Happy Jack

It starts and ends with the punters ... if they don't like what you're playing then you lose the gig. One of my two main bands (https://www.facebook.com/DamoAndTheDynamites/) started as a purist Rockabilly outfit hoping to get onto 'The Scene'. They weren't very good. There may be an element of understatement in that last comment. When @Silvia Bluejay and I got involved, we steered them quickly towards playing bog-standard pub gigs and introducing far more crowd-pleasing rock'n'roll at the expense of obscure rockabilly tracks. Success followed. Somewhere along the way, bandleader Damo has written four originals. They're pretty good, a couple are really good, so much so that during Lockdown 3.0 we recorded them and then released a CD/EP to local radio. These originals blend very well indeed with the mainstream material, and we play all four at every gig. They get a positive response from punters who are committed to this sort of music, and a neutral response from those in the pub for other reasons. We like playing them and they certainly haven't prevented us from getting gigs, so there's no problem. However, should Damo write another four originals I wouldn't be at all keen to play all eight at a gig. I'd be thinking in terms of keeping the originals content at a small but noticeable number.

@MacDaddy

Nail --> Head. I hate it when people buy something new and immediately 'review' it. I need to spend some time with this before I know what to say. Something that was instantly obvious was that the strings are going to have to go. Nothing wrong with them at all, but I won't be happy until I hear this bass with LaBella flats.

Someone here on Basschat posted something about this bass (which I'd never heard of, despite spending time on the Reverend stand at NAMM in 2020 just after the launch - doh!) so I went and had a look online. I was so smitten that I used what was left of my old Pasadena bank account to buy one from LA.

Yup, 3-way selector gives 'Reverse P', then 'Normal P', then Mudbucker.

Due to my new-found interest in video editing, I now have an excellent monitor. The Dark Theme looks simply sublime. Nice work, Mr. P.

I hadn't noticed that it was a Bartolini but yes, that combination of effectively three pickups was one of the main attractions to me.

All photos by @Silvia Bluejay (natch).

If it's at The Gallery, just ask Martin what would be involved in making sure that crack really does remain stable. If anyone can tell you, it will be him.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124702385682?hash=item1d08d76612:g:Y0QAAOSwyo9gis3O

So instead of lifting the speaker to shoulder height, you get to lift the speaker and its stand to shoulder height ... 😉😂

That was a pair of 735s and they were gorgeous. The trouble with them (as documented in many other places on Basschat) is that they are bloody heavy lumps to lift to shoulder height (twice) in a pub.

My account is correct, but perhaps it is not clear enough? The drummer suddenly announced that he expected the rest of the band to turn up the next day ready to prove - to him - that we were all 'clean'. I pointed out that, since he was the one with the problem (the other three of us were fine), it would make more sense for us to re-start rehearsals once he no longer had a problem. He was noticeably less fussed by my response that some Basschatters seem to be. Being vicariously offended is a wonderful stance, isn't it? So convenient, and so totally without responsibility. Anyway, there seems to be some confusion about this amongst my fellow Basschatters. The drummer in question is a really nice guy, I enjoy playing with him, and I hope to continue to do so. I don't think I have anywhere in this thread suggested that he should not be allowed to hold whatever views are most appropriate to him, and I recognize that - in his opinion - his views are reasonable and sensible. Still with me? Good. What the opinionated and entitled amongst us seem to forget is that there is a flip side to this, which is that I am equally entitled to hold whatever views are most appropriate to me, and they should recognize that - in my opinion - my views are reasonable and sensible. We've already had one arrogant clown accusing me of being an anti-vaxer - this from a silly billy I've never met, who knows the square root of bugger all about me - apparently for the heinous crimes of not holding the same opinions as him, and of not taking orders from other band members. Let's not go any further down that cess-pit, OK?

I've lost my favourite screen. It looked like this:

Asking is reasonable, as is refusing. Demanding is a little bit different.

Wild guesses will get you everywhere, as will conspiracy theory and jumping to conclusions. How many boxes do YOU tick?

Even quicker would be for me to ban all my bandmates from smoking. I'd save them all time and money, we'd all be much healthier, and - best of all - I'd be making other people do what I want. I'm sure they'd all thank me. No, really ...

But everything wrong with imposing one's views on others, especially just 24 hours before the rehearsal. Anyone who has reason to be worried about Covid should be avoiding unnecessary contact, not making extra rules for others to follow.

First proper, full-fat, indoor gig for many months tomorrow, real money and everything, so we set up the entire rig to check everything. My favourite instrument lead no longer works, after 10 straight years. No known reason, no warning. The Line 6 wireless keeps dropping signal. Half an hour of testing reveals that there's interference from the XR18 router. Moving to another channel cures it. The pub is a small one so I'll be playing my Kolstein Busetto with a Schaller mag pickup. The Line 6 won't work with it. Half an hour of testing reveals that I have two leads for the wireless transmitter. One works with all my basses. The other works with all my basses except the Kolstein. I experiment with my other wireless system on the electric bass I'll be using (it's a doubling gig), a bass with a piezo pickup. The room fills with the sound of the world's biggest, angriest mosquito. If I want to use both channels on my AI Clarus, I won't be using wireless then. Now in limp dishrag mode.

In one of my bands, the drummer announced (at the last minute) that he would only enter the rehearsal space if the other band members could show that they had a satisfactory, recent, lateral flow test. I said I had no interest in being told what to do, and he should contact us again when he was ready to rehearse. He was perfectly OK about my response and waited until he was double-jabbed before calling.

I can smell the old fag smoke and stale beer just from looking at the photos!

@Silvia Bluejay isn't just supportive, she's an active and essential member of the team. I quite literally couldn't do what I do without her ...