JTUK

I'm gonna have a look and play on your J5 RW in sunburst next thurs on my way to BassGear

hmmm £25 per month for 3 years..??

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414603694' post='2591242'] They might go for whatever [i]"good live music"[/i] is, but not for live 70s blues/rock, not on this side of the pond. Blue [/quote] Nope..they wouldn't go for that over here either.... It will get you into a few bar gigs but it wont get you out of them. Younger crowds want a bit more modern stuff. Gtr music would start around the 90's indie bands if you want 20 something crowds. And I agree you probably don't, mostly, but if you want to sell an event with around 1000 plus heads... which is going to have to cater for 20's 30's 40's and 50's age group you have to have an appealing across the board show for them. Younger kids aren't going to flock to an 80's band ...even less so a 70's band. They'll put up with the Stones and Stevie Wonder but will be more intune with The Killers..

[quote name='AndyBob09' timestamp='1414597208' post='2591143'] Can I ask what about our show reel you think shows that we're not ready? I think our video shows a varied music selection and a polished product. Obviously I've just told you that the band was just formed, but otherwise, I'd say there'd be no telling? We're all pro's on the gigging circuit with experience in this field. [/quote] Ok, no good way to say this... but I wouldn't need to be told you have just formed..and it wouldn't matter anyway if the product was good enough. I'm trying to say that it isn't..in my opinion. Most show bands have a good vocal which can cover a multitude of sins from the band. Sorry....

I'd expect handles to be an issue on heavier boxes. My Bergs are around 14kgs and they are fine but you have an odd shape box and a strap handle and you expect it to wear. The lighter the box, the less it should the issue altho poor design can be a question of un-neccesary loads and stresses I've always liked proper handles not straps anyway, but for light boxes, straps should perfectly adequate

But... to bring a band down from too far out of town is going to cost them £350... as people put travel on a gig more than 30 mins away so what makes that band worth it to the Landlord..?? He may be able to up his prices, but most people don't like to pay too much over the top for what they already regard as an expensive pint. So, he goes with what he knows. A good expensive band can bum out almost as easily as a cheap poor band on the wrong night... and who can judge when those nights crop up. One of the best regarded local pubs has a ceiling of what he will pay..or says he will pay...and whilst he is a music lover, IMO, he probably doesn't make money on every music night so one pays off the other..and if that balance is too far wrong, too many times, he stops music nights. Admittedly, music nights are seen as saviours of the pub trade round here sometimes, but it is harder work that just putting on bands. Paying a band £350 needs the band to be able to either draw...or if the pub has good passing trade/regulars, keep them there...but bands don't generally like toi hand back their fee if the night doesn't work.. I do take the point that a venue should have a band rosta that is creditable ..and you should look at the standard of bands that play there, but the simple equation is can they afford bands for the numbers that turn up consistantly? Punters might not have the same standards as Muso's or even look or be concerned at the same things The best bands are not always the best draws, sadly. One thing I have always thought tho... when alcohol is so cheap from supermarkets... why be surprised if people wont go out and pay a premium for live music. ?

The thing for me is that the N3 pickups sound pretty good so I'd go with stock. I've just checked out a few pickup swaps on Fenders MIA, MIM and Japan etc and the Fender pickups on the standard jazz basses ..like Fender originals or Fender 74's are pretty uninspiring. I understand this is not a great way to test things... but the Fralins and the like in the test come across better under the same conditions. So... I wouldn't be buying a AM deluxe J5 if I had a big issue with the pickups. Havings said that... Lakland DJ5 and JO5's could do with a pre, IMO...which is ok if you are paying £750-ish... The Am deluxe J5 s/h would be closer to £1000 but I don't think the sound is too 'off' for my tastes.

Jam nights are run by an established local muso who has enough credibility to pull in a few mates and make a decent noise. They will generally get paid if they establish quite a decent scene. He will run the band changes so mixing things up so you get a mixture of guys knowing stuff and others who have summoned enough courage to do a 12 bar. This is ok... but pretty boring for bass and drums. Keys open the song choices up but you still need a leader and singer of songs. So...basically a lot of 12 bars and since they are gtr led... even if the gtr is more than pretty decent, it has it limits. Last one I went to on a monday night had a very healthy turnout for the time of week and month.

I love the body in flame maple...but RW board is top of my list. I am liking the sound of the typical Fender RW... but the pickups don't inspire me much but then the Am delux has upgrades anyway.

Assume you've seen this [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/247507-overwater-5-string-j-series-jazz-bass/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/247507-overwater-5-string-j-series-jazz-bass/[/url] Potentially a LOT of bass for your money. Looks great ... not RW tho...

I use a 212 and 210 when the stage is big enough... and I also suspect the P.A and mons will be 'underspecced'. I can carry any size rig from 1x112 to 212 plus 2x210's .. Of course, you don't have to turn it right up but I use it to be able to cope with the onstage sound levels. If the P.A can handle what I need on stage, then I needn't have lugged it there, but for most of the gigs I do, this is a huge variable. The problem isn't the size so much, it is how you use it.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1414518018' post='2590174'] Played a place with a similar configuration. The bar was in a separate room divided by sliding garage doors. The bar was packed and the room we were in was empty. Geeeeez, have things changed. And it has nothing to do with how good you are, if it's live rock music the 20 somethings want nothing to do with it. Blue [/quote] We do a local festival every year and the age is around 25 or so... and it is rammed for us. That makes a change from our regular through the year turn-out which is much older. We also do 25th yr birthdays..altho not as many as 60ths.. I think the younger crowd will certainly go to good live music events but it is so much more based around alcohol and a great night and they are also just as likely to go to their night clubs. They wont turn out for run of the mill gigs through out the year, but for a special event they will... and they spend a lot of money. IME

In my county...we could travel beyond but have never felt the need unless for much more money.. there are more pubs doing music than there ever was, IMO... but the landscape has changed, as have the rules etc etc. Bands have to bring people in.. that is a given so new starts are tougher. The LL of a pub wants you to bring 30 people and he doesn't think this is unreasonable as he will have also 30 or so regulars. He may want you to do an 'audition' night where there is no money promised so it is a tester all round. If the band does well... and the crowd is more important than the band standard at this stage... he may well give you a date but you need to pull that attendence trick again. He may also pay you on the 'audition' night if you do well, of course, but this tends to be a nice surprise to the in experienced bands that try this route. Every pub will do a beer festival... but that is once a year or so..and you need decent gardens... but the dreaded chairty festival is alive and well here. Do I think I could earn £200 a week round here trawling the bars ( 4x£50 )... yes..quite easily but that would be hard slog, or rather a thankless task IMO. Certainly if you have to do that week in, week out... but we have local fanzine and blogs literally full of venues and gigs. Whether you want to play the vast majority of them is another thing. The money you can earn hasn't changed in almost 20 years so whilst the numbers bars and venues doing music are up... the money has been static. The standard of bands has generally risen...but not by much. Also, the rise of middle-aged guys getting up and doing it at last, means they can ram 50 friends in a pub..and the LandLord LOVEs this... but generally these types of bands are not very good. That is our local county scene, pretty much, IME.

Professional bookers want to know if you can cut it.... so unless you are known to them, you'll need to go through some audition process. You either need a stellar track record to get past that or you need to convince and pass them. You need to get out an play and be self sufficient and if you can't or don't have this ( no P.A ), then no one is likely to take a chance. I don't think you are ready for cruises, tbh, on the 'evidence of your show reel'... so I think you need a creditable residency to add to your CV. Newly formed bands aren't going to be the most attractive proposition to someone booking a cruise band.. they need a track record.. Aim for the day ferries for a start... look for the NSF routes..

I always have the bass the same height...either sat down or standing up.. That is the point of my practice regime..all things consistant and easier to reproduce. A lot of my stuff is all about instant muscle memory recall....I can't do it not having picked up the bass for ages,

Round here, 25 years ago, the pub venue scene had music from Wed to Sun... and a few jazzers that we crashed on a monday so you could play 6 days out of 7. Two vllage pubs..maybe less than a mile apart, shared wed and sundays and were rammed by the decent bands..and you turned up on spec and toggled between the two depending on whihc band was on it that night. Local town had 1 venue which everyone remembers as the best pub venue around...but they had no other competition those days. Even now, people talk about the place thru these slightly rosey specs. Some pubs had £500-600 per week back then from the brewery as a sort of band fee subsidary..which allowed some pubs to put music on wed night plus fri and sat and sun lunchtime. Now... fri and sat are band nights... thurs is audition/open night in the desired pub venues and two local towns have full music rostas Fri to sunday. What is interesting is what bands fit what gigs as there aren't enough good bands around to fill the slots so you might get some bands only play their local town....?? which is sooo odd, IMO. In my town, the population is around 130k..??? and the guesstimate is that the town has around 100 bands..however you quantify 'bands' in that context..??

I am just getting to grips with the TH500 with my AE112's and they are a pleasant match-up, so much so that I am in two minds about selling them... but I tend to make these decisions slowly anyway. I am loving the change in emphasis in my playing style that this rig inspires.. so I will want the S112's to be capable of the same or maybe speak a little better. I know exactly what I want from the TH/TKS combo and I think I stand a dcent chance of getting it. The TH is pretty versatile for my sound needs but I also agree about comments of the amp having a trade mark Aguilar sound... I call that modern Ampeg...or at least it makes sense to me. I think other units have trade mark sounds as well..Markbass, for example...but that is not to say they are limited/hindered by that, of course. If the TKS speaks well throughout the range..and people say they really do...then it will work for me, I'm sure and there will be the bonus of a 10kg cab... as opposed to 14kgs, all other things considered

How high or low is the bass ..?? Too low is a compromise too far, IMO, and too high means you have to hold the position up..but going from fingers to slap style should transition easily.

No idea why you be getting these and can't imagine what you are doing to promote aches and flashes..? How long have you been doing it... if not long, there may be some uneconomical movement going on in your 'technique' Slap style comes from the wrist and lower arm at the most...IMO...there should be no great movement in the arm above the elbow.... apart from what the bicep is driving but that is muscle movement.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1414500084' post='2589829'] Sounds good, thinking about an Aguilar Tonehammer 500 with one of these - any opinions? [/quote] I'll demo that config next week Lozz..... assuming the S112 cabs are still there in stock.

I think the 212 600w cab idea is the way to go, tbh... as getting 500w out a 15 is going to be hard ...and if it does suck that sort of juice, or need it, then the tune may be such that you really need to hear it to see if that is to your liking. Assuming 300w at 8 ohms is a more reasonable position, then I liked the PF cab...altho I played it with a PF amp and that was getting towards my studio idea of the old Ampeg sound...which I liked in context but bare in mind we had a studio mix from it.. Live..?? a lot more work...!! The problem with 15's..IMO..is that you need to keep them focused at volume so there may be better options if you widened your search criteria.. I think a 212 is a more versatile and more powerful option to explore..??? but that will bump the budget up.

I played a DJ5 in LPB and maple last night... and it was nice but probably too polite. Initial thoughts and not definitive in the time I played it, was a decent bass worthy of consideration but I think I'd be more interested in the same bass ( and colour ) with a RW neck. I would hope the more woody sound from the RW neck would give the bass a bite/sound that I'd look for. A LPB DJ5 with an on board pre option at around £800 SH would be a very competitive bass. Not sure it would be a bass I MUST have against a 3st Am D J5 at £1k. And if you found a Sei at the same money.. which is NOT impossible, then no contest. I am quite taken with the online sound bites of the Am D J5 tho...and since I have Sei's then I'll hand out for the American Deluxe J5...?? Decisions.. ?? good fun..!!

I'd say the scene down here in the south is decent but the live music lovers tend to be older and they keep the places viable. I have always been of the opnion that there are too many places putting on live music and so we pick out 5 or 6 pubs we will do a year and they tend to be the better pubs (IMO )..with an audience we want to relate to and with the chance of ok money. They are also our shop window as we aren't keen on bookings straight off the website. Some of the pubs have a subsidised music fund to pay for bands but ironically the better paying bars are less concerned with an out and out band rosta that they have cultivated...they are just concerned with keeping passing trade so the audience may or may not stay for the duration..and you will get people coming and going. Mostly sea-side towns tend to work like this. Why..? not sure as the playing time tends to be 2x45mins and end by 12:00. There is a mindset of pub bands typically as apart from a few birthday parties they don't look beyond that gig so the money is poor and they can't sell a ticket gig... This is because there is nothing from them that distinguishes a pub gig and because people see them in pubs so often, why would they pay anything to see them? The money a show can generate also determines what sort of show it is ..so also a catch 22 there, IMO.

Friend of mine had a 62' P Bass... and he stripped off the paint as so many other did, down t bare wood. Apart from that, it was all original but I played it and didn't really like it as not a fan of P-Basses in general. We both wonder what it would be worth now with and without paint.. I had a mid 70's Jazz bass which was a pile of poo... and I'd say that would fetch around £1400-1500 in the right market. As for old gtrs being a working man's tool, you could pay 15 x weekly salary to get an average Fender so they weren't really for the masses, IMO