The Dark Lord

Last night was the least enjoyable gig I have ever been involved with. Played for two hours in the three-piece to a sparsely filled pub in Hampshire and even those in the pub didn't seem to want a band there. £200 down the drain for them. A waste of our time. Horrible.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1370116123' post='2096690'] That was EXACTLY what I thought. Well put. [/quote]\\ I think it was very badly put. Two talented young girls don't need to be dissed.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1369950015' post='2094967'] Thanks! And I was being totally serious. I realise we rarely see eye to eye when it comes to basses, so I wanted to thank you for pointing some great music my way. [/quote] Cool. Shows the power of social media. A Facebook chum of mine saw them on telly in The States a few months back and sent me that link. I love that song. I didn't know if they did or didn't have an album. I will now go looking for that.

I do this. At some gigs I play a Precision into 2 x AER Amp One combos. I use one of these: [url="http://goo.gl/pOgOH"]http://goo.gl/pOgOH[/url] .... that's a basschater who has one for sale at the moment! ... which has two outputs. One goes into each of the AER amps. Sometimes I use the exact same sound through each. Sometimes I have a separate patch for each of the amps (one clean with a slight perception of day and chorus, the other with a teeny bit of distortion).

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1369904389' post='2094089'] Thanks Dark Lord! That Deap Vally track is awesome. Just gone and pre-ordered their album. [/quote] I'm unsure if you're taking the mickey ...... but ...... having seen the kinda stuff you play, I guess you might not be. Cool band BTW yours is. I like 'em anyway and redheads rock.

Why do you say Deap Vally have no talent? That's harsh. They original, write and perform their own stuff and are very hot. Check this one out! [media]http://youtu.be/PWXsTaBoD7A[/media]

Good. Well done.

I'm thinking of patenting a bass security device based on this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyuKEK7wmsw[/media]

[quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1369555990' post='2090320'] Now when did I suggest that? The salesman made a statement about RIC sales and I, in this reality, merely pondered why. When did I suggest that slack RIC sales in Edinburgh were down to a thread on Basschat? C'mon!! The counterfeit issue is secondary to John Hall's bullying, which is the main thrust of this thread. I could only [u][i]dream[/i][/u] that his company's sales dry up in the UK because of this thread! [/quote] That's what I inferred from your your post. But if you say that's not what you meant - then I'm happy.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1369489584' post='2089751'] Hmmm.... I do not agree one bit, and nor do my teachers/mentors at the business courses I'm taking in reputation management, PR and marketing through social media (of which discussion forums are a big part) and the internet in general. Not to mention that general common sense suggests such things do matter, a lot, in these "always connected" times. However, please don't take this thread off-topic by trying to refute what I say. You have your opinion, I have mine. [/quote] We can disagree. I'm okay with that. I just disagree with you and that's alright. Forums are full of opinions - that's why we visit them.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1369475843' post='2089583'] That's not what our advertisers say. [/quote] It's a bit of fun basschat, that's all. It won't affect the sales of Rickenbackers one bit. In fact, if it does [i]anything[/i] it will publish the name ... in an "any publicity is good publicity" kinda way. You have a good site Ped. No question ........... but whatever basschat says or does about any brand of bass, other than the real man in a shed operations, will have zero effect on anything.

[quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1369460951' post='2089459'] Slightly off thread but [i]a propos[/i] of Ricks, I'd popped into GuitarGuitar in Edinburgh the other day for a mosey and a chat. Trade was good, they said, as I turned to the small selection of Ricks in the corner. "How are they selling?" I enquired. Not well, came the reply. The cynic in me wondered why. I wonder if anyone from Rosetti (RIC UK importer) is following this thread in angst. I also wonder if they've had the courage (and temerity) to call up the little guy: "John? We need to talk........" [/quote] Suggesting the basschat would have an effect on Ric sales is a version of some alternative reality. It's a trivial forum that people read - that's all. The man is doing the right thing. I applaud him. You know, I thought we generally frowned on counterfeit goods as a nation - but apparently not when we have a vested interest.

Have you got pictures?

[quote name='foxton4001' timestamp='1369324121' post='2087843'] I'm afraid the people who buy Rics (Beatles, Jam, and all Mods in general) are not going to stop buying them - they are 60s Icons. People that play 5/6 string basses with bodies that look like an explosion in Ikea, were never going to buy Rickenbackers in the first place. JH is a man that wants to keep hold of his families design anyway he can. The guitars come out of a little factory, like they have done for about 60 years; He will never make budget guitars, he will never change the design to suit the modern player and he takes pride in what he does. Put yourself in his shoes. (obviously I have extreme bias, but we all have different opinions; that's the way the world works.) [/quote] Word.

...... also (noticed) GREAT website which ALSO works properly on a mobile phone. I am a big fan of people doing things properly. Pass Go and collect £200 ... (but ...err ... not from me).

Wow! 4 singers, a drummer AND a percussionist, a keys guy, guitarist and bassist - and some bloke on sax or something (I've probably missed people too). Not my kinda music - but very listenable and pro sounding. Well done those people. Great vid. I suspect you don't come cheap?

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1369176991' post='2086058'] Just a shame he's so bloody rude. [/quote] Maybe he's indignant.

I say good for "Mr Rickenbacker" there. Rickenbacker has developed a unique looking - and visually stunning bass. They don't produce my sound, so I don't buy them generally. However, I think they have every right to stand up against the copiers. I know it's not the popular view on here - but I say well done to the man.

Back in the day, she was what a woman looked like. What has happened to us since then?

I was doing some surfing on the subject of the wonderfully original and completely gorgeous Kate Bush. I saw that picture of her (again) with the Jazz bass [u]and[/u] I see there is more than one pic to be found of her gorgeousness with an upright. Her wikipedia profile also lists bass as one of her instruments. Is this true? Surely you can't look this good AND play bass. Anyone got any actual info on said Goddess playing bass?

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1368780658' post='2081331'] The biggest (single...) difference fo visual fx is smoke, imho. No, I don't mean the tons of billowing fumes from a toxic Tchernobyl, I mean a very light haze. When smoking was 'de rigor' in pubs and clubs, this was provided, free, by the attendees. No more, and an atmosphere with no particles to reflect the light will be poor (a bit like sound in space; if there's no air to transmit, there's no sound...). You might like to look at the smallest 'haze' machine you can find..? You don't need much to get the effect; look at the TV shows, with all their moving heads and stuff. You don't 'see' the haze, but the beams surely do. That's the amount needed; no more. This alone will 'bring out' the stage area. Of course, the contrast of having all other house lights dimmed or off is important. Other than that, your notion of a cyclic 'wash' is good; I approve..! Hope this helps... [/quote] Mr Dad3353 ...... thank you for all of this. Really helpful stuff. I will now investigate a haze thing (I know the teeniest bit about haze vs smoke etc). I guess I'm gonna pick up one more QTX SP/SW and one of them there LedJ Q Colours (which I might use as a stand-alone for the front illumination. Is there any worry about setting the fire alarms off though with one of them there haze things ...... or indeed just getting grief from "mine host" asking WTF are you doing making it foggy in here?

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1368726507' post='2080812'] ........ but, for me, the first notion to capture is the difference between lighting to see things, and lighting as an effect. The two are not incompatible ........ [/quote] This is an interesting point. The main reason we have lights is for the "visual effect" of it really. It makes a big difference, I think, when a band plays with lights. We mostly play in medium to small pubs and clubs in a corner somewhere. Lights give the message that there is a show going on. I always think that bands who play without them look a bit bland. We normally just use a slow rotation colour wash ..... with maybe one of the lights set to sound-to-light mode. There is an element of "lighting for sight" as well - as we always ask the pub / club if they can turn off the other lights in the "stage area" so that the lights have a better effect. So we do need to make sure that the lights illuminate the scene enough too. But mainly, I'd say, we do it for the visual effect.

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1368720254' post='2080708'] I asked here, [url="http://www.blue-room.org.uk/"]http://www.blue-room.org.uk/[/url] Very knowledgeable and helpful. [/quote] Aha. You are a gentleman and a scholar sir.

Anyone able to give me some lighting tips? We play pubs mainly. Medium and small ones. We have 4 x QTX SP/SW led lights. We put two on a t-bar behind the drummer plus one stage left, forward of the drummer and behind the bass and guitar player - we daisy chain those three together using one of the in-built programs in the lights themselves. We control these using a QTX footswitch. We put the fourth one stage right - in front of the mics, to illuminate the players .... just using the amber light on it. Works well (see pic). Here's the question! We'd like to add some more lights - but do they need to be the same make to be able to daisy-chain them together. We are looking at the Chauvet 6 Spot and the LedJ Q Colour as additions. If anyone could give me tips ..... or point me in the direction of a web resource on the subject (or a very knowledgeable shop person) I'd be grateful.