BigRedX

I've just been updating Hurtsfall gigs on the Goth Calendar, and it looks as though The InSect have a lot of gigs coming up, so if you get the place you are going to be pretty busy. @2elliot which band are you in?

"Festival" covers a wide variety of situations from playing on the back of a covered trailer to 50 people to Glastonbury and bigger. Therefore there is no "one size fits all solution". However for all but the very smallest festivals I would expect the bass to be delivered by the PA and my rig to be at best for on-stage monitoring only. From personal experience, even the smaller festivals I have played unless my rig was being mic'd up (and that mic being used as the main feed for the bass guitar to the PA) my rig was little more than a big, heavy and expensive stage prop. On any reasonable sized stage it stopped being even a personal monitor to moment I was no longer standing directly in front of it. So unless you can guarantee that your rig will be mic'd up and that mic feed actually used, or your are the kind of bass player who stands in front of their rig for the whole gig, there is little point agonising over what to take. Bring a decent pre-amp and go straight into the PA. There will probably be something on stage for the visuals anyway and I guarantee that none of the audience will have even the slightest idea that you're not using it.

The sooner Thomann drop DHL for UK deliveries and returns the better. They are most definitely the weak link in an otherwise efficient service.

I don't know. It was cringe-worthy when it came out and it hasn't improved with time.

It's not an either/or. Sometimes you need flats. Sometimes you need roundwound strings.

I've got a load of wide-ranging and some very eclectic influences, but if I was looking to join or form a band I'd narrow those down to suit the sort of music I wanted to play. Edit: And if I wasn't sure about the music I wanted to play, I'd probably run multiple ads each for a particular genre.

Like that a lot. Got to be doing a gig with you some time!

The easiest but quite costly method is to pay for some properly targeted PR. If you want to do it yourself it involves a bit more time and effort, but IME the most effective way is to have a look to see where similar bands are being reviewed, written about and playlisted and target those websites and social media pages.

IME there are people who are ONLY on Instagram or TikTok. If you are not posting there you could be missing out on potential fans. It doesn't cost anything other than a few more minutes to tailor your content to the relevant platform, so why not?

Good luck with the audition. If you get it, one of my bands will probably be doing a gig with you at some point.

Good. prompt communication is essential for all small businesses, especially those with long project times. I put aside time every day to make sure that I am up to date with all my business communications, so that no-one is hanging on for a reply.

Personally I'd start by getting that eBay footswitch. If it doesn't work as advertised you should be able to return it. If you need to trouble-shoot it, make sure you have some sort of MIDI monitor on your computer so you can see what messages it is sending out. One thing to consider does the effect on/off toggle with the same MIDI message or do you need two different ones for on and off? (In which case you may need two footswitches.)

According to the Vintage Hofner web site both are 34" scale.

What is the mixer? If it has a USB-A socket then it should work as a host device. If it doesn't act as a USB host device you will have the same problem with your eBay footswitch.

TBH that comment wouldn't be out of place for some of the bands we share the bill with. I can remember seeing one guitarist set up the largest pedal board flight case I have ever seen - it must have been at least 3 rows of pedals. And then brought out a second one almost as big. His pedals occupied the whole of the front of the stage. There was just enough room behind him for the drummer and his kit, and the bass player crammed into a corner.

Surely the whole point of a device like that is that it is its own pedal board?

Have a look at see if any of the the suggestions in this thread will do what you want.

I find the blinkers have always made me more focused. In the end it depends what the OP wants out of being in a band, and whether playing any music and being in a band is preferable to continuing as they are not being in a band but creating their own music. It also depends on whether earning money from playing in a band is an important consideration. As an example: I have a creative/artistic day job - working in graphic design for print. But because it is my primary source of income I will take on pretty much anything no matter how dull it might be from a creative PoV and AFAIAC the customer/client is the boss. I'm currently working on a massive book project that has been going on for over 2 years now and will probably continue at least until the end of this one, if not longer. I don't find the subject matter particularly interesting, a lot of the design work is a bit of a slog, and the client/author can be a pain and often very demanding, but right now it is almost 50% of my monthly income, so I knuckle down and get on with it and relish the more interesting jobs I am able to fit in around it. However I couldn't be like that about the music I play - I have to 100% invested in it, to want to be in a band. Luckily I'm in 2 right now that satisfy those requirements. Maybe if I was earning enough money out of playing, writing and recording music I could afford to be a bit more flexible about what I play/write/record, but until that happens I'll carry on just doing music I really like. So, without more input from the OP we're all just guessing.

No be picky about the sort of music you want to play. There's nothing worse than having something you should love being ruined because you can't stand the songs you are playing.

10CC One of those bands who, IMO, were much greater than the sum of their parts.

This is what I have discovered. The problem is that MIDI over USB isn't really MIDI at all, but simply a data stream that transmits MIDI-type messages. It doesn't appear to be designed to be networkable beyond the host device and the controlled device.

Don't buy a USB to MIDI cable. Nearly all of them are terrible for the sorts of things that you want to do (I post from experience). You will need a proper MIDI interface and one that does not automatically filter out the more esoteric MIDI messages such as MTC and SysEx.

Of course it's not the same. They are entirely different instruments with entirely functions. Sometimes you want a the sound of a brilliant grand piano captured in a perfect acoustic environment, and sometimes you want the sound of a cheap Casio, and all the options in-between. To think that they are the same simply because the sounds are activated by pressing keys is foolish.

My choice of bass (or guitar) goes like this: 1. Looks. If I don't like how it looks it won't even get picked up. I don't care how great it might possibly play or sound, I don't want IMO boring or ugly instruments. It's not the 70s any more where there are only a handful of decent playing and sounding designs and everything else is awful. These days you have to look pretty hard to find a new bass that plays or sounds bad, so pick something you like the look of. 2. Playability. Entirely subjective. Spend some time playing without plugging the bass in. Concentrate on how it feels to play. If you gig standing up don't forget to try it on a strap first. I made this mistake with a Squier VMF Jazz. It was fine sitting down in the shop. On the strap I found reaching the G-string machine head difficult. 3. Sound. For me not really an issue. I can get the sounds I want out of any bass once it has gone through the Line 6 Helix that I use by adjusting the EQ and/or my playing technique. I've yet to encounter a bass that met the first two criteria that couldn't be made to sound right in the band mix.

To the OP: What sort of music do you want to play and what sort of a band do you want to be in in terms of commitment? If you want to go covers get along to some jam or open mic nights and start networking. If you want to do originals go to local gigs and get a feel for the sort of band you'd like to be in and get to know who is doing music in that style in your area. One of the bands I play with at the moment, I joined simply because I was a fan and was following them on Facebook, so knew when they were looking for a replacement bass player. Of course you could always put an ad up on Join My Band. Be specific about the sort of music you want to play and the sort of commitment you are prepared to put in and what you want out of any band you would like to join and that should filter out most of the time-wasters. And these days age is less important than ever for most genres. I formed what has been my most prolific and probably best-known band a few months before my 50th birthday. I'm now in my early 60s and at the moment I'm playing in one well-established (two albums out working on our third) and one up and coming band both in the post-punk/goth genre. When I'm not gigging (I have gigs with one or the other band at least every other week) I'm writing and recording new material. Over the last 15 years I've never been busier musically.