Al Krow

It can work both ways though? The fear of being labelled "racist" is widely cited to be a key reason for the police not properly investigating some of the appalling grooming gangs in Bradford and other cities. If folk are anti large numbers of migrants crossing the channel in small boats and peacefully protest against this, does that make them racist or are they entitled to express what very many others regard as a legitimate viewpoint? A parallel question would be: are we comfortable being in a band with a bandmate who is a Class A drug user? I'm sure pretty much all BC'ers are anti-racist and not homophobic, as is very clear from this thread, but some of this stuff is not always clear cut and it then goes to our values and a sense of what is right and wrong. We will each know that deep down and it's up to us to live with our consciences.

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!

^^ 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.

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?

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 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!

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

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?

£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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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