TimR

I've just got back from watching your average pub band. Maybe not so average... The bass player was a bit busy - all over the neck like a rash, could have done with laying down a few solid riffs, but then he was playing and I wasn't.... BUT the drummer had really good feel, control and dynamics. I spoke to him after the gig. He also plays guitar. Maybe it should be law that drummers learn a musical instrument. Maybe it should be law that musicians spend some time behind a drum kit. Bit like the car drivers v motorcyclists argument.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='960797' date='Sep 18 2010, 10:03 PM']Bridge adjustments.[/quote] The only time I've ever had to adjust the bridge saddles on a bass is when I've adjusted the truss rod or changed the tuning pegs. [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='960809' date='Sep 18 2010, 10:16 PM']I used to have a USA Jazz bass. Trust me if you'd ever owned one of those you'd be in the habit of taking a set of allen keys to every gig.[/quote] That will be why then. It goes out that much between practicing the night before and sound-check? Wow.

[quote name='JTUK' post='960714' date='Sep 18 2010, 07:57 PM']I don't know why people keep going back to a none existant issue in that regard.[/quote] Because you said you have a loud drummer on a thread where people are discussing situations where a loud drummer who can't play quietly is a problem. If your loud drummer can play quietly then its not a problem for you. What is your point?

What I would do is chose an already cheap do-it yourself web design service. As others have said there are loads out there. Maybe buy into a sub-domain of one of those. Set up the web-space with their band name and then "sub-let" the web-space to the band for £x. They can then upload their own graphics chose a layout and do the basic stuff that anyone can do themselves. As you say most people have JPGs of logos and photos. Once they've done that then you work your magic to correct all the basic errors that everyone makes; photoshop their images, smarten up logo, adjust the page layout, pick a decent font, add meta tags and do all the specialist stuff that makes their site stand out and for google to find it. Charge them half a day labour to do that bit. Job done.

Let the man tell you himself. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpGXfHmY-A&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpGXfHmY-A...feature=related[/url]

[quote name='Truckstop' post='960329' date='Sep 18 2010, 12:39 PM']Isn't it funny how we all seem to have a thousand sizes of Allen key... but almost every gig I ever go to I hear "Aw, sh*t. I've not got the right size key! Can I borrow yours?" and then that's how I lose mine! Truckstop[/quote] In 25 years I've never needed an Allen key at a gig. What on earth do you use them for?

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='960272' date='Sep 18 2010, 11:26 AM']"Why do we call them kettle leads?"..........we can if we want,why do people call vacum cleaners Hoovers ?[/quote] Different argument. A hoover and a vacuum cleaner both do exactly the same thing. An amp lead will not work on a kettle.

[quote name='Marvin' post='960114' date='Sep 18 2010, 05:53 AM']Great thinking from all 5 of you. Nothing like a brew after some hard work, but do remember to pack the tea bags and chocolate digestives. [/quote] Which, being pedantic, is quite funny. Why do we call them kettle leads? They're IEC leads, kettle leads are keyed and rated for high temperatures - although they will fit amps, amp leads will not fit kettles. As you were.....

[quote name='Lozz196' post='959441' date='Sep 17 2010, 01:56 PM'].... And when gigging, couple of Mars Bars[/quote] Good call. I used to take cereal bars. I keep meaning to buy spare nail clippers but keep forgetting.

Music folder, music stand, clip on reading light, pencil, A4 lined pad. Spare strings, 9v battery, screwdriver. Fuses, spare leads one of each. Cheap DI box.

How would many bass players react to a drummer telling them they should be using pick not fingers or vice versa? In the end I left my last band due to the drummers attitude. He could keep excellent time and was solid, wasn't too loud but he thought he should be louder. I tried to explain that if the crowd were dancing at the far side of the dance floor or pinned against the far wall, we were probably already too loud, but that fell on deaf ears. He didn't know what a triplet was, couldn't play 16th notes for longer than two bars and had no idea what a shuffle was. If we started at the wrong speed there was no adjustment it would continue to the end of the song at the wrong speed. He had no feel whatsoever at whatever volume he played. I can usually lock in with a drummer as soon as we start playing but I was having to do all the work to make the songs groove and there was never any lock. All of that I could cope with if it wasn't for his attitude. He had been drumming for 20years so who was I to suggest he tried things differently? Every one should be able to make a song work played at low volume or slowly. It's called the "Amateurs Disease" - play it louder and faster and it will sound better. Often it does, but that is because you can't play it properly in the first place and the imperfections are hidden in the resulting noise. Before blaming the drummer for not sounding right at low volumes check that your other musicians know what they are really doing in the space between the drum hits

I'll add some info here that I got from my guitarist friend who saw a tinnitus specialist last year. It's second hand so I hope it is as accurate as can be: Your hearing slowly degrades over time. The hair follicles in your ears get worn. The brain is very clever and as the follicles get worn, it 'turns up' the amplification to compensate. This is why you don't notice it and why it is so dangerous. Eventually the follicles are so worn and it can't turn up the amplification any more and all you are left with is the hissing. The problem is in a quiet environment you are left listening to the hissing/ringing, it becomes more noticeable and you focus on it and so it gets louder. You can learn to tune it out by not worrying about it, the brain will then 'turn down' the amplification, forget about trying to listen for it and the hissing/ringing will become less. The more you worry over it the worse it will become. It's a bit like living next to a train track or a busy road. When you first move in your brain recognises the trains/cars as a new and alien sound, after a while your brain learns that its just normal background noise and you don't hear it. Its still there but you don't hear it because you're not listening for it. By playing other sounds you are not 'drowning out' the tinnitus, you are giving your brain something else to focus on. Your hearing is the first sense to get dulled by Alcohol, your hearing is affected even well before your balance, both are centred around your ear follicles. Ever wondered why people shout when they are drunk? Another reason why drinking and playing is not a good idea.

This is a sticky! [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=533&view=findpost&p=4287"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...post&p=4287[/url]

I have a pair of these. I depped for a loud thrash band and had 10 rehearsals with them. They frowned on them at first saying that they've never played with anyone who wore earplugs before. Not very Rock'n'roll. I told them not to worry I wouldn't wear them at the gigs. One of the guitarists now has tinitus and had to take a year break from playing. He's back now and has the custom plugs that he always wears at practice AND now at gigs. They're invisible from the audience. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elacin-ER20S-musicians-hearing-protection/dp/B002W7VNCI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1284676908&sr=8-3"]Elacin ER20[/url] Of all the drummers I know only four drummers can play the drums properly at all volumes but they also play piano and (coincidently)brass so that might go some way to explain it.

I call this being "in the zone". As you play more gigs you realise that sometimes it just isn't going to happen. You can't make it happen. There are a load of factors. Have you eaten? Has the sound check gone well? You suddenly remembered that you didn't put fresh batteries in. Do you know the songs inside out? +a million other things. Sometimes they all click in and sometimes they don't. Sometimes you make a mistake and then worry about it into the next song and the next song goes wrong and from then on nothing that night seems to go right. The problem is that if you only gig rarely the times that it works are very few and far between so when it doesn't work you feel worse. If you gig often they happen enough times that the bad ones don't bother you.

boss graphic EQ pedal.

Its amazing what you find on the Web. The 1981 event was an accident! Some of the early ones were specially prepared or swapped with cheap ones (which is what I must have heard). I would guess that at some stage they had enough money to be able to afford to smash one a gig. "I used to break a guitar every performance — if not two sometimes — and they would always cost around $150. They would always cost me an incredible amount of money to find — they’d cost, like, road manager’s time and my time to look through pawn shops, local music stores and things like that." BUT That was $150 in 1967! [url="http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/smashed.html"]http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/smashed.html[/url]

I agree that destroying a PLAYABLE instrument is bad. If its an old one that's fallen down the stairs or has a warped neck and is beyond economical repair and would only get binned whats the problem. I have a bass that's sat in it's case for over 5 years. I may have played it 3 times. It's not worth anything to sell, I'm not going to bin it and it would break my heart to give it away. Am I any worse for keeping it in captivity? As for the WHO, I think that as bands go they were different in that the Bass was the instrument everything sat on. The drumming was wild and didn't carry the band solidly. Moon played the drums as you would play another instrument, almost a solo instrument. Listen to some of the OX's isolated bass tracks, the bass carries the whole band and the guitar fills the gaps in the rhythm. There was method in that final smashing up madness. Drums, guitar and singing could stop but the song didn't end until the bass stopped. There's only so many times you can kick drums over and hit a guitar on the ground. I think keeping the bass going helped keep the interest and lengthened the smashing up process.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='950058' date='Sep 8 2010, 11:02 PM']Could never understand why The Who (and countless others) felt the need to smash some great instruments. Even when I was younger, I thought it rather stupid and very un-cool. To me, its not about the money, its almost sacreligeous (hope I spelt that right, tho prob not) to smash a musical instrument. Am not fussed if my basses get dings, thats character & road-wear, but I`d never deliberately damage them.[/quote] The big secret is that Townsend used to swap his guitar for the last song with one that had been glued back together from the previous show. The things you hear on Radio 2 late at night eh.... PS Good to see you here Lozz. You know me. I'm friends with the guys from Nadir Rising.

[quote name='tauzero' post='949282' date='Sep 8 2010, 11:31 AM']I'd have thought that 200W through one speaker would be louder than 100W through two speakers. I can see where the OP's coming from, but I see the information as nice to have rather than essential.[/quote] Assuming that each speaker is only getting 50W then each one is producing 6dB less than the 200W single speaker. But two speakers added together gives a 3dB increase and by stacking them closely you could get another 3dB so they would effectively be the same volume. BUT you don't halve the power just because you double the impedance and you might get 133watts instead of 100watts. There's loads of other factors but I wouldn't necessarily expect them to be quieter. All I'm saying is that you wouldn't buy a car off the web based solely on its colour, what size the boot is and what the engine size is. Certainly you wouldn't buy it without driving it first or contacting the seller to find out how many miles it had on the clock. Is a 1.6 always faster than a 1.4. What does "faster " mean?

So a week later.... Seems one of the guys had relatives at the gig. They told him we need to work on our intros and endings. Saved me the bother.

One finger per fret. So barre with ring usually. Unless I'm playing the root with my second in which case its barre with little. I watched a band the other night the bass player didn't use his little finger all night.

Ok, Monk please take this in the spirit I mean it with the greatest of respect. It's a bit of a strange thread all round really. I called into question your reasoning behind already owning a mismatched head and cab while you question why combos did not obviously state whether the amps and internal speaker were matched. It just struck me as an odd gripe. Then later you stated that your old hughes and kettner bk200 combo had an extention cab port. however adding this would have lowered the wattage. This statement in itself is at odds with the the more watts = more volume thinking as the extra volume from adding the extra cab will more than compensate for the drop in watts. I think that the first few posters are right and you may have lots of experience in buying and selling amps. But why? Are you struggling to find something that works without understanding certain principles? Perhaps you do need to do more research and ask more questions about gear. You're now looking at 2x10s but that opens up another can of worms. I'm afraid that rather than online searching for bargains you need to get out and test some gear to see what works well. I'm fairly new to the forum and don't know you from Adam so hope this comes across as meant.

I bought a new Warwick 211pro cabinet for £300 two years ago. 400watts might go nicely with the Ampeg. There don't seem to be many secondhand ones around which indicates to me that either not many people bought them or no one wants to sell theirs. I'm quite pleased with it. Depends on how loud and what sound you're after.

How do you know the guy who did win it wasn't prepared to pay another £21 for it? It's called an auction for a reason.