u/Version-6

Had a customer bring in a completely bodged up amp by some ‘boutique’ builder that looked worse than when I run pedal building workshops. The fiberboard was warped and messed up (shouldn’t be used anyway as it’s prone to leakage and isn’t designed for lateral insulation), the wiring made a dozen ground loops so it was noisy as hell, and the whole thing was just a complete clusterfuck.

So I quickly spun up a replacement PCB in Kicad and added some upgrades including a proper bias circuit, and separate grounds for each stage. I don’t care if people want to espouse the virtues of ancient tech that wasn’t good when it was new, I went and studied EE and there’s a reason they spend whole units on PCB design and best practices.

Next step, finishing up the wiring and moving onto testing.

You won’t see many of these out and about. This is a Baldwin SynthaSound. A weird, limited editable mono synth from the early 70s. It’s got its own built in speakers, and spring reverb, and is a complete dog to work on.

These are even worse than most Italian synths and organs. This one’s taken ages to repair, and it just decided that it’s time for the transformer to give up the ghost.

So don’t be surprised if your tech refuses to take it in, or gives you a massive up front minimum bench fee.

So the person who bought the place 5 years ago for nothing, decided to bump the rent 25% in one go, and somehow that’s because of the negative gearing changes that don’t affect them?

It’s just pure greed. That’s it.

Nothing about the rest of the place, and you can tell that the wall is some kind of ancient, probably illegal, subdivision. I know I wanna pay $700 a month for what’s less than a double bed width.

You know, just a couple. Apartments are like smack; just so morish.

A million in super, barely any tax on it. Then when they die, it’ll go tax free to their children.

The game was rigged from the beginning baby.

Was at work today in my workshop, fixing shit as I do. Power went off. Happens on occasion if someone is doing a fire test or whatnot. Nobody was there for it. My workshop is the middle floor of a 4 story building with a shop below, and a two story residence above. My power is included in my rent as it’s on a shared circuit.

Turns out, someone has fucked up and the landlord probably hasn’t paid the bill. So the power company came out and disconnected it. So I’ve gotta sit round with my dick in my hand, in the dark, waiting for them to sort this shit out. All the while, I’m not earning any money as soldering irons don’t run well without power.

I get to work on and sell some pretty cool gear. Today I’ve been sorting out a Pro One, and in the queue are some rarities like a Baldwin Synthasound and and OSC OSCar. Got not one, but FOUR Roland CMU 810s that are on consignment which is wild given how uncommon they are.

There’s also an OB-8 over on the shelf that needs the keybed sorted, but that’s for another time.

We lived in Bardia when everything was still being developed at Edmonson Park. Moved into a brand new 3 bedroom duplex, started at $450 a week. Did I mention this was 11 years ago? The developer of the estate maintained ownership of about 30% of the properties in the estate and rented them out. This was when rents were actually decreasing in the area. More properties built, more competition. So our rent kept going up and the real estate agents in the first picture, kept pushing it up.

I fought them constantly and for this, and other issues, we had to go to NCAT like 3 times in 4 years. They tried upping our rent to $515 and they refused to negotiate. I went all the way to the property portfolio manager at the developer to find out what the fuck the REA was doing.

I showed them the rents, and showed them 3 places around us were for lease including the place directly behind us with a shared fence, and they were all cheaper, and usually bigger. Place behind us was $20 a week less, with an extra bedroom. I said to them 'well, if you won't negotiate on the rent, then how about we apply for the cheaper place behind us, we can just throw the stuff over the fence and move in' and they wouldn't budge.

Thankfully NCAT were on our side.

Still, being reminded that we once paid $500 a week for a duplex with ducted AC, a garage, and a huge backyard and now we pay $550 a week for a 2 bedroom apartment with no AC is fucking depressing.

Sucks that we can’t cross post from Ausproperty anymore as they’re too busy having a sook. Here’s a screenshot instead.

Victoria will be the benchmark for what happens given their existing system.

The UK used to have some alright protections for tenants that were rooted in all the historical president. Then of course, necro-pedo queen herself Mill Snatcher Maggie Thatcher changed it to make landlords an untouchable class.

UK Labour, despite being compete shit asses, suddenly implemented rental reforms that are somewhat sane.

- No blanket pet bans
- Abolishing bo grounds evictions
- Capping rent increases to once every 12 months with a mechanism to challenge if too great
- The ability to end a lease early
Plus some other stuff, and a lot of this is very similar to NSW tenancy laws.

So congrats to our pommie brethren on a slightly better system for tenants.