Wayne Firefly

Rockabilly drag triplets with the upright....but then again, I havent put the necessary hours in either.....

FLAT OUT !

Singer by default.... couldnt get one, no one else would try....started by learning how to control shouting !!! Now Im a gravelly, melodic shouting Rod Stewart / Peter Criss / Dickie Barrett type 'singer'. Get allsorts of advice and help from someone I know who's a very powerful singer about breathing and diaphragm use. I already had a good sense of time and pitch from my bass side of things... learning to sing and play was a pain in the butt but got around it in the end. Stopping smoking gave me oodles of stamina I didnt know I had too !!! But then agin, I dont really see myself as a singer, more a front person when Im with my band...Shane Macgowan was no singer, Kurt Cobain was no Chris Cornell either so I think I can get away with a lack of vocal talent somehow !!!!

Well, this weekend's gigs all had fantastic soundmen. From a small club in Cumbria to a larger club in Wakefield and an 02 in Glasgow, the soundmen couldnt have been friendlier and more helpful. Great attitudes, friendly.. just great !!!! Brilliant work !! Just goes to show it is just people's attitudes that can change things soooo much.

Im in a touring band, had many many years at the sharp end. We get strict instructions from venues what time they expect us to be there and we strive to be as professional as possible and cause as least amount of hassle and stress. We have our routine down pat. Fast and efficient. We know what we need, usually really simple and quick. Its funny how I can get through to a monitor man who didnt speak any English in Colombia just by being nice and having a friendly nature whereas another example of a Clash sounding gig on the outskirts of Manchester, the soundman was hostile from the off. We throw our gear on quick, I have two amp rigs to set up, mine and the singer's Marshall. Usual thing, slightly bigger stage than usual club stuff, point the cabs facing our respective mics, level with the front edge of the drum riser. Same old thing, when this little guy comes up almost screaming at me THE 'BACKLINE' GOES AT THE 'BACK'.....THATS WHY ITS CALLED BACKLINE as he carried on dragging my cab and the Marshall to the very back of the stage... now we are at his mercy with monitors only....at this point any attempts at being diplomatic are shot to pieces so with a 20 min change over complete and line checked, the general atmosphere before we played was utter s**t just because this little mentalist went waaaay over the top. Now I appreciate he didnt want to be there but its not like he HAD to right ?? Im holding a gun to your daughter's head... you'd better do their sound.... When we came off, I got talking to the other bands and about four bands on before us all had similar reports and one rather large skinhead type gentleman was ready to give him a bit of a telling off. We never went back, I spoke to the organisers and asked if he was ok or had had any family trauma etc but no, he just hated being there. Not much could be done in that case. Guy was a complete c***.

Its not about room acoustics or the actual PA system, just the attitudes of some engineers. Some are friendly and on it, like I said, I usually go over with a smile and introduce myself in a friendly manner but sometimes it dosent matter what you do, you cant avoid A holes. We played up in Gateshead a few years back and WERE TOLD TO GET THERE FOR 5PM TO LOAD IN AT ANY COST so we bust our balls to get there at 5pm, which we did, only to sit outside till 7PM until the sound engineer came to open up. To which I asked him where the effin hell he'd been.... to which he replied it was our own fault for getting there too early then no bass in the PA. I learned an important lesson that night.

Thats exactly what Im on about !!! When we have done bigger festivals, the fact I have a similar sound (it sounds like to me) is not a problem at all. Smaller venues or whatever, the soundman usually argues the bass is too trebly / raspy and infers that he would prefer if I got a sunburst, tortoise shell pickguard rosewood Precision with flats on a Mark King length strap, stood next to the hi hats, play with my fingers, keep my mouth shut. We played recently in Oldham where the hippy type know it all soundman gave me that exact attitude, then when he was trying to speak to our guitar player, I stepped up and asked if I could help him (as the guitar player was busy doing something else) he said he wanted to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey. From that point, I only spoke to him in 'F' and 'C' related expletives. Luckily enough this was right at the end of the gig so no harm done but he did make me more sure that my theory is correct.

We play a lot in all sorts of places and I have come to the conclusion that sometimes, the sound engineer is an enemy of bass. Thats what I have ended up calling them. 8 out of 10 times, no problems at all, usually friendly and helpful, we all get on and get the job done, no hassles and maybe even a couple of drinks afterwards. We all know the rules about not upsetting the sound engineer, (same reason not to upset a waiter - special sauce etc) best to go over with a smile and introduce yourself and be polite and friendly. Usually works fine, no probs but sometimes....... Some are just miserable, some just downright rude, some are complete A holes. I tend to find, the more professional the PA guys, the less hassle they are and get the job done quicker. The weekend warrior types tend to be the ones who complain more and have the crappy attitudes. How often do you come across engineers who are a pain in the A hole ?? Have you any funny or interesting stories about some of the more entertaining characters Im sure you have met along the way ??? Bad attitudes, nasty comments, totally unhelpful, totally no understanding etc etc, you know what I mean.... Enemies of bass !!!!

Weak willed market led mammothrept hahahahaha !!!

Lol indeed !!! Your logic is sound Captain !!!! So from a structural standpoint, its superior, I like the idea of solid locking parts !!! (I tend to lean towards the Bill Gould school of playing)

Did you have any issues with the string capstan being a lot shorter than the original machine head ?? I had one and could only get almost one wind / wrap of the string around it once fitted.

They do look nice fair do's !! Marketing is a powerful tool.......

Yes !!!! Johnny Brook, cheap chinese crap. I tend to change them every 4 or 5 gigs or so but I can get them for around £6 a set so, use them, bin them, end of !!!! I love Elites but at the rate I go through strings, its the cheap route at the moment.

Just a few thoughts...its probably just metaphysical BS but lets see what people think. Babicz full contact bridges. Do they improve tone / sustain / anything ? If you have the standard, pressed tin Fender style Precision / Jazz bridge, string pressure is forced down into it and string vibration feeds into the body through the height adjustment grub screws and through the very thin baseplate into the body. Now, after seeing the Youtube clip from Babicz, the contact points are the very small grub screws, thus compromising the vibration path through your bridge, regardless of brand, from the thinnest pressed tin vintage to the heaviest modern chunky version, that vibration has to travel through the grub screws (if the bridge is of that design of course). (Spector bridges may be an exception) Now would the thinner, vintage style baseplate allow a better transmission of vibration than a thicker, denser baseplate ? Surely there is less material for the vibration to travel through right ? Would brass sound brighter than aluminium as its denser or would steel sound brighter again as its denser than brass ? The only 'theory' I have of that is a bare concrete / brick / stone room with heavy hard walls and floor tends to sound 'brighter' and harder than a room with much less denser wall and floor coverings making a more natural 'deader' sound. Also if so, why can a super lightweight Tele sound vibrant and warm when a 12LB Les Paul can sound toppy and trebly if you use that reasoning ? Also add to the fact that the non speaking parts of a string are probably useless as far as anything other than actually being attached to the bass is concerned. I tend to use that much attack and growling overdrive / distortion with the band anyway that at flat out gig volumes with the drummer hammering away and two guitars blaring out with a singer, subtle nuances of bass tone are kind of lost if you get my drift... 'Yes, I can really tell you are using the ash bodied Stingray tonight as opposed to the alder one'.. Hmmmmm. So, to get back to the start, are Babicz bridges just snake oil or actually a real step forward as far as bass bridge design is concerned for the better ?? Does string vibration actually make any difference in real terms (I know acoustic basses are a totally different animal in this way, Im on about solid body electrics) Does string vibration actually matter at all (into the body) except for pickup function ?? Im confused !!!

Brilliant advice !! Thats exactly the kind of stuff I need to know !! Thank you, the next step is to get stuck in !!

Sounds like a nightmare. Two of the three albums we have dont have barcodes and to get them on any of the bigger sites, I need to sort them out for each album. Was just hoping I could sort two out quite cheaply to use for good that would register these albums for online selling of physical CDs. The label that picked us up for the 2nd album in 2004, sorted the barcode etc for that release. Downloads will come later when I get my head round this 1st step !!! Just wondering if anyone anywhere knew where barcodes could be bought outright instead of an annual fee or joining up with any PIA company.

Anyone know anything about getting barcodes to sell CDs on online sites like Amazon etc ? Just my band releases I want to put out. Any real, honest advice about going about it ?