JTUK

Same sort of debate with bolt-on and neck-thru... IMO. If the bass is well made, then I can't see what the difference is supposed to be....

That is the ticket...

The thing is with deps... you need good ones and good ones can be expensive. They want £150 on a sat night with a limited travel.... but they too, have to be flexible and it is by no means a given that paying higher fees gets you a good enough player. So, ..what does pro mean...basically nothing in terms of standard, but it means that guys earns the vast mojority of his take-home from music, ,,and that is it, IMO. And then some will do any old gig if the money is there...so it is not all about money, for sure. The better currency would be that your name/salespitch has credence and you can get the guys that you want.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1396720371' post='2416784'] [b]When a player only wants to play in a covers band which means learning someone else's lines parrot fashion[/b], why spend hours learning endless modes and diminished scales when he/she will never use them. If that player then chooses to move into a genre such as jazz then those skills will be useful but not before. So why waist time. [/quote] I'd say that is the min default position. Ideally, any band worth watching will go way beyond learning the song parrot fashion... and if they don't or can't, then you have a pretty boring band as it is most likely that the band will not be anywhere as good as the recording band, so what are you left with..?? Not something of much interest, IMV..

Ok, it's a job... as I wont do a gig for no money. We pay minimum for each gig and if that means we don't get that min, we have to cover it from the kitty. Good payers supply the kitty. This way we can afford deps and petrol money etc etc ..

That is per person. If I never got out of the house with a bass, yes, I probably would because the discipline and need to play would drop off..I would miss sessions and run down my ability, which would all eat away at my enthusiasm,

I think you need to start billing at £10 per hour for gigs from a min of £50. ( assuming a pub gig is 5 hours on the job but only about 3 hrs working it including set-up and break down ) No idea what bar staff get paid but ours is a more skilled job. You are doing well if you can get £25ph..assuming that you'll get there earlier and away later but we don't actually play any longer. Looking at it like this... I think the best we will this year do is £60 ph...

I think the 212 is bigger sounding down low than my 2x210's. I can live with both very easily and rotate between smaller 210 cabs that I carry than a 212 that I can wheel. If I know the load-in then I prefer the 212 in an ideal world. I think I also prefer the mids from the 212...but I think I need to run both a bit more to get a conclusive result. I've not heard the 2x210's having a longer through but the 410 is pretty deep, iirc so how it compares to 2x210's I am not sure. The 212 is a great cab tho.... but none of the cab configs give me masses of bass..( would hate that ) as the sound is big enough and focused. I would discribe them as very well balanced as you get the hear what the whole range will do... All of them have tweeters turned up to 50% on the dial.

Thomann are doing the whole bundle inc assessory pack for £100 inc postage to GB. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/zoom_q2_hd_bundle.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/zoom_q2_hd_bundle.htm[/url]

I'd throw in a OLD SWR SM400/500 into the mix... Can do keen but the valve pre gets grindy. Depending which model you get you can get 400/500w bridged into 4 Otherwise an Ampeg..

But it just doesn't help if Venues book free bands as that sets the precedent for everyone else. And once you get a stream of people willing to play for free, bands that don't wish to do that, don't get a look in. Every pub will have a charity beer festival this year and some might put on a whole bill all day and they'll get plenty of takers but band doing that are just as bad as the ones who use an agent to get in a gig and then go straight and direct to the LL for subsequent gigs. Even if it wasn't always true, I'd be of the opinion that you pay peanuts, you get monkees and once you 'allow' a venue to get this advantage, you'll never get them to stop that tactic.... If the bar staff. security and Sound etc etc get paid, so do we...but so many bands will blow that ethic right out of the water, Am I pleased about that... ? The amount of festivals round here that want to have free bills...well, you can see why some are cynics..!! Suffice to say most decent bands don't play them... and you can virtually tell if it is free by the line-up. Is there a stigma about free bands...? I'd say there was...at least around here.

Yep, I don't want to gig in crap venues, ( my definition of crap includes too small playing area, too small viewing area, wrong punters, stupid load-in in, bad pay, etc etc etc ) and it is the venue that is wrong or unsuitable as far as I am concerned, not the band.

Cheers for that, I'm in.

I use DB210's and DB212. I didn't think the 212 would keep up with the 2x210's but it really does, in terms of low end. It is not a bassy cab, but will really fill the stage. It has mid bite as well. I am not sure the TH is really really man enough but the DB750 certainly is with either cab config. So much so, my default rig becomes the DB212..and then I can add a DB210 on top but this is just as much visual than anything else. You will get a full range sound (as much as this really means anything ) and a very strong presense. FWIW, all the Ampeg guys round here lust after the Ag DB rig.. and I'd agree that Aguilar has well and truly taken Ampeg's place.... but with a updated take on it, and dare I say it, a better technical ethic. I've shared this opinion with Aguilar endorsee's and whilst you would expect them to talk up 'their' product, they could just as easily get an Ampeg deal, so you think it is down to a choice..?? and one of these guys is postively 'anal' or focused and very well informed about what he wants from a rig ...!!

Bass... I have a GT10-b at home just for goofing but not a gig...

I never saw the word 'free'.... We normally take a call about playing, listen to what they propose and then tell them what the fee will be... If that stops the conversation dead in its tracks then so be it.... but in regard to the OP... I can see why the implication is a free gig, as is the reply, but not the atual wording, itself. I wouldn't take offence, I would just tell them what it would cost them. If the booker assumes we will play for free, we never do....so it comes to a head pretty quickly. It is like charity gigs...they aren't looking to pay exes unless you ask them.

I don't do gigs for the overt 'look at me' approach but suspect that deep down there is an element in that in the whole band thing from my POV. But I have found the easiest way to make me want to stop playing is to do 'crap' gigs... silly loads-in, rough pub, no space, etc etc ..and so always approach pubs as too much work for the money. That isn't to say we don't do them, but they are loss leaders...( not least because some pubs don't want to pay enough and we have a minimum cost ) but we consider ourselves a party band. We wouldn't do functions or weddings unless the client knows what we are like as we will not alter the set for the gig. We have to compromise to a small degree and incorporate a few dance tracks ( like Get Lucky ) but only we have a great groove going on it. I think we basically think we can educate the punters with our choice of music, but by the same token, find ourselves picking numbers that would fit great at some point in the set at some gig. All these things evolve and as long as the song works and we have a good time, all the rest is the bonus. I am not saying you can be oblivious to what makes ppl come and see you but we feel we play well and have a good set of songs. Some songs fit a certain gig bias and some REALLY don't... For example, Sex of Fire can be a sh*te song but we may do it if we feel like it ...but just as soon as wont. It is normally a throw away song right at the very end..but not good enough for an encore.. You just have to think about what you want to achieve...but playing rough pubs to 12 people would make me very jaded very quickly and I wouldn't last long. I've taken time out before... and was glad to get back after 2 years or so, but I don't want burn-out again. That is why we vet all the gigs that come in..and the more popular you get, the easier this is to be able to do....

Best thing for me was lucking out meeting a very very good piano who liked a drink so I got the 'in' as I would drive him. His knowledge was very good, but he never was too much of a strict reader. I found that out pretty quick, but he got all the gigs and I just went with it. He could make sense of any chart even if he never actually played it...and then you needed a combination of good ears and the ability to hear his changes that weren't written. Once you have them, then they crop up more often that you'd think and a quick nod would take you down that route. His sense and knowledge of harmony would keep the tune in check even if a horn was soloing. That education was invaluable when you got exposed to substitutions that he'd throw in... By the same token, we had a gtr who was known to read 'fly-**** and played all sort shows and pit gigs but he wasn't the guy you'd call for the type of gtr gigs we'd know. I'll say no more..................

It depends on what musical situations you put your self in... If you have a bunch of jazzers busking standards..the leader will have pads or dots and you will not survive ( even if you get invited on the gig ) if you are faffing around in the dark. So, first off, learn to follow a basic chart and follow chords. When you get to a solo... and they will give you one or two... it helps to know what notes you need to be able to use over the changes as all the band will stick to the chart.... or at least count the bars of the rounds so you all come back into together from the top... ( ha, ha ..more terminology ) If you don't get to do this sort of thing, or don't want to.... or only play with 3 pieces, then you have less chances to clash notes... So, yes, happy and sad will get you far enough... but it wouldn't get you far if you want to play in more diverse situations.... Depends on the playing circle as well.... you just need to understanding the ways of communicating of the bands you get to play with. The more you know, you can use it or not...but you don't have that choice if you don't have it. so you'll never loose a gig just because you have knowledge, but there are a fair few that you will be excluded from even thinking about....IMO.

You just want a damped note.... so left hand damp just on the string will get that little 'bic' sound. If you pluck normally, and fret it, you'll get a sustained pull that rings...you just want to shut that note down much earlier with a mute [url="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcnwt2_slap-bass-muting-technique-by-www-i_music"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcnwt2_slap-bass-muting-technique-by-www-i_music[/url] and in context [url="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcnx9h_slap-bass-lesson-in-a-by-www-itsaba_music?from_related=related.page.int.meta2-only.7763a30575a7062c0814905a807c9fef139652987"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcnx9h_slap-bass-lesson-in-a-by-www-itsaba_music?from_related=related.page.int.meta2-only.7763a30575a7062c0814905a807c9fef139652987[/url]

If it is an old SWR model, ...before the company sell-out, then you should have a nicely specc'd piece of kit. I still run a early 90's SM400 and is a great amp paired with jazz..which I suspect was the design model. I don't even use the 4 band semi P, but then it is my practice amp, 99.9% of the time. I liked the Red Head I use to get to use and I believe that amp was used in that combo. Old SWR was the player at the time and things move on, ( plus SWR got swallowed by Fender ) but good stuff is still good stuff. And like I say, not sure there is still much better than SWR and a good Jazz sound

Nest thing to do is check the gtr sound does not have more bass on the sound than the bass player. Simple but you will be surprised how many gtrs use a lot of bass... and flood the bass when soloing on boost. Educated gtrs will know they can afford to wipe this off as the bass play is within that sound spectrum and better players will encourage it. The problems with mixes is everyone in the way of everyone else. The band will sound so much better if you respect each instruments zones and parts... and I'd even go so far as to say that you have no chance of sounding any good unless you can get this. Whether you will have a sound engr that comes with the P.A ...and you don't know, tell or instruct you in all this, I doubt, as he will have heard it all before, do the best he can and get out of there, knowing he can't do anymore.

Easy enough to buy the leads long enough, but I'd be thinking why. Put the rig on the stage for you... they will hear it if the mix is good enough but after a while you can get into volume wars with half stacks and the drum is digging a trench trying to get heard. This helps no one........ Bands needs to be pokey and loud, IMO, but not a wall of sound. I generally don't like a 2 gtr approach as they need to be very competent and confident in letting the other guy play... or else we are back to a wall of [s]din [/s]sound. Simple things like chord lines and gtr choices need a degree of work. If you have a 2 cab stack of any size and can't be heard, you need to start again with regard to how the band sound is coming across. For one thing, most engrs will not be able to do a blind thing with FOH in smallish venues if you are so loud for the room. and your band sound can be a total lottery.

Low enough that the strings choke unless standing upright. If I am in a comfy slouching positon on the sofa, the bass can be unplayable. I have a very light touch on the bass so no stress through the hands or playing..that is the idea. The upside is that the action is fast, the downside is that I need a lot of amp as most players get waaay more volume out of a bass than I do. Some like finesse, some like grunt and grind, but my sound doesn't need cleaning up..it is simple to get down into mixers and desks. Low for me...

I would have said HK Elements, but you need to spec what you need it to cover. We are trying the Band 1, whiich is 1200w with 2 subs and 4 tops.. Very compact and very quick to put up, carry etc etc ..and is pretty idiot proof. You will need to know whether you can downscale from that and have it do what you want it to do. For all the reasons above it is our fave P.A atm, and outperforms some bigger boxes..it seems