Rosie C

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

Second hand TE kit is so cheap at the moment now is a good time before it gets a lot older and crankier. I've been posting bargain finds on:

 

Thanks Simon! I might need friends to help lift it into my practice space, but once it's there it can stay there. I've always fancied a Marshall stack, but lately Trace Elliot has the edge for me I think.

On 07/04/2024 at 09:53, JazzyJ said:

Having gone lightweight, the Trace rig has taken root so it's that or Waza Air and rotate basses. Noise isn't an issue in the sticks of North Yorkshire.

Every time I see a photo of Trace Elliot kit I inch inevitably towards buying some myself...

2 hours ago, Jo.gwillim said:

I hope you find something that suits you, it must be a very common problem. 

It must be, and yet it seems there's very little around.

1 hour ago, Jo.gwillim said:

I bought a battery inverter power pack and use it with a gk mb200. Works really well. 

I have a power pack, but I quite like my battery Orange amp with its internal battery - apart from not having to carry extra things, I like that there's no 240v if I'm playing outdoors.

3 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

 I wouldn't consider an active speaker that's not designed for use with electric bass without first trying it. 

Thanks Bill!

My current bass guitar / double bass amp is an Orange Crush 25B. Enough for practice and playing in church. I also have an Orange Acoustic 30 which is battery powered and I use for octave-mandolin. I very much like it being cordless, very handy for playing outdoors, or just not having to find a mains socket and run an extension lead at church.

Battery bass amps seem a bit thin on the ground and quite expensive. I'm wondering whether a battery powered active speaker could do the job? Particularly it only has to be as loud/bassy as my 25W practice amp.

4 hours ago, gafbass02 said:

Waiting on a rather unglamorous hip shot extender in black for my recent bass purchase

that is a thing of beauty!

A Zoom recorder, all the better to record my bass with   and best of all, my sister bought me a "folk singers almanac" with songs for each month and for each festival in the year - this is bass related as I'll end up recording them with multi-tracked bass guitar.

3 hours ago, TimR said:

My fretless is in my loft, along with a photo of me when I had hair.

Surely the photo should be ageing horribly, while you retain a youthful countenance? 

11 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Although I’m not a fan of “the look” of music stands on stage I’m envious of those who have the ability to use them. Prompts I could do but sight reading def beyond me, even without taking middle aged eyesight into account. 

I've played in orchestra, brass band, big band. When I first started playing folk-rock in pubs, I was conscious of using a music stand, but I've just accepted I am the sort of musician who uses a music stand. I do memorise the lyrics and guitar chords, but for the other stuff - the band use written music. Even the drummer sometimes! 😉

Our last gig of the year and traditionally our biggest. That's me on mandolin & vocal, though I feel little shame as we had a very talented friend join us on double bass for the night. 

On 17/12/2024 at 23:07, Mickeyboro said:

Have you had them? Were they worth it? Discuss, please…

I took lessons for about a year - 30 minutes per week in school terms over a year, so about 15 hours. My teacher took me from being unable to sing to being able to front a pub band which got decent audience reaction and re-bookings. 

She taught me a bit of technique - having a solid support from the diaphragm, holding notes for the full length, hitting a note square on and becoming used to intervals. We also would spend some time working through songs I'd be performing where she'd point out where I was making errors. She also helped me control chest & head voice and helped me with higher notes adding seven semitones, so now on a good day I have a 2 octave range. At the school I went to one lady taught singers mostly for pop / rock / musical theatre. The other taught more along classical & choral lines. All in past tense as I caught covid a second time and within a couple of weeks I had a dairy allergy which has taken most of this year to figure out. I'm hopefully retuning to lessons next year.

I have found the voice is a delicate thing. It's not like a bass guitar that can be played for 2 hours then chucked in a bag until the next a gig. I can't sing for 2x45 minutes like I did last night and expect to sing again today - though hopefully that will come with time and better technique. I seem to have had more colds since I started singing, though I think it's actually that because colds have such an effect, I notice them more. 

Bass: John Taylor, Paul McCartney

Guitar: Ritchie Blackmore

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

Just had a look at Guitarchat logging in using my Basschat profile.

 

For some reason I can't post on any of the threads.

 

I'm having similar - I can post in some areas, but not the main discussion area  

I did pop in, I play mandolin mostly these days, including a guitar-bodied octave mandolin and a Gibson SG clone converted to octave mandolin, but just found tumbleweed  

15 hours ago, Bass4real said:

The Bass I paid 399.00 for in 2017 is one of the very best basses I've ever had.

A BRICE FREAK 5 SINGLE CUTAWAY 

And I've owned alot of basses (expensive)

Never again though .

How bout you ?

 

I have a Squier 4-string fretless jazz bass. Sunburst with tort. Bought for around £350 just before covid lock down. It's been rebuilt by a local luthier, set up for me and I really can't see me ever buying anything else. 

7 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

The SM57/58 were definitely 60s although the SM57 were more prevalent for vocals than the SM58 live. We did not know anything about mics and I think the SM57 looked sleeker and cooler. The SM58 and 55SH looked like something old singers would use. Now the received wisdom is that the SM58 was best for vocals so almost all mics look something like them. 

In the 1980s one singer in our high school band had an SM58. It was quite a cut above anything anyone else had. The other singer had something nasty by 'Realistic' or similar. I'm not sure how I first got into Sennheiser, but the E835 seems to suit my voice, though these days I make like Taylor Swift and use an ME3 headset. 

1 hour ago, pete.young said:

Get yourself a Roland V-Accordion Rosie, you'll be amazed at what it can do.

I'd love one, but they are a bit pricey. I make do with a somewhat battered 1980s Hohner.

That said, it feels like it's due for tuning, and at £500 a time, it wouldn't take much to get a second hand Roland, something like the FR-3XB. 

On 07/12/2024 at 11:07, LukeFRC said:

E typically ...  dancing is mandatory

Thanks again, it WAS in E. A simple bass line, but a lot of fun to play. Before the service I thought it highly unlikely there would be any dancing but the new vicar was indeed dancing in the aisle and waving her arms around, so there you go! We played "One More Step Along the World I Go" for the first time too, things are definitely getting more up-beat lately!

4 hours ago, Nodd said:

It seems to be gaining traction as an alternative to the albeit rather arbitrary A-44Hz.

 

Any opinions /

 

In some ways it's easier than changing key, providing the instruments can all change. I play piano accordion which is in A=440, and that just can't change. I gave up collaborating with a guitarist who didn't tune to A=440 and sent me recordings to play along to   

E it is then, thank you both!  😊

We're playing "Great Big God" for the first time in tomorrow's service. Unable to contact the BL today, I'm wondering what key others typically play it in? No guarantees that's what we'll use of course, but E seems common in online charts, and I'm thinking to prepare a chart in E is better than no prep!

I'm on a Facebook group for my area for people hiring bands. Nearly all the adverts are for "singer with backing tracks". They don't even want a singer/guitarist. I play in a duo sometimes - male & female vocal with guitar and mandolin, but even that seems too big a band for most venues. Depressing really.

12 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

ha ha! No, not @Muzz's pool ball   

On 03/12/2024 at 13:32, Muzz said:

I had an old Cortina Estate (yeah, that dates this one) which was on its last legs: the next MOT was never an achievable dream, so, with it being well insured, I took to leaving it unlocked (with old Fords this was pretty much the same as locking it) when I was in Manchester city centre clubbing in the hope someone would nick it and I'd make money on the insurance. The best thing about it was the gear knob, which was made from a pool ball. I came back to it one night and the door was open...you can guess what was gone. I was gutted.

I still have a Cortina, and yes, I also have the pool ball gear knob!