bonzodog

+1 on the Yamahas Stagepas but go for the 600i which is the largest at 380W per side. Its a powered 6 channel mixer with passive 10" speakers. All packs away into a small unit and cost £600 new. We use it as a vocal PA in smaller/medium gigs and it has feedback eliminator, vocal FX and an output to connect an active sub. If we do larger venues we just use a local hire company and pay £60 for a 1k rig and then use the stagepas system as monitors.

Michael Jackson

Amazing version. Never seen that clip before, thanks. I don't get why people don't like Stairway, Led Zep have done dozens of amazing songs, and I think Stairway is up there with the best. I can only assume its because its been heard so many times and become a bit stereotypical of air guitar rock, but if you forget about all that and listen to it intensely it is a beautiful song..

I also have an Epi EB3 and a Epi Tbird Pro. Both of these have notorious neck dive and a wide strap definitely helps. There must be a way of attaching the strap button at the bottom of the bass to your belt on your right hip.....think I may try and invent something with this in mind

LED is definitely the way to go as they are getting better all the time, will last forever and don't cook you on stage. I use 2 x PAR64 to light us up but we also use some smaller units as up-lighters. Two behind the drummer pointing upwards gives a lovely wash to the back of the stage. Also you can point them at amps to give a nice mood effect. DMX is okay if you are planning on having someone else operate the controller but I would just leave them to run on a slow colour change. You can still connect all the lights up to run on same colour without having to buy a DMX controller. This way the first light is the main and the rest copy it as slaves. Also best to get a terminator which you plug into the last light to finish the chain. If you don't use one of these, the LED's can flicker

Nice one. Sounds just like me......I've played in bands for years and there have always been a couple of sub standard members who we had to carry. My current band is just me, a guitarist and a drummer, with me and the guitarist sharing the singing. We are all of a pretty high standard and that makes rehearsals so much more fun and productive. Hope it works out okay for you.

Went in to PMT yesterday for some new strings and came out with a Epiphone SG EB3. Thought I would have a little go on it in the shop as I've never played one before and the next thing I know I was buying it!!! I know it has severe neck dive and known to have bridge problems but there is something about it I really like. Couldn't put it down last night and cant wait for Monday's band rehearsal.

of all the experiences in life I still think you can't beat a good band rehearsal. Great feeling

+1 on Vistaprint but make sure you select glossy and thick card as the basic ones look cheap. Also they sting you on delivery so select the 14 day service which is very cheap. I did this and my cards still arrived in less than a week

As a young kid, It was JT that first got me interested in bass as I just love not only the bass lines themselves but also the sound he produced. Although I quickly diverted to rock music I will always remain a fan of his ability.

Welcome Brian. Like you, I have also worked around the midlands clubs as a singer so we have probably crossed paths around the black country. Enjoy the forum

I never used to suffer with it, but now I am older I have to constantly concentrate on where I am in the song so it is definitely an age thing...........also depends on how attractive the female members of the audience are, as I very often find my mind wandering onto other things and I forget where I am

I was there too in 88 getting crushed, but loving every minute. Seem to recall Megadeth were pretty amazing too that day

When I played lead guitar in my last band we were lucky to be on a TV show and met Glen Hughes. His advice was "If you ever make a cock up just make sure the audience doesn't notice."

I gave up looking at number of watts a manufacturer states a long time ago. The only way to measure loudness is by the decibels. Plus there are a huge amount of other factors that can affect loudness at gigs - strings / pickups / room size / room shape / number of people in the room / loudness of people in the room / where the amp is positioned. Very often people who claim to have a 'loud' amp have only played it at home or in an empty room

[sub]I agree that there is no reason why you cant do both, even if it means setting up two websites. You should certainly get paid more for the tribute side as they are so popular at the moment. I also agree that you need to go all the way as regards to stage show and what to wear, although I would draw the line at 'pretending to be the actual people themselves'. I saw a Queen tribute once who talked to each other on stage as if they were Freddie, John. Brian etc.....way to cheesy. But certainly get the clothes right and a back drop. At least if you run with both, you can drop one off if the tribute band is working and visa versa. As for agents, I wouldn't bother at first. See if you can get gigs yourself and only approach an agent if you are struggling as they will want at least 20% and send you to any old sh*t hole, as I have experienced.[/sub]

Cheers for the replies guys. I may never need it, but I would feel happier knowing I had a spare even if it was left in the car. I appreciate the advice on having similar sound to my main bass so may just look out for a good SH Tbird.......however as one poster already suggested there is an element in me that wants to convince myself that I need a back up just so I can go and buy a new bass. At least that's the excuse I will be telling the wife. If she knows its for gigs where I earn money to line her pockets, she seems to be ok with it!

As I have more and more gigs coming up its time to invest in a back up bass, and it begs the questions do you have a back up bass just to get you through the gig if your main weapon of choice lets you down or do you alternate between basses. I play an epi thunderbird pro and could quite easily just buy another standard thunderbird as a back up. However as money is a bit tight I have been looking on some well known auction sites. I am looking at getting a Jazz bass and decided to look at other makes as well as Squires. Its surprising how many I have seen very cheap (sub £50) but in good condition ,where I do not recognise the make and upon investigation they are relatively cheap to buy new. As this is predominantly going to be just a back up do you think basses of this quality would suffice or would you suggest putting the money towards something a little better. In an ideal world, I would have a selection to choose from for every gig but until then I need to be careful what I spend

Don't assume more watts equals louder volume. It doesn't. Like has already been said the difference between 300 and 500w is nowhere near as much as you would expect. Sound is basically moving air and the more cabs you have moving more air will have the better effect.

i try and go to any local venue I see advertising original bands but the truth of the matter is they are very poorly attended and in the end the venue can't afford to carry on hosting it so knocks it on the head. There just aren't enough people going out anymore to watch original bands so it's very hard to get regular work As AcDc said it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll

My band are working on an acoustic set so we can broaden the types of venues we play. Learnt Sunny afternoon and Stray Cat Strut last night. Both have really enjoyable basslines

Glad its just not me then.......Since I posted this, I went to a showcase gig last night and watched 5 bands play. It was only the first band who were all 17 year olds, that bothered to dress like a band and looked really cool. All the other bands of ages 25-50 wore normal clothes and didn't look interested, which I found hard to believe as it was a showcase. No surprise the young band got all the attention. I also agree on disliking music between songs, especially as I do a lot of the talking to the audience which is hard when you have some toss pot on rhythm guitar playing metallica in-between songs when we are not even a metal band

I've had a similar problem last week. I sold some music software on ebay and the winning bidder paid me straight away. Paypal put the money in a pending file and would not release it until the winning bidder had received the items and scored me 100% feedback. When I asked paypal why they did this they said it was either because I did not have 100% feedback or I was selling into a market that had a lot of deliveries not arrive. I have always had 100% feedback so it must be the latter which may be why you have had problems. Either way its just obvious that itsa way of paypal getting interest on your money.

I play an Epi thunderbird which is very heavy but I love it, although its not everyone's cup of tea. However I sit down at rehearsals and would never rehearse for more than 2 hours anyway. Over 4 seems a bit excessive. At gigs we never do sets more than 45 mins at a time which I can jut about cope with

Sorry if this topic has been mentioned before but I am a relatively newbie. I have played in a few bands over the years and am currently in one and setting up another working covers band. I always seem to be in a minority when it comes to being conscious of how the band looks on stage. I don't mean dancing around (although I do prefer to move a bit rather than stand still). I mean the tidiness of the stage itself and what we wear. I have known fellow band mates in the past leave guitar cases and drum cases littered around the stage and leads end up becoming like a plate of spaghetti. I worked the clubs as a singer for years and it used to annoy me when the club would leave stacks of chairs and tables on the stage and also the dreaded shimmer curtain were always half hanging off so I suppose this is where I am getting it from. Do you think this is an issue or am I being over the top? BTW I am not writing in continuous lines for a reason, my post wont let me start a new line or paragraph for some reason!!