Rosie C

I'll be pretty busy playing in the band of two Morris sides, but my own band only have one summer gig in the diary - playing at a Knights Templar re-enactment in June.

My example is Carlsbro too, a late 80's / early 90's 30W with Trace Elliot style green/black finish. It had a continuous mains buzz, a particularly loud 'thump' when switching on and switching off, and had nothing inspiring about it. Yup, I bought a piano accordion which seemed perfectly OK, but when I got it home it stank of mould. Fortunately it was from a dealer, so it went straight back the next day for something that didn't engulf me in mould spores every time I squeezed the bellows!

I sold Steve a flight case today. All good.

It's the first time I've been to something like this, but there was a really relaxed atmosphere about it. Some people did solo spots, but others just chose from the book. I must also admit to a bit of boredom at some folk clubs waiting 2 hours for my turn to play 2 songs when some of the performers aren't so good.

It must be a year since I've played upright in public, but I recently joined the band attached to a Morris side. They go out and about in their own right, including to a 'mass jam' at a local pub last night. The band comprises violin, bodhran, washboard, clarinet, octave mandolin, piano accordion and now double bass. It was a very good evening - the organiser went around the room, everyone had the choice to do either a solo number, or to choose a tune for everyone to play from "101 songs for ukulele" books that were provided.

They're great pedals! I use one of these with my upright - it handles the impedance matching between my amp and the piezo pickup, functions as a pre-amp, and winding down the '50' slider removes most feedback.

copper push-fit, best of both worlds... 😉

My latest pedal - a Markbass SuperBooster, recently bought from @redd It's slightly unusual in needing 12v DC, but my pedal board has a 12v output, and the Crate amp featured in the photo has a 12v lead acid battery which I expect I'll be able to tap off for mobile operation. My signal chain is simply Lifeline DB pickup -> SuperBooster -> Crate battery amp. Sounds good.

I bought a Mark Bass pedal from @redd . A smooth transaction, and a pleasure to deal with.

We need a ❤️ reaction option!

I nearly got the air 25, but I liked the look of the Axiom 25. It sits on my desk hooked up to my desk top computer. It's great for entering notes/data but I can see I would need the 49 or 61 to perform live. I have a pile of manuals to read now!

The final bit of the jigsaw... a Roland XV-3080 synth, with a pair of expansion cards for more woodwind options

Right now I'm in the middle of learning to use a synth (Roland rack-mount XV-3080). I have a plan to send MIDI files to it to add additional sounds when playing live. So effectively using backing tracks. In the 'studio' my partner sings BV and plays percussion. I multi-track vocals, mandolin, recorder, accordion and bass. On stage that's clearly impossible. For larger gigs we have friends who join us on keys and double bass, but many gigs there's just two of us which gives two problems: if we've just sing a ballad (2x vocal, mandolin and percussion) then change to an instrumental (recorder+percussion) the energy drops and the sound is very thin many of our songs have an 8 bar instrumental intro. Playing it on recorder then quickly popping the recorder under my arm to play mando and sing is an amusing party trick, but always means a 2-bar percussion fill-in as I swap. For (2) I'm thinking to have the intro played on the synth from a MIDI file. I can strum overtop on mandolin. For (1) we can add harpsichord/acoustic guitar/etc. harmony. For both probably add a kick drum to synchronise us. We'll also have a 2-octave MIDI keyboard and an electric drum pad on stage with us so we can play the synth live. But in all cases be honest with the audience - that two people isn't enough to play some tunes well, so we have some assistance. We haven't tried it on an audience yet, but I think it's fine as long as we're honest.

I don't know much about the speaker. I originally ordered one from Blue Aran, but after a few days it was marked unavailable and I got a refund. I struggled to find much in the way of 8" bass speakers, and ended up getting this one which is unbranded: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/355768432655 I'm sure you're right about the power rating - and the amp is only rated at 30W. Hopefully it will do though - if this doesn't work I can put the original speaker back in and sell it on and use the proceeds for a proper battery bass amp.

Thanks Matt, I'll look into that. My own use is playing in a Morris band - outdoors with violin, accordion, etc.

Reporting back as promised. I tried the Crate amp as it was with my upright and a lifeline pickup. It sounded alright, but was lacking bass / depth. A mandolin-playing friend loves these amps and I didn't want to damage the speaker cone, so I bought a generic bass speaker and swapped it in: The old speaker was in a machined rebate, and another 1mm diameter and the new speaker wouldn't have fit, but it worked out OK. The new speaker claims a rating of 45W RMS, response 30Hz-4kHz, sensitivity 90dB. I wasn't sure about the dB value, but the price was low enough to try it. Initial results are good. There's a much deeper tone, though notes on the 'E' string distort unless I play gently. So my next step will be playing with the EQ on the amp, and adding a GEB-7 EQ pedal to my signal. Before: New driver: Grille removed, and it turns out there is a port, though I guess not the right size for bass: New speaker fitted:

I had the spanners out today - a £10 Roland bracket off ebay, the bottom half of a spare cymbal stand, and a 22mm tom arm and ... ta da!

I was invited to join an established folk band for a rehearsal last night, with a view to joining them. I've not played upright properly for a few months, and just before I found the G string has failed in some annoying buzzy way (notes on the G string buzz horribly, the same notes played on the D string are fine). Anyway, I was about first there, and set up with my trusty Crush 25B amp. There was accordion, violin, octave mandolin, clarinet, bodhran and washboard. The set list was a mixture of Morris dance tunes, Irish folk tunes and Klezmar. All went well - I kept it simple, mostly improvising, root-5'ing the chords with an occasional run on chord changes.

By chance I heard a Brian Eno on Radio 4's "Infinite Monkey Cage" on Saturday, talking about AI tools that can de-reverb a recording. Though I guess the equipment and resources he has are immense compared to what I can lay my hands on

My keyboard controller arrived. The keyboard is lovely, although only 2 octaves it has proper full size weighted keys. I've managed to find a copy of the user manual, and there's much reading to do. The last bit of the jigsaw is a synth. I was going for a new one from a smaller company, but I've found them quite unhelpful. Instead I'm thinking of staying 'vintage' with a rack-mounted Roland XV-3080. But I'll have to do some research first...

You just play 4 pieces, instead of 3 pieces, scales & aural. NB: I've been doing ABRSM, Trinity and Rock School, but they all have more or less the same option.

An alternative is to do the ABRSM digital exam. No particular date - when you're ready video it and send in the video.

Oh, and for me too. I have a wall like the wall in Hogwart's Castle with all the "Educational Decrees" nailed up. Grade 1 acoustic guitar, Grade 2 viola, Grade 2 recorder, Grade 3 piano, Grade 4 bass, Grade 6 theory.

I second this! We renovated a little barn into a practice space, including DMX wiring so we could feel like rock stars. But the cables were duff and it never worked reliably.