Rich

The Ugly Bug Ball - Burl Ives

My current one is 4U... I could probably get away with 3, but the amp is a Shuttle so this means the case is still pretty light. I had a well-loaded 6U at one time, now that sucker was heavy!

Yes, absolutely. Quite how he sings over his basslines, I really do not know. 'To Be With You Again' is simply mindboggling.

Any updates?

I've failed miserably already.

My pleasure old chap nice to meet you

I also had a Focusrite Platinum Trakmaster Pro for a while. Beautifully pure-sounding, lovely EQ and still the best compressor I've ever used. Channel strips are brilliant if you want an uncoloured sound.

No kidding!

I did the separate pre/power thing before and would happily do it again. I had a Trace GP12SMX pre (my favourite preamp ever) and a Soundtech class D power amp, gave me the basic Trace sound at a much lighter weight. It'd be fun to have two very different pre's in the rack and make up a foot-switching system between them. Mmmm... got me thinking now...

Yup, my first bass was one of those too. I paid £20 for mine in 1982, off my school metalwork teacher. I still have it, although it's borderline unplayable these days. Looks good on the wall though.

Q. How much do people care about post acknowledgements? A. They complain when you say 'Thanks'... I'd noticed it. But it only occurred to me yesterday that I hadn't acknowledged it, like I had everyone else's.

Just got home after meeting up with Patch to swap my money for his Barefaced cab. A nice easy and friendly transaction, and a smashing new cab for me. Thanks Patch

This entirely. There is a BIG difference between busy and overly-busy. If the song can carry busy playing, then go for it. If by being busy you're going to bust the groove or tread on others' toes, then back off. I saw a jazz combo down at the Old Duck** in Bristol one night, the bassist had a nice old Jazz and my first impression was that he could really play, but it became apparent that he just didn't know when to stop. He took a solo, which was very impressive, but he just kept doing it. He widdled away all over the sax solo, he even kept on in the drum solo when all I wanted was for him to STFU. After a couple of songs my opinion of him had totally changed, and I just wanted him to stick his nice old Jazz where the sun didn't shine. ** as all you Brizzlers will know, its actual name is the Old Duke... but I had a Brazilian friend some years ago who called it 'Duck' and it's kind of stuck. I agree. For my money one of the greatest recorded basslines of all time. See my previous comment: "if the song can carry busy playing, then go for it".

I'll happily post it on to you if you can get it delivered to Bristol. I'm sure many of us would do the same.

Or before you can say "Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences!" That does not surprise me at all, sadly. Every day there's something new.

WARNING: JAZZ CONTENT If easily offended by be-bop, please stay away Nobody ever played recorder like this when I was at school. I wish they had!

Tragic Comic - Extreme

Flash - Queen

Just got back from the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff after an evening with... James Blunt. Ok, you can point at me and laugh if you want, IDGAF He had a very able quartet backing him up comprising bass, drums, guitar and keys. All the band supplied BVs, so there some very lush 5 part vocal harmonies in places. Guitarist had a couple of Teles, bassist played a Stingray 5 with an unused spare on a stand next to him, and a bass synth on a couple of tunes. JB played either acoustic guitar or piano on every song, apart from 'Postcards' when he and the guitarist both got their ukes out (ooer). You know what? That was one of the best gigs I've seen in years. The whole band was faultless, Mr B writes a good song and can really sing, and his trademark self-depracating humour was well on show. I would quite happily go and watch it all again tomorrow. And I'd love to be in that band. However (there's always a however)... there was a problem with the sound which can basically be summed up as WHY THE FECK DOES THE FECKIN KICK DRUM HAVE TO BE SO FECKIN LOUD?? It was the loudest thing in the mix by a mile, and totally overwhelmed it at times. It's not the first gig I've been to that's been tainted by a ludicrously heavy kick either. Why? Grrr. Oh, and the support was a very talented chap called Gavin James. Super voice.

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest that venue's curtains. Wow. An enthusiastic blast on a horn will blow that limit clean out of the water - we've played gigs in the past where our two trumpets barely went through the PA at all. Add a couple of powerful voices into the mix and it'll be next to impossible to stay under that limit.

Sit Down -James

With a budget instrument, I'd sort it myself. Anything more upmarket and I would send it back. Obvs it all depends on the nature of the fault and how easy/cheap it would be to mend.

He doesn't trigger me. I just think he's a reprehensible prîck.

Nige is one of my FB friends too. We chat occasionally. I wish I lived nearer That London so I could go see his band. Another legendary name is Major Minor. He wasn't here all that long but his contribution was amazing... his awesome 'Boot Camp' series is one of the best learning resources I have ever seen.

I haven't seen any 'radical' new bridge designs that have struck me as anything other than a solution searching for a problem. The Ray Ross in particular. I've used this design of bridge on a couple of basses. It offers top-load or through-body so it's flexible, plus once it's set up you crank down those black screws and everything's locked solid in all planes. Plus it's nice and chunky. I really like it.