hairychris

Ahem.... [media]http://youtu.be/tgbNymZ7vqY[/media]

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1435680445' post='2811383'] All of the above. You are quite likely to make a mistake, let it go, it happens to everyone. [b]Setting up always takes longer than you think, I'm normally done in 15-20 mins, but as a band it takes waaaay longer; give yourselves 2 hours and then relax if you finish early[/b]. Have plenty of multi-way plug boards as venues rarely have copious amount of outlets. If something doesn't appear to be working, don't assume the worst, it'll be something simple like a gain pot turned down or a jack unplugged; don't panic and have a torch handy. It's likely to be hot (British summer weather notwithstanding) take a spare shirt to change into before going on and you can change back afterwards; a small personal luxury, but, as mentioned above, check your flies after the change . Most importantly, enjoy it, have fun, it'll show in your playing. [/quote] Oooh. Well, I usually have to deal with 15-minute changeover times between sets, with 3 or 4 bands (or more) on. IIf you're playing indie/metal/rock/etc in bars or clubs you need to be [b]fast[/b] with your changes - in fact the changeover is often more stressful than the gig itself. Get your stuff out so that you can get on stage as soon as previous band finished, and don't hang around once you're finished - talk to your mates after you get your gear off the stage, you'll have plenty of time after you've packed up! You may also only get a line check so you need to know what you're up to even with dodgy monitoring. All the rest is good advice, whatever the situation!

Having moved to bass from guitar I hadn't realised how wimpy my callouses were. This was on my fretting hand, though. I have used superglue to give a bit more "pretend" dead skin before but not sure if that will help with the picking hand - I use a pick most of the time. Ultimately you just need to play and let your body grow those extra layers of protection.

First gig I played, aged 21-ish, was on guitar and I hid behind the PA for most of it. It was terrifying but immediately got under my skin. Simple things as advice: as a band you'll rehearse your tunes and your set, but get used to trying to minimize the time spent between songs. Also make sure that you get used to setting up & packing down quickly, and that you have everything that you need in your kit ready to go (spare cables, tuner, cloth or towel, that sort of thing). Edit: I strongly recommend having a pedalboard all hooked up to a power supply. It prevents flat batteries and makes changes really quick. Plus you know where all your stuff is. Most of all enjoy. You should have a blast. Oh, and be nice to the sound man - that's really important!

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1435474549' post='2809015'] They could just use modelling amps which sound great at any volume and are cheaper than valve amps. Infact they normally sound better than valve amps because guitar valve amps generally only sound their absolute best at one particular volume level and where miced up have modulation/reverb/delay effects applied to the miced up sound. [/quote] No, I'll disagree with that. You have to spend a lot of money on a modeller to get anywhere near the quality of tone of a decent amp. Line 6 and Kemper stuff, especially, are missing something around the mids in a live situation. I've had a chat with a couple of venue engineers about this as I thought that I wasn't hearing things correctly and they had found the same thing. Note: not a scientific conclusion! There is bite that a well dialed-in tube amp can get you, especially in a small or limited PA situation, that a modeller cannot do. In these situations you are also going to hit possible issues with questionable engineers (thankfully most that I've come across are decent!) and in the final case you can only run the PA for vocals & kick and don't mic guitars & bass. In this case your modeller is stuck unless you're using a power amp & cab with it. I'm coming from the direction of being in heavy bands, with all the members having good rehearsal tones set on good quality equipment, so in live situations the tweaking on our end is minimal. Modellers are getting better all the time for sure, and they work really well in recorded mixes or live where you have a *very* good PA. Small venue stuff? Not as much.

MIM is definitely on my list if I want to get a P or J bass. I've owned recent MIM Telecaster guitars and they are fantastic, especially at that price point. I'd put them up against significantly more expensive instrument in the "fun to play" stakes.

He might be a bit of a squeaky Aussie but knows his onions & does ranting pretty well....

Very silly, but also has a good description of specs for equipment & stage: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/iggy-pop-2006-rider?page=0

Claims like this always smell a bit funny. Quite a good breakdown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iEshd6izgk tl;dw - May work in some applications, may wear batteries faster in others, potential for short-circuit, and claims made by maker very oversold (as many products can already use batteries with significant voltage drop).

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1433179224' post='2788636'] I've no doubt that bikers would find that very amusing. [/quote] Ha, not only bikers but anyone with a morbid sense of humour. I'd personally aim for something completely uncalled for to be played... I mean, if you can't annoy your friends & family after you go what's the point! FWIW we had a weird one at my father's funeral. All arranged, with play list given to the vicar bloke including for the final bit where the coffin is removed. I can't remember what my mum had asked for, but we were quite confused when Sinatra's "My Way" came on because it certainly wasn't that, and wasn't entirely appropriate for my old man. Oops. You're not supposed to laugh at funerals, are you?

Never been a fan of Disturbed, although they're OK if played in a club when you're drunk I suppose! I remember the whole nu-metal thing well, hell I even saw Korn play London in 1995 (makes me feel old just to remember that ), and to be honest I was always more into the weirder end of it. Still, I suppose that you can think of them as a gateway drug!

Having used both olive oil and peroxide-based drops (I get gunky ears quite regularly) I found that the oil ones were way gentler on the old lugoles, and worked at least as well. FWIW I am a reluctant member of the tinnitus club so, yeah, wear earplugs like I didn't!

I don't have *a* sound, I'm just trying to find a frequency space in my band. Still tinkering, though, as have just changed my rig from a "warm" Ashdown to a "headbutt in the balls" GK. 2 of my bandmates are into it, 3rd wasn't, but it's all work in progress. I definitely think that if you're involved in a situation you should fit what you're doing to it, unless it's a vanity (I'm using the word neutrally here!) or solo project. This doesn't mean that you can't bring your sound to the table but it's not the be-all and end-all!

[quote name='landwomble' timestamp='1432642161' post='2783457'] Have you thought about fitting an engine? ;-) [/quote] Well, the cab is a W8 in engine terms. Sort of.

Neither do it for me... so the Ritter.

+1 on removing & individually wrapping valves. Also +1 on massive amounts of bubblewrap. Several layers is actually stronger than you might think and can support a heavy amp. That and a strong box. Just using void-fill isn't really great as the amp could settle.

Niiiice. Big fan of redwood here!

Tried out the lightweight solution for the first time with my noisy buggers on Saturday... GK MB800 into Barefaced Gen 2 Compact, which works out around 500w in to 1x15 at 8 ohms. It was satisfyingly loud, but maybe not the cheapest solution!

Rust In Piece is a fantastic album, and hasn't aged either. A lot of 80s/90s thrash sounds dated now. [quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1431679560' post='2773838'] Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament... will always be Thrash bands to me (but Suicidal Tendencies are a hardcore band) The first Metallica album I bought was Ride the Lightning in 1985. As a fresh faced 12 year old I was buying Powerslave and the guy behind the counter shoved RtL in my hand, saying "pfft, dinosaur rock. Get into these guys" [/quote] ST started as hardcore, but crossed over and "HWILT" and "Lights..." were definitely thrash albums. Their rhythm playing during that period was a massive influence on me as a guitarist, and, well, Robert Trujillo. FWIW I bought Metallica's Master of Puppets in '86 aged 14 which absolutely changed my life!

Running bass -> guitar amp -> bass cab, as long as you match the amp/cab values should be fine. It might sound a bit funny as gain stages & EQ are optimized differently, but fundamentally there isn't any difference between guitar & bass amps of the same type.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1431528953' post='2772273'] Surely they'll not be micing this up for FOH..? [/quote] Probably not but I'd be very interested to see!

False metal, obviously.

[quote name='bumnote' timestamp='1431457948' post='2771614'] It will be packed with bass chatters come to see this monstrous cab [/quote] Haha, yep, and why not? The Underworld has a good PA and very good house engineers - none of this DI nonsense when I played there last year, bass cab was properly miked - but I really wonder whether they'll know what to do with this one.

[quote name='bootsy666' timestamp='1431170441' post='2768450'] [url="https://www.facebook.com/events/1541911849406362/"]https://www.facebook...41911849406362/[/url] [/quote] I know a few people who are going so might check it out. Bonkers cab, though. Great job in going through with it!