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Really loving this set up atm

Yesterday’s rig. Bloody marvellous. I’ve been having valve amp pangs recently but using this over the course of 4 sets yesterday reminded me that I have much, much better gear than my talent deserves, and really don’t need glowing glass tubes.

This. I just love when you are playing and you see a room full of people enjoying themselves and you think we are doing this.

Another identical 2x10 cab,vertically stacked. That's not a subjective opinion, it's objective scientific fact, and the science always works, whether you understand it or not. 😉

Gig number 4 was a fantastic evening. A lovely stage set up (mmmm…carpet!) in a decent marquee to a very appreciative crowd. I snapped a few pics and the whole thing was live streamed so there’s plenty of (pleasingly;) bass heavy video on our Facebook page this morning 😂😂 https://www.facebook.com/TheBridgeCheltenham

Unusual gig in Ivory Blacks last night. Not the biggest audience we've played to but everyone had a great night with lots of dancing. Issues with sound again in here with SE telling me my bass amp was too loud. (i run it at same level every gig to match drum volume. His suggestion was to turn it down and use the monitors for bass. Tried that and his monitors were s**t with nothing but treble clank and distortion on higher notes. Trouble with hearing vocals and guitar. Our sound effects we use for intro's to some songs were muted at the desk as SE forgot to un-mute for 2nd set. Overall not a great night sound wise on stage but audience said the sound out front was good. Not sure if people stayed at home because of the train issues at moment or holiday weekend or even the Jubilee but Glasgow did seem quite quiet last night when we were leaving at 11pm. Not sure what's going on in the band at moment but atmosphere thru the gig and at the end of the night was a bit "odd" perhaps quiet and subdued. Not sure how things will pan out. It felt like this might have been our last gig. When the band enthusiasm and atmosphere goes the fun goes with it. Will wait and see what happens over next few days/weeks. Dave

Just watched this rather brilliant video and thought I'd share ... hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I'll need to check out the rest of the series. S'manth x

Money for nothing, pig for free? 🐷

Played a bar in Portishead last night. Tiny space allocated to us, punters appeared to be reserved, middle class folk out for a quiet night. Luckily we have a drummer who can actually play quietly if he so chooses. So we started lively but not too loud. Amazed by the response. Loud applause and cheering and a few songs later folk dancing and having a ball. So many people wanting to tell us how awesome we were I wondered if we'd ever get to pack down. A lovely end to a great run of gigs.

This afternoon’s effort- bit OTT, but it’d be rude not to really

Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be staying. I still love bass, sometimes I even enjoy playing what I can, but I rarely play nowadays. (I’ve only the use of one arm/hand). I’ve a nice Yamaha precision, but it’s heavy. I might consider looking for a lighter precision too. I think I’ve better learned how to listen. Although I never met many people from the forum in person, I will always remember it very fondly and probably will keep returning every now & then, as long as I am able.

Played an afternoon gig yesterday with my acoustic duo at a private party with a Jubilee theme in a village next to mine. Arrived at the impressive house to find we’d been allocated a covered area, but due to the doubtful weather forecast it was decided we’d be better playing indoors. This was a massive swimming pool / leisure area, with the predictable echo laden sound. As the weather was on and off, we set up by some bi-fold doors so we could face either inside or outside! First set was sunny so we played to the guests outside, and the sound was great using just a Yamaha mixer amp and two pairs of Bose 802’s. I used my little Ibanez acoustic bass and it sounded just how I wanted. Of course, wind and rain meant that by the second set we turned the PA round and played in the pool area, and the sound suffered. Still, had them up dancing, played all of their requests and gave out loads of business cards so a result. Also got very well fed and watered too, and home by 6pm! Got another one today at a village hall on the Yorkshire wolds and it’s raining already.....🙁

In Isolation headlining at Carpe Noctum in Leeds at the Lending Room. Nice venue with a decent sized stage good PA and lighting rig, and full support from the "It's Goth Up North" crowd.

Another open air gig yesterday at a festival in York. Stage seemed huge compared with what we are used to. Nice to have a pro SE and event was well organised. We went down well and have been "pencilled in for next year". We all enjoyed it, though were a bit by bothered by some brief low frequency humming. Probably me...

Played the 12.00 first slot at the Vintage Heritage Festival today on the Tipi Stage , a 40 minute set with our own PA and were scheduled to do a 2 hour set starting at 6.30 pm at a local Stately Home later. Heavens opened around 4.00 pm and got a message, 'we are starting early due to the rain'. 25 minutes later when I arrived they had just decided to call it off as we were under a large gazebo which although waterproof most of the villagers had gone home and electrically it was all a bit dodgy. We were paid and invited to sample the Hog Roast and Draught beer bought in especially for the event however. We have offered to play there again for free although I suspect they will want to pay us again! The rain has now eased off but everything is very wet.

The Lion at Basford in Nottingham. We've played here a few times and it's always a great gig for us. The crowd were right into it with much cavorting and dad-dancing at the end. Our drummer even got his own fan-club.

Nailing a song on air guitar

Get the same cab again. Whilst different pairings can sound great having two of the same means no need to re-eq if only using one cab, say at smaller gigs or rehearsals. Whereas with 2 different cabs chances are each will sound different on its own.

Oh, and another thing - as somebody with type 2 diabetes, I feel there should have been a health warning before the programme, for all the sickeningly sugary compliments being paid to Her Maj at every artist changeover. Had to O/D on metformin to bring my blood sugar back down.

The most musical pleasure I get is when I've done a great gig. Can't beat that feeling.

Private Jubilee do at a community centre in rural North Yorkshire last night. Like the box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get at these sort of functions but we had a great night with people up and dancing from the get go (apart from one bloke who sat staring at us with arms folded all night lol). Great comments from the organisers - one said we should raise our prices... Other than that it was a typical Saturday night apart from the lunatic that tried to run me off the M18 by swerving into me and forcing me onto the hard shoulder - I think it was because I had the audacity to overtake him in a Mini.....I hope karma is a real thing.

Did the perfect wedding, very cool crowd, played what we wanted (anyone done Casa Forte at a wedding before?), Loads of food and drink for the band, started at 6 and home by 9! If only they could all be like that 🙂

I have a smoke machine story too. I played in a party band once, and one song that we covered was ‘Take on me’ by A-ha. The singer was so arrogant [theres a surprise] and the rest of the band could not stand him. I decided that I had had enough. So, before the show, I asked the stage guy to really crank out the smoke during that particular song. My plan was to sabotage the high note in the chorus… and it bloody worked! Wahey! 😂 The chorus went like so… Take on me (take on me) Take me on (take on me) I'll be gone In a day or twooo *cough cough* oooo *splutter splutter* oooo! It was the funniest thing that I had seen and heard in a long time. We replaced him a couple of weeks later… thank goodness! 😂

It has been time consuming and I bet I have spent something around 15 hours in total. That includes all trial and error as well as making some decent knobs in the end. One of those thing that if I decide to do it again it would be a lot quicker. But it’s been enjoyable and I learnt something new. Cheers

You Lift Me Up - Thompson Twins

The most fulfillment I have ever felt on stage has been mere bar jams. Two occasions stick out. I was running an open mic and a young guy comes up rather diffidently asking if it would be ok for him to have a crack. He has a bunch of mates egging him on. We give him the guitar and he mentions he's never played in a band but he's going to do some originals and the house band is welcome to jam along. Mmmkay. So the kid lets rip and it's pretty easy to find the groove so I jump in and drummer likewise. It's cooking. The kid can really sing. The crowd goes wild. The look on the kid's face was priceless. Another one I was house bassist. A bunch of travelling South Americans took over filling the stage with everything but bass. I'm standing there getting more and more deer in headlights as the percussion groove builds on the guitar riffing and more guitarukey things chime in. It's going off. I spot this girl dancing her derrière off and suddenly I am informed by her hips where the bass sits in among all the swirling rhythms. We're off!!!! The girl finds another gear. Awesome.

Room For One More Anthrax

Big Muff - Depeche Mode

Day Dipper. The Beatles 🤔

I'll put some more meat on the bones in the morning, but I think that the double-ball approach is an unnecessary complication for the short-scale multi-scale you have in mind. Cheaper to buy 4 allen keys and keep one in every place you can think of than being stuck with always having to buy some very custom strings (and getting their spec right) or compromising the functionality. And on a bass, how often do you need to change strings? Look up Nova Guitar Systems (there's a similar topic somewhere else on the site) on Facebook and pm @Andre_Passini (the owner) on this forum. They are great quality and will be a lot cheaper than some of the above you mention. More about my view of the double-ball issue tomorrow And yes - as @3below says, the Steinberger tuners you show are great, but designed for guitars, not basses

30 Dace In The Hole - Humble Pie

Played the local jubilee/festival in Llandevaud yesterday. About 100-150 people but mostly off around the hog roast/stalls. Playing on the back of a lorry. Went well although my lead developed an intermittent fault and I had to switch to a more reliable(!) wireless at half time. During second set the stalls upped sticks at 5:30 so numbers dropped away. As we were packing up the next band were setting up on the adjacent lorry to do three sets 7 to 10, looked like they might have got about 20 people left ☹️

Shine on. House of love

If I could properly define it, I'd be a highly successful songwriter. As it is is I'll just have to put up with that unexpected rush I get when a piece of music comes together, for no obvious reason.

Yep, as much as I love listening to many different genres and learning different songs playing a great gig is where I get the most enjoyment, followed by a great rehearsal, studio work is third on my list.

Thought hard about this, as I love stuff ranging from flamenco to punk to Bluegrass to bagpipes to Bulgarian folk songs, but I guess if there is a single theme in music that moves me utterly, it’s to hear a perfect example of Northern Melancholia. So music from Thomas Tallis and John Dowland, through to Jean Sibelius and Vaughan Williams, through to Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Smiths, and Magazine. Seems to be an entirely British / Scandinavian thing.

I once turned up to a gig 24 hours early due to a calendar malfunction.

In general, close vocal harmonies. Particularly UK traditional folk, like sea shanties and some of Steeleye Span's songs. I would agree with you that a great arrangement hits the spot, too. When playing it's that moment when the band has come together and there's an undefinable thing happening, regardless of the song.

Pure energy, The sex pistols, RATM, The Idles, early Nirvana, Sugar, stuff like that

The whole weekend is about her, what more could she want? Good of you not to assume her/their gender though 🙂

Bras In Pocket - The Pretenders Damn it!! Too slow again. It's staying anyway now as it's still about theft (from Primark probably).

The litigant Mr Stone might enjoy greater credibility were it not that he 'performs under the name Vince Vance with the band Vince Vance and the Valiants'. Older BC-ers will recall that an early incarnation of Fleetwood Mac recorded and released the song Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite (a Jeremy Spencer pastiche of 50's rock'n'roll) under the pseudonym of Earl Vince and The Valiants. Mr Spencer is still alive and should either sue Mr Stone for passing off or go round and kick his head in, possibly tonite.

Great gig at Tuesday Night Music Club in Coulsdon, Surrey this week. Over 2 hours of music was knackering but exhilarating. Fab review plus bass-face photo from Haydn Hart, a TNMC regular: "US Hall of Fame Inductee and multi award winning songwriter, composer and performer Wily Bo Walker gave an astonishing performance at the Tuesday Night Music Club this week. It was such a kind gesture by Wily Bo Walker to give away a CD to every attendee on the night, A CD that had been specially made for the occasion. This was his way of thanking his audience for attending. Such is the measure of this brilliant musician. The band’s performance itself was flawless, with E D Bradshaw giving a masterclass on lead guitar, providing some jaw dropping breaks throughout. Clarky, the consummate bass man. My apologies to the drummer and the keyboard/mandolin player, but I didn’t catch your names……great job though guys. A standing ovation for Wily Bo Walker at the end of a superb evening of live music that spanned the recognised genres giving them new life and making them his own."

My band played a gig on the Isle of Man this week. The original booking was for 2020 but as Covid put paid to that it finally got rearranged for May 22. It also happened to be TT fortnight so was extremely busy on the ferries, despite it being qualifying week. We got to see some of the racing, an amazing spectacle with bikes hitting over 140mph onthe streets of Douglas that normally have a 30 limit! ( Unfortunately just before we left a Welsh rider Mark Purslow lost his life in a crash, something that apparently happens all too regularly. ) We were playing in the Villa marina, a grand old theatre on the seafront in Douglas. Big flown JBL PA sounded fine at soundcheck but with nearly 1000 punters in later it did seem to change. Anyway, we did one 90 minute set (unusual for us) and went down well with the crowd singing along with most of the songs. The gig was in aid of a local cancer charity so we were pleased they raised some funds from it. Good fun going to a new place for us, a very scenic island with friendly locals, good food, and the weather was superb too.

...and a couple of pre show shots from last night. The screen at the back of the stage was used to show a series of images of the quints and their early life, from what I heard from audience members it really helped make the show even better. I'm hoping for some shots of the actual show tonight by someone with better equipment.

I would have thought that set up would at least give a decent clean tone…

I also quit for a few years for my own reasons (which I won't go into). But obviously I had to return at some point so I could resume losing money on buying and selling basses.