inthedoghouse

Some of you on here may have the book 'Living WIth GAS'.  There are some good stories in there about getting a new one in 🙂

6 hours ago, Ed_S said:

 I have had one Neutrik silent right-angle jack go bad on me, but it has moving parts so I guess you have to accept that increased likelihood of failure is the price you pay for the extra feature.

 

Same here with one of the Neutrik silent jacks - the moving sleeve part got jammed somehow. 

But otherwise I haven't used anything but Van Damme cable with Neutrik plugs for 15 years or so and never had the slightest problem. 

Get the parts off eBay and make 'em up yourself and you've got a great cable for little money.  They're nice and flexible too.

Beautiful!  I could never sell mine - I bought it new in about 2000.  GLWTS

On 25/11/2021 at 14:33, SteveXFR said:

Thanks for the tips. Since there's no wild disagreement I've gone and ordered a couple from designacable. Van damme cable (in a nice shade of green) with neutrik plugs (in red for a horrible clash)

Yep, I've been buying Van Damme cable and Neutrik plugs to make my own leads for a long time and I've never had a moment's problem with them.  If Van Damme is is good enough for Abbey Road studios and some of the huge events they've cabled, it's certainly good enough for me.  Not too expensive either.

https://www.van-damme.com/case-studies/

https://www.van-damme.com/about-van-damme/#tour-tab

On 17/11/2021 at 08:23, SteveXFR said:

There is no worse sound than a YouTube slapper. A million notes a minute and it all sounds like a filing cabinet falling down a fire escape. 

100000% agree!

PM sent

Top craftsman and person - lives about 20 mins from me.

PM sent

FFS!!!!!! 

Seems like nothing but timewasters on JMB - I really feel like giving up and selling all my gear!

For me it's always been looking at the set as a whole and whether on balance there is (a lot) more that I like/don't mind than ones I can't stand, and if the standard of playing in the band is high enough.  There have been occasions when I've replied to a promising looking ad only to find the set list is pretty much all material I wouldn't want to play at all.

20 minutes ago, Useless amateur said:

Huge thanks to @inthedoghouse for the body that arrived today. I can’t say how grateful I am

 

Jon

Thanks, Jon - you're very weocome! 🙂

Great - I'll take the Couch brown Cadillac deadstock strap, please 🙂

22 minutes ago, steantval said:

I would have personally given the guy from Facebook a go, good guitarist- tick, good singer-tick and has his own PA-even bigger tick.

I know you stated Sunday evenings were not ideal for you, but it would have been well worth sacrificing one Sunday, you may have got on playing together really well, this would have created a real positive vibe and you may have mutually found an alternative evening that suits you both for rehearsing.

Thanks for your thoughts. 

Yes, he ticked all the boxes and we seemed to get on well and have lots in common by mails, which is why I was so surprised he didn't appear to want to negotiate another night, especially as we had already discussed (for instance) a Tuesday evening and he seemed ok with that.  Sadly though, Sunday evenings really aren't good most weeks as I work in a hospital and need to be up earlyish and 'with it' most Monday mornings.  Perhaps I'll mail him again ... hmmm.  He's probably found another bass player by now though.

The other thing that niggles away a bit that we hadn't discussed is that as he plays professionally for a living.  So I do wonder how many solo nights he might be prepared to sacrifice for an occasional band gig.  He knew I wanted the band to gig but hadn't really got around to discussing that properly.

33 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

I have looked at local jam sessions. There's two, one jazz and one blues. I don't know anything about either genre. I've also only ever bothered learning natural and pentatonic minor scales because that was all I needed for metal. I'm fairly sureI wouldn't do well in either of those jam sessions 

The local jam nights seem mainly to consist of people playing in each other's bands or styles of music that just aren't for me (I'm rock/blues to the core),  I was never really in with the in-crowd back in the day despite being in bands with some of them and I'm certainly not part of the in-crowd now.

Perhaps JMB and Bandmix have more going for them in some parts of the country?  The handful of people who looked at my detailed BM profile (with links) over the months it was up were nothing like local or even looking for a bass player.  I'm guessing they were just browsing.  I check the Cheshire and Stafforshire JMB pages several times a day - I fear it's getting to be a bit OCD 🙂 🙂

8 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

In no way am I bigging myself up here, but I did have a couple of experiences where I was a way more than country mile more adept than the guys I went along to play with ..

 

I can certainly identify with that, Nancy.  I'm definately not big headed either but a few times I've been for auditions with 'gigging bands' as well as a startup only to find that I knew the material I'd been given to learn, shall we say, rather better than the existing members of the band.  I think it's probably a good thing that you had quality links in your ad to show your ability - perhaps that might have filtered out some of the wannabes and people you didn't need to waste your time with?

Did you find a band eventually?

A few months ago I replied to a promising looking ad on JMB which, altough not completely my cuppa, would have been ok for me.  A decent local cover band of good players.  Despite asking, I wasn't given anything to learn and was given a 7pm slot for audition, with, they said, another applicant arriving at 8.  I had sent them some details about myself and some links to vids in a previous band, so they knew I could play well enough (assuming they'd looked at the links). 

With some trepidation I turned up on time and was my usual nice-guy self and chatted while the band was setting their gear up, which they finished doing by 7:30, which left me 30 mins.  Having not been given anything to learn (which surprised two of the other members) I played along a couple of times to a song I'd never played before.  A little bit more chat and it was time for me to go.  I never heard from them again - I won't lose any sleep over that.

Dave

Nothing at all planned. 

Most I would want to see are either dead or retired by now, not to mention the high ticket prices of the big names that are still going 😞  

That said, if Bonnie Raitt or Robin Trower are over here and not too far that would be a certainty.  So far Robin doesn't have a date for next year close enough to me.

27 minutes ago, ern500evo said:

Do RightOn offer non leather versions of all their straps? I was looking at the Fakey Black, with the clef symbol on, but the description states that it’s leather 

Not all their straps, but the Mojo series.  I've got two of them - very well made and comfortable.

https://www.rightonstraps.com/en/guitar-bass-straps-mojo

Just now, SuperSeagull said:

Just a bit of positive feedback for Bandmix. I put a simple profile on a couple of months ago, was contacted a week or so later by a band, auditioned and they offered me the role this week. Established local covers band who were reforming post lockdown, good players and nice people so hopefully will turn out well. 

Good to hear of someone who had a positive experience on BM 🙂  Good luck with your new band 🙂
Dave

21 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

.My rule is don’t answer any that don’t give any basic info about what they are or what they want.

Me too.  I always avoid the ones that give little or no detail, but include an unhelpful 'contact me for more details'.  Just put the damn details on the ad to save everybody's time and effort.

Dave

Please PM me your postal address 🙂

6 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

I think it's a bit more difficult because the last band I was in was really good. Everyone showed up on time, knew the songs, brought spares strings etc,  had ideas to share and they could really play. I think the material and talent in the band was good enough for us to get some good gigs and make a decent record. Unfortunately, two members had to move away and that killed it.

Trying to find another band of that standard is going to be tough.

That's a real shame when it had so much potential and ended through nobody's 'fault'.  As you so rightly say, finding another band of that standard is going to be a toughie ... as both of us know all too well. 

Good luck though, Steve, and be sure to post on here if you have luck finding something suitable.

4 minutes ago, skilamalink said:

I ordered a Couch strap from the States and it arrived nine days later and no duty or import fees to pay. Result. Being a child of the seventies I went for the Scout Caravan Royal Red Detroit '78.

 

 

And very nice it is too 🙂  Lucky you - no extra charges to pay! 🙂   I got caught for extra charges on both the straps I had directly from Couch.  

1 minute ago, SteveXFR said:

One thing I've learnt is not to bother with any new projects that don't already have a drummer. It seems like there's no good drummers available. That and avoid heavy pot smokers, even if they're nice people it's really frustrating when they're an hour late every rehearsal because they lost their keys, guitar, trousers, car (all genuinely used excuses from one pot head) plus you have to listen to their crazy ideas about the government controlling us.

How very true all that is!

I was in a startup cover band a couple of years ago that was rehearsing very well but I had to leave becasue of a big health problem in the family (now thankfully resolved).  We wanted a keys player so I asked someone I knew back in the day as a very good player and quite sought after in bands back then.  I contacted him and he agreed to come along.  He didn't know the way so I offered to drive him the 15 or so miles.  I hadn't seen him for years and was shocked at how he had let himself go, both personally and musically (dope played a part, for sure).  He came along for a few weeks but never bothered learning any of the material (covers) properly and clearly just wanted to use the expensive rehearsal times as an opportunity for a laugh and to tell his long and amusing (to him) stories endlessly.  We gave him every possible nudge that he needed to make more musical effort, but to no avail.  And in the car there and back he never mentioned the band or music once, but made me endure his views on the the world, which were to say the least, to the far side of crackpot.  I like eccentric, but to have lectures on his world views there and back every week was a bridge too far.  He had to go.

I totally agree about not joining a startup without a drummer.  In the example of the guy on FB, he didn't have a drummer but I knew of someone who was interested so I thought it was probably worth a shot.  The guy advertising on JMB is a drummer looking to form a band.  Looking down his previous ads it looks like he's attempted startups before.

Last year I was rehearsing in what should have been an excellent originals band for a few months until covid came along again and gave (two of) us a good excuse to end the misery.  I say 'should have been' because the, for want of a better word, 'drummer' totally let the side down.  He didn't bother learning the material properly, simply didn't have the ability required of him and was another idiot who just wanted to use rehearsal time as socialisation and to tell his long (un)funny stories.  A total timewaster who was given every opportunity to step up to the challenge.  We auditioned another drummer who was of about the same ability.  It seems the reality is that most people seem to just want to play in cover bands playing the same old same old.  I've become more picky in my old age but I suppose a cover band of some description is where I will probably end up.  Having said that though, I've long said that I'd rather not be in a band at all rather than be in just any band for the sake of being in a band.

Perhaps I should just sell up or leave everthing to gather dust. 😞

I've been looking for ages too. 

Bandmix is frustrating because not only do not many 'serious' people seem to use it, but also because the majority of profiles are sadly lacking in basic information and even fail to edit out the instruments they're not looking for and so end up with a list that says "Seeking: (list enough instruments to start an orchestra)".  I had a very complete profile on there for ages and didn't have one person contact me, and very few even looked at my profile.  Perhaps others have had better luck but in my experience it's a waste of time.

JMB:  Seemingly full of ads that aren't for me and so many wannabes, start-ups that never start, people who just want to jam and timewasters (in my experience).  Last week I answered quite a promising ad - a start-up and not totally my cuppa, but I could happily live with it if the quality turned out to be as anticipated.  We had several very positive exchanges of mails, seemed to agree on things and get on ok.  We left it that he would give me a ring on Monday (this week) for a chat.  Monday came, no call, so I mailed him again.  The mail was read (on JMB) almost instantly, but I haven't heard a thing from him since.  I won't be mailing him again or losing any sleep.

I answered an ad on a FB group.  A guy who plays solo nights of crowd pleasers but wanted to play some rock that was right up my street.  A good guitarist, singer, had his own PA, seemed a really nice guy and we had lots in common (we hadn't met in person).  All planning was going well until he suggested Sunday evenings for rehearsals.  I replied saying that Sunday evenings weren't good for me and if that was all that was available to him I'd rather drop out now.  Strange, because only a few mails earlier we'd been discussing a Tuesday evening.  Much to my surprise, instead of looking into mutually available times to get together he basically thanked me for my interest and honesty and said he hope to stay in touch.  Ok, so I said I'd rather drop out now because of Sunday evenings, but things had been seemingly going so well between us that I expected some negotiation for a mutually good day.

Finding good musicians who are also decent people has often been a bit of a big ask, but I'm not looking for perfection in either. 

Long gone are the days where our local muso shop (now long closed) was the hub of things and the place to find out who was looking for someone.  'Open mics' as they are called these days offer little, if anything, of interest around here.

The two examples above both took place over the last two weeks, so at the moment I am feeling very jaded and wondering if there really is anything out there for me.