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Our little Mexican instrumental band , The Spurs played last night in our favourite dive , not a great crowd , it was a dirty old night , but a warm and appreciative one. This time of year the police set up checkpoints to nab drinking drivers. I drank ginger ale all night and had one beer for the tear down and wait for the pay. Sure enough , there was a check point on the way home and I did confess to having one beer so it was the breathalyzer for me. Blew into the tube and the officer said “ You did have just one beer”. Don’t have any gig pics yet , but here’s the stage after drum check.

That is a lovely looking mini rig !

Mini rehearsal rig , recently picked up a Barefaced One10 , to replace an Ampeg 210AV I had been dragging around. I’ve been using Monique and the Forte with it. Big fat tone. Mini rig. The Barefaced might manage some quieter gigs , but I’ll usually switch over to a 112.

2Young 2old did a matinee in the old dive. Band was jumpin. Great crowd. Wonderful to get a last one in before Christmas. great gig

Great cabs , impossible to find over here though.

Had I realized I’d still be dragging my gear into dive bars almost fifty years later , I might have had second thoughts.

I was asked to go to an audition , local touring band. I was the only one to show up. Got the job.

Uprights are a misery to lug around. but there’s nothing quite like them … nothing

Welcome Jacopo! I’ve noticed some ground breaking gear coming out of Italy.

Here’s the poster for the upcoming gig.

Last Sunday , with the new Gretsch , at the Sunday jam.

Last Sunday jam until January. We had a bunch of old friends dropping by and sitting in. The new Gretsch is proving to be popular.

I use a tube preamp that does the trick , and bypass the preamp and tone stack in my Forte. The Forte alone is clean , transparent, modern hifi , and with the tube pre becomes warm , thick , old school tube.

I thought I was done. I have twenty something basses. And then came across a picture of a big orange hollow body Gretsch. Showed it to my wife and she suggested I should get it. I managed to find one near Boston. And the next thing I knew I had just purchased a big orange Gretsch. Here’s a couple of the dealer’s pics. It’s big for medium scale , but I’m loving it.

Didn’t have any issues with silk or winding , It was either LaBella flats or Gibson BriteWire rounds I was using. I’m shallow enough to switch the bridges over because they looked better.

I had it bad , this is from that limited run for Guitar Center in the US , there was a later small run in Europe , never for sale here in Canada. It was a Korean made Electromatic that had TV Jones pickups. I had been looking at them since they were introduced about a dozen years ago ,the G5123B , medium scale. And showing pics to my wife who thought they looked beautiful. So a couple of weeks ago I came across a picture , showed it to Herself , and she said that I really should buy one. And so I went looking and found three. Two in California and one near Boston. I bought the one near Boston. After the exchange , duty , broker fee and shipping it turned out to be quite a bit more than I initially expected. That said , it’s a beautiful thing, with a nice woody thump. Oh , it’s big. But I do love it.

Great thread!

I was always able to set them exactly where things needed to go without any drama or cursing. And yet I’ve replaced three of them with Hipshots. I just thought they looked better. They are much better for palm muting , and they certainly have much greater adjustability.

I just received a Gretsch hollow body bass I ordered from a place near Boston. After the exchange duty and shipping it had become considerably more than the asking price. And then I got dinged with about $130 for a brokerage fee. I do love the bass , bit it didn’t turn out to be the bargain I thought it was.

Noble is a one man shop struggling to keep up with the demand. He’s found an audience. A friend has a Simone by Jule for sale. Good price. I’ve been tempted , but love the pre I’ve been using. After looking at the Noble I was looking at the Broughton P15. There are some beautiful preamps around. Most amp companies have them now as well. I think that the gear selection we have today is better than it’s ever been.

Big gig in our favourite old dive coming up right after Christmas. We managed a quick band photo, and then a great rehearsal. Things are sounding great. I’m the geezer. From the left … drummer , bass , two trumpet players , and two guitar players.

I already have too much clutter. In January I picked up a lightly used Ibanez Talman , with the intent of trying some mods. Dropped a Tbird pickup in the bridge position. Haven’t changed anything since. Then got through most of the year without buying anything until December. Then I bought a Phil Jones BigHead headphone amp , followed by a Barefaced One10 cab to drag off to rehearsals and then my wife suggested that I should buy a big hollow body orange Gretsch. And so I did. up until the last several weeks I was doing pretty good.

I was looking at noble prices , about $1300 US to order , but there’s about a nine month wait , or you can get fast tracked for about $2000 , seven weeks. Or buy used , I saw one at $2300 and one at $2500. crazy prices.

Nice article , thankyou. I had been reading that tube rectifiers sound a bit warmer , and solid state rectifiers were a bit more defined. I have a tube pre with a tube rectifier but I’m no scientist. I just like how the overall thing responds.

I’ve found amps with a real tube preamp are more convincing than the ToneHammer. edit … however the TH is certainly a nice sounding amp.