casapete

On BBC4 now ( and also iPlayer) there is The Rod Stewart band recorded live for an OGWTest special in 1976. Featuring the late Phil Chen on bass duties too.

Me too - been a fan for a long time, but his comments over the last couple of years have sadly made me think differently. I do wonder if he’s seriously lost the plot, along with Van Morrison.

I’m the same. Have taken on some gigs at a hotel in December including NYE, and crossing everything that they don’t get cancelled as haven’t been working much at all for a good few weeks. Some of our band’s theatre dates starting in January (some being rescheduled for maybe the 3rd time) are possibly looking doubtful, again. Customer confidence will only stretch so far I think, and it’s getting harder each day to remain optimistic about what will happen next.

I’d like to, and as quickly as I can. 😣

Sorry to hear about your health issues Tom. I broke my shoulder a few years ago and carried on earning a living by using a Roland D10 to play bass in my function band. Did this for a few months with no problems, but obviously keyboard knowledge enabled it to work. Have you tried a bass uke? The playability and different string tension from a regular bass may just be okay for you to manage, and in the right setting they can sound ace. Never tried one with a Trace combo but would imagine it could work well! Mine is a Countryman, cost £149 and is a great little thing, Tried it up against a Kala but didn’t think there was much difference in quality for around £300 more. If you wanted to borrow mine to see how you’d get on, I’d be happy to let you give it a try as am currently not using it. All the best, Pete.

Glad to see they’ve changed the type of plugs to something a bit more robust looking. 😊

My band has suffered from no-shows for the last few months. I completely understand people changing their minds when deciding to venture out, especially our audiences who tend to be shall we say in the upper age group. What does get me though is that when a theatre has sold tickets for us, and the customer then decides not to attend, as well as the option to move their tickets to a rescheduled date for my band, the theatre offer them the chance to attend any alternative show by another act at one of their venues - hence the theatre retain the money which is then redirected to another show. My band has generated that revenue only to see someone else gain from it. Far from ideal, and difficult times for our business.

My first gig last night in a while - illness and Covid has meant my main band hasn't worked for ages. Last night was a regular gig for me with function band 'The Black Suits', an outfit featuring my duo guitarist colleague along with keys and drums. The gig was at the wonderful Kings Hall in Ilkley, one of my favourite parts of the world. Lovely old theatre with a large heavily raked old-style stage. Long haul in with the gear from the front of the building right through the auditorium to the high stage, which fortunately has a hydraulic lift. Resident tech Ollie was incredibly helpful, along with all the other staff - wish all gigs were like this. Event was a Christmas charity fund raiser, always well attended and great crowd. Took along my Jazz bass and couldn't get rid of a really bad interference onstage during soundcheck - only became manageable when I turned 90 degrees to the audience! Tried everything to sort it, and eventually succeeded by using the guitarist's spare wireless system. After that the gig went really well, two sets of mainly upbeat dance stuff as well as a final Christmas tune. Was knackered when we'd finished though - set off at 2pm, back home at 3 am! Am getting a bit old for this malarkey, although probably down to not being match fit due to getting out of the habit I think / hope!

Definitely the room. When you think of all the variables concerned - size, shape, reflective & non reflective surfaces, size of the crowd, room on stage to position your rig etc etc - it’s no surprise really. Am sure we’ve all done gigs where it’s always sounded great, and likewise some that no matter what you’ve tried still sound sh*t.

The first bass (or guitar for that matter) I remember seeing with moving pickups were the Dan Armstrong 'London' series. Always wanted one when they were quite common, but now of course they're like hens teeth it would seem. More info here http://www.danarmstrong.org/londonbass.html

I had a similar problem with my spare bass, a vintage style Precision. After tightening everything I could, it turned out one of the metal tuner buttons was rattling in the split shaft. Bit of superglue sorted it. 😊

Absolutely this. For most of my time in bands, the drummer has been the level that others play to. The problem is that people perceive very different levels they need to achieve this ‘balance’, the main culprits for some reason in my experience being guitarists and singers who want to hear themselves way above everybody else. In reality, there shouldn’t really be the need to wear earplugs on gigs with modern PA systems doing all the heavy lifting for the room. Having said that, I had to resort to wearing plugs with two drummers in particular over the last few years, both who had some skewed idea of what was needed and beat the sh*t out of their kits on every gig. Left one band and managed to tolerate the other band with the help of plugs but it took a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me. One of my current bands are all on IEM’s ( including electric drums ) except me and it’s fine - I can control the level of everyone through my monitor and to have anything in my ears. Haven’t had any volume problems for years and it makes my gigs so much easier. Not sure if I’ll jump down the IEM route eventually, but for now no need.

I love stacked configurations of 10’s too. My valve Ampeg SVT rig is still my favourite rig ever, followed closely by an Ampeg 6x10. I’ve also had a Fender 6x10 which was great, and my SWR 8x8 was actually the same size as a 6x10 and sounded wonderful. Quieter stages have meant I don’t need so much speaker real estate, so currently using a GK Neo410 along with my BF Compact for smaller gigs. ( The Compact is the only cab I’ve owned in maybe 30 years that doesn’t have 10 inch speakers. ) Would love a BF410 if funds allowed.

I think the only ‘upgrade’ I’ve ever done to any of my basses was to swap the stock jazz pickup out on my Precision Lyte for a noiseless version. This followed a couple of gigs where interference was an issue. Otherwise I’ve always left things as they are. Same goes with amps - bought them because I like the sound they make without adding any other tone shaping stuff. Think I’ve seen too many guitarists chasing something they’ll never be happy with while spending a fortune. 😆

Bassdoc on here did me one for my Stingray. Great job.

Don't set your alarm clocks, it's on at 22.00, BBC2, Saturday December 4th. Maybe Dorset time is different Mick....😆 Hope you're well mate, Pete.

Me too, at a club in Newcastle, The Mayfair? They got back together recently to do a couple of great albums, 'Soulfire and 'Summer of Sorcery',. They toured the UK to promote of them, and released live albums from both. I had the good fortune to see them a couple of times each tour, in 2017 and 2019. Steve has a new book out too which is great, 'Unrequited Infatuations', and we went to one of the official book launches where Steve was on great form. As you've probably guessed, I'm a massive fan.....😆

What is this rhythm guitar' thing anyway? What interested me about Chuck Berry was the way he could step out of the rhythm part with such ease, throwing in a nice, simple riff, and then drop straight into the feel of it again. We used to play a lot more rhythm stuff. We'd do away with the differences between lead and rhythm guitar. You can't go into a shop and ask for a "lead guitar". You're a guitar player, and you play a guitar. Keith Richards

Still live and kicking! Survived many line up changes , released many albums and still touring, mainly in the US. They did / do have a strong Springsteen connection, coming from the Asbury Park area of New Jersey. Bruce wrote a lot of stuff for SSJ, as did E Street guitarist Steve Van Zandt who formed The Jukes in the mid 70's. https://www.southsidejohnny.com/

Billy was such a great player to have on board - the band all seemed to raise their game when he arrived. He didn’t say much, preferring to just sit and watch stuff unfold, whilst adding his genius where necessary.

Agreed - main reason I went was to see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes!

Another +1 for the Fender Rumble V3 range of combos. I have the 100 watt 1x12 and it’s fantastic - weighs next to nothing, great tone and loud as hell. Ideal for rehearsals and small gigs. The 200 and the 500 models really are gig worthy combos too, and can be picked up s/h for fair prices. All the above have DI outputs, and the latter two have extension speaker sockets to add another cab for maximum spread, but honestly don’t think you’d need to use one.

It looked like Mal switched John and George’s Fender amps to standby, and John and George swiftly turned them back on! Can’t believe the sarge bought the ‘weight limit’ line too, fantastic stuff. Think the cops had to be seen to be looking like something was being done after 30 complaints.....😆

Sounds like it’s not just the one guitarist who is the problem then?!!

Finished watching episode 3 last night. Loved the rooftop shenanigans, and the way the two coppers were continually being stalled by the Apple staff and Mal Evans. The ‘interviews’ with the people listening in the street were a great bit of social history too, absolutely brilliant.