JTUK

Agree with a lot of that article. We only use one or two agents who we regard more as friends, but to be honest they do not bring in much that we want and not at the prices we want. We tend to do them as favours, tbh. No one wants to flogging pubs..or rather we don't so we will only do a few that suit us...but those pubs are loss leaders and a window to parties. It starts the ball rolling... and again friends/fans who see us want a mates rate which is only around double the pub rate. But you will pick up dates at decent money if you play decent pubs as the same people who will go to certain pubs recognise who you can appeal to and will introduce you to like mided stuff. Material is material so you are 'limited' by that but we play a rocky set that can appeal to party ages from 25 to 60... or at least we aren't perturbed to take a 60th party...if you consider those guys were going to gigs in the late 60's/70's and that material easily fits into a lot of sets. Disco bands are many... and we don't compete ( can't ) if that is what the client wants, so we have our niche and we think we are a good time. We try and give it high energy and power and depending on the budget, we will trick up the show so it is a good experience. We find we need to do this less at parties but to generate function money at beer festivals you have to offer sometjhing differnet and worth the difference. A good friend's band ( covers ) recently sold out a 350 plus venue in a day at £10 a ticket so the fee was going to be good... and they invested some of that into a really good ( expensive comparitively ) light show. Good sound has to be a given as does muscianship ( they aren't that good ) or crowd appeal and the singer has the most charisma which really works. I've not seen anyone get a crowd going like this guy. They are probably the bets draw around but will do the odd pub ( special event ) to keep things ticking on... I think you have to know what you are good at..or what is hitting the audiences and develop that... there are plenty of good bands, you just have to be better at connecting with the audience. We will offer a light and slide show and girlie BV's if the gig needs something to sell and we can get that in the budget.. We would add horns but they end up wanting better wages that we would get... But after all is said and done.. I think people now want an exiting show...what is ok for weddings is not always so ok for a special event gig. Sometimes it can also be what social set you can plug into...as some people can't afford £500 and others will spend £5k on a party

Good work, Balcro.

If it were me and I wanted to keep the necks as stable as poss... and only you really know about the necks, I would store them under a bed, maybe face down so as not to have any stress on the head stock... I wouldn't keep them in anything enclosed if I wanted the strings to stay ok...as in not dulling off....but maybe be prepareed to put a fresher set on for the sale. Basically, I let the basses breathe....nothing too cold, nothing too warm.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1395397142' post='2401937'] Great helpful review. Nice tone (although for me its more the bass I like!). I like how bright it is... Am I right in thinking this has a mid scoop like the Bass Terror (just using an example) and that the mids won't 'boost'....so to speak, as mids flat is mids dialed up to full on the dial? [/quote] yep, my take as well.

Well, my perception is that Fender are a going thru the motions brand and their best stuff was from eons ago...certainly on the amps side. Maybe they bought GB to stimulate the brand and incorporate respected kit from the GB range to boost Fender's .. and get rid of a creditable competitor to boot.. So, little more than a GB re-badge exercise..?? But with the rise of Aguilar, they may have been left behind in the blocks as they now have the vintage thoroughbred ground now, IMO..

I can see this being very difficult to pull off...but she was always quirky and imaginative so I think she'll come up with something..

The guy really has his slap style down but I'd leave both out of the final mix. Not sure what he hoped to achieve with that, tbh..apart from a show reel. MM....?? who needs a track to make it happen...

Depends if you want weddings or parties.. I think parties are harder work in a sense, but you can call any function that is not a wedding a party so that can also go either way Not sure why you video isn't getting agents calling... depends how much you charge compared to who ever else they have on the books. One thing, I would cover in your band, or two things... one who is doing the BV's live, as that isn't clear from the real, and the keys sound needs a serious update. These may be things that set you back...but that was just from the 'Rock with you' track so maybe it doesn't jump out with other songs. The other things with function bands is that they can be a bit bland... whereas the thing round here is that the party bands are expected to offer more and be visually exciting as well as musically exciting..to justify the ramp up of the fee from the pub circuit. So, that means you are just a level down from a live concert but playing covers. Instead of getting them dancing from the off... get them singing ..the dancers will always do that but get a venue involved and singing along and you are a better night out to more people..IME. Dancing bands are for women mostly..and that is great and has its place..sings are for everyone..especially after a few drinks. Whatever it takes, participation is key.. If we do a party in the marquee, we need to be able to do the dance thing...and the singalong thing. If you think about playing something like 'wonderwall' where the singer doesn't even get to sing a note of it... then you are having a great gig

Further to the point Discreet makes... I think you are reading parts that the drummer is ignoring.. or he may not even be reading the track...in which case you might ask why you bother doing that either. The track isn't hard to busk so all you have to do between the two of you is get it to gell... I don't mind a busy drummer... ( we deffo have one but then he has superb chops ) but you both as a section have to recognise who has the groove going on.. If it is him, you have to play to him... and he has to recognise yours is the one to go with at times as well. Your MD should sort which one you'll play out but it seems that you aren't playing as a section and in a big band, you might get away with it as your sound can be blasted over...but you are quite high in the mix on the video so that is exposure you both need to handle and be aware of.. I am not sure the drummer is being that sympathetic or helpful..or maybe he is trying to accentuate a point..

I typed out another reply but it basically comes down to this, IMO. A good agent who has put in a LOT of donkey work and runs it as a business is going to want to earn £100 from a booking..and they will be worth this IF they get you bookings you can't get yourself. To charge £1000, ( 10% ) you are going to have to be ahead of a lot of decent bands..altho it is by no means a given that a band charging £1000 is any good, but there you go, they have probably found a way to make that work.. and you should be concentrating on what makes you different and worth the booking over someone else. Weddings are easier in that there are more of them and people accept that sort of cost ( and above ) more readily but parties are hard. What sort of music do you play..? If you do all the standards..then so does loads of others and it becomes a choice of what is cheaper. If you are on the heavier side, you will struggle to get many parties doing AC/DC type songs ..so the odd one might be worth £400..which is just not enough money for an agent to get involved ...and for the booker to engage anyway. As with a lot of things, I think you are judged on the act that ppl see most...and this is the true value of playing pubs. But make sure, they see you in good places and not dives as if you get gigs from dives... you end up playing party dives, tbh. I think you find your audience and then you find what the market will bare .. To get on an agents preferencial list, they either LOVE you, or you earn them the most money, so you pay them more than others or you just bring more bookings back with you in return bookings. We are very careful with agents and bookers as we don't want to be the band that just fills in a booking.. we want the good ones so we have to make sure we deliver..but by the same token so do they. In the end, we get asked because ppl know us and we set down what we require from them.. so no one is left complaining. Some agents will put anything in to take the fee, but that is short sighted. Learn to be discerning and turn down the crap.. or set your price and if you are miles apart, walk away. Everyone knows that a couple might spend £10-15k on a wedding..and a £1k on a photographer...so why would they expect a band to work for less than that.. It is the same thing for parties... do it properly or not at all.. IMO.

4 Tambourines.

For pure quality but without consideration to the sound you want...I would look at s/h Markbass 102 and SWR Redhead. Accept they may be a bit too clean but the QC would trump that IMV.

I changed from thumb down to thumb up years ago...but that was in the days of Louis Johnson et all and the only guy doing thumb down really well was the guy from Shakatak. The oddballs were Laboriel and Larry G (who has never had THE conventional take on slapping that his reputation now gets, IMO..as great as he sounds ) Now, there is a zillion takes on slapping and some are very outdated, LJ, and some very modern, A Carol, which stuff inbetween like Bona.. It really is a study in itself, so as long as you get down what you are looking for, then neither is right or wrong. I would just say that the convetional and most able, style and also, most popular, is thumb up... but that might just be because most guys you rip from play the same way. As an aside... dated slapping sounds, IMO, are Flea and LJ who at one time, were huge. MK has such good technique and feel he comes through that, and Larry G is just so damn funky he is still a reference... IMHO.

A big band is a huge wall of sound when they all get blowing so I would start by isolating myself as much as I could from them. Depending on the ensemble, you can get quite a lot of un-eq'd bass from the horns..in that they will be using the sound they have developed over the years... as do gtrs and keys.. and all of a sudden it becomes the bass players problem when he occupies the frequency he is designed to occupy and the others encroach on it. !!!! If you are hearing them back acoustically, there is not a lot you can do to change their sound... but if back through the mons, then they will have to accept a sound change just as you appear willing to do. They cannot be oblivious to the fact that they may be blowing all thru your sound spectrum..ditto, gtrs, keys and drums. Not enough thought and understanding goes on here and they need to adapt for the good of the band sound, if poss.. The bass helps himself by having a clean sound using a good and precise touch..not heavy-handed and you can use a scoop, if you want... it really depends what frequency is the most harmful. The thinking should be to avoid clashes..NOT force your way through come what may..as that is exactly what everyone else is doing, so OD'ing on mids is not always the answer and certainly not if you just overload that frequency rather than a lower or higher one. The whole band needs to be EQ'd with regards to an all in sound and acoustic intruments make it harder as they ..er... don't have any. They are what they are, in that context. As long as your bass isn't booming, you are looking to avoid frequency clashes. To assume mids will cure all this is approaching from the same angle as the others, i,e someone else problem. And it may well be that a scooped sound...whatever that manifests itself at... is the way to go, as you provide the bottom that the band needs a bass player to do..and you have highs that cut through so you hear ..and if you can hear, then the soundman can do that outfront if he wants. He may well decide to sacrifice that if you don't/can't argue against, tho. Other things to avoid are heavy fat pickups and big fat cabs as these lessen your room to manoeuver ..

If looking for a band solution where weight and carry are a factor... then we would go active, no question so the ELX's would be the active version. Having gone into it in a bit more depth, I am coming round to going for a Nexo solution which can double as our band P.A plus I could sub this out to a company to double up on their kit. Or I might want pro monitors as touring bands want certain makes in their riders. and most locals can't or don't afford 9 top quality wedges..and need to source/hire in .. If those same monitors doubled as a P.A then that might work. And if you are talking about that sort of stuff, only Meyer is active. The choice is to spend £1000-1500 and it is band only or a bit more and sub hire.. Having said all that... will run the Elements system this sat ...which can be borrowed for a short while ... and see if that is an option. If I was spending that sort of money for the Elements sys... the pro stuff appeals far more quality-wise.

I would ask what the backline soundcheck is like... as this is where the problems will/should show up first. If your backline mix is poor, then you are amplifying up, with FOH switched in, from a poor position to start with..and there will be very little way back from that. Most bands decide to be quiet on stage so giving the stage mix a chance, but then that doesn't help the on stage vibe re playing. We basically start with a stage mix determined by the acoustic volume of the kit...and then bring everything up to a nice level. We always hear everyone at this stage...and if we can't, we bring that level of the instrument up to suit. We then use the FOH to just fill in the sound on stage, and on course monitoring for hearing other instruments. At no point, will you want a mush, but the two culprits tend to be low keys and bass...as the bass player insists on having a too loud bass heavy rig... Subs are notorious for undistinguished bass sounds, so adding that to a bass heavy sound doesn't help. This is why bands use fridges for their low end thump but they aren't what I would call a bassey cab. I see/hear most problems when bass players use thumpy bass sounds from the bass itself and their backline and they get into a difficult room...and you just have too much bass flying around. The P.A FOH will largely obscure this out front...or just add weight if the FOH engr knows what he is doing but the stage sound is invaribly up to the bass player to sort if you don't have a mon engr. It helps to be as clean as poss at the monitoring stage...clean technique, clean sounds and clean band mix where you have done all the work in EQ'ing all the instruments in rehearsal... Gtrs and keys have to wipe off bottom end from their sound as much as a drummer would from his kit.. It is all a version of tuning... IMO.

Yes, always a shame if someone on here is involved..and especially someone as committed as Nige, but you have to kind of applaud shutting something down if it isn't working...and by working, I just mean something as simple as not moving on at the desired pace. What would be worse.... and so many bands are guilty of it, IMO, for various reasons, is to just carry on doing the same thing for too long. So, from the artists POV, it makes sense to step back and think again.... It is hard work keeping a band chugging along, ( as we all knmow ) esp if you have to do things on a shoe-string.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1395251291' post='2400270'] Well I wouldn't, no. In fact I wouldn't do a country gig at all, but I take your point. But I've seen plenty of pics of people playing Ritters in pub cover bands, which I find quite amusing. [/quote] I am sure they do.... but when I had my modern sounding Sei, of course it would cover a gig as it had 5 strings and was tuned conventionally so it would work... but it didn't REALLY work, and I found myself wanting a more traditional sound..which meant a Jazz..which means ...Fenders. Of course, other people make Fender clones...and I use them ( they are better basses, IMO ) but they sound like a traditional Jazz.......... and some gigs just have to have that even at a local level... When image becomes a factor... then even more critical. You can't do an Oasis gig on a Warwick

My intial point was split between Fender and modern as there comes a point when this split is pertinent I was talking about bigger gigs mostly...where sound and the image are main drivers.. Otherwise any trend is not really relevant ... But you wouldn't do a country gig with an Alembic..that sport of thing..

No, because musicians in bands know or think they know what they want...and they may determine what you play on the gig... If visuals play any sort of part...and in some gigs they certainly do, then you can only do those gigs with certain type of gear and sounds.

No substitute for hours put in..... especially if the bass doesn't come naturally. Only you can decide what time you can or are prepared to put in. Nothing is for nothing is this situation.... You could look for inspiration but if you need that at this point..as opposed to being a lttle jaded after 30 yrs, then maybe the bass isn't for you...

There are two briefs, Fender and modern... Fenders are, well, covered by Fenders and modern gets you into,- maybe Warwick, but they are unfashionable now,- the realms of Ken Smith et al and the modern sound. Fender territory might be subbed out by Musicman, but Fenders do it better and active basses are less popular at the high end..because, you have been through the sound thing and you don't need much augmentation, tbh and you have pro people who get you past that anyway. Most bass rigs don't get much past a Fender and Ampeg. There are variations on the two sounds, here and there, but not bought into much..Visually, it might be Fender or nothing and you wont get certain basses on stages with certain gigs... IMO

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1395140947' post='2399035'] I bought them off a local musician for £50 the pair - he reckons he bought them 20 years ago & they have been lightly used in a keyboard 2x12. He scrapped the cab years ago but kept the drivers. I bought them to go into a pair of wedge monitors, but they're maybe overkill for that at 300W each. G. [/quote] ok..go careful then. If they are in good working order, then £50 sounds ok, but I am not sure many produced 12" at 300watts 20 years with that manufacturing pressed plate. The chassis would most likely to have been cast, with a edge wound voice coil of 2 or 3" That is not to say they aren't any good, but I would be careful about assuming they would handle that sort of power. RCF were indeed a decent cab maker around that time and probably ranked along side JBL and EV when they had their stellar names...i,e JBL chassis' were in virtually every creditable P.A system. I might be out by a few years but pressed plate chassis were never used as high powered speakers, iirc.. they were always the cheaper option and therefore less able to hit high power ratings.

Can't recall when I last didn't use mine... I'll call ahead if there is an option of supply, but invaribly I still will use mine. Don't tend to do free multi bills unless the exposure is very very good and the set time is decent. So that is nothing free and nothing less than 45 mins playing time.

hmmmm... plate chassis. Not likely to be what RCF built their name on...I'd guess.