Norris

A good strap can help a lot. Personally I have used a Comfort Strapp for years and really wouldn't use anything else. You'll probably want a long or extra-long one though. I don't know who they measured them against but even long is borderline too short for me (I'm 5'9")

Party in the Barn. This was a ticket do with hog roast included. I'll try to be cheery about, despite missing Iron Maiden (my wife and son said they were fantastic!)

So we actually had a really good gig. Nice to be working with a sound guy we knew and it sounded great. It was darned hot and humid though so I'm glad I took my fan. There were about 300 people there, around 200 of them that dragged their tables out of the barn to where there was a very slight breeze. It wasn't exactly the freshest of air though being a working farm 😂

A long, hot night but plenty of dancing. The Rumble was only just ticking over as on stage monitor as everything was through the PA

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

Can't say I'm looking forward to tonight - had a stinking cold for the past couple of days and while it is abating, I'm still only operating on about 75% strength.  Wireless shenanigans may be curtailed - hopefully won't need a chair.

It seems that I have finally succumbed to the cold that Mrs Norris has been sporting for a week or more. Soapy throat, sneezing, snot. It'll be a long night of paracetamol and adrenaline.

To cap it all, I got two tickets for Iron Maiden baby - before I realised this is one gig that couldn't be moved or avoided. Mrs Norris is dutifully depping for me at Maiden with my son while I go off to spend a very long night playing in a barn (setting off just before 5pm - got 45 mins to drink my cuppa then go). It's a ticket do with hired PA, sound guy, etc. I told her to get me a tour T shirt though.

1 hour ago, Mickeyboro said:

how do you manage/motivate them?

Gigs in the diary!

This comes down to the usual question of how much everyone wants to/can commit to the band. Which band takes priority when a member is double booked? If you take a booking will they all honour it? Will they tell you when dates become unavailable? Adult conversation time 😀

9 hours ago, peteb said:

I'm afraid that I find exercise bikes deadly boring.

So do I, which is why I have an app on my tablet and a Bluetooth connected bike. I'm always trying to beat my time or trying to overtake someone or trying not to be overtaken. It takes your mind off the tedium.

It's like when I was younger I hated running (still do), but put a map and compass in my hands and I was actually quite good at orienteering as it turned out - 3rd in the county for my age class one year

8 minutes ago, peteb said:

due to a knackered knee

That's one of the reasons I got an exercise bike. It's virtually no impact unlike running and a lot of other fitness activities. My exercise bike can connect to my tablet via Bluetooth and I run a free virtual cycling app which makes it much more interesting. No gym fees either 👍

I gave up smoking over 3 years ago and my metabolism changed, piling on a couple of stones. I started feeling like an old man. I decided to fight back and go on my exercise bike 4 times a week if I can and walk every lunchtime for at least half an hour. The weight is slowly coming off, I feel much better and am much fitter than I've ever been (i.e. heart rate recovery). I take turmeric tablets daily for my joints and green mussel extract for my tendons and those feel a lot better too - especially my knees.

As for actually playing, nah - I'm usually gigging too often to get rusty in that regard. The general physical fitness is more of a factor and I feel that is under control. It doesn't seem right when I don't do a bit of daily exercise now.

My Sire P7-5 was very nice straight out of the box. Nice B string, sounds like a P, didn't break the bank. Even the tort scratch plate looks good.

However I'm leaning slightly more towards my Sterling Sub5 now that I've fitted a Retrovibe Stinger preamp. It's a bit lighter  with closer string spacing and again very affordable.

I do gig both of them though.

2 hours ago, thebassist said:

I need something that can handle a huge amount of volume...

Why? You're either through the PA and using your amp as a tone source and/or on stage monitor, or you don't really need more than about 500W - certainly not in your average small venue.

Your choice depends on the type of sound you're after - clean or coloured. I like a coloured sound that can sound a bit valvey, but is a light weight combo. The Fender Rumble v3 500 ticks those boxes for me

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Nice one. Any pics ?

Dave

It's the Les Paul junior double cut that's his. Very light too, African khaya wood, ebony fretboard, Irongear P90s

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

Yes, you’re right. This one is a bass for life so I’m not too worried. 

A few years ago I made a guitar for my guitarist. He was so nervous when he first got it, that it was a relief when he finally put the first dint in it and could relax. Since then he has played it so much it is "mojoing in" nicely. It looks great even with the wear and seems to sound better at every outing (though I do say so myself!)

11 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Is that the bowling green @Norris?

The Plough

Final gig of the weekend was a nice "acoustic" session this afternoon in the garden of another pub in Ashby. Not a huge crowd but still very enjoyable, and they were wearing more clothing this time 😂

I forgot to take any photos earlier so here's our guitarist

I love playing the EUB but in the second set it turned a bit grey and windy, so we kept on playing - for nearly 2 hours in the end! Needless to say I was pretty glad when we finished the last number

Sunglasses throughout and burgundy suede Vans

Gig 2 of 3 this weekend. This one was at the White Hart in Ashby de la Zouch. It can be a bit hit and miss sometimes. It was pretty much empty when we arrived, but before too long more and more people came in and we had the whole place jumping.

I'm not sure if bands really do drum solos any more (?) Moby Dick went down an absolute storm! Ideal time for me to grab a quick photo. Note the security staff and the local pastor team at the window.

You can also see my "stingish" Sub5 and Fender Rumble there. The bass has been promoted to the better gig bag - the one with the band cards in it 😁

So anyway, the really strange bit. We play "dad rock" - pop, rock and prog rooted firmly in the 70s. We usually attract old blokes to our gigs. Ashby is a bit different - it's a really buzzing town on a Saturday night, lots of pubs, lots of transient crowd. So there's more of a wider mix of people than normal and we're getting them to linger - all good stuff. Half way through the night four stunningly gorgeous young ladies came in, dressed in their underwear by the look of it. They grabbed themselves a pint of Guinness each and then started dancing right in front of the band singing along loudly to pretty much everything we played. Not only that, but after we'd played Oh Well they asked for another early Fleetwood Mac song - Albatross! - Then danced along to it. There were a few people in the crowd that found it quite amusing watching us trying not to stare at the gyrating ladies, although we did make a few more mistakes than usual.

What a great night. I love it when the room is in full swing.

Most important though...

...the purple suede Gazelles

Gig 1 of 3 this weekend. We don't normally do 3 in a weekend but tonight's gig got moved from next week.

Last time we played here we decided it was such a small, noisy area to set up in that we would do it "acoustically" because of the smaller footprint and lower volume. Of course none of us remembered that, so we shoehorned in the full kit again.

The pub was rather quiet though with not many in. That lead us to a bit of musical silliness, which always helps a slower night go faster, plus engages the people that are there. So it ended up a good, if hot (I remembered the fan!) night. Best of all only 15 minutes away from my house and home by half past midnight.

Cheap "stingish" bass into the usual Rumble. Converse feet.

Thanks. I've forwarded that to Mrs Norris, who likes both ballet and The Who

2 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

Pilot holes with any woodscrews.

 

And wipe the screw thread on a candle to lubricate it with a bit of wax

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

The maximum input of the TL061 chipset, they certainly use as the LM4250CN is very hard to source, is 18 Volts, so, theoretically you can use 2 batteries to get that 18 Volts, but as it will be around 19 Volts, it might start distorting with new batteries...

You can buy the preamp with either one or two battery clips. I'm guessing they are connected in serial for an 18v supply (?)

I fitted a Retrovibe Stinger preamp to my Sterling Sub5 and it's transformed it from an indistinct mush to a gorgeous sound. However on my latest gig towards the end of the night it felt like it was running out of steam. The Duracell battery has been in for a few months, so it might slightly past its best. Alternatively it might be running out of "head room".

Has anyone got any experience of running this preamp with 9v vs 18v? The bass has a single battery compartment. I'm fine fitting a dual compartment, but would it be worth it? When the battery gets a bit low does it suddenly die or gradually fade away?

We thought we'd done our last gig at the Donkey back in October last year. Tonight we played there again. There was quite a lot of doubt if it would continue as a music venue, and not very good communication from the new owner at the time, which put a lot of peoples' noses out of joint. A lot of the old regulars are boycotting the place (as we found out) and a few bands too.

Well we're a mercenary bunch and I'm glad to say we filled the place. I don't know what the bar staff thought of it because they didn't strike me as the most experienced. I think they were more used to a sedentary rate of service.

That's the only photo I took

We had a great time and hopefully showed the new owner what a music venue should be like. Certainly they enjoyed it.

I took the stingish bass again and it was nice to let the Rumble sing a bit (they don't have a house PA any more). I even brought the smoke machine along.

Packing up took ages because it seemed that everyone wanted to shake hands and say goodbye, blocking the exit while they did!

Converse one-stars kept me upright and striking a few stances

We are lucky enough to only have a couple of places that we have to invoice. The rest are good old cash in hand at the end of the night.

You know when you turn up to a venue. The place is busy and very noisy. The staff haven't started shifting people, tables and chairs out of your way. Then the crowd are constantly in your way as you bring the kit in. Then you have to set up on top of each other, deafened by people shouting to each other. ??? Well that's how Friday night started.

Despite that once we had set up, had a few minutes outside to cool off and give some respite to our poor ears, we had a really good night. Some serious rocking out, some hilarious silliness too.

I took the Sterling Sub5 with the Stinger preamp (I really must come up with a better name for it!). It's rapidly growing in my affections - relatively light weight, close string spacing, great sounds. This time with no backup bass either (growing confidence in it). The Rumble 500 continues to sound awesome, even with the low Bs and Cs.

The purple suede Gazelles got another outing - not that you could tell in the non-white lighting, so I wore them again for a trip into town today too

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

This is a clone of the original MM 2 band pre-amp. 

Yep, the 1977 Stingray. It certainly transformed my bass

https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-stinger-77-classic-mm-stingray-bass-eq-pre-amp-2-band-pre-eb-circuit/

On 04/06/2025 at 22:42, Russ said:

As for a replacement EQ, the Retrovibe one gets very close to the original Stingray preamp and it's stupid cheap. I'd actually leave the stock circuit alone as it's close enough to the original and maybe just upgrade the pickup. 

I can't recommend the Retrovibe Stinger preamp highly enough. It transformed my cheapo Sterling Sub5 from an indistinct mush into an articulate thing of beauty.

Like the OP I considered changing the pickup, but then did a lot of reading of threads. Most of them said that the pickup doesn't actually make that much difference. The Stinger made a huge difference. It's cheap and paid for itself in one gig. In fact it's the bass I'm going to take out tonight... in about 20 minutes, so I'd better get my shoes on... 😂

Edit:

...much later - it sounded great!

I'm repeating the mantra "I love my 500, I don't need an 800"

Great price, and localish to me. I don't need it 😂