colleya

Holding Out For A Hero. Not technical at all but we rock it up so I play a Steve Harris gallop for the whole thing. After about 2 1/2 mins the cramp is building and I have to really focus on relaxing and keeping it light to maintain the pace & rhythm.

Cheers, it's a TV phrase for a show that has run out of original ideas and has to rely on gimmicks to get attention. Seemed appropriate!

Arden Inn, Accrington for the first time last night. Second gig in a week which is unusual for us. Arrived to an empty pub, thought 'uh-oh'. Still, got to set up in peace whilst chatting to the friendly bar staff and a couple of locals. Soundchecked and then everyone turned up. Packed the place, danced all night, including to the tunes through the PA during the break. Loads of nice feedback, and a great landlord. Stingray 5 into a Handbox R400 and Barefaced Two 10. Lovely!

I've seen it, unfortunately funds aren't available!

We use one of the old model Alto TS110 PA speakers. Singer and guitarist have that. Drummer and I use in ears. They seem pretty happy with it. Extra bonus is that it can double as an emergency top if one of our main speakers breaks.

We're an 80s band. Cheese is selection criteria #1.

Same with us. We all have a 'Good God no' style veto as well. However in the past we've played a vetoed song as a request and it's been ace, so we've learned to give most suggestions some rehearsal time regardless of first impressions. One of my sneaky tricks is to add potential newbies to the playlist that I put through the PA before & after gigs. It gives us a decent idea of crowd reaction to the tune.

I had a similar if much, much lower budget experience aged 14. On holiday in Ireland I bought a mars bar from the local shop, opened it and promptly won £100. Back home, some scouring of the local copy of Loot turned up a Westone Thunder 1A which I promptly bought. It was a serious step up from the battered, no name school bass with two strings (both A) that I'd started on. Stupidly sold the Westone a few years later to fund a fender jazz. No pics either.

Marty McFly?

We've had good experiences with Alto kit in terms of price vs performance for our monthly outings at the Dog & Doris. You can get a very respectable setup for circa £1k including stands/cables etc. Currently using TS 312 tops, 1604 Live desk (tried a digital desk but a combination of signal dropouts and not having a physical fader to tweak instantly made us go back to analogue). Used to have an Alto sub but we've just got an RCF 702 which is a significant improvement. Of course YMMV.

I've been using a PJB bighead for a few years. It's great. Plug in my phone with Spotify, my bass and away we go. Tone is really good, although I don't use FX. Charges quickly and is super small. They come up used periodically for about £100.

I haven't really had it with any of the other basses I've sold, but that Jake was pretty special. To be fair though, I do know why I sold it. Needed the money to pay for my new Stingray!

My old sunburst Jake. Still don't know why I sold it. So easy to play.

Reporting in following Saturday's gig. The RCF 702 replaced Alto TS 115a. Running it with Alto TS312 tops. Noticeably tighter and with more physical presence, especially with music form the iPad between sets. Actually got a bit of 'I can feel that' type bass that the Alto never produced. We don't put bass through the PA, just kick drum but I got the distinct impression that it would handle it just fine as long as you don't take the mick volume wise. The cover is also ace, as it has little zippable flaps, cowboy underwear style, meaning that you don't have to remove it at all. Plus it's 2/3 of the size and weight, which is the biggest positive for me as I've got to lug the thing around.

A pretty standard mid January pub gig. Quiet-ish. About 30 or so folk in a reasonably large room, all visibly enjoying themselves/singing along etc but not enough critical mass to get any proper dancing started. Until 11.45, when the doors opened and about another 30-40 people arrived and headed straight for the dancefloor. Turns out the original crowd had all been texting their mates telling them to come down as they were really enjoying the set! So we gave them a couple of extra tunes then left them wanting more. Think we need to start at about 11.30 next time we play there. Kit wise, my new sennheiser IEMs (courtesy of @knicknack) were a big improvement on my old LD unit. It was also the first outing for the new RCF 702 sub, upgraded from an Alto TS 115a. Noticably tighter and with more physical presence, especially with music form the iPad between sets. Actually got a bit of 'I can feel that' type bass that the Alto never produced. Plus it's 2/3 of the size and weight, which is the biggest positive for me as I've got to lug the thing around.

Currently loving my stealth black classic ray, but I'm a tart for a bit of sparkle!