Happy Jack

And CUE

What? I mean, WHAT? As in, W T actual F? bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

All My Loving? Nope. Brown Sugar? Don't think so. Get It On? No chance. Addicted To Love? You're 'avin' a giraffe. Paradise City? Nah. Wonderwall? Forget it.

As soon as you mention A BASS PLAYER FROM THE FACES you can add a zero to the price. Shame he doesn't mention which of the many bass players in The Faces it was ... there are so many to choose from.

The 'sound in my head' is the sound of bass as played while I was growing up, which encompasses everything from Elvis to Yes and incorporates LOTS of Beatles and Stones, Motown and glam. So that's double bass, Hofner Violin and Rickenbacker, and loads of Fender. Keyboard bass doesn't work for me, synth bass is an abomination, and slap bass is pretty much a joke, a party trick that got out of hand. To my ears, slap isn't bass playing and never will be. It's part of the rhythm section, yes, but it's a part that I try to avoid. It's in the same category as too much cowbell or obsessive use of claves. Hey ... you asked me, OK? If I'd been borm in 1966 rather than 1956 then who knows, maybe I'd see (and hear) things differently.

20mm spacing? Srsly?

Who is Buck Bass, and what sort of music does he play?

For a moment, I thought this was going to be a Level 42 topic ...

Minty freshness ...

You have to be careful not to stand on one leg, because that would give a misleading result.

Those thighs could crack walnuts.

Yes, but Carlsboro before they were 5h1t.

Gotcha.

5-string? Erm ...

The unit was designed for permanent installation, including hard-to-get-to shelves and the back of cupboards. Solution? All inputs/outputs on the front, nothing whatever on the sides, back, top or bottom. Very sensible piece of design, if you ask me. Which you didn't, of course ...

Far canal, guys, could you maybe take this to email or something?

Those timings seem about right to me, regardless of whether or not everything is going through the PA. For a 9pm start I would want to be playing one song as a soundcheck at 8:30, no later than 8:45. To be ready to soundcheck at 8:30 I would start loading in to the venue at 7:30. Do bear in mind that allowing an hour for a set-up is NOT the same as needing an hour. I always want some 'spare' in case of accident or breakdown. If that means that I'm ready half an hour early, well that's fine ... time to have a quiet chat with the band / punters / landlord / pub cat / whatever. As to finishing packing down 45 minutes after you've finished playing, I'm really not sure how you could shave any significant amount of time off that, or in fact why it would bother you. Say you managed to slash a third off that time through utterly frantic work; you now get to load out at 11:30 instead of 11:45. Wow. What a result. Is that how long it actually took, or the elapsed time between the load-in and the gig starting?

I've had McGregor kit before, Mick, and it's really very good. Old school, tends to be weighty, but it's bullet-proof stuff and it does exactly what it says on the tin. I don't know what happened to the firm/brand, but if it failed then it wasn't because they made cr*p PA equipment.

As ever, bang on the money with that reply Chris.

Oi! Join the queue!

Just love those control knobs, straight out of a DIY amp-build kit in the back of Practical Electronics ...

On the whole 'overkill' issue, can I just remind everyone that it's horses for courses. Like everyone else here, I've seen it done 'wrong' many times - completely OTT PA, enough cabling to re-stage Live Aid, and the punters flocking to the smoker's shelter to escape the racket. So we've learned from that. My bands go out with different-sized PA depending on the needs of the gig, we always have both backline AND PA support (kick drum only but we could add a couple of overheads if we needed them), plus we have @Silvia Bluejay out front with a tablet controlling the XR18. It ain't complicated, set-up from a standing start is always well under an hour, the amount of 'extra' kit is minimal. Result? It's a commonplace for us to get compliments from the punters on how good we sound, both the balance and especially the sensible volumes at which we play. Sometimes Silvie gets tapped up by pub rockers in the audience, asking her if she'll do the sound for their band! And of course we almost always get re-booked by the venue ...

Yes yes yes, but do the silks line up?

Only if you're allowed within 50 yards of school gates ...