Commando Jack

[quote name='Dave Vader' post='1350438' date='Aug 24 2011, 04:42 PM']Which is why my guitar rig is an old 15w Vox V15 which I can drive the bejesus out of without deafening people, and stick a mike in front of it at big venues. As opposed to the guitarist in my 80s tribute band, who runs a 100w Diesel into a Marshall 4 x 12. He doesn't like it when I make him turn it down, but he wants to be in the PA, so he has to ****ing turn that amp down and stop deafening us, or listen to my suggestion of smaller backline in smaller venues (which is right for guitars that need driving, and not for clean bassy noises).[/quote] Agreed, tube guitar amps are a whole different kettle of fish. Cranked amps start to push the output valves and transformer to give very fat sounding harmonic distortion that (IME) can't be replicated by just overdriving the preamp valves. There are a raft of 1 -15W guitar amps on the market aimed at the studio market - i.e. amps where you can hit the sweet spot without deafening anyone. Why anyone carries a 100W rig anywhere but a stadium is beyond me.

[quote name='Thurbs' post='1350087' date='Aug 24 2011, 11:36 AM']Funny stories there. The worst I had was a guitarist changing the key to a song on the 2 of 1,2,3,4. The only thing is I didn't catch what he said and took me about 16 bars to realise he went up one and a half semitones. Who goes up one and a half!?!?! We had rehearsed it around his house 3 hours before in the original key! Still, I was quite annoyed at myself for taking so long to realise what the new key was and it ruined the song.[/quote] Bon Jovi - Livin on a prayer. But that is planned and would have been included in the rehearsal. Bad luck there. A similar problem I had was a guitarist who changed the key of a song on a whim because of how he felt that night (though never mid song). Some nights he'd come in and go: I think we'll play Don't stop believing in Bb...

Do you know when it happens to me? When I think about what I'm playing. Worst thing in the world to do. We tend to just laugh at each other. I tend to follow the guitarists chords until I'm back on my feet. Funny that in most of my gigs, I know that there is a mistake waiting for me. Don't know where or when, but I will screw something up. When I do, it's 5 seconds of fumbling then the rest of the gig is bliss because I can relax!

[quote name='lobematt' post='1348968' date='Aug 23 2011, 01:21 PM']An this chap [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tOeXk8CU9s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tOeXk8CU9s[/url][/quote] That was gorgeous.

[quote name='NickH' post='1345446' date='Aug 19 2011, 01:56 PM']Drummer takes the longest so everyone helps him in with his stuff first so he can get going.[/quote] Bwaahahaha! In most bands maybe, but I played in a band with a guitarist who twiddled with his pedals for ages [i]every. single. time[/i] to get his "sound". Most times, I had my drums up and was out chatting with the bass player while he had a smoke before this guy was done!

[quote name='icastle' post='1344975' date='Aug 18 2011, 11:09 PM']I was only after a set of bass strings and it turned into a 5 minute argument because what I wanted wasn't what one of the lads wanted to sell me.[/quote] I'm just after going to stringsdirect there because I can order exactly the set of strings I want without an argument or an 'upsell' to the shop's favourite/most popular/in stock set.

[quote name='obbm' post='1344262' date='Aug 18 2011, 12:34 PM']"Lie To Me" and maybe "Quitter Never Wins"[/quote] Ah yes good choices. Lie to me got me into Jonny Lang. So punchy and full of energy. It's a shame I'm stuck across the water in NI, otherwise I'd sure come to see yous play. Good luck with it!

Nice one, I'd love to see/hear the set list. What Jonny Lang are you doing?

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1343133' date='Aug 17 2011, 02:09 PM']Said he could get said items but there would be a delay as he had just put in an order with the supplier so the delay I would experience would be considerable before they could put in another order. Great honesty - he said I should probably try elsewhere, but if all things fail, he could sort me out.[/quote] I ordered an amp case from a local shop who did not tell me this. So I come back 2 weeks after paying my money to be told "oh yeah you see the way it works is that to get the product at a commercially viable rate, we have to put a bulk order in, so we have to wait until enough items from that supplier have been ordered before putting it in." I should have cancelled it but I was young and stupid. Thing took like 6 weeks, and was the wrong case. All in all a 2-3 months wait because of this draconian system when I could have had it in a matter of days at my leisure. [quote name='Nyl' post='1343219' date='Aug 17 2011, 03:06 PM']one thing that bugs me, is going into a shop for something basic only to be told they don't have it but can order it in, but if i go home and order it online it will be shipped to my house, and they don't seem to understand this.[/quote] This once worked in my favour as a local (different from the one above) ordered a drum kit in and actually saved me money because they took the hit on the postage of such a bulky item. Down-side is that you have to pay a deposit and I had to be pretty sure I wouldn't want to return it. What I don't like is this idea that you have to agree to buy something unseen - the opposite of what music shops supposedly pride themselves on. I understand why, but it just pushes you straight to internet sellers who will let you return an item, no questions asked if you don't like it. [quote name='Johnston' post='1343277' date='Aug 17 2011, 03:38 PM']The likes of Thomanns will still survive because some of us live in areas that are just crap for trying gear.[/quote] This.

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1341718' date='Aug 16 2011, 11:49 AM']Excellent. I'm off to write a song called 'Cryptomnesia' now [/quote] But... Where you being creative or did you just have a bout of cryptomnesia? We can't win

Sometimes great minds think alike, and sometimes it's [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomnesia"]cryptomnesia[/url]. Either way its quite disappointing when it happens!

Hasn't really happened with bass, but happened with vocals a couple of times funnily enough. Had all the excuses: I couldn't reach the harmony line so I just doubled you, I didn't know what else to do etc... my personal favourite: I thought you could use a bit of help in that bit... They sure don't like it when you stop playing or singing and leave them hanging on their own!

Just a thought, how do the guitarists handle it? Do they cart 4 guitars around? Also, if there are no horns or keys, why not just play the standard tuning songs in Eb? It would save you a bass, and the singer surely would be able to cope with a semi-tone difference. <edit> sorry, thodrik has already suggested this </edit> However, if you have keys or horns, this would mean them relearning tunes. I know if I played sax in a band that wanted change a song by a semi-tone they would be picking bits of that sax out of their nether-regions

The way I see it you can: -Transpose and use an octave pedal (although I don't know if they'll go down that low?) -Learn to use a 5er -Try a MIDI bass system that lets you change the tuning, although I don't know much about these systems or [quote name='Truckstop' post='1336715' date='Aug 11 2011, 05:06 PM']Or if you don't like using 5 strings, tune a 4 string BEAD and learn the songs using that tuning a find a way to do without the G? Truckstop[/quote] I would also maybe think about how the set list is set up. For instance we tend to lump our drop D songs together. If there is an interval, could you put songs with different tunings after that and retune quickly just before you go back on? Might save you a bass...

[quote name='lanark' post='1330521' date='Aug 7 2011, 12:31 AM']I liked his statement that: "Condition all round is very nice for a used guitar; though you can see that the jack plug corner of the guitar has been thumped on the corner of a 4 by 12 speaker cabinet at some time." How the f*** does HE know that it was a speaker cabinet it was knocked against - never mind the number and size of speakers inside it?[/quote] He probably did it...

[quote name='3V17C' post='1328394' date='Aug 5 2011, 10:34 AM']hmmm.... pretty dull most of 'em i thought! i was expecting some proper amusing tall tales not.. 'once we did a gig and there weren't many people there'.. oh well.[/quote] True, I've had worse gigs than half these people. As already said, it's hard to follow the first story.

Parents bought me a microphone and xlr lead for recording when I was 16/17 (about 10 years old then). I still use the lead for live gigs, although I've no idea what model etc it is. It still has the blue insulating tape that I put on it when I took it to play with my first band.

[quote name='krazy_olie' post='1324287' date='Aug 2 2011, 02:20 PM']All the clever work in the variax is likely in researching what filters to apply to get particular bass sounds. They would have done better IMO to team up with someone like Ibanez to actually produce the bass.[/quote] I think this is true, licensing would be the way to go with the tech. Plus they could sell kits for the modders. Roland had a better approach and produced the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_VG_Stratocaster"]VG Strat[/url] with Fender. Unfortunately it looks like it was discontinued.

Not had any experience with the basses, but have used the Acoustic 700 for solo gigs for the past 2 years. I like it because it sounds big and has alternate tunings on the fly, and there are no issues with feedback. Doesn't feel quite right though (no resonances in the body) and it's something I had to get over. The thing that really lets mine down though is the build quality: the frets are badly worn after only 2 years use (big grooves down the nut end as I play a lot of root chords) and the input jack is a piece of plastic that ripped, stopping me plugging the thing in. A real weak point that could have been fixed by having a metal enclosure. I think that's common to all Variax guitars, because the replacement part was a generic line6 component across the range. When it gives up the ghost, I might try gutting the electronics and installing them on a project electric - might make for an interesting combination...

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1323299' date='Aug 1 2011, 05:25 PM']If you'd rather being going to see other bands as a punter, then be playing gigs with your own band then I would suggest that this is wrong band for you.[/quote] Definitely not - I'd rather go see bands [i]in addition[/i] to playing gigs with my own band! [quote name='Blademan_98' post='1323221' date='Aug 1 2011, 04:27 PM']...just count yourself lucky young man [/quote] Oh believe me I do! The choice is a no brainer for me, which is why there's so many gigs at the minute - we very rarely turn a gig down because we love to play. I just posted because I literally had just realised I hadn't been to see a band in a while and had one of those "oh" moments, that you can't have a full weekend and also go to see some live entertainment too.

Ok so basically the bands I'm in have gotten increasingly busy in the past 6 months, to the point where I've gone from maybe 6 gigs a month (1 weekly residency and maybe 2 gigs a month outside that) to regularly doing 2-3 gigs a week, all at the weekend. I'd like to add the caveat that I'm mostly very pleased that the bands are getting work, and know I've got it good, but I can't resist a moan. Plus I enjoy reading the other moany threads from other basschatter's so thought I'd contribute! I can't remember the last time I sat for a weekend and did what ever the hell I wanted to do, including going out on the town to see a band: covers, originals, whatever. Just so long as they had plenty of energy and the venue had beer dispensing apparatus. I enjoyed watching the band play and gear spotting, and if it was a cover band, I'd drunkenly (but politely!) ask them to play some Queen. If they didn't know any, I'd wander off back into the crowd with my mates, no harm no foul etc. But truth be told, I can't remember the last time I actually went to a gig that I wasn't playing at, because every single weekend I'm out playing myself! I work full time during the week, so I don't often go out on weeknights (again usually only when gigging). Of course, on the odd nights when I'm not playing, I'm grateful for a quiet night in with the missus!! So I guess I've only myself to blame. Anyway, I just realised recently how much of my weekend is spent on the performing side of the microphone. Anyone else in the same boat? And how do you get round it?

The the way the horm player looks across the stage at 0:57 looks like he's going "who the hell is this guy?"

[quote name='bremen' post='1318398' date='Jul 27 2011, 04:14 PM']Full marks to the bass player for holding it together. Against all the odds.[/quote] A giant THIS.

For me the two terms are descriptors for different aspects of the same thing - making sounds with a given instrument. Pure technique is a mechanical description, whereas pure music is emotional. I disagree with the above post that says there is no cross-over, but that may be because our definitions of each term is slightly different. An example of the crossover is to pick an exercise out of a guitar book. In isolation it is just technique and is unlikely to evoke any kind of emotional response. Now if you play the exact same exercise over a backing track, are you just increasing the effectiveness of the technique by playing it in a context, or are you playing a song? Both? What if you now go on a stage and play the exact same thing and a listener has an emotional response to it? Does that make it art? At the bottom line the thing that you played would still be just a technical exercise at it's heart after all. Is the observation what makes it music? I would also like to point out that I'm pretty sure there is a difference between what defines music and [i]good[/i] music, and I have tried to separate the two in my reply by only talking about the former