jezzaboy

Sorry to hear that Dave.

What is this "brings in more money than it cost" madness that you speak of?

Played the Cathouse in Glasgow with my acdc mob last night. It`s a bugger of a place right in the city centre. You can`t drive down the street due to a bus gate and if you could there is sod all parking. Oh and there is a rather steep set of steps leading up to the main venue. Because of this we used the venue`s backline. I arrived at 4 pm and asked the guy where the Marshall heads were to go with the cabs that were there. He got the heads out but no speaker cables! Luckily enough Kenny`s music is just down the road so jumped down and got a couple. Then we discovered that the bass drum had only 1 leg and there was no drum seat, cue drummer boy rushing home to get the missing gear. The good thing was there was a Rumble 500 for me which is what I use anyway. Not to self: never trust what it says on the venue`s list of gear! Only played for 1 hour due to Bon DC being on after us but we had a blast and went down really well, maybe a little to well for the other mob but it was a great night with lots of nice comments. But gigs in city centres are getting harder all the time.

I didn`t have a decent di pre amp after selling a few this year so bought another Digbeth pre. Oh and a Fender Player 2 P bass in white. The P is a bit naughty tbh as it`s the last thing I need but hey ho!

Being the (mediocre) bass player in an ACDC covers band, playing wise I could be easily replaced. But I own and run the Facebook page, the pa, keep on top of dealing with venues and run the group chat page. The last bits have fallen to me as no one seems to want to do them. Our drummer recently left and I have had to find a dep to play tomorrow night, you would be surprised how hard it is to find a good drummer who can do the Phil Rudd thing. It`s a bit like the Rick Parfitt thing, it looks easy until you try it! If the female singer or rhythm guitarist left that would be it as trying to find replacements for them would be too difficult. Band chemistry is just as important to us as being able to do the gig. The singer has found the drummer leaving pretty hard to accept as he has been there since she joined in 2020 but hopefully I have a new guy lined up so we will see where that goes. To conclude, playing wise yes, easy to replace but taking everything else into account, no.

We don`t have a manager as such but lately I seem to be taking on more. Singer usually gets the pub gigs as she is quite bolshy especially when asking for money but she now has 3 kids under 10 and a full time teaching job so I have started to deal with promoters re gigs. Our drummer recently left and I have taken the lead in getting someone in as it seems that none of the others know anyone whereas I am the only one who goes to gigs and have built relationships with other bands. I`m now the only one in charge of the facebook page as drummer was the other person involved in that: one of the other members wants joint control of the page but posts crap on theirs so that ain`t gonna happen. Everyone is asked about what the band is doing but they um and ah so much that in the end a decision has to be taken. I do the set lists, arrange the studio for rehearsals, own the pa and when I look at what I have just written, I seem like a right bossy boots but I`m not, it`s just sort of left for me to deal with things. And no doubt one day I will get pissed off with all this and jack it in.

If you are looking for something simple, light and around £450 second hand, £600 plus new, a Fender Rumble 500 is damm good bit of kit. Add a second 2 x 10 Rumble cab and you get the full 500 but on it`s own it will fill small to medium places. I know as it`s what I`m using in a rock band at the moment and there is a lot of love on here for it.

I seen the red one last week in there, nice looking but too much money at £1149 for me.

That is very cheap so it`s either a scam or a right bargain for someone.

Aye Lozz, the boy has Malcolm`s sound down as near as anyone I have heard. And he uses 13`s on it.

We were due to play the Bonfest stage last night at Winterstorm festival in Troon Ayrshire last night with my ac/dc band. But on Thursday night got a call from our female singer saying she couldn`t make it so after some frantic phone calls, the guy who runs Bonfest got us in touch with a singer he knew who was playing on the same day as us and was a big DC fan and knew the songs. Great stuff apart from the fact that as were closing the festival at midnight, the guy would need taking back home to Dundee which is 2 hour ish trip and then I would have to drive home again, about 1.5 hours. But hey, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Anyway, no rehearsal but the guy was on it right away, knew all the words and had the moves and patter. He even looked like a young Bon Scott! It was the most I have smiled at a gig in years and we went down really well. Then I woke up this morning to a message from our drummer saying he wasn`t happy and was leaving the band but to fair I guessed it was coming so the hunt is on for a replacement. Ah Rock n Roll is a cruel mistress!

I didn`t know that Andertons did commission sales. I would rather sell a Bass with Bass Bros or Bass Direct myself. Out of interest how much do Andertons charge?

I had a black one and whilst it looked as cool as, on a stage with a lighting rig it buzzed like a bee in a jar. But this was 12 ish years ago and I should just have spent some money on a decent shielding job.

I have started using a Rumble 500 in an acdc tribute band and it does ok on it`s own in decent sized pubs and believe me we aren`t a quiet band.

I was speaking to a guy in a Quo tribute band and he hates the blooming thing but as he can`t afford a Charger like Rhino`s he plays a Washburn.

One of the "problems" with the pub @theplumber has described above is they have decided to change a lot of the bands, the punters are not to happy about this and are drifting to other places in the town. I have played the place many times over the years and we are the first victims of the Friday cancelations. Also they are putting on special events and charging between £10 and £15 for tribute bands which has angered one of the towns larger venue`s who have decided to stick it to them as they are now in direct competition with them and are now booking some of the acts who used to play for her. I don`t get where she is at with the asking for too much money as I think the most we ever got was £250 for a 5 piece and when we played the charity gigs there we always gave them the fee (usually £100) back and gave it to the charity.

I think you need to be a supporting member?

Most charge 20%, I think the bass gallery is 15%? The advantage is they can give you an idea where to price it but the downside is the 20%. But it saves you the hassle of selling it yourself. I had a bass for sale on here that had sod all interest, gave it to Will at Bass Bros and it was gone in a week.

Our singer uses an i pad and I have no problem with it. Now clip on tuners, they get right up my nose!

I always take 2 no matter how close or far away the gig. If something goes wrong and you can`t sort it for whatever reason and you don`t have a spare then it`s amateur hour. I have a Gator double gig bag that always come with me but I must admit with 2 basses and the weight of the bag, it`s a pain to carry. A while back I bought one of those Mini Squier P basses and it was ideal but felt like a kids bass at the end of the day. But at the same time I realise that I may never need a spare. It`s just whatever suits you.

This exactly. Having worked in the transport/logistics sector most of my days including with several parcel delivery companies, my wife who has always worked in the NHS doesn`t believe me when I say that the majority of the people who work in these companies just don`t give a baboon`s rear.

Never paid to play as I have always done covers but we are doing a support act in December where we aren`t actually getting any money up front but we are being given some tickets to sell. Luckily we have sold 90% of the tickets already and the last few are being given to family. It will work out roughly the same cash as being paid for the gig and it`s a good gig for us to play as the main band has a nationwide following so getting the band name out there is a bonus.