Greg Edwards69

Starr Sports, Canvey Island, on Saturday night. Load-in and set-up went quickly and smoothly. Everyone (well, nearly everyone) knew their roles and what to set up now. It was also somewhat aided by both singers now migrating to the Xvive U4 system the two guitarists and I have been using, meaning less trailing leads for P2 IEM packs. A bit of a challenging audience in the first set, apart from a group of young drunk booked going nuts over the heavier stuff, and getting way too close and knocked the singer's sample pad over - he managed to grab it before it hit the deck. The bouncers turfed them out shortly after. It didn't help that the bar has a new pool table in the middle of the room that is way too close to where bands play, leaving not enough room for dancing - and it can't be moved... at all. (Honestly, this is one thing that really pees me off in some venues). Oh, and shortly before we started, I came out of the loo to see the female singer walking away from chatting to the drummer and catch her flares on my guitar stand, and watched in horror as my Ibanez EHB fell face down on the deck! Luckily, it appears to have survived its fall unscathed apart from a small ding in its headstock. The second set was much better. More party tunes in this set and more lubricated people ready to sing and dance (at the space next to said pool table rather than right in front of it). Obligatory encores and we were done by midnight. By this point, I was running on fumes (and Red Bull) due to a late night the night before and a very early start (cruise ship dinner party with family - get to bed at 1am and didn't realise until I was awakened by my uncle phoning our cabin that we had to be out of the cabins by 7.30am!) So yeah, I was rather tired by this point, but we all mucked in (well, nearly all) and was tucked up in bed by 1.30am. Next stop, The Sarah Moore in Leigh. Earlier start than usual due to them showing the boxing after (🙄). It's usually a good one for us, but sadly our last one there as it's closing in the new year as the building owner want to build flats!

Glad to hear you had a barnstormer of a night to finish the band's run. Definitely one of our favourite venues to play, and the perfect place to play your final gig! We're playing there later this month on the 28th. It's that awkward time of year between Christmas and New Year, so fingers crossed we'll have a decent turnout. I'm sure the colourful regulars will be there no matter what!

Saturday was the first of a busy December for us at the Crumpled Horn in Upminster. We play here every Christmas and the landlord is a former DJ and agents and is an old friend of the band (indeed, he even DJ'd at my wedding). The weather was atrocious, as it was everywhere else in the UK - although I reckon it would have been cancelled if we were in the west of England. A decent sized audience when we turned up to load it, but by the time we was ready to go at 8.30 a number of patrons had left, and more during our first set - although they were singing and dancing while walking out the door. By the time the second set started the pub was nearly empty, but those who stayed were very enthusiastic. The doorman told us that this pub is half empty whenever there is bad weather, so we can take solace in the fact that we didn't cause the lousy turnout. The landlord was happy with us too and gave us a little extra on top of our usual fee. Oh well, roll on next weekend. Back to Canvey at Starr Sports. Usually a lively one!

Our drummer uses a small mixer for his IEM feed that sits on a shelf clamped to his hi-hat stand so his can quickly adjust the level without fumbling with a belt pack. He forgot to bring it Saturday night. Behringer P2 to the rescue! Seriously, any band that used IEM should have at least a couple of these or similar in a gig bag as a backup.

I recently acquired an EHB1005SMS. I needed a 5 string once again, but I wanted something lightweight and compact. I've also been exploring shortscale basses, so this ticked all the boxes. Generally, I find it easy to play. I adapted to it pretty much within 30 minutes of opening the box. Even jumping from my usual 34" 4 string to this 30-32" 5 string multiscale doesn't require major adjustment and I'm happy to do so at gigs. Only real niggle is playing more than one note at a time up the dusty end as @Dood mentioned. It's definitely more awkward than a traditional parallel fretted bass for higher register chordal playing.

Aren't they both copies of the (considerably more expensive) Fischer In-Ear Stick? Or have Ali-Express managed to copy a copy?

It's worth buying even if you have another solution or don't currently use IEMs. It's handy as a backup or a just-in-case tool.

I love Jarre. Have done since I was a kid and into keyboard playing. I finally got round to seeing him live at the O2 for his 10.10.10 concert. That'll stay with me for a long time.

Reminds me of an old Shooting Stars skit Do you want to see my minge? #fyp #comedy #bobmortimer #vicreeves #jim... | TikTok

Good Halloween fun on Saturday night for us at Starr Sports, Canvey Island. Load in and set up appeared to go smoothly, and we was ready for soundcheck within an hour. I still thinks there's work to do, to assign several tasks to other band members to get make it even quicker, however. Being a hallowed party, we went a little heavier with some of our first set, adding Enter Sandman, Run To The Hills, In the End and Zombie (yes, I know). For the second set our singers dressed up and we added a few halloween themed party songs that we learned especially for this even - Thriller, Monster and Ghostbusters that went down amazingly well. I think we may keep the first two in permanent rotation. Ghostbusters was a bit messy and my left hand cramped up toward the end of it - it's a bitch of a riff to play on the bass, and we purposely sped it up! Kudos to Ian Martin Allison for his Vintage Synth Pack — the Mini Mogue sounded perfect for Thriller. I'm not one for buying presets, but synths are not my forte, but it's made be consider trying one of his regular packs.

Halloween party in Canvey Island

I meant to add. I had the headrush frfr-108 for a while - apparently designed for guitar and bass. More power, a bigger woofer and a deeper frequency response than the Behringer B1C. It kept up with a full band in a rehearsal room fine but still needed an hpf to protect it - as I discovered when my drummer plugged his Roland trigger unit into it and damaged the woofer with a particularly deep bass drum sample. It was a good job the woofer was easily replaceable and not expensive!

Have you seen the new Spark Edge? Looks to be a more useful proposition than the Behringer. Spark EDGE – United Kingdom - Positive Grid Although, for bass, I still think it's more for practice and acoustic jams. I doubt it will hang with a drummer.

I wouldn't want to use one without a judicious hpf. Thre frequency response is 60 Hz – 20 kHz (±3 dB). Without a hpf it would be easy to damage the woofer.

Set length is rarely dictated, so we usually elect to do 2x60min, or occasionally 2x45min. If we're playing straight through we will do 90min max. Either way, we usually get asked to play "one more song" and then "one more song"...

Next? No idea. But I got a couple of tickets a few days ago for Iron Maiden at the London Olympic stadium next June. Bucket list item almost ticked.

I had one of these when they first came out. Really wish I'd kept it. I recently bought the short/medium scale EHB1005SMS. Very lightweight and incredibly ergonomic. There are also non-fanned fret options in the EHB range if multiscale isn't your thing.

The Markbass MB58R range of cabs is worth a look. Similar weights to the Bareface and GRBass - kind for kind - and a bit cheaper. I have no idea what they sound like, but I'm presuming they'll have a more coloured tone compared to the more neutral sounding BF and GR offerings. PS, a GR Active cab is on my wishlist.

I’ve had a strap button work loose and nearly fall out. Strap locks are all well and good, but no use if the strap button itself falls out.

Generally yes, I take a spare. I have on occasion taken just one for logistical reasons without issue, but it's always in the back of my mind that something could happen. Besides, if we're being paid to provide a service, we should be prepared and have a contingency plan for potential problems. I got fed up with taking two 34" basses to gigs just for one to stay in a gigbag all night, so last year I bought a cheap Jackson Minion as a "hope I never need it" backup. It's really no fuss to transport and will get me out of trouble if the worst happens. Also, when I change strings on a bass, I keep the old set in the bass' gigbag, just in case. FWIW, I usually only take one bass to rehearsals, but those spare strings will suffice in that situation.

EDIT: Whoops, just read last OP's post above that this isn't required anymore. But I'll leave the below in place in case anyone else need a similar solution. Take a look at Brevo (formerly SendInBlue). Lots of customisable templates and can also handle SMS and WhatsApp campaigns. The free tier lets you send up to 300 emails a day (so you should be able to break your 700 recipients down into smaller groups spread over several days via a workflow). We use it at work just as the SMTP server for our more complex MarketDirect CrossMedia solution (it used to be called Direct Smile - you may have heard of it). But Brevo seems to be a very capable solution for a project the size and scope the OP needs. We went with Brevo for SMTP has it seems to get through spam filters more than some of the other providers, although Hotmail/live accounts still seem to be quite aggressive. FWIW, most SMTP servers need to be 'warmed up' before sending loads of emails out. But if it's something you do regularly, and the numbers you're saying it shouldn't be a problem, which you can break into smaller chunks as I said earlier.

The Fender Rumble is often praised in these parts for good reason. Great sound, easy to use, light weight, and enough volume if you play with other musicians.

Same here. I reckon at least 25% of our average set requires me to play with a pick for "that sound". If my fingertips get too sore by the end of the night I'll often switch to a pick to alleviate the pain. Although luckily our usual set closers are pick songs.