JTUK

I'd offer up the Aguiilar DB amps as in the same region as the SVT 2...IMO..and the Boogie 400, for that matter. ALL, IME, produce maximum beans that you can only really appreciate when you use one in anger. But... as much I rate them, I wouldn't be using one in a pub on a regular basis as the sound goes right to the back of the room... Great, you say, but er, not really, as that 'throw' dominates all else and you've blown the band sound..all for your own little jollies. On stages, ...with a bit of room, no question, you should have one as THE option, IMO.

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1427822478' post='2734713'] My band is adding to our repertoire again and although I'm slightly peevish - why does it always seem that what I want to play isn't 'quite right' or 'a bit lame' or... well yeah. I'm not that attached, though, so I'm happy to have a go at whatever numbers they want to play, but lately they seem to be picking numbers that are really beyond my playing ability - just too damned fast etc. I'm doing my best, but bass is a late discovery for me. Anyone else had that? Do I suggest they get a better bassist? [/quote] Don't try and play the lines... work out something that works for you. You'll probably find they are bluffing their parts to a degree anyway. And there is such a thing as being up to gigging speed. Somethings fit your style of playing easier than others.. I find hard rock testing if you're dropping in ... when it can be a doddle when you've played it a few times and are gig fit for that type of stuff... Not great after a lay-off from gigs..etc etc

Not hired in ..but bands are expected to run good P.A and lights and the better bands invest in a decent vox P.A and lights anyway...but you have to treat pub gigs as loss leaders...or I do.

[quote name='louisthebass' timestamp='1427907167' post='2735768'] Yep, agree with this where the "covers band scene" is concerned. ..... There is one venue in my part of the world where there's about 6/8 bands (mostly pro players or ex pro players) that have got the place completely tied up.... In some cases, that's what a lot of bands have to compete with. [/quote] I think that is good... as it sets the standard and if you can get in there, you'll be regarded as the same, treated the same, paid the same-ish..!!

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1427893755' post='2735524'] Another small point: musicians are obsessed with what their playing is not. Audiences are more concerned with what it is. [/quote] Yes, but more a question of the more you think you know, the more you find that you don't..

I record most things so I get a feel of where we are... On a good night, we have more than a few gears and I'm happy with that. Things like sound HAVE to be there, as does energy and commitment. That seems to set the tone so we never have off-nights as such, just degrees of how happy /we/I am about it all. The rest either hits the marks or it doesn't but that isn't the real deal-breaker. And their is a limit t what you can expect with the money involved. £50-70 a man in a pub tends to set its own limit and a lot work wont for that...

Was undecided whether to post this in this or the 'Slipping standards' thread but it is true, IMO, to say that some bands seriously need to up their game. The main culprits around here are 3 piece blues bands with minimal gear or show as basically it is a a very capable gtr who has said everything he is going to be able to say 20 mins into the set. No lights, no decent P.A and all a minimum carry. If bands upped their game enough, then these types would be the first bands to drop off and struggle to get gigs. Then the better bands wouldn't have the low cost issue/effort to contend with when setting fees. But...by the same token, you can't hold a LL/pub/Venue to ransom if they are going to be the only ones taking the risk or hit potentially. Bands and Muso's are to blame if they don't get attendences or get people to come down. This is of course, very hard to actually do, gig after gig, but you are paid to bring people to the venue... and it is more critical these days than it ever used to be. Maybe the Live music audience is getting older and can't afford or be arsed to go out 2 nights a week but it was harder years ago with no social media. I see a few bands who make a splash on the first gig as they storm it with their mates, and that gets them a leg up with the venue who probably wouldn't book them otherwise on the strenght of their promo so that is a double edged sword as well, when they come back and can't hold the audience. For a pub date, I'll say £250 min and £350 plus if we do very well... but then you have to pick the pub that will 'honour' that. I quite like doing a few of the better ones but as always, it is hard getting people to want to do them.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1427829641' post='2734851'] I thought that was only me. I never use the toilets at the bars we play. They're usually disgusting. Blue [/quote] That can define the gig... if the toilets are awful, then not a gig I'm interested in. Outdoors are probably excepted, to a degree.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1417539483' post='2621512'] Thanks mate. I spent lots of time agonising over which style to go for! I wanted tweed, but thought it wouldn't look quite right with the Markbass yellow. Pictures still don't do them justice though! [/quote] See, that is the problem... I'm going to run this with a Ag head and they are both grey/silver so I'm think the grill will have to be the blue/silver cloth.... but that doesn't help with the coverings... I keep pouring over the pics of various cabs....

Definitely, a great reaction is no measure of the gig, IMO, but at least you can be content that you don't have that as an issue to contend with as well. I never take much notice of the reaction if I think we stank and nothing will defer me from that thinking... but it is nice to know others were delighted with it..etc etc

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1427883570' post='2735338'] Yeh it's a pretty horrbile feeling if a gig hasn't gone down well, so i suppose that's an upside. I agree, it's always good to be critical of yourself. That's how you improve right? [/quote] It is the way some people are...I can't change it about myself, and tbh, I wouldn't want to either. But, I have learned to lighten up if it went down well, ..and again, tbh, our standards are likely to be far higher than a casual audience and even a 'bad' gig is perfectly acceptable to them, or more, but yes, self critique is very useful to improve. It is [u]the[/u] motivation, IMO.

I can be a right pain if a gig hasn't gone well..... in that I wont be happy and upbeat the way others might be. If I've recorded it, I'll check it out and often I'll find it was better than I thought at the time. I'm happy with it being that way round. Sometimes you have to accept the general vibe over the playing but I see no harm in being very critical of yourselves and your playing. The downside is that I can be like that at other people's gigs. It is the way it is... oh well.

Well, there are cover bands who can sell 350 tickets at £10 a ticket for their own show.. so obviously someone does.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1427788369' post='2734131'] That's where personal circumstances will dictate if a vertical stack is needed/viable. I don't play bouncy or unsteady stages nor are there loons who might topple my gear and to me the dispersion 'is' important... hence I stack and am happier with it that way than lower/squat/horizontal. [/quote] ok..but I find stages very varibile, even 'pro' built ones ( sure, you can argue the point about 'pro' ) ..and don't get me started on old stone floors in pubs, If you are talking about 2 x112...there is no dispersion factor to consider, anyway.... that is before you have to consider whether the frequencies are relevent either.

Which is the band's fault, IMO. People will go out for the right entertainment but sometimes we don't help ourselves.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1427828316' post='2734834'] What's different about your neck of the woods? Everybody else is struggling for gigs. Blue [/quote] Wouldn't say that down here...plenty of gigs around to be had, It depends if you want them. There are no pubs we couldn't get in if we wanted to... and in the winter we shut down to about 2 gigs per month by choice. Once the spring kicks in and we are into early May we stop doing pub gigs on a saturday as we leave that free for Party and Festival dates.

I wouldn't be buying anything that I didn't know what it was.............. and hadn't thoroughly researched

It is the ability to pick out the most defining frequencies that count so being able to hear 16kz means not a lot... it is the ability to pick up the mid range and distinguish them from other mid range frequencies that is key.. If you struggle to hear/pick out the conversations in a noisy crowded pub, then you have damaged your hearing..IMO..

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1427798227' post='2734285'] The Ts&Cs make it pretty clear that we have no say in this. [/quote] I knew that was coming....

If a LL and Venue are doing ok with their model, then fair play, you can't really expect them to do otherwise. If they get numbers in and it only costs them £200, then they'll continue to do that It is no good bands charging £350 and drawing in 10 more punters as that is only going to re-affirm to the LL that on a poor night, he'd rather pay £200 out tham £350 so it becomes a game of risk.. Bands have to take responsibility and some have gotten lazy and still insist on the LL taking all the risk and they just turn up and play. I'd have more time for bands that said bottom figure is £200 but top line is £350 if we do well enough...but they don't so pubs tend to pick the mean figure as the fee and operate on a win-some, lose-some, basis. If bands are confident they are worth £350, then stick to it..the market will determine whether you get it more than a few times.. And then..it depends how much you trust the pubs.. I know 3 pubs round here that, in recent times put ( 3 ) acts on for fees between £600 and £5k... The latter is unbelievable but people are sure the pub did indeed pay that.. I certainly think more pubs would entertain £600-1500 on ticketed sales.. and these pubs that I know are booking at those fees have sold out weeks in advance.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1427798928' post='2734304'] Erm ... guys? Which is it? I think we should be told. [/quote] I should make it clearer.. Too many pubs chasing too few punters. MY local town can have 9 pubs in the district on a saturday putting on music. As a punter myself, I know 75% of those gigs wont appeal, but also, at least 50% of the bands aren't really good enough. Of course, it I was a LL and had a pub full, the quality of the band matters not so much, ( it is all about the takings ) but the goal should be that music is the draw, and some LL's just don't work at it hard enough or really know what they are doing.. Making live music easier ( cheaper ) to put on makes everyone's angle less attractive. The pubs have too much competition, the punters have too much choice and bands that will go out for £150 undermine bands trying to get £300. If the quality of the band was higher, and pubs bands weren't two a penny, then the bands that get the gigs could and 'should' justify more.. None of the good muso's I know want to work pubs for £50 a man..that is not to say they wont do it once in a while but they would easily get twice or double, and some, elsewhere so that rather stops those very good players from working pubs most of the time.. hence the standard not being as high as it might be.. I like the idea around here of pubs charging ticket prices.. I think that is a move in the right direction... IF, you can pull the people in at that price.. I think it is a positive move anyway...

Since I try not to get too involved in pub work, I tend to look at what they offer pretty closely. Firstly, are they pubs that I think we'd like to drink in...and secondly, are they suitable for live music, like playing area and viewing area and then also, what sort of work will we pick up from the gig.. Real beer is a must, but then I don't know any pub around here that isn't real beer. Tied, managed or Free is also an issue as barrels will cost anything from £45 to £120, iirc, and that makes a huge difference to margins. I'll also look at the band rosta to see if we sit there.. I think it doesn't help playing any old dive that puts on music..and I'll support pubs that support us but it needs to be a pub I'll want to drink in..and hopefully, like the Landlord.

I think NR did the right thing... no one would have accepted another version of Bernard Edwards.

I always thought that relaxing licensing laws re music would be a bad thing and lead to too many places putting on music.. which has happened and ..and that dilutes further the live music scene, IMO.. Too many bands and too many pubs doing live music means that the standard of music is lower and the fees stay lower... hole in foot........... Having said that.... the better ones can rise above this by being better...with better bands, that they can pay better, and some of those pubs become venues and put on better named acts with tickets.. People have to get out on the mid-set that music is free..which it is in music pubs...even if they put the price up by 10-20p a pint..!!!

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1427783761' post='2734089'] It more than just 'lazy journalism', it's approaching cynical. How long until there's an implication that Basschat is BGM's online forum simply by association. (I bet the column won't feature much of the many 'why I don;t buy BGM anymore' threads.) I think it would be better, if it must be done, to feature Talkbass and other online communities with full credit to the OP's who in effect are becoming music journalists for others' profit. [/quote] Not sure about using members 'copy' for a commercial magazine... A friend often has photos poached by a 'friend' on FB and they then end up in a online mag.. and the person who got pulled up for this thinks it is ok because they credited the photographer.. and therefore thought they didn't need to ask..let alone pay.