David

Are there any tickets on sale for this? tried in one up and they didn't have anything... (just to get it all sorted in advance really) The new album is pretty good, though I will admit it isn't quite the same as catching him live, which is always a brilliant night David

The current bass Rig- Fender mim Jazz EHX Big Muff Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 The dream rig- Fender 62 ri Jazz Musicman Sterling EHX Big Muff Markbass Little Mark 250/Ashdown MAG300 plus currently undecided cabs, probably a 1x12 cab for practicality The current guitar rig- Fender JD Tele (modified - SD Phat Cat in bridge, plsu simplified wiring) BC Rich Assassin (again modified, SD Custom and Stag Mag bridge and neck respectively) A motley collection of pedals, the main offenders being a Dunlop Trem/vol and Zvex FF Marshall JCM200 DSL401 The dream rig- At the moment I am completely happy, I wouldn't mind a decent strat or 52 ri tele, but I am not particularly bothered really, as I have been playing more bass recently, and what I do use suits me perfectly and is definately solid enough kit David

On the sound quality note, an easy enough test... Get two hifi's, one good high quality system, one wee nasty job from argos or the like. Try listening to the same cd at a decent volume on each system, with the cheap one your ears will become easily fatigued, where you can crank up the volume much higher on the good system while still listening comfortably, - I will admit I have no scientific backing to this, only practical experience Doc's proplugs, I have a set of these, and didn't think too much of them tbh, I would definately try to get yourself a set of the ER20's off the net, the same price (10 for the ER20's online) and a pretty huge step up in sound quality Flash, When you mentioned the volumes you have been exposed to, and how happy with your hearing you are, from what you said that is only as far as not having tinnitus, I wouldn't be surprised if a full hearing test would show losses, it's not always noticable, but the loud volumes can easily take out some of the high end from your hearing, and gradually so you don't notice a sudden change (like an obvious ring from Tinnitus) - Maybe you are fine though, everyones ears are different, from what I have heard my ears are fairly girly in that sense, me walking out of gigs ears ringing where nobody else seemed bothered, so I wear earplugs always (and have done when I have been at the Moorings) when I am going to be intentionally exposed to loud volumes David

From what I have heard, the THD hotplate is one of the best out there at the moment You will wear out the valves a bit quicker, as you are making them work harder (amplifying it more, then cutting the volume down, instead of letting the valves do less work and only amplify the signal a wee bit) but no more than running at volume anyway. One thing that a attenuator dosen't take into account is speaker breakup, every bit of the chain adds in its own effects - preamp and poweramp, but also the speakers can distort at very high volumes, though that will depend on your speakers in particular (low wattage/efficiency versus high wattage/efficiency) but could be part of what you are missing out. The new Orange is the Tiny Terror, there are a few other wee valve amps out there now - Hiwatt do one, the Zvex Nano, Epi Valve Jr to name a few, that gives you the overdriven amp sound at lower volumes, but is slightly limited if you wanted to play with a band or the like... David

The best for the money would be these - Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER•20 High Fidelity Earplugs I got them for 10 online somewhere (can't remember where though, I thought it was stringsdirect, but I can't seem to find them on the site) and give a pretty flat response while cutting down the volume The step up from that would be the custom moulded ones, of which Etymotic do (Not sure who else does them, I have only really seen these ones) the main differences between these and the ER20's is that they are custom fitted to your ears, so are more comfortable to wear, and you get a few different levels of filters instead of a set 20dB cut (9, 15 or 25 dB of cut) These will cost you, around 150 when I had a quick look a while ago, though you might find them cheaper, those need a mould taken of your ears (which can be done in places that fit hearing aids and the like normally) which gets sent off and made into the earplugs David

Anderson drive and looking from the Bridge of Don out over Seaton (please just ignore all the scan lines and muck on the photo, it was scanned in a hurray and needs to be cleaned up and redone again, just haven't had time) Those were me playing about a bit, only recently decided to try and get out a bit more to take some photos though, so they aren't quite up to scratch yet... The building on Esslemont Avenure? That the Grammar School? if it is theres a handy gate you can walk in through Though my pictures were only really an attempt to see how night time stuff would come out, so not particularly well thoguht out David

Radiohead at Meadowbank stadium - Radiohead are utterly stunning live, fantastic music and a great gig from where I was Muse at the AECC - Another fantastic live band, with the whole stage and lighting show Lightning Bolt at the Tunnels - Just the sheer volume and sound fit perfectly with LIghtning Bolts music, and DJ Scotch Egg (an unknown to me at the time) was pretty damn cool too David

It's a pretty extreme way to go about fighting back, but it looks like it was pretty much the last resort for a guy forced out of his home against his will - to die for it makes a pretty big statement of what he thought about their actions. One person refusing to just roll over and let them brush him out of the way to better their corporate aims As for getting in the military - the bulldozer was plated with 1/2 inch metal plate minimum, at points up to a foot thick sandwich of concrete and metal - thats takes some force to get through, apparently able to withstand an artillery blast. the guy really knew what he was doing in planning this out I can't say I really condone it, but the guy made a big point to the government/corporation forcing him out, and took care to make sure no person was harmed in his mission, which does say something about him and what he was doing David

Been there once and though it was pretty crap tbh The guy that runs it (who was apparently a friend of the guys I was playing with that day, so that could be part of it) was about 40 minutes late, and its a fairly wee room with wee ss hiwatts (which do the job albeit not brilliantly) - just didn't think it was particularly fantastic when I was there, though I would need to go back sometime to say for sure, sticking to toms for now though Toms is still toms in its own shabby but endearing way, not particularly brilliant amps (take my own if I can) but decent enough rooms (I do like the days I have gotten the recording room for playing in) it could be a lot better, but it does the job and as always, could be a lot worse. Never been to musical vision, went in one day to check about pries and gear and seem to remember it being more expensive (must have remembered it wrongly...) and the possibility of some nice valve amps is always good David

I have never heard of such a thing, and diy'ing them would be a fair job to do (many connections to make) if it is for a fairly new setup, would you have the option of hdmi or anything? those connectors are a fair bit smaller than scart ones... David

Just got the Grateful Dead - American Beauty, a most fantastic album Phish's New years eve '95 and Neutral Milk hotel's in the aeroplane over the sea are on the way from amazon atm David

40 the park and ride? didn't think you could use those on a normal ticket (ie my monthly pass) will probably end up walking back, its ther getting there bit thats important David

Yup, another thread from someone going to see muse I can't say I have had the pleasure of seeing anyone in the AECC before, so the travelling bit is still a bit unsure, so basically, whats the easiest bus to get from town out there and back after the show? David

the standards are all mim basses David

Maybe not you personally, or the bands you consider as your direct influences, but the bands they took their influence from and so on take ideas and sounds from the Beatles, and a lot of the sounds they poineered or created have since gone on to be commonplace ideas that you might not link directly to the Beatles, but originated there (and changed slightly and adapted as music has progressed since then) Maybe you don't take a direct link from the Beatles, but music as a whole has. David

Monty Python - Always look on the bright side of life When I die I don't want a horrible sad sendoff, something a bit more upbeat. I saw some clips from Graham Chapmans eulogy (of Monty Python fame) - John Cleeses speach and Eric Idle singing always look on the bright side of life are the way it should be done David

I remember seeing the clip with the twoer block a few months ago, hadn't seen the full things though looks like someone at sony decided to see exactly how much mess they could get off with making while fiming an advert David

John Entwhistle He was a fantastic player, and knew exactly when to hang back in a song and when to jump out (one of the more important things for a bassist to remember) Chris Wolthenstone A Machine, basically carries whole songs along on the bass part and sounds huge, but as above, knows when to play and when to hang back, probably one of the bigger influences I have for playing bass (fuzzy bass ) Billy Sheehan and Jaco and so on, they tend to leave me a bit cold, yeah they are incredible technical players, but most of the music dosen't really excite me thb David

I think I was 14 when I saw the Stereophonics in the Music hall, right up against the front barrier onfront of the stage about 2m away from one of the PA stacks Turin Brakes still get the vote as the most boring live band, hell the first band I ever saw and I was bored with them (the phonics rocked though) The worst I think would have to be Meatloaf at the SECC, I wouldn't call that embarrasing though, as I still wear the tshirt David

Then again, does anythign really come close to This in terms of sheer coolness? David

They have taken out the three things I liked the old ref for - the big ass lounge upstars with many sofa's on which to chill, the jukebox and pool tables I would guess the many mini restaurants upstairs are so you can hop into a smaller que to get whatever you specifically want from one place, rather than having to join one massive que with a menu the size of the empire state building bring back the jukebox with the Meatloaf cd! (admittedly one reason many may want it removed, but it also had the Stereophonics and Big Country and Idlewild and much more that was most excellent) David

I created an output on a casio sk1 by wiring in a jack in place of the speaker, which seems to work fine running through the effects loop of a guitar amp I am not sure if this depends on the outputs and volume of the keyboard, the casio is only a battery powered job, so can't put out too much wattage into the speaker, somethign bigger might be worse David

The extra charges are the bit that gets silly, one up and the box office don't ask for ridiculous charges do they and one up at least wouldn't be selling tickets if it didn't make money... shipping charges I can't really say anything, £5 sound excessive for a wee envelope, but I don't know how much it costs to send stuff recorded, though I have had much bigger packages sent for less than that... As for the post office, how come we get left packages for our neighbours, yet every time I have been waiting for something and been out, they just take it back to the depot? whats even better is the opening hours there, something like 8:30 - 12, so if you work or have uni, how do you make it across apart from saturday (which loses the oppertunity for the weekend lie in)? I guess there must be a fair few like me, so opening a wee office all day should be doable surely? (you can get it sent to a local post occice for a small fee which does work out I guesws, but adds on another couple of days to the delivery time) luckily my mum has been able to go over to the depot for me so far David

I just got myself a little big muff for playign bass woth too, a most excellent pedal Still need the ashdown though I only play at home atm though, so the guitar amp (Marshall JCM200o) does the job pretty well David

if you are doing the recording yourself, why not play around and see what you like? record a sample, move mic, record sample again, repeat, then have a listen and see what sounds best I think generally next to the cloth slightly of centre is supposed to be good, and putting it at an angle can work out well, also try things like setting up the mic in odd places like your ear height (which will pickup more what you hear normally, than the sound directly from the speaker) and sometimes even things like behind the cab can work well, basically play around and see what suits you, your gear and the sound you want to get David