Franticsmurf

I moved to full IEM after lockdown, partly due to a double hernia and partly because the band I joined had a dedicated sound man who was able to give me a personalised full band mix. In the bands I played with before that I found I couldn't get enough vocal mix in physical monitors and I had started using one earpiece via a Behringer P2 fed from the PA mixer (the PA only carried the vocals). I love having a good mix in my ears; it's given me the confidence to sing more. I love not having to cart around amps and speakers, set them up, break them down etc and having more room in the bass corner. But I do miss the feel of the sound behind me. I've just started with a new band and while we rehearse with in ears, the plan is to play with just vocal monitoring and have a real backline. Fortunately I didn't get rid of my amp (in fact, before joining the 'IEM band', I had swapped from kit with its own gravity to light weight TE 1x10" cabs and class D amps). The hernias have been fixed (gaffer tape is so useful) and I'm looking forward to gigging with some volume behind me.

I'm no expert but I have found with active basses (I have a Sterling and an Ibanez EHB1000s) that the signal can be quite hot going into the pedal/pre-amp and this can create an unwanted distorted signal that can sound a bit 'artificial' (difficult to describe but almost like the signal is mixed with a cr*ppy synth sound with no useful tone). I tend to run my active basses with their volume down slightly, I have the mid tone turned down a bit on the active controls, and may adjust the bass tone up for individual songs My amp has an optional 'Active' input but for most gigs I'm going DI through several pedals. I love my Sterling; It would be a shame if doesn't work for you.

Last night's rehearsal with a relatively new outfit (we've been together for about 8 weeks with 4 practices) was pretty good. After a two week hiatus, we arrived with 8 new songs to work through; 6 went reasonably well with just some light sanding and polish required (starts and endings, as you'd expect) and two will require some extra work to bring them up to speed. Two of the 6 good 'uns featured yours truly on lead vocals. I'm not a singer by nature or by choice but as all the others sing and I've been doing BVs for years, I thought I should make the effort. Listening to the recordings this morning and I'm not as bad as I thought. I'll never be head hunted for a solo career, though. 😀

I had a run of four dep gigs as a rhythm guitarist in the band I used to play bass in - and for three of them I used a HB kit Les Paul over a Squire Tele.

Hulla rehearsal on Sunday. They're always a bit hit or miss at this stage (still working up to gigging season with nothing specific until April). But the BL messaged us all to say he had a 'great idea' and that we should listen to 'Ecstacy of Gold'. I didn't know that it's the title of a track from 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', by Ennio Morricone. It's also been used in an advert recently. I'm always sceptical at unexplained 'great ideas' but this one turned out to have some potential as long as we work it through properly. Basically, at the festival we do every year the BL wants that band to come on stage section by section (we're 13 in all) in bringing in the instruments to build up the arrangement to a crescendo (which will be the drummer and me). Sounds corny and it probably is, but knowing the crowd and the ability of the BL to work them, I think it will be ok. As long as we can get the ukuleles to play the right chords. 😀 We've also started on 'House of the Rising Sun' one of the few songs I really loathe (and I don't really know why). But the version we're doing (following the Mumford & Sons 'Live at New Orleans' Youtube track) is rather good. And after two sessions, we seem to be getting the arrangement right. We have a talented multi instrumentalist in the line-up (she's my bass apprentice, sings, plays uke and guitar and she's only 17) and on this song she's playing trombone - rather well. And to cap it all off, there was birthday cake on Sunday courtesy of the BL.

I was talking about the nuances between basses, which is relevant to the original topic. I've been told my bass is too loud, and too quiet (not in the same gig, thank goodness) but never 'that's a great <insert bass model> bass tone' by anyone other than a few fellow musicians, and even then it tends to lead to a discussion about amps and pedals rather than the bass guitar itself.

Great post and I get it 100%. My experience is that punters rarely care what bass you're playing (the rare exceptions in my case are when I play the headless, when there are several 'your guitar is broken' type comments). They certainly don't care what the bass sounds like. And I would argue that in the venues I play gigs, the sound is so affected by my pedalboard, the room, the punters and the mix to get the whole band sounding good that all my basses sound very similar. If I was recodring it would be a very different matter. My bandmates do care what bass I'm playing, but as has been mentioned elsewhere, only as the standing joke 'Dave's got another new bass'. Soundwise, the only band person that regularly comments on my sound is our permanent sound engineer. To be fair, he has his favourite bass and always moans when I don't bring it to gigs or rehearsals. 😀 I find this is so true of me. I'm fortunate that my stable of basses, mostly sub £300, makes me smile. Basses fall in and out of favour but I always play better when I'm using an instrument that I really like.

My experience is that for years I played £200-300 basses - usually second hand - and in the band scenarios I found myself in the sound/tone they gave me was perfectly acceptable. After Covid I decided to treat myself to a 'decent' new bass - I fancied a Sterling HH. At just over £1k (my mate who runs a music shop got it at cost) it was the most I had spent on any item of musical equipment and I was very happy with it. It remains my favourite bass but I have others and I like giving them all an airing now and again. But just before Christmas the Sterling started cutting out during rehearsals (it turned out to be dry solder joints and a gunky pickup selector switch) and I bought a shop damaged Squier PJ (the base model - Affinity or Sonic) for a little over £100 initially to act as a spare for my P bass. I played it at all of our Christmas gigs in preference to my Fender P. Now I have my Sterling back, it has become my main gigging bass again. I don't regret spending that much on the Sterling because it does feel good and it inspires me to practice. But I wouldn't spend that money again, preferring to pocket the difference or perhaps buy a couple of different basses. If I had to get a back up for the Sterling that sounded like a Musicman, it would be from the Sub series they do.

Excellent and good luck with both. From experience, make sure they both know the score re the 'other' band. You might also want to think about how you would deal with clashing gigs. I am in two bands and I have explained to both that's its a first come first served basis - first date in the diary gets priority. That said, some gigs have more importance than others so it may not be as clear cut. You'll need to figure out your own solution that fits the situation. It helps me that I have an 'apprentice' in one band and she can easily step in. Too easily, I think. 😀

From my perspective, if I am responding to an advert for a bassist then it's because the band is doing something that interests me. I wouldn't go along expecting them to change direction because of me, and equally I wouldn't respond to a band that wasn't doing the kind of music I'd want to play regularly. I would expect some input into the set, but it would be in keeping with their style/repertoire because that is what attracted me in the first place. In other words, I wouldn't join a Country Folk outfit and insist on adding several Hawkwind songs to the list. 😄 I think this is a fair approach and one I would expect any musician joining an established band to adopt, unless they were specifically asked to bring new ideas - and sometimes, if a band finds itself in a rut, it can be a good exercise to get some fresh ideas in. In the last few years I've joined two bands specifically to increase the number of gigs I'm playing (as my main band only plays around 5-8 gigs a year). In both cases and after the usual pleasantries, I have been careful to explain that I'm keen to gig and I don't want to spend ages in the rehearsal room. The first band was a blues rock outfit. Their set was pretty much fixed and that was ok by me as I had been given it in advance and was happy with the tunes. They were all very competent and nice folks but it became clear after a couple of months that it was very much about getting together to play some songs rather than to develop a set and get out gigging. Because I'd set the scene at the start, I was able to explain that this was not what I wanted and I left amicably, staying in touch with them (I offered to cover any gigs until they got a new bassist although it was unlikely there would be any). I'm currently working up a set with the second band, whom I joined about a month ago. The thing that attracted me to them was the statement that they wanted to do covers than other bands don't do. It's a wide field but I like that. Our first session included two songs that I had been asked to nominate and since then it's been very much equal contributions adding to a core set that they had given me at the start.

That would be a Tier 0 fail, I think. 😀

Cheers @EMG456 - I've never been sure of the official model designation and took the 'XQ' from the website I linked too, failing to pick up on the Graphite neck element. Mine has the wooden neck. It also came with the DB bridge, which I found very convenient over the years. As it is in semi retirement, I transplanted that bridge to my Hohner Jack headless which is currently a spare for gigs.

We found a socket in an outside toilet block and ran a long extension through the window. 😂

It's addictive. 😀 Well done for taking the first step. Good luck finding a regular supply. 🤣

I bought my first guitar, first amp and far too much other stuff from Pete Hamm's brother, John, who had a music shop in Swansea for years. Very friendly bloke and never made a deal out of his more famous brother. But when I asked, he did say that he had all of Pete's guitars and other kit in storage above the shop. The shop is long gone now.

My rehearsal with the Hulla band for tonight has been cancelled because of the amber rain warning. Last time I travelled that way in this kind of rain, the water was up to the headlights in several places along the route. Bored now. 🙂

Just found this website which might help. The body shape resembles my Spirit XQ2.

Sometimes, when it's obviously not going right, the best thing is to make light of it and enjoy what there is. I'm sure we've all had rehearsals like that. Personally I like them, as long as they're not too frequent, as it helps to bring the band together - sharing adversity and the exact opposite of pointing fingers and laying blame. We had a similar session with the Hulla band a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was tired after busy and/or stressful days and while we were ok with the songs, there was no polish, plenty of little mistakes and missed cues. But we had a laugh (I got the keyboards player to play my bass on one song with only two notes to fret - she's never played any kind of guitar before and she did it well enough that the singer didn't know until the end).

It was my third jam/rehearsal with a new line up last night. The Hulla band is still going strong but only do about 6-8 gigs a year and I want to play a bit more frequently. So I answered an ad at the beginning of Feb to join a local band and got the slot. The line up is drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and me on bass. We're all getting on well (a prime requisite for me) and we're all keen to avoid the standard pub set list as much as is possible given that we'll be out to entertain others. All three sing rather well (and I can sing a few simple songs) so the potential for vocal harmony is quite exciting. Last night we picked songs at random from the list we'd compiled in the previous two jams and it was sounding pretty good. We practice in a room at the drummer's house and it's all through headphones (the drummer is using an electric kit), which is a great way to get the work done in a relaxed environment (there are cups of tea on hand 😀) and at an ear-friendly volume. It also means that we can record at the push of a button and get a decent record of the evening's work. As the room is relatively small, I'm using my Ibanez SHB1000s into my Ampeg pre-amp/DI pedal which is sounding great. I can see a new small pedal board being created as the songs develop and I nail down the sounds I want for each song.

A new song for the Hulla band has made me think that the 12 Step will be needed for some synth bass. For one song it may be overkill (not shown is the wiring loom, synth (a half rack Korg01/RW) and associated stand) but I'll take it along for tonight's practice and see if there are other potential uses. I have to be careful as we have a keyboard player and just as I wouldn't want her playing basslines, I have to be careful what I play. The top row is the usual small board line up which I'm hoping to use this year. The MS60b has compressor and noise gate patches plus a few modulation patches and is there so I can try out ideas on the fly. As we narrow down the final choices for the core set for this year, it may be replaced by dedicated pedals although I'm happy with the sounds it produces and the simplicity. The Joyo line selector acts as a summing mixer for keyboard and bass with options for bass only or both. It also acts as a tuner and mute. The Broughton H24 is great but may be redundant as our sound guy is now using a HPF on my channel.

I did try using an amp for drive plus the chorus and delay from my B1-4, but it wasn't working. The guitar gig is a support slot to the main band gig and I'll be playing guitar and bass during that set. The simplest solution was to use an A/B switch (which I have) and the multi FX straight into the DI channel I use for bass.

Tier 2 fail confession. I have just taken delivery of a small guitar multi FX pedal for an upcoming gig where I will be sharing bass and guitar duties. The new pedal is strictly for guitar only and I'll be using existing bass FX pedals for the bass parts.

I played in a trio for years - it was a fluid line-up that could expand to four or five for appropriate gigs or shrink to a duo if necessary but the core of the singer/guitarist, drummer and me played most of the gigs during that time. This was in the mid 90s to mid 2000s in the South Wales valleys. At the start I was vaguely aware of some kind of restriction that meant that many pubs could only have duos and risked some kind of penalty should they have a trio or more but I couldn't tell you if that was a licensing issue or insurance or just them not wanting to pay a band. I found the trio format very satisfying as there was a place for everyone in the arrangement and you couldn't hide. Great for me during my formative years as a bassist (I was transitioning from guitar at the start) as it gave me the self confidence I needed. I also started to sing BVs in this band so it really was a great school for me. As has been said above, it really depends on the abilities of all and out line-up had a drummer who was able to fill the sound, a singer/guitarist who played appropriately for the line-up and me - a fairly busy bassist which helped fill out the gaps during solos. Although we played some memorable gigs as a four piece (with an extra guitar) and a five piece (added keyboards), the trio gig are the ones that stand out and are the ones I measure new bands against.

Make sure you know where the stick is going. 😀

I've enjoyed reading about your gig adventures (often like a travelogue 😀) and I'll miss them. But you have to do what's right for you. As others have said, don't sell up yet. With all the emotions going on, it's the wrong time to make that kind of decision as well. Give ti time and see what happens.