Angelus

52 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

What's your budget?

That’s an interesting question..... Not really had a budget, but need to get expenditure past SWMBO. In my mind £4K is too much, but if I though there was something special that would last a lifetime? I do need to remember it’s a hobby, but I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs and I’m not eating beans on toast for dinner, so happy to spend what I think is worth it. 

The Alto stuff really does look good value and very capable. Currently surfing you tube watching reviews.  

3 hours ago, grandad said:

You say pubs and small clubs. There's plenty of collective experience on BC. In my opinion it's easy to over do it regarding PA's. We give well meant advice from our own experience, me included. So my advice is to make a list of your requirements now and, as best as you can, the future. I say this because of the costs involved.

Wattage - Size of venues - pubs & small clubs - 500 watts per side would give headroom to spare for a whole band.

No of channels - ? Who is going through it, (just vocals or the whole band). Just vocals then wattage comes down. What's your sound? 10" is sweet for vocals. 12"s great for most instruments. 15"s are big and heavy but good for drums. Do your require sub's and monitors?

Do you want a simple plug and play with minimum fuss or are you interested enough to go wireless and do the sound engineering tasks.

My best advice is to really think it through before shelling out hard earned cash. And don't forget to factor in mic's, cables, stands, bags, cases, leads and all the bits & pieces which seem to weigh more than any other piece of equipment.

I did our PA for years when I was younger, fitter and keener. I spent a fair bit of cash on PA gear too. Working the PA for a band I enjoyed the learning curve from venue to venue and tried to apply my learned knowledge with the practical experience whilst gigging.

Some good points, thanks. We have been gigging for the past year and have our desk, mics, cables etc and back line. Mainly vocals through the foh, but the guitarist has switched to a helix and wee frfr headrush for backline, so guitar will have to go through it too. We have enough channels to put all backline and drums through the PA, along with the vocals, but obviously some smaller venues don’t warrant that. 

35 minutes ago, grenadillabama said:

EV speakers have nice clean treble. 

EV are definitely on the list. I really like my friends full QSC system, but it’s a bit pricey for hobby and only gigging once a month. It’ll take me 20 years to pay it off. 😂

48 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I'll leave the advice about speakers etc. to others, but you could do worse than check out this thread re. the actual PA 'desk' unit. Wireless, cheap but excellent quality.

That looks good, but I’ve got a Line 6 StageScape, which I’m hoping to keep using. Interesting to see how others are setting up though. Truth is, I’m a better sound engineer than I am bass player. 😂

What have you got? 

I find myself having to start again and build another band, after the guitarist/lead vocals and myself were left on our own, with the PA belonging to the former drummer. We’ve now got another drummer and a successful rehearsal under our belts, so will need to invest. Looking to see what others are using for Pubs and smaller clubs? 

PM’d. 
 

Anyone got any idea how much shipping to Central Scotland would be?

Aw man, if only this could be posted...... 🙄 If you ever travel to Scotland or Liverpool, then let me know. 👍

Bought tickets to see Dan Reed Network, FM and GUN, at the Glasgow Barrowlands on the 21st, 30 year anniversary of an album release for all 3. I feel old. 

If you’ve paid for a setup that you didn’t like, then I’m sure any professional would help you if you took it back. They might help you find the right setup, so they know and can do it for you again. But might want paid something for the extra work. 
 

It’s all subjective, there’s no right or wrong setup, each person enjoys their own preference. But once you have the setup you like, you need to find out what the measurements are, so you can tell anyone that’s working on any of you basses in the future. 

Normally the guitarist, as he has a coo stick guitar that he needs to change and sings almost all the songs, so wants to start easy and warm his voice up. It’s never, ever been a problem though, so never thought about changing anything. 

Good and bad news, good news is, transformer is ok. Bad news, need to find the part of the circuit that’s failed and fix it. I’ll report back on here when I have updates. 

I’ll measure the Tesla boot first, most of the family live in Wirral so I can get it stored until I get a chance to come down. 

If only I had a way of getting this from Wirral to Scotland? Don’t think it’ll fit in my Tesla? 

Amp is now in for repair, so once I find a replacement part number, I'll post it here.

Best gig of the year so far, local venue with a function room and was raising money for charity. Couple of other bands on too, really enjoyed watching some school kids doing their own material, fantastic effort and I’m sure they’ll get further than I ever did with music. Enthusiastic crowd and we played well. Nothing else booked this year ( drummer has other gigs ) so looking forward to next year now. 

Walking on stage the other week and the amp died. Anyway, I need a transformer for the wee Crate BT100. SLME 94-291-40 is the part number on the transformer, anyone know a replacement? With hundreds in the RS-components catalogue, most under £20, is there a replacement available? Any help appreciated, thank you. 
 

I DI’d the bass into the desk and had a tiny bit in the monitor, but hardly heard a note I played all night. It was Halloween and my first time playing my new headless Stienberger too. 

Bass amp blew up as I walked on stage, so never heard a note I played all night. I could feel the bass through the stage, from the subs, but don’t know if it was right or not. Still, people danced and clapped. Had a driver, so managed a couple of pints after it. Not the worst night ever and fun with all the Halloween fancy dress. 

Dual bass played and sound guy too, very difficuilt to know what's going on out front, but needs must and we don't get many complaints or critisism.

Line 6 Stagescape desk, so I can run it from my iPad and don't "need" to have it next to me.

LD Maui PA, small but capable for pubs.

Cheap monitors, or in ears normally.

I spent last night in Glasgow listening to The Sounds of Cream with Ginger Baker's son Kofi on drums, Malcolm Bruce on bass, Jack's son and Eric Clapton's nephew, Will Johns in guitar. After thinking the gig would be cancelled, I recieved a notice saying the guys wanted to do the gig. Quite emotional in places, but such a brilliant live performance and thouroughly enjoyed it. I'd go and see that show again, night I won't forget for some time.

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Aye that'll teach you. At least it was an outside gig with fresh air. Not so good if a hot sweaty nightclub. 

Was in a Marque and it was roasting. I kept feeling something run down the back of my leg and was so relived to find out later it was only sweat. Last song was A LongWay To The Top, so standing 3 feet from bagpipes just rounded it all off nicely. 😂

Played a wee local festival, that’s been going for a few years and seemed quite good, yesterday afternoon. Had a great time and went down well, however a raging hangover from the night before, that I had to fight off, made slightly less enjoyable. 🙄 Lesson learned there, won’t going out the night before a gig again. Seems the older I get, the better I was. 😳

Bought an amp stand, very well packed and posted with tracker number. Above and beyond for a wee transaction, thank you Chris. 

Going to see Terrorvision and GUN on Thursday. Playing an open air gig in Glasgow, which was ambitious when it was booked, but looks like it might be a warm dry evening. Quite looking forward to it. 

Done my first gig in 20 years yesterday, outdoor stage at a local Highland games festival, doing some covers. Strange sort of experience as the weather was very, very windy, cold and the audience was about 50 yards away in a beer tent. Still, done now and we have a gig a month over the next 4 months, so it might just be worth doing.