casapete

I have an Ibanez PNB14E which is a small (parlour sized) body, 24” scale and uses the special nylon core round wounds originally designed for the Taylor GS Mini bass. It’s an amazing little thing, used it on hundreds of gigs and new are only around £240. The Taylors are great things but expensive IMHO (£750 +), as are the Martin DJR range. For a more traditional sized bass the Ibanez PCBE14MH are nice instruments, again around £240 new. I’ve also tried the Guilds like the B240E which seem really nice medium scale basses. As ever, it’s probably a question of trying a few out to find your fit, although not many shops seem to carry many in stock. I’ve used my Washburn AB20 on gigs for 30 years and loved it, but since getting the short scale Ibanez it’s unfortunately become redundant. May be selling it on here soon. 😉

Played in Scarborough this evening, a return to ‘The Lookout on the Pier’ cafe restaurant which we do quite regularly. Always a great gig with a truly appreciative audience made up of many regulars. As usual we did the set list from written audience requests, and managed most of them including ‘This Masquerade’, ‘Make you feel my love’ and finishing the second set with a very extended version of ‘Another brick in the wall’. My guitarist partner Gary had a bad cold but still managed to sing all night, albeit more raspy than usual. We’re back there again in three weeks time.

One at a time usually, and then every 3 or 4 restrings it’s all off and clean fretboard / check the intonation etc. My P Lyte is the easiest bass to restring I’ve had, can do it easily in 10 mins. 😊

Having the busiest week for a while (5 gigs) including these 3 with The ELO Experience. Started off with a 6 hour trek up to Dundee on Thursday to play at the magnificent Caird Hall. Not the easiest for sound, plenty of natural reverb! Our engineer managed to tame it though and the gig went well with a lively audience of around 800 all in good voice. I love playing in Scotland, always great audiences. The gig was to replace one booked late last year which was cancelled due to storm warnings. We had really high winds this time on both the journey up and back down which made the drive even more arduous, but still,worthwhile. Friday it was a drive back down to Darlington for a gig at The Hippodrome. Another great old theatre with a near capacity audience. Just a 2 hour drive home afterwards, again in high winds. Last night we played at Sheffield City Hall, a favourite venue for the band. Had around 1200 punters in, great crowd up for it right from the off. Had to use a flown PA so our guys had a job on but they got it nailed. Home by midnight, absolutely knackered. Am playing in Scarborough later today with the acoustic duo, so hope it’s an easy one!

I’m sure you’ve made a good choice, enjoy!

I just write on mine with a Sharpie. Always change them well before they should need it just in case. First ( and only!) time I was ever caught out was at a flash wedding gig and my P- Lyte distorted for a few seconds and then died. I’m sure most folk with active basses have had this happen at some point, so treat it as a learning curve.

That’s my perception too Dave. The Rollers and the others you mention were around at the same period but not ‘glam’ bands IMO. Mott the Hoople, Wizzard & Roxy Music were sometimes also lumped in to the genre. Its obviously a very broad church. 😊

We weren’t sure if the request for some Bay City Rollers stuff was a Mickey take or not TBH, but decided to give it a shot anyway! Were the BCR glam though? 😆

Yeh, it’s a great one. Not massive but a very old place with coal fires etc. They put on loads of music and have recently started doing gigs where they have an admission charge. Coming up soon are Tom Robinson, John Verity and ex Beautiful South singer Briana Corrigan. http://www.suninnbeverley.co.uk

Played at The Sun Inn in Beverley this afternoon with our acoustic duo. We do it every couple of months and it’s a cracking music pub. Loads of familiar faces and plenty of requests, mainly dad rock stuff but also a few we haven’t done in ages including ‘Harvest Moon’, ‘Bartender’s Blues’ and someone wanting some Bay City Rollers stuff. Of course we obliged with ‘Shang a lang’ resulting in mass audience sing a long. Finished by 8pm, just as well as I was knackered after 3x45 min sets and some fingers on my right hand were complaining. A good gig though, really enjoyable.

Agreed, hence my recommendation. The OP is looking for -

Exactly this ^^^^ Can’t see the need to spend any more for a starter / practice amp.

Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. Fabulous sounding amp for home or small gigs, and light as a feather (OK - 22lbs). Has a good XLR DI output too. New currently around £330, s/h circa £200. Had mine a couple of years and love it!

We currently have two original pieces of music for each set's walk on. Our ex-keyboard player composed them to fit the style and keys of the set opening songs. In my last band we would often walk on to this which I thought was great.

I'm retiring from my band in April, and must admit that although I still enjoy travelling as much as ever, it is the driving that I won't miss. Traffic / diversions / reduced speed limits for no apparent reason / roadworks / lack of parking / idiotic lunatics driving at speed etc have all contributed to making our gigs all over the UK a massive chore. Definitely all of these factors have increased in the last 4 or 5 years, and I won't miss that aspect of my life one bit.

I eventually had to resign myself to end playing MM Stingrays due to their weight. Lightest one I found still caused me some back problems and I reluctantly gave up on them. This led me to using Fender Precision Lytes, which I’ve done for many years. The one I currently use in ‘The ELO Experience’ weighs 7lbs, and after 3 or 4 consecutive two hour long gigs I don’t feel any shoulder fatigue ( despite badly damaging my left shoulder years ago in an accident ). Once I discovered this I bought a few of them, and still have a couple. Using this model of bass has enabled me to carry on working with no issues, and I will definitely keep one when I retire from the band in April. I’ve also owned a Danelectro Longhorn (or two!) for many years. Weighing just 6lbs they are a joy to play although not everyone’s cup of tea.

I saw her in a small local theatre a few years ago, where she had just her husband John Leventhal accompanying her. Absolutely wonderful stuff, enjoy!

Some good points above. I would add that the availability of bedside televisions to many patients now will have impacted upon radio listening figures. Am guessing these will also have access to internet radio too. 😕

Played at my favourite gig last night with my acoustic duo at The Lookout on the harbour in Scarborough. Usual request night with plenty of variety. I was a bit shaken doing the old standard 'Have you met Miss Jones?', which I'd forgotten was such a bug*er to play - unusual changes throughout (for non-jazzers like me anyway) but my guitarist partner held it all together and nobody died. Can't have been that bad as we got another gig offered at the end of the night for a customer's private party, so all good. A sold out gig despite the appalling weather, which made for an interesting drive home for us. We're back there in a couple of weeks, and I'm already looking forward to it.

For me, that would be a crazy bass to own. For you, if you can manage it then enjoy!

I was amazed at how brilliantly well the whole thing was carried out. You read about things like this in other parts of the world but rarely in the UK. The whole place was well designed and constructed, with a superb foyer and bar area for the punters along with excellent backstage facilities ( green room & excellent dressing rooms etc). There was a Meyer Leopard line array PA installed too. I heard someone say the whole thing had cost £1.8m to bring about, and they were expecting to be back in the old theatre by the latter part of 2024. ( Am guessing the new structure will then be taken down and sold ).

Played in Dartford last night. The Orchard Theatre was closed down as a result of defective concrete that was found in the roof in September 2023, and our gig there soon afterwards was cancelled. However, due to amazing work done by Dartford Borough Council and Trafalgar Theatres, they managed to construct a brand new temporary theatre venue close by to The Orchard, which was built and opened for business in late November 2023 as The Orchard West, only 9 weeks later! Absolutely incredible feat, and shows what can be done when people work together. Businesses in the town were worried that they would struggle without the theatre bringing in people, and the council listened and reacted accordingly. It was ready for the Panto season! Anyway, we had around 800 people in ( holds just over a thousand) and it went really well. Great audience and the theatre crew were amazing. A long drive back though, dodging muppets on the M25 and M1 as well as long 50mph speed restrictions for no apparent reason meaning I got home just before 3am. Bit of lunch soon and then am driving up to Scarborough this afternoon for my favourite gig with our acoustic duo. Severe weather warnings in place so crossing everything.

Wimborne Tivoli Theatre last night with The ELO Experience. Capacity crowd of around 500 in this nice venue in Dorset, although a five hour drive down from Yorkshire for us. Gig went well, and got to meet my cousin who lives in the area for a chat beforehand. Only a 20 min drive to the hotel afterwards too, so in bed before midnight. Onwards today to Dartford so hoping the M25 will be kind to us.

Not me Al, never had one! Maybe getting me confused with @cetera ?!!