beely

Hiya. I bought Cris's AER Amp One. Great guy to deal with. Excellent communications and packaging that would survive an earthquake. Would definitely have no hesitation in dealing with him again. Cheers.

So pleased you are happy with it. I got my Mustang (exactly the same as yours) in 2015 after years of playing a Rik. I too changed the strings to flats (D'Addario Chromes in my case) and am absolutely delighted with the sound. Unintended bonus is on small stages I tend not to whack the singer with the head-stock so often. 😎 Well, she thinks its a bonus.

The theories for an "overdriven" sound put forward here chime rather well with an often-used recording studio trick. You record a clean and well rounded sound to capture the fullness of the bass. You then duplicate this on a new track to which you then add drive, distortion, grit, whatever you want to call it. At the same time you high-pass the track so you are left with a really gnarly, unpleasant sound with actually, not much bass in it. This then gets blended in with the original track, just below actually hearing it. It's amazing how this can make the bass sit better in the mix. I would imagine that is what is being experienced when hearing that sort of sound in a live situation.

Went to see Martin Turner at Backstage in Kinross. Fantastic night with all the band right on form. Not even having to get up at 5am today could spoil a fab night. Could have done without hearing the "Three nuns" joke again though.

My favourite Steely Dan album as well. Listened to it so much I wore out a vinyl copy.

….which one would annoy/inconvenience you the most? The reason I ask is I went to see a band last night, in a barber’s shop of all places, and the bass player broke a string in the second-last song. (A string on a P-bass) That’s actually two firsts in one evening. Never been to a gig in a barber’s shop and have never seen a bass player break a string. The bass player decided to finish the set on the three remaining strings, which he accomplished very well indeed, mostly involving visiting parts of the fret-board he didn’t use very often. Anyway, it got me thinking. What string would you miss the most, assuming a four-string? For me it would likely be the A or D string. Something to do with the gap between strings I suppose. Anyone have a string they would least like to lose? Having actually seen a bass player break a string, I was expecting to see a Unicorn on the way home.

Wishbone Ash. Saw them in the Caird Hall, Dundee circa 1972. My first ever "big" concert. Aged 16, I had not long started learning to play guitar and was totally overwhelmed by the experience. Martin Turner is still one of my favourite bass players.

I can sympathise. Many years ago I used to dep for local band when their bass player was on holiday. I often recall it as my "summer job". I also recall the utter, utter humiliation of having to play Engelbert Humperdink's "Ten Guitars". I'm still reminded of it to this day.

First saw Tom Petty many decades ago, opening for Nils Lofgren at The Edinburgh Playhouse. Loved his music ever since. Absolutely devastated by this. Our band set features several of his songs. RIP Tom, you were a massive inspiration.

What an honest and decent human being. I bought a set of plans for a Tuba24 and stupidly paid the cost of two sets of plans rather than one. The difference was refunded into my Paypal account before I had even realised my mistake. Well played sir!

I have just given up on Photobucket. Utter crap now. I am now using Dropbox. Much, much better.

[quote name='markoire' timestamp='1502314206' post='3350673'] I've had a hiscox case for my 4001 for a long time. It was the only one I could find big enough [/quote] Similar to the Hiscox case I have for my 4001. There is only one sticker with any sort of reference on mine. It reads: STD-EBP Pic here. [url="https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2ntrw3y3gavvy5/4001%20STD-EBP.jpg?dl=0"]https://www.dropbox....TD-EBP.jpg?dl=0[/url]

Talk Talk: The colour of spring. Made me so happy, I vacuumed the entire house in 15 minutes. Since I have house to myself today I will probably follow that up with It's my life then Spirit of Eden.

A bit of a three-in-one here. Acoustic guitar, electric guitar and sax. Perhaps not examples of technical excellence but somehow they all just "fit". I give you; Year of the cat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZc7ZQURMs

Have to agree about getting the key correct to suit the singer’s vocal range. A couple of examples from my own band’s set list are two Tom Petty songs. I had to take “The Waiting” from D to C, mostly because of one note in the chorus, but raised “All the wrong reasons” from F to G, not just because it suited my voice better, but it also helped the fiddle player. As Norris says, its not usually the case where you only have to sing one song. In our entire set there are only about three songs that I don’t sing either lead or BV’s. We are fortunate that we have four singers, two male, two female who take lead and/or BV’s. After Bryan Adams/Mel C’s When you’re gone, (original key of C) my voice most definitely needs a rest.

Just as a matter of interest, who was the tech who did the work? I'm going to be putting mine up for sale soon and I want get it checked over first. They are great amps but, due mostly to the weight, I simply can't envisage a situation when this will get gigged again. Cheers, Beely

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1497261179' post='3316811'] I don't want a race to mediocracy and being like every other band, but there really are a lot of songs that are good and well known that don't get played a lot that are good in public. [/quote] This. Very much this.

Can anyone tell me the gear ratio of the tuners on a 2004-2006 Fender MIJ Mustang bass? I’ve tried to find out what it is but can’t seem to find anything definite. I think it may be 20:1 or even less but I’d like a set nearer to the ones on my Ric 4001 which I believe are 27:1. Cheers for any help.

The funniest thing about when something like that happens is the puzzled, almost panic-stricken looks exchanged between band members. Something is badly wrong and no one can quite figure out who or what is wrong. And yes, it has happened to me.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1496002287' post='3308075'] so, is the new guy your new guitarist substituting the one who created the problem? It wasn't clear to me. If yes... then I like your style: ruthless but fair. I hate being left to deal with crap like that when someone comes up with "oh I forgot..."... easy for them because they never deal with promotors or have to negotiate anything... or be the ones looking like an idiot. [/quote] The young kid was depping for the regular lead guitarist who couldn’t make it. The new guitarist has joined the band in addition to the “missing-on-the-evening” guitarist. I’ve always felt we were a bit weak on the guitar side of things, more so lately as there have been lots of mistakes/forgotten intros, that sort of thing at gigs. It’s become more apparent since our fiddle player left last year: obviously she was covering up to a certain extent. He also gets really nervous at gigs and that just makes things worse. We’ve had to drop a few songs because he can’t get the set piece solos right. We had a one-to-one conversation a couple of months ago after a particularly disastrous gig and he accepted he was holding the band back to a certain degree. He is a decent rhythm player, ok singer and plays harmonica so he actually brings a lot to the band. On the evidence of Saturday’s gig, the new guy is a proper lead guitarist. At our one rehearsal with the new guy, I felt our existing guitarist was a lot more relaxed and is probably relieved to have the pressure taken off. I’m hopeful that things will work out ok. It was only after Saturday’s gig was over that I realised the reason for everyone being so relaxed and enjoying it so much was the absence of waiting for the next mistake to happen. Whatever happens, I’ve seen the future. If he can’t step up then, sadly, a tough decision will be made. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

A little back-story to last night’s gig. Hope this is not too long-winded but, bear with me. On Tuesday I was contacted by a local venue to see if we could play on Saturday as the band they had booked couldn’t do the gig. Before I confirmed we were ok, I texted each band member to check they were available. Within twenty minutes I had replies from everyone to say they were free. So far, so good. I confirmed with the venue, The Twa Tams in Perth, that we were good to go. I then set off on the drive down to Northumberland to spend a couple of days with a musician buddy who moved there a few months ago. About an hour later, the lead guitarist texts me. “Really sorry man, just realised I’ve got something on that night so I can’t make it.” My reply ( the printable one) was, “The gig is confirmed, we are playing.” However, he insisted he can’t make it so now, I’m faced with a problem. Gigs are hard enough to come by as it is so there is no way I am giving this one up without a fight. Cue much texting and phoning to see if I can get a dep. Everyone seems to be playing this weekend. I eventually get a reply from a young lad who I know from open mics in the town that he can play with us. Bit of a result: he lacks neither talent nor confidence. Next thing: we have a new guitarist joining the band and this will be his first gig with us. He has had one rehearsal so you can imagine how he feels. He tells me he will get down to work and should be well enough sorted for the gig. Starting to feel a bit better about things as we all seem to be taking the view that, actually, this could be fun. Both new guitarist and dep learned thirty-one songs in three days to at least giggable standard. Absolutely fantastic. It turned out to be probably our best gig/performance to date. The crowd were up for it, right from our vocal sound-check, a three-part harmony of “When will I be loved” and continued throughout the whole evening. Everybody in the band were totally relaxed and, despite a few missed cues and a couple of other daft things, played exceptionally well. Really gratifying to see hard work paying off and turning what could have been a difficult night into a bit of a success. Also nice to get a few more dates in the diary. First topic of conversation at tomorrow’s rehearsal? We have a band Google calendar: use it!

I spent most of my working life in the printing trade. I worked all sorts of daft shift patterns and consequently, gave up playing in a band. Fortunately I have reasonable guitar skills and a halfway-decent voice so I was able to do solo acoustic gigs. I started my current band four years ago after I was made redundant from the print industry and started working for Royal Mail. Early starts but no shifts. I'm much happier for that. Shifts, particularly night-shift, are only worth it if you have no other option or really love your job. Until I stopped doing them, I hadn't realised how much working shifts takes out of you, both physically and mentally.

I've had the StageClix jack for a few years. Great performance and no interference, even with another two being used onstage, one for acoustic guitar, the other for electric. Our (former) fiddle player used the Smoothhound and I was also impressed by it, as was she. My preference for the StageClix has a lot to do with the "no batteries" set up. Very convenient.