TimR

13 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I’ve had very well paid friends who could drop £5k on a bass if they wanted

They would still consider it expensive. 

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

To me, expensive means paying more than you need to.

 

So I'm firmly at £1,000 as that's where the law of diminishing returnd really kicks in. These days you can buy a bass perfectly capable of the standard required for any stage in the world for comfortably under £1k. I paid over that for a couple of basses and a couple that would have been more new. The extra pays for things that aren't actually necessary that take them into the realm of being luxury items where you choose to pay more.

 

25 years ago or more, you had to pay proportionally a lot more to get something of the quality you can get for £500-£750 these days.

I'd certainly not want to be spending a months wages on a bass now! 

2 hours ago, itu said:

Depends on the LED board. There are both, CC and CV systems, there. Constant current is very common in luminaires, but especially stripes are using constant voltage drivers. 

 

It is very nice that there are lots of DALI drivers, but also Casambi (wireless) drivers have become widely available (Osram, Tridonic, TCI...). 

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing these are not professional level lighting fixtures. 

Makes note to buy £5k bass so that I get offered more pub gigs.

5 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

My question would be, why wouldn't you? 

 

I'm guessing that you could afford it and if you had a better instrument then it might make you play better / sound better / enjoy the experience more. Add to that, other musos might take note of your improved sound and more professional quality gear and start to consider you for other projects when they need a bass player, some of which might possibly be a step up from only playing pubs. 

 

That's an awful lot of variables none of which are "If I'm just doing pub gigs."

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Satisfied?

Not really. 

I was replying to your reply to Tauzero who said that there was too much thinking going in.

Looks like there still is...

7 minutes ago, fiatcoupe432 said:

Expensive or not expensive I would still  take the bass out and play it . What is the point otherwise of owning a nice instrument? It's like buying a nice car just to have it parked in the garage 

I think the point here - for me anyway - is why would I spend £3k on a bass if I'm just doing pub gigs?

I have the 5.2.

You need to push the gain as far up as you can, you almost want the 'clip' light just coming on most of the time. 

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Anything over zero (0) as you'll assess its value by simply looking at it.

 

If you can give it a go, you'll have to assess a lot of specifications before saying x is too expensive and it's always impossible to be objective as there are too many variables here, including personal taste and "wealth".

 

You could also do the maths using the value of the material only without taking into account the added value of the craftsmanship, which again would be wrong.

 

Putting it the way you propose is not a possible option as humans need a point of reference to give a value.

 

Simply ask a non musician not interested in music the value of your instrument and you'll get a better answer, but get ready for a huge disappointment concerning what you consider expensive as it will become highly overpriced.

The question is what do YOU think is expensive.

Not what does someone else consider expensive. 

So most of the variables disappear. All your points of reference are fixed and different to everyone else's. 

20 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

Well, yes and no! 

 

The guy that I mentioned makes a living from playing bass and decided that he needs a P bass that was completely bulletproof, complete with a quarter sawn neck / CS pickups, etc to handle every pro gig that he gets called for. I seriously considered getting something similar, but decided that I couldn't justify the extra cash as I already have a really nice 70s P bass that is always going to be my main bass, so paying the extra £1.5k wasn't worth it when I could get a really nice AVRI with a pretty similar spec, but without the quarter sawn neck! 

 

As I said in another post, you can pick up an American Std for £1k or so, which makes it difficult to justify the extra cash. But, for guys that are going to get that boutique P bass as the one that they use all the time, then it's certainly worth it for them! 

 

Making a living from Bass will also offset tax. 

I'd definitely be getting a bespoke instrument made. That could well be just a load of off the shelf parts built to my spec. 

And a beater bass for the roadies to throw around during soundcheck. 

LEDs are curent driven, don't mess around with power supplies. Get some rechargeable 1.5v batteries. They'll last for decades on a single charge. 

It's going to depend on how much you earn from playing.

In the 90s my wife (a grade 8 flautist) bought a flute for £8k. At the time that was more than what both our cars added together cost. 

My bass cost £350, a month's wages. 

I still have it. 

It's the law of diminishing returns

As basses get more expensive there's a point at which the difference to the next bass up is negligible. 

I then factor in what I could afford to replace from savings tomorrow. 

Then I factor in how long a bass lasts - my current bass is 25 years old and has probably cost me £15 a year so far. 

For me the figure for an expensive bass is £1500. I don't think I'd buy an expensive bass - not this year anyway, although think it is time for a new one as my current bass is approaching a point where it will soon become the Bass of Thesius.

She was born the year it was released. And she is American.

I don't doubt she's not listened to it before. 

I am in desperate need of an office chair - see other thread...

I've re-read the rules several times and don't think it counts as a musical accessory. Its primary purpose will be an office chair... 👀

13 hours ago, steantval said:

Why do people like your drummer, singer and guitarist bother to be part of bands (very busy lives) there surely has to be a good degree of time commitment to make any band work, especially if you are gigging.

9 hours ago, Bluewine said:

 

I think when bands are auditioning amongst other questions, how much have you gigged in the last few years and tell us a little about your overall gigging experience.  Some of these guys want to be in bands but run when a 2 or 3 gig weekend comes up. My point, some guys don't understand how tough it is to commit to a gigging band 

 

Daryl

The band has been going for longer than when I joined 13 years ago. It's technicaly the drummer and guitarist's band. 

I've filled in with other bands and joined other bands as side projects to make up for a lack of interest in the past.

The singer has had babies in the last 2 years. 

Lives evolve.

I'm not sure I currently have time or energy for another band unless they're gig ready and don't insist on endless rehearsals for no reason. 

I'm down to 1 band from 3 last year. 

I'm not even sure if this band is functional. We played 3 gigs and it was like pulling teeth to get some rehearsals together beforehand. 

Drummer, Singer and Guitarist all leading very busy lives. My life is quite busy but I have Monday blocked out for rehearsals. "I can't do Monday this week, can we do Tuesday instead?"...

On 16/12/2025 at 04:03, Bluewine said:

I know a guy that I think would be good, but I don't really know him. I think he does a lot of depping. We can offer good gigs with good pay.

 

I'm afraid to reach out to him. I keep thinking, what if we bring him in and he turns out to be a " flake ". That would be on me.

Talk to him and talk to the band. 

Your current drummer is already appearing to become a flake. You're not going to lose anything. 

3 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

The band need to look like a band and not a bunch of middle aged blokes who happen to have picked some instruments and the venue where you film should be as undistracting as possible.

3 hours ago, SumOne said:

 

This'll be our biggest challenge! 

This is usually the sticking point for a lot of bands. 

The other is getting the middle aged blokes with instruments to believe in the end product. It's frustrating if the end product is slick, but is let down when the drummer has a scowl on and is thinking his time would be better spent drinking pints of Carling down at the Spoons. 

Personally I would do a dry run. Get a mate to come to an rehearsal room. Get the band to wear what they're planning to wear. Video a 'live' warts and all performance. Mistakes don't matter.

Then watch the resulting car crash back and work out how to improve it. At this point aforementioned drummer will realise how good even a rough video is and get his wife to iron his best shirt. 

There is nothing worse than looking like a bunch of misfits having paid a lot of money for the privilege. 

7 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

SBL are very clever in recognising that their target audience aren’t overly proficient - hence need the lessons. Scott and Ian are great at expressing their wonder of each other’s skills for example.
I haven’t watched the video mentioned but doubt the shock was genuine, unless it was due to the speed rather than method. 

I wouldn't have used the word shocked. I would have said surprised. 

A lot of the Artists they have on are not musicians. They play bass in bands.

7 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I ran sound at free festivals in my 20's. Turnarounds averaged 15mins but were very band dependant. You never knew what you were getting but the pro's were always easiest to work with. Steve Winwood turrned up with Traffic refused to go on stage 1 because of the sound and wandered across to our stage listened to the band I was mixing and asked to come on. Are you kidding me! . A total gentleman, no fuss: "I'll play and you make it sound as good as you can" The easiest band I ever had to mix for. They knew what they were doing, the onstage sound was great and all I really had to do was make it loud out front. They even said "thanks" at the end. Sometimes it isn't the sound guy.

Mostly it isn't the sound guy based on the antics of primadonna (inexperienced) bands that I've seen. 

We played a local pub 'festival' for several years, the last one the local 'famous' band had been relegated to support. 

Speaking to the sound guy (line up organiser), he was less than complimentary about them, their lack of professionalism and level of expectation. He said he'd put us as headliners as we just "got on stage and played". 

It was quite painful listening to band after band "soundcheck" throughout the day. 

We should remember that the sound guy is often the person who will report back to the venue organiser and recommend whether a band comes back and plays a more popular night, or never returns. There are more bands than venues.

I've scrolled quite a few pages. Is the Lekato wifi what a lot of people are using to power their IEMs?  

27 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

For me it’s more of a cultural clash between being a blinged up, revenue driven persona and a more down to earth, less sell your soul kind of ethos.

One is from up north.

One is from across the pond. 

It's probably that simple. 

I'd contact them, as new batteries every 8 weeks seems wrong to me.