Level gold

Level 42 celebrates 30 years of music involvements this year. Bassist, Mark King, teamed up with Ashdown amplification to come up with the above anniversary amp head with an added attraction- the control panel face plate is plated with... gold.

Of string gauge... (slight return)

Mark King, Level 42's bass prodigy, hits his bass hard. Very hard indeed, he once cracked his thumb while at it. So we thought the strings in his bass should be of the thicker variety but in a recent interview the King of bass (no pun intended) revealed he has light strings in there: 30-60-70-90. This proves, time & again, that thicker string gauge doesn't equal greatness.

The first (Part 6)

The first bass master to have ever impressed me was (still does) Level 42's Mark King. In fact, the man has a certain level of technical mastery to impress anyone but that's half the story- he can also sing at the same time... I can hardly pay attention to the person talking to me while I'm playing, let alone sing when doing that.

I get really inspired to slap/ pop my bass upon seeing this man play all the time. His phrasings are such that they include both bass & melody lines, sound percussive but yet not intruding into the guitar/ keyboard/ drum's highlight. He's out of everyone's way yet retain a commanding presence in the lower frequencies.

Mr. King's right thumb is allegedly insured for a whopping GBP3 million!!