casapete

Good question! I don’t have the boxes anymore and not sure if the model number is on the unit itself. Think mine are the SN5 or the updated version, SN5X, which can currently be had for a tenner on a well known internet platform.

Snark user here. Got a few now and they all work great, not too big / intrusive, will adjust angle to exactly where I need them , bright display but don’t eat batteries and not a lot of money either. Think I paid around £12 each for mine. If you get one though keep it quiet on here, as headstock tuners are just for amateurs, apparently....🤣

Relying on unknown quality monitors and engineer is a recipe for disaster IMHO. Either insist on using your IEM's every gig, or maybe look at a FRFR powered cab so you can have your sound wherever. If you're not happy with what you're hearing then you're never going to be at your best.

I’m a big fan of Gallien Krueger stuff, but even after using their amps for donkeys years I still sometimes struggle to quickly make tone adjustments onstage due to the placing of the 4 eq knobs. From left to right they are treble , high mid, low mid through to bass . In my mind they should be starting with bass on the left, which seems far more logical somehow. Also active basses that require undoing a lot of screws to access the battery compartment -why? Those on MM Stingrays etc make far more sense.

Just sold Dave an amp. Quick payment, great communications and an easy transaction overall. Highly recommended. Thanks Dave!

Lucky EC. 😉

Think her and Mr Clapton were once an item too?

She’s great - if you didn’t see her performance at Glastonbury last year then try to find it, excellent performance and a kicking band too.

I'm still fairly good with songs, even at my advancing years. In my acoustic duo we play 100's of tunes, and most I can remember although for some strange reason it's the keys that often catch me out! Once I've got the key then the song just falls into place for me, and this is quite handy when we decide to drop the key for any reason - we call them 'sitting down' or 'lunchtime ' gigs, where we may be feeling a little rough and the vocals will be too much of a stretch! I guess I must subconsciously learn songs in a way that easily translates to other key signatures. The other stumbling block for us is lyrics - we can both usually remember the tune / chords etc but the words don't come to mind so readily. For those occasions we have an Ipad Pro running the Forscore app with song lyrics to help prompt us. Didn't like using this at first, but it's certainly better than freezing halfway through a number etc. Also most big touring bands (of a certain age anyway) seem to use those large monitor screens with the lyrics scrolling along, so hey ho.

One of those songs that when you hear the original you realise it still sounds amazing, especially as it’s now around 50 years old. Great drum sound, and Andy Fraser’s bass part is sublime. Annoys the sh*t out of me when you hear covers bands killing it though, with the usual errors - wrong guitar riff, bassist playing through the verses / worst of all not playing the pedal root notes in the choruses. And relax.....

We been asked for it a number of times in my country band, and also occasionally in my acoustic duo. Always seems to go down well whenever we’ve played it too. I think it’s popularity in recent years was something to do with it being adopted by the England rugby team and their fans, giving it a new audience.

To be fair, they had given us prior warning of the Mexican theme. La Bamba did feature (naturally) along with a few other traditional tunes, and we did use some artistic licence to include some ...err..related stuff such as Loco In Acapulco, El Paso, Santana tunes and then some Tex Mex stuff like Tequila etc. ( With apologies to any Mexican BC members)

My acoustic duo did a gig last summer in a country house rented for a weekend by the booker in West Yorkshire. It was a birthday celebration, and we played in a corner of a dining room for the whole evening, right next to a table with a total of 15 seated guests. First and second sets were whilst they were eating, and then we played a last set of uptempo stuff during which a few pushed back their chairs and got up to dance in the rather limited space available. Really nice people though, who just politely asked for requests every now and then. ( It was easier than the last gig for them , where we’d been asked to play Mexican stuff all night to go with their party theme! )

Just had to check something in my last year's diary so had a quick look at gigs done - 130. These mainly consisted of theatre gigs with the ELO tribute band and acoustic duo gigs ( private parties / pubs / cafes etc), along with some dep gigs and function / event stuff. Think this is probably roughly around the same amount as in 2018 too, so happy to still be here (or anywhere really...).

We did our first gig of the new decade last night in our hometown of Hull. It’s always a bit of pressure on everyone after the December lay off, in front of some 1200 people who have followed us since we started out over 12 years ago. To add to this it was the first big gig with our new keyboard player too, so everyone very wired as we went on. Needn’t have worried though, despite a few ‘moments’ we managed to do pretty well, and the audience were so up for it and supportive which made it fly by. We had the PA stacks positioned differently from previous years, which meant there was more sound leaking on stage so I had to turn my amp up a bit more than usual. Made me realise that it’s always handy to have that extra headroom available. My GK 1001 / Neo 410 still didn’t break into a sweat though, so happy days.

Having tried them, for me Elixirs are not ideal. Mainly because I don't get through uncoated strings that quickly to begin with, being fortunate enough not to have sweaty hands! I can make a regular set of D'Addarios last a long time, even though I replace them way before they're getting tired. I also found Elixirs didn't sound that bright from new, although to be fair they did maintain the same tone for a long time - it's just that I like that 'new string' thing which they didn't give me. Also they feel a bit different too, which maybe clouds my judgement. Price wise they probably do make sense I guess, being approx. double the price of my usual set but lasting maybe 3 times longer or more. My guitar playing mate in my acoustic duo won't use anything else but Elixirs , but he can kill a regular set of strings on one gig!

Was going to mention this too. Metal parts on straps will nearly always at some point do some damage to the instrument. ( I know this from bitter experience many years ago.) Also I’ve seen many straps where the damned buckle seems to be on the player’s shoulder area too, not great. I now avoid these and go for the type not liked by the OP.

Just got in from my gig. Quite a good crowd, most of them up dancing all evening so job done I think. Am now enjoying some cheese & biscuits with olives and a glass of Punk IPA, marvellous. ( My sleep may be threatened by this Silvia, but as it’s the end of my run of seasonal gigs I’m risking it!) Happy New Year!

Nail / head.

At £39 they are still a great buy. Do it!

At the risk of repeating myself, I’ve been banging on about mine for ages! Must have had it 6 or 7 years now, and it’s still looking like I just bought it. Used it in my main band doing up to 100 gigs each year, and it travels everywhere with me - in and out of our splitter van and always into my room when we’re staying over somewhere. Okay, it doesn’t get chucked around by road crew but it’s seen some use. These cases are strong and protect the bass really well along with being light and extremely easy to carry. Mine is the shaped version which I’d recommend over the oblong one. TBH for £35 it really is the definition of ‘no brainer’. Loved mine so much I bought another as a spare which is still awaiting use.

Great clip, forgotten how good Rory was TBH. Saw him in Hull in the early 70’s and he was fantastic. Such a great tone from his Strat too.

Complete with authentic grammar too......😅

Blimey, didn't see that. Looks like a great deal.