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bassfunk

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Posts posted by bassfunk

    Alesis Jamdock Ipod practice dock

    in Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale

    Posted

    Hi Guys

    I've got an Alesis Jamdock lying around doing nothing. It's a great bit of kit for practicing to tunes on your ipod or iphone (I used it with my iphone 3g). You can plug bass, guitr or an electronic kit into it. You can send the line out to an amp/PA etc.

    More info here:
    http://www.alesis.com/jamdock

    GAK sell these for £79 But you can get one for about £62 inc. on Amazon.

    Mine is as new and comes boxed with manual and mains charger.

    How about £50 inc?

    Thanks

    Pete

    Merton

    in Feedback

    Posted

    Really great guy to deal with. Super communication, speedy despatch and excellent packaging.

    Can't wait until you get bored of the GK Fusion, I'd probably have that off you as well :)

    Thanks for an easy transaction.

    Pete

    Recommended Luthiers

    in Repairs and Technical

    Posted

    I'd like to recommend Paul Cuthbert: [url="http://www.paulcuthbertguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.paulcuthbertguitars.co.uk/[/url] He's based in Manchester and I've had him set up a G&L L2000 and a Fender Jazz and they're both perfect! Last time I was there he was building a custom warwicky 5 string bass thingy,it looked pretty sweet!

    Thanks

    Pete

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='dave_bass5' post='1237459' date='May 19 2011, 09:37 PM']Another very good agency is Function Junction. The other band i sometimes play with are on there and they get a lot of work, in fact most of their gigs are through FJ ad they are all good payers. Not quite as easy to get on though as FJ are quite small compared to Alive.[/quote]

    Thanks for the info we will do.


    [quote name='BassBunny' post='1238084' date='May 20 2011, 01:00 PM']From a fellow Mancunians point of view I agree with Crez, "All of the Above"
    There definately isn't as much Wedding/Corporate work landing on our laps and we have had to go out and fight to get it.
    We have our own PA and Lights. Would love a permanent Sound Engineer.
    We do a few Pub gigs during the year as it is ideal for letting perspective clients see you. Let's face it if you were organising a wedding/event you would want to see what you are hiring.
    We are on a number of Agents books, but it hurts passing over the commission for what amounts to making a phone call and they don't have as mant clubs to put you in as they used to.
    We are very fortunate in my wife having a long career in Advertising and she does all our selling.
    Up until recently we have had a lot of success with Good Party. It's free to join and submit a profile. anyone wanting a band/dj/caterer etc. puts a posting up with their requirements and you pay for the contact info, (around £3 for a gig with £250 - £1000 budget).
    Recently it has been choked up with timewasters. It's free to put a request up but the clients don't know you have to pay to get in touch. This results in a lot of "I was just seeing what was out there comments"
    Might be worth a try and shove a few quid in the account and see what happens.
    Something else that works for us is a close relationship with another couple of local function bands. If anyone gets offered a Gig they can't do, they will suggest one of the other bands in the "club".
    It is also fantastic if there is a last minute problam and you need a Gig covering at short notice. Fortunately we have never had to be "bailed out", but have done quite a few last-minute gigs for other bands.
    PM me your contact details if you fancy talking about an arrangement like this.
    Stuart[/quote]

    Cheers Stuart, we have an agreement like this with a band who contacted me through Twitter, on the odd occassion when we've had a double booking I've passed their details on to the client.

    I'll PM you my details.

    Thanks

    Pete

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Yet more good advice, thanks guys I really appreciate you all taking the time out to reply to this thread.

    I'm gonna try Alive and Function Central agencies. Get some videos made perhaps, and contact local bars/pubs about doing gigs and treat it like free advertising, as long as we cover costs we're not losing anything.

    Thanks

    Pete

    function band, pros and cons

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I've done it fairly recently. I studied music and a few of us got together to start a function band. We had some line-up changes and people going travelling/moving away after we graduated so it took a bit of time.

    Apart from paying for rehearsals and buying instruments (which we already had) we haven't really had too much of a financial outlay. We hire in PA and lights at a fairly cheap price, a friend did our photos, another built the website, I work buying print so I got free business cards.

    It's been a bit of hard slog at times but it's starting to come together now. The work is trickling in, but as people hear have mentioned word of mouth is the way to get gigs, so just get out there and play. I really enjoy functions, I like my band mates and I enjoy the challenge of playing stuff I wouldn't play if I was in a pub rock band.

    I would say though that somebody has to be in charge, both on stage and off. I take all the bookings, meet with the clients, sort out the deposits/contracts and logistics. On stage I call I drop tunes and add them in to the set on the fly if I think the crowd will be more receptive to them. It's hard work but it's worth it when a couple or guests at a function tell you how much they love the band etc.

    Cheers

    Pete

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='BottomE' post='1236140' date='May 18 2011, 07:08 PM']We are at the core a 4 piece band and play the majority of our gigs as such. So playing pubs/bars etc can still be quite profitable. Really the size of band has a lot of influence on possible venues and money per member. We settle for less dosh at pubs/bars per man and probably get at least double per man for function gigs.

    Marketing now is all word of mouth. After 4 years this is our sole way of getting gigs. Some gigs are repeat, 6 times a year or something like that, some weddings, corporate stuff, partys for the idol rich etc we just have a load of business cards we leave lying around at venues or peeps ask for them after or even during gigs. After reading your post i realise how lazy we are! We always put money in a band kitty and own our own PA which has paid for itself upmteen times. We don't advertise on any sites but maybe would have considered this when starting up if we'd known about it.

    Good luck[/quote]

    Cheers Bottom E, I'm always worried about leaving cards lying around at weddings in case the couple doesn't like it (might upset the way the tables are decorated) but I guess I could always ask.

    Thanks

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='Robin UK' post='1236043' date='May 18 2011, 05:50 PM']Damn, i read the thread title as, "How do I get more [b]girls[/b] with the function band?, I guess it takes time but would like advice"

    I didn't really have any good advice for that either, was going to start a "play the guitar or sing" debate...

    As for the actual topic, i'd definitely agree with quoting higher and then come down, for both wedding and function gigs people want to think they're getting top dollar and they've done a good deal, as it often isn't their money in question.[/quote]


    I wish it was more girls! But the wife doesn't agree with me trying it on with bridesmaids! :)

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks to all those who've replied. You all seem to be confirming what I suspected.

    I guess the main thing we need to do is cheaper pub gigs to try and spread the word. As we're doing all of the rest, and we get quite a few enquiries through the website but the difficulty is converting them to bookings. As said above they can either afford us or they can't. I just wanted to check I was on he right track and so far it seems I am. Just need to start calling pubs and bars.

    How do I get more gigs with the function band?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi All

    Some of you may have seen that a few months ago My function band launched a website. While we've been playing together for a few years this year we've decided to make a proper go and step it up a bit. We're getting gigs trickling in but would like more, so I have a few questions and could do with any advice possible. I know that the more gigs we play the more bookings we'll get, but I wanted to see what other bands do. So here's what I wanted to ask:

    - Do any of the function bands out there play bars/pubs for not a lot of money (I've read through the gigs vs money thread and there are some interesting points raised there) in the hope that it will raise their profile, and treat it a bit like free advertising?
    - Do you advertise with any of the pay to advertise sites? I'm on most of the free ones, but I was wondering if anybody had particular success with any paid ones?
    - Do you get gigs mainly through agents, website, word of mouth or is it a mixture of all three?
    - How much do you generally charge per member for wedding functions etc? (I don't want to start the age old pro vs amateur debate again!)
    - Following on from the above -We're a proffessional sounding band, and we try and price ourselves thus. Currently we charge beween £950 - £1100 for gigs around the Northwest. We're a 6 piece band and after PA hire and fuel etc we normally come out with around £100 each how does this compare?
    - We hire in PA and lights because we don't currently have the money/space to invest in a large PA system (we have a small one for smaller gigs) how many bands own their own gear?
    - I use twitter and have made a few contacts through there and I've even had a few bookings. Does anybody else use socail networking, if so, how?
    - Do you follow quotes up? i.e do you call the client a few days after you've quoted them to find out if they're still interested? do you offer to lower your original quoted price etc?

    So There you are. That should be enough to get you started! If you don't want to publish price details etc here send me a PM.

    Does anybody around the Manchester area have any contacts that could help with the above? in particular agents, or pubs and clubs that put live bands on?

    Any advice and your thoughts will be appreciated, I'm also not easily offended so feel free so I will always take negative feedback constructively :)

    Thanks

    Pete

    difference in scratchplate quality?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1229874' date='May 13 2011, 12:56 PM']I've just bought red tort guards from them for my jazz and my strat - I'm still waiting for postie to bring them though. Are you happy with yours?[/quote]

    Yeah I am, I bought the squier 2nd hand the previous owner had removed the tort plate and put a white one on. I decided I wanted a tort one back on. The new tort one arrived a week after ordering (it comes from the Netherlands) and fits much better than the white one. I had to slot it in just under the control plate for it to fit flush, whereas the previous one had a bit of a gap.

    difference in scratchplate quality?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I bought one of these on ebay last week:
    [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jazz-bass-std-pickguard-3ply-brown-tortoise-fits-fender-/110633297858?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item19c24227c2"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jazz-bass-std-pickgu...=item19c24227c2[/url]
    It fits perfectly on my squier classic vibe jazz bass, I think it's based on an MIM '62 re-issue, so would obvioulsy fit fenders too.
    I thought the cheaper ones (around £10) looked a bit cheap (sometimes too red etc), and the Fender ones seem overpriced, so I thought this was a nice happy medium.

    3 ply Jazz Bass Scratch plate in White

    in Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale

    Posted · Edited by bassfunk

    Hi Guys

    I have a white 3 ply (white,black,white layers) Jazz bass scratch plate. It's the 11 hole version with the screw hole above the neck pick up, it doesn't have a cut away for the truss rod like on modern MIAs, so would prob fit MIM and vintage basses. I took it off a Squier CV '62 on which it fit perfectly.

    Shall we say [b]£11[/b] posted?

    Here's a pic so you don't have to imagine what it looks like:

    Thanks

    Pete

    How many of you own only one bass?

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    Until Recently All I've needed is my G&L L2000 Tribby. But now I'm gassing for a back up, and after seeing the new overwater by Tanglewood basses I really want to try one out. But I'm working on becoming debt free within a year and my mates getting married in OZ next year so I'm gonna have to wait :)

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