Truckstop

Excellent! That's good to know! The band's doing a few pop songs and regular bass and effects isn't quite cutting the mustard. Bit of Velcro on the beater and it should be fine. Truckstop

My drummer uses a Roland PM-10 and it handles bass perfectly. Also has a few line ins so you could take a line from the PA and from your amp. He picked his up second hand for £90 off Gumtree. Otherwise, I'd keep my eyes peeled for a powered monitor. Truckstop

God, the decor would make Versace ill. Truckstop

Bought Stuarts C-Mark MR2450 off him and couldnt be happier with the transaction. Whole process was easy from start to finish and I'd not hesitate to deal with him again! Kept me informed every step of the way and the amp arrived very very well packaged! Cheers Stuart Alex

Marshall Jackhammer or Guv'nor 2! Great OD pedals for not much money at all. I got my JH for £15 and my Guv for £21 off eBay. I find the ODB-3 a little too buzzy for me, lacks warmth! You can't go wrong with a Behringer BDI-21. It's a tone shaping bass DI pedal and you can set a really lovely gritty tone or if you want to use it as an OD, you can! It's definitely worth it because they're only £25 brand new. Personally, my essentials are delay, drive/OD, octaver and volume pedal. I do like tremolos aswell but always struggle to fit it into songs Truckstop

Are the monotrons any good at bass? Alex

Not being funny, but if I was deciding between two CDs/Downloads and the descriptions were literally just 'Djent' or 'Thrash', then that helps me decide which one I'd like more. Because modern metal is so faddish, you get a real ureters ding of what a bands going to sound like by the way they catagorise themselves. I remember that deathcore spawned doomcore, sludgecore and thrashcore; all sounding very different. Metal's a funny thing because all it takes to change the category is the vocal style or the guitar tone. Imagine early Korn with death vocals. Itd be doom wouldn't it? Truckstop

^ oh my god, me too! Truckstop

Get a micro Korg or something. Can't beat an actual synth! Truckstop

Well, I threatened to start a blog charting the progress of a new project since leaving my old band last month. A suitable amount of stuff has happened since, here's a little rundown of things that have happened so far with some notes and stuff (FYI, I'm setting up a function band): 3rd November 2012: Decide to leave band for many reasons; main one being lack of professionalism and drive from other band members. Vent on Basschat, decided to form my own band! 4th November 2012: Put ads out on Gumtree, Bandmix and Lemonrock. Baulk at the fees for Bandmix, decide Gumtree and Lemonrock should suffice instead. Look into expanding PA rig on a budget mainly to impress potential bandmates, but also need gear ASAP to learn how it all works! 6th November: Many responses to ads. 7 drummers, 4 guitarists, 3 lady singers....no keyboardists!! All respondees sound ideal, arrange auditions for 19th November. Most cant do that date, I tell them where to go. I think nearly two weeks advance notice is plenty and none seem to have a good excuse. Only 3 drummers and 1 guitarist available for the 19th, decide to place more ads specifying audition date! 8th November: More responses, 19th november full up now, 4 drummers and 4 guitarists coming. No keyboardists still...beginning to think I've imagined them and they don't exist. Decided to audition singers at a later date when I actually have a band together. Start thinking about songs for the band to do; can't get Footloose medley out of my head, decide to try again tomorrow. 9th November: Auditionees all arranged, roped in a singer friend of mine to sing for the evening. I lie and tell her ill buy her a drink in payment. Wrote down 30 songs, scribbled out half and tried again. Headway made on PA front, sourced some decent subs and tops. I'll convert the tops into monitors when I make some money and can afford some decent fullrange PA speakers. Order lots of leads, stands and other assorted stuff. 14th November: Stuff all arrived. Now have a full working 1.5k PA rig. More songs written down and finally decided on the band name; it's awesome, so not gonna put it here in case it gets stolen 19th November: Audition night! Everyone turns up and I have a jolly good night. Standard of auditionees excellent, I told them all I'd ring the same evening, but very hard decision to make so call around the next day. 20th November: Now have the skeleton of a working functions band. I've recruited James (early 20's, great attitude, great feel if a little inexperienced) on drums and Simon (early 30's, lovely smooth style) on guitars. They seem on board with what I'm trying to achieve and seem to be happy to let me get on with it. A strange feeling, I'm now responsible for these guys! Arrange rehearsal dates for December and January. 21st November: Send the guys 20 songs to work on. They are accepted without question, that's a good sign! Get in touch with singers to arrange auditions; unsuccessful. Singers turn out to be a bit flakey, looks like it'll need to be two separate evenings, no matter; it'll be good practice. 26th November: Write blog detailing happenings so far; goes well. Eats crumpet with jam. I'll update as things go on! Cheers Alex

Bought a Tom case of Andy a few days ago. It was exactly as described, he got back to me very quickly and kept me updated throughout the transaction. He even got his lovely missus to post it for him so I'd get it quicker! Cheers Andy, very happy indeed! Alex

Ah, very cool! Cheers guys Alex

Well that's why I'm putting my own band together where I can call the shots! I want this band to be an act that can earn me some decent money, so the 'hobby' aspect goes out the window and it all needs to be approached with a professional attitude. Anyone's late without a decent excuse eta shown the door. Same for not learning songs or just general complacency! I'd love to be in a trio but finding a guy/girl that can play something and sing is proving very difficult! Truckstop

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1353512900' post='1875458'] The RGB LED lamps allow you to mix to white...... We use RGB LED's on the front facing up for up lighters.... mixed to white at a lower level so not to blind [/quote] Hmm, did not know this. Is that with all RGB lights or higher spec ones? How does one 'mix' the LEDs? Most lighting sets I see dont come with mixers and instead just have a DAX cable (I think it is; you know, the sound/light cable thingy. I'm a bit of a noob!) Cheers Crez

I've been looking at lights recently but they're all RGB, I hate RGB! Every band in the universe is just swathed in purple these days and it looks naff! Anyone know where I can get some White lights? Par cans or maybe some LED bars to hang behind the band. Should look awesome with a hazer. Truckstop

Bought a couple of Hercules boom stands off Adrian and couldn't be more impressed with the transaction. Excellent communication and easy to deal with. He's so organised; he PM'd me to say that they'd been delivered I went outside to my doorstep and there they were! Perfectly packaged and exactly as described. Highly recommended! Alex

Markbass and Gallien Kreuger combos are awesomely light. My MB210 is a very easy one hand lift if a little bulky, but that doesn't bother me. If it did, I'd go for the MB112; half the size without compromising on tone or volume. Weighs less too! I'd say go for combo purely because it's ever such less hassle than a head/cab rig. There are combos out there that weigh less than your Ashdown head and (IMO) sound and look much much better. Hope your back doesn't offer too much discomfort and good luck in your search for a new rig! Truckstop

Bought a KiOgon P bass loom of Gareth (maybe I should be giving him some feedback instead?) and it came very quickly, well protected and exactly as described. Cheers! Alex

I own the PA and take a larger cut of gig money. This way, I earn enough money to upgrade and cover breakages. I used to be in a band that had a kitty with which to pay for stuff; problem being that when someone left the band, they'd technically paid 25% of new gear and sees nothing back from it! Singer should have invested in their own mic at least. Truckstop

I care more about basses than my rig, always have! I'd cry if I dropped my instruments, but if I dropped and broke my rig I'd just claim on the insurance and get another one. Every bass is different, finding one you like can be hard work; amps and cabs are made the same and are easily replaceable! I'm responsible for the PA, so I want as lightweight a bass rig as possible; hence trading my Ampeg rig for a GK MB210. Great tone, ultra-lightweight and looks big enough for the people that like to see a decent backline(!) I'm one of those guys that isn't too fussed about my tone. As long as it cuts through and its relatively pleasing then I'm happy. For some people though, finding the perfect tone is the biggest thing ever and you know, so what if you gotta hump around a huge rig to get that sound that's in your head? I'll bet it all sounds awesome and if youre playing venues like the O2, then go for it!! Truckstop

Lovely, cheers guys! Will check that book out and many thanks Simon for the read! Alex

Little bump! It's after 36 hours, right? Alex