Muzz

So a man who owes a good deal of his business success to Wood Woo-woo writes an article espousing Wood Woo-woo? Well, that's convincing. Sequere Pecuniam...

Reminds me of a quote from David Hepworth: 'The world is divided into two types of people; those who quite like Van Morrison, and those who've met him...'

I've got a Shuker with a neck I had made to match one of my other Shukers in terms of size (verrrry slim) - it occasionally needs a tweak, but the original never does. I've accepted that as a small price to pay for a very slim neck profile. The one which needs a tweak has a maple board, the original's ebony, but I'm not convinced that's the defining factor - the original is also 6 or 7 years older than the newer one... My Dingwall, on the other hand, is all maple, and hasn't moved a thou in at least a decade.

Dunlop Nylon 88s...I might find something better, then again, it's been 45 years with them exclusively so far, so maybe not... 😁

I thought we'd had a lot of this at all sorts of gigs until we started playing regularly at a 'proper' Irish bar in the city centre. The requests for obscure Irish songs* are pretty constant (think Father Ted's Mrs Doyle), as is the look of affronted amazement when you tell them you don't know the song in question...then they forget and just enjoy themselves anyway... * Including the Irish classic Dirty Old Town...you know, the one written by a bloke from Salford about Salford (we do do that one, tho)...one of the bouncers told me he wins twenty or thirty quid in bets every week from hammered punters convinced it's Irish. He has the Wiki page as a shortcut on his phone for proof and everything... 🙂

I mentioned this sat the time, but a couple of weeks ago we had a gig in a bar-above-a-bar for a 40th, full of, let's say nasally-imbibed punters, and three songs into the second set one hero just stood right in front (like, a foot in front - there was no room for him to get round in between us, or I'm sure he would have tried) of the singer repeating 'I'll sing the next one' over and over as we were playing. Security were apparently busy downstairs in the public bar. Singer stopped the band, we packed up, got paid, and were back in the cars by 9:45. After so many idiots at so many gigs, we have zero tolerance for them these days. Sadly, the huge increase in the aforementioned nasal stimulants as the core of a night out means there's even more of them about...

Mesa Boogie Head, BF cabs. Took a while to get there, but it's been that for a long while now, and I'm not inclined to change anything. That's when I'm not using inears and a Stomp...although I use the Stomp all the time... The last matching head and cabs was a Markball LMIII and the 410, about ten years ago...it was OK, but a little too cultured for me. I'm playing a festival in Glasgow in a couple of weeks where the supplied backline will be all Markbass, I'll be using my Stomp, so I doubt it'll sound very cultured once I've finished with it...in fact that was the reason I moved the LMII on; I found I was using a pedal in front of it all the time to perk it up, so I went on the hunt for a better head (for me)...oh, and the 410 got nicked... 😕

Since I got my ST (a few years ago now) I've not looked at another cab, nor have I ever felt it wasn't enough to keep up with (actually annihilate, but that's not the point) the daftest of drummers (and two 100w Marshall/412 geetards)...even with a 300w head... They're simple to move, light, and they have wheels. I've even had the drummer offer to help move my gear since he worked out how light it is...

Dunno about the 424, I kinda missed that one out, but the 414 is a shallower neck than the 1024 (and the 3000A, and the 1100S). And it's a lighter bass, too...I need a white BB for a particular band, this is about as good as I'm gonna get, and, bonus time, it's not cost me much at all... 😃

Yup, I did exactly the same. I have more precise criteria tho; light as poss, neck slim as poss. I don't think the 2024 would be light enough or have a slim enough neck for me to part with four figures, especially now I've replaced the bridge and tuners on my 414...

I had three AE112s, which I loved (with the tweeters off), but FONBLE* meant that, rather than take one or two most places, I'd always take all three, which meant 90lbs+ of cabs, even in three lumps, so I moved them on. * Fear Of Not Being Loud Enough...it's a turrible thing...

Awwww, poor Peter...he was very much the Ken* of the band; the worst makeup, too...and then there's that solo album...eeeeek... * As in the famous Viz 'Matt, Luke and Ken' thing when Bros started...

I've had a 1024 and played a 2024, and the 2024 was definitely a superior instrument (though a real 'sleeper', as it looks the same), but, given the huge rise in quality of cheaper instruments from just about anywhere, the higher up the price range, the more subtle the differences*. I've got a 414, as a replacement for a 3000A I had for a couple of decades; in a band mix it sounds like me, and because of my preferences for slimmer necks and lighter weight, it feels better to play. So really those 1024s aren't worth three times the price of a 414...YMMV... 😁 * Though my 'best' basses are made-to-spec Shukers, which is a different thing altogether...

Our geetard has had a bunch of different multi-effects (including a Helix), he now has one that'll do harmony vocals, too, and he needs a good selection of guitar tones (Nile Rodgers to Johnny Marr to Matt Bellamy to Luther Perkins to the usual slew of distorted rock tones), plus his acoustic presets, but they're all worked out beforehand, and he has them stored by song, so it just isn't an issue...I'm not sure why it would be to anyone with an eye to a professional approach...

I really, really hate this, even when I'm watching it, and even more when I'm standing around like one o'clock half-struck on stage waiting...luckily, I haven't played in a band like this for a long time. Dicking about with riffs between songs is for eejits/egomaniacs, and punters hate it, too... Our geetard/singist/BL retunes his guitar in between songs sometimes (by which I mean changes tuning, not tunes up), but he can talk to the crowd while he (very quickly) does it, which, if you've ever tried it, is an impressive thing to pull off... I've got three banks of about half a dozen sounds in my Helix (C&W to Muse to Chic to Rawk needs a few), but the banks are all for drop tuning i.e. one bank in E, one bank in Eb, one bank in D, etc, and even then it's the work of five seconds to change. It's just a bit of homework...

Nope, I'd agree with the folk who said 'My basses are better than anything in a shop' (and getting basses custom built by Jon Shuker has meant I'm super-fussy about every detail) and 'I can't afford the new price of anything I might want in a shop'... Having said that, the only two which came close were a Roadworn Precision in PMT donkeys ago (but the neck was waaaaayyyyy too big for me) and a BB2024 in BD, which was waaayyyy too expensive...and now I've got my Cheap As Chips BB414 modded, I don't need one...

My Walkabout doesn't have an HPF (unlike the Magellan I had with/before it), the best thing I discovered was to turn the end two dials of the parametric right down; no mud, no boom...they've never moved from there... The Schroeder 1515L I had shouldn't really have worked as a bass cab, but in a live band scenario, it definitely did... I was at music festival all over Bury town centre last Monday, and watching the various bands (there were dozens and dozens) humping big old cabs in and out of pubs made me very grateful I'd moved on...on the other hand, I'm playing in Glasgow next month, and there's a supplied SVT backline, and I'm looking forward to playing through one again...knowing I don't have to shift the thing... 😃 We're playing as a trio in a few smaller venues at the moment, and my little Rumble 100 (admittedly with a better Eminence 12 in it) onstage with all the bass cut and DI'd to the PA is a great setup; no booming thunderous bass onstage, the PA does the heavy lifting...

Regular venue Satdy night, some new songs (well, six of them, four (links) sent by text Friday, two Satdy afternoon), pub was quietish (for that place - I'd say half/two-thirds full at the most), and the first two sets were OK, so the singer cranked them up at the start of the third set by Gallaghering them...I'm sorry (actually, I'm not, but you have to say that) to all the Oasis-haters, but it Just Works(tm), and the third set was borderline riotish...

Yep, genius; 'Hang gliding; it's the latest craze sweeping the Pennines, and right now I'd rather be sweeping the Pennines...' 😃

Two on the trot here, first one was the regular at Mulligans in Manchester city centre...busy as always, singing the roof off (to Oasis...sue me), then last night's was a new venue above a Bangin Bar in Monton...just awful. A 40th where nobody really cared, the music downstairs was so loud we didn't even bother with any acoustic numbers, it was full of yapping Hooker Barbie types and fully sniffed-up tattoed lads in polo shirts. Three songs into the second set some hero insists, with the misplaced confidence and persistence that only over-imbibing on the sniff can provide, that he's gonna sing. Backed up by his similarly-wired mates, an altercation just short of fisticuffs ensued,. The BL pulled it, we packed up and were in the cars by 9:45. Got paid in full, tho, so there's that...ahhhh, gigging, I've missed it... 😕🙂

I've got pretty much the same box I use for my Walkabout, from the sadly-now-defunct Maplins...it's great...

Old! Ish...it was in the middle of a very busy year with lots and lots of functions and weddings, and I just got bored trundling it all backwards and forwards to the car every time, usually through throngs of drunken punters at 1am...oh, and the back stairs of stately homes weren't made for easy hauling...and there never seemed to be a lift... 😕🙂

I had a M-Pulse 360 for a good while - great amp, never wanted for power with it, either...it outstayed a lot of other amps (I went through most of the Class D amps of the time), and IIRC (it's all a bit hazy), I only sold it for the Walkabout...

So I should probably update this with the gig experience from Satdy...took the 414 and one of my Shukers as backup. The Shuker stayed in its case...tho that was partly due to the, ummmm, liveliness of the venue (yeah, one of those gigs...), but I was very, very pleased with the results of a low-cost pimping. That bridge is super-comfy under the heel of the right hand, and the sound was bob on...the weight was fine, too...