radio silence, the "oh sorry I thought you were in Town A but you're actually in Town B, that's too far away for me" (despite the fact that my ads always clearly state Town B)...

Spirit of Radio - Rush

The seats in my Oct hatch don't lie flat either, but I can quite easily live with that because a.) I very rarely fold them down anyway, only for the occasional tip-run, and b.) the rest of the car is so damned lovely it more than makes up for it. Luckily it's a 2018/19 reg so it's not hampered by all the annoying tech yours seems to have.

"everything is working correctly, as it should" "Electronics – Passive" Errm, really?

Oh that is properly bad. "I am an off duty policeman, may I be of some assistance!"

Or, if you will, "rockumentary".

Oh god, that thing... Mrs Rich's Beemer has that, first time it happened we thought the bloody car had gone wrong or was tramlining or something. After the second time it attempted to throw us into a hedge, we tracked it down in the ridiculously complicated on-board menus and disabled it permanently. Potentially dangerous 'safety feature' IMO.

The lad has impeccable taste. I am watching this one with interest.

This would be my #1 advice to the OP. Keep the set list fresh and dynamic. Make sure you've got a big enough catalogue of songs that you can change the set list around. And the weekend away idea is great too, some of my favourite gigs have been far-flung ones. A cracking weekend in Brighton playing to bored bankers (they put us up in the same Hilton where the gig was, so it was straight off stage into the bar) and a mad one in Torquay at a young farmers' ball (oh christ, do they know how to party) were a couple of highlights. This too. I'm in two bands with very different genres and the variety is fabulous. If you can, do it. In all honesty, the load-out is by far my least favourite bit too. Although it's helped somewhat by the fact that those days of 40lb amps and 100lb cabs are long gone! I don't mind the hanging-around beforehand though. I'll find myself a seat, ideally in the green/changing room if there is one, grab a coke and listen to an audiobook. The time flies past.

Ah yes, the old joke... What's the difference between a used tyre and 365 used condoms? One's a Goodyear, the other's a ****ing brilliant year.

Pleeeeease bring it to this year's BFSWBB..!

For gigs Bass (occasionally 2) Cab Rack case containing amp, wireless receiver and PSU for pedalboard Pedalboard Cable snake between amp and p'board containing send, return and 9v supply cables Strap with wireless trans and lead At least 8 AA batteries Bag containing leads, mains cables and speaker cables, and spares of each Folding trolley Hercules bass stand Music stand (on rare occasions) Box of bits (picks; a few allen keys in the relevant sizes; multitool with pliers & drivers; superglue; nail clippers; UV torch for luminlay) For rehearsals Bass & strap Behringer BX600 combo Tuner Necessary leads Bass stand & music stand Box of bits Trolley... that little combo is ridiculously heavy

In glorious workers' paradise of North Korea, that is sportscar.

I must be very lucky, I've never had an amp that was actually terrible. In fact the only truly awful piece of kit I've ever had was the Ashdown Freebass wireless that I owned for about a week. Now that thing really was a waste of components. The most disappointing amp I've had was I suppose probably the Delta rig I had for some time. 300w head (I couldn't afford the 600) with a 1x15 cab and a 2x8 on top. Excellent preamp with a nice sound but never seemed particularly loud, and oh my word that 15 was a huge and heavy old beast... almost as deep as it was tall. In the end the weight got too much, especially considering the lack of power it seemed to deliver. I suppose you could say its heft-to-kilo ratio was pretty dismal. Looked like this.

I have a Skoda Octavia hatch. In the boot I can get my BF Super 12, 4U rack case, folding sack-trolley, rucksack containing FX and leads and so on, Hercules bass stand, music stand if required, bag containing stage gear, and gig bag containing Sire 5-string and associated stuff... all with the back seats up and the parcel shelf in place. That boot is like the Tardis. I would recommend an Octavia without hesitation.

Generals and Majors - also XTC

Prior to my fitting, I used some of this stuff for a couple of weeks and then made an appointment with my GP practice nurse to get my ears 'syringed' (it was actually more like a warm pulsing jet-wash). It worked a treat. I think the Otex would possibly have done the trick on its own, in time.

Me? Not ruddy likely. Modern music, it's all too loud. And you can't hear the words. Bah. Is it time for my nap yet?