Maude

We played a wedding with one of those terrible systems, funnily enough in a converted barn in what used to be the Yarg cheese dairy. The 'speaker' was a flat panel above the dance floor facing straight down. Designed to flood the dance floor with sound but with minimal seepage to the rest of the room. We weren't allowed monitors or backline. That band was all acoustic but always fully amped, guitar, mandolin, doublebass, cajon, vocals. We couldn't hear ourselves at all, and as a result felt we were pretty bad. Got some good feedback afterwards but who knows. Playing doublebass when you simply can't hear it (the background noise of people drowned out any useful acoustic sound from it) was horrible. The singer said the same and harmonising backing vocals when you can't hear the singer is near impossible, so you hold off doing them. As a result the whole performance was lacklustre and restrained as subconsciously you hold back as you can't hear yourself. The DJ said he has spent hours and hours at that venue EQing trying to get the best sound possible, but he said the best he can get is just make it as sterile sounding as possible, he likened it to sounding like the dashboard speakers of seventies a car and said he hates having to DJ there. But, and here's the thing, people enjoyed it. Average folks don't know good sound from bad and the ones that wanted to sing and dance did and the ones that wanted to sit and talk did, likewise with the ones propping up the bar. So the band and the DJ hated it, but were well compensated for their misery, the wedding party had a great time and venue made a fortune.

Seashells Sanctuary - The Cult

I'm going to see them later in the year and would absolutely be singing along to any early stuff they play. I'd love to see the RHCP again but I'll make do with the SPP. Also the tickets were a gift so whaddyagonnado? 😉 Ohhh me and my me and my me and my, me and my frieeeends.

Surely they both follow the old action and reaction thing though. People kill so a rule was made that you shouldn't kill. X then Y causes an explosion so a rule is made that you shouldn't do X then Y. If X then Y didn't cause an explosion and people didn't kill then there'd be no need for either rule. In much the same way that if basses weren't so damn perdy I wouldn't keep buying the bloody things. 😉👍

Just Like Heaven - The Cure

Skanking Song - [spunge]

What if you're left handed? 🙊

These days £400 gets you some superb basses new, too many to list realistically, that will all be great. There's an even better selection second hand. It all depends what sort of thing you want, traditional, modern, solid, hollow, fretted, fretless, 4,5 or more string. What's the best sub £400 bass? Yes. But get the BB424, if you can squeeze a tiny bit more into the budget or be patient, you could even get a BB1024. 🙂👍

We Are Family - Sister Sledge

No problem, it's here if you need it. Members of the 'Kay Restorative And Preservationists Ethical Salvage Trust' (KRAPEST) need to help each other out if possible. 😉👍

Peacock Suit - Paul Wellhard

Luckily you ordered that in December. If it was January you'd be straight outta here! We all know how big a difference the sonic properties of 'tonePVC' makes to your sound. 😁 Can a pickguard change the way a solidbody sounds? The answer is yes.

Dammit! I thought that going to read 'Sex On Fire'. 😄

Dead Ringer For Love - Meatloaf

I Am The Resurrection - Stone Roses

I've got a gold and black Kay waterslide decal spare from when I did my brown and white one. It's just the K in a circle logo. You can have it if it's any use to you.

Has anyone actually done that since the 80s? If they have, STOP IT NOW!

It'll more likely than not have a coat of sanding sealer (like clear primer) on the wood before the black was applied, so the black shouldn't have gone into the grain at all. IME the face of a headstock is easy/quick to do because of the small size, you don't get bored of all the contours and edges like a body, so don't end up rushing it, then subsequently wishing you'd spent more time doing it properly. Top tip when lacquering a headstock face. Mask everything you need to but leave about 5mm down the sides until last. Once everything but this area is masked, run a length of masking tape around the perimeter of the headstock but about half a mil down the side of the headstock, rather than try and get it exactly on the 90° of the face/side. It is infinitely easier to get a nice line this way. Once lacquered but still wet, CAREFULLY peel that last strip of tape off that you put on, the wet lacquer edge will flow out and not leave you with a sharp masking edge, as it would if you let it dry first.

I always said this. It's like the live band are the video to the audio track being played in the punters heads. In the heat of the moment wrong notes, melodies, etc don't matter to the punters. But mobile phone footage is where is all falls down. That great band they saw last night suddenly seems incredibly shite when they look/listen back to the videos they took. I've found it's a sliding scale though when you're doing more genre specific music. Run of the mill pub bands, nobody worries. Tribute or genre specific and people start paying more attention, even get a bit fanatical. But then the reward is higher when you get it right, which I like.

Abracadabra - Ed Miliband

What about one of those waist strap/belt contraptions. Removes the weight from your shoulders but may or may not still cause problems by adding the weight lower down. Worth looking at maybe?

Walk Away - Sisters of Mercy

I use a Gruv Gear Gigblade 2 with my 4005, which is a suitably large bass. My Jack Casady won't fit in it though as that has an unfeasibly large waist.

Now now girls, play nicely. 😉

Running On Empty - Jackson Browne