casapete

Another early evening gig yesterday at The Lookout on the Pier in Scarborough with the acoustic duo. We arrived there slightly later than usual due to a traffic accident, meaning we had to divert through Bridlington but still got set up in time to start at 6pm. A full house of diners, some who had come with requests already written so we had a pile of them to get through. Best ones for me were ‘Wichita Lineman’, ‘Just a gigolo / ‘I ain’t got nobody’ ( David Lee Roth style), ‘No particular place to go’ ( which I sang for the first time in my life, forgetting how hard the phrasing was!) and then ended with ‘Enjoy yourself’. Used my Fender Kingman bass into the Rumble 100, with no PA support needed. Still exploring some settings with the preamp on the bass, including the subtle effect the phase switch has on things. We are back at this wonderful venue on 30th March, and it’s always a pleasure.

Sand? ‘Harvest Gold’ purleez………..😁

Not sure if this is relevant, but following the first two lines of headliners listed on each day, the rest of the acts are in alphabetical order. 😊

Afraid not Neil. We do three regular monthly gigs, and only the gig in Scarborough ( The Lookout on the Pier) has a PA we can use. Storage wouldn’t be an option for us anyway, as we need the gear for other stuff - my guitarist mate in the duo works an average of 5 nights a week I reckon, and I do some stuff in a blues three piece. It’s a pain dragging PA around, but at least my Rumble combos are fairly lightweight.

I had a Loud Inc 4x10, then added a 1x15 from the same maker to get the full advantage of two 8 ohm cabs. Then I sold the 1x15 for another identical 4x10 and it was a great rig. Still own one of the 4x10s, and there’s another for sale at the moment on here which I neither need or can afford, but of course still want. 😁

Our regular monthly gig at the Sun Inn in Beverley with the acoustic duo. Well I say ‘acoustic’, it was really ‘half acoustic’ as I used my Sire U5 short scale electric, into my Fender Rumble 500 combo, and it was glorious! Quite a few complements on my bass sound from people in the audience (which doesn’t often happen) so it confirmed my thoughts on using an electric bass on this gig. It can get quite loud and lairy and an electro acoustic can be hard to tame, so it was fun having more freedom to play without constraint. Our usual request format included ‘How sweet it is’, ‘Dance with me’ ( an instrumental of the Orleans tune ), ‘Rehab’ ( for the lovely lady behind the bar who is a massive Amy fan, and we got fed up of playing ‘Valerie’ for her! ), as well as ‘Whole lotta Rosie’, ‘Shang a lang’ ( for a group of ladies this time! ) and ‘Stairway to heaven’ which got the biggest round of applause of the afternoon. Really enjoyed the gig, one of the best we’ve played for ages - a perfect storm of venue / audience / landlords and staff etc. Already looking forward to the next one!

Having had sound limiter wars myself, I feel your pain. Like with your band, the ridiculous level set on the limiter was close to going off before the band started, and anything like a cymbal splash or guitar frequencies made it trigger. Compressed pre recorded music played by the DJ didn’t seem to be so problematic so we ended up shortening our sets accordingly and letting the DJ do more. The bride and groom whose wedding we were playing at were rightly annoyed with the venue for not pointing out the limiter problems when they booked it, and were very understanding of our dilemma. I get the need for limiters but when they have to be set unfeasibly low it is just ridiculous for almost any form of live music ( with peaks/dynamics etc ) to function. All in all a right pain. 🙁

Yeh, but the rattling……..😆

I found that on some theatre stages the sound improved when I left my GK 410 Neo cab in the ’tray’ of it’s flight case - the bit with the castors on. Got rid of excessive booming and odd frequencies being accentuated etc. I did generally prefer the sound of the cab flat on the stage though, but it’s good to have the option of either method.

Yes, if you like the sound of your cabinet when it’s more coupled to the stage. From my experience, using the cabinet on castors does affect the sound, and can reduce some ‘booming’ on more hollow stages. Removable castors do give you the choice of course. 😀

The Wiki page on Badfinger makes for interesting ( and very sad ) reading. Plenty of Beatles connections with them being signed to Apple etc.

Agreed Dave, they did some great stuff. It was quite funny last night - a punter requested ‘No matter what’ which I thought was the Badfinger classic so we played it. As we finished it the guy shouted out that he enjoyed it but had actually wanted to hear ‘No matter what’ by Boyzone ( which I’d forgotten existed) so we did that straight after! Made us think of doing nights where we only play songs which exist in this way, although unsure about whether it’s feasible - maybe just do a featured song title each gig or something till we run out of ideas!

Just back from our monthly outing at The Anlaby Park Hotel ( just outside Hull ), with the acoustic duo. Usual full lounge of punters, with stacks of requests. Tunes played included ‘Highway to Hell’, ’Enjoy yourself’, ‘No matter what’ x2 ( Badfinger tune and the Boyzone one after some confusion) ’Harvest Moon’ and ‘Everlasting love’ which was a bit fast for playing fingerstyle! A good night and a small increase in our fee so happy days. Home before midnight too. 😁

‘Wrong’ side of the river for us last night - a gig in Barton upon Humber with the blues trio. Venue was an old pub, occasion being a 70th birthday for a guy who has seen us a few times. Set up in the main bar area, audience comprised birthday party guests and some locals too. We played 2x50 minute sets, to polite applause from the guests, who you could feel were thinking ‘why did you book a blues band?’ but didn’t want to offend the birthday boy. We had a couple of dancers, one of whom walked over to grab my mic - gave her my best look of disapproval and she retreated. Wasn’t sure if she was a party guest so didn’t want to upset things but nobody touches my stuff, ever! (Used my Sire U5 shortie into the usual Fender Rumble 500 combo.) Finished around 11.15pm, got paid and a quick pack away meant I was home by midnight. Not the most enjoyable gig, but not the worst either. No pics I’m afraid, must try harder. 😊

I’ve been watching Fender Rumble stuff on sale for a few weeks. Seen a couple of 210 cabs being advertised around the £300 mark, yet you can get a brand new one delivered for £339. For the ‘saving’ of £39 I’d rather have a new unused cab, and more importantly one with a manufacturer’s warranty, valid for at least a year ( or possibly more ).

Absolutely this. When I was playing in large theatres, our PA guy used to say that everything changed when ‘The meat baffles’ had filled the room. 😆

That actually used to annoy me! They were wanting to appear so ‘alternative’ whilst agreeing to go on mainstream TV to flog their product. Can’t have it both ways surely? I think it was The Clash who flatly refused to do TOTP, a far more appropriate response for a punk band IMO.

I think in the early days miming was commonplace - often with maybe just a lead vocal being sung live over a pre recorded backing track. Once the programme got established after a couple of years or so though, it went to being pretty much all live performances.

A throuple ? How very modern….😃

If it works Daryl, then why not? Obviously you must all be experienced players who can play around with things until you’ve reached how you want it to sound. And think of all that rehearsal time you’ve saved….😄

Thanks , will check them out. I always try to use parts from the manufacturer where possible, but agree your suggestions may be the best solution. Cheers.

I’ve never been in bands that rehearse say once a week or something - couldn’t see the point. I think some people see it as a bit of a social too, but I don’t really want that. If the band is gigging regularly I think that’s probably enough - certainly been that way for me. When you say you haven’t rehearsed for 5 years Daryl, does your band still introduce new songs and then do them on the fly at gigs? Or has it been largely the same set for that period? My last band ( a touring tribute ) used to rehearse in December when we were quiet, in readiness for the following year’s dates. This gave us chance to maybe re-jig set lists and swap in a couple of new tunes and it worked well. If we had anything that needed ironing out we’d do it at a soundcheck to save having to organise a separate rehearsal. There were eight in the band, from over quite a wide area so this made sense for us. ( My acoustic duo have never had a rehearsal in over 30 years!! ) 🤣

We had a rehearsal last night with our blues trio ‘The Alligators’. Only my second one - been gigging with them since last June! Got a few things topped and tailed, as well as sifting through some ideas for new songs to be introduced into the set. Used a Sire U5 short scale into my regular Rumble 500 combo, sounded great. I think it’s my new go-to bass for this band now, going to use it on our next gig a week on Saturday. Was really cold in the rehearsal room though, so I didn’t feel warm until I got home. Not overly keen on this rehearsal lark.

I’m in a similar situation, only mine is a Sire U5 short scale. Used it in rehearsals last night with our blues 3 piece outfit and both of the other guys commented on how well it sits in the band. Slightly OT, does anyone know who to contact regarding Sire spares? May need another tone knob for mine. Cheers.