Music

Every ham page has something somewhere that isn't about Amateur Radio. We're all human (I think, except those pesky bots). 

I'm a bit of a hard rock/metal guy. I was given a tape with some AC/DC and Guns N' Roses on it by a couple of ratbags when I was 10. 

When I was 13, my parents brought me a bass guitar. I was a huge fan of Duff McKagan - GN'Rs blonde haired, Seattle bred lanky cool guy with a reputation for being a sumo grade beer drinker (who has long since been forced into sobriety, good health, education, and is considered to be both a smart bloke and nice guy). 

I was kind of in bands through high school, mostly jamming at lunch times, and for a while, in the back of a local pub. In my 20s, I played some shows with adults in a real band that actually had people who would show up just because they were playing. That was also the last time that happened. 

I still have something of a studio setup - I do like to fiddle around and keep my fingers moving. I would never say I'm any good at any instrument. I'm not, practice is something I can't commit to these days, and I don't have the attention span. My fingers ache when it's cold, and some fret board time helps get them moving.

Basses:
Samick (something) 1993-2004. The truss rod snapped in the early 2000s whilst trying to fix the horrendously bowed neck. RIP

Yamaha RBX270 2004-Current. I'd borrowed an RBX260 to play to play in a band in the early 2000s due to the demise of my Samick. It was sleek, light and played well. The 270 was the replacement model. It's by no means a high end bass, but for a guy who rarely played, it's a handy bass to have. Also a great bass to have as a backup. 

Fender Aerodyne Jazz: 2019-Current. I had a love/hate relationship with the Aerodyne bass. I hated the look until I played one. Big black body. Dark fretboard with no markers. Then I really liked it, so now it's my main bass. It has plenty of tone.

Bass Amps: 

Hartke A70 2004-Current. The A70 is a bass amp combo that can work as a foldback, can be hooked to a PA or used as a secondary amp, practice amp or whatever. Big aluminium woofer in it. It's had a life. It's also a little too much for practice at home. That speaker needs to be driven to get the most of out if, and at 70 watts, it's just too damn big for jamming to some MP3s. The volume pot probably needs to be replaced too... been meaning to get around to that for the past decade or so.

Ashdown AAA-30-8. 2019-Current. This is a 30watt practice amp. I only really got into Ashdown because Black Sabbath's bassist Geezer Butler had started using them, and as I've gotten older, the more I've appreciated Sabbath. It's a no frills amp. I can actually drive the amp on this one without upsetting the neighbours too much, so I can get some decent sounding tone out of it. Especially with the Aerodyne and some fresh fence wire.

Guitars:

Various (1997-2009). Mostly Les Paul or Stratocaster copies.

Epiphone Les Paul Studio Chameleon (Custom Shop) 2008 - Current. The chameleons were a bit of a gimmick with their multitone colour and were only available through Gibson's Epiphone label. Still, it's kinda cool. I like Les Pauls, and this is as close as I've ever gotten.

Shecter Omen Extreme: 2016-2019. This was a killer guitar that I just never played. It looked awesome, played awesome and had a Floyd Rose bridge. Ultimately I sold it due to lack of use.

Cort KX5DX: 2018-Current. This was a $200 pawn shop find. Active EMG pickups, and a mental low action that is completely clean across the fretboard. This was the reason the Shecter was sold. This budget find put it to shame. I love it. Can't play it well enough to make the most of it, but I love it.

Fender Acoustic 2018-Current. Cheapo base model that puts Fender to shame, but it's an acoustic. I barely play it anyway. 

Amps

Marshall VS30R: 1999-Current. This was my first actual guitar amp. I hated it for a while. Valvestate did not sound like Valve at all. I've had a number of amps in between... a mental 100w Fender, a 50w Marshall CODE, but at the end of the day, they've all come and gone, and I've still got the VS30R. The foot switch control has been dodgy for most of the past 2 decades. It still works pretty well, and it's small enough that I can still drive it if I need to get some tone out of it. 

During the 90s, I did have a Rocktek bass amp that was OK, but during band time it was mostly driving two guitars - often an electric driven through its input, with the bass running through the effects loop (hey it worked).  We also frequently found old tape players and record players and wired guitars to them.  Done properly, an old boom box found at the local tip could become a quick little guitar amp until you'd blow it up. Once I let a guy with no experience wire an old record player to my bass. Unlike the rest of us, he had no idea what he was doing, and wound up pulling the two wires he thought connected the stylus to an open ended cable I kept handy. Those two wires were actually 240v.. which was interesting when he turned the power on. The bass survived. The cable, not so much. We didn't have residual current devices back then... It didn't stop us for long. Turn off the power, do a dodgy rewire job to the record player, find some more cable, rewire properly.. and as the saying goes.. "Rock On".  I'm still not entirely sure how I made it to my 20s.

If I'm playing anything these days, chances are it's either Hendrix, GN'R, Sabbath, Metallica or The Angels.