dangerboy

According to G-K the only difference between Backline gear and their normal gear is the country of manufacture, so theoretically this should sound fantastic and be built like a tank. YMMV, however.

Time for all the nasty nicknames for amp brands. So far we've had: Crashdown I'd like to add: Horrible American Rubbish That Keeps Exploding What else have people got? (I have no problems with Ashdown or Hartke btw - they just don't do my sound easily)

[quote name='Linus27' post='565810' date='Aug 11 2009, 12:04 PM']I am just wondering if gigs are worth doing these days, or not as many as the old days. Just seems to be less of of scene these days for original bands. Do you think thats because of the recession, lack of money, health and safety shutting places down, lack of venues, to many bands and not enough places to play etc??[/quote] I would say that this is because you haven't met the right people yet. In terms of the stuff I'm into there are a big set of promoters doing interesting gigs. I know them, talk to them, I've usually put their band on, and that's who I would approach for gigs. The scene might be small, but it is tight, if you know what I mean. What kind of stuff do you do?

[quote name='rasher80' post='565761' date='Aug 11 2009, 11:12 AM']It's tough alright. I'm in the position of being both in a band and running a monthly night in Manchester. We are struggling ourselves for gigs, Manchester's "indie" scene is massively overpopulated with bands, and as such, unscrupulous promoters use the local scene as a cash cow, fleecing bands' fans and mates whilst doing no promotion. We avoid these guys but they are widespread, meaning it can be tough. Ws also started our own night in response the the so-called "pay to play" gigs that are almost ubiquitous nowadays. Bands come to our monthly night, which has a great mix of comedy, music and performance poetry, and take 100% of the door. We do it for free because bands shouldn't get nothing for playing a gig. However - you wouldn't believe how difficult it is just to make sure the nights run smoothly. Every month without fail we have someone let us down. One band's guitarist left and they didn't bother to tell us until we sent them out the soundcheck/stage times a week before. We thought that bands would want a gig and we'd be over-run with gig requests, but more often than not we have to chivvy and chase people to play![/quote] +1 to all of this, but substitute London for Manchester! At Duel in the Deep (the experimental rock night I run with my friend Seb) we ignore a lot of the mails we get from bands on the grounds that it costs us money to put people on (we take nothing from the door), so if we're not into your music, why should we put you on? We get LOADS of email from bands who are completely unsuitable (ie they play metal, landfill indie etc) and never reply to them. To get good bands that will work together, we have to investigate, locate and chase! I think the thing to remember about emailing promoters is that either: 1. They are in it to make money - if you can't guarantee them money, they don't care 2. They are in it for love, and love is subjective - they might not like your music We put on 1 or 2 out-of-town bands a month, who usually don't bring in many people. This means that basically the other bands are subsidising them, but we do it for the love (and to help good bands out).

Why not follow the tried-and-tested major label route? Find someone who looks the part and is easy to manipulate. Maybe the son of a label executive's friend, for example. Train them up to a basic standard. Done.

[quote name='matt_citizenbass' post='547124' date='Jul 21 2009, 10:58 PM']yeah, the water rats is really renowned for having the most ridiculously stupid pay to play service. no one should have to do that. i once spoke to that tom guy on the phone (as mentioned above) and he said they require we sell no less than 50 tickets in advance other wise we won't be allowed on stage. he said he'll keep checking back on whether i think we can do it every month or so and he does each time i saw their number pop up i just let it ring. pay to play is the biggest joke ever[/quote] Much better to come and play for Duel in the Deep (finally!). How was the gig with BITCHES?

I think there are a few things you need to take into account - Rick pickups are single coil, have pole pieces directly under the strings (rather than smaller ones either side) and are mounted hanging from the pickguard/surround, rather than screwed to the body. You'll get closer the more of these things you do. They're also floating above a maple through-neck, which provides some of the clarity. I did an experiment recently to see if I could get a Thunderbird to sound more like a Rick, with single coil pickups mounted from pickguard rings. Answer - yes. It sounds a lot more like a Rick (but not all the way). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=53048"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=53048[/url] If you want a cheap first step, I'd start with Quarter Pounders, and see if you like them. Dark Stars are a very expensive experiment!

Just had a little play. No neck dive at all, and in fact quite a bit lighter than my Travis Bean (which is the bass I'm used to).

I have the 8-string version of this (I think joegarcia does too, but his might only be strung up as a 4). It has the normal aluminium tonal clarity and brightness (and even more top end due to octave strings!). It is heavy (but only by modern standards), but still lighter than a lot of my other basses. The seller doesn't seem to have mentioned the fact that it's 30" scale anywhere, but it is. The switches are coil taps and phase, I think. Anyway, it can make a lot of different noises.