Maude

Time for a story, sorry Many years ago lighting was expensive and I was broke. For our band I kibbled some lighting together, ahem health and what? Anyway I had two kitchen spotlight units with three different coloured halogen spots in each, a strobe attached to each and a smoke machine. It was all wired through a homemade footswitch to turn it all on and off. The smoke machine was tucked behind my massively over the top bass rig consisting of a bi-amped pair of 15's and a pair of 12's, aiming behind the drummer. When we did Motorheads Overkill I would stomp on the switch turning off the coloured lights and turning the smoke and strobes on when it got to all the false endings, if you know the song you'll know when I mean. At one gig I stomped enthusiastically on the switch at the correct moment which immediately fell to pieces leaving the smoke machine and strobe permanently on only able to be turned off at the wall. The drummer slowly disappeared from sight, then the guitarist and I and it stayed on for the remainder of the song until the stage area and crowd were completely lost in the fog and blinded by massive white strobes bouncing off the cloud. Oh how we all laughed, well apart from the drummer who was having some sort of epileptic asthma attack

Fair enough, I can't help with that then 😁

Pyrotechnics, that's what audiences want, pyrotechnics.

https://m.thomann.de/gb/stairville_led_bar_240_8_bundle.htm?o=17&search=1539710983 Here you, bit dearer than I thought but they really are versatile, and surprisingly bright.

Not cans but Thomann do a twin pack in a case of LED bars, really bright. Do all the usual sound to light, fade, DMX stuff or just set them to a colour and forget. They do different colours at the same time if you want. Lay them down or put them on stands. Just over £100, Stairville I think. I'll try and find them.

Could it just be the strings not putting enough pressure on the piezo elements to work properly? Piezo pickups for doublebass bridge wing slots are hopeless if not enough or too much pressure is put on them. Maybe your piezos are particularly sensitive to this.

Buy them both and return the one you like least.

I like the Anti Nowhere League's version :D. I don't think I should be a bass player as nearly all the 'essential' albums and players are virtually unlistenable to me. Mingus, Clark, Jaco, Wooten, the list goes on. Bloody awful to my ears. Talented maybe, but talented at making a noise that makes me recoil.

Depends what call a solo. A guitar or bass 'solo' while the rest of the band are still playing I like. A true solo where it's just the one instrument showing off (not just a break down where one or two instruments hold the groove) is terrible. I once left a Whitesnake concert half way through as for no reason there was a five minute guitar solo (no one else playing, not even part of a song), then a five minute bass solo, then the drums, I couldn't take and left. I was already annoyed as Black Label Society were support, the main reason I went, and they pulled out at the last minute. The solo's were the final straw. So what do I feel audiences want? No bloody solo's.

^^^ I've not been in any of your average gig pubs where that would go down well.

Faith No More's 'The Real Thing'. I don't hear mention of Billy Gould nearly as much as I should on this forum, really upfront bass on a lot of the tracks on this album.

I had LaBella white nylons on my Variax for a while, no issues with string to string volume difference that I noticed.

I'm no authority on FM but if I was to go and see them on tour I would want to see/hear LB and SN, to me the core sound of FM. I reckon you could do away with Fleetwood and Mac and it would still sound more FM than if LB and SN were gone. I'm sorry this has nothing to do with fish or cheese.

Just seen that on fb and thought the same. UPS are either extremely sh!t or extremely bent.

I think they're called 'Cam lock straps' and yes, I use them all the time with kayaks, surfboards and paddleboards on the roof of my car with no problems. A lot easier than ratchet straps, which, quite frankly, are a pain in the Aris.

It does sound like the 'middle aisle of mystery' doesn't it.

I like 'em. I've already bagged myself a new boiler, a chainsaw, an old bike from a Police auction and a hot Polish date! What's not to like? 🤣😂

I know it's a little cheesey but open top bus tours are a great way to see a lot of the city in a relaxing manner. Last time I did it with my kids the ticket was valid for 24hrs, jump on and off where you like and it included the river boat tours as well. Buy your tickets early afternoon and do the open top busses one day and the boats the next.

Looks like it's piled up ready for the crusher. I'd wait 'til the end of the first song and dive backwards into it, sort that mess out before the intro to the second song finishes d!ckhead. 🤣

This thread has made me very happy to be in both of my bands. I couldn't be in a band where punters didn't notice the bass. First band is doublebass and lively so goes without saying that folks notice what I'm up to. Other band is Mod/Northern Soul/Ska, in songs like 'Tubestation At Midnight', 'The Real Me', 'The Night', 'Pressure Drop' etc people definitely know what I'm doing. I'm no wallflower in that band either and that's the way I like it.

But what are top quality strings? If there is a best string then we'd all be using them and the rest would go out of business. I've got a set of barely used LaBella white nylons in the drawer at home because I prefer D'Addario half rounds, but at nearly half the price are they half as good? No, they're better to me. So which of these two are the top quality?

^^ I agree but not paying through the nose doesn't necessarily mean a compromise. More expensive does not always mean better.

I'm intrigued as to what that is.

I like my necks like I like my playing......... kept in the pocket 😋