Callumjord

Well, I normally get in around 45mins/1hr30 of practice a day, then normally have 1-2 band practise a week which is normally 3hrs long then could possibly have 2 weddings on a weekend which is normally 4hrs of music plus setup time, sound check, strip down. Travel could be anything from 15mins up to 1hr 30/2hr drive. Normally I leave any recording/mixing work for weekends that I don't have any gigs.

I would probably say that I just verge on the cusp of "Semi Pro". At weekends (and some week days) I am playing with 1 of 2 bands doing weddings/pubs/functions which is all fully paying gigs etc. I also do some amateur recording/mixing/mastering with other bands (again I take a small fee for doing so). But I still work a full 38 Hour week at my full time job. Being able to do flexible/compressed working hours really does help balance my work and music out.

Played two shows over the weekend, Saturday night was spent in a bar in Nairn, very small stage so had to rip off some "key" pedals off my pedal board. Guitarists were wasting a lot of time between songs which was annoying. Anyway, some new songs we played went down very well and some other songs that normally go down well didnt. anyway, was packed up and home by 2am, of course the clocks went forward so was actually 3am. Had to be up for 7am to get ready and set up for a wedding fayre at 9am. First one out the band there so hauled all of my equipment and PA in. Managed to setup as much as I could before everyone else turned up. Realized I then forgot the stuff we have for show on our table, table cloth's laptop/monitor/speakers showing our video reel. Was packed up and home by 4.30pm. Sat down on the sofa and crashed out. All in all it was a good weekend, however it did highlight some area's I need to focus on. Oh, forgot to mention, my main amp broke on friday night so was lucky enough to borrow my dads old Laney RB9 which saw me through the weekend. Was an awesome sounding amp as well.

For me it's either my DHA VT1 or the tech 21 VT character series. 80% of the time I am mainly using the DHA preamp, it's awesome for silent practice and doing that "warm tube" sound

Gigging essentials!

It's not much but it's light and it gets the job done! Love the sound of this rig

Local charity BYOB gig last night for Clan, was busy with 200 people down for the night so was a perfect chance to play some new songs. Some went down greatly, others not so great. Was a great gig for me though because I got to use my new sire MM V7 bass that arrived earlier that week. Sounded and played incredible with a huge amount of low end!

Is that the zoom that has been recorded on? I've been looking at some of the zoom video recorders

First wedding of the year on Thursday night, slow drive from Elgin up to Strathpeffer in the Highlands due to the snow. Was sharing the stage with a local ceilidh band as well. Was a quick set up and sound check job, which included me wiring up half the PA wrong and not noticing till after the first set. Anyway, the wedding was running late due to speeches so we had to cut our first set down to half hour. Quick re arrange of the stage for the ceilidh band and a nice hour long break for us. Back on stage around 10pm and we played through till 12.30am/ish. Took a while to get into things and get the energy going. Anyway by around 10.35 we have a busy dance floor which made up for the rest of the night. Quick pack up and a long slow drive back down to Elgin fighting through all the snow. Van unloaded and in my bed at 3am. Long day considering I was up for the gym at 4.30am the day before and a half day work as well.

Done a lot of gigs all over the NE of Scotland this festive period but my last one was last night. Been booked to play in a local bowling alley in the bar area. Was a very busy turn out but with it being "mad Friday" it was expected. We were originally booked to play 9-12 but was asked to do 7.30-10.30, no problem for me as I get to leave early. Was an unusual setup and we started playing after everyone had done their game of bowling and sat down for their food. Luckily our first set has a number of relaxed chill songs but still, could see a lot of people getting annoyed at us while they eat their food. Anyway, we get into the second set and have a busy dance floor then all of a sudden 9pm hits! Everyone suddenly grabs their coats and leaves, obviously to go into town to the other bars. We are then left playing to a small amount of people which definitely did put a bit of a downer to the end of the night. Anyway, I have another show at the same bowling alley tonight and I assume it will probably go the same way.

Got a question for you gear heads out there! I am running a DHA VT1 Di pedal into an eden wtx264 bass head and then into a 2 x12 bass cab at 4ohms. I'm trying to add a small amount of tube saturation into my bass tone so I am running the pickup input and and gain on the DHA pretty hight (around 3 o'clock). I'm finding that I am then having to reduce the gain input on my amp significantly (around 8 o clock) to keep if from overloading. Also, when I run this setup and use effects such as octave and filter I am also hitting the amps internal limiter. I am trying to figure out the best way to run this setup but it's leaving me stumped at the moment. I want to get the most out of all my equipment and particularly get a lot of volume out my bass amp. I feel that running a hot pre amp pedal is actually forcing me to reduce my volume as away to avoid hitting the gain and master volume limiters. Would running the DHA separately into the effects loop help with this? Or would I be better to just plug directly into the effects return and skip the eden pre amp? Only thing is I love the amps bass boost and flexibility of the Di as well. Any help and advice would be much appreciated

Played a wedding last night held at the local football club, on a very long but narrow stage. Got in the morning to set up and stripped all the gear down at night so we could comeback this morning to pick it all up. Didn't feel comfortable leaving the P bass so took that home with me. Was a small wedding with just a handful of people up and dancing. Tool them till half way through our 3rd and final set to finally get everyone up but we got a lot of really great and positive feedback from everyone after we finished playing.

NE of Scotland we charge £350 for a pub gig and a number of pubs are more than happy to pay that

Interesting gig last night, first time playing at a pub in Buckie, all the gear sorted out ready to go through when our lead guitarist turns up drunk. He somehow manages to blag his way through the entire gig without making any major cock ups. Tried a lot of new songs and they all went down a treat. Was any typical pub gig, a lot of drunk people falling around, onto one of our stage monitors completely breaking the cable, so that will need replacing. All in all aside from all the small annoyances it was a solid good gig and I had a great time. And landlord wanted our availability for all of next year.

[quote name='colleya' timestamp='1504437253' post='3364798'] I'd imagine that if it's a 'just in case my main bass fails' backup then something as close to the sound/output of your main bass as possible. That way you can switch with minimal faffing around with settings, especially as you're in a function band where keeping the show going and folk on the dancefloor is a priority. However, in my experience unless it's wildy different tone or output that screws with the band balance then most folks won't notice. It's a standing joke in our band that the constant rotation of gear by the guitarist and myself is purely for our ears only. The good folk at the Dog & Doris on a Saturday night couldn't give a monkeys if I'm using a P bass or a Status 57 string made of graphene reinforced kryptonite provided it sounds good and we play Take On Me! If you can afford it then another one of the same would be great, if not then possibly one of the Fender sub brands, the higher end Squiers get a lot of love on here. [/quote] That is very true, your average punter is not going to notice or care what bass you're using. If you have to change from a P bass to a J bass nobody in the audience will notice too much but most likely wont care. For me I think what I really want is to be able to just pick up the back up and not have to fiddle with any gain/eq settings (much) but also not have to adjust to a different feeling neck. [quote name='dood' timestamp='1504438867' post='3364818'] It does also mean I have terrible OCD for instruments in pairs.. Two Fender PJ's, Two Fender Precisions, Two Dingwall, Two Shuker basses, Two electric guitars.... [/quote] oh i know that feeling, but then my wallet tells me no

I have a question for all you gigging bassists out there, How many of you gig with a "back up bass" and if so what is it you exactly look for when picking a backup bass? I'm asking this because recently my Function/Wedding band has gained a lot of interest and we are just away to begin a busy couple of months of gigs that will lead well into the new year and also we have managed to have nearly every weekend of the summer months of 2018 fully booked. I have recently started using my P bass as my main bass and since a lot of my up coming gigs are all over the North East/part of Highlands in Scotland i'm looking for a back up bass to take with me just in case anything was to happen (Fingers cross). I currently have a Vintage musicman copy that would be ok for a back up bass, only problem is that i simply don't enjoy playing it as much as my other basses, the pickup runs very hot and it sounds completely different plus its active. I have thought about doing the bass up, give it a refinish and upgrade the pickups and electronics but then there is something in me that says "just get another (cheaper) P bass". Does anybody deliberately take a different sounding/feeling bass with them as backup or do you pretty much look for another version of your main bass? Would love to hear your thoughts. Callum

Played at a local wedding Fayre yesterday, turned up at half 8 in the morning so I could get in nice and early with all my equipment and the bands (PA, yes I carry that all around with me). Got all setup and sound checked for around 10.15, was given a table and space right next to another band. Went and grabbed brunch at the local spoons with the rest of the band while everyone else for the day came and set up, grabbed a shower and got changed. Played 2 half hour sets, 1pm and 3pm. Was pretty tight with the space given and pretty much and the guitarist standing on my toes. We played all the usual wedding hits and also did the chain by fleetwood Mac. Fayre finished at 4pm, got packed up came home and had a beer, all in all it was a great day. Especially since we got booked for 5 more weddings next year, I'm now playing 10 weekends straight through June, July and August next year.

My old man has played an epiphone thunderbird for the past 12 years and he swears blind that it's the best bass you could ever have. I have always told him that I actively dislike it but secretly there has always been something about its looks that I really like. Recently the GAS for me to get my own has starting to set in. Although I am a 5 string player so it would have to be one of the pro ones I go for.

[quote name='Grahambythesea' timestamp='1497592624' post='3319259'] Brilliant! You are so fortunate. Did you still get caught for VAT on import? [/quote] No, I had no Vat to pay. Just had to fill out a couple of forms. That was my main worry

I won a 5 string P bass in the fender sweepstake competition. That has got to be the best freebie I have had

Thanks guys! I have been playing this bass non stop since I got her. And what a perfect time for her to arrive as well as I have been busy with 3-4 gigs/shows these past 3 weeks and will be busy right up to the end of the month before having any other time off. I said I would write up a more detailed review but that will have to wait. All I can say is that I am very impressed with this bass. It plays perfectly and has a sound that just fits right in with my band. Think I have caught a serious case of the P bass bug as I am now looking at buying another one as a back up.

Welcome aboard, Inverness is a great city with plenty of live music over the weekend. I'm not far away from Inverness (Elgin) and find myself playing there once every other month. Managed to source my bands PA system all second hand from Inveness

Thanks for the update! I know what I am doing with my Sunday now

After a [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]grueling 2 month wait my new P bass has finally arrived from California[/color][/font] [url="http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Callum_Ord/media/20170527_084928_zpsvxnfeg77.jpg.html"][/url] Here is a link to my NBD post: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/306352-a-once-in-a-lifetime-nbd/