Greg Edwards69

Slade, Wizzard, Mariah (yeah, I know) and Pogues/Kirsty MacColl for us. And just one rehearsal this Sunday to dust them all off again. Good shout on "last Christmas", I may suggest it.

The seemingly daft thing is, I'm a graphic designer by trade. You'd think I'd be on top of all this stuff. But in my defence, I come from a print background. I can make things looks pretty, it's the admin side of it I struggle with. It's often been said in my office, where there are only a couple of us under 50, that we're too old to get on top of social media. EDIT: We've been saying about getting a showreel filmed. But I'm now thinking a photo shoot would be more useful - we haven't done one for well over 10 years, and our line up has changed since then, so I've been cludging together a mixed bad of headshots from various places. We've got plenty of live footage uploaded over the years, I reckon that's more honest and marketable to venues than a studio-filmed recording. Even if the quality isn't as good as a professional recording, seeing videos of people dancing to our performances must be more engaging to venues.

You're on to something there. The couple of bands that are regarded by many as the top cover bands in the county charge more than most others and are very busy - usually 2 or 3 gigs a week, just in pubs/bars. They are on top of their social media game. One has a website that is barebones - pretty much just a photo, gig list and merch page selling a single CD, and the other doesn't have a website at all. I know my lot needs to get on top of our SM game to sell ourselves more. We've been trying this last year, but need to get better at it. It's made me think that our band website is less important than I thought. It could be distilled down to a single page with a gig list and links to socials/youtube - more a landing portal to other places than an "end-to-all". I've never been happy with our website TBH but just haven't gotten around to redoing it, or worked out what I need to do with it. I feel a Christmas break project coming on.

The other problem we have is if a number of bands keep doing the same, it doesn't just undervalue their services, it undervalue the pub cover band circuit for everyone. This is one of the reasons pubs are paying bands the same rates they did 30 years ago.

Nice. I'd be tempted to wedge a Mark Stand, or maybe something a little less extreme in between them to tilt the top one to point to my ears.

It wouldn't be the playing to a mostly empty room that would bother me the most. It would be humping all the gear in, setting it all up, breaking it down and lugging it out again. That's a good couple of hours on its own.

I hope you were coming through out front. My experience with some mixes is the guitar and bass drum are so bass heavy that I could stop playing and no-one would notice. Actually, I did this one at a rehearsal when we were trying out new PA and IEM gear. The mix was so bass-heavy that I couldn't identify a single note I was playing, so I stopped playing. The others thought it sounded great until they saw me with my arms folded. They were clearly listening to themselves and not the whole mix. I would say take a friend who knows their stuff and get them to stand out front. Or get a long cable or wireless and venture forth into the crowd. RE getting sweaty: I keep a bandana and bottle of baby powder close by at gig, especially for this reason.

Thanks for that. It still might do the job as a "hope I never need to use it" backup. They're currently in the amazon black Friday sale for £55 quid. I might just get one at that price.

Just looked up the specs. Max SPL 134db peak. -6db @ 35hz and -10db @ 30hz. That's just as deep and powerful as some 15" subwoofers. It'll be fine. To err on the side of caution, you could always put an hpf filter at the end of your chain, around 40-50hz or so.

Apologies for the zombie ressurection! I have a couple of questions regarding the Sonicake Boom Ave - I'm thinking about getting one as an inexpensive backup to my Helix. Does the compressor add a significant volume boost the more you turn it up? I had a Valeton Dapper that did this and I wasn't keen on the amount of make-up gain it applied. Does the Octaver track well enough down to open E? Is the pre-amp of the Ampeg variety and does the top end sound good direct from the XLR to a mixing desk? Again the Valeton sounded a little harsh. Thanks in advance.

I used to get that a lot in certain venues. I called it "one loud note syndrome". I used to carry a Gramma pad for hollow stages too in an effort to alleviate the problem to an extent, but I also realised it was often the room causing the issue. Funnily enough, since we've abandoned the backline and gone straight to FOH and IEMs the problem has disappeared. There's one particular pub we play at that has the stage is what is effectively a huge bay window. This area is on a hollow floor with a low ceiling. But the rest of the pub has a much higher ceiling. I always used to struggle with getting a decent sound in this place - including "one loud note syndrome", and the backline would cause all sorts of problems, sending rumbles up the mic stands and getting feedback. The PA, however, sits just in front of the stage in the open. Since ditching the backline we no longer get any of these issues.

Back at Birchanger Sports & Social Club on Saturday for us. It's one of those venues where you never know what sort of audience you're going to get. Could be youngsters one week and a sea of grey the next. It's also one of these large buildings split into open plan sections, which luckily for us, one of which was hosting a 50th birthday party with around 80 guests, who were well up for a boogie. And there was plenty of buffet food left over at the end of the night... I was ravenous. It's quite a nice setup for bands, loads of lights and a fairly decent stage - although even though it's wide it's not quite deep enough and there's a metre-wide step cut out in the front just where the drums usually go, so we have to flip our usual positions. Not a big deal, but can feel a little odd at first. Once we got into our stride around 5 or 6 songs in, we had people dancing, including a couple of kids around 8 or 9 years old break dancing! We managed to keep the dancers up through the rest of the night. Oh and Shipyard on draught for only £3.60 a pint.

Was his name Eddie Van Halen?j

Each to their own I guess. Our needs and the types of gigs we play are probably quite different. Heck, I don't even bring an amp/cab anymore - just straight into the PA with IEMs. My main preset is versatile enough to cover 90% of what I play, and anything thrown my way. The other 10% has specialist presets for those specific needs. But that's just me, someone else may find it restricting. I have a thick screen protector from "Gear by CEBA" on my Helix LT for this reason. They also make versions to cover the entire top surface of the unit to offer even greater protection. But regarding Boss stompboxes, I hear you. If I was in a different band, out on the road and only needed a couple of specific effects, I'd probably use them instead of a digital device. More road worthy and easily replaceable. And hey, if it's good enough for Billy Sheehan to use live in place of his old analogue rack gear... Yeah, I don't get that either. I don't use the full potential of my phone, computer or camera either, but I have them set up just the way I like them to do what I want them to do. The Helix et al is more than just the amp and effect models. It's the complete package of routing options, crossovers, global eq, and discrete control over each output that makes it ideal for me. I do wish it had Bluetooth though!

I'm not fussed about the Bassman, tbh, but I'll give the Orange a look. I am most intrigued, nay, excited, by the Noble though. I'm currently using the SVT4PRO into a parametric eq instead of a cab block, with the LA2A at the end as a sweetener. I'm wondering how the Noble will sound either on it's own instead of the SVT, or at the end of my chain in place of the LA2A.

Interface interaction is certainly a valid point. However, since switching from pedals to the Helix, I find I don't need to tweak individual effects so much as I used to. It's taken time, but it's all pretty much dialled in and consistent from venue to venue. If I do need different settings for the same effect, that's where snapshots come into their own - again, already dialled in and ready to go.

Hah. And as if by magic, 3.7 brings a $1,249 Noble Bass DI model to the HX series. An HX One dedicated to just this one effect could be a fantastic tool for bass players to keep in their gigbags.

Check out the Ibanez Mikro as well. They're both as good as each other really. As my first short-scale bass (other than the really crappy beaten up POS I learn on, that I bought off a mate for £35 around thirty years ago), I can really see the appeal. It's got me hankering for a Sire U5.

Another one here. Many years ago. I knew the jack socket was intermittent on my old Warwick Thumb before setting out for the gig, and it worked if I wrapped the lead tightly through the strap and didn't move much. But I ended up swapping to my backup for the second set anyway - a Yamaha RBX4/A2 - the lightweight "iPod" bass - I really wish I had kept that one now. After carting a full scale backup around that never gets used - first a Yamaha Attitude Std that I didn't get on with (that I also stupidly p/exd the above RBX4 for) then my Squier 50s P. I decided to get something smaller and lighter, and acquired a Jackson Minion. What a whole lot of fun that is to play. Highly recommend as a backup solution.

FWIW, a Boss Pocket GT landed on my desk at work today. A bit cheaper than the Waza Air, and hopefully better than my Nux Mighty Plug. Looking forward to trying it out later.

This weekend we're at Birchanger Sports & Social Club. It's become a regular for us, although we never know what sort of audience we'll get.

It's nice to see that he's embraced the "face of Christmas" image the media have anointed him with. It wasn't that long ago that he was on the Graham Norton show getting a little irate at the "Buble coming out of hibernation for Christmas" memes.

HX-powered wireless headphones would sell like hot cakes! Only thing is, it would need a mobile/tablet app - not Line 6's strong point as far as Helix devices goes (even a wired tablet to Helix solution would be useful).

I am surprised nobody else has made a similar device yet. Or maybe Boss holds some kind of patent or intellectual property on such a system that prevents the competition from making something similar.

Indeed. It was in the back of my mind that several months ago another band on the "Essex Cover Bands Community" Facebook group didn't do the right thing, and cancelled one venue (albeit at the last minute) in favour of a "better" venue. Let's just say the internet did not approve!