colleya

Looks & sounds great Les. How many Shelby bookings are you getting compared to the Troubadour-ing?

We're called Jump The Shark (a TV reference for a show that is past its prime and has to rely on desperate gimmicks to get attention - thought it suited us well!). Based in South Manchester too. Facebook.com/jumpthesharkband I've heard of you guys as well, is Tony your singer?

Cheers buddy, I've been working hard on my bass face! Glad the ray sounded good out in the room too, never easy to tell when you're up close with earplugs in.

Another fun gig at the Bowling Green in Horwich. Got to fire up the new stingray for the first time too. Took me a while to adjust to the neck profile, weight etc but the second set was one of the best we've done. Turns out that it doesn't matter how much you rehearse, spend time hunting for just the right gear/tone, get your parts down exactly as per the 'live from the Dog & Doris '77' album. If you want to get noticed then whack a set of pink strings on your bass. Job done. Pub was so full of Xmas punters that I couldn't get past to get out for fresh air at half time! Also excellent to catch up with fellow basschatter @Pirellithecat. Nice to see you again buddy, thanks for coming down.

Best - the Stingray 5 stealth I picked up a few weeks ago on here from Derek. Fitted with some pink DR Neons it looks the absolute business for my 80s band. It's superb to play and sounds great. Worst - Behringer P2 IEM cabled up headphone amp. Thought I'd try to go cabled and cut out interference but the sound was so muffled and unclear compared to my ancient cheapo wireless unit that I used it for one rehearsal and never again. Fortunately it was only a £30 error.

Cheers fellas. I'd also like to publicly thank Derek for his patience during the sale. I paid by bank transfer (as I have before for other stuff and it's gone through in minutes). On this occasion it took almost 2 hours and a couple of nervy phone calls to the bank until the money landed. Derek didn't bat an eye and let me hang around whilst the money cleared, he even put the Merseyside derby on pause and delayed knowing the score. Another excellent basschatter.

I bloody scrutinised that photo for any incriminating background features! It's actually my daughter's newest stuffed toy dog and I have no say whatsoever in what it's allowed to to do (pretty much like everything else in the house!)

I kept getting drawn back to drool over Derek's Stingray 5 stealth on the for sale boards so last weekend (after a couple of beers) I sent him a PM. Now it's mine! It's heavier than my other fiver (a Maruszcyzk with a chambered body) and the neck is significantly chunkier but it's subjectively 'tighter' in all areas, to play, in tone and particularly on the low B. Given that I'm in an 80s covers band I ordered a set of DR neons and, well, look at it! Happy boy. Not sure if the Maruszcyzk is going to go as it does a very different thing, but the ray instantly fit the band sound at rehearsal this week.

I bought Derek's Stingray stealth from him tonight. He was fantastic with communication, made a great brew and was incredibly understanding whilst the world's longest bank transfer went through! Cheers!

Up until a couple of weeks ago I'd have said a mono 'betty'. Still the most comfy strap I've used. However, after the stitching came apart mid gig and I had to bodge repairs I'm back to a good old Levy's wide leather strap.

I bought some RHA over ears from Amazon a few years ago. They have a 3.5mm cable socket so I can swap from long to short cable depending on what I'm using them for. Didn't know OBBM did headphone cable but seeing that he does it's a no brainer!

Hi Tony, I bought six individual LED PAR lights from Amazon for about £25 each. Not the super cheapest on there. Then got two O clamps that screw into the ceiling mount holes on our page tops. Two 1m speaker poles into the O clamps and I can hang two lights off each speaker. The other two lights go on the floor to uplight drums and pull up banners etc.

Just back from the brilliantly named Polished Knob in Todmorden. They've built a stage with a drum riser! Really good gig, including a song where we wore masks of the groom's face for a hen do that came in.

And me, I'd personally like a satin black finish with no grain though. Can't see any 5 string options on the website so I also think it must be a custom order. Would like to know pricing though.

Think we've got very similar if not the same ones Les. They're ok for a colour wash but I wouldn't use them on their own. I've got a couple of more expensive brighter ones that I use for main lighting. You're welcome to pop by to check them out if we're in your neck of the woods - we're at the bowling green in Dec. I use an O clamp with some speaker pole mounted to the ceiling mount screw holes on the top of our PA tops. Then I can just hang the par cans off them.

We've got a pair of the Alto TS312 tops and they're great. Can't compare to the RCFs as I haven't used them but they're about 1/3 of the price each. For our monthly outings at the Dog & Doris they do the job admirably. We had a digital mixer (soundcraft ui12) but went back to an analogue desk. Without a dedicated sound person we find it easier to make minor on the fly adjustments to physical sliders than the on screen interface. Yes it's bigger and we can't save settings but a desk that did both was out of our budget.

Nice. Hope he's recessed the butterfly clips enough so that it stands on edge now. The number of diving saves I've had to make after absent mindedly putting mine down like that......

"You're better than this." We weren't.

Strengths: Reliable, punctual, backing vox, book most gigs but don't get arsey if folk are unavailable (we're a one gig a month band), learn the songs, take feedback about bass parts even if it means altering something I've spent ages getting right, transport/set up PA/lights and do sound, do social media/promo stuff, decent stage presence. Weaknesses: Can be pretty single.minded about song choice, sometimes 'drift' during songs and balls up for no good reason, get carried away and make crap jokes between songs, always trying to spend more cash on perceived better gear for me or on the PA, book gigs as close to my house as possible!