peteb

Just now, wombatboter said:

I heard somewhere that Jones gets around a million dollars every tour....

Not bad, but I would have thought that it might be a bit more than that 

12 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The images of the band all looked like manipulated clips from previous videos, and I'm sure I spotted Bill Wyman in one or two.

Mick Taylor was in a couple as well... 

8 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Shame we didn't get to see Darryl in the video — I think next year he'll have been in the band for as long as Bill was.

But Daryl isn't actually a member like Bill - he and Steve Jordan are (presumably, very well paid) hired hands... 

4 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Nah, not buying it. How bodies and necks interact is fundamental (if you excuse the pun). Hundreds of years of instrument luthiery will attest to this.

 

Take wood out of the equation and replace it with either nothing, or something synthetic and consistent, and yes, you’re starting from a level playing field.

 

Once wood is in there, stuff changes.

No, you've got that wrong - hundreds of years of snakeoil salesmen conning deluded musicians about how an instrument sounds! 

Seriously, you can't argue with these people. I once had a builder tell me that the laws of physics worked differently in the UK compared to how they do in Germany (when challenged as to why British homes are built to a much lower standard than those built in Germany). 

I've just seen that Mo Foster's main fretless bass is for sale in the Bass Gallery. It's a Fender Jazz that he got a symphony-bass repairman to replace the fingerboard with a 100-year old piece of ebony removed from an old upright bass, as well as replacing the original bridge with a Badass. He said that this instrument became his 'voice'. 

Of course, he was completely mistaken as we know from this thread that the choice of wood and using a hi-mass bridge make absolutely no difference to the tone of a bass... 

On 30/08/2023 at 19:51, dclaassen said:

After hauling my dual showman around, I’ve decided to sell it on. I found a TE G12 rig with 4x10 and 1x15 cabs at a good price. I like the idea of the tube/solid state option, on board compression, and foot pedal. I’m also thinking the 2 cabs gives a bit of flexibility. 
 

Thoughts?

I've just played a festival where the guy playing in the band before me had an old TE amp with an Eden 410 cab. He sounded pretty good and the rig more than did the job. He said to me the he's looking for a cab with a bit more headroom, but his current rig works well enough and sounded great. 

The trouble with mixing a 410 with a 115 is that you do lose a bit of efficiency with different speaker sizes. I once replaced a 115 cab with a second 410 and it made quite a noticeable difference. I wouldn't worry too much about needing a 15 speaker for the bottom end if I were you - in my experience, a decent 410 will handle the lows perfectly well. 

25 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

The last thing a marketing department will tell you is that you only need one cab. Their goal is to sell you as much as they can, not what you actually need.

 

Dunn about that - there's plenty of units being touted as a 'one cab solution', pretty much any 4ohm cab. 

I doubt that I will be buying it, but good on 'em...! They're musicians and if they still want to releasing new material and touring, then that's pretty inspiring actually. It's not as if they need the money - I'm sure that even Jagger isn't bothered about that at this point. 

I've just played a blues festival over the weekend and run into an old mate that I played a couple of gigs with several years go (he was playing the same venue after the band I was playing with). He was saying that he was glad to see that I was still doing the circuit, bearing in mind that I assume that he's a fair bit older than me (I'm in my early 60s). I've no intention of stopping and neither has he. He said that he will keep going until he keels over onstage and leaves his last gig feet first! No reason that the Stones shouldn't do exactly the same... 

I've always got a Radial StageBug SB-2 in my gigbag for the odd occasion when I need it. It's small, lightweight, seems to work pretty well and costs £85 from Bass Direct. 

26 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Girl plays Bob Babbitt line and sings over the top. Somebody liked it. Somebody shared it. Seems like not everybody understands what they are listening to. But some* women bass players get likes... cos simps.

I clicked on the link only to decide after ten seconds that it wasn't for me. I didn't feel the need to post anything nasty about it or to proclaim her as the second coming because... she's a girl... 

When I first saw the link I couldn't make out whether the OP was saying 'wow' because he thought that she was good, or because she was bad! 

Isn't a 'simp' something a guy who can't get laid calls another man who appears to over-compensate for their lack of confidence by being in awe of women for no particular reason? Sort of name calling among inadequate blokes? Excuse me, I'm not really up on all this incel nonsense... 

What is the point of this thread? 

Led Zep tribute in Manchester on Friday (Dazed & Confused): 

https://www.facebook.com/ledintozeppelin/videos/277166045036149

34 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks Pete. Does the Les Paul have single coil pups or humbuckers? 

 

PS what was the studio you were at 40 years back?

It's a Custom Shop Les Paul with humbuckers, so obviously not a cheap guitar without shielding, etc. Never had a problem before, just an extreme situation! 

I have been trying to remember the name of the studio, but it was in my very early 20s, so a long time ago! Half of that band are no longer with us! I was hoping that you were going to ame the studio and see if it rang any bells. Early 80s alert - if I remember correctly, at the time it was managed by the original bass player for the Fixx...!  

EDIT: it might have been Terminal Sudios, but I'm not too sure (I know that I did use Terminal at one point). 

20 minutes ago, itu said:

I've seen humbucking systems that are built to the pickguard to reduce single coil hum. Still the instrument acts and sounds like a single coil.

The name 'humbucker' literally means to reduce (buck) the hum that you got from early single coil pickups! Unfortunately, it isn't 100% effective. 

On 09/08/2023 at 18:42, Al Krow said:

We rehearsed recently in a rehearsal studio in Elephant & Castle located below a railway arch with an active railway line overhead.

 

There was unfortunately a lot of interference for the guitarist. The venue would otherwise be great for the band, being centrally located for us and accessible by public transport. 

 

My understanding is that electric guitar pick-ups convert a modulated magnetic field being generated by the overhead railway lines into an electrical signal and then amplify it, and will be made worse if long leads, which act as an aerial, are being used.

 

Is there a piece of kit that a guitarist could use to neutralise the impact of the overhead railway line (other than playing acoustically, haha)?

 

Cheers, Al

I wonder if it's the same studio where I used to rehearse forty or so years ago? 

Funnily enough, we had the same problem last night playing a gig in a club in Manchester under a railway arch. There was a lot of interference for the guitar player's Les Paul, while my passive jazz bass was OK if I kept the volume on full for both pickups (a lot of noise if I turned down one pickup). It probably would have been better if I had used an active bass, but there's not a lot you can really do. We just ignored it and the noise tends to get lost when the band is playing. Just remember to mute everything when its not in use. 

43 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Yoiks!! If it's all or majority original it'd be serious serious money at a specialist auction with international interest.

My mate has seen something similar on Reverb for £33k. I thought that it might be worth more.

Does any one who knows more than me about these matters have any idea, just to satisfy our curiosity? 

1 minute ago, Reggaebass said:

I like the wear on the fingerboard, very  nice, is it all original 

Dunno, it looks to be and the guy isn't trying to sell it or anything. My mate reckoned it seemed kosher. 

This is a picture of a mate of mine holding a 52 P bass outside where he works. Apparently, a guy came in and got talking about guitars and mentioned that he had a 52 precision in the car outside and did he want to have a look.  

We're trying to work out what it's worth... 

10 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

In my world, yes, you do

And, do I lose points for that?? 

Depends on the gig! I like to keep it as simple as possible, but I do have a pedalboard for when needed. A bass overdrive is certainly useful on certain gigs. 

These days I am using a tiny board with just a wireless receiver, a comp pedal and a tuner (that is redundant really, as the receiver has a tuner as well). You do know that you don't actually score extra points for not having any pedals...! 

2 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Get the Shure system .. it really is amazing 👍

I was once told be a guitar player 'buy once, buy right - it will save you money in the long run'. He was quite right and I have always followed his advice. 

If you are going to commit to gigging with a wireless system , then get the best one that you can - even if its more expensive than you would like. I've used wireless systems on and off for the best part of forty years, right back to the early Nady systems. None of them were great, so I kept going back to using a lead. Eventually, I got the Shure and it has never let me down on many gigs over the years. I wish it had been available in the 80s when I first got a wireless, it would have saved me a fortune... 

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I've read through this thread with great interest, but like @Al Krow I'm reluctant to spend well over £500 on a wireless system. And I can't really avoid mentioning to @peteb that the weakest link in my chain is ... erm ... well, me actually.

 

Due, the best and worst part of any signal chain is always the player. 

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I've had easily the best results (out of the many, many solutions I've tried) with the X-vive U2 units.

I've got an X-vive U2 system next to me right now that I picked up for £30 off eBay for use with my little practice amp on my desk. I got it because I was sick of damaging leads by running over with my workstation chair. I've used it a couple of times for rehearsals, but to be honest, I wouldn't trust it on a gig. 

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Given just how important a desk (and PA) is to band's sound, it just feels the wrong priority to be spending £500 on a wireless just for the bass, when you and I have both spent less on our mixing desk?

 

Generally speaking, your sound is only as good as the weakest link in your chain (from bass to cab / PA speaker). I play in a number of bands and to me it makes sense to keep my signal chain as simple as possible, but with the best individual components I can realistically afford. I don't use any pedals these days, apart from a compressor and a tuner. However, I do have a basic pedalboard, just in case a gig comes up where I need a few FX.

To me, using is a good wireless system is a worthwhile investment as it makes gigging a lot easier and it has paid for itself many times over as far as I'm concerned. Generally I leave the responsibility of providing a good PA to the band I'm playing with or the promoter (although I do have a reasonable mixer amp for rehearsals or small gigs, just in case). 

On 28/07/2023 at 10:07, Lozz196 said:

Does the Shure work completely on batteries or does the receiver unit have to have a PSU?

The Shure GLXD works on a PSU for the receiver and you have to charge the transmitter. 

On 15/05/2023 at 16:46, redbandit599 said:

I had the Shure GLXD - it was a lovely well made unit. It was fine on the occasional 'big stage' that I used it on, but would cut out in busy pubs. I did wonder if it was our own wifi and other wirelesses that caused it, or even my wireless dmx controls for the lights. But I could go to a good 20 metres away during sound check in some pubs with no issue (with all the above on) and it was great, as soon as the pub filled I'd frequently get issues.

 

I've had a Shure GLXD system for many years and must done a couple of hundred plus gigs with it. These have included big stages, theatres, outdoor gigs, a covered outdoor market (last night) and many busy pubs as well as a few that were not that busy.

I've never had a single issue with it. 

9 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

For me, being 18 meant unlimited opportunities and possibilities.

 

Unfortunately I wasn't very focussed, was too easily distracted and didn't reach anywhere near my potential.

 

I'd do much better if I had another time around.

That's the problem - I had all this energy and attitude, but didn't know how to focus it. All it takes is the right gig and being in right place at the right time and who knows what could have happened?