warwickhunt

A month or so ago a vocalist put a shout out in a FB local musicians group, asking for musicians to back him as an opening band at a local music festival. Me being me, I like a challenge and said I'd do the bass (I had noted several other guitarists who I respected showing support/interest). The fact that the guy was happy to go with a 'scratch band' and play live gave me a degree of confidence in his abilities. To shorten the story, myself, 2 guitarists (1 of whom I was familiar with) and a drummer were co-opted into this project and set up a FB chat group. All hunky dory and within 24 hrs the singer had presented 8 covers (Journey - Seperate Ways, Led Zep - Rock & Roll, Def Lep - Hysteria, Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl etc) which we agreed to learn and all agreed 1 x 3hr rehearsal on 25th (approx 4 weeks from this inception and 3 days before the gig). No probs... so far! We asked the vocalist, who had been booked for this little festival by the organiser (a personal friend of his) to find out what the tech spec, parking, access etc was. 16 days later he'd still not responded to any of the messages (he was active elsewhere on FB) and no indication that the rehearsal was booked. Messages started getting more direct and curt. Eventually the vocalist got back and apologised as he'd been busy. He wasn't sure where to book a rehearsal so it wasn't booked yet (about a week to the gig). I politely pointed out that Google would give him 10 rehearsal studios within a 20-30 minute drive of all of us (we'd previously said where we all lived), he responded saying he was on it... 48 hrs later and nothing from him despite questions (Oh and we still didn't have info on the tech spec or anything), then he popped up to say did anyone know anywhere else as he couldn't get in at short notice to the studio he normally used! At this point I took the lead, phoned 2 rehearsal rooms and booked a rehearsal on the agreed date and time; sorted! 2 days later the band turned up at the allotted location and time, all except... the vocalist, he arrived an hour late. We were miffed but thought we'd just crack on. 30 minutes later I called a halt to proceedings to point at the elephant in the room; the vocalist didn't know the songs, couldn't hit some of the notes/keys and barely knew where the entry point for the vocals was. I have to admit I'm pretty easy going but it took me a bit to keep my cool. I could see the rest of the lads nodding and backing me as I pointed out a few home truths and I suggested we bail on the whole thing. As it happened the rest of the musicians (I'll not include the vocalist in that) were good musically and were easy to get on with and they were thinking that as we'd put the effort in to learn the stuff, the gig might be a decent experience (the 2 guitarists were wanting to get their faces seem a bit more on the music scene). I didn't want them to be let down by me so I agreed to continue with the next 30 mins of the rehearsal and if we could get through it we'd do the gig. First off we scratched 3 of the songs as they patently were not going to be achievable by the vocalist and pulled in the cheese classic 'Summer of 69' to fill the set out a bit. We got through it and the vocalist left promptly leaving us to reflect on the experience. It's been quite cathartic to type this up and there isn't really any advice that I'd like from anyone BUT it has made me realise that just because someone is so absolutely sure of their own abilities it means nothing. This guy had been told by so many people that he had a good voice and looked the part that he absolutely believed in himself. We really should be honest with folks like this and not pander to not hurting feelings (without destroying confidence obviously). It also highlighted that the music side of things is one aspect but being organised, communicative and straight with people is equally important.

Essentially a less exaggerated version of the Schroeder/Tech Soundsystem cabs that looked cuboid but had the angled baffle; I used to stand said cab on its edge to angle the side speaker at my ears. Doh, you know this as you had the same cab(s) didn't you?

This guy is obviously operating on lots of levels with (dirty) fingers in lots of pies! If he can convince someone that he is acting on their behalf and 'he' is stumping up most of the deposit to book the venue, it'll not take much for some poor so and so to think it's a good deal and pay him a percentage up front... that's just off the top of my head how he might scam it.

I like the idea of 2) especially for those gigs where space is tight (most gigs) and you are standing close to your cab. I assume the loss of (internal) volume due to the angle would need a rejig in cab volume/dimension.

My present cables are Klotz 2 x 4mm which are very good cables but it's one of those things where you wonder could the mumbo jumbo around the hollow core and silver plated OFC actually be 'heard'. Only way is to make up a cable I suppose and swap between... very unscientific and will I play exactly the same each time (I could loop myself and play back through amp/cab). I'm sure you could put an analyser on it but I'm just interested in good old cloth ears! Time to make a cable I suppose.

Mick Mason is openly advertising gigs for his various tribute shows, has no one who has been scammed just popped along to see him and ask for a refund... genuine question? I've just seen that 3 FB friends of mine are FB friends with him and all do regular tribute work, it'd be interesting to see if they've ever actually met the guy. Mick Mason > Mick Smethurst are defo one and the same then?

Specifications Wire gauge - 16 AWG Unique SPOFC triple braid 5 x 16 x 0.1 mm X-Tube™ technology Jacket OD - 3.90 mm Cross-sectional area - 1.50 mm² Loop resistance - 0.021 Ω/m Capacitance - 50 pF/m Inductance - 0.47 µH/m Dissipation factor - 0.0006 Ideal for use in all installations Stranded Diameter - 2.25 mm (min)

Clearing out my room I came across some QED Silver Anniversary XT speaker cable (approx 3m). I don't need it for my Hi-Fi so I'm toying with the idea of cutting it in half, putting a set of Speakons on it (the cable should be heavy duty enough to handle amp>cab 16AWG) and comparing it to my @obbm speaker cables. Has anyone done similar with high end / hi-fi cables and more importantly... could you hear a difference?

Now you see, that makes me look silly now! LOL

Not an irreversible mod so it makes sense, especially if you like the actual bass itself.

Traded a Maruszczyk Jazz bass to Kiril for a Warwick FNA... probably the one above! All good, no probs; one of Kiril's friends in the UK handled the UK/Europe side of things. Many thanks.

...and we don't even try 'Reims'!

How much? I think I'll work around the overtones; cheap and cheerful it is for me.

I'm exactly the opposite; I can create and make stuff up but put the dots in front of me and it'd be like a sketch from French & Saunders.

I'll have a pint of what he's having!

Shoot me for blaspheming but I avoid 'blues' jams like the plague (not my cup of tea) but Buskers / Jam with the band - I / IV / V / mVI is your friend. As is knowing what notes are 'generally' available in a Major or Minor key and listen to see if the 7th is flattened if it is Major. If a player starts a song with G major, I kind of know that for the first time around at least I'll be aware that I'll 'likely' have G A B C D E F#... but that could be F (there are variations on standard major/minor scales which come with time and ear training). Once you've done a verse and chorus you will have a better idea of what is going to work and more importantly what is probably best to avoid. I've gone to Buskers and jammed with guys I've never seen, doing original material (they need to have faith in you mind) and I can generally hold my own. I'd also suggest not trying to get too busy as you can easily trip yourself.

Another (identical) cab is the correct answer... regardless of which amp you use.

Just bought a nice 'orange' bass from Dan. All very good; comms, delivery, description etc all spot on. I paid Thursday morning and the bass was in my hands (via courier and good packaging) on Friday before mid-day.

@Phil Starr would you know without me taking my driver out what was OE in the TKS H115? https://www.tks.se/tks.se/_h115.htm

Heretic! Burn him at the stake for speaking falsehoods... however be sure to burn him using G.A.S. as we can't actually afford 'gas'!

Errrrm... don't buy it! If your research shows they are extracting the urine and it is higher than inflation et al, don't buy it and the price will come down... or they'll go bust!

I had an LH1000 for a while... it was a big lump! It didn't take a good 15 seconds or so to power up and you have to be aware if using the Speakon connector and the balance control is at 12:00 you will get less volume than if you had cabs connected to the 1/4 outs! The Bugera will not be anywhere near as powerful in the real world, maybe 500-600w but the difference in perceived output will be negligible.

Like @BigRedX I owned a Lightwave bass and a Zon Sonus equipped with the technology and I have to say it worked flawlessly and I never had any real hassle adjusting it BUT I always felt like I was just waiting for it to fail. Absolutely no reason to think it would glitch or be any worse than a mag or piezo system but it was just too new fangled for me.