Leaderboard

Hey everyone, Just wanted to share that we've had a couple of incidents recently involving 'middle man' scams. This is where someone has joined the site and registered a username that is almost identical to the name of an existing member, apart from changing characters in the name for ones that look similar but are different. For example, they might replace small L with a capital i, they might replace O with 0 or they might add a full stop at the end of the name. Changes insignificant enough to allow the scammer to take a punt on a buyer not noticing when they make contact via PM and eventually get them to send money. In our situation we believe that the scams are from one individual who has registered two accounts that emulate the names of existing members. We have already taken steps to ensure their accounts are frozen and we have accrued enough information to help us identify if that individual if they try to register more accounts in the future...they won't be able to hide behind a VPN either. We are also going to raise how to prevent spoofed usernames with our forum software provider as a future development suggestion. So...if you are PM'd separately by someone about an item they claim is for sale in the marketplace, check their user name carefully and if you have any doubts based on I or 0 or . in their username, maybe reply to them initially from their post in your thread rather than direct to their PM. That way you can check if your message adds to their message or starts a new one. Also if members spot anyone masquerading as someone else, feel free to use the report function to flag it with the mod team and we will take a closer look. It's probably also worth reminding everyone to avoid using bank transfer or Paypal F&F to a seller. These payment methods don't offer refund options in the event of there being an error. (Although if you are quick enough, sometimes your bank might be able to reverse the transaction but it depends on your bank and whether you can prove deception as opposed to a lack of vigilance.) Thanks in advance for your help in making life difficult for these scumbag parasites.

Around October last year our friend Nick Smith came to see us about having another bass made but to his design of shape which he called the “Midas” We lost Nick in January in a tragic accident before we got past the design stage of his new bass. However he had selected all of the woods and we’d gone through the detail on the spec that he wanted. Following Nicks funeral at the end of February Gav and I felt it was only right that we finish Nicks bass, and after seeking approval from Nicks family we decided that it would be fitting that once complete we would hold a raffle or auction with all proceeds going to a charity close to Nick and his families hearts. Over the last few weeks we’ve been progressing through the manufacture of Midas number 1. And over the next week or so we’ll share the photos and videos of its progress so far. This video shows the design of the bass, technical specs follow “Greenie” the Kratos he had from us a few years back which had become Nicks main gigging bass for Genesis Connected. It features a one piece ribbon sapele body with a beautiful book matched flame maple top, flamed maple one piece neck with ebony fret board, Aguilar HJ pickup and 18v preamp, led fret board side dots, Grainger bridge, hipshot tuners and Evo Gold frets! Once the details of the charity raffle are tied down we’ll post on how it’ll all work, but we should have Nicks Midas done within the next 6 weeks! Stay tuned for more updates! SOLIDWORKS Premium 2023 SP1.0 - Midas Full Assembly 2025-03-29 09-46-28.mp4

Two gigs for me this weekend, both on the East Yorkshire coast. Saturday saw me playing with The Alligators blues band at The Black Lion in Bridlington’s historic old town. Quite a large pub at the front, with an amazing room at the rear that is concealed from the pub by large velvet curtains. There are raked pews that lead down to a dance floor area, and the stage is like a small theatre, with a a large dB PA that unfortunately we didn’t get to use. Easy get in from a side alleyway so it looked like being a great gig. Unfortunately there was a distinct lack of punters, but we still gave it our best to the small groups of folk who ventured in. A great sounding room, and I used my usual passive Precison Lyte / Rumble 500 combo which I’m really enjoying. Finished at 11.15pm, quick pack down and home by 12.30. Sunday early evening I was at our regular haunt in Scarborough, ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ with the acoustic duo. A beautiful day meant the town was busy, but we got parked ok and set to go by 6pm. The venue was rammed with diners plus a few guests seated at the back. We played our usual request format, and tunes included ‘Samba pa ti’, a couple of Simon and Garfunkel things and ‘Copacabana’ which I’d forgotten how much of a workout the bassline was! We both were given a nice tip from a visiting celebrity couple who remembered us from a gig there a couple of years ago, and also received an enquiry to play at the local yacht club from a couple who’d arrived at the gig by yacht - who’d have thought that in Scarbados! It was one of those gigs where it all gelled - great venue, audience and our playing, so much so that I genuinely could have played for another hour or more. Still, home by 10pm to pizza and wine.

Hello! I've been an on-and-off TB'r for a few years, but the mods have finally left a bad enough taste in my mouth for me to give up on it. On a thread about "Best Pedals for Ultimate Clean Tone," I posted a picture of an empty pedal board as a joke. That was deemed offensive enough to warrant deleting my post on the grounds that I was insinuating bassists shouldn't use effects. The ironic part is that I myself have a large pedal board full of effects. Anyway, rant over. Here I am. Also, the challenge question on sign up felt like a trick question. Mr. Fender's first name was Clarence, not Leo.

Two gigs for me this weekend, first was with Siren at The Boathouse, Bradford-on-Avon on Friday night - turned out to be a busy night with lots of faces recognised from our previous visits. We played pretty much all of our setlist but were cut short when the new manager turned on all the house lights and stage lights at the end of a medley that we do, we took that as a sign that he'd had enough, and so the crowd that had been up for a party all night, were calling for more to no avail!? A bit of a strange end to what had been a great evening really. Sadly no photos to share, as I was heading there straight from work I used my 'easy' rig, TT800, Big Twin II, Geddy Jazz with 70's P Bass as back up. Saturday night saw Sarum's Lot play at The Devizes Inn in Salisbury. We were asked to setup in the darts room. This was the exact opposite of the previous night where space was somewhat limited, so was a rather intimate set up for the drummer and me, leaving the guitarist to enjoy loads of room on his side of the room - in fairness to him he does tend to boogie and is much more animated than me! The crowd were up for a good time from the off, loads of singing & dancing, even some air guitar! This band plays classic rock covers and we were asked by a young lad whether we could do 'I believe in a thing called love' - we don't do it but duly had a go, and smashed it right out the park (even if I do say myself!). A thoroughly enjoyable gig with a great crowd - we all left buzzing 🙂 Same gear as previous night. Hopefully the links work😊 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16anAdo3PW/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1F9bZbTbBw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Well, a new venue has opened up recently in our town, it is under a resteraunt, quite low ceilings, low lighting, little groups of chairs, very tastefully decorated, the sort of place you would go to meet someone for having an affair or something - looks like a little jazz club, very cute. I can imagine a sultry singer in the corner, with a guy on a double bass and a drummer, with a bass, snare and tom playing with brushes some gentle music. Only they didn't get that, they got us! I was a bit worried about this one as it really didn't seem like a good fit, but a gig is a gig and they booked us. Turned up earlier than others, started loading in, at least there is room out the front to go straight in (can't park there, but there is a car park round the corner, but loading is fine). We had the whole of the window area, so had to wait for the drummer to set up to see how much room we had, had a couple of feet between a monstera and the cymbals, enough for me. The only hard part of the setup was getting in each others way and the fact there were already people there who wanted to chat. But the place filled up with quite a few people we knew, and some people who came specifically to hear us, including one woman who plays bowling in the room below where we practiced on thursday night so though we sounded good! Started off quite quiet and went down well. The drummer got louder and faster through the gig but not much you can do about that. After much discussion we didn't really change the set list that much, brought back some older ones, couldn't do the newer ones as a lack of practice over the last few months. But all in all, a good gig, people seemed to enjoy it, the staff liked it, and after years of declining venues in town, its nice to see one come back.

Great gig at a local WMC this last Saturday for the Glam Lads. It's one of those old school clubs that saw the likes of Bob Monkhouse et al in its heyday but fortunately is still doing well...a pretty packed house as it seems the locals were up for some 70s Glam. A prospective agent showed up to view the first spot (looking to fill a few little gaps in the gig calendar left by the previous 'booker') so we were on our game and thankful for the large and enthusiastic crowd. The agent, also a bassist, was complimentary on my sound...he said his expectations weren't high when I said I was using just a couple of MarkBass 12" but he was surprised with the clarity and punch. So all in all a cracking night and our next visit there will be NYE which should be a stormer.

Private 60th birthday party last night for us with BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam. Also our drummers birthday same day. Organiser saw us 2 yrs ago and thought it would be great for his dads 60th. He had shown him vids from the gig 2 yrs ago and his Dad loved them. Was in a church hall with its own bar which was kinda strange but a well organised event. Approx 40-50 guests. We were paid while loading in so that was a 1st. Not a big fan of private parties tho as not every guest will be into Glam so it can be a bit MEH !!!. Birthday Boy had no idea what was happening and we were asked not to give it away. Covered the logo on bass drum and no band t-shirts worn also no backdrop. 1st set was a bit slow to get moving. We had some feedback "drone" issue coming and going with singers mic that we just couldn't nail it. It wasn't fine at soundcheck. Turned out it was pick up from snare drum so we managed to resolve it for 2nd set. We had a few dancers 1st set and it was turning out like many private parties ("dead") but we were getting well paid so thoughts of paid rehearsal were going thru my head. We were all invited to partake which was really nice to be asked and we didn't want to disappoint our host and be rude so we partook of a few bits and bobs and were even delivered a tray of food in our changing room which was a large room just off the main corridor. 2nd set it just all seemed to clicked, sound was perfect, dancers filled the floor and party was officially started. Decided to use my Handbox WB-100 last night for a wee change and boy was that a treat. I forgot how much i liked an all valve amp. Warm depth of tone with the mids boosted as advised by our very own WoT and the clarity was just so good. Using the Sandberg VM4 into Keeley comp, WB-100, Mesa SW210/115 cabs and the sound was amazing. I need to use that amp more often. Feedback was excellent with several folks looking to book us with one guy that manages a few other clubs being very impressed. They want us back as a proper function rather than a private event and bar manager reckoned it would sell out. She even wanted a list of where we play so she can come along. All very promising. The number of people coming up at the end complimenting us was quite touching at times but obviously a few beers had been partook by the end of the evening. Something i don't usually mention but here goes :- Arrived at venue 5pm Set up and S/C 6:30pm Doors open 7pm 1st set 8-9pm 2nd set 10-11:15pm Loaded by 12:15am Home and unloaded 1:30am Bed 2am Dave

My first gig this year with my main squeeze, Felis Leo. We played at the Angel Inn, Andover...my first time there. Back in my youth I would drink mainly at the Lamb, the Lardie and the Station. The gig was part of a multi band, multi venue festival under the banner 'Andover Rocks Reignited' and I think we were the only originals band playing at our venue. One of our guitarists moonlights in a covers band and they were further up the bill, we were on at 3pm and they were on at 8. There were 2 stages, one for bands and at the other end of the pub, one for acoustic solo or duo acts. It was amazingly well organised, to the second as well! There were screens onstage for the bands counting down to the start of their sets and subsequently to the end of their sets. This was incredibly helpful 😁 My set up was an Ibanez sr1205 which I haven't played in anger for a long time, a TC Electronic BH550 and my two Barefaced one10s. Had a couple of complimentary comments about the one10s and my sound so chuffed with that (compliments are rare so I'll grab em when I get em). The whole day was actually great with not even a minor gripe about anything, got our photo taken by the local rag, everyone was in a great mood, spoke to people in the flesh who I've only conversed with on our socials and people genuinely enjoyed our set! I still have the same warm afterglow now that I had yesterday 👍🏻 I've not received many video clips yet but here's a bit of Timezone taken by the singer in our guitarist's other band VID-20250330-WA0000.mp4

Last night was the first public gig with the new start-up band, In Like Flynn. We played the Globe in Somerton as a freebie for the FOC rehearsal time they've given us to get our show on the road. So pleased to see the pub full to bursting with the crowd having a ball and the real and virtual tills kerr-chinking behind the bar - a rare sight and sound anywhere these days! And what a relief to be a proper gigging musician again 😊

Just got back from a great gig at The Queens Arms in Brixham with a good crowd who were very appreciative. It was an 11pm finish which helps with loosing an hour too. We played well, although there were a few 'moments' but we always get through them. I had my usual rig of Stingray 2eq, RM500 evo ii and BF210. Also, wearing my usual Skechers which are very comfortable. We have recently got a new mixer, as our old started to play up so it was quick replaced, which has worked wonders with our sound. It's well organized with wall mounted speaker brackets and lights, so less gear to bring. We don't bother with the sub here either. As with all the pubs we play at we get a free drink each (JD & Coke for me)and tonight that also included a couple of free lime and sodas which is my gigging drink as I drive. Bit of a break now till the next gig, but we'll work on some new songs.

Very first gig for my new band last night at the Shed & Garden in Chorley. Great little place with a postage stamp of a stage, if you look carefully in the clips, you might just spot the keys player sat off the stage on the right behind the speaker. As first gigs go, it was absolutely excellent. Three setter 9-midnight. It's always nerve racking taking the car out of the garage for the first time. Will everything work? Will I remember the songs with all the extra distractions of a live show? Will they like the song choice (I was worried about this as the set isn't your usual weekend evening stuff, and very different from anything I've done before)? Where do I park? How many sockets are there? Will any of the others have a complete personality change when they get onstage? It was as good as first gigs get IME. Everything nice and pretty tight, no tech gremlins. We played well and the crowd got into it . Some quality dancing and an increasingly enthusiastic response. The keys player ended up with someone almost in his lap a couple of times, and the door staff went and stood in front of the singer for the last set to prevent deliberate or accidental crowd encroachment. We came off stage absolutely buzzing with lots of ideas about how to take things forward. My setup was my new Fender Japanese 5 string into a GR 350 class D head and then FOH. Wired IEMs through a Behringer P2. No cab, which was lucky as there wouldn't have been room for it anyway. The drummer took up almost all the stage, but his sparkly red kit did look lovely under the lights. If you're eagle eyed, you might spot that I've got a glove on my left hand. No, it's not an SBL tribute. This is down to pretty severe eczema which means that the skin on my fingers is paper thin and rips wide open very easily. To prevent bleeding all over my lovely new bass I took a chance on a glove from Amazon and it works pretty well. Excellent feedback from the owners, they've just taken on a new bar in South Manchester and we're looking at dates to play there. the singer is delighted, as it's walking distance form her house Right, a couple of rough phone clips: WhatsApp Video 2025-03-29 at 12.20.27.mp4 WhatsApp Video 2025-03-29 at 11.52.18.mp4

We had a good night at the Cow & Telescope in Southend on Friday evening. It was a bit of a rush getting home from work, scoffing a quick dinner and out again, but we had more time than we realised to set up at a relaxed pace and soundcheck. As usual in this venue, it seemed a bit too quiet on there when we setting up, but by the time we kick off at 9.30 we had a decent crowd of regulars and a steady stream of arrivals whilst we played. I made a couple of mistakes - including completely blanking halfway through the "Time is running out" riff. I put it down to not feeling 100% due to an iffy stomach I've had for a few days. I managed to blag my way through it and remembered it by the second or third time round. I noticed a couple of guys pointing and watching me intently during "Runaway Baby". I'm unsure if they were impressed or spotted errors in my playing! 😄. Another patron came up to me when we had finished and said it was so refreshing to see a band actually move around and put on a show, rather than just standing stock still and looking at our guitars and feet. A couple of our usual mob (including my wife and brother, who are not afraid to offer constructive criticism) said the set list was great too, with a few songs we hadn't played in years thrown in. We try to avoid too much repetition - for ourselves as much as anything! But it all seemed to flow nicely and kept people up dancing until the obligatory encores were finished with. So yes, all in all a good night. The next one is The Cricketers in nearby Westcliff on Easter Sunday. Out first time at this venue, and one we've wanted to get into for a while. We'll be a couple of members down (one of the guitarists, and using a dep drummer), but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Another Eagles tribute show, this time at a theatre in Stockton. An enjoyable night. We're a few shows in now, so everything is less of a conscious effort. The vocal harmonies parts - of which there are a shedload, all of which are very high / falsetto - are coming more naturally, so I can kick back and enjoy the occasion. It's such a strong, varied set - every song is a classic (assuming you don't hate The Eagles, of course). Anyway, I had to use IEMs last night as we were using the house PA and there weren't any monitors. I doubt I'll ever love using them, but I hate them less than I used to.

Sat in with Stevie Daniels at the White Swan near Newmarket. Great crown…lots of dancing and compliments. Debut gig for my new Elf head paired with Genz Benz 12’s. First set was with my Spectracore 5 fretless, then used the Peavey Dynabass for set two. All worked really well, and the Elf didn’t even get warm.

Three-set outing at the Reivers Sports Bar in Galashiels last night. Six of us had to squeeze onto a stage that was all of three metres square and boxed in by railings. It was tight, to say the least. First time we'd played there and the punters were quite boisterous, with many of them celebrating Rangers' 4-3 win over whoever the other lot were. Dundee, maybe. Went down really well, including six new songs that were having their first outing. Plenty of happy punters dancing and singing along. On the downside, the back of the stage was in almost complete darkness so I spent a lot of time squinting at the neck trying to see the fretboard markers. Then during the second set, my strap came off. I had to perch on the edge of my cab desperately punching out root notes on the one until the song ended. I think that'll be me out of the gear abstinence thread when I get a set of Schallers. We're playing there again on the 17th May. The rig will be the same as last night - Sterling Stingray 5, Eden WTX264 atop an Eden 210 cab turned on its side (the space was that tight!). Something to cast a bit of light on the neck is on the cards - the light from my tablet helped a bit but not enough. All in all though, a great night!

Ah what a miserable old git I’m becoming. it was nice to be out of the comfort zone, and in retrospect a bit of fun which people seemed to enjoy. I need to stop taking myself so seriously.

I was out with the cello last night for an orchestral concert in Carlisle. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. Here's the opening page of the first piece. I think the double bass part is similar.

Hmm. i just sang and played guitar as a favour to a friend. Strangled a few indie classics and then came home. PA was woeful, couldn’t hear anything…people sang along and danced. I won’t be doing that again for a bit as I hate guitar playing, and I hate singing.

We played The Chadwell Arms, which is becoming something of a regular joint. The landlord now greets us with handshakes and hugs, and the punters are very friendly from the moment we walk in. Last night was a mixed bag - we went down a storm, with loads of singing along, rapturous applause and a double encore. We debuted ‘free Fallin’ and I brought an old custom bass out of retirement as a one-off. The down side? Our singer has a new ladyfriend, and he was in full-on showman mode (presumably for her). He upped the rockstar act, which went down well, but the distraction caused him to miss a couple of cues, come in too early, or too late, and generally be a bit mistake-laden. I loved the positive reaction, but I’m too much of a perfectionist to overlook the errors. Must do better.

Saturday night was a local WMC. Local to me, that is, the rest of the band had a bit further to travel. I'd played here about 15 years ago with a club band and remembered it having a nice big stage. I think it was the first experience for the rest of the band of having the bingo between the first and second sets. Load in and out wasn't the greatest as it's a longer walk than I'd like, but with four people doing it it's not so bad. We didn't use our frame to hang the banner from as there was a rail above the light curtain at the back which was a convenient height. Following my experience with the originals band where we used my Alto TS408s as monitors and they proved more suited than the Alto TS308s, I swapped roles and used the 308s for FOH and the 408s as monitors. That all went well. Sound was good on stage and off. The gig went well. Not too many cockups, none really noticeable. I used the Sei Original 5 headless fretless and the Antoniotsai 5 dragon bass, through a Lekato WS-90 wireless and Zoom MS-60B to Tecamp Puma 900 and GR Bass AT212. Footwear was, as always, unbranded memory foam trainers from Ebay. Edit to add: they've just contacted us and asked us to go back there in August. I think that's the measure of a successful gig.

Outsold gig last Saturday

Bought this off a mate, practically unused, sat in its hard case most of its life. Plays lovely! Strung it up with Rotosound 66’s.

I've often said that I'd happily rock up, bass in hand and play to 2,000 people for free... I might even offer to pay but if you want me to hump £4000+ worth of my equipment to a venue/pub miles from home that I have no association with, at a time that inconveniences me, to play to a bunch of ar5eholes who have no respect for the hours/years I've put into getting to the level that I'm at... I want paying! I may have paraphrased the above on occasion!

Isn’t it just? The minute I walked in I was taken aback - one of those places that you could use for so many different things - all sorts of live music, theatre & performance, as well as a banging venue for a great party! Shame it’s 40 miles from where I live though.

Not a bad night at an old haunt of ours back to the 80’s in various guises. Not packed but reasonable crowd who were singing along and picked up on the dancing front in the second set to end well. I misread to set and completely missed the cue linking penultimate and final songs and said “you missed one” to drummer - he hadn’t, I can’t read 🤦‍♂️🤣 Had to use the KZ headphones for IEM’s, having at last checked the obvious and realised why I was only getting the left side in my moulded plugs after updating to the Sennheiser system and trying all different settings on the transmitter and receiver to no avail. Plugged the custom plugs into my iPad and realised that the problem was there DOH! Took a while to find the right tips to get a reasonable seal, but got there for the second set. I still need to get the main plugs sorted.

So, I actually managed to win one of these in an Instagram competition very recently and it’s just arrived with me. Overall I’m actually really impressed, I need to weigh it, as it feels heavier than the advertised 8lbs, but weight can be deceptive. I love the finish (but then I’m a sucker for gold basses). It’s finished perfectly all over I’d say, with the only minor exception being the open truss rod access, which is a little rough inside (par for the course?!). Love the roasted neck, and the rolled fingerboard edges make all the difference. Bridge is actually solid, almost a Badass vibe to it. Tuners are fine, work perfectly well, but they kinda *look* cheap….IMO they’d come across better if they had some Shergold branding on the gear enclosure…but that’s just me with my Marketing hat on haha, very minor point. It actually came very well setup, no case or gigbag though, fairly usual at this price point though. Extremely playable out of the box. The pickup locations are pretty new to me, so I’m gonna have fun seeing what I can make work on gigs, but just playing about at home, through my HX Stomp (Regal preamp naturally), the bridge soloed sounds cool, roll the tone back a bit for a slightly more plumby (because shortscale) Jaco bark. Neck pickup with the tone all the way off is dub city, which I love, but both pickups together with the tone up full or just slightly rolled off sounds great and will be very useable I think. More to come, nice to own a shortscale again after I sold my Serek. Cheers Si

A renowned guitarist once said to me, there are three reasons to gig. 1. The qualities of the music. 2. The quality of the 'hang', or 3. Good money. One of the above is enough, two is great, three is heaven. I think we get out of it what we put in and it will vary for all of us.

I'm not sure how often the moderation team turns around, but it's always felt like they were very censorial over trivial stuff. I had another strike against me when I replied to the thread "Does the bass player from Korn use all 5 strings?" By saying "He barely uses the fretboard." They have very little tolerance for acerbic humor over there.

Pedal car 🤦 My excellent B-Tron III is in the loop of the Dual Phase, so effectively after phaser one and before phaser two. I can achieve the same effect with a single, much smaller pedal (my Pigtronix envelope phaser) but where's the fun in that?

With the seating looking very pew like, I would have been hard pushed not to say, “Dearly beloved, let us play,” in that environment. Nice venue.

When I play I get paid for 3 reasons. . . . This is not a hobby. If someone is making money from my playing, so am I. Most people I play with are making their living from music. So playing for free, for fun or a favour, is not an option.

Why is Japan always getting these cool special runs? Look at this beauty. That's how the CST is supposed to look like (just compare that with the amateurish bursts and washed out burls that we get to buy here, see page 3 in this thread for some examples in case you missed them):

Backing tracks on a live gig? Not my cup of tea.

I'm generally not a fan, but can understand that situations and budget can dictate their use in some circumstances. We've certainly never considered it in our trio. I'm also not really a fan of the incognito sidemen. To show the way to do that, I saw The Darkness the other night. The shadowy guitarist/mandolinist was dragged into the spotlight several times, hugged, embraced and name-checked. The drummer came out front to sing lead on a song and the drum & bass tech stood in on drums, again with huge acknowledgement. (It was a great gig, and what a great self-effacing frontman Justin is!)

I’m using the Beta V and Diamond Comp with my passive Warwick 5 (strung with Chromes). I like it

Hey guys, Been a long time lurker, but was recently hired by MTD, so I figured now is as good a time as any to introduce myself. Prior to my current gig, I was with Vigier on the stateside of things for about 13 years. I don't wanna break any rules, so if you have any questions about products, please feel free to dm me or email [email protected] I'm an actively touring bassist. I play for So Hideous, Lores, Luxury Funeral and used to be in the Number 12 Looks Like You and Sawtooth Grin among many more. As for gear, I play an MTD 535 a G&L L-2500 and a bunch of different Vigiers. My favorite amp is my Verellen Meatsmoke and my favorite cab is my Aguilar GS412, but they can't always make it to every gig so I'm more than happy to bring my Quilter 802. Still looking for my 'forever' compact cab if anyone's got any suggestions. I started building my own pedals like two years ago, just in time to finally start using my HX Stomp live lol... But I'm an absolute gear whore, so I'm sure I'll never stop swapping my stuff!

I've done both paid (as a semi pro) and free (as an amateur) gigs, but something that always bothered me is the lack of respect you get when you're playing for free... Let me tell you this anecdote: We were asked to play for free (or close to that as we were hat paid) for an organic market during the hottest day of the year... As I'm tea total, I struggled to get something to drink, first mistake from the organisers. Second mistake was that all the market, including our PA, was electrically wired to the same plug running in two sections across a road!?! We had a Bose L1 PA system that we bought brand new with our own money (it was the first ever sold in Belgium back then and it was a fame changer for us) and that we were using flawlessly since a few gigs. Suddenly, after 2 to 3 hours of playing, the PA started to smoke and stopped working: in one word, it had burned. The first reaction from the punters was: Why are not playing anymore? The second reaction from the organisers themselves was: Do you have an insurance, because we have none?!? So we packed everything back in the cars, after emptying the almost empty hat, while my fellow guitarist/singer kept saying: The duet is over, we can't afford to buy a new PA. On the next day, which was a Monday, I called the store were we bought it explaining what happened and they called Bose directly who agreed to repair or replace it for free and even offered us to come directly at the importer place, which wasn't that far for us We came there on the next day and the guy in charge confirmed that it would be repaired or replaced for free as it was under warranty at the end of the week, because we needed it every weekend! On the Thursday afternoon I got a phone call saying that the PA was repaired and that we could come and take it back for free. On the next day, Friday, we were there and the guy in charge of the repair section explained that all power amps of the L1 had simply fried due to a huge surge and that they had never seen such a thing happening in a normal use: So, I explained why it probably happened with the "main" lead coming from a house across the street with another lead that was connected to the first in the middle of the road where a car smashed it creating a huge short cut and power surge at the same time. They laughed a bit and advised us to have our own heavy section lead extension and for our own usage only, which we did. Since then, we are ALWAYS paid to play, because if the organiser makes profit, I can't see why we couldn't be paid: After all we are not jesters or minstrels living on leftovers. Lesson learnt.