4-string-thing

[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!

[quote name='Doc B' post='975163' date='Oct 2 2010, 05:09 PM']IIRC that James Dean Bradfield played most or all of the bass on at least the first few Manics Albums. I've also heard that they never miked up Richey's amp on stage as he couldn't play very well.

Billy Corgan is also supposed to have recorded most of Darcy Wretsky's bass lines too.

IIRC that Anthony Jackson was used for the single of Fishbone's version on Freddie's Dead.[/quote]

I saw the manics with Richie and it was definitely a case of 'seen and not heard'

I also read somewhere that Billy Corgan played every instrument on the first 2 albums except the drums!

[quote name='markstuk' post='975173' date='Oct 2 2010, 05:17 PM']Or buy another 15 2x10's :-)[/quote]

A bit O.T.T maybe, adding a 2x15 would do the trick....

[quote name='flyfisher' post='975104' date='Oct 2 2010, 04:28 PM']Might as well ditch my 2x10 cab then. [/quote]

Yup!

I think I remember watching the film of the Stones recording Sympathy for the Devil, and seeing Keith playing the bass and Bill Wyman being relegated to percussion (a pair of shakers, as I recall) Though of course, he could still have played on the final version.

[quote name='Johnston' post='974832' date='Oct 2 2010, 11:20 AM']Did you read Keanu and Alex winter are trying to get a studio to make a 3rd one.[/quote]

Really? I thought they hated each other!

How long before someone mentions Billy Sheehan or Cliff Burton?

I played in an originals band in the 90's, we really thought we were the dogs!

We did quite a few gigs, usually to the same 20 people (mates and their girlfriends) We spent loads of money to do some gigs (does pay to play still exist?) including hiring 3 minibuses to take us and our "crowd" to a monday night gig in Fulham, a 220 mile round trip.

Result, £300 worse off, 3 hours sleep before work the next day and yup, a blinding gig to the same 20 mates and girlfriends! Oh yeah, and a punch up with the drummer on the way home!

Thats why I now play in a covers band......

BTW, I listened to some demo tapes the band did the other day, and they were crap!

[quote name='Conan' post='973527' date='Oct 1 2010, 08:07 AM']As we are a new band, we are still putting the setlist together, but the two hot favourites for opening numbers are Van Halen's Runnin' with the Devil (not inspired by the movie Little Nicky at all!) and Steve Stevens' (What were his parents thinking about?) Atomic Playboys.

Sadly, we lack the hair.[/quote]

We are all the wrong side of 40 and a bit folically challenged too. Our solution, buy some wigs, spandex and the odd leather codpiece!

Just curious, but whats your bands opening song and why?

Ours is "prime mover" by Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, cos it's a nice, lively song thats easy to play and gets us nicely warmed up without being too taxing!

I bought a cab from a guy a couple of years ago, and while I was at the guys house picking it up, he showed me his 78 precision that he had also just sold on ebay. He sold it for £695, which he thought was pretty good (I was a bit peeved cos I valued mine at double that) He reckoned it was due to the colour. It was a fairly vile orange sunburst, the like of which, I'd never seen before or since!

I guess they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

[quote name='The Admiral' post='971084' date='Sep 28 2010, 07:57 PM']and now available at 30% off apparently - £102. Very tempting!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350351117014&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...atchlink:top:en[/url][/quote]

It is a pretty good bass for that price, I like the black one though, because it's a bit more unusual looking....

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='968217' date='Sep 26 2010, 11:01 AM']This Le Marquis bass:



looks quite similar to this gear4music bass.



The Harley Benton violin bass:



looks quite similar to the Shine violin bass.

[/quote]

Here's the one I bought, not seen anyone else selling them though...

I bought a LE marquis violin bass on ebay a few years ago for about £120 or so (including a decent hard case) Its a pretty good bass, as it happens. Solid body, so no neck dive, nice neck, nicely fretted and quite well built and finished. It was my main gigging bass for a while, despite me owning a 78 precision!

I think it came Sono Music Supplies.

(edit) I've just looked and they are still selling them on there, but the price has gone up a bit.

Who are Billy Sheehan, Cliff Burton and Sting?

The mighty "Iron Python"

Hairwick Solid: Guitar, Vocals.
Houdi Lovemuscle: Drums.
Randy T. Rousernake: Bass, Vocals.
Hate Hades: Vocals.
Jonny Strongbone: Guitar, Vocals.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='962862' date='Sep 21 2010, 12:14 AM']I found a new solution, own all the amps (in the world ideally, working on that, but the ones the guitarist is using) so they have to do what you say.[/quote]

Or you could do what my predecessor did, throw a hissy fit and leave the band during a rehearsal shouting "you play too loud"

Mind you, he did turn up at a biker rally gig wearing a parka!

[quote name='charic' post='961577' date='Sep 19 2010, 09:05 PM']If i had seen this originally i wouldve pitched in. As it is, good on you [/quote]

Likewise!

Hope the build went/is going well and Vicky is ok.

The idea of playing in a covers band used to appall me, but I joined one a while back, and to be honest I really enjoy it.

The trick is to either, do the song in a completely different way to the original, or do song that people know, but don't hear bands play very often.

Give it to Wayne for a couple of weeks and see how it comes back?

You have my sympathy matey!

The band I play in has a loud drummer, a guitarist with a 200w Blackstar half stack and a guitarist with a mesa 2x12 combo plus extension cab (he has also just bought a Blackstar)

My Ashdown 300w head through 2 15" cabs couldn't really compete. I had to add a bit of PA support. I now plan to use my Acoustic head alongside the Ashdown to give me a total approaching 500w.

Its been said that adding more speakers will add extra power, it does if you go from 8 ohms to 4, but it doesn't seem to add extra volume (or loudness, if you prefer) I'm afraid to say that you will probably need to buy a bigger amp, or a much more sensitive cab to get loud enough.

Best alternative though, is to point out to your guitarists that they can turn down a bit and still get "their sound"

Good luck!

[quote name='mikhay77' post='958879' date='Sep 16 2010, 10:08 PM']I like to be felt and heard (giggity) I used to use 2 4x10 1048h trace cabs,great sound,now use a trace 4x10 and trace 4x8,best sound I have had.Dont do 15s or 18s,too woolly and not enough definition for me,this rig really cuts through the mix brilliantly,the 4x8 really does kick the high end out and the 4x10 punches the lows.Great for a stage mix,any more bottom end normally comes from the PA. 8x10s rule for me.[/quote]

Horses for courses I guess, but I don't find 15's woolly, never used 18's but I'd like to. I want to be heard too, but not by compromising my sound by adding top end to cut through a mix!