stefBclef

[quote name='geoffbassist' timestamp='1338219781' post='1671002']
I always carry a small towel. About half the size of a tea towel to wipe my hands and clean the strings.
I feed it through the handle on the side of the cab & tie it round the bass neck. Works great, very secure & no need to carry a stand.
[/quote]

I love it! Thanks.

You've soundchecked and now its time to drink some free beer. But first you need to find a secure place to put your bass for the next few hours...

Obviously, a guitar stand would be the best solution. However, I am thinking about those times when you don't have a proper stand to hand.

I once saw someone who had a small piece of rubber, designed to sit on the top of an amp, and it had, jutting out, a nice curved notch to rest your guitar's neck in. I can't seem to find anything like this online, and it wouldn't work for rigs that are taller than the nut.

It got me thinking, perhaps there is some clever sneaky way that some clever sneaky bass chatter knows about.

Before now, I have been either:

-leaning the bass on the amp but leaning it to one side so that it leans (ever so slightly) on the jack - not ideal at all!

-at the last gig I actually lay my bass on top of the amp as there was no decent leaning oppurtunity. This was also far from ideal as it could have fallen off quite easily given the contours of the amp top combined with the loud bass heavy music that the DJ was playing and the drummer fiddling with his kit...

So, I am looking for tips on how to create a good lean spot for your bass, either on a wall or amp or anything else you're likely to find on stage.

OR

If anyone can recommend a super small foldaway guitar stand.

Many thanks everybody.

I went round to my mates house the other week. He is a guitarist but he has a decent P bass copy lying around and it gets some love from me when I go round. I play reggae, and I like the motown sound, and so I like the muted sound. The strings on my bass are about 7 years old and I love the tone I get from them.

Anyway, you can imagine how I felt when my mate turned to me and said "Hey, I've got a surprise for you, I changed the strings on the bass!". So I was presented with the P with brand spaking new, ultra twangy, light guage strings...BLAAAAHH!

My friend did make up for it by then making a mute out of a washing up foam sponge. This was one of those smaller ones that you get when you buy cheap packs of ten, and he ripped off the green tough layer and just cut the sponge in half. Fit absolutely perfectly and did a very good job sonically too!

[quote name='oldslapper' timestamp='1338202184' post='1670653']
All the usual spares:- leads, strings, fuses, batteries, pliers, screw drivers, DI, etc
[/quote]

When you say fuses, what type of fuses are you referring to? Do you have a set of fuses that will fit a variety of amps? Or are they pretty standard?

When you say DI, are you saying that even if you are going to be playing the house backline and PA you still bring your own DI box in case?

Thanks

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338194093' post='1670497']
How do you use your gear? Do you throw it around? Are you rough with it? I'm not and the only thing I've needed to change on a gig has been batteries (and my bass is passive these days). I have never broken a string or used any of the fuses that I've carried for years.

So, IME, if you look after your gear, you don't need to carry any spares. The reason to buy and carry another bass is because you need a different sound; a fretless, acoustic, 5 string, etc.

It seems to me the one thing that could let you down on a gig is the public transport! I’d save up for a car.
[/quote]

I would say I am very gentle and caring towards my gear. But I also understand that no matter what you do, stuff can go wrong. Even if this is going to be very rare, I would like to be prepared if/when it does happen. I think I will buy a cheap backup (or maybe a nicer bass and use my current as a backup!). That way, I can learn more about fixing/setting up basses with the spare, and I may get to the point where I feel I could have a decent chance of fixing a bass with a soldering iron. In the meantime I can get used to carrying 2 basses.

I guess next in line to worry about is the amp failing. Would something like a SansAmp cover that problem?

Also, a few of you have mentioned spare fuses. Are you refering to amp fuses? I.e. there aren't fuses in an active bass are there? Do most amps use similar fuses? In other words, if you are going to be playing with a variety of amps as you use the houses backline rather than your own, is there a certain type of spare fuse you can keep with you that will fit all amps?

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1338156729' post='1670295']
One bass is fine almost all the time - just carry spare strings and a soldering iron for those very rare occasions when it's not fine.
[/quote]

So on those rare occasions when it breaks and no-one has a spare, you get out your soldering iron? I guess you've gotta know what to do with it! I suppose I should learn about bass tinkering at some point.

I travel to gigs by public transport, and I love just rocking up to a gig with my gig bag on my back.

Now I realise that I may be skating on thin ice by not taking a spare bass. I don't even have a spare bass!

So, do I buy a spare bass? Do I buy a new bass and make my Yamaha RBX my spare? Do I just carry on with one bass?

This thread has made me reliase that maybe I should have a spare bass. I only have 1 bass, so I only take my one bass and sometimes we are the only band playing. I guess that is pretty risky right?

Do any of you just take the one bass?

Hello

I am talking about when playing a gig that has a backline and PA and all and all you need to do is play bass (no BVs).

So far, in my gig bag has been:

Bass
Tuner
Cable
Spare cable
Spare strings
Spare battery for bass
Spare battery for Tuner

Last night, we played a gig at a decent music pub that puts on live music 6 or so nights a week and during soundcheck we realised that they were short one kettle lead. They couldnt come up with a spare, I couldnt believe it. Anyway, in the end one of my band had to drive home to get one.

Now I have always thought that if a venue provides the gear, they should also provide the lead to power said gear. However I guess this is not always the case.

So I am now thinking about carrying a spare kettle lead with me, but dont want to carry one around for the next X years if this is never going to happen again.

So, has this happened to you? Am I missing some other essentials from my gig bag list? Pray tell! (P.s. I have messy hair anyway so I dont need to carry a mirror and comb)

Stef

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1337813356' post='1666035']
Absolutely organisation is key i'm in a slighly different situation in that i'm a full time student however i still find time to work for 3 function bands, and 4 original artists plus doing deps for people as well. My policy is that if i for some reason can't make the gig then i'll provide a dep who can and is up to speed and [u]more than capable of doing the gig[/u] (that last part is key). would your bands be open to the idea of another local player you know well depping for you on a gig? Then everybody wins both bands play their gigs and your providing a gig for someone who wouldn't have otherwise had one
[/quote]

Yes, providing a capable dep is an option for those clashes, and this forum would be a perfect place to look for one! Maybe one day in the future when both bands' calendars are getting nice and full!

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1337683995' post='1663836']
Same here, i found myself juggling 4 last year, was okay (except I was a bit too busy for my liking)
Then i missed out playing a really great festival with an originals band because of a pub gig that had been booked for a year with a covers band, that was when i thought I had to cut down. Only one band for me now.
[/quote]

Wow 4 bands at once does seem a bit much, unless you are working part time and getting cash from the bands. But a full time job plus 4 bands would leave you not much time to even eat your dinner every night!

How did you pick which one?!

Ok, so honesty and a well kept diary are the tools for this trade. Thanks. If only that worked for creeping in late night bars!

Evening all,

I have only started playing in bands recently, and I am enjoying it a lot.

5 months ago I started playing with a band and, although I have a great time at practise every week, and we are starting to get gigs, I felt that there were a few things not quite right about the band and I decided to keep my ears open for other oppurtunitys so as not to be blinkered in my approach.

Now I have found myself another band. I like the new band and I still plan on keeping the old band to see where that goes.

As I was walking home last night I started thinking about possible clashes, i.e. practise clashes, or practise/gig clashes, or (the unlikely but extremely possible and ugly scenario of) gigs clashing.

To me, it is similar to, say, if I play in a band, and also sing in a choir, or play in a band and also compete and train in the art of tiddlywinks. However, I feel that this is probably quite a touchy area for some people and I thought I would see what experiences / opinions people have on this subject.

Is it a perfectly natural and indeed positive part or being a musician to look around and seek new oppurtunities?

Or is it a faux pas similar to creeping around in late night bars instead of snuggling up to your other half at home?

Does it work out well for you? OR has it been a recipe for disaster?

Thank you fellow basschatters

Stef

What's the price?

Is this still for sale per chance?

So the Hartke 3500 is your backup?! That sounds like a good situation to be in!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1334358619' post='1615305']
Good evening, Stef...

I sincerely like the stubborn fight you're putting up for going through with this, it's quite impressive. I don't wish to be another carnaval urinator, and this may not stop you, but a couple of facts and some arithmetic give us the following...

Watts is Volts times Amps, so...

255 watts = 14 volts x 18 Amps

That's where the 20 amps comes in. That's a lot of current, and will heat up a cable that's too thin. The speaker cable will have to be very thick, and as short as possible, to keep unwanted resistance to a minimum. The Xbox cannot supply half of that power; a good PC PSU could do the job (only just..!), but would only give 12 volts. At 12 volts, the current for the same power would increase to 21 Amps.

[/quote]

Thanks for the mini lesson. I had actually given up on the idea a couple of posts ago, I was just keen to learn how someone worked that out - which you just told me so thanks![quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1334394427' post='1615508']
The obvious thing to do with this is to run it from a car battery. In other words make a portable battery amp. You'll need to knock out the filter too. The speaker is not going to be useful, they are terribly inefficient compared with one designed to do what is a very different job.

You'd probably want to add a pre amp at some stage but decent battery powered amps are fairly rare and quite expensive. Really the value in any project like this is the stuff you learn and the fun you have doing it.

Have fun.
[/quote]

I agree, you've gotta have fun doing these things otherwise life would be all uphill. [url="http://www.instructables.com/"]http://www.instructables.com/[/url] is a very good site for finding projects like this.

Re powering from a car battery; I heard this can also cause a hole in your carpet!


[quote name='charic' timestamp='1334354378' post='1615232']
You could use it for this?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU[/media]
[/quote]

That looks like fun. But I would like to see it go back into a car as that is where it belongs and it seems that is the only place where it can be bassy. Just gotta find someone who is willing to give up half their boot space to something really heavy that makes them not be able to hear any police sirens or people next to them talking...or half the melody.

Brother in law is first on the list!

Cheers guys

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1280769717' post='913062']
Took delivery of the above today, got it pretty cheap so not expecting much. So I set it up with my Acme LowB in the office at work and gave it a work out. Not as loud as my HA3500 and I was having to crank it a bit. I set the input so it was not clipping and the output was at about 1-2 o'clock, far more than the Hartke. Got some reasonable sounds, is a back up really but had to be sure it wouldn't blow the Hartke away. Anyway, I was giving it a bit of slap and tickle and when I pulled the G string hard up in the E/D area it cut out and the fan kicked in. Switched off and on and it was ok. It seemed if I boosted the mids button it was over cooking it so I switched the button out. Again it seemed ok but then again when popped on the top end it again cut out, fan on, same result. Now if I played the bottom end as is my usual style and any fingerstyle widdling up the top it was all ok. Also ok with my pedal, distortion, octave , the lot. Could it be it doesn't like my speaker? Seems ok with the Hartke so I'm not sure. The ohmage is a perfect match, 400watt into 4ohms and a 4 ohm cab. No matter how much thumping I did on the bottom end (5 string) it wouldn't cut.
[/quote]

Hey barneyg42 - did you find out what the problem was in the end? I am thinking about buying a Pro fet IV so would appreciate seeing how you have got on with it since you bought it?

Ta

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1334348986' post='1615130']
Just noticed price..... should be able to get for less times are hard
[/quote]

Yeh that's what I thought. I will try and get it for cheaper. Thanks for the opinions, it seems like the Peavey 300 is quite liked for it's loudness and reliability!

Thanks. Yes it seems that Peavey TNT's are generally disliked....so I won't go there.

What about the Peavey 300 though? Im hoping that's a nicer kettle of fish...?

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1334326804' post='1614636']
Probably not. You have a 12V 10 ampere power supply and the amplifier requries a 14V 20 amp power supply. It's short on both voltage and power.
[/quote]

Ok...can you please explain where you are getting that "the amplifier requires a 20 amp power supply" from. Also I thought it would work on any voltage from 11V - 16V, just that 14 is optimum.

Not the case?

Thanks

Hello everybody

Does anyone have any experience with using a Peavey 300 1X15?

I am wanting a cheap rig to play (mostly) reggae and I have found a 300 1X15 for £180. Although I feel like I could do better.

I have also considered buying a Peavey TNT 100/130 for now for rehearsal use.

Any thoughts either of these or indeed other suggestions for a cheap rig for playing reggae would be much appreciated.
Ta very much

Right. Well I guess that's that then! Cheers.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1334321353' post='1614472']
The driver is massively low sensitivity and relies on the car acting as a controlled listening environment. All funny shape an covered in padding inside sounds like one of those special rooms the use for sound, also its very small. Once you are outside, you don't have those advantages, and other gear is more relevant.
[/quote]

Ok so unless I find myself with a room in my house that is small and carpet covered, I shouldn't bother. And if that was the case, it would probably mean that I have a studio, which would mean I would probably have better gear by then.

So what to do with it? Cash converters will give me a tenner for both and I doubt ebay will do much better, and I don't want to part with something that I know can produce a lot of bass!

Hmmm, maybe I should find a small room to carpet.

Is this still available?