JTUK

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1417967860' post='2625548'] Personally if I walked in the local to see a covers band and they had music stands up in front of everyone, think I would try the next pub. [/quote] Yep.......... not really the type of band that are going to be giving it some.. A track or two is ok with a cheat sheet, but not stands. Same goes for vocal harmonisers as well

If you are on a big stage then your rig is for you..and the Mon enger will take control of putting your bass across the stage for others. You need this for as much control as possible...but that gig is up a level and we don't often get a mon engr. If you don't have that, then the monitoring will be controlled by FOH and he may have his hands full and be VERY slow to react to stage mon issues..even if he is aware of them which will likely have to come from a prompt from the band. It is these middle grounds gigs that I suggest need better coverage of the bass on stage than a single 12 will do. My rig will augment the bass over to where the gtr is 6 mtrs or so away. The other huge variable is volume discipline of your individual levels... which can render some monitor sound checks useless

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1417808004' post='2624282'] Got it, [i]"my tuppence worth"[/i] is that the correct phrase? Blue [size=4][color=#0000ff][font=Arial][color=#000000][b]Bass Guitar[/b][/color][/font][/color][/size] [/quote]

I just play it... whatever comes into my head.

Cheat sheets are ok for vox... but out of sight for pub bands and any band trying to put on an energetic show. Functions bands..?? maybe if you are playing a very wide and long repetoire. They are supposed to be refreshers if you haven't really gotten hold of the song but any regular band that uses them and sets them up on the stage is a bit crap, tbh.. I make the distinction here of bands and function bands..

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1417876370' post='2624775'] What most people miss is the in ears though, great go and watch someone rock out in front of a massive rig then when they have finished and they go and talk the show's host or whatever they pull out the cutom molded in ears that have better ear protection than most folks wear for a clay pigeon shoot! I have never ringed the EQ out of a combo for the FOH sound either, pre EQ Di everytime for me unless I have control of the desk which is rare. [/quote] Not so sure... depends on the gig. Quite a few guys that I know don't own them ( haven't been allowed to keep them ) so that means the gig has to be geared up to afford them and some gigs can and some probably can't. You'll still need a sound source and that may be direct or mic'd... If you are talking top top level, then in ears will be a factor mostly, but down the scale..??

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1417871254' post='2624717'] Again, my 2p. You can't just play big or old gear and get a better sound. It takes more than that. You can sound just as bad with "old school" gear as you can with modern gear, and a lot of the "old school" gear guys do not make the most of their sound. Having good ears is better than having good gear. I've heard so many guys with vintage gear, thinking they are the mutts nuts because this what the original guys played, and they usually don't sound half as good as they think they are. IMO old gear is mostly just old gear. Most of the music played in the first 20 years of Rock sounded pretty average, so I don't get any warm feeling when I see old gear. The strength of back then was what the guys played on that gear. As the gear has got better the creativity of musicians has dropped off. But that might be a different thread. [/quote] Quite right... all it might have been is good for the day... but an 810 is still the industry standard for stage hire so they are likely to be a modern 'vintage' cab. But by the same token, you don't see much class D or lightweight cabs on stages either... Markbass might be the most common exception..but not their combos.. Standard touring rigs are Ampeg, Aguilar and Ashdown... for the most part. You might still see a few Eden's

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1417871976' post='2624719'] I couldn't agree with this more. Smallest cab I would gig with is a 4x10, maybe a 2x12 if it was something particularly special! [/quote] The other thing is that with a small box with no real room to go volume-wise... the bass player will be trying to wring as much out of it as poss EQ-wise, just to get it heard..and that just makes a total pigs ear of the gig. No fun for the bass player as the sound is serverley compromised from his POV, but the band is playing with man down and therefore there is no interaction between players as no one can hear them to do so.. I groan when bass players turn up with tiny combos and they think the FOH is going to rescue everything... The MB121 combo with ext cab will be reasonably capable but you need to know how well your rig will cope with the area it needs to cover or fill.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1417870071' post='2624703'] I was always taught that if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all, of course I took no notice and that's why I am disliked by anyone on here with a Ricky bass [/quote] Shut yer gob, you musicman faker

Be wary of the so called vintage angle... many are just not that good, but get credence or time of day because they were made in the 70's... Some were junk then and will be junk today, even with a £1600 price tag. Worst bass ever..relatively... was my '75 Jazz. There was no way I was going to keep it over my '82 MM which was a way better bass, but the pile of Jazz junk would be 'worth' or priced at £1650 now.. and that is a complete joke, IMO.

Consider the size of the stage and FOH power... and I'd say that the likes of little boxes like like the Markbass 112 combo would run out of steam and ability to fill up the stage. Sure the bass player might be able to hear it but it will be no use to anyone else. If you have good monitoring, then you can get the bass round the stage via that, but not ideal if only one guy on the desk FOH...as getting comms to him during the gig is going to be an issue, as he just isn't near enough to hear and react in a worthwhile way. Mon engr is fair enough as his whole focus is on the stage... The number of times the bass and band have to play 'blind' on a relatively important gig for the band is just not a chance worth taking with small kit, IMO. If you know and trust the set-up to work, then that is a better position, but who uses the same P.A company and stage config everytime..?? Too many variables for the gigs I do, so I take the rig that will do the job when all else doesn't quite scale up and work out. A stage is 4m x 8m minimum and in a large room, a 112 will get lost with support even in the stage area, IME

I'd agree that if the SX300's are in good condition, then they will do ok so good bang for buck. If you are being picky..and I think the budget rules this out to a degree, then they can be very harsh if in line and they will blast anyone out, but they retain the EV stamp of quality at the pricepoint. If the chassis and horns work well, then they are a good option to consider

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1417784960' post='2623987'] Have you ever considered Barefaced cabs, at all?......... [/quote] I get the joke, but following the 210 thread had me in stitches, I can't take them seriously.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1417721809' post='2623501'] Nice! I'm older not old, big difference. Blue [/quote] No offence Blue, but the term relates to a time when 'bob' was a reference to money and I think the time we ( UK ) went 'decimal' was 1971. So, 'bob' meant our old shillings...as in pounds, shillings and pence. Also, it was a slang term for cheap... so if you said someone was 'two bob' you meant they were a cheap person. We tended to use 'tuppence' when stating an opinion... as tuppence was also old currency and these terms probably dated back to the 1930's. 40's and 50's. You'd only know all this if you knew people from those generations that used that terminology so if you knew people from the U.K in the 70's you'd likely come across that terminolgy, slang or vernacular...

I think the 102 is a better bet but I don't think you could do a loud gig with either...depends on loud, of course. The ext cab is ok as at least you then have the headroom but it gets lost on a stage wihen things are cooking so it isn't man enough for that. But then the whole point of these are that they are light enough to be able to pack another cab. Having said that... if I was going to run a 2x112 mini rig, this wouldn't be the way I'd go.

I have 2 main combos. The DB750 into DB212 and DB210 and this sound awesome to me. I'll carry that to the number 1 gig but my lightweight gig is a TH500 into 2 Berg AE112's. The latter is more than decent but the DB rig is another league, IMO... I guess it depends on your gig, but no one can convince me that lightweight matches up or not that I have heard. I understand the object of the lightweight rig and I subscribe to it myself at times, but for the most discerning rig, out comes the heavyweights...

IIRC, Frankie Miller was the great hope alongside Noel McCalla and Paul Young back in the day and it was a shock that Paul Young was the one who broke thru and not the others.. I can vouch for Noel M still being able to knock them dead these days...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1417701727' post='2623192'] +1 Quite, though it's easier said than done sometimes. How high does one aim? And do you end up doing nothing because no-one is up to your standard? I confess I've sometimes held out for ages rather than play with, er...[i] the unworthy[/i]. But sometimes I think you do have to make a compromise somewhere, just to get out there and play. [/quote] I agree...especially when you are talking about £50 pub gig but then again some very good players will do it if they WANT to... so that means you have to be a good gig and you aren't even likely to know them unless you know and gig with the same guys or in circle that they do. There are echelons, for good or bad, like it or not.

I'd be more surprised that he would actually not mind getting up with a few weekend warriors who could easily make him look pretty stupid... But it is to his credit that that wasn't in the equation and a good time was had by all..wasn't it..??

Blue is old enough to be '2 bob'

Budget is the tough ask, IMO. 10's are ok but you might need a sub as they can filter a bit too much bass out. You could use 8's if you ran a sub, but that is 3 pieces of kit to carry... and you may be better off going for 2 12's... which you could put quite a bit thru. I don't think kit or kick is feasible tho. I think you are going to have to review the budget but £800 will get you pretty modern..and far more capable active 10's or 12's. Depends if you see the value in the upgrade..and it will be quite an upgrade, IMO..but it comes at a price as light isn't cheap... and active tops will still be about 40lbs on a pole but they should be around 600w per top..which is what reasonably loud pubs bands will need for their vocal and depending on what is a Watt..!!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1417695942' post='2623106'] That's entirely subjective. [/quote] But not in any way wide of the mark. Music shops are full for CD's from local bands they can't sell. I don't say that is the final arbiter but it is the life blood and the reason most bands should stay together. We happen to have a decent writer... but not writing the songs he did, IMO.. but we are going to struggle to get back the costs of £1200 to make it anytime soon. To be able to play a decent tune as well as write it is beyond the vast majority of local bands, IME... and you can see that demonstrated by the amount of people they get to their gigs and the amount of money they make... simplistically.

Why dodgy anyone..??? I'd no more play with a dodgy gtr, or singer than anyone else..