Jakester

No idea, sorry. On the occasion I mentioned, even when we’d agreed a day and time for me to meet him, there was no sign and I had to go away and come back again a few hours later, all brokered by a woman hanging out from an upper floor window. When I came back, he was on the street having a blazing screaming row with her, but at least he was there!

Last time I went past a couple of weeks ago, it looked…just the way it has for years, but that’s not really any indication! TBH I wouldn’t be at all surprised. I actually had to work really hard to get the guy to sell me something a few years back!

I just find this massively sharp practice - it's basically misrepresenting the position to customers. I really won't use anyone again that does this. Bax Shop are one of the worst too.

Why is so much about playing music in public so a pain in the posterior? A few months back, not able to find the sort of night I wanted to play at, I decided to set it up myself. I found a venue which was reopening, and it just so happened my ‘night’ was the sort of thing they wanted to put on, so I booked a few evenings in and set about promoting it, and finding some musicians. I managed to get two (supposedly) likeminded fellows together, and we had a couple of rehearsals, and the first night was decently successful - hire costs for that evening covered, a good dent in the rest of the costs. The second one wasn’t as good - COVID meant only one rehearsal, so the focus we had on new or original music was necessarily put on the back burner in favour of some standards, and numbers were wildly down. Costs weren’t covered, so I’m a bit out of pocket. Oh, well, on to the next. Despite the date being in the diary for more than three months, and the knowledge of the last session fresh in our collective minds - but one of the other guys wouldn’t be pinned down, meaning even greater reliance on standards even if we had one rehearsal. As it turned out, he bailed on that, meaning we had to perform without any practice beforehand at all. Despite a renewed push on promotion, we had barely double digits turn up, so I was out of pocket again. I had been up front with the guys that if we didn’t break even I couldn’t keep subsidising it, so after three sessions I decided to knock it on the head, but with a view to us all playing together still, doing some recording of original music and trying to get gigs the old fashioned way. Anyway, I got contacted by someone who attended who said he was looking to put something similar on himself, so I dropped the chaps a line to see if they might be interested - only to get a response from the guy that couldn’t make rehearsals that he was not interested in just doing standards! I mean - the only reason we fell back on standards was because he couldn’t make any rehearsals - the plan from the outset was to perhaps do some weirder covers and original music, but because we didn’t have any time together that simply didn’t work. Just to cap it off, this evening I’ve had a couple of angry (and abusive) emails from people who clearly didn’t listen to the announcement at the last session saying we weren’t going ahead in August - there’s nothing online or on the venue’s website to say it was on, so not sure where that has come from! It’s been a bloody thankless task - I brought the backline, monitors, mics, did the sound at the gig, and basically ended up paying for other people to have a good time, and it has reminded me why I very much like being in other people’s bands, rather than trying to run my own. It was supposed to be fun but, other than the short time on stage, actually ended up as anything but.

String tension/response? Assuming you mean tuning the 'E' down to C, 'A' down to G etc, isn't the string response across the strings going to be weird? A floopy C and possibly G, normal D, and higher tension A? Starting with the 'wrong' tuning - she'll presumably have to adjust at some point, so why not early on?

You don’t even need to DIY it. I bought one of these to us with my C4 and a Disaster area Micro and it works fine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DM6EMQ2/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_3p_dp_1

I use Piascore. Let’s you store a catalogue of parts and organise into set lists. You can mark up as needed and use a Bluetooth page turner too.

In my limited experience, using my CMD121P at 300w is fine - it's loud, but it needs to be turned up and if driven hard can get a little unruly. Using the extension cab to get the 'full' 500w means it can go as loud without being turned up as much, and getting unruly. All things being equal, it would probably go louder than I would want/need before I experienced any adverse effects through the speakers. It's not so much it's oomphy, rather that it allows you to go that bit louder, more easily. However, if you were using an 800w amp through the same cab as you used the 300w amp, you might find it gets louder quicker but could also be way too much for the cab, resulting in damage.

Thanks - I'll have a look and see if I can give that a go then! Thanks - still "moar geer" with attendant cost too though. Worth knowing it's possible though - how'd you attach to the tailpiece? Velcro?

I would respectfully disagree with this. The PA cabs I/we have used over the years have meant we can’t hear the vocals; perhaps we set up differently to everyone else but with guitars and bass amps used as backline, even if everyone is circumspect about stage volume, it drowns out the vocal bleed from the PA. IME at least one stage monitor is essential if you’re not using IEMs. Doesn’t have to be a massive wedge; I successfully used one of those ‘monitor on a pole’ jobbies by Mackie and Behringer for years. We currently use smaller versions of our tops (DXR10s) as monitors - also good for redundancy if one of the tops goes pop.

Stagepas etc with kick drum probably won't be powerful enough. It would probably be fine just with vocals though. I use the Yamaha DXR12s as tops in our rock band and at a push they could probably cope with a kick - the 15's definitely could though. Ideally use a separate sub if you're putting drums through.

I have a three-band preamp with adjustable mids, but no more than that. Lol at the beachball though I get the idea behind it. Same principle as this I guess: https://gollihurmusic.com/accessories-for-upright-bass/fun-bass-stuff/bass-bomb-feedback-fighting-resonance-reducer/ Hmm, I was hoping to avoid having to go down the ‘extra pedal’ route - I usually play both electric and DB in the same gig (sometimes even in the same song!) and I’ve been using a dual-input Providence preamp (which is what allowed me to cut the bass on the DB at the gig) into a pedalboard for effects etc (on the electric only!) I guess I could run a HPF before it goes into the preamp but that would make the setup that extra bit more complex.

Does anyone know of any alternative products to F-its? I played a gig last week and basically had to cut all the low and mid-low end from the DB sound to prevent feedback on stage, meaning I struggled to be heard out front. The bass wasn't DI'd (which was probably an issue on its own, but owing to the nature of the gigs I play probably unavoidable in the short term). I'd really like some f-hole covers like the F-its - https://www.f-itsfeedbackblockers.co.uk/ but a notice on his website says that he's not making products for the foreseeable, and there's been no response to the message I sent. I suppose I could mess around with foam myself, but does anyone know of a similar product before I start?

That looks great. I wonder if it would work for PA speakers?

Similar experience to OP - bought something off them as showing ‘in stock’. However, their ‘in stock’ means ‘we may be able to get it from our supplier’, not (as one would expect) ‘we have physical possession of said item’. They claimed not to see the difference when I called to chase - disingenuous and generally unimpressive, though in fairness after I had chased, it did turn up when they said it would (a while later than expected, however). I wouldn’t use them again.

Yep, I think a better shout would be the Mostly (Moseley) Jazz & Soul festival, which at least has some decent artists appearing! I think the problem with the Brum 'scene' is that it's stitched up by a few people who are very protective and as you say, lean far more towards the 'trad' end of things. I remember a run-in with one of them when I was trying to get gigs, and his exact words were "why should I give you a gig when I've never seen you at one of my gigs?" (meaning Birmingham Jazz gigs, which was of course patently untrue!). Very much gatekeeping unless you paid the appropriate amount of fealty.

Hmm, of the lineup I think I recognise Chris Bowden (sax) and Art Themen (also sax), and 'Shanghai Hustle' has Tom Clarke-Hill playing, who's a great double-bassist (and was once the voice of Tony the Tiger!) but other than that, no idea, sorry. There was a core of very good musicians on the Brum jazz scene back when I lived up there like Percy Pursglove, so hopefully that's still the case. Perhaps get along to a couple of gigs and see what's what?

I was playing DB at the weekend over midday, and the tuning was ALL over the place, even with it left as far as possible in the shade. Someone suggested leaving it in their car (!) until I pointed out it would probably top 50deg in there and the glue would probably melt, leaving me with a flatpack double bass!

Well, there's a requirement that goods are supposed to be reasonably fit for purpose, and I would expect that would include being gigged for a bass amp! If the issue manifested within six months of purchase, then the onus is on the retailer to prove it was fit for purpose, not for you to prove it wasn't. After that, you have to prove that the amp was not. Note also that if PMT offers to repair, then they must do so within a reasonable period of time, and bear all of the associated costs (including postage).

I picked one up a couple of months ago and agree - it’s lovely! I somewhat shamefully haven’t done a NBD yet…

This was my issue. I couldn't have any confidence in it, and with it dropping out completely at a couple of gigs, I ended up getting the replacement working head instead. I also bought a 'micro' head from a different manufacturer as a portable backup too.

Yep, I know - just saying it would be a dream!