WalMan

Only slightly shorter than ‘Thunderbirds are go’ our opener years ago. A song that had a longer walk on tape intro and generally left pub crowds confused 🤣

I picked up a DAddario mic mute last week out of interest and used it for the first time last night. It seemed to work well and was easy to set up. Phantom power to my BV mic and a quick tweak of the proximity sensor wheel and my mic automatically muted when I moved back so my head was more than about 9 inches away on direct line of sight, or if I moved off axis to the mic. I suppose you could probably achieve similar by setting a gate but this seemed a good and not hugely expensive option at between £80 & £90 on most sites. I did go slightly boss eyed watching the sensor light go on and off 🤪 Sound guy seemed to like it and said he’d watched my channel mute/unmute on its own so maybe we need to invest in a couple more for the other BV mics. It wouldn’t work with a radio mic or entirely as intended for a vocalist holding the mic and moving

Not a bad night at this evening’s gig. Reasonable crowd. Sound was good. IEM’s set nicely and the ambient mic I put under the kit between hi hat and bass drum worked well for all the cues I needed. Bass was sounding great and everything seemed to be going smoothly until midway through the second set one of our guitarists felt unwell and left the stage to sit outside for fresh air, though he was still not 100% when we finished so vocalist who had travelled with him drove him home. I used the DAddario mic mute I picked up last week and it seemed to work well, though I do go a little boss eyed watching the infrared light go on and off. I had the proximity set quickly and as well as moving back out of range it was easy to move just off axis and for it to cut the mic. Sound guy said it worked well and was watching how it muted my mic when not in use. May have to invest in a couple more for the other two BV mics 🙂

Last gig I connected to our A&H CQ mixer with the CQ4U app on my phone. Pretty much set it and left it with just a few tweaks. Great for me as we were using an electronic kit. Maybe OTT for small pub gigs but I wouldn’t be without it now. Takes a lot less space than having floor monitors and I can hear what I need. 🤷‍♂️

Spot prizes…? Only two I can remember at this remove are…The first person to the stage with: a wooden cigarette lighter a pair of stockings/tights over their arm (round their neck if the crowd weren’t pensioners and/or on the larger side 🤣)

Indeed. Happy days when we did loads of gigs and played two sets, 99% originals 🙂

Two gigs on Saturday. Started with a dep at 12 just down the road from home … just as well as I pulled in and remembered I hadn’t loaded my IEM transmitter, so a quick return home to collect then set up. Early start for a festival gig and next to no one there but fun all the same. Took a little while to get the IEM mix right but the sound guy was new to the desk 24 hours previous but we got there by the end and no stress. I’d spent a while getting the dots sorted and down for Footloose then it got dropped for time and two of us depping - me and drums. Annoying but a good workout for me and I’m sure I’ll get a chance to run it at another dep so no problems 🙂 Home for a shower and a nap then out to gig two with my usual band. Small (tiny) venue and we used an electric kit for the first time. Worked great for me on full IEM’s and seemed ok in the room. Good tight night though not a lot in with the heat. Happy with the BV’s and getting properly sorted on those with some of the newer ones that are now working in nicely. Bit of a moment towards the end when guitarists were telling me I was in the wrong key - I wasn’t, sounded fine in ear - and whatever it was apparently sorted itself in the chorus, so no idea what happened there.

Dangerous to go round before the gig? 🤣😵‍💫

Photo of the GAK guitar section today from #2 son

A few years back now I wandered into GAK’s old bass section out the back of the store and was chatting to the bass guy who knew I had a Wal. He said they’d just had an old Wal traded in and offered it to me for £900 😱 I had no funds in those days and had to pass 😢, though I did come back and give a heads up here in the evening - I believe it was gone at 9:05 the next day 🤣

Take it easy and make sure you look after yourself!! Lost my mum unexpectedly just over a year ago, and had a tough year with my assistant off on maternity from April, plus an op that had me largely immobile for 6 weeks and still getting back to it. I know I overdid it at the day job December and January that I still haven’t properly shaken off - finding it difficult to shake off “what’s the point and why should I care?”. Still haven’t managed to delete mum’s phone numbers from my mobile and it still catches me on occasion - ridiculous really as we’ve sold the house, the phone accounts are cancelled and her mobile is on my coffee table. Dr Gig helps, but if you’re taking responsibility for all the associated gig stuff and burning yourself out then you really need the others to step up to the plate before you crack.

Stray Kids at White Hart Lane last night accompanying my granddaughter. Felt louder than Dream Theater but that may have just been that we were in direct line to one of the side arrays. Tight band wheeled out in parts and they even got their own section to wig out with in what I presume was the first major costume change with guitar and bass heading out down the runway, and the whole band getting introductions and a brief solo on the big screens later on. A large proportion of the crowd had LED light sticks (£65 a pop on the merch stand) but pretty cool in that they had Bluetooth and connected to the light show automatically so were all running in sync to colour and pulsing with the main lights. Very polished show, but some interminable crowd interaction sections where each member of the Kids spoke at length with the fans. But good lord the screaming … I really should apologise to those nearby for that 🤣

I was looking to build a bitsa with a Status neck just before they stopped producing. I have looked at Klos necks that BassDirect have on occasion, though since in managed to get the Geddy Jazz with a Status neck out of @Beedster’s hands the itch is temporarily satisfied, but I’m sure it’ll be back sometime. something that is a straight drop in for Fender or MM would probably be a preference (itch starting for a P) and I do like the black and graphite weave showing through on my Status necks so would prefer not to lose that

Good to hear. Onwards and upwards!! Wifey gave me a scare a couple of months back when she had what turned out to be most likely a TIA. Was a worrying few hours in hospital though after a blue light sprint to A&E

It’s why I like using IEM’s now. I can hear what I want to hear. I do have to trust FOH sound to put bass in the mix and sometimes wonder whether it’s there enough for what we’re doing looking at FB videos. Wifey tells me it’s there so I have to have trust 🙂

@Stub Mandrel hope your recovery is going well.

Interested subject to dates 😁 #1 - Paul @NancyJohnson #2 - Paul #2 @prowla #3 - Martin @Merton #4 - Matt @Wombat #5 - Andy @Wolverinebass #6 - Stevie @stevie #7 - Lozz @Lozz196 #8 - Matt @neepheid #9 - @bassace97 #10 - Robert @bass_dinger #11 - Christopher @chyc #12 - jaco @Geek99 ** #13 - Alan @WalMan

My right hand fingers have twisted which makes keyboards difficult as all the fingers get in the way of each other. Fingers to pick on the bass is ok though little finger tends to get ignored as twisted too far a slightly shorter, as is the index finger by a bit over quarter of an inch than the left hand after the first knuckles (hand to finger rather than second or third on the finger) were replaced 10+ years ago. if I had to have the same replacement on my left hand I would as it worked/works well on the right hand.

I have had rheumatoid arthritis for getting on 30 years now. It has been under control with drugs for many years now though I have had a number of joint replacements in that time most around 20+ years ago - left shoulder, right wrist and index and pinkie knuckles. Have started to get twinges in my left wrist and down the outside of my left hand recently and I ache after some gigs but it’s not too bad at the moment. Funnily enough my memory is that I have a pick pretty much exclusively until recently, though have found videos from years back that suggest that’s not actually the case, but have started to use fingers more and that seems to keep things moving at the moment.

IEM’s save me from digging in too hard, though that does require whoever is handling FOH to be on it else you’re fine but the crowd is thinking “what’s that bloke doing on stage?” 🤦🏼‍♂️

Yesterday I was a Punk Pirate, having been to the Brighton Guitar Show with #2 son during the day and managed to avoid an impulse buy of a 72 P bass. It was very nice as was the 73 and the canary yellow 75 , but I just resisted. Having left there around 3:30 and dropped son off I headed over to Emsworth for a little light pirating at Kingsfest. Almost didn’t bother with IEM’s because it was quick turnarounds, but guitar from my usual main band said the onstage sound was a bit muddled, so in the end I set it up and just took a mono aux with bass, guitar and vox and put one plug in and it worked well. Timings for the day got out of sync due to weather and the Fest starting indoors then moving out. Would have helped if the acoustic duo had used the second stage rather than main, so when the compère said “the Pirates will be on in 15 minutes” there were cries of “I don’t think so!” but we were on pretty quick. Still somewhat curtailed of set time, not helped by my right leg going through the stage just before we started so so quick patching required…”I be capsizin’ cap’n” … “‘‘tis but a scratch ya scurvy scum” 🤣 Pretty solid set generally. Some flubs, but we’re Punk Pirates, nobody died, and it was generally good. Good crowd up for it and a lot of money made for a dementia charity, so all good. 90725182-ba33-4dba-ac6a-e0da656b2980.mp4

Yup I just shrugged indicated the blue sparkly IEM plug and mouthed “I can’t hear you” 🤷🏼‍♂️🤣

That’s a curse, and why I eventually bit the bullet and got a sennheiser system…better sound to my ears and no problem with dropouts I had with xvive (which I must sell BTW 😁)

Hot and very sweaty was the order of the night last night. All good fun with the FrankenJazz sounding lovely, though the Darkglass master seemed to be at a point where it was lovely but a bit too loud, or knock it back the tiniest touch and the heft was lost. We found a happy medium and all good running the sound ourselves as our sound guy was running another gig. Had a girl come up and try to talk to me, mid-song and into the ear with my IEM in, 🤦‍♂️so that got us nowhere 🤣 Sets went well, but by the end of the night the crowd were flagging in the heat. Wifey did say that there was still singing and dancing going on round the corner in the other leg of the bar, so maybe the feeling that it fell slightly was at odds with that 🤷‍♂️ Generally a good crowd and lots of nice compliments after, which is always nice. Next week I shall be pirating at KingsFest 😁🤘 9370f972-e34f-4ffb-b44d-95013a28d48a.mp4

Yup reset my search terms and found them. 😁