Lozz196

Played there a couple of times, and are back there later on this year with The Cockney Rejects. Like @mcnach only had good experiences there.

Find an amp you love, try and buy one. There are a few on here, and am sure there are on gumtree/ebay etc. You get a lot of amp for your money with Trace gear as it`s a tad unfashionably heavy.

Some of them are good guys, we work with a few who are great, really understand how to work with bands. Happy to single out STP as a great outfit to deal with.

I know what you mean Paul, I generally find that a 30min set from a band where I don`t know the material is generally enough for me.

I`m currently in an originals band and the answer is yes, I would go to see "us" if I weren`t in the band. We`re playing music that I love, on a scene I love (but that I wasn`t aware of until we started the band I should add). Up until this band I used to go and see local covers bands regularly, as I just love music, but I do so much with my current band I hardly ever have the time to go out and see a band locally, on those weekends when I`m not gigging the feet are up storing energy for the next batch.

I`m amazed at this, I think it`s treating a member of the band pretty poorly (possibly a major understatement there). If anything get a dep in, but in all cases never book a gig when a band member says up front they are unavailable.

If you like the Hydrive 112 get another - doubling up on the same cab really is a grin-inducing move.

Whilst I`m not exactly keen on bands playing for nothing, sometimes, when starting out on the originals circuit it`s one of those things that has to be done. You either get 5 paid gigs a year, or you take a punt on a few more unpaid as well, knowing you`re expanding your audience/merch sales/fan-base. Additionally, and in regards to the op, they agreed to play for nothing. Now irrespective of whatever any other band is getting, if you make an agreement you should stick with it imo. Again, not wonderful but you can gain a reputation as trustworthy, which can work in your favour - it`s how we`ve done things. An example of this is we were playing Gateshead on a Friday night, Blackpool on the Sat night afterwards. A big gig in Glasgow was offered to us at very short notice. So we did all three, doing an early afternoon Glasgow set, we wouldn`t bin the small Blackpool gig for the better Glasgow one. It was knackering, but in honouring our commitments it further cemented our reputation as a band that can be trusted.And the band is now self-funding, we don`t take any money from it but it pays for all recording/merch/hotels/flights/ferries/van & driver hire etc. But if we`d binned all the early unpaid gigs I wonder if we`d be in that position now.

One genuine Fender Precision Scratchplate in tort - yum. I`ve shielded the back of this with copper shielding tape, other than that it`s in good condition. I`m at my limit on pics on here due to my other items for sale, so if interested PM me and I can e-mail some over. Price includes postage within the UK, these are £80 new so grab a good deal while you can.

One rather nice Mexican Fender Precision up for grabs. Stock aside from ablack aftermarket scratchplate. In good condition, plays very nicely. In my opinion the post 2012 MIMs really upped their game, and this bass is a good example of this. I`ve got a lot of gear for sale so not too many pics on here, if interested PM me and I can e-mail some more over. No case so collection or meet probably best. No trades thanks, just £400 of your finest.

One rather nice Mexican Fender Precision up for grabs. Stock aside from a KiOgon wiring loom, black aftermarket scratchplate and a Hipshot triple string retainer. In good condition, plays very nicely. In my opinion the post 2012 MIMs really upped their game, and this bass is a good example of this. I`ve got a lot of gear for sale so not too many pics on here, if interested PM me and I can e-mail some more over. No case so collection or meet probably best. No trades thanks, just £425 of your finest.

Or a Ludwig Black Beauty. Or one of those china cymbals, they`re horrible and far too loud.

Depends on how loud your drummer is really, a 100 watt 1x15 should be loud enough but will it have the depth of sound you want? Ideally I like to have more power than I need, so that I don`t push my amp, with that in mind for the size venues mentioned I`d probably look at 300 watts or so. The Fender Rumbles are great amps in this range, as are the Ashdown Rootmasters. Both are lightweight as well - but not on sound I should add.

Still do it, now you know what time you`re on promote it to the best you can, including that there has been an admin error on the name of the band on the official blurb. Turn up, play, stay for the rest of the bands, sell your merch and keep cementing a reputation of a band that honours its commitments. Might sound a bit po-faced, but when you`re starting out a reputation as a band that`s good to work with will keep you in work. Unfortunately we all encounter promoters like this, but at the end of the day you can play a blinder and gain an advantage through it.

When we started our band I really had no idea of the type of sound I wanted - or more importantly that the band needed. My preferred sound is a traditional warm Precision/Ampeg type sound, maybe a touch of high end and compression to stop it being boomy. But that wasn`t what was needed, the guitarist has a very full on, and at the time quite bassy sound, so didn`t want a sludge fest, especially as we play fast. Additionally as we`re a 3-piece I didn`t want the backside of the songs to drop when there was a solo, so added a bit of gain, a fair bit of top end, and some high-mids. I ended up with somewhere between Duff McKagan, Mike Dirnt, JJ Burnell & Bruce Foxton. Which imo isn`t a bad place to be, sound-wise. I also developed a slight different style to suit the music I`m now playing, again to fill out more in lead solos. To get this sound I`ve tried a fair few preamp/DI pedals, Tech 21 Sansamp BDDI, Tech 21 VTDI, Aguilar Tonehammer, and combinations of these, but eventually settled on the Tech 21 Para Driver - it has sweepable mids, so I can get the regular Sansamp type sound, just with boosted upper mids. It`s a great pedal and that piece of kit that I find invaluable, pairs so nicely with the weighty sound of my Ashdown ABM600.