dmccombe7

44 minutes ago, mep said:

Nice one Dave. I've taken the ferry to / from Dunoon a couple if times on my bike during my Scotish tours. Good to hear it's name again. You guys get around. Keep it up.

We weren't in Dunoon. Just a couple that travelled from Dunoon to our gig in Falkirk area. Don't think i've ever taken the ferry over to Dunoon, always taken bike or car.

Most of our gigs are on the East Coast Scotland and most are within around an hrs drive for me but some like Arbroath its a 2.5hr drive. 

Central belt on East coast side up to Dundee area but that's mainly because our guitarist is from Perth so it makes sense staying to that side of the country.

Arbroath was a struggle coming home tho as wearing all the Glam gear you sweat a lot and then a 1.5hr pack up and load the cars add a 2.5hr drive and its quite tiresome. Our drummer is from Leadhills area so he has another 30mins more than me.

At 64 yrs old its getting harder to do these things even going to the gym 4 times a week 

Dave 

45 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Sounds good Dave, the mention of Dunoon takes me back a few years to when we played there, was certainly a journey and a half!

Easy route is the ferry but you can drive the long way round up towards Loch Lomond. Not been there since a bike rally back in 2003 or thereabouts.

Its kind of went downhill since US pulled out of the area years ago.

Dave

Another new venue for BLOCKBUSTARZ Glam covers band last night at Shieldhill near Falkirk. The girl that arranged it was her first time arranging anything in the hall and she was so worried about it all at the start but she did a fantastic job with it including a decent full sized buffet plus my wife and our singer Lynn both won a bottle of vino each in the raffle. 

Not a huge venue but sold out maybe 100-120 people in with many wearing 70's Glam gear.

Also had a couple that came over from Dunoon on the ferry just to see us. They have been to a few of our gigs now including one up at Methil in Fife.

Fairly small stage so it was a bit tight. Its an old community hall style building. Stage was quite high up too but we really struggled to fit on it with very little movement. Sound on stage was difficult to get a decent mix as no room for monitors. Drummer had IEM and he said it was all sounding good in his ears.

Out front sounded good tho and that's the main thing.

Singer had a sore throat and as the night progressed his voice started to fade and Lynn our female singer had to take over his vocal parts in some songs but we managed by dropping out a few of the harder vocal songs towards the end.

Feedback was great and we've been asked back again with dates to be confirmed.

Usual gear Sandberg VM4 into Ampeg SVT7 and Mesa SW210/115 cabs.

Dave

1 hour ago, ossyrocks said:

It was the first gig of the new blues band last night - The Out and Out Blues band - https://theoutandouts.com/

The Gregson Centre in Lancaster, four bands on, fundraiser for the Gregson and Lancaster Music Co-op.

We were first on at 7.30pm and did a 45 minute set. A decent crowd, and very appreciative, we went down very well, and I even got them singing with us at the end, at 8.15pm!

The other bands were great too, and there was a lot of comradery amongst the musicians. I used someone else's rig, Mark Bass 1x12 combo with a 2x10 extension cab, with my '73 P Bass.

We were very pleased with our performance, and it's probably the best "1st gig" I've ever played.

Now we have to work up the rest of the tunes for our first full 2 set gig on the 18th. 

 

Rob

First gig with a new band is always a bit nerve-racking. Good to hear it all went well and gives you a good positive feel going forward to the next full gig.

Enjoy and have fun with it cause nothing else matters really.

Dave

Great band. I love listening to them on a long drive. Nice relaxed music for driving.

Amazing musicianship.

Dave

I'm not one for making changes to basses. I prefer to keep them as i buy them but that's probably down to the fact i've never bothered trying it.

Dave

5 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

I like my VM4 passive, though the last but one gig I did I went active at half time to boost the bass after an audience request. My 71 P with flats is the deepest bass I own. 

My Godin PJ is passive and it sounds very much like a really nice warm deep P bass when switch is set to P only. At one of my punk gigs i was using in PJ Parallel mode and it sounded great on its own but wasn't cutting thru the mix. Decided to switch tp P mode and WOW there it was sitting very nicely cutting thru the guitar and drums but retaining that warm P tone but with more edge than the PJ setting. It was an odd one but when i heard some vids the PJ setting did sound really nice out front.

I do like a P bass sound but i hate that fat neck most of them come with. The Godin having a 4 way switch rather than 2 volumes or a pan pot means there is no effect at all from the other pick up not in use.

Something even weirder is that most of my fav bands the bassist used a P bass 

Dave

I have the VM4, Fender PJ active and a Godin PJ but i'd have to say the Fender and Godin are far deeper sounding than the VM4. I prefer my VM4 to be honest as the active circuits means i have more variety and range of tones but it doesn't have that deep warm P tone the others do.

I'm not a fan of the VM4 in passive mode tho as it just seems so weak. 

Dave

43 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

So my 2017 Sandberg Cali II VT4 HCA got some new pick ups yesterday! Went with the EMG GZR set. Their push fit set up is something else! 

 

Decided to go all passive, as I'm not a fan of on board preamps, and have enough tone shaping on my board.

 

Also binned off the bridge pickup, I don't like how close it is to the neck pick up, so it never gets used... so away it went!

 

cant wait to give this a proper blast!

 

Nice but think i would have left the old bridge pick up in place but not connected rather than a hole.

Never realised the J pick up was so close to the P on them.

Dave

Good shout on the Berg gear. Had forgotten about them. Probably one of THE best clean amps on the market.

Dave

Could be worth looking at what other bassists use that you admire and who play same or similar style.

When i play chords i like a very clean amp sound so maybe something like an EBS, Genz Benz Shuttle, possibly a Markbass would work well.

As others have mentioned earlier a lot depends on your technique and what pick ups you use. I only use the bridge pick up for chordal playing.

I find using my thumb as you do tends to produce a dull or more bass focused tone especially playing up at the neck as you are in the vid clip.

Would maybe drop bass level a touch and boost some mids to sharpen the tone.

What settings you have on the bass itself will affect it too.

All the best with your search and journey and i'm curious to see where you go with it.  I enjoyed your playing and the song so keep us posted.

Dave

6 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

How did you and your bass get that small?

Wife put us in a hot wash.  

Dave

25 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Do you not play loud enough to make talking difficult?  That's how we solve it

 

Of course its compulsory but seriously no we don't play too loud. We set guitar and vocals to drummers level. Only vocals thru PA so we can't be too loud.

I have upgraded my bass rig to suit tho.😂

Dave

I stopped going to watch bands because i couldn't hear them for people yapping during the entire show and that's from pubs to Theatre venues. 

When i used to go to watch bands it was mostly rock or prog fans and without being sexist mostly of the same sex but nowadays its more a mixed audience and that's where the yapping comes in. Even when watching other bands posting vids on FB all you hear is yap yap bl**ding yap.

If people don't want to sit and watch a band quietly then don't bl**min go. Perhaps its just wives going with their hubbies to get out and have no interest in bands. Yes i know that all sounds very sexist and i apologise if i offend anyone with my own experiences.

On the other hand its mostly women that come to our gigs and it doesn't seem to be a problem there so i don't understand it at all but then again i've never understood the workings of a woman's brain. 

Men go to a venue to watch a band and drink beer, women see it as a social event to listen to background music, drink wine and blether all night having no respect for others that have paid to hear a band.

As you can tell this is a sore point with me. 

PS this is also a sore point with my wife so its not just me.

Rant over.

Dave

6 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Mud are never a group that I would have thought of or described as glam, but i agree, there is so much more work in even the basic songs back then, especially for a bass player. Work that had pretty much dried up by the 90s!

They were a kind of crossover between Rob wearing the flamboyant feminine looking clothes and Ray wearing his teddy boy suits but they have always been classed as part of the Glam era. A lot of tongue in cheek fun with them which was also part of the Glam thing IMO.

Dave

3 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

The ski jumps I have seen are all within the pocket section.

 

In that region the strings have almost same leverage over the neck whether there is a shim or not. But lifting the neck off the pocket at the rear gives that leverage somewhere to go.

Mine isn't horrendous but it starts where the neck heel starts which is approx 1-2" before the start of the pocket.

I don't know how that affects this debate but for me who is not a scientist that the issue lies more with the wood where it leaves the heel rather than the pocket area but as i said i'm no expert in wood, bass design, physics or quantum mechanics. I'm just a bass player and even that is questionable 

Dave

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I would dispute that.

Are you sure, you don't sound very convincing. 

Dave

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

We have been rehearsing Tiger Feat and its not as simple as it sounds, Its quite hard according to one of our guitarists. Mud went up several notches in my estimation once I started to learn it.

Rob Stiles was a fantastic guitarist and a very talented songwriter.

In the verse Ray hits an open E and then slides on the A string from B to C# then he moves up to F# note and slides from C# to D# on the A string.

Took a little time getting that slide in my head but its just a great song.

One bit you can have some fun with is the quiet mid section where Ray plays  AA_B but i've heard him play the bassline from the start of Radar Love during that section but playing it on the A string. Such a talented player plus he jumps about and sings at same time when playing live. Always looks like he's having fun. I enjoy playing Mud songs. What i have found with him is that he does repeat the same little riffs in different songs but i guess all bassists do that.

Dave

2 hours ago, Simon C said:

Good stuff Dave.  
 

I’ve never played Tiger Feet but Mud were the band hired for the first night in the Hall of Residence I lived in during my 1st year at university.  Of course they “finished” the gig without having played Tiger Feet, cue much chanting of “Tiger Feet, Tiger Feet….” (Much better than the modern day “one more song”). So I duly obliged by climbing on stage and giving my fellow hall residents a couple of lines of the chorus (the sound engineer kindly / foolishly leaving the vocal mic on), before vacating the stage for Mud to give us the genuine version. Happy Days.

They were an amazing band. A lot more talented than they were credited for i reckon.

So many of the Glam bands were actually very good musicians. They did what they did through a lot of hard work touring. That's where you learn your craft. No social media and autotune in them good ole days.

Dave

2 hours ago, JohnH89 said:

I know what I agree on . Can't speak for the rest of you .......😁

I beg to disagree.  

Dave

6 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Ignore me I am an idiot - I didn't see you had another singer due to the location of the camera!

At least i won't be lonely in the idiot room 

Dave

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

There is a very high pitched overtone parallel with the singer - Is it an effect / distortion or a member of the public?

 

Female singer just behind the male singer. You can see her in the pics i posted on an earlier post.

Dave

Just now, neepheid said:

 

That's better

Sorry about that guys i hadn't opened the vid when i copied the address over. 

I can safely say i'm mentally challenged 

3 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

This merely chucks me to my local Facebook group ...............

 

😎

Try it now. Let me know ?

It takes me to the FB post. I've used the same links in previous vids. Not sure what's happening now. ?

Can anyone else open the vid for this ?

Dave