jimmyb625

5 minutes ago, Eric.C.Lapton said:

What they do is called ‘dropshipping’  it’s used in a lot of places not just eBay, usually through trade suppliers though.  Mostly on eBay they wait for something to be reduced in price at end of line or clearance sales maybe on Amazon and list it at just cheaper than full retail, when people go on eBay looking it’s slightly cheaper than they’ve seen it elsewhere, a lot of the sellers don’t make a lot on the item, but sell hundreds of them and it’s easy money.

They also sometimes add high postage costs for a few extra pounds 

I knew there was a word for it, I just couldn't remember it. I should probably put more of the wine into the cooking and not into my glass!

The only time I've ever tried a bass in a shop before purchase, was when my mate bought it. I was an 18 year old guitar player, gifted with the self-confidence and talent of 18 year old guitar players. He was wisely more reserved and a far better player.

All of my other purchases have been blind, mainly because the basses I've bought have never been readily available in shops here. Even my Bongo was a special order and I'd never played one before.

I used to find in guitar shops, if you asked to look at a bass, the assistant would play a load of slap on it, before passing it over, which always used to make me feel as though it was some sort of a "challenge". I'm less bothered about that nowadays, as I've realised, they may be able to do things I can't, but I'm the one with the money.

23 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

 Neal Schon should remember the recent lesson of Joe Lycett - it'll now doubtless soon come to light that Schon once played a benefit gig for the SS or something and he'll end up looking a bit daft.

 

 

Joe Lycett didn't try to hide the fact he'd done a gig there. He also said, if someone had called him out for it at the time, he probably wouldn't have done it.

2 hours ago, itsmedunc said:

Some folk automatically presume eBay etc are cheap. It used to be but no more. Cash converters is the same. They sell used pedals for more than the new price too. 

Absolutely. Many, many years ago, there were some really good deals to be had from ebay, but as its popularity grew, the real bargains dwindled away. 

I've seen a lot of stuff on there (procell batteries are one thing that springs to mind) where it's cheaper to buy from the likes of CPC than it is to get from ebay. I've also heard tales where sellers offer the goods on ebay and when someone buys it, orders from the cheaper supplier and just gets it shipped to their customer.

I'm sure this has come up before, as I think I've answered it. Anyway, I don't mind repeating myself.

I love gigging! In fact, I love every type of live performance, whether that be music, theatre, comedy or whatever. 

I've been involved with theatre and musicals for over 25 years, both on and off stage. During that time, I've also been involved with bands, comedy performers and dance troupes (tech only for the dance, a line needs to be drawn somewhere)

There's an immediacy to live performance that I find addictive. Sure, recording an album is great and it's around forever, but the instant feedback from an audience can't be equalled in my eyes. 

I've also found when being a part of a band, or a production, there's a sense of teamwork, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. You're with a group of people all pulling forward with the goal of making it the best you can.

Is it perfect? No, there are always things you might want to improve, but when it goes well, there's very little that can compare.

We're heading up to Barnoldswick for our last gig of the year on Sunday, if anyone's imterested.

Penultimate gig of the year for us, at our home from home and secret rehearsal/recording space.

Brilliant crowd, really supportive and they bought a few bits of our merchandise. 

I'm still feeling the love for the Warwick Sklar bass, so much so, I'm pondering whether or not to go for the German made version...

Lee Sklar has talked about this in the past. Basically, his take is that even if there's only 1 song in the set that needs a 5 string, he'll use it for the entire show.

Seems a sensible approach to me.

On 28/11/2022 at 13:11, Chienmortbb said:

Except that the man/woman that control’s the FOH sound is not an Engineer. Yes I know I am a pedant but if there was a degree in sound mixing it would be a BA not a BSc. 

If it was in sound engineering, it should be a BEng.

We've got a local one this week:

No, you don't need one and if you don't want one, it's probably best to hold off.

I bought a '73 P Bass this year, as I was after a year of birth bass, but (apart from the fact I'm not allowed it until my birthday) I don't really have much desire to use it. It'll likely end up as something the kids can sell for a profit when I shuffle off the planet.

Like others have said, a lot of people think Fender is the last word in bass guitars, but the same people likely wouldn't be able to notice if you used a derivative, with a change of decal on the headstock.

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Ah Lovejoy. Now that was another great programme. Why dont they show that on TV again instead of constant repeats of Frasier, Big Bang and all those other shows that have been running continuously for god knows how many years now.

Dave

It's probably on permanent loop somewhere, maybe UKTV (g)Old

2 hours ago, guyl said:

Possible daft question: I've just been told tomorrows gig is in ears only and I should bring IEMs with headphone pack and no backline. I own IEMs, but almost never use them and don't have a headphone pack. Probably should buy a P2 or similar, but no time before the gig.

 

Will any old preamp do the job? In my "big-box-of-bits" I have a couple of preamps which use for upright - an EBS Stanley Clarke preamp (which I can use to "DI" into the desk), and a Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum. Will the Fishman work for the IEs?

 

Thanks for any help....

You can borrow my P1 or P2 if you can get to Knutsford beforehand. Are you doing the Wilmslow show?

It's that time of year again...

I know some people think it's a load of nonsense and we shouldn't be encouraging people to buy things we don't need and on the whole I tend to agree.

With that said, however, I thought it may be useful to have somewhere where we can share any decent offers.

So far, I've seen the following:

Andertons - offering around £50 off some Sire's (I don't know what they usually sell for though) they also have offers on some other bass stuff

Studiospares - 20% off 6 pack of mic stands (also 5% off some k&m stands, which they're already quite cheap with)

Anyone else found anything?

39 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

What’s that c-shaped gubbins on the floor?

Looks like one of these:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/drumport_stomptech_laser_stomp_pro.htm?glp=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAveebBhD_ARIsAFaAvrFR4JIhWh7gcb6muwhwdMYNpmRyZLbKXbbAyjBCgObGBv87EVrlqMAaAsSIEALw_wcB

Looks interesting.

I was counting up for the "how many bases do we own" thread.

At first count, it was 5, then it went up to 6 when I remembered the fretless. 7 with the uke bass and now 8, as I've still got my '73 P-bass, which I'm not allowed to have until November next year.

I also have 2 x electric, 2 x acoustic, a banjo and a regular uke.

I think I have a problem...

201

6 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

Last night's gig was cancelled - haven't played a gig since 1st October.

Ah, that's a bummer! Why was it cancelled?

I've bought 4 guitars/basses from Thomann over the last couple of years, without any problems. 

There is the old saying that an unhappy customer is more likely to share their experience, but that's not to dismiss their concerns.

I think with any high volume organisation, there will always be a few problems, but as a %age of total sales, it's probably quite small.

Energy prices are going to be a killer. Our gas bill at the little theatre I help run has gone up to over £3k a year, almost double what we were paying. We've held ticket prices at £10, even offering 2 for 1 for the first run of a performance, as we're still struggling to get people through the doors. A lot of folks have found something else to do with their time over the last couple of years, so it's a challenge to get them back.

I think a few venues are going to struggle to stay afloat over the next 12 months. 

Day 9 - Bournemouth

Quite an interesting day, although not for the best reasons.

We played well, the minor problems of the previous night were quickly forgotten during soundcheck and we were pretty happy with the onstage sound.

We played the set well and seemed to get a good reception from the crowd, so all was good.

There's a 30 minute changeover slot, allowing us to off-load our gear, during which time the crew do final line checks on the stage mic's etc, with the house music being the same timed number of tracks each night, culminating in the walk-on track for Kiefer and the band. 

As I was stripping down some of the equipment in a side room, off the main hall, I heard the usual huge cheer from the audience, but without the track playing. He then went on to announce that, after 3 days of feeling unwell, he'd tested positive for covid and couldn't continue on with the show.

Obviously the crowd were very dissapointed, but in the majority were very understanding. We hung around and chatted to people afterwards, which was nice as usually we would have been travelling to the next venue, but we'd already decided to stay locally.

Sadly, the three remaining dates have now been cancelled, which included Manchester, the nearest one to home for us all, but these things can't be helped. Still, it was an amazing experience and we were extremely lucky to have been invited onto the tour, so, many thanks Mr Sutherland and get well soon!

2 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

So what happened? His fb and website are typically useless info-wise. Tour cancelled?

2 hours ago, Grewster said:

 Bummer - what goes that mean for the rest of the tour??

We don't know anything at the moment. Today was a planned break anyway, so we were going to head over to Norwich, but we've come home instead to save on at least one night of hotels. 

It's just a matter of waiting now to see what happens.

7 hours ago, Grewster said:

Caught you guys last night - just before Mr. Sutherland came on stage and cancelled his own gig. Bleedin’ Covid. Loved your band though, a good show!

Cheers! It came as a surprise to us as well, we hadn't heard anything until he went on and announced it.

Day 8 - Cardiff Tramshed.

The first of the run using the keys player instead of the drummer. The main take-away being that I really, really miss the drummer!

Some interesting happenings with the FOH sound, resulting in the desk apparently being carted out at some point. The on-stage mix went awry at some point as well, which resulted in me asking, for the first time ever, for some more guitar in the stage wedge.

Hey ho, we'd been really lucky up to that point, so put it aside and head to Bournemouth.

Day 7 - Hull - Asylum

I think it went well, I keep forgetting where I'm up to!

I decided to support the cause, by buying a T-shirt!