MattW

Any idea what the weight is?  Cheers!

HH have some very good deals from their eBay shop at the moment.  You can get 1600w powered cabs (12 or 15) with anti feedback and a 16 channel mixer with effects for your budget.   I bought a whole set at the beginning of lockdown. Sound great at house volumes, but not pushed them yet - can't wait to gig with them!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HH-1600W-12-Active-Audio-Speaker-Home-Monitor-Live-Stage-Anti-Feedback-53-OFF-/233663062229?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

You're sure to be in for a treat!   @Cosmicrain's workshop is like an Aladdin's cave - looking forward to seeing what he creates for you!

Thought I'd share!  This is something I've been working on putting together for nearly a year.  My Zoot Funkmiester arrived on Friday which was hand built in Essex by @Cosmicrain, and joins my Maldon built Ashdown CTM300 and my Brighton made Barefaced Big Twin II.  Rather chuffed and sounds the business!  Still a few months before I'll get to gig them though...😢

7 hours ago, Jakester said:

When I've been in the opposite position i.e. needing to hire, I've always found that it hasn't really made economic sense, as the cost of hire has tended to be considerably more than we were getting for the gig. My concern would therefore be making it cost-effective for bands/ensembles but also making it financially worth your while for doing it.

Bear in mind if you're looking at doing the sound yourself (rather than just handing the PA over) you'll need to be first one there and last one out, which can be a long day/evening and can make it not really financially-viable. 

@Jakester Yep the finances are tricky.  Don't want to undersell myself but equally need to cover time and wear and tear.   Definitely don't want to do just hire unless it was to close friends.

Seems to be that £10/hour for me plus say £50 hire change would end up being somewhere around £100-£150 a night.   Can't decide if it's too much or not enough!   I'd be happy with that if it was a fun night though.

17 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

I have a similar sized PA to yours and occasionally hire my self out (or did, until all the lockdown/covid nonsense started). Like you, I always end up doing sound in the bands I play with and having the rig gets me more gigs. More people want me to play for them because it comes with me (for a small consideration, of course).

As for viability/demand, it depends on your local scene. I generally find that the size of rig we own is not quite large enough for bigger, better paid shows. I get a few jobs, but it isn't likely to pay off the mortgage. That's fine with me - I already have the rig, I enjoy doing sound and it's a paid night out. You may find you need some extra monitoring. I have 4 monitors, which I'd consider a minimum - people expect individual monitors these days (and often individual mixes). I can give them 3 mixes, so I run stage right and left and rear of stage, which covers most modestly sized situations. How many channels on your mixer? 16 really is the minimum you'll need for all but very simple bands/jobs.

As far as advertising goes, how would you go about hiring a PA if you needed one? Advertising wherever you would look would be a good place to start. Have some cards and maybe small, inexpensive flyers printed and put the word out among the people you play with, at rehearsal rooms, local music shops, etc. I get most jobs via word of mouth, but I've been doing it for a while and know a lot of local musicians.

Some may ask you if they can hire your rig minus you and provide their own engineer. That's a definite no no, unless you go with it and keep an eye proceedings imho. If you're providing PA and monitors plus full backline, you'll likely struggle to transport, rig and operate that (especially breaking it down and transporting it home after a long day/night), so I'd factor in the cost of taking/paying an assistant. Mics get hammered. I don't use my best ones when hiring myself out. I take out mainly old 57s and 58s and let people chew, dribble over and tread on them and leave my decent ones at home. Take a very long extension cable, plenty of plugboards and a good quality trolley.

Edit: Forgot to mention. You'll often need a PAT test certificate and I'd get insurance. If one of your cabs falls on someone's head, you could be sued for a lot of money.

Thanks @Dan Dare that's really helpful, and good point about the mixer and monitor channels.   Mine's 16 channels but only 9 mic inputs and 2 monitors outs.  I either need to upgrade, or may get a second one and link them.

I had a look at Insurance before and it's not dear so will definitely get that before its first trip out!

Hi All,

Wondering if I ask for some opinions on possibly hiring out my PA.

At the beginning of lockdown last year PA prices plummeted, so I bought a relative bargain PA system from HH.   It's their Tessen TNE range which I think are really nice.  I bought it to use with a new project I have on the go, but also with a mind to possibly hiring it out to other bands and musicians locally.  I always seem to end up doing the sound for whatever band I'm in, and quite like the idea of doing it without bass duties sometimes!  Now that gigs are starting to book I am giving it more thought.

The package I bought puts out  3.2kw out front via two  2x15 active speakers, and also has 3.2kw foldback via two 1x15 active monitors. All have anti-feedback which is a nice feature.  Mixer is basic but decent and has digital effects, two monitor mixes etc.   I have a fair few mics, stands etc plus I also have various guitar, keyboard and bass amps, so could more or less provide a whole backline.

So my question is, do you think it's viable, is there likely to be much demand and where should I look/advertise, and what sort of rates do you think I should charge?  

If anyone has experience of doing something similar I'd really appreciate your thoughts and experiences - good or otherwise!

I'm not looking to make a living out if it, but if it helps fund new gear and gets me out working with bands then I'm happy!

Thanks in advance.

@Chienmortbb is it really 46cm wide?   Looks much smaller in the photos!

Oooh, tempting.   Would you post?

Now Sold

Cheers Dave!!  

Lovely!  If only I had the space... 😭

Very lightly used and in excellent condition.  I bought this in Jan 2020 to try a 5er and was converted, and so have a Zoot Funkmiester 5 arriving imminently and therefore this is surplus to requirements.

Great first 5 string for someone, sounds great, lovely slim neck and comfortable contours.  Only seen one gig and a handful of rehearsals for obvious reasons, otherwise just very light home use.  Nicely set up and strings have plenty of life left in them.  Comes complete with all original packing, tools, labels, manual and even the lead.

Collection preferred but will carefully package and post at your cost and risk.  Priced to sell, no offers or trades please.

Sold!

Don't suppose you'd trade for a Markbass Supersynth?

Will be going on evil Bay at the weekend - sensible offers invited in the meantime!

I listed this a couple of months back but withdrew it as couldn't bring myself to sell, but I've just bought a Barefaced cab and need to refill the bank account, so here it is again!

For sale is my Ashdown "Dr Green" effects housed in a heavy duty metal pedalboard.   I understand these were originally sets taken to shows by Ashdown as demo units, and I bought it from them direct last year. 

Contains:

Tune Up - Tuner,

Doctors Note - Envelope Filter

Aspirin - Compressor

Bearded Lady - Fuzz

Waiting Room - Delay

Bass Verb - Reverb

It would probably originally had an Octodose instead of the delay originally, but I really wanted the delay and verb to combine together as I was going through a bit of a "Steve Lawson" solo bass phase last year (badly) 😂. I initially linked the board to a looper at Home which was great fun.

These are decent effects, nothing ground breaking but a good solid board.  They take some tweaking, sometimes using fairly extreme settings on the dials to get the sound you want, but the sounds are definitely there.  I particularly like the Bearded Lady and the Verb, so much so that I ended up taking it apart and integrating these two into my main board.   However I've scaled that back a bit now and these have now been removed again and the set is all back together.  As tempted as I am to keep it it is really now surplus to requirements now and I need the cash 😬

They are in excellent order, with only the Waiting Room pedal really showing any obvious marks, and the odd scuff on the board itself.

The board is built like a tank, with all a wiring hidden and the pedals held on by the battery compartment screws and the jack nuts (see pics).  All it needs to run is a 9v 500ma supply which are a few quid on Amazon if you don't have one already.  There's no risk of velcro coming off or accidentally knocking out cables with this, I think you could drop it down the stairs and it would still work 😃

Asking for £150 - thats basically £25 per pedal, without even taking into account the board, patch and power cables! Would much prefer collection (socially distanced) but will post at cost.

I used to have one exactly the same and regret selling it.  Would you ship to the UK? 

That's a lovely thing....really don't need another amp....must resist.....

Can't believe this hasn't been snapped up - if I didn't already have an EVO IV I'd have it!

13 minutes ago, vinorange said:

It’s just been re-listed by the same seller for the same buy it now price.
Hope nobody gets bitten.

I've reported it, hopefully it'll get taken down.

2 hours ago, EJWW said:

Saw the above on the Bay newly listed for this ridiculously cheap price this afternoon. I ummed and ahhed for a few mins but when I moved to the payment page it suddenly vanished. You snooze- you lose I guess. 

Did some lucky individual just pick up a Status for under 500? Did someone just buy a stolen treasure? Or did the seller mis-type the price before realising and quickly withdrawing?

I didn't need another bass but what a tremendous bargain!

 

You were luck not to bid tbh.  I just checked the completed listings - the seller stole the photos and details from a genuine sale that ended yesterday.  The give-away is a new seller with zero feedback with an item listed hugely under value.  If it looks too good to be true...

5 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Would you have paid 300 quid for it? Or is 129 about right? I love Ashdown generally for everything but always thought 300 quid pedals was stretching it. Be interested to hear your view. 

I'm a big Ashdown fan too, and this is a nice, well built, solid sounding pedal, but as you suggest £300 is possibly too much considering the competition.  £129 is very good value considering what it can do, and I'll be hanging onto it for sure!  

47 minutes ago, lee650 said:

IIRC The funk face sounds very like the EHX Bassballs but with a tube drive, rather than a fuzz. 

Maybe the tube will give it a richer voice, but the Bassballs will give you that sound for a lot less Shackles.

It arrived yesterday and sounds very nice on my initial test, but you make a good point so I plan to AB it with my baseballs tomorrow to see!

What I think is good is that the drive and wah are independently footswitchable, which means I easily have three sounds from one pedal, plus you can post/pre the drive with a switch, so that gives a fourth - good for pedalboard real estate!

3 hours ago, stewblack said:

Looks like you can use it while motoring up the M5 as well

 

😂😂