brensabre79

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1340144876' post='1700095'] If that puzzles you: I went to my local last night for something to eat. I was the only one there Probably in for best part of 30mins. Spent about £15. Landlord, bar girl and cook. The Fri/Sat nights are usually subsidising the rest of the week too. I chatted to a landlord once about his takings for New Year and Christmas. He agreed they were extremely good, but that no one goes out in January and generally it didn't pick up properly until everyone had been Paid in February. So the Christmas period was subsidising the first 6 weeks of the new year. It must be a complex way to live unless you're a tied house. [/quote] But this is the point, the band are effectively 5 or 6 (or however many) employees (or freelancers) for the night just like bar staff, chef etc. Some of the bands work does not happen inside the pub but based on the earlier example (it varies from gig to gig) its 6 or 7 hours work. £50 for 7 hours work is [b]£7.14/hour[/b]. All things being equal, Tax and NI needs to come out of this too. Not to mention, staff usually get free soft drinks and sometimes a meal - that doesn't happen in many of the pubs we play in. The going rate for a musician playing in a function band is about £200 for 8 hours work (functions are invariably a slightly longer stint), that's [b]£25/hour[/b] - or 3 and a 1/2 times as much as a pub gig.

Change the valve in the pre if you want some dirt (breakup) I put a NOS Mullard in mine and it sounds awesome

Well yes, the pub is a business too. What I'm saying is, these gigs will always exist, and there will always be someone prepared to play them. If you want to make a living you have to aim higher, be good enough for people to want to pay a few quid to see you! Don't go and play a £50 pub gig and complain about the money. I do these gigs all the time, but we use it as advertising for the private functions we do. Its a shop window to us, advertising with expenses covered, that is all.

I definitely think its a UK thing, having played in Europe, musicians are treated with the utmost respect. Fed, watered, accomodated and paid well. Preparations made prior to arrival etc. etc. sufficient space provided, promotion done. Similar in the US actually. [RANT] A sharp contrast to a £50 pub gig where five musicians have to fit into a space the size of a pool table, punters complaining before you've started because there's a drum kit where the pool table was, no free drinks whatsoever, no food, and at the end of the night the landlord decides to dock you a tenner each, because he forgot to put up the posters you had designed and printed for him, so nobody knew it was happening, apart from the local pool league who went to the pub down the road because they had a pool table. [/RANT] But I think its true that nowadays everyone is a 'musician' if they can get three notes out of a guitar, they will gig for free and the pub landlords only notice the difference on their books. As for me, I'm still learning after first picking up a bass 25 years ago. The bottom line is if you want to make money from music you have to treat it like a business, you have to recognise that £50 for a gig is on a par with minimum wage for the night that starts at 6 loading your gear into your car and ends at 1 carrying it back into the house whilst trying not to wake the wife or the neighbours. Not to mention the equipment, insurance, preparation time, transport etc. The only way this situation will change is if everyone refuses the £50 gigs. Which they won't. Playing in a band is like being a badly paid removal man. in the middle of the night.

My Newtones arrived today, still experimenting have got one each of the Diamond and Platinum. Both Stainless steel, 45-60-85-110 So I'll whack one of the sets on tonight and report back!

Hartke HA3500's are an excellent amp. I never had to fiddle with the EQ too much on mine and it was plenty loud enough for most gigs. I found that it was very clean and crisp with the SS pre, adding a bit of the valve gives a huge warmth so it's a pretty versatile head. Not too sure about their cabs, I tried the aluminum coned ones a while back and thought they sounded weak, but like most things they have probably changed since then!

I think we all get over GAS sooner or later. Having bought, traded, made and customised many a bass in my time I find myself looking for the next bass constantly but in the last 6 months I keep finding myself thinking... Is it going to be any better than my No.1 bass? to which the answer is inevitably no. The journey I've been on was extremely roundabout but I have finally realised that what someone once told me is true, one day you'll find 'the one' and all other will pale in comparison. I've bought nothing but strings and picks this year! And do you know what. I'm happy about it

It should be fixed in somehow, maybe this part is missing. You can get stick on velcro strips from a DIY store, one side on the cab one side on the grill and it should hold in place ok. You might need to staple the velcro strips on though, not sure how strong the glue is after hours of repeated vibration!

[quote name='Dudgeman' timestamp='1339371058' post='1687691'] I am going to have a new serial number made up that doesn't work with Fenders serial codes, as it is going to be a sort of replica/signature bass mash up...that way I won't be able to pass it off as something it isn't.. [/quote] I don't get why you're doing this, why not leave the original serial number? Who is going to look at the serial number anyway? unless you're selling it.. which you say you're not... and even if you did... a fake serial number would cast far more doubts than a real one even if it is a MIM. Also, a serial number on the back side of a scratchplate will mean nothing except maybe that the scratchplate is off a different bass. Sorry i don't know anything about the metal decals - I didn't even know they did metal ones!!

I think a large part of a custom build comes down to your relationship with the person building it for you. I'm sure all of these builders are great people, but I would try talking to your shortlist direct, see how you get along with them. I went to a highly reputable luthier (not one of these) once for a minor finish repair to one of my Fenders once, before asking anything he said "oh that truss rod is out" and cranked a good couple of turns, ruined the set-up (IMO) so that the action was incredibly low and the strings choked on the upper frets and handed it back to me "there you go". i was quite happy with the set up I already had and asked what he'd done that for... he said "you've obviously never played a well set up bass if you thought that was alright" - needless to say I asked him to put it back how it was. Then he asked why I'd brought it in (despite the enormous chunk out of the otherwise gleaming laquer on the neck). I said "no reason" and left. - the point is, while his intentions were probably good I knew i wouldn't be happy leaving my bass with the man, let alone having him build one. His own basses are a beauty to behold, but if he were building one for me that sort of executive decision making would drive me nuts! So go see them, speak on the phone, find out who you get on with, who you feel is listening to, rather than telling you, what you want. A custom built bass is an incredibly personal thing. Just because i didn't get on with one luthier doesn't mean the next man wouldn't think he was the best guy on the planet - indeed i went to him based on a recommendation from a couple of pro bassists i know.

Bernie Goodfellow in Brighton does a fine refret. Under £100 I think, as long as it doesn't need a refin (Maple?), but probably a bit too much ££s for a project bass.

+!for a midget. If you're after a 2x12 stick with what you have, there won't be much difference in size and although something like the Super12 is a fine cab, and it will take 1000w+ all day long - you won't find one for £400 unless you find someone who has more money than sense and has ears made of cloth. The midget will easily handle the power of your Terror. I wouldn't go Schroeder personally, they use a mid range hump in the design to make them sound loud on stage - which works in the mix, but for similar money to a Barefaced I would buy British every time. Much easier to sort out if anything happens. If a 1 x12 is just too small, then a compact may be the way to go. Having said all that, I drive a small hatchback (BMW 123) and I fit my Super12 in, along with PA system and 2 basses with the seats folded flat. The light weight means its not really a chore to load and the wheels plus gig bags means I can get from car to stage/practice room in one trip (minus the PA). Had you thought of folding seats down in your car? Or getting wheels on your LB...?

It's all a matter of taste and style really, given a song without a bassline, there are familiar patterns we would all follow, I'm sure we'd all do it slightly differently, in our own way. But you will not find a Youtube tutorial on how to learn good taste or style. All the technique in the world is useless if you have no groove, and yet there are players out there who can't even manage a major scale who would come up with the most fitting bass line for our imaginary tune, not fancy but one that just works. I think its a bit like the old saying that money can't buy you class. You either have it or you don't and it has little to do with how much money you have!

If your rig works fine and you're happy with it then stick with it until you know what you want to replace it with. I would say that you should probably replace both together, the Laney head is probably about as much power as the HH cabinet will take anyway, both are old technology but its not a bad thing in itself. Newer stuff tends to be lighter and more reliable. My first amp was a borrowed old laney head, it was noisy and horrid but it served me well for years, and it did the job. If you're after something bombproof then there are bargains to be had at the moment, many people are changing to the new lightweight gear (car stereo sized uber-powerful amps, and 1000w speaker cabs you can lift with one finger) this stuff is expensive, but a lot of people are getting rid of perfectly good top end gear that is just a bit large and heavy. Trace Elliot stuff is going insanely cheap considering in the 80s/90s this was [u]the[/u] gear to have - might be a bit clean for metal, but you can always stick a dirty pedal in front Have a look in the for sale section on here, most of the gear on here will have been looked after and you can look up peoples feedback, eBay is another good place but beware - check out feedback carefully as you do get people mis-selling utter crap. >>Shameless plug: If you like a rig that lights up, check out my Hartke below, the tuner over the top of the amp has racklights built in so the whole front panel is illuminated, white, not UV, but looks cool - oh and the SWR that Truckstop mentioned is mine too, it is heavy but it will take a serious amount of power. <<

Not tried one, I was tempted by these a couple of years ago. What I did find out about HB stuff is that, like Behringer, they don't actually make their own stuff. THe Promethean clone has already been mentioned here and its a typical example of HB stuff. Its made by the same people who make the Promethean, just rebadged and with different circuitry (probably lower spec preamp etc.). They also have something similar to the Roland Bass Cube (old version) with slightly altered fx circuitry. So its likely that the 210 will be very similar to something else on the market as it will be made in the same factory. What that is I don't know in this case as its not so obvious from looking at it. Like Edward said, the quality of it is probably up there but as to the efficiency of the design... Its probably based on an older design of someone elses, and that someone else has probably improved upon it for their current model.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338551570' post='1676177'] Yet another thread where we're being told we can't do what we want with our gear. ffs! [/quote] Who's saying you can't do what you want Chris? I thought the idea was for people to impart the benefit of their experience and knowledge to others. This isn't a regime, you don't need permission or approval to do what you like with your gear. If you want to connect a 3 pin mains plug to your strings and plug it in, or see what happens when you soak your speakers in petrol and turn them up really loud then go ahead fella! And if you want to get an active bass and turn all the knobs up to full you can, and people will advise you otherwise, and one day you'll discover why and tell others, and they will probably react like a spoiled teenager who doesn't like being told what to do

I'm all for variation of tones. But I think for people who just turn all the knobs up to 11 there is no variation, this isn't really using EQ as an effect either, its just turning up the on board pre and having to turn the outboard pre down to compensate, or having the outoard pre distort from too much level (which is an effect, but not as good as an overdrive pedal!). The idea of setting the EQ flat as your basic start point means you have somewhere to go in either direction, it means you have got your setup right to start with and, if you want a bit more of one thing and a bit less of another you have options. flat EQ isn't right for every application, sometimes you need a brighter or bassier tone. If you set everything on full you have nowhere to go but down. After playing 3band stingrays (all boosted) through a preamp with a graphic (big sine wave curve) for years, I finally realised that I wasn't getting what I wanted tonally. Now I have a Jazz with an EMG Eq that runs flat mostly, and an amp which I run flat, I know I've got the setup just right for me, I have lots of options up and down too.

I don't think the zero fret should be any different to the others to be honest, if you get the neck relief right. Having a zero fret higher is the same as having a poorly adjusted nut, the string will be too high making fretting the first position hard work, and you'll never get a low action that way either.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338467036' post='1674983'] My view is that excessive EQing probably means that I've bought the wrong gear. [/quote] This. I run mine flat and add 10-20% of treble or bass to suit the track, then back to flat

Not much difference in the power stage of all the car stereo amps. So its all down to which Preamp you prefer I think. I got a Genz Benz Shuttle 6 just before they released the 6.2 because it was severely reduced. Its a great amp but a tad clean for me, nothing a pedal doesn't cure though

I really struggle to find a stand that works for me, these small ones (hercules, cooper) are great for a Precision because it is symmetrical at the bottom (when standing) but I play Jazz basses and its quite a balancing act to get the thing to stay upright. one of these days its going to lean over too far!

I just play mine in on a keyboard, its General midi so setup is same as most. Plus you can play with feel and velocity for accents and ghost notes. Then I tweak any wayward bits with the piano roll editor - but the variations in velocity are what give it a more realistic feel IMHO. But have used it with V-Drums too. either way is fine.

[media]http://youtu.be/1GXGXJgq48U[/media] I think this is a guy called Steve Ojay who used to play in lots of bands around Manchester. The guy has a serious groove on!