goblin

I'll be adding to this! After lots of uhming and ahing, I saw a post on their Instagram which had me going to see them at first given opportunity. Went up to Alpher HQ for a few hours yesterday, and this morning I ordered myself an Alpher. Words can't describe my excitement! It'll be a 5 string Mako Elite 5, with a crazy burl top and matching headstock. Ebony 'board with a birdseye maple neck. Body is single piece maple (it looks amazing), pickups will be three Aguilar Super Singles, and an OBP-3 pre amp. 33" scale (because I'm a short derrière), not much weight. Oh, and some of the offcut from the cap (the electric blue bit) will be going into a 12th fret inlay. Untitled by Dave Butterworth, on Flickr Untitled by Dave Butterworth, on Flickr

This. I said it in my slightly ranty post too.

It depends what you define as a pro, as there are differing levels of pro out there too. Top pros for example usually have technicians at hand if anything goes tits up, so they can carry pretty much sod all. Pros down the pole a bit (such as myself), we make a comfortable living out of playing as our sole income, however I don't have a bass tech on the tour, so I have to be prepared for all eventualities. I still travel as light as I can, but I also have a spare bass that I can be confident will get me comfortably through the rest of the gig. Fortunately, I've only had to rely on that bass once on the tour and that was down to my own stupidity!

I'd love something more compact. But I carry: 6m loom from pedalboard to behind amp (power and signal), two 3m instrument leads for the gig plus another two spare, spare patch leads for the board (power and signal), Hercules iPad holder, strap, spare clip on tuner, two radio packs for instrument and IEM, IEM buds in their box, bluetooth page turner, box of spare 9V batteries, box of AA batteries. There's probably more but either way, I couldn't get it in a laptop case

I imagine different liners have different rules, I've done a couple of cruises, one as passenger status guest ents, and one as crew. The first one, no issue with alcohol as we were effectively passengers, though we got a nice 25% crew discount. Said liner also had Slop-chest too, which was great. It was for crew / guest ents and it was massively discounted booze, confectionery and such. So obviously they didn't mind crew drinking either. The other company, again, after work hours, they really didn't mind, there was even a crew bar (something pretty common to be fair), with VERY cheap drinks. I recall paying $1.50 for a pint, and soda from the gun was free all around the ship for crew. However, there's still the underlying rule, where all crew members are still on duty on a ship. Look at it this way, a cruise ship is a floating hotel. Now, let's say a hotel goes up in flames, generally, you raise the alarm, get the hell out of there, then probably capture it and put it on social media... you can't do that on a cruise. That's where crew step in, ALL crew (at least on the liner I was on) went through rigorous training and regular drills, as passenger lives were our priority... does anyone want to imagine being in the crap and finding out that the crew are all hammered? So yeah, you can enjoy a drink in there, but you were regularly subject to on the spot breath tests for alcohol. Also, surprise drug tests are a thing too! With regards to drinking on the gig anyway, I play professionally, as I'm sure quite a few of you on here do too. I have a zero tolerance approach to alcohol before / during performance, as does the tour I'm on. Afterwards, yeah, no problem, provided you're not driving yourself / anybody else (I've been driven around a lot it transpires by someone probably way over the limit - I don't work with them anymore.) But when I see alcohol on stage, at least for anything corporate / function band upwards, it really gets on my nerves. It looks unprofessional and probably doesn't sound great as the gig goes on. At the end of the day, someone is paying for a service, which love it or hate it, alcohol WILL have a detrimental effect on. If I was hiring a function or any professional band, I'd have it in the contract that the band are not to drink during performance. Yes, it sounds a crappy thing to say, but also, I've just had someone come and clean my car professionally, if he turned up and cracked open a beer, he'd also be cracking on home. Want a drink on the gig? Save it for the pubs and get your mate to drive.

All hard cased up here - I have to be otherwise my gear potentially gets crushed. Amp head in a Peli 1500 case, and all my bits in a Peli Storm IM2400. Pedalboard travels in the PedalTrain tour case.

Varies really, I keep my MarkBass combo and some bits in the house at all times for easy access. I don't even use that for practise though, as I use studio monitors and an audio interface. Basses, the ones in regular service never get a chance to come out of their cases at home, the lesser used ones are all wall hung, and I've got two up for sale which are in their respective hard cases hidden away. Tour rig wise, sometimes it's in the house, but generally speaking it lives in a lockup with the rest of my gear (PA mostly), as well, ground floor access, 24 hour access and security and I just put it all on a trolley and wheel it in. Quick and easy!

Not sure what's about in the way of rack cases, but I carry my Aguilar AG700 which is probably similar size in a Peli 1500. Can't fault it as lighter but tougher than a flight case, it fits perfectly and also with it being IP rated, leaving in the car overnight is less of a concern as it's sealed from condensation and such. To be fair, a 2nd hand one of them is probably cheaper than a flight case too.

I reckon by reading this, I must've been lucky over the years. That said, I'm very particular and meticulous over my gear, given that I play for a living and most of my time of late is on the road, everything is in hard cases / Peli cases, minus my cab which has a Roqsolid cover but every protective option I could get on it, but everything is very highly maintained and regularly checked too. Never had a lead failure, and the only time I had an amp issue was 4 or so years ago at a jam night when my (now gone) Superfly got a bit hot and cut out for around five minutes. But other than that, I can't say I've ever had any disasters. I once lost a B string in a sound check? Other than that, just silly little embarrassing issues. Both of which on the current tour, I got a bit overly enthusiastic at one point and in going for the octave pedal, I missed and planted my foot on the tuner and muted out... And the show before that, time was a little tight and myself / the sound engineer forgot to sound check my acoustic bass. Big moment front of the stage, second time round when the bass comes in. "And 1, 2, 3, 4 nothing" - turns out my DI box hadn't been set to instrument

I'd play that. Matches my purple sparkle IEMs!

I'm gunna say it and it'll probably make me unpopular... But be aware that this is just my opinion. I really can't see the hype about Sire. Yet to play one I like, they feel cheap, look cheap, and I don't particularly like the sound either. For the money, I'd rather get a Squier Vintage Modified, drop a John East in - it'll be a much finer bass.