Happy Jack

Alternatively, https://idonner.eu/products/donner-power-supply-guitar-pedal-power-supply-10-isolated-dc-output-for-9v-12v-18v-effect-pedals-dp-1?currency=GBP&variant=39812037607599&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYovnI7KRRRXCR714AJpjeLq2BxMPxUTfEWeBHaCorjCMbmQBSpAOlcaAkJJEALw_wcB 😂

Is that why he's unavailable?

In the run up to my cover band's first gig since September (low volume outdoors) the drummer forgot his cajon, had to go home to get it instead of coming straight from work, and we lost half the evening. The following week, unbelievably, he did the exact same thing. This time the guitarist & I insisted that we scrap the rehearsal and do it properly two days later. Drummers, eh?

If that's really all you need, then respect is due.

Time to move the discussion along so as to reach "rare transitional models" which are in fact more common on eBay than factory-standard basses.

Does this mean that something is wrong on the Internet? Say it ain't so ...

Well my band's not playing Glasto this year ... I know that much. 😉

Good to hear from you again mate.

One? We've got three! Baby Bear is for acoustic-stylee gigs, especially outdoors in dodgy weather ... Yamaha desk controls a Crown power amp driving passive 10" tops. There's nothing there that I would want to lose, but neither is there anything that would break the bank if I had to replace it. It's all strictly analogue, old-school, and simple. Mummy Bear is our go-to rig for most gigs ... XR18 controls a lovely PowerSoft Digam power amp driving passive 12" tops. Daddy Bear is for big & loud gigs ... XR18 controls the Mark Audio linear array system. This approach also makes it mix & match if required. There's nothing at all to prevent us (for example) from setting up Daddy Bear, then hanging the whole of Mummy Bear off the side of it using just the Aux Out L/R. Now we're talking peak Glastonbury. 😂

Either you play much larger pubs than my bands do, or you play much louder music! Our biggest gig is a barn of a pub in West London where we routinely play (3rd set anyway) to 300 people. For that, we use a Mark Audio system where the 210s are both the subs and the base units, and then each has a linear array of 3" tweeters on poles above. Nothing heavy gets lifted more than about two inches. For most of our gigs though, usually playing to perhaps 100 people, we have a very nice power amp and a pair of passive 12" tops. Even with my dodgy back, there's no effort involved in lifting these onto their poles. At every single gig, we keep the backline fairly quiet, put the entire band through the PA, and have @Silvia Bluejay out in the audience with a tablet controlling mix & volume. We get complimented on our sound all the time, most commonly by the landlady / manager. One band plays old-school rock'n'roll & rockabilly, the other plays classic pop/rock covers from the 60s-80s, so that's two quite different sounds and - in the main - different instrumentation.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? Or at least a Mod would have locked it by now. I dunno ... you just can't get the staff post-Brexit ...

Doesn't actually help much with the fretting, but it gets plenty of interest from other bassists ...

Oh yes! The big corporates can still afford to pay proper money, but they're not all booking gigs yet. Smaller pubs and independents are looking for big reductions and - let's be realistic about this - we're not arguing about it. Many of these places are hanging on by their fingertips, and expecting them to cough up £300, or even £250, is just barking mad.

Each of my two main bands has eight gigs in the diary for 2021 so far (including those already played), so I'm already ahead of the game for last year ... which is setting the bar bloody low! Until 2020, @Silvia Bluejay and I would routinely land 3/4 gigs from each of seven or eight pubs, plus another 10 or so one-off gigs, to make about three gigs a month for each band. This year, one band has been offered TWO gigs by one pub ... every other gig is a one-off and many of them are at pubs we've never played before. In short, the gigs are out there if you're prepared to put in enough work, but BY GOD it's hard! My own estimate is that each and every gig we've landed so far has involved ten times as much effort as pre-Covid.

I bought these some years ago when first experimenting with mic'ing up a band. They've had very little use and have long since been replaced by serious upgrades! Send me a fiver to cover P&P (UK only) and they're yours. I found this very informative review, which gives far more details than I ever knew: Nice price for a decent sounding mic. Solidly built with heavy brass body, electret condenser element rather than true condenser,. It requires external power to operate (9-48V phantom delivery). Internally the PCM-6100 is quite similar to the Pulse CDM1000 (which comes with 3 interchangeable heads for different pickup patterns) and mayb the similar appearing Samson CO2, and a few other Chinese manufactured mics. Unhappily, the threads that attach the head are different between these two mics so I couldn't swap elements between the otherwise nearly identical bodies and electronics. I though it odd that the PCM-6100 shipped with a shock-mount holder rather than a more standard and more rigid clip type, but this mic seems to be rather sensitive to handling noise (almost a metallic ring to it likely due to the brass body). I'll try damping it a bit. There must be less isolation between element and body, and maybe the issue was "addressed" by isolating the entire mic in the holder. I don't think this is acceptable for a $67 mic, though since it can be found at considerably lower prices could be a good deal -- as long as you're not going to hand hold it. apparently pencil mic doesn't always equate to hand mic. It uses a cardioid electret element (I haven't remove it from the head yet since I don't have a tool with me to accomplish that). The circuitry includes an FET front end external to the capsule, 2 bipolar transistors, and numerous resistors and capacitors. A zener diode regulates the applied voltage down to the ~9V the circuit requires. Since it isn't a true condenser, it doesn't need higher voltages. And while is does have a balanced XLR output (neither pin 2 or 3 is grounded), it does not have a transformer coupled output, which shouldn't be an issue.

You've specified "high quality" ... is that a particular need? Come to that, is there actually such a thing as a low quality adjustable DB bridge?

Don't know if it's a great time to be buying ... pretty sure it's a very bad time to be selling.

Nothing gives the impression of 'filling out' the sound without clutter quite as well as a walking bassline. If you walk between the chords of the song, it also helps to remind the widdle-meister where he's supposed to be.

I reckon I play this WAY better than he does. 😂

You've tried my cooking then?

I'd go beyond that. Most of the time, when I use FX live even I struggle to hear that effect in the mix and it doesn't get much better when I listen to @Silvia Bluejay's high quality recordings later. I still use them, because I know that in isolation my chosen FX sound great so the chances are that they are a net benefit to the band sound overall, but can I hear the exact moment at which I kick in the octaver or the distortion? In the main, no. Did I mention that my hearing is pretty poor these days?

My gig wagon is a Jap import (Toyota Alphard), and a very sophisticated thing it is. When I turn the ignition key, the satnav shows Yokohama harbour and the dash starts talking to me in Japanese. Seriously. Wakarima-sen.