Jakester

Yep, I'll take my box-a-crap(TM) with me!

Thanks, hadn't thought of that at all - it's a QSC TM16, so six mono auxes - so that would probably work, and I can take an IEM straight from one of the two stereo aux feeds. Perfect, and means I don't need to buy any more kit!

Morning all, I'm doing a few dep gigs with a band on drums over the next few weeks, and at rehearsal we were briefly discussing stage setup, when they asked what monitoring I liked to use. I said I tend to use my IEMs, at which their faces dropped. Apparently they use an 'old-school' analogue desk which only has two aux outs; one which is configured for the singer (so has mainly vocals), and one is used by one of the other guitarists for his own IEMs. They asked whether 'stage sound' (i.e. the backline output from the bass and guitar amps) would be okay; I said without actually being on stage with them and playing, I didn't know. I was wondering whether there was a quick and dirty way of overcoming this; I have my own digital mixer, and I wondered whether a mic splitter might the solution? If I can split the feeds from the mics (I'm assuming two vox, two guitars and a bass DI) and run them into my mixer, along with the drums; I can give them a drum feed out from one or two of the auxes from my mixer (if they want stereo) but still mix the incoming mics to my IEMs. Would this work in theory? If so, would y-cable splitters do, or do I need a 'proper' splitter box?

Thanks, that’s all really useful.

Right, apologies in advance, I am VERY crap when it comes to electrical engineering. I have been asked whether a portable battery with an “1800w output” will be sufficient to power a PA and bass and guitar amps for a gig. The spec suggests it has a 1024Wh capacity and 1800w output with a ‘surge’ capability of up to 2700w. The PA comprises 2 Yamaha DXR12s and a DXR10 monitor. We might also use a Stagepas200 as a monitor too. My amp is a CMD121P and guitar amp is 50w valve amp. The Yamaha specs suggest a power draw of 110w per speaker. I can’t find equivalents for the bass or guitar amps. There’s a digital mixer too. My instinctive reaction is it isn’t going to be enough for 2h of performance at sensible (I.e not loud) levels but I don’t know how to work it out - can anyone assist?

Ah, I would love to do this for you but I'm not free, sorry! Do drop me a line in future though if you need someone.

Excellent. The old desktop kept crashing on my M1 Mac, so hopefully eventually it'll be a bit more stable!

Why not just use matching veneer to fill the slots?

The Roland SPD WAV pad is a sort of one shot trigger pad. It can be triggered using your foot (their other products include percussion pads in the same form factor and they demo them being used as stomp things for acoustic guitar players). You could load up to 12 samples in and switch between then and just trigger with your foot if needed.

You may end up having to pay import duty if you bring them into the UK from Denmark.

I think you're just being deliberately obtuse for the sake of it now.

Bass is my second instrument - this 'area' is actually my first. Why should I 'stick to my area'? I enjoy playing both.

Website suggests it does once a week; it certainly used to, but then changed hands and stopped. No idea what sort of thing it is though. Just to add the final little touch to this sorry saga, out of the blue the chap organising told me he's 'managed to find a bass player for the gig' so my friend isn't needed any more. Needless to say I've had to make profuse apologies (which thankfully were graciously accepted). That's the last time I try and help anyone with deps!

Well, if you read the first post, no-one is/was getting paid, then the organiser suggested giving some of the "money behind the bar" to the two who travelled from the West Mids. I've done hundreds of gigs where sometimes we get paid, sometimes we don't. The pay isn't of itself the issue here. I'm comfortable with no-one being paid, I don't mind if he takes the bar money and gives it to the two Brummies, but what I slightly object to is then refusing to give a small amount to the dep that's doing a favour.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the specific situation set out in the first post? It's not an originals band or a "vanity project".

I think this puts it fairly succinctly.

As I said - that's a different discussion. Happy not to get paid in this particular instance. My issue is with what money there may being paid to two people only for expenses, and then when someone is doing us a favour and will have some small but genuine expenses, he's told "nope".

Yes.

Oh, yes, that's a whole other debate. I'm happy enough not to get paid for this particular gig - it's down the road, lots of friends drop by, it's not too late etc etc. I know the pub's making a killing out of it but given how often you hear of pubs going to the wall, it's hard to begrudge this particular one the extra money.

I was just wondering if I could sound out the collective on this situation: I have been doing some jazz gigs with a band; it started off with three main members who all used to work together, and I was invited to play bass with them as I know one of them. There are also other people who come and go from time to time. It's nothing special, just playing standards in a local pub. Two of the main three live in the Midlands, the rest of us down here in wurzel country. However, it seems to have hit a spot because each time the pub is rammed, and so last time the landlord told us he'd put £100 behind the bar for the band. Of course, with most of us driving that was never going to be used up. For the next gig, the chap organising has suggested that we instead ask the landlord for that money, and pay it as expenses to the two who are travelling. Now, I don't really mind that - it's a low pressure gig, nice crowd, I'm learning as I go to play jazz so I'm not so fussed about it. However, one of the two who are travelling can't make it, so I've agreed to play his part and have asked someone I know to fill in on bass for me. He, not unreasonably, asked if there was any money/expenses for it, and I said I'd ask. I was told by the chap organising that he'd spoken to "the others" and they'd decided "it wasn't fair to pay one person, and the money should be used for travel expenses [of the other two]", so no, there wasn't any money for him. I presume that means that the one travelling gets the lot. Now, this seems a little unreasonable to me; my friend is doing us a favour - although he's local, he's from the next town along, so will have to travel so will have *some* expenses. My friend accepted this as he wants to do the gig. I mean, I'm not going to blow it up or have a rant at anyone about it - but does this seem a little, well, unusual, to anyone else?

Ah, this is really sad. I missed this when it broke and only noticed the post yesterday evening. I first had contact with Nick on here, when we did a convoluted trade involving one of my family members acting as courier - it all went fine and he was a gent to deal with. It then transpired I'd unknowingly met Nick (in his capacity as OHM) on many occasions - we used to work for the same firm, and first met playing cricket for that firm. It was only when Nick complained he'd broken his finger keeping wicket and might struggle playing his gig that evening that we made the connection! I was then lucky enough to play drums with him on several occasions - highlights included winning the Bristol 'legal battle of the bands' (bands from local law firms, not an officially-sanctioned contest!) and then after I left the firm, being roped by Nick back into playing with a band comprised of partners at their annual conference. That involved a glitzy hotel in the City, full hired-in professional backline, and a room and food too. We'd spoken on-and-off about putting something else together for years but we'd never quite managed to get it to stick. I hadn't spoken to him for a while though and didn't realise he was unwell. Terribly sad for his family and friends - he'll be sadly missed.