pete.young

Aaagh! My eyes!!

Last weekend I did a dep job on bass guitar for a 16-piece amateur big band. This is not my normal bag. The only regular reading gig I have is with the brass band, which is in treble clef. I did it as a favour to help out the Musical Director and also out of curiousity, to see what big bands are about and whether I could hack it. The set list was 25 pieces, none of which I'd played before, encompassing Glenn Miller, some jazz standards, soul, show tunes, pop songs from the last century, some oddballs like Birdland, You Can't Stop the Beat, The MD sent me a link to a Google drive with 75 pieces in it, so I decided to wait for the set list which gave me about a month to look at it. 80% of it I was able to sight-read in one take. There were six pieces which were more challenging, mostly fast walking lines in unfamiliar keys or timing issues (Birdland!), so I was lucky to have some time to work these up. Finding YouTube vids of bands playing the same arrangement was very helpful to get the sense of these pieces. There were no rehearsals. The gig went pretty smoothly, I got lost a couple of times but found my way back. The MD and the band manager were happy with the outcome and have asked me if I would dep for them again if the need arises. Important points for me: Stick with the arrangement and don't go off-piste. The arrangement is the arrangement, the MD will point out any exceptions before you start playing. In particular, look first for key-changes and geography (repeats, DS/Coda) before you worry about the notes. Be confident, and do as much preparation to help you build confidence. For me this includes bringing enough spare equipment so that you can cope with any kind of failure. Dress code - this is always important and as long as you have black shoes and trousers and a white shirt, bands will provide you with what you need (in this case, polo shirts, but in the brass band world uniform jackets and ties too). Pay? Dream on. No pay, no expenses, and a 40-minute drive both ways. I got the same as everyone else!

Another good test for the Monza last weekend. I did a dep gig with a 16-piece big band - drums, keys, trumpets, trombones and saxes. No PA. Outdoors. I was just about loud enough at Fortissimo, with the iAmp Doubler running pretty much flat out. It's notionally 450W into 8 Ohms. The Monza handled that quite happily. To get a little more headroom and move a bit more air, I DI-d the signal from the amp into a TecAmp Puma 10 combo. A more powerful amp would have been a better option, but since I'm not planning to make a habit of doing this gig I'll stick with what I've got for now.

Beedster didn't say that. I did. Get your attribution right before you start slagging people off.

Yes, I remember A1 Music from the late '70's . Could never afford anything there, but I remember you went down the stairs and there was a huge cavernous shop underneath which went all the way under Oxford St. Also in Oxford street a few doors up the road (past the Salisbury and Oxford Rd Station) there were a couple of music shops, one of which sold Wal basses. My favourites from that time were both next door to one another on Chester Rd, next to a dodgy pub with a pool table. They were Muir Music, owned by Geoff Muir. They sold electric guitars, drums and PA. Dave Lunt was the amp repair guy who worked there. Next door was Sounds Acoustic, run by Charlie Carter and his friend Graham. They sold acoustic guitars,mandolins and banjos. I spent a lot of time there and still have a Fylde Orsino which I bought second hand from them, hire purchase £10 a month!

That might have been SoCoDi Music. They were originally in The Friars, from the early '70s on. The name was a corruption of South Coast Discos. I think they moved to Castle Street around that time. Kennards Music were in Northgate, opposite St John's Place. I had piano lessons there for a while. It's now an Indian Restaurant. Reggie Forwood's music shop was on Palace Street, for classical stuff, and Judd sold instruments, records and other bric a brac there. It's where I bought a Futurama bass and my vinyl copy of Back Door's first album.

"more old style than modern transparent" not clear enough? Sorry. Walkabout Scout is not remotely transparent but sounds fantastic whatever you plug it into. Better?

£200 ! I'll stick with my £15 quid used golf bag trolley.

I'm using a Euphonic Audio iAmp doubler with my Monza. It's very clear, but once again no longer available although they pop up second hand in the market place from time to time. I also have a Walkabout Scout which is more old style than modern transparent, but does sound fantastic through the Monza with bass guitar - less so with double bass.

I really enjoyed it. For me, the vocal performances were excellent particularly Beverly Knight and Jacob Lusk, the backup singers and the orchestration were first class.

I think writing your own material makes a massive difference.

No idea, but most recent Cubes including the current model have built-in compression, which is usually helpful for slappers.

Roland Cube might be worth a look, they're a step up in quality from Behringer and Rumble, and have lots of interesting effects built-in.

You have a singer who takes baths? That's pretty rare. Don't be too hasty.

Not round here it didn't. Buy it and move to Suffolk.

Some Euphonic Audio amps do. My PJB Briefcase has an Active/Passive switch.

I was able to test the Goodwood prototype against my Monza, and for low volume use I couldn't tell the difference. This was with an iAmp doubler, which is around 450W at 8Ohm, this is no problem for the Monza but might embarrass the Goodwood as a sole cab.

@Beedster how is your back?

If you've got room in the van, one of those semi-rigid cases with wheels might be an option? Someone had one FOC on the forum a couple of months ago, but it wouldn't fit into my car.

That looks like a much better solution.

I think the talk that @51m0n did a few years ago was outstanding, and I'm still using some of the things I picked up from that lecture/demo today. I'm hoping that he's busy this year and won't be able to do anything until 2026 when I might be able to attend!

You might try homebrewing something from a plank, a lighting pole and a speaker top hat. How about a laptop stand? I think a respray might be in order, the colour scheme looks like something out of a care home for old steel guitar players .https://www.dunelm.com/product/ozzy-adjustable-laptop-table-1000266671?defaultSkuId=30966581&branchCode=0122 Slightly nicer finish - similar to the big music stands that MDs like to use. https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Adjustable-Laptop-Stand-by-Gear4music/WJS?utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google

Nile Rogers autobiography Le Freak is a good read. I've just finished reading Just Backdated by Chris Charlesworth, an account of his years working for Melody Maker in the early '70s. An excellent account if like me you were at an impressionable age at the time. I think I got it from @Mickeyboro