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I wonder if that is where the quote about ensuring that you make every note count comes from? ha ha!

Second option, but more as a line check, which should be more than enough, except if the band is an association of puerile egos...

I've seen their social media. Fair play to them, that is a LOT of work. I wouldn't personally bother hahahaa.

Love the way they play and move on up the road. It was in New Orleans I realised the purpose of the bass solo in the penultimate song. It’s to let the guitarist pass round the bar with the tip jar😂 Now, back on topic…

And for that there's this:

Ok, cool, mistaken I am, there was as you say, definitely a "tube replacement" or two out there for the guitar market though. It willl come to me.. in time! I don't have the old pile of magazines to refer to anymore. ha ha! Brands like Sovtek and the like did dabble with creating SS tubes for drop in replacements maybe for milspec/health devices, but I suspect as the cost of manufacure of solidstate hardware in general came down, there was little point in pursuing them.

I have done many gigs with 4 or 5 originals bands playing the same stage on the same evening, where it is often impossible for all the bands to do a full soundcheck because of time limitations. Often the choice is made to only soundcheck the band that uses the most inputs on the mixing desk. The previous band I was in usually played without amps and cabs on stage. We had two guitarists with stereo setups, my bass (single XLR), a backing track with backing vocals and synths and a pretty basic drum kit with kick, snare, 4 toms, hi-hat and just a few cymbals. We brought our own monitoring rack that had everything except the drums plugged into it, and from there to front of house. The only drawback to that was the XLRs for the other bands still had to go to their gear and mics. We were often complimented for being so easy to mix and to balance well. Therefore we weren't afraid to play without a soundcheck, a linecheck would often suffice and well within the first 30 seconds of the first song everything would be fine. We did prefer to do a full soundcheck though - and we always tried to be disciplined, without unnecessary noodling.

Gigging in a pub? Soundcheck 'till you're happy. Gigging in a ticketed venue? Be done and dusted before they let people in. ...IMO, of course.

Those are tube conversion sockets, allowing the use of a tube other than the original. https://www.tubedepot.com/t/other-stuff/yellow-jackets?srsltid=AfmBOorm7EPnxQenwo22TciGXI6p0wev-H5TymKMmUU23zzT-vgP2Z51 I vaguely recall a SS tube replacement existed back in the day, but if it had been successful it would still exist. There was a big scramble for a SS tube replacement when most tube sources went out of business in the 70s-80s. Nothing much ever came of it.

We always do part of our soundcheck with the PA off. This gives us a better idea of what the onstage mix is like as there isn't sound bouncing off the walls of the emptyish auditorium.

Irrational? I have been extolling the virtues of single 10s and 12s for some time but can I get rid of that feeling that I need a second to stack? It would mean that I did not need to bend to adjust my amp but is that worth another outlay of £700-900? Bass cab therapy anyone?

Hey peeps, Hope everyone is good. I’m looking at both the laney digbeth head and the tone hammer. I wondered if anyone has used both and how they compare. Can’t fined a comparison. I’ve played through a tonehammer and I like it. Isn’t any stores close to try the laney digbeth. I have a pbass and play finger style funk, r&b,mostly. Melodic melody jazz stuff with chords also. I don’t slap. Cheers

The trick in these circumstances is to make it not sound like a soundcheck. No fannying around or practicing riffs you should have tidied up in the rehearsal room. No annoying feedback or tuning up at full volume. Everyone is focussed and ready to do a very specific and planned sound check. A band I played in had the soundcheck rehearsed so we could get set up, and play something both useful to get our levels and fix any sound issues with the room, but also appear to give the punters a montage of tunes. (We used the same soundcheck plan to set up rehearsals too as it happens) It helps if you have someone else doing sound "out front", but it is still more than manageable if the whole band is reading from the same page and actually helps rather than 'not being a team player'. As a side effect of turning up with this professional attitude is that you'll also help to bake the idea in to the heads of the punters that the band are gonna be really good and worth hanging around for. Nothing puts me off more than musicians who have no stage craft and p*ss around, not helping each other but still think they are great. /disclaimer, yes I've played festival stages and the toilet circuit where the engineer checks merely for some noise on the DI as a confirmation of bass tone lol.. It's not always perfect.

If (this is a big if) you have the right equipment, you could use RTA to make equalizing of the space every time. When that is fixed, the levels wouldn't be that big an issue to go through pretty quickly. I think low level vs. gig level represent different things.

Went to a gig in a club in New Orleans. Sitting at the table at 7.55, band due on at 8.00. No sign of them. About 7.58, the band walks through the bar, onto the stage, gets out their instruments, plug in, and at 8.00 on the dot started their set. That's how to roll if you can 👍

Agreed with the above, a full but brief sound check every time.

Reckon it would even make Dave Gilmour wince.......😆😆

Looking at the itinerary for our next gig in Rotterdam on 18th may we have 2 hours scheduled for load in and soundcheck. I can't imagine ever doing a gig with just a linecheck but then I suppose I'm playing a different kind of venue.

I suspect that at least some (if not most) of them were empty lightweight boxes just for show. There's nothing wrong with having an image and the wall of cabs is almost mandatory in some genres.

Option 2 every time. You can't sound check at low levels as you won't hear the low end. You have to sound check at gig level. No need for 5 minutes though! Line-check everything then do 30 seconds of a section of a song where everything gets used (IE don't check the verse without BVs, check the chorus with BVs).