4-string-thing

I'll be there with my 70's Precision and Acoustic 220 if anyones interested! Anyone else taking a late 70's Precision? I'd be very interested in a comparison.

My Acoustic 220 is 30 years old and has been my ONLY amp until I thought I may need another just in case. In those 30 years, it has never let me down. I've used it for hundreds of gigs! If used with an Acoustic cab, or two (they are usually 4 ohms each) It is more than loud enough for any band, its certainly as loud, if not louder, than my Ashdown 300w head. As Bumnote said, as long as the graphic works, $110 sounds like a real bargain! Randall are pretty good amps, but if its a 2 channel (stereo) amp, wouldn't you need 2 cabs?

I bought my corvette new about 15 months ago, and the more I play it, the more I love it! So much so, I'm thinking of selling or trading my 78 precision as it's not getting played much nowdays!

My own band are quite Tap-esque, and I've been told I need a "pointy bass" but I can't ever see me with something like this, cool story though!

The old guitarist in our band was a mouthy, arrogant, obnoxious jerk, who used to announce his arrival at rehearsals by shouting "OK, THE TALENT HAS ARRIVED!" After a few months, we split the band up and re-formed a few weeks later with a new guitarist.... He wasn't best pleased when he found out, and has spent the last few weeks trying to poach our other guitarist for his new "band" Needless to say, everyone is much happier and we have a lot more enthusiasm nowdays.

[quote name='bumnote' post='1008253' date='Nov 1 2010, 10:16 AM']15" are for wimps How about a nice 18[/quote] Stop it now....you know I'm jealous of your 18 incher!

I don't think you can beat a 15" unless its with more of 'em! I'm seriously thinking of using this lot for my next gig....

[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1006790' date='Oct 30 2010, 10:02 PM']No probs about the thread hijack -all feedback is appreciated. It looks like I'm not on my own regarding my predicament. We also have a situation where the smokers in the group go outside for extended breaks!! Our singer has to carry a folder full of lyrics even when gigging due to lack of trying to remember them. What I really, really hate (apart from over loud drummers and guitarists) is when we're going over and over a song and there is nothing but guitarists hitting bum chords and notes right in my ear 'oles - it is nothing short of amateur. Plus when I am trying to sing backing vocals it is really annoying. Anyway, rant just about over!! At least I know what we/they should be doing so I can now lay down some ground rules and work ethics and aim for a full set by Christmas![/quote] Almost forgot, bloody guitarists "widdling" between songs, how much time does that waste, and how difficult does it make it to get any points across to the rest of the band?

[quote name='casapete' post='1007236' date='Oct 31 2010, 12:22 PM']Paris, Texas - Ry Cooder's finest? American Graffiti - great 50's/60's soundtrack (early Harrison Ford role and directed by George Lucas.) +1 for Oh Brother Where art thou too.[/quote] Oh yeah, I had forgotten about American Graffiti....

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='1006768' date='Oct 30 2010, 10:21 PM']er i didnt know you where in my band yeah i have the same thing, the guitarist learns it both parts, i learn and the drummer is good enough to pick it up as we go (he has said he'll try and find more time to get some practice in but hes just started back after 8 years so we'll let him off) the signer is the same lyrics in a book on stage and hes been singing most of em for years. anyway off topic there, i think its should be 2 weeks max per song but that means in reality you could learn 3-4 songs in 2 weeks if you commited to them properly.[/quote] Er yes, sorry to the O.P for hijacking his thread!

This is a bit of a sore point for me too. I learn songs at home between rehearsals (we only rehearse for 2 hours a week together) but I'm not sure anybody else does. Its taken us ages to get an hours worth of material together. One of the guitarists spends sunday afternoons learning stuff with another guitarist friend but quite often they'll learn stuff that we (our band) don't even play! Quite annoying as he could be using that time to learn songs we need to get sorted. He's also very hung up on learning things note for note, which I feel shows no creativity or originality. The other guitarist doesn't seem to practice at home much, he expects the first guitarist to learn both parts, then show him how to play one of them. The singer has to have lyric sheets on stage (not very professional, is it?) even though he's been singing these songs for at least 2 years. The drummer, on the other hand is excellent and seems to have his parts sorted pretty much instantly. One last moan about rehearsals, we rent a room for 2 hours a week. The guitarist and singer almost always turn up about 10 minutes late, take 20 minutes to set up/gossip etc. Then after 45 minutes go outside for a 10 minute smoke which means we actually play for between 70 and 90 minutes a week. The more I think about it, the worse it sounds, so rant over!

Sorry, I forgot to vote on date and venue, but would still love to come along... that ok?

Morris: A life with bells on. Failing that, the original version of The Wicker Man!

Slightly off topic, but the 2 guitarists in my band have both recently bought Blackstar 200w heads costing over £1100 each, and both have had problems. Amp 1, buzzed extremely loudly and was sent back for repair, they claimed there was nothing wrong with it and returned it. After a bit of fuss, they replaced it and the new one is ok, but still not what you could call quiet. Its a few months old and has only been used for rehearsals and one gig. Amp 2, is only a couple of weeks old and has also been returned for new valves. I went round to the guitarists house for a quick rehearsal last night and one channel packed up (valves again, we suspect) it's been used for just a few hours!

[quote name='TransistorBassMan' post='985972' date='Oct 12 2010, 05:43 PM']A few random thoughts.... I'm not sure where I stand on this. I've been musician, a sound engineer and a promoter and I can see validity in a lot of the points being made. I suppose you should do what you feel is right for you and sod what anyone else thinks! I usually say yes when someone asks to borrow my amp. But if they don't respect me or my equipment then I'll turn it off! Thinking about it, my experience at my first gig as a bassist had led to me being quite relaxed about lending gear. I turned up with a Westone Thunder 1A and an 100W Alligator combo. The bass player of the headline band (still) is my favourite bassist and before the soundcheck she offered me the use of her Stingray and her Dynacord rig as it would make life easier for the soundman (I was the soundman ) I said no to the Stingray, but yes to the Dynacord. It sounded awesome Lou Howard (Red Guitars/The Planet Wilson) you're a star!!! The only thing I've ever had damaged was a Fender guitar combo that one of the guitarists in my band was using!! Fortunately I'd lent the support band my bass amp, so they were happy to lend us an amp to finish our set. I can get away with never lending my basses or guitars because I don't play in standard tuning and I'm not retuning them for anyone. Having said that, when Rrussell Bell (Gary Numan's guitarist 79-89) was due to guest with my Numan covers band, my back-up Telecaster was re-strung and retuned in the dressing room after the soundcheck Nobody ever asks to borrow my synths Like I said earlier, do what you feel is right for you and sod what anyone else thinks[/quote] You know Lou Howard? I used to share a house with her brother!

[quote name='Earbrass' post='984148' date='Oct 11 2010, 10:18 AM']Yup. Totally naff. Be boring if we all liked the same stuff, though, wouldn't it? [/quote] Agreed!

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='983182' date='Oct 10 2010, 11:14 AM']I'm the other way around, I wouldn't ever want to have clean strings! The older the better for me[/quote] Same here, the strings I took off my Precision a few months ago had been on it for about 15 years! I only changed them because I thought I should, not because they sounded bad.

[quote name='Doddy' post='980374' date='Oct 7 2010, 11:38 AM']Brilliant idea.....Start a tribute to a cover band [/quote] Surely thats already been done? I was asked to join an Oasis tribute a while back!

[quote name='Hoppo75' post='977919' date='Oct 5 2010, 01:48 AM']I have to be honest, all I know about covers vs originals is that.......You can't beat an all valve head... ideally Ampeg!!! [/quote] Yes, you can!

[quote name='TimR' post='977710' date='Oct 4 2010, 09:42 PM']Am I a carpenter if I can assemble an Ikea chair?[/quote] No, a genius.

[quote name='Soloshchenko' post='976508' date='Oct 3 2010, 10:43 PM']I agree there is a slightly snobbish attitude towards covers bands on some of these posts that I don't agree with. I play in an originals band currently but that's only because I've got lucky in finding a genuinely talented vocalist who has the ability, sound and material to get somewhere. If I hadn't been lucky like that (and given a lot of the f***ing appalling vocalists we share gigs with it looks like I;ve been VERY lucky) then I would definitely have got on the covers thing by now. My first band was a three piece covers band which I f***ing loved playing in. The gigs we had were always really awesome and we made a decent second income, it also made me improve a lot as a musician then. In originals bands you can be as f***ing brilliant as you like, you are still gonna have gigs (out of town especially) where you are playing to 4 people. And that's soul destroying at times. Don't get me wrong, I love playing originals, I love playing really good originals and it's exciting because the new incarnation of my band is still in it's early stages but I'm not going to look down at covers musicians who are getting paid a lot more than me and have a lot more of a (better looking and less sulky) audience.[/quote] I like your style, sir!

[quote name='bumnote' post='976123' date='Oct 3 2010, 04:44 PM']Ooohhhh Never checked out an acoustic 301?[/quote] Er, no... but as an Acoustic fan, I wish I could though!

The covers band I play in try to do stuff you don't hear other bands doing, so some of the audience probably don't know if it's a cover or not. They just know if they like the song or not! When I joined, I hadn't heard a lot of the songs before (I come from a folk-rock background, and the stuff we play is mainly 80's hair metal) so if they had told me "this ones called Prime Mover, we wrote it last year" I'd have probably believed them. I just enjoy playing on stage and watching an audience having a good time, and if I get paid at the end of the night, thats cool. Certainly better than having to pester all your mates to come and watch you and having to pay a promoter for the privilege! Obviously there are those on here who are lucky enough to play their original music to thousands of people on a regular basis and, no doubt, are used to working in top studios and staying in luxury hotels. Good luck to them, but for most of us thats just a dream and in the meantime, we'll carry on doing our pub gigs playing Mustang Sally!

[quote name='maxrossell' post='975509' date='Oct 2 2010, 10:56 PM']1. Claiming that covers bands are taking work away from originals bands is like claiming that [i]Big Brother[/i] is taking away airtime from [i]Have I Got News For You[/i]. They're two completely different forms of entertainment for two completely different crowd who are looking for two completely different things. 2. Covers bands are not just a bunch of glorified karaoke players who don't have the talent to write and play originals. Most guys in covers bands are in originals bands too, it just so happens that playing in covers bands is an easy transition, it's good fun and the money can be excellent. 3. A musician's playing actually benefits from playing standards in public a couple of times a month. Most of the sh*t musicians I know only ever play their own awful garage noise. Most of the extremely good musicians I know spend a quite considerable amount of time playing songs that were originally cut by Motown session guys. You get a function gig, you learn a handful of standards, play for a couple of hours and you can walk away with £300 in your back pocket and you get free drinks all night. And usually you get treated with respect, and if you're any good you get a bunch of repeat work. In contrast, my originals band has made maybe £100 total in a year, which doesn't even cover a month's rehearsal space rental. The other week, my originals band was offered a half-hour slot supporting some band I won't name (one of the NME's latest flavour-of-the-minute acts, they're genuinely sh*t), and the deal is we have to sell 30 tickets for £7.00 each, for which we get a quid each back. We turned it down because it just isn't worth it. We're musicians, not touts, and although £30's more than we usually get paid for a gig, we also don't usually have to hand the promoter £180 in exchange. So on balance, I'd be stupid to [i]not[/i] want to be in a covers band.[/quote] When you put it like that, why would you NOT want to be in a covers band?

Clearly the guy is talking about a P.A system, not a bass guitar rig. The 2 are obviously not the same, and surely people use 10" 12" or 15" for bass guitars because of the tone or sound they produce, not because of the frequencies they can reproduce. Nobody would use lots of 18 or 21" drivers for bass guitar, because while it may reproduce a low B, it would probably sound horrible!