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And this (I swear I'm not getting any kickbacks from Ashdown or anything - I wish!)

There's also this worth considering.

eBay too, for that matter.

The Alexandra is a lovely venue, I think I saw Bill Bailey there many years ago.

They don't tend to break easily so get held onto, and when they become available secondhand they don't hang about.

Definitely worth a try, but Dave Green at Ashdown is very good about doing any repair work for a reasonable fee so even if something does break it's not going to break the bank. They're pretty solid amps so should last for a while before you even need to think about it.

Based on my own experience an Ashdown ABM and Barefaced Two10S (both secondhand) would fit your requirements and budget. I bought mine from two upstanding chaps on this site for £975 total and it's an amazing setup. The ABM isn't as light as a solid state amp thanks to the valve preamp and sturdy frame, but it's hardly backbreaking, and the Two10S is incredibly light, easily liftable with one hand. Ashdown have great customer service, and Alex the main guy at Barefaced is always open to discuss gear requirements.

Yep, the first gen Chinese MetroExpress basses have serial numbers starting SME, the newer ones with the roasted necks, etc. start SMX.

Back into rehearsals today and managed to find a combination of settings on the Elf (gain at 9 o'clock, volume virtually maxed at one point) that, combined with turning it off during breaks to give the fan a break, meant I got through rehearsal with only one minor blip, so on that front I was pretty pleased. Singist and I are getting pissed off at others not doing their homework. We've had three rehearsals trying Common People and, despite it not being a complicated song, we just can't get the ending right because our keyboardist has so many different versions of the song on his keyboard that we never know which one he's going to bust out. At least Club Foot and Two Tribes are sounding pretty epic, and hopefully the latter will make an appearance at the next gig in a couple of weeks - not sure the WMC scene is ready for Club Foot yet! We might get Boys Don't Cry in there as well, which would make three new songs, which would be nice.

Leaving aside the fact that a man being attracted to men and one being attracted to boys is not the same, there's no solid evidence that Jackson was attracted to men so conflating homosexuality and paedophilia feeds very much into that trope.

Ah, the tired trope of gay = paedophile. I haven't seen any evidence that Jackson was gay but plenty that suggests he was a paedophile.

He's dead too, which is another reason.

This is why I'm potentially eyeing up a Sub Ray5 when I get a 5er so I can have both and they'll both do slightly different things.

This is what I don't understand about this kind of post. If you want opinions about it why not ask before you buy it, not afterwards. This seems to be a common theme in various FB bass groups but there it often seems to be a humble brag as the question is often asked about a high-end bass.

I had always (unfairly, and honestly I've no idea why) dismissed Ashdown amps as being Trace Elliot castoffs until I borrowed @Merton's ABM Evo when I joined the band and I was blown away at how good it was, and when it unfortunately decided to crap out on me an Evo IV was the obvious choice to replace it. I have to say everything I've ever read, seen and heard about the TE1200 has been nothing short of effusive praise, so in the event I ever decide to move on from Ashdown one of these will probably be high on the list to replace it.

Preach!

If you wanted to go a bit heavier then there are no solos on the whole of Metallica's St Anger album.

My 7yo introduced me to this this evening, and I think I might be addicted. Some potentially very useful stuff in here amongst the funny stuff. https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/

Sometimes I think it would be amazing to hear the classics again for the first time

I think Rhythm Stick is my great white whale, but more realistic party pieces I want to actually be able to play are Hysteria and Master Blaster.

It's interesting if you watch his episode of This Is Your Life when someone is on and talking about crowds of schoolgirls stalking his house and he looks very uncomfortable with this being mentioned (apologies for the Daily Heil link, I couldn't find it anywhere else).

If you were looking to be a bit more diverse and have more women in the list I'd have put in a bid for Karen Carpenter over Meg White.

This is the one I'd like to master, but I don't think I have enough years in me left to do so (I'm 45).

You mean there are singers where you don't want to?

Established bands have that too. Our last gig was NYE, next one is 11th May.