bassbiscuits

14 minutes ago, SamIAm said:

 

Good work that man. 

6 hours ago, chris_b said:

When depping they might have other ideas, so I'll go where they put me.

This. I tend to go wherever there’s any room left in dep gigs. 
 

I tend to find myself either side in my main band depending on the room/stage etc. 

I struggle with Gibson Thunderbirds. I think they are the best looking basses in the world but I can’t cope with the shape/size/playing position etc. 

I don’t hate them at all.

I’m just gutted they don’t fit me, and the mismatch between my body and a T bird mean I couldn’t even consider buying one. 
 

Nice gig at Leicester’s Donkey music venue with my blues/soul trio the Andy Wales Band.

First outing for my recently-acquired Ashdown ABM500 head too, which sounded beefy and fat - apart from briefly leaning my bass against the front panel which pressed the switch to turn off the EQ (why would anyone want that?) leaving me wondering for a few songs where my lovely sound had gone…. Lesson - always know the position of your knob. 

Good turn out tho including interestingly various punters who’d paid for a nearby blues festival but didn’t like it and instead spotted this gig in the listings and came along (and seemed to enjoy it!)

Up until now I’ve played cleaner than a Nashville cat, using Markbass heads and cabs and little or no effects. 
 

But lately I’ve been seduced by the dark side, dabbling with valve amps and hybrid amps with valve preamps.
 

To make matters worse, I’ve bought two overdrive pedals. I feel like this is a confession….

forgive me.  

29 minutes ago, martthebass said:

I'm not even sure how that'd work 🤣

That’s hurting my brain 

To add to a couple of the earlier comments, I reckon my playing has improved loads through depping. Playing stuff you wouldn’t normally learn, meeting other musicians and making contacts with them etc. It works brilliantly for me. 

Best “skin of teeth” dep I did was when half of the band I was in met half another band who were missing their bass, rhythm guitar and drummer in the car park of the venue about an hour before the gig which was a wedding or party of some sort. 

It was all a bit last minute to say the least, but as both were similar bands it had been decided that we’d probably know enough common ground to get thru 2x45mins.

Not so. 

The bog standard stuff (brown eyed girl, summer of 69 etc) worked but I recall a Madness medley being “one step behind” as I struggled to work it out on the hoof.

The whole gig was a bit of a fiasco tbh. Nobody involved has played together since either!

Ive done a couple of other random one-off deps where it’s clear a band member (the singer usually) really doesn’t gel with me at all and it’s been a relief all round to get paid, say nice things and drive home safe in the knowledge that you’ll never be onstage together again!

I’ve done some lovely dep jobs and also some really ropey ones standing in for a mate etc, which have been embarrassingly bad even to the most casual / drunk listener. In each case been glad it’s not my band.
 

If the house is empty, then whatever of my amps is closest to hand. If I’m being considerate (I do try…) then it’ll either be my Blackstar ID Beam and headphones, or my Vox Amplug / laptop / headphones and usually my Mustang bass as it’s easiest to sit down with.

4 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I am not sure, but my best guess is that "KG" is referring to the official abbreviation of Killogram, and combined with the "-up", a reference to your weight going up, due to intake of McDonald's food.

 

🤷🏼‍♂️

2 hours ago, nilorius said:

McDonalds is a dangerous thing for KG - up.

I’m being thick - I have no idea what that means!?

I’ve been in bands with a few divas.
 

It didn’t take us long to realise we weren’t getting along.
 

Said band moved on, and I reformed another band with the members I still wanted to play with. 

I use Musicguard insurance. Have done for about 20 years. Mind you, at £200 a year that comes to £4k which is probably more than my entire rig is worth anyway. Hmm. 

Mine was a solo gig, so packed down my kit, took the most valuable and/or easy to nick stuff with me to retrieve my car, and then came back for the big heavy stuff. Got paid, said goodbye to the people who’d come to see me, and drove home via McDonalds. 
 

Interesting to read this.

I bought two One Spot 9v adaptors to replace a knackered old Boss one.

However while trying to get to the root of an awful earth hum I put the adaptor down and the cheapy plastic earth pin snapped off. It’s gone straight in the bin as it’s not fixable.

Gone back to using another even older Boss one from the bottom of my draw instead.

Im also in the market for a multi power supply but not spending money on any more 

Truetone stuff. 

For £27 including delivery on Amazon prime I thought it rude not to snap one up. If only it was a long Bank Holiday weekend to noodle at home eh. 

Hello,

A couple of Mooer pedals I used briefly as part of a guitar rig, but don’t need anymore. 

Both very good condition, with a few signs of light use but clean and well cared for. 
 

Looking for £25 each including UK postage. 
 

Mooer Hustle Drive - true bypass guitar overdrive pedal with high peak and low peak mode (high peak mode boosts bottom end, while low peak mode is better for a cleaner boost) along with tone, volume and drive knobs. Nice, open valvey sort of guitar tone. Sounded great with a strat and a cranked blues deluxe amp!
 

Mooer Pure Boost - as it sounds, a true bypass boost pedal with bass, treble, volume and gain knobs. 

Both use standard 9v Boss-style adaptor (they’re too small to take batteries). 
 

Lost track of the original boxes in our most recent house move, but they’ll be packaged up well with bubble wrap and suitable boxes of some sort. 
 

These currently go for £45-£50 new so very decent pedals for more or less half price. 
 

Any questions drop me a line. 

Are you folks using it in the signal chain as a straight overdrive, or in the amp’s effect loop, or just into a desk with some other set up?

Blimey - I’ve just borrowed a mate’s Joyo AC Tone guitar effects pedal and put my bass thru it. It sounds absolutely lovely. Obvs nothing like an AC30 but a vibrant vintage overdrive which works well on bass and doesn’t snaffle all my low end either. 
 

And a quick Google reveals they are only £35 new. Jeez. That’s that sorted then. 
 

Anyone else tried one?

Most of the songs I really don’t like are due to me having overplayed them in poor-quality covers bands over many years.

While I’ve never liked Wonderwall (or indeed Oasis in general), the experience of dragging that sound out probably a few hundred times onstage for drunken punters to hug and sway to has traumatised me for life. 
 

It’s at the level of “turn it off as fast as possible,” if I ever hear it. 

Not one I’ve ever been asked to play (thankfully) but Cher’s ‘Believe’ has to be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. 
 

I’d probably put Beyonce’s new country tune in that category too tbh. Ghastly. 

9 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

ABBA, all of them..

Abba are AWESOME and some superb bass lines too…

Wonderwall. I will go out of my way never to play that again. If it comes on the radio I will turn it off. I can’t stand it. 

I’ve worked with people from previous bands in new bands, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a band where an ex member has come back.
 

Then again most of my work is depping in existing bands, so there’s a huge overlap of people coming and going for different reasons. 

Unless someone has personally shafted me I’ve got no reason not to work with them again. 

On 23/03/2024 at 11:51, fretmeister said:

 

No art is ever finished, it is only abandoned,  but it’s futile to keep going back over and over again at the expense of moving forward.

From my years working as a local Newspaper journo, I learned that sometimes “good enough is good enough.” 
 

As in, 250 words by today’s deadline is worth more than 400 words next Thursday afternoon. 
 

I don’t think there’s any piece of art or music anywhere whose creator wouldn’t go back and tinker with but there’s a cut off point for me where it becomes diminishing returns - not a better or worse version, just a different version.