molan

Are we talking the entire Supper's Ready here? That's quite an achievement to get all of that lot sorted already Must have sounded a b it odd without keys on some of those some of those? So were you stamping and shouting a lot

I worked with a guitarist/band leader for a while who might as well have just shouted "go" at the start of each song for allt he good his counting did. He used to do stuff like shout "one. . . .two.three . . . . . . .four". Eventually the band fired him I work with a drummer who has every song written out & plays with a click feeding into his in-ear monitors. His timing is great & he often tells us that the tempo we want to learn something is faster than the original - he's ALWAYS right about this too!

[quote name='leschirons' post='454576' date='Apr 5 2009, 11:36 AM']You got it right there, a blaze of electrocuted or heart failure glory, on stage. Sad thing is, I played a rock gig a few years back and the vocalist said (over the P.A.) "This will definately be the last song as our bassplayer has a Bowls match in the morning" And he wasn't lying.[/quote] We played an 80th birthday party in a local bowls club a few years back. The guy who's birthday it was joined us for one song on vocals, danced all night long & was caught, more than once, trying to touch up all of our three female vocalists. He also told us to turn up becuase weeren't loud enough and complained that we weren't playing enough rock or faster dance songs Great inspiration and a real top gig - most of the band were dreading it beforehand but everyone had a great night! A good dose of rock every now & then will keep you young I reckon

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='454771' date='Apr 5 2009, 04:47 PM']Any recommendations?[/quote] Find a good psychiatrist - do you have BUPA? I think they cover 'jazz fever' these days. . .

Unless I've missed it somewhere the other thing you need to think about is a sound man. Having even a half decent out front set of ears can make a huge difference to what the punters actually hear out front. There's the simple benefit of controlling the mix so everything is properly balanced but he can also turn up a soloing instrument, compensate for your guitarist repeatedly turning up during the evening & pull out any nast frequencies if they start to inexplicably feed back on you. Even having the benefit of getting signal levels adjusted in the monitors can make a world of difference between a good & bad gig experience. I know a lot of 'pub' bands don't think it's necessary to have a sound man & some of them are so experienced and know exactly how to set everything so their foh sound is OK but I've seen a zillion pub bands with buried keyboard player who might as well not be there, a guitarist who overpowers the vocalist and a poor old bass player who's reduced to a dull background thud. Don't even get me started on some live drum sounds (although for a lot of pub gigs tyou're stuck with whatever the kit sounds like acoustically as it's too damn loud to even think about micing up!). Potentially it's another mouth to 'feed' but, on the basis that you're not earning a lot for pub gigs, then you might be lucky enough to find someone who really enjoys live sound work & will survive on a share of any income & a few beers. There are definitely some old pros kicking around who don't mind doing the odd pub gig for fun & beer. I've 'worked' with some with a lifetime's experience, even a few who spend maybe 6 months every year on the road with a full pro touring band but fancy keeping their hand in whilst not touring. Really helps if they like your music and/or simply get on really well with you too! I'm lucky to have a sound guy who owns a good quality, and flexible, PA plus a decent lighting sytem. He loves the job & even comes along to lots of rehearsals to try out equipment & often to record them for us on a portable digital unit. He's very much an equal member of the band and ges an equal share of all income. We're pretty democratic in terms of song choices and he gets a shout on choosing songs & stuff as well. People like these are gold dust so if you do find a friendly pro then it'll be a real bonus

I've got a pair of Trace PA cabs stashed away that sound pretty cool with a bass fed into them. They have a 15" & 10" concentrically mounted - should also ahve a horn but mine were removed before I sold them. I once used both of them at a gig - 2 x15's & 2x10's stacked on top of each other sounded great mmmm - note to self, dig out PA cabs from shed & have a play with them. . .

Nice one Dave, Shame I'm out of the area on Saturday I could have come over to see you - make sure you keep us posted on how you get on & any future gigs

I keep plugging this for a great little funk bass line - Brick by the Dazz Band: and a nice little vid showing how one way to play most of it:

Can't beat Rocco:

It seems to have disappeared from all of my local shops - and I'm talking Denmark Street area here. I haven't seen a new copy for quite a while?

[quote name='silddx' post='450652' date='Mar 31 2009, 04:31 PM']I guess that's true, but [i]I [/i][b][/b]would know. How did you react?[/quote] I said that the MTD was quite a nice bass & that he should look out for one to give a try & casually let slip that the USA ones like mine were about £3K new but if he shopped around he might find one for about £2,250 on the used market. His jaw dropped and he quietly slid into the background. . . Bit crass of me really but I couldn't resist

[quote name='silddx' post='450630' date='Mar 31 2009, 04:09 PM']If I strapped on one of these I would be thinking people would want to see me live up to that bass and play like Victor Wooten. I would die.[/quote] Unless you are planning on playing a bass clinic somewhere i reckon the average audience punter wouldn't know a 'boutique' bass if it jumped out & slapped him/her in the face They certainly wouldn't know who Victor Wooten was :lol In fact I played a gig recently with my, pretty expensive USA MTD 535, and had the one person in the audience who was a bass player told me that I could get a decent MIJ Jazz bass instead as I obviously couldn't afford an American Fender.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='450605' date='Mar 31 2009, 03:30 PM']I'm an incredibly average bass player, but the custom basses I own allow me to be slightly better because I'm not struggling to cope with an instrument that isn't right for me. My priorities in life revolve around music therefore that's what I spend my money on Having nice instruments makes me play that little bit better because it's less of a struggle and therefore that makes me happy and after all being happy should be what life is about. And I take my expensive basses to gigs in order to play them. That's what they are for. I look after them but it's not the end of the world if they pick up a ding or two, and besides if they start looking too scruffy then I can always have them refinished.[/quote] +1 to all of the above Although in my case you can probably add the word 'below' in front of average

[quote name='allighatt0r' post='450393' date='Mar 31 2009, 11:31 AM']Thank god for castors! I read in the user manual that the castors are removeable. Has anyone had experience with taking them off at every gig? is it worth it to get the "floor coupling" effect?[/quote] My Triad had castors, I never removed them once!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='450006' date='Mar 30 2009, 09:58 PM']I have to say I was always jealous of people who could afford SWR gear when I was a nipper. They made cool stuff.[/quote] I always remember that the top US session & touring guys always bought SWR gear over with them. Either Redhead combos or SM400's with Goliath 4x10's. I bought an SM400 & a Triad & loved it. Only sold it becuase the Triad was a bit bulky to cart around. I spot the odd SM400 up for sale from time to time & think about buying one for 'nostalgic' reasons, lol.

[quote name='allighatt0r' post='449475' date='Mar 30 2009, 02:08 PM']Through research I've read a bit about pre fender SWR... how am I supposed to tell whether this is pre or post and which is better? I've seen some pictures with the tweeter mounted in a square orientation instead of a diamond shape (mine is a diamond) does this mean anything to anyone?[/quote] Send the serial number to SWR help desk [email protected] and ask them how old yours is & if they have any more information

[quote name='beerdragon' post='449397' date='Mar 30 2009, 12:51 PM']Nah, we are all sheep loving heathen pagans up here. [/quote] I thought you were all Scousers

[quote name='beerdragon' post='449379' date='Mar 30 2009, 12:34 PM']Where's Gods little acre?[/quote] Not North Wales

Forgot to add - even in the USA these sell for over £800 new so £500 in the Uk is a great price! Also - this is one of the SWR Pro range so should not only sound better than the Workingman's range but ought to have a higher build quality

[quote name='soopercrip' post='449305' date='Mar 30 2009, 11:17 AM']AAAARRRGGHHH!!! missed the bugg*r, and it went for £700, 20 mins ago [/quote] I was watching it & there no bids until quite late. Could have been an auto bidder that might have driven it up higher anyway. £700 is a good price for something like this though. Just shows the combination of recession & some dodgy photography can really hurt a bass sale price!