KevB

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1378480092' post='2200963'] Jethro Tull Broadsword and The Beast [/quote] Excellent album For me I currently have Haken's 'The Mountain' album playing on the ipod. Not bad, a bit heavy in places for me these days.

I never gig without my Hartke BassAttack pedal but since I leave it on permanently and hardly ever fiddle with the settings I'm not sure it really qualifies as an effect. It could be used as a subtle overdrive I guess if it was used intermittently. I quite like a clean tone these days though and let the quality of the instrument itself and the rig that it's being played through shine through. I also have a tuner which acts as a mute and the compression is covered by the one built into the amp.

I might look into the step12 if I get time and earn a bit more from a few more gigs. Not a huge amount, looks like the unit plus a USB->MIDI box is about £250 all in. I think I'd need the extra box as initially I'd give it a go with my Roland JV sound module. Ultimately I guess I could really bring it up to date and run patches from a laptop direct via USB and ditch the extra box. I currently get very little stage space so the dimensions are appealing. Did it seem reasonably robust when you tried it out on loan?

I think initially Signals got a little overlooked at the time coming out after MP which was a massive album for them. Any follow-up was going to be a tough ask. I've always quite liked it but agree the production sounds a bit dated in retrospect. I was supposed to be seeing them on this tour in Birmingham but had to miss it due to college commitments. Didn't get to see them until the HYF tour.

It just depends on your circumstances and what the dynamics of the band are. In other bands I've been much more proactive and interactive with other members. It just happens that my current situation appears to be quite clear. There's the singer out front and his backing band stuck as far behind as the venue reasonably allows. We don't take the attention of 'his' audience away from him. Eventually I'll probably start hankering for a bit more movement and interaction again and look for another band but I pretty much knew what I was signing up for when I took the job on.

I didn't want to derail the thread but I've been wondering about the Keith McMillan thing for a while - mcgraham did you directly MIDI it to a sound module or did you have a laptop with patches loaded in and do it via USB?

I tried playing and singing demolition man once for a laugh at home. I found it just as impossible as I expected it to be, timing all over the shop. Full respect for anyone that pulls it off live.

If my band want a performing monkey they can go out and hire one. As far as I am concerned I've been employed to stand at the back and make the singer look a bit better than he actually is and I think I'm making a decent fist of it under the circumstances. Just look out for my 'I think I've been sacked' thread coming soon...

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1378735928' post='2203904'] KevB do you have a PK5? [/quote] Yes I have secondhand PK5 pedals (eBay about 7 years ago, £100 iirc). Always been reliable though the springs are starting to squeak a bit! Not using them with current covers band as band leader not convinced they add enough to overall sound (OK by me, less gear to haul around and I get paid the same ). You can call up patches from whatever sound source you are midi linked to via the pedals themselves and also switch octaves fairly quickly too. Takes a bit of getting used to but if you are only doing occasional low end 'washes' without too many note changes then it should be relatively easy to pick up. It's like playing a keyboard with one finger but using your foot instead. Found an old pic from about 2006 of my rig at the time; [URL=http://s30.photobucket.com/user/KevB64/media/cropIMG_0285.jpg.html][IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c307/KevB64/cropIMG_0285.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Seen PK5 pedals go for under £200 on eBay in the past, depends how quickly you need to be up and running. Not familiar with the minitaur. There are some decent moog type patches on the Roland 'vintage synth' card which can be used on some of their sound modules such as the jv series. If it has to be an exact replica of the tone it sounds like the minitaur would be the way to go though it would probably require some tweaking to get the patches spot on.

Another wedding last night, seem to be spate of them recently went OK I guess, not as much fun as last weekend's but hey-ho. They had built a stage for us and everything. We had to spend some money on PLI or the gig would have been in jeopardy. Of course the wedding planner who kicked up the fuss about it wasn't there to check the paperwork on the night anyway! I was telling the thers about James Brown fining guys in his band for duff notes then promptly dropped a clanger during one of our routine numbers. Band leader turned round and told me I owed him $50 I told him in the interval I heard the lousy note he hit in the following song so we were even only a matter of time before I'm sacked probably...drummer took me to a BBQ after the gig. There is something a bit surreal about grilling steaks at 1am outdoors. Someone mentioned we were playing again tonight and I'd completely forgotten, it had been mentioned a while back but I didn't know it was a firm booking so looks like I need to reshuffle my Sunday evening. Last gig before I head to the sun for a week so the beer money will come in handy. If anyone wants a laugh we are on in Hucknall tonight at H2O bar, playing from around 9:30

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1377250641' post='2185244'] Then why do professionals use Fodera's? [/quote] For every professional who uses a custom built instrument specifically for them I'll bet there are a dozen that don't, let alone a specific manufacturer such as Fodera.

Pete's band are well worth a look-in for anyone remotely interested in a bit of the Dan. I'm playing at a wedding this Sat so it's a no go for me even if free sex were involved. Though I usually get paid for my services...

Wakeman sr has not been involved for some time, took umbridge at the way Jon was treated among other things. His son Oliver did a tour when Benoit David was on vocals but then Geoff Downs came on board and he's still in the band as far as I know.

Would come in handy if I ever get snowed in somewhere.

Glad to hear you are all still getting out and about 'shell. I thought of the two bands you jammed with in Tipton the one with the girl singer (who oddly has a close resemblence to an ex girlfried of mine) was the more commercially viable of the two. If she couldn't hear herself and needed a bit more in her monitor and there was someone doing sound that could make it happen for her she was well within her rights to ask. You see pro bands do it all the time except they know their own crew and usually have some subtle (or frequently not so subtle) hand gestures to get the point across. Didn't see any family resemblences myself, maybe you could be the guitarist's younger sister?

Explains most boy or girl bands I guess.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1377034945' post='2182632'] Most definitely THIS. A synergistic string choice can make all the difference. The hard part is finding the right strings! [/quote] I've read this a lot and I'm clearly missing something. I've tried lots of different strings through the years and as long as it is like for like eg rounds v rounds or flats v flats then I'm surprised how little difference it makes in a real life (playing with a band) situation. I'm currently playing with strings bought on ebay for just under £6 a set and they sound no different to other brands I've had at 3 times the price and so far seem to be having similar longevity. Then again I'm not playing solo intricate jazzy stuff or anything.

Have 3 USA Fenders with through body stringing. The jazz has a badass III and the P special and passive P both have original BBOT bridges. Never had any issues with any of them, sound fine to me.

In my current band I've become mr anonymous and in truth I think that's exactly how the singer wants it, along with the other two of us backing him. In the past I've had the usual 'well played mate' stuff on my way to the bar at the end of a set but I don't recall actually being recognised entirely out of context which I think is what the OP was about. However in most previous bands I've played with hair down and in clothes I wouldn't be wearing on the street and looked quite different so not surprised.

Had a Columbus jazz copy which had a dodgy neck, badly scarred bridge, previous owner had added a precision PU and the bridge PU had stopped working entirely. With the precision PU removed, stock Fender jazz PU's added in correct places, badass dropped in and a Mighty Mite neck replacement with decent tuners it basically became a very playable and decent sounding jazz bass albeit slightly on the heavy side. However the only bit of the original left worth talking about was the body. The one spent a fair bit of money on which by the end of it made me wonder why I'd bothered was being picky with a pre-EB ray I found cheap. The pre amp and PU were modern EB ones rather than the originals. I sold those off and bought in a John East pre and Nordstrand PU which were both closely modelled on the early rays. An expert could probably hear the difference but for me it was probably not worth the effort. Decided that rays weren't really for me anyway and sold it on.

I'm going to the Leicester gig, manged to get a couple of tickets but they were selling well so not got particularly great seats, good enough for me though.

Not sure how rare but years ago I had a Washburn xs-8, one of my very early basses while I was still deciding if I really wanted to play regularly or not. Sadly no pictures of it but it was in white with black 'status' stamped pickups. Seen a pic of an advert for the model in black, never seen another one in the flesh though. There seemed to be a lot of xs models and I've no idea what was supposed to be the difference, maybe different pickup configs?

Three of my 4 basses came via ebay, unseen (other than the ebay pics) and unplayed and but for a bit of extra tweaking they've all been excellent instruments. My ric 4003 was only my second ever ebay transaction and remains the most money I've ever spent on either ebay or on any bass since.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1376922346' post='2180899'] It's worrying to think it could actually be a member here anyway? [/quote] It's possible I guess but if someone was to set up this sort of scam the first place they would look on the web for source material in addition to google would be particular forums that would include extra info that might make them decide which stuff was more desirable and better 'bait' for their false listings. No one has to be a subscriber to see posts here other than Off Topic iirc.