Mudpup

Our 2nd gig of the weekend was last night in a pub in Essex. They've banned hazers and smoke so we travelled light and just used the couple of par bars the pub has installed - it was a nice quick load in and out without all our usual lights and lasers. When we arrived it all felt a bit quiet and we were fearing a dead duck evening. There was only about 15 people in there as we kicked off the first song but after about 20 minutes it had filled up and was packed out at the start of the second set. You play nose to nose with the crowd in here and it can get a bit lively. Last time here we had to stop at 11.45 as there was a fight kicking off mid crowd with a couple of cokey chavs being idiots. The security team here aren't as good as they used to be and have become a bit slow on the uptake. You can smell when it's likely to get a bit silly but they can't seem to pick up on it. No fights tonight but we had a youngish girl sneaking round the side and trying to hit the cymbals and getting too close to mains leads and stuff - we had to stop mid Sandman to tell her to hop it or we wouldn't start again. Drinks were going everywhere due to some pretty frantic dancing front of house later on. Another drunk woman was going on at me to give her the singers tambourine to play with - I kept saying no but the singist gave in, said yes and she immediately hopped up next to us and proceeded to do some odd booty wriggling routine and knocking the drum screen rather precariously. I booted her back to the crowd side of the monitors with her precious tambourine. We have a few more there later this year and we're definitely asking for some barriers at the front or a security guy for the second set.

In my case, the never ending search for an amp that will make me sound 'better'. I have finally come to the conclusion that the money would have been better spent on some lessons and earplugs 😂 What was I looking for? Well, when I discovered class D existed after my break away from playing it was mainly having something the weight of a biscuit tin to carry about. But I eventually figured out that there was something missing to my ears after I had been through all the usual suspects on my list. Most things sounded fine at home but when I tried them with the band there would be something not quite there for me. So that covers most of the changes i think. There are a few in there that plain didn't work for me like the Thunderfunk and others that in hindsight I would cheerfully have again such as the Ashdown ABM600 or EBS TD650 And I think the other motivation for the changes is that it's my hobby. I don't really do much else apart from work and raise my family. I don't drink or smoke or spend on myself in any other ways and was fortunate enough to have a job that paid enough for me to treat myself now and again. Most of the stuff was bought second hand and then moved on without too much of a loss and the money put back into my toy fund until something else interesting popped up on here mainly. Also my wife is an enabler - she comes from the 'if it makes you happy, do it' school of thought so I suppose I don't have a braking system either.

Pub gig in Essex last night. A few PA gremlins. Crowd didn't notice them though. Good fun venue where we can unleash our inner rock gods

Takes a deep breath and tries to kick the memory into action......I've been playing for 45 years so there's been a few 🙂 In chronological order Some old King branded amp and a home made 18" cab started me off Carlsboro Stingray 150 head (the black and green one) HH Bass Baby 150 combo OHM GA140 combo Laney DP150 head, an Allen Gordon 4x10 cab, some unbranded 1 x 15 cab Trace Elliott AH200 Series 6 head and cabs as above Same Trace amp and an Ampeg SVT1510 cab (stopped playing for about 15 years, rejoined a band and then got a job with a bit more money/toy fund and discovered what i had missed so the real amp journey began) TC Electronic BG500 combo Peavey BAM 500 combo Trace Elliott 1x15 cab Ashdown ABM500 head Barefaced Big One cab GK Fusion500 head and a pair of GK 2x12 neo cabs Genz Benz Shuttle 9.2 A pair of Barefaced Big Baby 3 cabs - still use these Mark Bass EVO Ashdown ABM600 evo 4 Gallien Krueger 700RB EBS TD650 EBS TD660 Various Bergantino cabs 2x10's, 1x12's and a CN212- tried to find something better than the Barefaced ones. Didn't work out - very good but not better. Thunderfunk 550b Quilter BB800 - still use this Mesa Subway D800 Genzler Magellan 800 Darkglass M900 Handbox R400 Mesa Big Block 750 - my amp of choice now Mesa MPulse 600 - a lovely amp but swapped it for a...... Mesa Big Block 750 as a spare just in case my old one died Orange 4 Stroke - half the weight of a Mesa but not half the sound. For when my back is hurting... Things I have learned along the way - I really like my Big Baby 3 cabs and the guys in the band noticed the difference to the Berg cabs Thunderfunk is the best name for an amp ever I don't get on with class D amps in general but the Quilter doesn't behave like one so I like that one I liked the Ashdown ABM600 amp much much more than the ABM500 The trade off between the weight of old iron amps and the convenience of little lightweight amps is worth it for me. Ampeg is missing off my list so maybe I should try one of theirs before I'm too old to gig anymore. The Basschat market place is a dangerous place - most of the stuff from after my break has been sourced on here or ended up on here. It's like gear rental. I'm sure I've forgotten something.....

This would be better in the Wanted section.....

A Quilter Bass Block 800 maybe? It's 800w into 4 ohms so should put out about 600/700 into your Barefaced cab. It's dimensions are 218mm x 190mm x 76mm and 3.7lbs according to the blurb. Tiny and super light - I love mine..... (ps Not my pedalboard - It's just a pic to show the size of the BB800)

I have the same thing with my mob. It's surprisingly hard to find and should be treasured.

Sounds epic Dave! Well done...these sort of things are hard to beat. You've just got the inevitable comedown to deal with at the next gig 😂

I think it depends on how often you're gigging. If its just a few random ones now and then the chances of something catastrophic happening are pretty remote if you tend to look after your gear. A spare lead, battery, gaffa tape and strings would probably get you through most things. If you're out most weekends or even more and doing pubs/clubs then it's probably worth being a bit more prepared/self sufficient. I fall into that category and consequently always take 2 basses in case of electronics failure or string breaks. I keep a little Quilter BB800 on top of a main stage amp for a 10 second change over in case the amp dies. I use 2 1x12 cabs instead of a single 2x12 - if one dies i still have something to use. My gig bag has a few spare cables and mains leads in it and I always have some sort of DI out on my little pedalboard. Having said that, in the last 12 years of gigging most weekends I've broken one string (opening note of the first set!) and an amp has failed once. We've had a PA speaker fail once and we used one of my cabs to get through it. One of the guys is forever having guitar amp issues though - either blowing valves, amps dying on him, dodgy pedalboard connections or knocking switches on the amp without noticing then trying to see what he's done in the dark. That's pretty stressful for everyone. I think it's just him though as the lead guitarist rarely has any problems. And there's a fire extinguisher in the van outside if we need it 😂

The Boars Head 🙂

Well, if you're in Essex, we're playing in Southend on Friday and Braintree on Saturday. I'll be using my BB750......

I had a Subway D800. Used it for about 4 gigs and moved it on...... Really wanted to like it as I had always wanted a Mesa of some sort but I couldn't get a sound that i liked out of it unfortunately. I found it woolly and too dark for my taste - almost like it had a blanket over it and it really struggled when you cranked it up. Nothing at all like the MPulse amps which I love. They have so much oomph about them and you can get a lovely glassy sparkle and depth out of them which I just couldn't find in the D800.

If that was from a certain recording studio in Essex then it's not a true indication of it's value - everything they list is hugely overpriced and they have a few Mesa amps advertised. As an example they have a Mesa Big Block 750 up for £1500 - the realistic market value of those is somewhere around £500/600 I think. I would probably put the M2000 in the same ballpark. The MPulse that pop up occasionally (BB750, M600 and M360) seem to be around that pricepoint recently except the Titan which usually commands a little more if you ever find one. I have experience of the BB750 and MPulse 600 and love them to bits - probably my favourite amps ever. These were the next generation after the M2000 and were simplified a little as people said the M2000 was a bit over complicated to use. (Make sure it has the footswitch included)

Watching with interest....

I reckon a bass player did the mix on that live footage. Not everyone's cup of tea but it's filthy 😂

Yep agreed, love them. Not difficult to play but really cleverly done and very original. Sometimes they don't work on their own but when you stick them in the band format everything comes together. And that tone....

That's The Iconic Wheatsheaf in Dunstable. We played it once about 5 years ago. Little old chap called Maurice runs it and insists on trying to get on a mic with his harmonica regardless of what sort of music you play I seem to remember. Lovely guy but seemed a touch crazy to us. We went down well and they wanted us back but we took a band decision not to return (partly due to having to climb over a load of tracksuited baby toting chavs to get the gear in and we struggled to fit in the space allocated for the band)

Maybe you have the second version. Mine is the original one

Mine was fine straight out if the box. I haven't had to plug it in to a computer at all???

There's a Mesa MPulse 600 in the classifieds on here for a steal of a price. I would bite his arm off.....(It's not mine BTW)

I'm sure you're on her bucket list. Don't Give Up 😁