Downunderwonder

Sure looks like a pair of speaker outputs on the back of the amp to me. Test the DC resistance of the speaker with a multimeter. If it is around 6 ohms it indicates an 8 ohm speaker. Then you can add another 8 ohm cab.

From the sound of the email forwarded, Alex makes wages for all the hours he puts in. I wouldn't mind betting all the previous 'profits' were ploughed right back into the business as more CNC gear and product development and the new pricing will only cover wages and materials with a small allowance for depreciation if he's as smart as he should be.

They make pedals for that. If the goal is absolute least weight bass on your shoulders that's what you should do. Piezo pickup for the win. Ubass for the absolute win.

What's weird about it? Everyone is having a good time. Job done. Punters occasionally do notice a good bass tone also. The big challenge is in the transition from vocal to full PA in venues that may not be any bigger than before. Then you're really up against it to put rig tone into the PA. It doesn't mean it can't be done or shouldn't be done. It's not even all that difficult to do but try telling that to the average sound guy.

I can imagine how that phone call might have gone... <ring ring> <Go for Brian May> <Air hair lair, I am the chief of organizing The Queen's Jubilee next year and you are on the list!> < sod off, I retired> Not.

A cajon box to the rescue?

Whole different scenario from that, just a bog standard pub gig with a vocal/guitar PA and floor monitors for vox and guitar, drums and bass playing to the room. Same band different pub I was using a borrowed 410. Even worse dispersion than the 215. When I stepped forward I could tell I was blowing up the room but could hardly hear what I was playing when back with the band. No active complaints there either.

We almost fired a drummer. It was a pretty intense jam band and he was 'someplace else' being on time but with no pizzazz for a few gigs in a row. Turned out he was having some personal issues but didn't want to get fired so he pulled himself together and brought his A game back.

I have, in a roundabout way. The lead guitarist with whom I usually enjoyed a great interplay was just too far away and too far back on a particularly shallow stage area to hear a damn note even though I was going for gold and he was 'ampless' through the monitors.

15's are ok for your monitor but they have poor horizontal dispersion of tone for everyone else.

That's a couple of great signs. Hopefully he plays as nicely as he yaks on the phone. Mr God's Gift to Guitaring will be a distant memory.

Plenty of pogoing room there.

Its latest trick is it saves quoted text in the editor after you posted and the next time you go to the thread it's like you left it without posting, except you didn't.

The most fulfillment I have ever felt on stage has been mere bar jams. Two occasions stick out. I was running an open mic and a young guy comes up rather diffidently asking if it would be ok for him to have a crack. He has a bunch of mates egging him on. We give him the guitar and he mentions he's never played in a band but he's going to do some originals and the house band is welcome to jam along. Mmmkay. So the kid lets rip and it's pretty easy to find the groove so I jump in and drummer likewise. It's cooking. The kid can really sing. The crowd goes wild. The look on the kid's face was priceless. Another one I was house bassist. A bunch of travelling South Americans took over filling the stage with everything but bass. I'm standing there getting more and more deer in headlights as the percussion groove builds on the guitar riffing and more guitarukey things chime in. It's going off. I spot this girl dancing her derrière off and suddenly I am informed by her hips where the bass sits in among all the swirling rhythms. We're off!!!! The girl finds another gear. Awesome.

I don't know enough to get going with IEM either. There's a big thread on it that I have yet to get into. The thought of risking my hearing to numpties in charge without the requisite brick wall limiters gives me the heebie jeebies. Going from vocal PA to IEM silent stage isn't so big of a sea change going by the reports. Way less gear to deal with! On my big gigs I am happy arranging my cab so I can hear it and leaving rest of band to worry about monitoring bass all high passed to hell. They only really need it for timing. More often we get blown away with bass through monitors and MD goes crook at me so I have to remind him ''it ain't me'' and he gets on the mic to tell the crew to knock that chit off. LF is omni-directional so doesn't respect wedges. It all adds to mush out front unless high passed as you experienced.

It sounds like the new guy is fastidious about maintaining the intended stage sound in the FOH sound, to the detriment of the band's enjoyment. That's a tough one to reconcile. As you said, the band sounded pukka out front according to the fans. At one extreme you could move to a 'silent' stage IEM setup for that venue. At the other extreme you could give the sound guy the night off and mix yourselves off the stage. In the middle you are really stuck with the soundguy clamping down on your stage volume.

That's what monitors have to do when there are FOH subs and the overall house volume is limited. Stage LF makes a mess of FOH LF. The only way to have significant LF on stage along with SUBS is in a huge venue. The smaller venues I play it's a whole lot easier just going for gold on stage with a vocal PA like the good old days.

Same goes for virtually all non valve amps, ie Solid State amps without power tubes. There are a very few vintagey solid state amps that employed output transformers similar to the valve amps they were replacing. Maybe a few 'throwbacks' as well. If you have one of those you should know it always needs a cab on it.

Eat more oily fish. Nix sugar. Avoid alcohol as far as possible.

Doesn't everyone look at the gig pictures before reading the posts?

In my vocabulary ''bass face'' denotes an unconsciously contorted face generally way unbecoming of the bass playing owner occasioned by the thralls of rocking out. What's all the fuss?

It would be smarter just to list the same stuff everyone all the same at 1.01£ less.

So not your regular face then? That's good.

Mouthy drunk mouthing off at the band = 'what evr dude'. I can't remember ever getting into a reasoned discussion with one. If 'hey man you've had a good night it's time to sex and travel home now' doesn't work voluntarily the door staff are only too happy to make it happen.

A couple of little tricks for the uninitiated in blind jams... If the guitarist is experienced he may walk you into the next chord with a little flourish. If he isn't but you know there is a change coming and aren't too sure what it is you can walk yourself in your head in advance to know what it is and land it like you knew it. If you really haven't a clue it's better to skip the 1 and rejoin on 2 like you meant it. Try to finish together. A good drummer will help you if you make eye contact and a little nudge. One more for the advanced jammer.. if you're playing with a Sth American lot and they break into a massive jam and it's so dense with beats that you can't find your place you can still have the time of your life.... Find the hot chick on the dancefloor whose hips are moving the best and play along with those, within the chords of course, and you will be spot on. You will know you have got it right when the hips go into overdrive.