mrtcat

I certainly don't see a fall in demand for function work. If anything I've seen a rise and more and more purpose built venues (big farm barn conversions, out of town hotels etc etc and i've been in probably 30 tipis this summer). I'm out 1-2 nights every week and have 60+ already booked for 2019. All paying between 150 & 200 a night depending on distance. Pub work however seems to be a totally different kettle of fish tho. Lots of venues closing, poor punter turn out due to drink prices and a market flooded with classic rock bands prepared to play for "the love of it" and lots of landlords not prepared to take a risk on different bands / styles. To answer the op I'd probably say look for somewhere between £50 - £70 for a pub gig and £150 - £250 for function work.

Fantastic stuff. Pm sent and I'll get pics of the mounted helix up as soon as fitted.

Yep, pretty sure you're right. Shouldn't be a problem to leave the feet on in the middle as the edge fixings look like they'll be thick enough to balance it out.

Looking great. Yes the feet are identical on both btw. There are six feet on the helix floor model but two are pretty close together near the middle so no use for a fixing.

Why would it need routing? Pretty sure John can sell you a pre to fit as it is.

Beat me to it but absolutely spot on with the measurements, I wrote down the exact same.

Wow, that's cool thank you. I'll take some measurements and pics this evening. Obviously I'll happily cover all costs and time etc.

Haha awesome thanks Dood. Might just buy the splitting tool, my wife hasn't touched her bike in 9 years so doubt she'd notice.

Regular bicycle chain links? Where did you get them? Thats a really clever plan because those little links are really tough.

That's really cool and very much what I had in mind. Are they plastic? Yes the floor unit has feet in slightly less accessible spots.

It's from Swan Flight cases. It's the medium pedal board one and it raises the whole unit by about 6cm. The helix is velcro'd to it but I'm going to see if I can find a slightly stronger method by using a little base plate at each corner that can screw down to the board. The added height isn't really a problem for me and it allows me to run all the cables under the board and keep everything tidy.

That's exactly where the helix shines for me and us as a band. With a digital mixer we just recall settings and tweak so setup and soundcheck is done in under an hour. Pack down is about 30 mins. For a function band that regularly has a 2hr plus drive home it's a revelation.

Finally got mine flight cased up. After recently adding a wireless I wanted a plug in and go set up. Had the helix 6 months now and absolutely love it. I don't use many fx but do use the built in darkglass od pedal lots and love how easy it is to switch basses between songs and just step on a setting ready for each one. Both me and guitarist have ditched backline completely now. Helix and IEMs all the way baby!

Great to hear that the UE6s were impressive. I've been weighing up options and think these are now strong contenders.

There are some really good universal in ear monitors for around the £40 mark but it really needs the full cooperation of the whole band and a mixer with enough aux outs. It's a beautiful thing when you start to hear everything in balance and clarity.

Our drummer used to use a sennheiser Freeport but had to change to a regular mic because he tends to hum whilst playing. Took us ages to work out what it was lol.

I just can't deal with loud rehearsal. It seems like such an antiquated way of working. We use a decent electronic kit, amp modelling and in ears to rehearse. The clarity is awesome and by plugging a laptop into the mixer we can record the whole session. At gigs the only difference is an acoustic kit instead of electronic and a pa speakers so no boomy wall of sound there either.

My local shop is PMT in Northampton. They're perfectly good and always friendly. Sadly I rarely use them because I hardly ever buy basses new because of depreciation (and my recent new custom build had to be returned lol so there's another reason I'm likely to stick to 2nd hand in future) and anything that's tech like my helix, wireless stuff, pa gear etc I just buy from whoever gives the best deal online. I know what I'm looking to buy and find this very forum far more reliable when it comes to advice on what to buy than any shop I've ever used (the In Ear Monitors thread is a glowing example of what this forum can give in terms of advice and shared knowledge). I don't blame PMT for not being my go to shop because, like I said, they're perfectly fine but I just don't really need the advice and of course if you look hard enough you can always find stuff for a better price online.

Yes, I remember when my first was built it was one of the very last before they moved to a new factory.

Do you think this might just be an upscaling issue then? Seems a real shame tho cos my first Maruszczyk was sublime.

This is really sad to see. My personal feeling is that the move to the new production facility in Poland has caused a real decline in quality. Possibly (and this is mere guesswork) new staff being trained on the job coupled with the pressures of settling into new facilities alongside rising numbers of orders. The pressures are causing the cracks to show. I really hope El_JimBob gets his bass sorted. That's not right at all.

Best drummer I ever gigged regularly with was an absolutely brilliant player but a complete tool. He once turned up at a wedding reception in a room that we knew was going to be tricky (high ceilings, marble floor, nothing to break up sound at all) with two kick drums and a China ride on either side of him and totally leathered the kit all night. The day we sacked him it was the biggest relief ever. Impossible to work with idiots like that.

We have 2 equinox megabars which are great but no longer available. Guitarist has a set of the stairville ones but although the light output is equally as good they're definitely more flimsy. We had one equinox bar damaged once but a local guy did a great repair job for not much money so might be worth considering repairing before replacing.

I'm pretty sure that the price is set around £25 a piece wherever you get them in the UK so have a quick search and see who'll do free delivery.