casapete

Mine too, and have been for a number of years. Nowt wrong with making a living, although after today this may prove to be damned near impossible 🙁

Just looking on the BBC News site now, and most West End Theatres are all shutting down with immediate effect, along with other organisations like ATG who operate a lot of provincial theatres too. That's my band out of work until whenever then. As some people have already commented, such a bad way of handling things by the government, which will cause more hardship than it potentially needed to, and still no definite plans to support those self employed people from financial ruin.

Think mine is a DR-05 or something! Got it for the same reasons as you, just haven't got around to using it - am sure it's a doddle, it's just me being slow / uninterested I guess. Must give it a try - with all the time off I'll be having soon due to the CV then maybe a good time to acquaint myself with the controls.

We have a gig in the isle of Man early June for the TT races so may be a similar situation.

Small Tascam digital recorder thing, with the intention of recording rehearsals / gigs etc. Still in it’s unopened box. Must dig it out and get to grips with it.

A friend of mine put me onto this - fabulous.

Our theatre gig tonight went ahead as planned, but in a sold out auditorium there were quite a few vacant seats so some people obviously didn’t think it was worth the risk. Gigging tomorrow night and so far it’s still on, but I’m thinking it could be the last we do for a while. Our 8 piece band plus 3 crew members will subsequently all be out of work for the foreseeable, which is worrying everyone a great deal as it’s all our main source of income. As mentioned above, the NE Guitar show has been postponed from this coming Sunday to June 14th. ( Was thinking it might be a bit daft going so the decision has been made for me. Looks like I’ll be staying in now.😟)

I’ve also used these for decades now, with no problems. Cheap solution to the problem, and (unfortunately for me at least) don’t require the consumption of any alcohol.

Me too, one of those rare items that are inexpensive but do the job brilliantly.

‘That standard Fender Precision bridge is rubbish - you need this heavy brass one, will make it sustain forever.....’ ’Look at this cable - really thick and with gold plated plugs. You’ll hear the difference straight away....’ ’Can’t you play a few more songs? The best man will bung the band some more dosh....’

I use the shaped foam Gear4Music case, currently £39.99. Had it for a long time, superb way of protecting your bass whilst being light and portable. Mine has an inside hinged compartment, not very big, and a large (A4 sized) zipped external pocket which is good for music, strap etc. Best thing I’ve bought for years, and still looks like new after doing hundreds of gigs.

'Qualified electrician hooked up the power in the marquee this morning'.... 'Do this gig cheap and you'll get booked for proper money at next year's event'..... 'We'll look after the band - feed and water you guys all day'.....

I went to the villa in Villefranche-Sur-Mer when we were on holiday in the south of France but was a bit disappointed as it was barely visible! I got into Gram Parsons via listening to a lot of Emmylou Harris, who I still love to this day. The Stones are probably still my favourite band ever, although don’t seem to be many fans on here!

Love both those, but for me it’s ‘Exile on Main St’. One of those albums I never tire of, especially Tumbling Dice and Happy. Mr Richards at his best IMHO.

After Len’s admirable post above, I’m almost ashamed to say reasons for declining gigs have pretty much always been either directly or indirectly financial. When I first went pro, a seasoned musician gave me some good advice about deciding on what was the minimum fee to work for, and sticking to it. He said sometimes you’ll have to sit at home rather than gig, but it will be the best route in the long term. Have to say he was right too. Unfortunately a band I was in didn’t agree and would take a local gig whatever the fee, which of course then had the knock on effect of making it harder to charge a better price for our bread and butter work doing weddings and functions. I was outvoted in wanting to decline doing cheap gigs, and the band eventually folded (not just for that reason but it certainly contributed). Fortunately I had jumped ship before then. My current band have had to turn down some work purely for the difficulty in financing travel and stuff for 8 band members plus crew. We had 24 gigs in the USA offered but just couldn’t make the figures work out, along with a punishing travel schedule. Bloody annoying but am still hopeful it may happen someday.

I will somewhat inevitably heartily recommend the Fender Rumble V3 series combos. Tried most of the range and all sound great, and as others have mentioned if you get say the 100w model it could come in handy should you need it for band practice, small gigs etc. I have this model, 12” speaker, great tone controls, loud for it’s rating and weighs next to nothing. Perfect for home use and can be picked up new for around £260, s/h around £150.

And not a moment too soon......

Obviously great playing, but lock me in a room with that on a loop and I would want to kill someone within minutes....🤣

I find this a problem when even slightly changing something I’ve played a certain way for years. Old gimmer syndrome I guess....👨🏻‍🦳

Also fuel sold in litres but car manufacturers still give economy figures in MPG?

Blimey, that’s nearly 26 old style lbs! Don’t tell me, it didn’t have a thick strap either? 😆

Haven't tried one of those yet Paul, will have to find one. I was always disappointed with the EB Sterling, as the spec on paper seemed to be the answer to my problem. However, even with the smaller body than the Stingray, I've yet to find one that is 8lbs or less. ( If anyone has one then please let me know! )