bonzodog

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1394116013' post='2388093'] the clipping we're on about here is pre-amp clipping, surely? If your amp has a warning light for the power amp overloading then you should probably take it fairly seriously. My peavey has this, and I make sure it almost never lights up. That doesn't stop me clipping the pre-amp though if I want (which I don't) [/quote] The Hartke HA3000 does not actually say. Its labelled as a protect light and the manual does not say whether its pre or power amp

It does seem to clip at a lower gain than I was expecting with my MP Jazz and assumed it was to do with the humbuckers. When I play my JHS Vintage P bass throiugh it I can normally get the gain higher. I was just concened whether I should be allowing it to clip at all, so at next gig I will probably allow it clip more so than I normally do and see what happens. I do need a new amp though am looking for a LH500/1000 just need to raise the cash!!

Alcohol intake by the audience is also a factor. You may play a slow song early on because you want to keep all the fast stuff for when the audience have 'had a few' but if its catchy, a slow song can go down very well late on if everyone has a sing song. We do 'all or nothing' by the small faces late on and it works

I think its just a story to link with one direction. If he wasn't from there it would not have even been put on their web site. I live not too far away and my nephews band are all from Redditch and the music scene seems to be good there

Just wondering how much you monitor your clip lights. I use a Hartke HA3000 and am always doing my utmost to avoid the amp clipping at all which can be hard with my Fender MP with humbuckers. I often see other bass players allowing the amp to clip more and last week the bass player with the band we played with had his amp flashing red all night long. We used our own amps so wasn't too fussed but just wondered if I was being over cautious

Very dodgy. I dont see why anyone would buy anything off ebay wihout pictures of the actual product. Whats their feedback like?

[quote name='Prosebass' timestamp='1393581391' post='2382108'] Facebook is free Wordpress is free Soundcloud up to 90 minutes is free Twitter is free (if you like to pester people) The problem is coherent content, updating it constantly and making it visible. Looking after all this is time consuming and you need to be very strict about this. There is nothing worse than looking at a band page and seeing it has been 6 months since any content was added. If you go down the website route, I can thoroughly recommend Wordpress but ensure your site looks best on mobile devices. Although all this is good for getting bookings / existing fans, it can have the opposite effect as far as future fans are concerned. If you post all your music and videos on-line many will make a snap judgement on that content as to whether they want to see you live or not. We all know there is nothing better than seeing a band live and some web content I have seen posted would put me off seeing a band. Keep your videos and sound clips short and of good quality. Don't use the media as a library, use it as a showcase. [/quote] Agree on the music side of this. Especially as bass players we know our sound comes off the worst when playing back through laptop of mobile speakers. Someone did a video of us at our last gig and when I played it back on my laptop the bass was none existent. I connected my laptop up to my surround sound and the bass came through really well, but like Posebass says, people will listen on a mobile and make a decision

FB also works the other way as well. We use it to contact venues who have a facebook page. We recently played a great support gig at the Roadhouse in Birmingham. I originally sent them a message on facebook, they replied the same day and the gig was booked. All without leaving my sofa. I now send countless introductory messages to venues through facebook with links to our page.

We dont have a web site and put everything through our facebook page. I think its a perfect medium as you can link to venues for up and coming gigs and invite all your friends. Very important to get as many likes as possible too as venues consider this when looking at your page

[quote name='lee4' timestamp='1393100033' post='2376273'] How about a JHS Vintage Tony Butler?Black/Black/Maple joy! [/quote] +1. Great bass

Also it makes a big difference I think if the venue put loudish background on during break. If there is just silence then that could kill the atmosphere so we always take our own just in case

Cheers for the help guys. I think at present I am leaning toward active, as I have also just aquired a fairly decent none powered mixer so just need a pair of active tops and we are away. We will add bass bins at a later date but can still hire them for the time being if needed. I think I may try out the Mackies that have been mentioned, as well as the EVs that I am already familiar with Cheers

I know every venue is different but I don't really get the 'audience will lose the buzz' if you take a break longer than 15 mins. I agree with whats also been said that people don't just come out to see the band. They also socialise with their friends who they have probably not seen for a week, and also have a fag or two. In general, I would say most gigs we do, and what I did as a solo singer was 9.30 till 10.30 and 11pm till 12am. 30 minute break was accepted.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1392562662' post='2370034'] We usually play 2 x 90 minute sets with a 30 minute break. I personally think that is reasonable break for 3 hours of music. Seems to be the done thing in our neck of the woods. [/quote] Fair play....dont think my back, fingers or vocal chords could do 3 hours of playing. 2 is enough for me

Venues normally have an end time and you work back from there so i assume the band did not have enough material for a shorter break. Ive just booked a gig in 4 weeks and told the gaffer of the pub we can do 2 x 60min spots. He said thats fine....start at 9 and finish at 12am and have a 15 min break. You do the maths!!!

[quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1392468283' post='2369079'] To give you a bit of insight into whats popular.... I work for EV/Dynacord here in the UK. I'd say at least 75% of the sales we have are for Active/Powered speakers. Passive generally is still used for bigger set ups (club systems/small tour type system) but we are seeing more and more more powerful boxes in the Active market. With regards to the above posts.... Active speakers today weigh little more than their passive twins... You may see more faulty units around than Passive as there are more things to go wrong in an active cabinet..... you see plenty of of faulty amplifiers up for sale if you look. There is little difference between sound quality between the two types as most use the same components... Generally with Passive systems there are other things that cause a difference in sound... be that the type of cable used between the amp and cab, the type of amplifier and gain staging between all these different stages. [/quote] My last passive PA was EV speakers and i loved the sound. Had the sx tops and sb122 bottoms so if i did go active i would look at EVs

In previous bands and my solo career i have always used passive systems. Mixer into power amp into passive speakers. Current band is now doing rather well and up to now we have either played venues with an in house PA or hired one with a sound engineer. We are now taking on a few smaller pub gigs so need to invest in a PA. I am considering going active as i like the thought of just a small mixer and a pair of powered speakers probably about 500w each. The benefit we will probably buy three and use one as a monitor and then also becomes a spare if one dies. Has anyone got any views on active or passive pros and cons

Of couse the other end of the spectrum from Clapton is I've seen U2 a few times. Hes not as bad now but a for a few years Bono spent half the gig sitting down at the front of the stage telling us how he was going to save the world.

I have one of these, all be it the older style with only three controls. I love it to bits and agree that it plays beautifully

There is also the added cheesiness of if you do decide to say something witty you can be sure your drummer will follow it with a quck drum roll and cymbal crash

As a three piece band, me and the guitarist share vocals (He sings some and I sing others). I am also the 'frontman' in as much that I do any chat between songs. The reason I do it, is because in a former life I was a solo pub singer and used to talk to the audience a lot. I dont mean telling jokes, but just the general 'how you all doing' and introducing songs and trying to get people dancing As a solo singer this felt normal but now in a band I feel its a bit cheesy. We supported a band last week who hardly spoke between songs and there was an almost coolness to how they did not interact much with the audience. I know a lot of its depends on what sort of band yoiu are. As a rule I would say a covers band would chat more, and an originals band may be less but would be interested to see what you guys think and do. The other two in the band are vey complimentary of what I do, but sometimes I feel a bit 'caberet' when I ask audience if they are having a good time etc

[quote name='Luulox' timestamp='1391952266' post='2362894'] Thanks for the heads up on wikiloops, its a great site cheers pete [/quote] No probs...I think it was somone on here that recommended it to me

Wikiloops is very good to jam along to

I always stand on left (looking at band from crowd). Not sure why, I think it just happened but strangely in my last band when I played lead guitar I also stood on left with bass player on right. I think I would feel odd now on the right

Pretty much every Phil Lynott / Thin Lizzy song