Al Krow

Another band I know well have been using a Stairville CLB5 for their gigs. What seems particularly neat about this unit (although my mate's band are not using it this way) is the ability to set one or two of the units to light up the stage area in white with a steady beam, but have the the remaining two or three units in colour to light up the dance floor with sound to light, and manage to do that all without DMX.

That provides a relatively budget one-stop solution to enhance both the stage and audience lighting for the band. It's also a lot more compact than my Chauvet GigBar2 and therefore will be a lot easier to take to gigs and consequently likely to get more use!

@JPJ interesting about putting out too much light - was the iColor adjustable on brightness? I guess another would be an extension plug with built in dimmer switch. (Although dunno if that is going to set off any safety issue alarm bells?)

A mate's band has been using this to good effect for up-lighting, which I've recently seen in action: 60W RGB 24PCS LEDs Wall Washer 

I've taken a punt on one for my crew, and at just £36 inc P&P - not too much downside!  

6 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

What we found worked well was a video of us playing. This helped to connect us with an agent who managed the whole process for us.

 

I actually have a list of blues festivals in the South West if it's of interest. Now, I don't play with that band any more, but I've found the same process (getting a video, great website and social media stuff) can connect you with an agent and let them do the rest. 

^^ this 100% !!

The importance of quality promo material is too often overlooked by bands. You may be amazing musicians who sound great, but if you're looking to get booked by someone who's never seen you play live, how will they know?

Cracking little amp! Holds its own against many costing several times as much. Congrats.

23 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Seems a lot - how many lights do you have?

Chauvet Gigbar2, 2 x Chauvet DJ and 1 x Worldlite Party DJ (I do need to upgrade that set up at some point soon - following Phil's LED lights thread with interest!) Tbh I was guestimating the wattage from the lights, but given we use 6 x GU10 50W LED lightbulbs in the kitchen ceiling, didn't think it was an outrageous estimate?

Yes would be 800W for just the PA over 2 hours. But was wondering if there was a sense check at arriving at the number from "first principles"?

Yes absolutely.

My 932A are rated 2100W so at rms that would be 1100W at max

But we have them set at 6/8 and they are apparently pretty linear so on that basis 825W a piece = 1,650W in total.

Lights are LEDs so perhaps another 250W there?

So maybe 3.8kW over two hours on that basis?

Although we did a 2hr outdoor gig, daytime - no lights, with a provided battery (quite a pricey one!) rated 2000 watt hours and barely used 40% of the battery. 

So not getting my sums right somewhere!

Guys - how much power does a typical band PA set up plus a few lights use in terms of watt hours over a 2 hour gig?

Thinking of getting one of those portable batteries e.g. Jackery UK for outdoor use. Their Explore 1000 v2 is currently on half-price sale and rated at 1000 watt-hours

PS @simonlittle which synth pedals have you previously worked with?

3 hours ago, simonlittle said:

I feel seen… 😳

Having said that I finally managed to get my hands on the MXR a couple of weeks ago and am totally blown away by it. It’s going to get a thorough rinsing on gigs. So easy to dial in and those presets sounds amazing right out the box. Have been chasing those sounds for years. Really couldn’t be happier with it. 

 

That's a huge endorsement, thanks Simon, particularly given you've been chasing those sounds for a long while.

Anyone managed to get a decent pitch shift +/- 1 or 2 semis on their Cores?

Boss Slicer Fx

34 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

The one on the core is very cool, you can set parameters like Pattern via assigns to oscillate through options etc to give a cool glitch effect 

Just pulling the chat onto here to avoid derailing the pedal board thread too much!

I've attached a little Mosky dual switch onto my GT 1000 Core, a while back, which then gives me an additional two i.e. a total of four configurations per patch.

I'm sensing a multiple config Slicer patch needs to see the light of day on my Core!

On 26/08/2025 at 10:51, basexperience said:

I've done more work on the pedalboard - the HX stomp is in, the FIv1 has a new output pot (better job than last time too), and it's in a compact case. MIDI is working nicely via Thru (FCB1010 for control there), and now I'm building daughterboards (the HX loop is terminated to 2 outputs on the back of the board).

 

Recent discussion on Boss Slicer SL2 pedal - this thing is so much fun, and if you put a freeze in front of it, you can have a lot of fun. Ditto x2 after it to give me looper capability as well. Fun fun fun!

 

Now working on a filter daughterboard. Already have a Soundblox Bass filter, original Q-tron and SZ funk face to go on there, and looking to source a Digitech bass synth wah.

 

Great way to give pedals time off the shelf and instant availability.

 

Speaking of Boss Slicers...I've just spotted there's a poor man's version of the same on my GT1000 Core 😊

49 minutes ago, gazhowe said:

We use four LEDJ 7Q5 pars, one for each band member.  They set to white light and are mounted on t-bars and pointed at everyone's midriff to avoid blinding.  We've tried placing these on the floor but found that they always blind you at some point.

https://www.djanddiscostuff.com/ledj-7q5-led-uplighter-7-x-5watt-rgbw-quad-leds-p1264

 

Sounds good - any clips/pics of you guys with the lighting set up in action?

What are folk using for stage lighting to light up the band members?

Ideally a single bar floor uplight would be good if they don't blind and are not unflattering - does such a set up exist?

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Our recently ex drummer and a couple of friends bought their local inn when it was threatened with closure. He tried running pub bands and even quite good ones were only attracting a couple of dozen people and some were bringing in no more than a normal Saturday. He's switched to tribute acts and they are taking an extra £2-3,000 a night over the bar. Some of these are low-rent tribute bands but most are karaoke singers with backing tracks. One of my friends (ex Jules Holland Big Band singer, so he's good) is earning £400+ a night going out with backing tracks. Strangely I can't tempt him back to £75 a night to work with all the egos in a band. Our drummer is a really lovely guy who bought the pub partly because he wanted live music. He's faced with the choice of running a dreary, empty, loss making drinking den with bands or having a lively pub, full every weekend and being able to pay his staff decent wages. He hates that this is reality but his main aim was to save his local and there is limited space for sentiment.

Meanwhile my singer is missing all the excitement and energy of a band but finds it hard to turn down the £400 gigs and enthusiastic audiences with no need for rehearsals or damage to his hearing.

£400 for a pub gig is excellent money for a solo singer, given that full bands will often go out for £250 to £450 a gig. Sounds like a win-win for both him and the venue? Love the fact that your ex drummer and mates bought the pub, that's very cool! 

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

At the pub/club level, I doubt that. The pubcos really screw the tenants, and the clubs cannot have enough buying power to get booze at good prices. Of course, some clubs do enough to warrant an entertainment allowance from the drink supplier (I know one club that got £8K in 2017). Of course, that is factored in to the price the club pays for drink. 

Maybe true for tied pubs, but they get charged less for the beer. I'm basing the margin from working in / with the industry for independent operators.

25 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

However that £150 difference is a lot of wet stock to sell for the landlord. 

It's about £215 extra booze at typical 70% wet margins.

Personally I'd go see a decent live band over a solo act + backing tracks, every time!

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Well, I can be the counter counter!

We are a pub cover band, but regardless to that we do get asked to play peoples weddings. we are not a function band and not 'professional' in the function band sense, but we are professional in the 'turn up and play what people want' way. We have played a fair few weddings, 2 in the last couple of months, we charge a fraction of what others charge, so more the £200 each than the £400 each you are talking about, but people have always seemed happy and we have had nice messages after the weddings. 

The common thing in all the weddings is that we have been specifically asked by people who have seen us, so there is no surprise, we aren't advertising ourselves as a wedding band but if people want us, we are happy to do it, and they know what they are going to get.

Nothing there I disagree with Woody! My key "counter" point was that playing weddings can be a lot of fun...the thrust of the earlier posts was that they are a chore and done mainly for money, which was putting the likes of Phil off.

(And if you re-read my post I was saying our figures per head, like your band, are also below £400 each).

We do plenty of pub gigs too!

5 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

 

I've never aspired to function band work. I've probably not got the skill set anyway. The only functions I've done have been for friends who know what we do and are happy with our normal set. I've never seen the attraction of weddings. There's often a lot of travelling involved. There's usually lots of restrictions about setting up and knocking down at the end so it tends to be a very long day. The band is inevitably a bit of a side show, you work hard to fill the dance floor and then someone has to make a speech or there is a cake to be cut or whatever and you have to go again. They can be fun but more are just a chore, you aren't really encouraging me to start looking for weddings now

 

Haha, allow me to put the counter! Being invited to play at someone's wedding is a real privilege and can be a huge amount of fun! The guests are there to have a great time, all you need to do is play your part and it can be an absolute blast! And, nope, I don't agree that a function band is just a pub band in a different better-paid setting, well not the better more successful function bands anyway. One of the things that disheartened me most initially was taking our material and approach that worked really well at pubs and finding that it fell flat at functions.

Personally I think if you're looking to get into function work you need to step up from a hobby / "bit of fun" mindset, which you can get away with as a pub band, to looking to be a more professional / slick / tightly performing set up. Sure, it will usually mean arriving earlier than you would need to for a pub gig, and we're also prepared to travel quite a bit further for functions than for pub gigs as they will pay 2 to 3 times as much as a typical pub gig - the £400 each / function gig figure @mrtcat shared is very decent indeed, fwiw we're typically on less than that for most of our function gigs.

2 hours ago, pantherairsoft said:

Sounds a lot like a Boss Slicer, or at least some kind of harmonic rhythmic tremolo. This is a pattern on the original 2 pedal slicer (not sure it it's on the new smaller one, as lots of the patterns changed) that sounds exactly the same, so that's where my money is!

Great spot thanks. I'm not at all familiar with the slicer pedal, but it does sound pretty cool! 

In what ways does it differ from an arpeggiator pedal?

Speaking of massive pedal boards the Fratellis bassist clearly had one! What do folk reckon he's using to get the funky filter / delay sound at the start of the track and on the verses? He seems to kick just one pedal on to engage the effect.

16 minutes ago, thisisswanbon said:

I appreciate the shout on the OC5 @Al Krow, but I’ve had one before and it didn’t come close to my octabvre. 

Interesting. What were you finding the Octabvre was adding vs the OC5?

47 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

I can never work out if this is just common sense or I am slightly bonkers/obsessive

Nah, just very good practice! Bit like doing a sound check before a gig!

11 hours ago, thisisswanbon said:

 

Really not satisfied with my board at the minute but not sure why… I don’t use a lot of drive but have 3 pedals capable of it on my board (hate the HX drives though).
 

Thinking of dropping the rattler for something none drive related and also thinking of trying a MXR vintage bass octave instead of the Octabvre… 

 

any thoughts or suggestions?

A couple of ideas from me (YMMV! etc) Suggest checking out the Boss OC5 for an excellent and great value octaver? I share your pain re. drives: I've got 7 of the things sitting on my shelf which I really need to get around to moving on, haha! I found that my most recent multi (GT1000 Core) managed to match / out do them all which my cheap-as-chips Zoom B1-4 hadn't really come close to doing. But the most important thing about the GT1000 Core is the always on preamp setting, as we're not using backline, and finally getting a tone that I really like and seems to be getting plaudits from fellow BC'ers.