DaytonaRik

11 minutes ago, casapete said:

Some pubs around here are starting to put small socially distanced indoor gigs on - are they in breach of the rules?

 

I've yet to see anything to lead me to believe me that pubs are now considered live music venues for the guidelines surrounding a return to live indoor performances hence my question.  The published guidelines lack any sense of a definite yes or no i.e. this is allowed, this isn't allowed 😕

On 03/09/2020 at 08:30, BassBunny said:

A local working men's club contacted the MU to try and get some clarity on what the situation is.

Apparently there is a 5 stage roadmap and currently we are in stage 4 where music venues are allowed to open and out live acts on. WMC's are apparently classed as music venues as they generally have separate function rooms so tables can be distanced, numbers limited and details taken for track and trace. With the social distancing required for performers it really limits the options to Solos or Duo's.

Pubs are not supposed to be having live music indoors as yet, outdoors is fine. I've noticed a few pubs in NW advertising Solos and DJ's and a good few that have subsequently announced they've had to cancel.

One pub is apparently starting to run a Jam Night and that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

This was my take on the situation - that pubs were not be considered music venues therefore should not currently be hosting live indoor music events?

I keep seeing more and more FaceBook events from friends in bands announcing their return to indoor pub gigs but try as I might I still find anything definitive regarding this.

All of the online guidance I can find still seems to indicate that only professional vocal and brass instrument performances are permitted indoors.  Are pubs/bars/restaurants now considered to be music venues or are they still separate and prohibited entities for the purpose of live music?

It’s about as clear as a muddy pool on a very foggy day!!!

if anyone has any links  to to appropriate online documentation it would be appreciated!

5 minutes ago, Paul S said:

I went for the middle ground and had a bass made by Adrian Maruszczyk via his custom shop configurator. 

Indeed - this is something that I could be tempted by.  His Phoenix T'bird is lovely!

I had a relic Limelight built and me spec was 'make it look as if Phil Lynott was alive and had been playing this P bass all his life still' - the result was superb!  I could be tempted to get Rob from Brooks to make me a custom black flame top Thunderbird, very similar to the Gibson Blackwater/older Joe Perry Les Paul models finish.  

2 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

No, sadly we don't have facility to run individual monitor mixes, so we all just hear the same thing. 

There are plenty of low-budget digital solutions this problem - I'm a big fan of the Behringer XR18 https://www.thomann.de/gb/behringer_x_air_xr18_bag_bundle.htm?sid=0aaf6f9b655aa9c429f79b95925bab46 coupled with a set of active PA speakers or speakers/power amp will give you 6 x aux sends for monitors, 4 FX slots and 18 input channels.  Other solutions are out there for not a lot of cash.  Get the monitoring sorted and a lot of problems go away...including on-stage volumes

@TRBboy I've found that once someone can hear themselves properly through better monitoring (whether a wedge or IEMs) rather than backline then things start to get better in the volume-war stakes. What desk are you running?  Does it have enough aux sends to provide individual monitor mixes for each band member?  Guitars can be very directional and at least with a wedge pointing at their faces there is a consistency to what is heard compared to a cab behind someone.

On 24/08/2020 at 15:35, TRBboy said:

We generally play pubs, weddings venues, parties etc, and usually only run a pair of mid-tops for vocals (and sometimes kick drum). We're pretty loud for a pub covers band.. And regularly having battles with levels of issues getting a good sound. The drums often get lost (as does the bass sometimes) due to the two guitarists valve amps. 

I've been trying to sell the idea of upgrading the PA and running everything through it for years, so that we can reduce the stage volume, have more control, and achieve a more consistent sound, possibly with a view to ditching the backline at some point.

Sadly no one else wants to buy into the idea. The vibe I get from the guitarists is that I'm creating a problem that doesn't exist, and that they just want to get the big amps out and make some noise. 

The drummer doesn't really have an opinion as he feels the whole conversation is outside of his sphere of knowledge. 

I find the whole thing frustrating, but a band is a democracy and I'm one voice out of 4, if I can't get the other guys to buy into it then that's that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

EDIT: We do actually have a pair of subs, but they virtually never get used because the rest of the guys don't think it's necessary. Unless we're playing a big outdoor gig or something. 

We play pubs but I decided to invest the cash in a flexible digital system that gives us so many options for monitoring/FOH sound and went for the X32 rack desk with a pair of digital stage boxes - one upstage, one downstage.  Every band member has their own dedicated monitor mix, we have enough spare channels to run multiple signals to multiple channels e.g. each guitar mic (Sennheiser 906) runs into two desk channels - the wedges are fed with a hard limited signal from channel A set so that some lift is heard - this means that lead patches don't jump up too aggressively but the uncompressed signal has plenty of additional gain to lift above the band through the 2nd dedicated FoH channel B which doesn't feed any wedges.  We can also EQ each channel differently if there are feedback issues although inserting a graphic on each aux send feeding monitors has made this an unnecessary requirement.

I'm lucky in that although no-one else contributed financially (a decision on my part to avoid the arguments) everyone else in the band has bought into the idea of lower backline levels and good monitoring leading to a much reduced on-stage volume giving way to better FoH sound that's easier to manage.  I'd like to go completely backline free but the current compromise setup is working fine with both guitarists running at around 15w on-stage.

In reality - it takes 10 mins to pop a few extra mics in front of the guitar cabs and with a digital desk you have a base setup loaded that needs tweaking for each venue then save it away to the desk for the next time that you play there...it really doesn't get much easier.

This is complete contrast to an 'old school' guitarist I worked with in the past that couldn't get past 100w heads and 4x12s!!!

Just before the lockdown started myself, one of the guitarist and the singer in our rock cover band started rehearsing as an acoustic trio with a view to getting some extra gigs, playing different tracks/material etc.  It's a wide and varied setlist - from The Foo Fighters through to The Cure but we're all having an absolute blast and looking forward to getting out there in the wild world as soon as we can.

We've rehearsed exclusively remotely via JamKazam which has proved to be invaluable but hopefully we'll manage to get some socially distanced rehearsal time in before too long to tighten everything up - sometimes you just need those little visual cues.

He also explains EXACTLY how he get's his tone here...😉

10 minutes ago, Nobatron said:

Rush have been using various props instead of amps for years. I think as well as running washing machines they've had bread ovens which rotate the bread.

Ahh - the immortal Geddy Lee chicken rotisserie's!

On 24/08/2020 at 08:48, gt4ever said:

To flip it on its head, from a punters point of view,  I visually like to see a backline, It gives a backdrop and character to the band imo.  Seeing the choice of cab and amp tells me a lot about the musicians as well.

Now if I see a band with no backline I applaud them (along with my ears) for being progressive and forward thinking, to be able to realise that there are solutions to the volume problem.

I'll happily run a DI from a head/preamp into IEMs, wedges, FOH - whatever works.  We play pubs but run a low-level backline mic'd with backline, kick, o/heads and snare going through the PA, maybe a full kit for a bigger room.  Whatever works in whatever situation.  If I had to choose 1 as a personal preference - it would be a preamp, no backline and IEMs.

And it’s made it to Derby 👍🏻

i'm very near to Sheffield and for laffs and giggles would happily get said instrument underway on it's journey south!  Can anyone meet in Nottingham/East Midlands to pass it along?

Only if they provide my PA, my van, my rehearsal room fees, travel expenses, instruments etc then yes.  If not...nope!  All of the above don't come free...why should I or the band?

Post-Covid implying that it's somehow disappeared...which sadly isn't the case.

Part of me would love to convert my watch collection into a 60's SG!

3 minutes ago, bassaussie said:

Hi. I think the shipping total for 1958 Les Paul Standards (434) includes both gold top and sunburst finishes. Gibson transitioned during 1958 from gold top to sunburst, and didn't keep a record of the specific number shipped for each finish.

The transition happened after June 1958 which is why the exact number for that year is unknown, but there may be a few bursts in the gold top column and vice versa.  They would have, of course, been recorded in the now legendary missing day books.   The non-centre split top is a giveaway as to those which were either officially refinished at the factory or unofficially after the event.

The Gibson day books for the latter half of 1958, '59 and '60 were lost during an office relocation.  They do have the annual figures of each model, but not by type.  Interestingly, Gibsons own records show 19 Explorers and 81 Flying Vs were produced in 1958.  Another 3 Explorers were made in 1959, along with a further 17 Flying Vs making them infinitely more rare than the Les Pauls of the same era.  For comparison, in 1958 434 burst Les Pauls were made, and 649 in 1959.  Of those, only guitars made up to 30th June 1958 are accurately recorded with finish, model and serial number.  As for total production numbers - in 1959 Gibson recorded the production of 34,123 guitars.  

Costs?  Expect to pay from £150,000 upwards for a verified '59 Les Paul burst, and if you've won the lottery you can get a '58 Flying V for £256,000 from Emerald City Guitars, Seattle.  There are reports that in 2016 a store in Denmark Street brokered the sale of a 1958 Explorer for $1.1m

http://www.burstserial.com/index.php?/page/serial_log is a brilliant resource for burst Les Pauls

Our drummer is a pro musician and plays in two bands and teaches.  His gigging income has been reduced to zero but luckily with online lessons he's been able to retain a good element of his teaching work.  For the rest of us in one of the bands who play with him - we have what would be considered  'professional'  jobs and gigging is a fun outlet for us.

A lot of clever stuff here - but after 4 pages NO ONE has yet commented that I Love rock and Roll by The Arrows and, of course, covered by Joan Jett has a 3/4 bar at the end of each chorus section!

I currently have a pair of Thunderbirds (one USA as a main, one Epi Pro thru-neck as a backup) for gigs and could quite happily stick to those two.  I have a Bass Collection that is currently on loan to our guitarist, and a Steinberger Spirit for home use.  It will also likely get used in an acoustic trio I also play in as, well, the T'birds make a bit of a 'raaaaaawwwwwwwk' statement!

The reality is though I could probably be happy with the pair of T'birds - I love the way that the neck feels, they are far more versatile than you think with judicious use of amp tones, after years of playing a Les Paul in bands I can play a T'bird for hour after hour live, and they're just cool!

So - can you live with one bass...?  If you're a gigging musician then you'd have to question the risk factor of not taking a spare, but otherwise I'd say yes.

1 hour ago, Chiliwailer said:

I bet you do! 

This 2019 has restored my faith in Gibson (QC), I hope they keep it up across the range. 

Our guitarist bought the same SG (Pelham Blue/P90s) and whilst a lovely guitar some bozo at the factory glued the string post ferrules into the headstock and when he changed machines this meant part of the headstock front tore removing said ferrules - the stock tuners are pretty nasty.  Fortunately he has a good luthier and things were quickly resolved and you've never know there was ever a problem.  Gison QC is, it would appear, just as bad as it ever was.

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

whoa!

I had never seen one of those. I can't decide whether I like it or not... it's attractive, for paisley (not a fan typically, as you've gathered). 

I think I like it! Am I ill?

 

I must admit to quite liking it...fill yer boots! https://reverb.com/p/fender-richie-sambora-signature-stratocaster-black-paisley-1996