JTUK

Local blues acts are doing fine around here, but you have to have something special otherwise you are just another 'blues' act in a pub. Recently saw a local act who are doing well with attendances but aprt from quite a female contingent, which I suspect contributes to their appeal, they really need a better extra edge. By the same token, I saw Bad Influence who were a class apart with Dickie Hayes on gtr. To me, that is what you have to try and do... get that extra classy edge otherwise the band is limited to 12-bar City..

[quote name='natjag' timestamp='1428955286' post='2746449'] Thats interesting. As you've tried them all. I'd never heard of TKS until I started this thread. Looks like The TKS cabs are the ones to consider at the moment from the comments here. At the moment it's the TKS or probably the Berg CN112. [/quote] Policesquad and I went to BassGear and tried the CN, SL and TKS S112's. I already owned the Berg AE112's, and we wrote up our thoughts. I think there have been quite a few other TKS threads so a quick search might help, but I would really suggest a visit to Bassgear anyway... Give them a quick call to see what they have as demo stock, and also when their next customer delivery is. I think the last order would be pretty big..??

[quote name='itsmedunc' timestamp='1429002066' post='2746782'] Into The Valley Festival in Clitheroe (Ribble Valley). Venue for aftershow party - The Rose and Crown. Promoter Ste Porter... [/quote] Nice trick to invite a band to provide the P.A and support all the other acts for £200. Obviously they were going to have to broach the question of P.A being provided somewhere but alarms bells should be ringing here quickly. If a P.A is being provided then we ask for the spec and give them a tech rider as well as you don't want to be involved in finding out these nasty little issues at a late date. I understand that some of these people don't know a P.A from a car stereo but we ask them which company is providing the P.A and we will want to speak direct to them to see what they are bringing. I don't see anything too wrong in doing the gig for £200 as specified and once you found out the true nature of things....which sound like a bunch of amateurs.. you did exactly the right thing and cancelled. The only problem with that is that is that is the type of work you do..then you will most likely encounter more of the same and your name will be brandished about by the useless promoter as unreliable etc etc or worse. But, you are better off out of those sorts of things anyway, tbh. There are instances where the 'promoter/organiser' will need direction and advice, and that is ok, but they also need to take it and be willing to put their hand in their pocket for the event costs. In general, anything done cheap is something to be very wary off, IME.

I really hope the guy gets a result and the rip-off merchant gets royally fingered by the Police...!!

I'd offer up a Berg AE112 and CN112.. really like them Aguilar SL is a great cab but I've tried all the above and I've just ordered 2 TKS S112's

[quote name='Iain' timestamp='1428947976' post='2746306'] Adjusted for inflation that $500 should now be ~£1200... Shocking. [/quote] Depends what level she was at at that time.. Local guys on the circuit were asking £5k a week for MAJOR acts and one of those acts went on to be pretty much THE act for a few years. She wouldn't pay that rate, as it would have broken her payscale ( she said ) so the guy never did all her major shows. The band stayed with her for years so that would have been some income. Another guy was out with a big UK band and he was able to buy a Porsche and a house from tour earnings but then again they were BIG tours and again the act was THE gig for a jobbing sideman. He wont tell me how much he earnt from various jobs but he basically had it all... Those days seem to have gone as chart name girl acts pay these band average function bad money.according to guys after those sort of gigs now.. The older guys wont even go for the gig and they have special themed function bands as a main source of income..

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1428858748' post='2745346'] Anyway you cut it, she's [i]"big time"[/i] and I'm not. And where I come from it would have been considered a big score. As in the difference between telling your mates; [i]" I'm on tour with Cher " and "Oh, I'm playing at Willies Burger Pub Friday night". [/i] Blue [/quote] And it gets you a chip at that sort of table... in that unless you have all sorts of horror stories following you, they know you are the right stuff from their POV. You know the score,. you have track record and you can play that standard...so all they have to do is like YOU and your type of playing. Being able to play and be comfortable at that level is a given because you've proved it.

2 J5's with East Pre's. Bass on zero, treble no more than 0 db. Mid sweep at around +2 db. Pickups biased towards the rear but to suit everything I do... I don't EQ the basses to suit the song very much..this is settled on at soundcheck. I slap which part I want so it has to one sound set for the setlist, pretty much. Into Aguilar DB750 head and either DB212 and DB210 cabs for 2.67 ohms and full beans 800w plus or 1x212. OR TH500 into 2x112 ( incoming ) and TH runs at bass at 9, mids at 1 and treble at 2.

Not entirely sure of your sound goals but for a budget of £500, I'd be looking at 2x Aguilar GS112's with horns. That would give you 600w in cab capacity if you ran both and would draw 500w at 4 ohms which is standard for a lot of amps. You'd have to be a bit careful if you ran with a 770/4 head but should be fine if you weren't OTT with FX.. The lows on these cabs are very very good and would have no problem putting out a thunderous low B, IME. In terms of lows, best cabs I've used, altho the DB212 does very very well there as well. I'm not looking for that sort of low end anymore... but the 2x112 config make them an easy carry/load.

A trolley for these type of amps is a must, IMO. No way would I use a shoulder bag for anything approaching 40lbs. I have a DB750 and I am 100% the bag would be in bits in a few months and you really don't want to be dropping these things.. Your shoulder isn't going to like it either

All sounds cool to me... I hope to be over soon, Barrie. Will make a day of it and try a few amp options, maybe..??

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1428671865' post='2743640'] Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!! I'm making a note of that line. I may be using it ... [/quote] As opposed to a 5 st fretless acoustic... I went into Bassgear to buy an amp and had to get out very quickly after being enticed to play this bass.. I had nowhere near any intentions of that sort of bass or any bass for that matter... but it was sooo good, I knew I needed to get out immediately and even then I went home and checked my credit card balance... That is my defintion of GAS as it is highly dangerous and indiscriminating as you don't even know you want it until you try it..

No idea, not got round to going to one.

[quote name='LLOYDWT' timestamp='1428794797' post='2744687'] Played through these at Bassgear today with Billy Apple's Orange OB1 and Spector Helium when I went to pick up my new Berg HD112. Amazing cabs - Massively impressed with them. Completely different beasts to the Berg and if I thought the missus would let me have them too, I'd be ordering some as well. Fit and finish was top drawer and they where the first neo cabs I've played through that didn't feel like a compromise to me. [/quote] Which cabs...? as they aren't all NEO.

I just say 'glad you enjoyed it' but I generally don't take compliments too well...I know when I've done well so am not looking for anyone else to reassure me, as such. Just try and be gracious, thats all...

If people want you to play with them, then you are doing ok. It is the pool you swim in that is the benchmark...and you just have to satisfy that, first and foremost. If you move into another pool then you start again. If you are happy where you are, then fine.. I would bone up on various genres tho... as this makes you versatile. I've seen 'decent' band players that really struggle on a blues gig because they don't have enough allround knowledge to cope. Put them in their rehearsed band and they are different player. Learn to busk...train your ear and listen to loads. I had to do 'smoke on the water' the other day and I wouldn't have touched that since I was a kid..and I'm well past that, but I busked it and it was the best song the band did all night pretty much. No one got that it wasn't that bands song at all... Of course, it isn't the hardest song but there are two chords you have to hear, The Ab, which means you have to hear two tones down from the C, and less difficult but it will sound terribly if you don't get it, the F at the end of the gtr solo. If you can hear reasonable changes, have a wealth of songs you know in your head, then you can be a good busker and that will always get you work. If you can work off notes and charts and dots, then that opens up even more... This is what I would say most bass players need to be able to do...if you want to branch out of being a one band guy where all your work and knowledge is done in rehearsal, IMO.

Preferred Earl Slick who stood in for SRV..

That was one of my cabs colour options... and the covering is great. Also toyed with a silver cloth... MUST NOT CHANGE MY MIND

I've got two new 112's coming as I do still need a 2x112 lightweight option but since I can make a case for needing them, that isn't GAS. I've always had it in mind to add another J5...but I don't want to wait for it.

Understand your pain... but then again, in some ways, it is what it is..and it is out there. I tend to refer them to our website which links into Video but by then, I've done most of the footwork on the phone or by talking to them anyway. Also, we aren't positioning ourselves as a function type outfit so I always ask have they seen us. If they haven't and they don't know us at all..it is a long way from there to us wanting and getting the gig. Basically, we work on referrals..but some of those referrals are of friends of a friend. I've got rehearsal audio that I can dropbox and we have nice PR type stuff to refer them to, but the other thing is, we give them a price and tell them why we are more expensive than they may have thought... And you have to let some gigs go.... if they want to pay £500-600, then I tell them to get a pub band as most would be over the moon at that. It is all about, IMO, separating yourself from perceived competition. My current mission is that I have a new project and they ( the band members) have given me a min price to work for...so I am having to sell that on a vague promise or my track record.. At this stage, we've had no rehearsal, no band name, and I haven't even met two of the players... It is not easy, I can tell you.

Since this is a kind of throwaway project for you..?? it is hard for me to see what is in it for the other guys..?? You have to give them input or else they are hired hands and as such, control and money comes into it. Since there isn't likely to be any money, I assume, you have to give them something to get their teeth into.. IMO. Unless you think they would love the honour of working with you...??

[quote name='gillento' timestamp='1428610456' post='2743092'] Well, as strange at it sounds, the db750 did not "work" as well as the LM2 in this context..... [/quote] Really...?? can't get my head round that. Mine slaughters my TH500..and as much as I don't really want to say it, it really really does. Never been a fan of LM amps when pushed.. and funnily enough I preferred the 'honesty' of the Thunderfunk when playing loud...in that if you like the sound at low volumes, which I did, it produced it higher up the volumes scale. And this is what the DB750 does... it doesn't change or degrade like I felt the Markbass LM did and to a lesser degree, the TH does as well. IMO,.

OR more pertinently, 'friends' or 'fans' put up a phone video...so you have no control over it. Fortunately, there is only one horror story I am aware of... but the rest I'll still not be that pleased about just in terms of an amateur production more than the band itself.

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1428573227' post='2742487'] JT - belated response, but thanks for this, really helpful. Mind made up on 2 x S112s, one with tweeter. Just need to decide the colour! [/quote] I know what you mean.... it took me a while to settle on the colour. I've gone for one horn as well...and I wanted a silver type cloth grill to match my amps.. but the golds and the oxbloods really got my attention.....as did the embroidered type cab covering....