Number6

I used to use a Carlsbro Stingray 150W and two 1x15 bass cabinets.....it was thunderous and very heavy.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1459987677' post='3021617'] I know exactly what you mean. As one reaches those autumn years it's good to have something that keeps your mind elephant boggler sneed sneed ashtray cheese on toasty lampost-buggery. [/quote] Yes i can relate to this in its entirety 👍

The physio taught me stretches for my back, shoulders and neck. They hurt when i do them. I believe the technical medical term for my neck problem is "knackered".

I am learning some new basslines at the mo. These aren't basslines i will ever likely play in a gig yet still strangely i feel fulfilled just learning and feeding the grey cells.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1459901067' post='3020768'] No worries Blue! It is time for better wages, for work done, but it will damage certain industries for sure, and as you say, some businesses are petty and want to bend as many rules as possible. We just have to hope they can be brought to heel. You are indeed wrong, I'm very much pro living wage and pension, I just can see both sides. Unfortunately for struggling industries like pubs and live music, this adds another worry for them and how they will survive. Yet in more steady industries, this could not be more welcomed. I work part-time as a bass player and part-time in a supermarket, and the supermarket are more than able to increase pay and narrow pay scales for managers and non-mangement. The pension thing is most welcomed for me, I pay in via my supermarket job and can move the pension around should I ever need to, and at a lower cost of the private options I looked at. [/quote] That's good. I have to say i know some Publicans that are quite wealthy too but put their earnings and old age provision over and above that of their employees. At least this in some way starts to level the playing field even if £7.20 is in no way a living wage.

[quote name='JamesBass' timestamp='1459898430' post='3020758'] By law everyone in the UK over 25 earns £7.20, a large jump of 50p per hour, and now is auto-enrolled in to a workplace pension, yet more added cost to the bar/venue as they pay in and match what the employee pays in. So in the past year or so running even a small pub has become more complicated, in just an in house sense. Add to that the residential bother many venues find themselves in and you don't get a terribly healthy outlook. It is workable, the current model just needs to change/be adapted. You are correct Blue, pubs are a fixture of the community in the UK and there once was a time in Portsmouth, where I live that we had a pub on every single street corner. That's LONG gone, and just yesterday two pubs were forced to close down due to costs and unworkable regulations. Even our clubs in city centres away from residential areas are still lumbered with strict noise level regs etc. [/quote] I sense you aren't pro living wage / pension but please correct me if i am wrong.

Mayones make fantabulous instruments.....i think the market is very much pot luck at the mo and definitely the buyers domain.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1459776059' post='3019459'] Fixed. [/quote] Yep.....if you are trying to make a living from being a musician it is important that you get paid 👍 If i tried to make a living from being a musician i would probably starve.....

I have a Jazz and a P and a really slim short scale.....oh and a 5 string. In all honesty i have no real preference and after quarter of an hours warm up seem to adapt to them.

It appears that actually most of us are more musically fulfilled than we at first thought

I hate lists.....

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1459766460' post='3019271'] My knees cry at the idea of a 4 hour set. [/quote] Agreed.....i'm knackered after a 3 hour rehearsal. Knees, back, neck and shoulders.

The comparison being made may be true of US bands but it seems to me most UK start ups get gigs under their belt fairly rapidly. I wonder if the nature of the 4 hour set vs the shorter UK sets has something to do with that?

I like playing live. I like rehearsing. I don't mind not earning too much money out of it because it's something i enjoy. Our band gigs when we want, rehearses when we want, charges for gigs or not when we want and we enjoy ourselves all the time.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1459633475' post='3018310'] I can almost understand putting together a tribute band based on very famous and successful bands, but for lesser-known or niche tributes... where is the work? Or is the joy in the challenge and/or the obscurity factor, or what? [/quote] I'll whisper incase Blue is reading but sometimes we do it because we enjoy it Actually in all honesty we seem to do okay for gigs in and around Londinium.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1459628436' post='3018247'] There do seem to be a couple of different sorts of tribute bands - the guys who do the agency/function type gigs (who would probably do whatever there was a market for) and the enthusiasts doing it for their own amusement. I think I tend to enjoy the latter more, especially when they're decent musicians doing it as a bit of a side-project. Gumtree ads do seem to show up a large proportion of dreamers though! [/quote] I like to think we are the latter with perhaps a slightly smaller "m" on musicians

I'm in a 3 piece Hawkwind tribute band.....i'm like a fat Lemmy 👍

Hawkwind 22nd April in Islington

Comedy Pub near Leicester Square.....not a big crowd but dancing and singing along which was nice. Oh and i received a compliment of having a great sounding* bass. So i'm happy *Note great sounding not necessarily well played

Love that goldy love them both really

Invoice the brewery.

No because generally nobody is interested and will have forgotten by the time they get to the bus stop home.

I am a bassist / singer (definitely both with a lower case b and s ) but i manage to usually get a good rapport with the crowd (!?). I try to keep a little (is more) amount of light banter going with the audience. Things like "can you hear us at the back" usually with the response of "no" and say things like "good we'll begin then" or "are you sure you want to hear another song" things like "Thank you for supporting live music and taking the time to be here tonight" along those lines i find helps warm audiences up a bit.

I have found my Yam TRBX305 to be super versatile at a rock bottom price. The quality is very good and i have found you can get most sounds you require from it. All for under 300 quid

I really like the Accoustic 360 amp modeller on my Zoom.....gives just a nice amount of dirt to the sound.