Stub Mandrel

Ought to post this here. Last night we went to see one of our favourite live bands, Band of Friends - basically Gerry McAvoy and Brendan O'Neill, Rory Gallagher's bassist and drummer, with Jim Kirkpatrick (FM) doing most of the vocals (and a lot of guitar) and Paul Rose (who is an insanely good guitarist). They were insanely good and played for just short of two hours - Gerry is 72 ffs yet full of energy and with massive charisma. Support was the James Oliver Band, James is forging a massive reputation with his insane gigging schedule, and here was playing at his 'home venue' the Earl Haig in Cardiff so he knew most of the audience and was merciless with his legendary banter! The EH is my favourite venue in South wales, I've played it myself several times, and it's a great atmosphere. Not many clubs have such a fantastic stage and lighting. On the subject of photos, I kept them to a minimum and focused on enjoying the gigs. James Oliver Band Band of Friends Paul posted this on FB last night:

That was my brother's experience last year. Most people couldn't even see all of the band.

They are incredible. I first saw them at Colne - my main reason for going. I was terrified they would be meh, as I'd be judging them against seeing Gerry with Rory Gallagher back in 1981 on my 19th birthday! I also desperately wanted my SO to enjoy it. Last night she said the Coline gig was 'probably the best I've ever been to' and she's seen even more bands than me.

Main gigging rig Orange terror and GRBASS AT212 slim. Backup amp - Trace Elliot Elf. Red stripe Trace Elliot 1110 / GP11 combo. Orange Crush 20. Home made 4x3 combo. Joyo Bantamp 50W hybrid head with PJB C2 (2x5) cab. Also a Hotone micro bass head.

After reading recent posts, I have shifted my hpf from first to after the compressor and octaver. Much quieter. The compressor exaggerated the noise when not playing, and the octaver seemed to bring some hf noise into the high audio band. Both ok on their own but with compressor and octaver on and after the hpf it was intrusive when not playing.

My Westone Thunder I sounds "more like a precision than a precision".

You'll do 😁

And Band of Friends. L-r Jim Kirkpatrick, Brendan O'Neil, Gerry McAvoy, Paul Rose.

Told him he'd been praised on a bass forum, he nearly choked 🤣

Not sure what his hair has to do with this 😉

Seeing James tonight supporting Band of Friends*. He's mad as a box of frogs 🙂 Planning to see him gigging with Norman Watt-Roy on bass in the near future. *Who are amazing, I have stories...

Bith my bands are gigging this weekend, before a quiet August.

I've struggled with most conventional earplugs as they are too severe for me, even ones designed for 'club goers'. Recently found some Studiospares Pacato earplugs, they are 16dB ones with only 10dB attenuation at less harmful low frequencies. Nice comfy fit with removable filter so you can wash the insert.

By way of experiment... from last night. Bass isn't very audible, fortunately. VID-20240727-WA0007.mp4

Cool 😎 How do you embed a video without using YouTube?

I think non-bassists would be surprised how often we gig with a rig that cost castly more than the basses we play through it!

Last night Bluesfire finally played my local, the Park Hotel. For some reason they had decided to squeeze us into the main bar, instead of the big room upstairs. At least it meant an easy load in. We expected a good crowd as we are well known in Barry and the gig was shared well on FB. We also had several people come from Cardiff and Penarth, good to know we can pull a audience in. Someone from Cwmbran who saw us at Borough Blues festival a few weeks ago brough friends, including a frend of my partner who hasn't seen her for 4 years! Also some very good local musicians turned up. So lots of people crammed into a medium size bar gave an excellent atmosphere. From the star there was cheering rather than applause, although virtually no dancing with the lack of space. We were very tight, although on two songs I felt convinced I was out of key, but it mah have been a weird effect of standing in a tiny space between my cab and the Pa... after a verse it sounded ok. A couple of songs people probably thought I was really creative as I flailed around trying different lines searching for the rig. Got bludgeoned into some extra songs so despite my defence of 45+45 elsewhere we ended up doing 50 + 60. Alex got loads of praise for his guitar work, including from a guy who is a brilliant player and has been a figure on the south Wales scene since the 70s. So, a really awesome evening, plus I was able to carry my gear as it was only a minutes walk away

Not too bad, but the tone controls are optimised for hifi. I improved it by removing wadding I put in and cutting a port. It was meant as a bit of fun using stuff I already had when I couldn't affors a practice amp, but it turned out OK. Better days now, I mostly use a Joyo Bantamp and a PJB C2, which is 2x5 and sounds great.

Put a new grille on my home built 4x3" combo. Needs a bit more velcro on the 3d printed support.

Not complex, but the 'proper' bassline to Pride and Joy. I've winged it a few times, but the original is a fun walk that ocassionally steps in unexpected directions.

For a change I'll bring my home practice rig, and some unusual basses. Current thinking: Joyo Badass 50W hybrid head. PJB C2 cab. Hohner Jack V professional. Kay (Teisco) Tulip. + whichever bass feels right as no. 3.

My cab has a -3dB point at 35Hz. An (utterly different) Ampeg 8x10 SVT is 40Hz or 50Hz for the high power version, so plenty of cab styles do go low(er). I'm happy with 30Hz, not because it needs to be that low, but because it doesn't need to be any higher, at least with my kit (which has plenty of headroom). I find my amps bass control is enough to tame boomy rooms.

My view (which may be a minority one) is that the troublesome frequencies from handling noise putting your palm on the strings etc. are effectively sub-audible, that is below 20 Hz where we hear them as a 'purr' or thump rather than a musical tone. This is full octave below our E string and well below even a low B at 32 Hz, so a 12 or 18dB/octave filter at 30Hz will stop all the non-musical sounds like a wall with minimal effect on the fundamentals if our equipment is able to reproduce them. Personally, I would only look at a higher frequency (say 50Hz) if I was using a speaker with limited high-end response or a lower power amplifier and I wanted the extra headroom.

A killer for keyboards, bass and some kick drums.

Having been bullied myself, I understand, but we all have to be careful first reactions don't just pass on the pain. I sometimes post before I think.