la bam

I know this is a thread about PAT but people need to be educated on these 2 vital aspects that go hand in hand. A genuine piece of advise - if you have PLI go and check your PLI policy. I'd be very surprised if your policy is valid if you can't provide evidence of PAT testing should you need to claim. Thats the part you're missing. Even though PAT isnt a LEGAL requirement, it may be a requirement of your PLI policy. If in doubt ring them and ask for a concrete answer. So in theory, should the worst happen, you have no PAT and no Insurance - thats not a good position to be in. The just buying labels and pretending to have PAT is fraud and youll easily be caught out. Have a look at a genuine PAT certificate - it contains a lot more information than 'passed'. Would you be able to provide the required information if needed/scrutinized?

Theres lots of examples. Just think of house much it would cost to repair a hotel if your kit set it on fire. Repair bills, labour, lost income. Can you afford these repairs out of your own pocket? Do you think a venue is going to pay for you if the investigation proves your kit was to blame? No. They're going to come after you. Granted there now should be trip switches etc at venues, to prevent major damage, but I've seen some shoddy venues. For the sake of £100 a year youre crazy not to be covered.

PAT is there to show you have tested your equipment within the last 12 months. It does not guarantee safety. As with a car mot your car can be fine after the mot then breakdown 2 weeks later. That is when taking good care of kit and regular checks come into play. Yes, PAT is not a legal requirement, BUT one big thing missing here is that if you have PLI and no PAT (or dodgy PAT) this can invalidate your PLI insurance, leaving you vunerable to potentially millions in damages, or even jail, should the worst happen. For the sake of a few quid every year (it isn't much split between a band), pat test your kit, get pli and be safe.

I have a b3 (not this new one) and love it. I love the b3 layout though - where it looks like each individual pedal and controls. Im not too sure about the new ones layout. A 7 screen one (if its using 7 combined effects) would be brilliant, 3 might be a bit confusing? All that said, if youre looking for a multi effects at a great price, these will be great!

Unfortunately the word charity has changed over the past 5-10 years. A lot of charities now are not what you think. Only a small percentage of monies raised goes to the charity once all other fees have been deducted - venue hire, bar staff, wages etc. They are run more like a business where costs are met first then excess goes to the charity. In certain cases this could be a very low percentage. This is completely the opposite of the perception of charity where everyone does their part for free in order for the cause. It might be best to find out how this one operates. If you still want to contribute you may be better playing a pub gig and giving all your gig money directly to the charity.

My take on it is: You have to be loud enough to be able to create good dynamics and a good sound. Many guitarists cant get a good sound quietly because their amp is too powerful and at normal volume they are just not driving it at all. 15-30w is fine for a valve amp, not 100w! We always try to rehearse as its a gig. Nice and tight, but good stage volume, but balanced. Good eq and frequency coverage means you don't have to go too loud. If we are comfortable there, we should be fine at almost any backline area. Everything apart from that can go out the front. I also have split our backline, so we all have a speaker for each instrument at each side of the drums. Not in the monitors, but as backline. This means we all dont have to be blisteringly loud to be heard and theres no interference in the monitors for the singer. It also gives an even spread out front for intimate gigs.

I have a pedal train and its great. They also come with a bag. Personally id probably see it before buying as the amount of bars and width you need will depend on your pedal dimensions and routing. Very lightweight and solid though.

Ive got a zoom b3 and in all honesty its absolutely brilliant. For the money i think its crazy value for money. Its very easy to use, and i love how it can be used as 3 effects boxes at once. The amp modelling is superb without sounding different for the sake of it. The effects are very good and have plenty of scope for adjustment. In a loud live environment everything works great and sounds great. Throw in a looper and tuner, and for the money its unbeatable.

The 2 main things for me are... 1. Where are the mainstream guitar bands for the younger generation to aspire to emulate? 2. Without a Top of the Pops style mainstream weekly music show on the bbc no one over 25 has an inkling of what's in the charts or popular, so you've got the biggest divide ever of what is going on musically. Also this means the over 25s are less likely to buy current music and affect what is in the charts. So the chart is very youth orientated, and the people running the venues very older generation orientated.

Not so many for me. Usually average about 2 per band I'm in. In order of owning. 1. 60w gorilla guitar amp. (starting out). 2. Carlsbro Stingray amp head and 15 cab. (for my first band with friends). 3. PA system. Tek cabs and studiomaster powered mixer. I used to stand behind the pa and listen for my bass through the back of the speakers as I couldnt afford an amp and having a pa got me in the band! 4. Trace Elliot commando combo. Great unit for my first good band. Heavy, but reliable and had a decent enough sound no matter what eq you dialled in - great as I didn't know what I was doing back then. 5.Ashdown mag 300 and 4x10 deep cab. I never liked the sound, but the band loved it. 6. Ashdown Superfly and 1x15 mini and 4x8 mini cabs. Really under powered. Not impressed at all. Also you couldnt turn the compression off and it hissed. 7. Line 6 lowdown 300. Decent enough, but in all honesty only small backline sound. 8. Mark bass lm3 and 210 traveller. Lovely little set up. Expensive though. 9. Genz Benz 500 combo - nowhere near the volume of the mark bass and a real synthetic unwarm sound. 10. Ashdown abm 500 evo 2 15 combo and 2x10 ext cab. Love it. Lightweight for what it is and great sound and loads of headroom.

Some great stories there! I love the fact that they still have the passion and drive to gig for the love of playing!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1483965340' post='3211424'] What does talent have to do with being or becoming famous? For me the whole point of being able to make a living out of writing and playing the music I liked, would be so I didn't have to waste my time doing other things in order to put food on the table or keep a roof over my head. I still wouldn't have time for side projects (ignoring the fact that IMO they dilute what you really should be doing) because I'd be too busy creating and preforming the music I want to do with my band. [/quote] I suppose the 'talent' v 'fame' is another topic! What I'm getting at is say being for example Steve vai. Now he's famous is he only ever going to be allowed to gig what he's famous for on big stages a few gigs every other year, or would he love to be playing guitar in a covers band, playing classics and getting that gig buzz. Just because people have made it big, doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't want to have a blast playing classics for the love of playing, rather than being sat around not gigging.

Haha, obviously I'm not worried for myself! I'm not even gigging at the moment, and too bald, fat and talentless to ever become famous! Just curious as whether all that drive to gig is kind of taken away when people do make it.

Morning all, A question that I often think is what happens when you become 'famous' (or your band does)? Is that it for live gigs (apart from official big gigs with the band)? Id hate to think thatd be the case. Imagine being so talented then only getting that gig buzz a few times a year - sometimes only every few years! Just wondered if famous bands still gig (on the quiet) or under the radar (as a pub band under a different name etc), or if the musicians have side projects where they can get their gig fix? Seems such a shame to have all that talent and drive, then not gig.

love my bb424x but as previously mentioned a front body jack would be nice - apart from the pulling the cable out, it doesnt sit well on a stand where the jack is when plugged in. love my ashdown cabs but side handles and width mean its always a twist and turn through doorways! wouldnt swap either of them though!

Yes, but current music was being played in the pubs....it isn't now from what I see. The odd track, yes, but two sets of it?

I have used the mark bass traveller 2x10. Excellent cabs and a genuine 1 hand lift due to the weight and dimension. Ie as its rectangular and the handle is on top theres no awkward lift. I now use an Ashdown abm 2x10 ext cab and its surprisingly lightweight, second hand probably half the price of a second hand mark bass, but its more of a cube/box shape (if that makes sense) so regardless of weight its a two handed carry, with a handle at each side, elbows out, which means you get stuck in door ways! The mark bass was a richer, deeper sound, but the Ashdown really cuts through and sits in the mix well.

I remember being 20 in the mid 90s when pub gigs and drinking was at its height. There was always a band on at a certain pub - youd stay and watch, have a drink and enjoy it, but the onus was being out with your mates. Apart from one band who played all the current indie stuff, who were like a breath of fresh air, and people deliberately went to watch them and stayed the night watching. Thats because they were relevant to the age group in the pub, stood out by playing something different, and were lucky enough to have a current genre of music that suited a band/guitar set up and had countless future classics within it. I dont want to sound old, but i dont see x2 sets worth of current music or chart that would inspire a guitar band to play them, entertain the crowd and sound amazing. Id struggle to name 10 current bands!

One of the big problems is that live music in pubs hasn't moved with the times. We've just started doing sets of 90s dance music, and we're considered fresh and modern, but most of what we play is 20-30 years old!! Theres nothing more disheartening than seeing a bunch of upcoming musicians in their early 20s playing the same old cover songs that every band plays (we know the ones) just so they can get gigs. Landlords are very unwilling to try anything new. I don't know though how pubs expect youngsters to go and watch music that was out 20 years before they were born. It doesn't help that the big star names who started in their garages and went on to make it big, seem to be disappearing out of the charts and lime light, and the current focus is just solo artists.

The larger stuff just sounds really nice in the mix, and got to admit, you cant beat playing in front of a 'rig'. The tone just sounds full and never pushed or struggling. With the smaller stuff i was constantly trying to find a good sound and ways of filling out the frequency within the band mix, with the larger stuff i find its kind of done for you! Id compare it in a weird way - imagine stage lighting. Id compare the class d smaller stuff to a well focused spotlight, doing its job brilliantly, but concentrating on one particular area and you can hear it coming from that particular place. Then id compare the larger rigs to full on stage flood, concentrating on filling the whole stage and mix and giving a great full and warm sound, without you being able to pinpoint where its coming from. PS the Ashdown ABM 2x10 ext cab is surprisingly light - worth a look if you get chance to see one. In fact, the whole rig is a lot lighter than the trace stuff. Im not knocking any of the new small stuff - i think its brilliant, but i just love the larger rig.

Yes. I've gone from all in one combos (te commando 12) (Line 6 300) and genz Benz 500 ending up with a mark bass lm3 and 2x10 cab. Now gone back to an Ashdown evoii 15 combo and 2x10 ext cab. With the quality of heavy rigs out there its a no brainer. That rig in mint condition cost me around £300, and makes any of the others I've had sound like toy amps.

The PA at Skegness was changed a few years ago. The sound directly in front of the stage is usually very good. At the same time, the sound at the sides of the stage near the bar is absolutely terrible, whether its bands or pre recorded music. We've been 10 years on the bounce for the weekends to watch and the last few years has been a real change. I'm guessing, but I bet its so the staff can hear the bar orders better at the bar.

First point I would say (if your amp has the ability) is to properly set the input level or preamp before even starting on the output. Once that is set correctly you will get a much better sound, and not need so much output. Once set, I agree that you go as loud as to get a nice sound with the drums in. I use to run a mark bass little mark 3 and 2x10 at about 12 oclock. I note run an abm500 with 2 cabs at around 9-10 oclock. I did have a genz Benz 500, but found I really had to run that on max to get anywhere near the same perceived volume. Get an amp where you have plenty of headroom and you'll never have to worry.

Brilliant company. Always happy to help and give advice.

119 delay (from 60000) is perfect, playing 4 notes per bar.