bassfunk

There's a touring crew van and driver group on Facebook. Plenty of self drive based vans in your area, a few are based around Heathrow. I'd always go with a specialist tour van hire over the regular hire companies.

Hey Leroy Here in the Northwest you expect anything from £120 to £350 for function work. I know some bands (or should that be brands) that put multiple bands out under the same name with a team of deps and they pay £120 a gig. But if you're a regular with them you may get multiple gigs a week as they're very busy. If I'm depping I start at £150 and add on for additional expenses/time. If I'm hiring a dep for my band I tell them what I have in the budget for them (usually what the guy whose gig it is was getting). It would be interesting to see how people price themselves and what they get paid.

Or you could go old school and buy a little mixing desk, plug the I pad into the tape in using an aux cable then plaug the bass into a channel, mix the levels accordingly and use headphones plugged into the headphoen out. Something like this: https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/SubZero-SZ-MIX04-4-Channel-Mini-Mixer/SIZ

No need for me to make my suggestions - this covers it all of for me :-)

Your Wireless IEM and your Wireless Guitar/bass transmitter work independently. You transmit the signal from your guitar to your amp/DI this gets sent to the FOH and the monitor desk (I assume there will be a separate monitor engineer) you (or the engineer) hook your IEM wireless transmitter up to the desk and then that transmits tour IEM reciever and into you IEM. Does this make sense. With regards to the amp there will be plenty of backline rental companies supplying IOW. Maybe see if you can get a contact and ask them if you can use one that is already being supplied. Do you have a sound engineer/manager etc... to help you? If not it might be worth enlisting a sound guy/girl you know from a venue etc... to do some pre-production and create a tech spec, or even take them with you - make sure they're well qualified for this sort of thing. I work with some local bands driving them and doing backline tech etc. It's worth having someone who knows what they're doing so all you have to do is think about the performance. Or call the production contact for IOW and explain things to them, they might offer some support?

Ben Kenney - Bass player in Incubus was a Guitarist in The Roots before he joined Incubus. He's pretty good at everything: https://youtu.be/47fzpzNOcw0

I use a GK 112 MB II combo. It's a great size and fairly light, I use it for rehearsals, and most of my gigs have full PA so it's now my go to amp. My Barfaced compact doesn't leave the house now as it's overkill for wedding gigs! I also have the extension cab - it's a powered extension cab so you get 400w from the two, I mainly use this to get the amp closer to ear height or if I'm playing Marquee gigs when I need to push more air. Heres a[url="https://www.gak.co.uk/en/gallien-kruger-mb112-bass-combo/60011?gclid=Cj0KEQjwxbDIBRCL99Wls-nLicoBEiQAWroh6sqfNxs5Fk297YfiYVxZeT4qMf4tCBY3m8LBbot4uKoaAgsM8P8HAQ"] link [/url]

I had an Antoni as my first acoustic bass. I found the neck to be very deep (front to back) which I felt impeded my playing slightly, but it was a decent enough instrument to get me started, I did a couple of recordings and lots of gigs with it after having a decent luthier set it up. But as others have said I found I outgrew it very quickly. I bought an older Musima (probably 70's/80's) for £500 spent another few hundred getting strings and set up, it needs a new bridge too. When its finally done I will have spent close to £1k to get a nice sounding playable bass. It's totally up to you which way you go. I got my money back on the Antoni, and it was fine for the money, but my Musima definitely feels and sounds more like a 'real' bass.

Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It's got a great synth bass line that would translate to a Metal Guitar riff

I don't know what size/budget you're looking at but the GK MB combos are great, I have the 12inch version and it's loud enough for most gigs and can be carried in one hand very easily.

Another recommendation for Sam.

Hi Guys A friend of mine has got in touch as he's supplying backline to Cheltenahm Jazz festival. He's been asked for an NS Design NXT and his company don't own one. I though with Basschat being such a friendly place somebody might help him out. Are there any NXT owners on here who would be willing to hire their instrument out to a very reputable hire company? It would be needed from 29th April until 2nd May. They're willing to pay a small fee and the instrument will be very well cared for. message me with contact details and I'll put you in touch with the guy. Thanks Pete

I Bought a CV 60's Jazz bass 2nd hand from a Basschatter. I put a set of wizard pickups in it and consequently sold my mex Jazz deluxe. The neck is excellent, the rest of the bass is put together really well. It's a great backup that I'd have not qualms about gigging.

I've found Facebook groups to be the best way to find singers. I've had dep singers in place for a gig within hours. Groups I use: https://www.facebook.com/groups/depsuk/?fref=ts https://www.facebook.com/groups/ukmusiciansforgigs/?fref=ts I also use a couple of geographic specific ones. Here's a Scottish one: https://www.facebook.com/depmusicians.scotland?fref=ts I don't have loads of time to audition people etc. So I tend to specify video needed etc. Last time I was recruiting for a replacement (rather than a dep) I searched the usual Join my band type websites, made a shortlist and contacted people with a rehearsal date. That way I wasn't having to sift through hundreds of applicants to my ad, and only had to get in touch with the people I wanted.

I bought my Sandberg from Bass Direct. Mark responded to me pre-visit emails very quickly. We came to an agreement on a Fender Deluxe bass I wanted to PX. I made the 2 hour trip, tried some basses, bought the Sandberg I'd made the trip for. A year later the Sandberg dupplied gig bag had come apart, I emailed Mark to say I thought the gig bag should last a little longer than 12 months, I got a new gig bag in the post the very next day. My experience was a positive one, Mark was efficient and helpful, I would always recommend Bass Direct to other players.

Went to see Counting Crows at the MEN. I'd seen them a few years back at the Manchester Apollo and really enjoyed it. My brother was visiting so we decided to go. They came on stage and announced they were doing a 'special' acoustic set. Counting Crows acoustic in an Arena! soulless, lost and totally boring.

Dave Grohl

I have a couple of chauvet mini 4 bars,and 4 led par cans. I set 2 par cans on the floor to up light the singers, 2 pars on sound to light to light up the kit. 1 bar on a wash to light the stage and another bar sound to light to light up the dancefloor. Just bought one of these too http://www.amazon.co.uk/Denshine-TM-Lighting-Changing-Ballroom/dp/B00P66CDB2/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1442942304&sr=8-13&keywords=Magic+crystal+ball+light All looks good and if you buy 2nd hand doesn't cost the earth. Here's a video of it all:http://youtu.be/d5NSDNXuIec The lights aren't quite right and I've since changed some settings. But you get the idea.

I use one of these:http://www.gak.co.uk/en/gallien-kruger-mb112-bass-combo/60011?gclid=CjwKEAjwyemvBRDFpN3E5_bs9BQSJAA5n8L25gwKcYRolt_DwOhL7-im6mRKYEKpQselL9vBwO-8XRoC9K3w_wcB Great for rehearsals and gigs where you have pa support. I also have the extension cab if I need more volume. Light and relatively inexpensive, it sounds great with my Sandberg too.

I have two female leads in one of my bands (we have two regulars and plenty of deps) for smaller paid gigs we go out as a 4 piece with one singer, but we can go up to a 9 piece with brass section. Clients like choice. Take them both on and offer a budget and premium option.

I do a bit of Dep work, and get a lot of Deps in to cover my bands. Normally you'll be sent a setlist in advance. Learn all of the 'standards' and be prepared to transpose them if needed. BVs is normally a bonus. The function/wedding band circuit use deps a lot. You're more likely to get gigs in that area then pub gigs I should imagine?

I use IEMs that are hard wired. I take an Aux to a mini desk or headphoe amp on top of my amp. Then I've used a headphone extension cable taped to my Jack to Jack. I run the IEM cable down my back (I normally wear a waistoat when gigging and plug in were my lead passed through my strap. £75 for the Sure SE215s + £5 for the bits and I had an old little desk lying around. IEM for under £100. Some of the guys in the band don't use IEM so we have Mackie SRM450s for the vox and I own 3 of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WHARFEDALE-PRO-EVP-X-12M-WEDGE-FLOOR-MONITOR-EXCELLENT-PERFECT-WORKING-ORDER-/171869889703 The Wharefedales are cheap and perfectly fine. You can pick them up reasonably cheaply to 2nd hand.

Any pics of the setup? I'd like to see what it looks like in situ.

New moon are great. Thankfully I've never had to make a claim. I've talked to them on the phone quite a bit and they're very helpful. I'm pretty sure you can pick which items need to be insured for leaving the house too.