geoham

Not really a suggestion, but I've managed to gig in a Smart ForTwo before. Two TC Electronic RS112 cabs standing up side by side in the boot and the bass in the passenger seat.

I went to see him at the O2 in 2019 with my wife, who is a much bigger fan than I am. I was pretty excited that Pino was on bass... he did his job and did it well. However, my wife was underwhelmed. I think that given how highly I regard Mr P, that she we expecting someone flash like Victor Wooten or something. I had to explain that bassists love Pino because he plays bass like a bassist!

Absolutely agree on this - it's almost how I use it, and feel I'm barely scratching the surface. I've a couple of core tones, with switchable drive, octave and chorus within them. Plus a few song-specific patches. A guitarist could have a field day!

I've got a guitarist just like it. We've now got him amp-free using a single guitar, via a Roland hex-pickup system. He can get the sound of pretty much any guitar, amp or even tuning on demand. Still messes around between songs. It's a case of - find the patch, play a few chords, kick in the 'solo' effect, play a quick lick, switch back. Then we're good to go. To be fair, while we work to a setlist - we rarely stick rigidly to it - trying to accommodate requests or move things around a bit depending on the crowd. Our keyboard player has two boards with many more sounds - he just has a patch number written against every song on the set list. Does it in moments without issue. I don't know if there's a solution... guitarists being guitarists!

I've never heard of the guy before now, which is surprising given his credits! Looks like an interesting watch, though probably far too funky for me!

I agree, it does seem like a KYC process. If the company are moving money around, they'll be required to ensure that the recipient isn't subject to sanctions and to minimise the risk of money laundering. If you're being asked to provide an ID document, it'll likely be paired with a selfie and include a liveliness check (to prevent you just taking a photo of a photo). I doubt that the company want to do this - it costs them money to do each check, plus the effort to develop this solution. However, they've probably deemed it necessary to remain compliant from regulatory perspective. I suspect any effort to get them to release money without doing this is going to be like banging your head against a brick wall.

He’s otherwise very good in fairness… I’m not painting the most flattering picture!

We have been using just two wedges for everyone. It was all our old desk would handle, never mind the very limited spaces we play in. Thankfully we’ve made part of the investment already. Nobody is using an amp these days. Amp modelling for both the guitarist and I. Keyboard player has ditched his amp too. The digital desk will be getting its first outing tomorrow. A couple of us on in-ears, The other three can share two monitors, and I think that one of them will invest in in-ears soon enough. George

That’s an interesting looking monitor. Perhaps worth looking at.

The keyboard player and I have KZ ZS10s, which seem pretty decent for what they cost. I've never had anything more expensive to compare it to though.

What an awesome idea!

There's definitely an element of that. We've got the guitarist using an amp-free modelling setup, which is reasonably new (maybe a year before Covid started). but he always keeps a little back! To give an example, we were setting up recently and the input from his pedal was barely registering a signal on the desk. Asked him to turn up full, as I'd almost maxed the gain on his channel. So here we are with the gain and the fader both pretty high and he's not that loud at all. Other channels were adjusted to compensate. Three songs in and I'm sure I don't need to tell you the rest.... George

I think that's quite a sensible suggestion. While it seems reasonably common, I'm not sure sure I understand the objections myself. I rarely sing, but when I do I need to hear myself very clearly or I'm out of tune. The guitarist will take some convincing... he'd still prefer to bring his Marshall 4x12 to a tiny pub gig, but that's a whole other thread!

A slight rant and advice seeking request! It's great to be back gigging again. We play a variety of covers in pubs, and I do the sound. We're currently using two floor monitors, but have just upgraded our aging mixer to a digital one with enough aux channels to run an in-ear set up. My singer spends as much time asking for himself to be turned up as he does singing, and frequently mid-song. To give an example, we were playing Hysteria by Muse on Saturday (a nice relaxed one on the bass). Mid-song, he turns round signalling to turn him up. Yeah, I'll just squeeze that in between these constant 16ths... Inevitably the monitors are pushed to point of feedback, especially when he starts moving the mic around bit. I do try turning others down instead, but I then struggle with my guitarist (ampless modelling setup) who always has extra volume at source, despite me asking for his loudest possible signal while setting the gain on his channel! In ears are the perfect solution as far as I'm concerned - lower stage stage volume and everyone can hear exactly what they want without worrying about feedback. Also the added bonus that I can hopefully put more focus on playing bass and less on maintaining an acceptable stage mix. The singer however is rather resistant to the idea. They'll kill the vibe apparently... I'm sure I'm not the only one is a situation like this - what are the rest of you doing?

The keyboard player in my band takes a rather rustic approach to this... He screenshots chords & lyrics for songs and puts them in a folder on his tablet and just scrolls through it. Not powerful or flexible, but does the job!

We've only opened up in Scotland recently. You need to wear a mask at a pub or club, unless you are drinking or dancing. Not sure why you'd be there otherwise, but that's another conversation! We had one gig just before the week before the relaxation of restrictions. We played to an all-seated crowd in an normally rowdy pub, so quite surreal. Especially when folk repeatedly got up to dance and were asked to sit down. I've had two since then - a pub gig on Saturday, and a wedding the Saturday before. The wedding was mostly uneventful, although we did apparently cause some guests to complain about the noise.( We're not especially loud. Guitar, bass and keys all DI'd (no amps), and only the kick mic'd on the drums. A bus load of pensioners had arrived from Devon or somewhere, and couldn't get to sleep. At 9pm. On a Saturday. In a city centre hotel with two function suites. The staff didn't seem particularly used to having a band play, seemed slightly clueless with organisation... a sign of the times I suspect. Anyway, their response was to assure the compaining guests we'd turn down, then repeatedly complain to me when I literally couldn't get it any quieter. Kick mic off, master fader waaay down. The pub gig - in Stirling of all places - was crazy mental. People seemed much merrier and up for a good time than they have before in this venue. Which was slightly problematic, because it's small and they end up dancing inches away from the frontman. Lost power to both monitors at one point! A drunk lady's backside had landed on one, and knocked the kettle lead out in the process. Not sure about the other, but the kettle lead was out of that too. It took a moaning singer for me to realise! However, despite this - the gig was a lot of fun and it's great to be back! George

Hopefully the end of this tale... Got the amp back on Saturday. VDR and internal fuse replaced. Working fine at home volumes. I'm very pleased. A by product of this is that I now have a backup amp, in the form of the Trace Elliot Elf. Or perhaps this one is the backup. Time will tell! I'll perhaps take it to this Saturday's gig with me to put it through its paces. George

Each to their own. You are absolutley correct that it is can be easier to tweak the sound of individual pedals on the fly, and that they'll often sound better than a multi-fx - though this is less true today than it was in the past. However - they're not necessarily far easier to use. To give a real life example, I use the Sansamp model on my Helix. I have it programmed differently within different patches though. I use it with the treble cranked but not too much drive in a patch I use for Sledgehammer. I also use it with lots of drive a general purpose patch. To acheive this with individual pedals, I'm either needing to buy the same pedal more than once - or try and adjust them mid set. With my Helix, it's just one pedal to press. There's also things like split paths, switching multiple pedals on/off at once that make life easier on a multi-effects. Yes, you can acheive this in the analogue world, just not very easily. Not to mention the fuss of patch cables and powering a bunch of individual pedals - along with the associated noise it can bring. However, what I will definitely concede is that to get the best from a multi effects is that you need to spend time with it - understanding how it works and programming it to suit your needs. The built in presets are rarely what you want. You can't just drop it in like you would an individual pedal and expect it to sound good. For this reason, a multi-effects really isn't for everyone. George

I'd say it depends on the scenario... If you want to try out a lot of effects, get a multi-effects. The Zoom ones are very cost effective and sound good. This may guide you down a path of individual effects once you know what you are after. If you need to have many different sounds - for example in a covers band - then a multi-effects will often be a better choice than lots of different pedals. There are a few reasons for this - cost, simplicity/size of setup and simplicity of switching between sounds. Also, this type of rig lends itself well to a amp-free, low-stage volume in-ear setup - popular with wedding bands and the like. However if your needs are simpler and you know what you need - for example in an originals band - then a few individual pedals probably makes more sense. There's no point buying a Helix pedal when you just need a good drive and octave pedal. It's not to say you can't have a more complex pedal board - many people do and love them! George

You are absolutely correct. There's no doubt a pick can have a massive impact on your tone. There's about half a dozen covers in our set where it's a necessity as far as I'm concerned. It's a skill that all bassists should have in their arsenal. George

I've done both, and for me it depends on what I'm playing. When I've played in originals bands, I normally keep the same sound for much of the often short set and usually just went straight to the amp. I did use effects occasionally in my most recent originals band - mostly amp simulation or a Sansamp patch on my Zoom B3. The goal was a consistent tone when playing via shared backlines which are common at originals gigs. But if was able to use my own amp at every gig I wouldn't have bothered with effects. In my first couple of originals bands, I don't even think I could have afforded any effects! When playing covers, I use effects extensively - these days via a Helix. Basically, I normally have about 40 songs to do in a night covering a fair mix of material and need to be able to get a sound quickly. I have two basic tones that cover much of the set and I tweak with pickup selection and the tone knob. One is a traditional sounding clean tone - think the Eagles, Rolling Stones, Ocean Colour Scene. The other is a more mid-focused slightly driven Ampeg SVT style sound - covering things like the Who, Stranglers, Biffy Clyro. I've also got these patches set up with switchable drive (of varying degrees!), octave and chorus. There are also a few songs in the set with their own dedicated patches - Hysteria (Muse), Figure it Out (Royal Blood) and Sledgehammer.

I've recently purchased an Elf head and am blown away with how great it is. While I don't need new cabs - I have a pair of already light and punchy TC Electronic RS112s - the Elf cabs are taking up too much time in the GAS section of my brain. They do look pretty though. And a smaller footprint the the TC Electronic ones - it's at premium in the pubs we play....

I'd agree it's worth having a peak inside it. On some amps there may be fuse that you can access without needing to even open it - it'll probably be somewhere near the power lead. I've had to replace internal fuses on a few amps over the years. If a fuse looks visibly blown (or you can test with a multimeter) - and there's no other visible damage then it's definitely worth a try. Recently I also had a slightly more expensive amp fail - TC Electronic BH550. A VDR had blown, taking the internal fuse with it. It's currently with a retired tech, who got it up and running without the VDR. It's apparently needed in the circuit for safety, so it's currently waiting on a replacement coming from China - at a cost of under £5 delivered. I'll need to give the guy a few quid for his efforts too - but I shouldn't be too much out of pocket. George

I’ve spent some time reading about VDRs, and this seems entirely plausible. It doesn’t seem particularly rare, and I wonder how many otherwise working devices are scrapped as a result. The guy trying fix my amp seems to think this is likely the case too, and the amp is currently working with the VDR simply removed from the circuit. He’s waiting on a replacement being delivered from China - hopefully it should be returned to me in the next few days. George

Definitely agree - in over 20 years I’ve never played an originals gig where the PA was supplied. The opposite is almost true for pub covers bands!