tony_m

Another one + spare here, though which of them gets the gig and which is the spare depends very much on how I'm feeling on the day. Think it's probably going to be the Jazz this weekend, though it might turn out to be the '51 P Reissue yet. 🤷‍♂️

10 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I wish we could be more confident in all the non-playing aspects of band stuff - socials, publicity, tooting our own metaphorical horns and all that jazz instead of the whole "we're in a band but shhhh, don't tell anyone!" shyness/modesty thing.  We don't have to turn into completely overbearing, arrogant knobs either, just somewhere between those extremes would be nice.

Yep, that's us to a tee as well. There are umpteen other bands round our way who push themselves on the socials far more than we do (which isn't difficult to be fair!), and seem to get gigs at the drop of a hat. That said, our whole raison d'être was to have fun, playing songs we wanted to play, and gigging only occasionally, rather than being out every weekend playing the same old stuff in the same old pubs as everybody else, so probably shouldn't grumble really.  🤷‍♂️

How about these two, previously owned by DeLisle Harper. That 1957...  🤩

1957 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185858047291?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=I6kQUce0SWq&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

1968 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185858042671?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=I6kQUce0SWq&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Having finally found myself in a gigging band a couple of years back at the age of 61, I definitely feel like I've improved since then. With me, it's a mental thing - I'm now a lot more confident in my abilities (as in "Hey, I *can* actually do this to an acceptable level!" ), and am therefore much more relaxed, and more prepared to make the odd mistake (some *very* odd) without worrying about it. It also helps that I seem to be the only one out of the five of us who can learn (and actually remember) a song arrangement quickly!

13 hours ago, redbandit599 said:

Hi Tony, that was me 😉

Haha, I wondered if it was - nice to meet you (again)! 😀

On 03/05/2023 at 14:59, asingardenof said:

I assume this is Ashdown's version of the Ampeg Micro VR rig?

 

There isn't a lot of detail on the Ashdown website. They seem to strongly imply that both head and cab are rated at 250W @ 4 ohm, although the manual contradicts this by saying 180W @ 4 ohm:

Yeah, I was discussing this with another user on the Ashdown FB page t'other day. I'd presumed it would be the same as my old 100W Five Fifteen minirig, which has a single output on the head labelled 4 ohm, and a 100W / 4 ohm sealed cab, but then the user guide shows the Studio has two outputs on the head (min load 4 ohm), and mentions using an extension speaker - I guess this means one could use two 8 ohm cabs, but that seems to defeat the object of having a dedicated (presumably 250W / 4 ohm) cab. Then again, the info in the user guide seems a bit skewiff as you've pointed out, so who knows what the reality is! Hopefully someone from @Ashdown Engineering will respond either here or on FB to clarify.

Saturday night saw an unexpected outing for Rascallion, replacing another local band who had been due to play at our favourite village hall venue, but suffered a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly a couple of weeks ago.

No major dramas to report for once, other than Mr Singer's 12-string electro-acoustic suddenly turning into an 11-string (cue 1001 hoary old g-string jokes). The onstage sound was probably the best we've ever had - our new monitor setup (an Alesis Strike Amp 12 on the far side of Mr Drums, and an HH Tensor in front of Mr Singer and Mr Lead) worked brilliantly and provided a beautifully balanced overall mix, while my trusty old Ashdown Five Fifteen minirig is doing all I can ask of it as far as personal monitoring goes. Made a few minor whoopsies here and there during the first set (when I'm usually a bit tentative anyway), but from the second song of the second set onwards things were really cooking and I could just let my left hand do its stuff without really having to think about it. 

Great response throughout from the small-but-perfectly-formed audience who really do seem to appreciate our brand of country-fried rock and blues, with a few up and dancing, loudly demanding an encore when we finished, and then demanding a second encore equally loudly - we briefly considered risking "Rose of Cimarron" which we only did for the first time at rehearsal on Thursday, but the chap who runs the hall was shouting for more CCR, so we went with "Travelin' Band" instead, and for once everybody remembered how the ending goes!

Next scheduled gig is an outdoor charity festival in July, but someone who was there last night has apparently now asked if we could play their birthday party at the same venue in June, so we're just waiting on Mr Rhythm to check his holiday diary before we say yes.

Couple of short FB vids here...

https://fb.watch/ke1m2DkVqD/

https://fb.watch/ke1tbXe3nm/

Just checking the traffic on the route to this evening's gig - setting off in about 45 minutes, fortunately doesn't look too busy at the mo, but you can never guarantee some muppet won't bump into something / somebody at the drop of a hat!

First public performance (with a couple of mates at an open-mic) = 54

First proper gig with a band = 61

12th gig coming up this evening!

So, @Downunderwonder / @Rich / @dmccombe7 / @moley6knipe / @casapete , I pitched up at rehearsal on Thursday intending to test out your various suggestions as regards the boominess we experienced last Saturday, only to be forestalled by Mr Rhythm Guitar who confessed that the lows on his monitor (a SubZero C12MAE active floor jobbie) had been wound up as high as they'd go for most of the gig - apparently he'd only noticed two songs from the end, and never thought to mention it to the rest of us on the day!  🤦‍♂️

Anyway, after double-checking that everything was set up correctly, we ran through the numbers which had generated the most boominess on Saturday without any problems at all - winding up the lows on the monitor in question immediately took us back to Boom City, so looks like that was indeed the problem on this occasion.   🤷‍♂️

7 minutes ago, Marc S said:

I rarely pay any attention to subtitles these days - so I hadn't spotted that doh!

To be honest, the only reason I spotted it was my Better Half had the TV on, so I waa watching the vid with the volume off and the subtitles on. Just a happy accident really! 😂

Dunno about the bass, but the auto-generated subtitles leave a bit to be desired... 😳

17 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Might be a silly one but have any of the mic stands got the centre pole touching the floor. The tripod legs have rubber stops on them that prevent the mic picking up bass drone but if the centre pole is touching floor it can transmit the bass vibration up to the mic itself. Had that in rehearsals a few times where previous bands have left stands that way and we didn't notice until we started playing. Its usually a low end hum / drone tho.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I don't think so, though to be fair they're a part of the gear I never get involved with! I'll have a proper look on Thursday.

Cheers,

Tony

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Had a similar experience while back at a rehearsal and a fellow BC'er explained it to me. I was getting a low hum on certain notes and as explained its to do with the bass amp sitting on same axis as his vocal mic. If i had turned the bass amp a few degrees one way or the other it would have altered the frequency and stopped it happening. I tried this at the next rehearsal and sure enough he was spot on.

Now i tend to turn my cab slightly off forward facing at gigs and very slightly inwards but not perpendicular to drummers vocal mic.

Oddly enough i've never had this issue with drum mics altho they are usually placed at angles on drums.

Hope that makes sense.

Dave 

Hmm, I do usually have my amp turned inwards slightly, but then it's aiming at both Mr Frontman and Mr Lead Guitar's vocal mics. I'll try moving it around a bit at rehearsal on Thursday and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the suggestion. 👍

2 hours ago, Rich said:

Does he use soundhole plugs on the acoustics?

No, they haven't actually got soundholes, they've both got piezo bridge pickups (in the pic below, the black one's the 12, the yellow one's the 6), but I guess they've still got the body capacity to resonate in an unhelpful manner?

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

High pass his monitor send and it will be all good. The loop is guitar monitor guitar, doesn't matter where it starts from only that it is cut off.

Sounds like a plan, I'll have a fiddle with the desk at rehearsal on Thursday. 👍

4 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

99/100 that's the acoustic guitar or something ringing at an octave up from you. It might be set off by you, but it's not you.

Yeah, our frontman swaps between a 6-string electro-acoustic and a 12-string electro-acoustic, and it's always worse when he's on the 6-string. Throw his vocals plus two lots of backing vox and the electronic drumkit into the mix, and it does seem to be a case of frequency stacking that the monitors can't handle. Fortunately it doesn't affect the FoH, it's just annoying.

Another outing for the Ashdown Five Fifteen minirig at this weekend's outdoor / beer garden gig. As I go through the PA anyway, the amp is really just there as onstage  monitoring for me, and because Mr Lead Guitar prefers to hear the bass coming from behind him rather than through his monitor, so I don't need the power of the good ol' MAG300 combo and find the minirig easier to lug around.

Saturday afternoon saw the first outing for Rascallion in 2023, appearing as the first "Outdoor Band" of the year at a local village pub (and coincidentally the first time we've ever played there too). 

Really nice setup in the beer garden, with a marquee roof running the full length, though as things turned out it might have been better if they'd had the sides on too - despite the lovely sunshine, it was both a tad draughty and incredibly chilly in the shade, and by the time we finished at about 6:30pm (having kicked off at 4pm, with a 30 minute break between sets) we were all suffering from cramp and frozen fingers (but fortunately had just enough dexterity and feeling left to be able to bash out "Bad Moon Rising" as a much-demanded encore).

Other than the usual distraction of the odd bass note booming through the monitors (octave E's this time rather than the usual B's and C's... 🤨 ), all went reasonably well. Overall, it probably wasn't the best we've ever played tbh, but conversely a couple of numbers turned out the best we've ever done them, so swings and roundabouts, eh? Despite the onstage boominess, FoH sound was spot-on, and the audience were appreciative throughout, with one particular lady declaring we were "f****** awesome" at the end. There again, drink may well have been taken, so...  🤷‍♂️

As it is, we were already booked for late August BH Sunday at the same venue, but they've now also asked if we could be available at short notice should they find themselves needing a band any time before then, so guess we must have made a decent enough impression.

Next scheduled gig is an open-air local charity festival in mid-July - hopefully it'll be a bit warmer that day!

Picture from the pub FB page...

On 06/04/2023 at 08:17, ossyrocks said:

Can anyone recommend a book about vintage Fender basses? I’d like history, timelines, details of features and changes as they evolved, and lots and lots of lovely pictures.

 

Ta,

Rob

Couple more books I've got on the shelf in addition to the "Illustrated History" previously mentioned! 

First one's a tad niche, but is probably my most thumbed book as I'm a bit of an SCPB fanboy...

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781574242546/Fender-Precision-Basses-1951-1954-Schmidt-1574242547/plp

And then there's this, which while not strictly bass-related, is full of all sorts of odds and ends and bits and bobs which may be of interest...

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781476817477/Fender-Archives-Scrapbook-Artifacts-Treasures-1476817472/plp

Betcha can't spot the bass player...  🤭

Yeah, I've got an old SoundLAB SDB-20 passive DI box which lives in my spares bag for gigs - the very nice chap from whom I bought my Ashdown Five Fifteen Minirig donkey's years ago threw it in as a freebie as he had no use for it!

Funnily enough, I've also got a Behringer BDI21 in the bag, just in case. Although my other two amps have got inbuilt DI's, the Minirig (which I'm using the most at the moment) hasn't even got a Line Out never mind a DI, so my main FOH feed comes from an Ashdown 12-band graphic EQ / DI pedal - hopefully the SoundLAB and BDI give me enough cover should the Ashdown pedal ever let me down! 🤞

4 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

These are quite hard to find but do a darn close impression of the TE GP12 pre amp tone. The shape control is also adjustable rather than straight on or off which is a great feature IMO. 

That's what I use, run through either a Trace AH200 head with the pre-shape and EQ both disengaged on the amp (sacrilege, I know... 🤨 ), or into one of my Ashdowns, again with the EQ disengaged or set flat, and a DI run from the pedal to the desk for FOH. Have to confess, I tend not to touch the 12-band graphic, just dial in an appropriate amount of pre-shape to get the sound I want - this seems to work well enough for the band I'm in, but guess I really must have a proper "Mess Around With The Graphic" session sometime to see if it could be improved any.

Rascallion - country-rock / Americana with the odd bit of blues-rock thrown in is probably the best description. Mix of CCR, Eagles, Petty, Earle, Stones, plus random others, some of which we're gradually trying to phase out 'cos they don't really fit!

Played our first gig as The Old Rascals, as this was the name the front three had been using when they went out as an electro-acoustic trio plus drum machine. A change of name was mooted as people were taking the proverbial out of us, especially the "Old" bit (OK, we are all gentlemen of a certain age, but that's beside the point) - Mr Drums suggested Rascallion (the archaic form of rapscallion), and in the absence of anything better, we went with that. Needless to say, certain other local bands do apparently refer to us as Crapscallion, but then again we have our own pet names for them too, so fair's fair I guess... 🤷‍♂️

Been and gone:

Kustom keyboard combo (30W?)

Marshall BassState B30
Laney Linebacker 30 Bass

Trace Elliot BLX-80

Now:

Ashdown Perfect10 30W (just gathering dust!)

Ashdown MAG300-C210T combo

Ashdown Five Fifteen mini rig

Trace Elliot AH200 + Ashdown MAG210 Deep or Trace Elliot BLX-110

12 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Stuff a banana an hour before you go on. Potassium is your cramp avoiding friend.

6 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Good call. Ready Salted crisps, tonic water and cranberry juice are also helpful for cramp-avoidance.

Our drummer always has a bottle of tonic water to hand during gigs, and after my fretting hand cramped up at our last gig I reckon I'm going to be joining him.