BrunoBass

On 29/02/2020 at 16:50, 4000 said:

A friend who builds his own keyboards is supposed to be looking at building a Taurus setup for me at some point in the future, if he ever gets chance.  He reckons about £100. Fingers crossed!

Sounds like a bargain! 

I enjoyed that the first time around, thanks for the steer.

I saw a great new band called Loup Garoux the other night. The bass sounded awesome and looked very cool; kind of Fender-ish but hard to identify with the stage lighting and dry ice. 

Anyway I tweeted Richard Jones the bass player who very kindly responded: 

So it’s a Cowpoke. Full on GAS ensues, and I’m hoping I can shift the items I’m currently selling in order to make a bid on one that’s currently on eBay.

So, who’s got one? What’s the consensus? 

I saw a great new band called Loup Garoux the other night. The bass sounded awesome and looked very cool; kind of Fender-ish but hard to identify with the stage lighting and dry ice. 

Anyway I tweeted Richard Jones the bass player who very kindly responded: 

So it’s a Cowpoke. Full on GAS ensues, and I’m hoping I can shift the items I’m currently selling in order to make a bid in one that’s currently on eBay.

On 29/02/2020 at 14:31, 4000 said:

The support for the Staves was a nice surprise. Matilda Mann; had never heard of her. Obviously very young but also a lovely voice and very nice material. Unfortunately her most memorable song won't get past the swear filter!

 

Thanks for sharing - that’s right up my street 🙂

Supergrass the night before last in Birmingham. Excellent set list, everything you’d want to hear delivered with good humour and warmth, and not a foot wrong all night. Quite enjoyed reliving my Britpop days. Incidentally, the last time I saw them was in Oxford in 1995, a quarter of a century ago... 

Very impressive support act too, Loup Garoux, fronted by former singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. Enjoyed their set a lot.

On 04/03/2020 at 08:45, DaytonaRik said:

...loading the gear into a van, driving to the venue, unpacking and setting it up, playing the gig, putting it all back into the van, driving 90 mins home then unloading it all, only to be knackered all-day Sunday before going to work on  Monday morning.

 

This is why I’m not missing my current enforced hiatus from gigging, even though I thought I would. 
 

The likes of Clapton, Seger etc are not going to starve if they don’t tour anymore. I  sympathise though with the ageing low to mid level artists who still need to pay the rent. For them it really is tour or bust. Or get a job at B&Q. 

I like Schaller’s - replace the original strap button with the one supplied, this clips into the locking mechanism that you attach to your strap. Quick and easy! 

I do both. Bass in the covers band and acoustic guitar on my solo original stuff. It’s no problem switching between the two.

14 hours ago, 40hz said:

Weird, as for such a relatively well known model, I've never seen anybody use one in 17 years of gigging or even seen one in a shop.

Steve Marsh, session player who also plays with EMF has one and does the festival circuit using it. 
 

I recall several bands using them in the early nineties, but not many since, Steve Marsh apart. 

4 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Nice to know. We have a gig there in a couple months 

Actually, free drinks means a coke or an orange juice to most bands, since there's a drive home after the gig.

I suspect pub LL's know this, so offering free drinks isnt such a loss, but still its a nice gesture. They dont have to do this

Yes it’s a nice touch. Says a lot about the people running the venue in my experience. 

I haven’t weighed the Harley Benton PB50 I bought and modded, to play live, but it weighs a ton and is way too heavy for a two hour gig. Other than that I’ve never found a ‘normal’ bass (Fender, Ric, MM etc) go to too heavy. If I can stand two hours with it, it passes the weight test. 

The Bell in Bicester and The Punch Bowl in Warwick offer free drinks, not many others I’ve played though!

39 minutes ago, Skybone said:

I understand that they appear to be a pre-requisite of period 70's Prog rock, but my point is that he is a bass player, cracking rig and some very nice basses. If he isn't playing another instrument as well as the bass, what's the point of the bass pedals?

If he's doing some keyboards, or guitars or something, it makes sense, but if not???

I have no idea. I’ll ask him next time I see him.

2 hours ago, Skybone said:

Erm... why does the bass player need a Moog Taurus setup?

Just a thought...

P - R - O - G

At band practise the other night I popped down the corridor during a break to where my keyboard playing mate was practising with his new band. They’re kind of prog-y, which is not my thing but I was interested to see what they were up to. 
 

The bass player was playing through an SVT, with a Wal Mk2 and a 4001 (both pretty battered, especially the Rick) and a Moog Taurus pedal set up. Wow... I’ve never heard anything like it, stomach shakingly, mountain movingly awesome. 
 

Very temporary GAS ensued, before conceding that I have no purpose whatsoever for such a contraption, but is anyone else using Taurus pedals? Live? 

Just posting this because I love it and it’s been in my head all day. The ultimate dub track in my opinion. Incredible. 

27 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

It should be pointed out that the topic would normally have been inspired by collective thoughts on Paul Young’s cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart...

I sometimes do an alt country cover of LWTUA in my solo set (it works surprisingly well). On more than one occasion I’ve been commended by people (usually women) of a certain age for playing ‘that Paul Young song’... 😫

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

Never say never.

Exactly. Nothing’s off limits.

There are however bands that CAN’T be covered. 

3 minutes ago, wishface said:

Ah Davie504

I'm not sure what he's doing is a net positive for bass playing.

I have no interest in Davie504 but would opine that he does have a positive effect - if he inspires people to think ‘I fancy a bit of that’ and to pick up a bass guitar that can only be a good thing, especially if said inspiree later gets out of their bedroom and gets into a band. 

I’m not demoralised by it too much, You Tube has a very concentrated amount of people making videos - for every one of these seemingly prodigious teenagers there’s a thousand middle aged people of average ability, like me. 
 

Everyone had / has a super talented mate, who made you sick with their skill. When I was a kid I worked with a lad called Giles who was a stunning guitarist, absolutely world class. If YouTube existed in the eighties he’d probably have been making videos. I wasn’t too jealous though, because I was in a band and he never had been, nor had the desire to be in one.

On 24/02/2020 at 15:34, BigRedX said:

It's not enough to be a good musician or songwriter, what sets those who are successful apart from those who are not, is the sheer amount of hard work they put in to the the business side of things. In order to do that you need both the time and energy (as well as the understanding why it is important) and generally speaking most day jobs will completely get in the way of this. And it may be that you need to be in the right place at the right time, but you do that by making sure you are able to take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, when the right place and time come along your are there and not at your day job (or too knackered to be there because of it).

 

True. My 19 year old son signed a worldwide deal with a very major label last week. He’s massively talented and not a little driven, but the sheer amount of work, business, meetings, more work he’s had to put it is incredible, and would’ve been pretty much impossible to do with a day job. Ok, he hasn’t ‘made it ‘ yet, as a deal is no guarantee of success, but he’s on the way, and I’m glad that my allowing him not get ‘a proper job’ in order to concentrate on his music might just pay off.

By the way we used to charge £250, the last time I played there was October last year. 

I’ve played there many times, both solo and with the band - great crowd (usually); the stage is rectangular, deep rather than wide so you should all fit on but some of you will be at the back. Tell your band mates to watch their heads though as there is a hefty wooden beam quite low over the stage.

It has a hollow wooden stage so I always put my cab on a table otherwise it was too boomy. Load-in is through the beer garden at the back; there is a lay-by across the road for short term parking (I think it’s disabled parking) but there’s longer term (free at night) parking just around the corner. 
 

Annoyingly, the staff make frequent visits to the storage room, which is accessed down the side of the stage.... but there you go. 
 

It’s usually a good gig, when are you playing? I might pop down.  

Up for sale is my Washburn WJ7SCE Jumbo electro-acoustic guitar. It’s in excellent condition, home use only, was bought new from PMT by me about six months ago but is now surplus to requirements. Solid Spruce top. New D’Addario strings, great sound, slim comfortable beach with nice set up / low action. Tiny ding by the output socket (see photo). I’d prefer collection / meet up. Will supply in a basic gig bag. Specs below: 

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/washburn-wj7sce-jumbo-electro-acoustic-guitar-antique-tobacco-burst?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&gclid=CjwKCAiAhc7yBRAdEiwAplGxX9i9K76nEKeTNLxuNyDCXWPQYbx-qXd8KxgKULWphElsU_f26Sq8PRoCP-IQAvD_BwE